Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" Author: Various Release date: December 9, 2010 [eBook #34612] Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34612 Credits: Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, 11TH EDITION, "BENT, JAMES" TO "BIBIRINE" *** Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's notes: (1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an underscore, like C_n. (2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. (3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective paragraphs. (4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not inserted. (5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek letters. (6) The following typographical errors have been corrected: ARTICLE BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM: "His first term as governor, during which he seems to have been extremely popular with the majority of the colonists, was notable principally for his religious intolerance and his expulsion of the Puritans, who were in a great minority." 'expulsion' amended from 'expulson'. ARTICLE BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH: "To prevent underground intrigues, Bestuzhev now proposed the erection of a council of ministers, to settle all important affairs ..." 'underground' amended from 'undergound'. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION ELEVENTH EDITION VOLUME III, SLICE VI Bent, James to Bibirine ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: BENT, JAMES THEODORE BERRYER, ANTOINE PIERRE BENT BERSERKER BENTHAM, GEORGE BERT, PAUL BENTHAM, JEREMY BERTANI, AGOSTINO BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM BERTAT BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM CAVENDISH BERTAUT, JEAN BENTIVOGLIO, GIOVANNI BERTH BENTIVOGLIO, GUIDO BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGENE BENTLEY, RICHARD (scholar) BERTHIER, LOUIS ALEXANDRE BENTLEY, RICHARD (publisher) BERTHOLLET, CLAUDE LOUIS BENTON, THOMAS HART BERTHON, EDWARD LYON BENTON HARBOR BERTHOUD, FERDINAND BENUE BERTILLON, LOUIS ADOLPHE BEN VENUE BERTIN BENZALDEHYDE BERTINORO, OBADIAH BENZENE BERTINORO BENZIDINE BERTOLD BENZOIC ACID BERTOLD VON REGENSBURG BENZOIN (ketone-alcohol) BERTRAM, CHARLES BENZOIN (balsamic resin) BERTRAND, HENRI GRATIEN BENZOPHENONE BERTRICH BENZYL ALCOHOL BERULLE, PIERRE DE BEOTHUK BERVIE BEOTHY, ODON BERWICK, JAMES FITZJAMES BEOWULF BERWICKSHIRE BEQUEST BERWICK-UPON-TWEED BERAIN, JEAN BERYL BERANGER, PIERRE JEAN DE BERYLLIUM BERAR BERYLLONITE BERARD, JOSEPH FREDERIC BERZELIUS, JONS JAKOB BERAT BES BERAUN BESANCON BERBER BESANT, SIR WALTER BERBERA BESENVAL DE BRONSTATT, PIERRE VICTOR BERBERINE BESKOW, BERNHARD VON BERBERS BESNARD, PAUL ALBERT BERCEUSE BESOM BERCHEM, NICOLAAS BESSARABIA BERCHTA BESSARION, JOHANNES BERCHTESGADEN BESSBOROUGH, EARLS OF BERCK BESSEGES BERDICHEV BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM BERDYANSK BESSEL FUNCTION BEREA BESSEMER, SIR HENRY BEREKHIAH NAQDAN BESSEMER BERENGARIUS BESSIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE BERENGER, ALPHONSE THOMAS BESSUS BERENICE (princesses) BEST, WILLIAM THOMAS BERENICE (seaport of Egypt) BESTIA BERESFORD, LORD DE LA POER BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH BERESFORD, JOHN BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, MIKHAIL PETROVICH BERESFORD, WILLIAM BERESFORD BET and BETTING BEREZINA BETAINE BEREZOV BETEL NUT BEREZOVSK BETHANY BERG BETHEL BERGAMASK BETHENCOURT, JEAN DE BERGAMO BETHESDA (Jerusalem) BERGAMOT, OIL OF BETHESDA (Wales) BERGEDORF BETH-HORON BERGEN BETHLEHEM (Palestine) BERGEN-OP-ZOOM BETHLEHEM (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) BERGERAC BETHLEHEMITES BERGHAUS, HEINRICH BETHLEN, GABRIEL BERGK, THEODOR BETHNAL GREEN BERGLER, STEPHAN BETHUNE {family) BERGMAN, TORBERN OLOF BETHUNE, CONON DE BERGSCHRUND BETHUNE (town of France) BERGUES BETROTHAL BERHAMPUR (Bengal, India) BETTERMENT BERHAMPUR (Madras, India) BETTERTON, THOMAS BERI-BERI BETTIA BERING, VITUS BETTINELLI, SAVERIO BERING ISLAND, SEA and STRAIT BETTWS Y COED BERING SEA ARBITRATION BETTY, WILLIAM HENRY WEST BERIOT, CHARLES AUGUSTE DE BETUL BERJA BETWA BERKA BEUDANT, FRANCOIS SULPICE BERKELEY (English family) BEUGNOT, JACQUES CLAUDE BERKELEY, GEORGE BEULE, CHARLES ERNEST BERKELEY, MILES JOSEPH BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM BEUST, FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON BERKELEY (California, U.S.A.) BEUTHEN (Niederbeuthen) BERKELEY (town of England) BEUTHEN (Oberbeuthen) BERKHAMPSTEAD BEVEL BERKSHIRE, THOMAS HOWARD BEVERLEY, WILLIAM ROXBY BERKSHIRE BEVERLEY BERLAD BEVERLY BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ BEVIS OF HAMPTON BERLIN, ISAIAH BEWDLEY BERLIN (German city) BEWICK, THOMAS BERLIN (New Hampshire, U.S.A.) BEXHILL BERLIN (Ontario, Canada) BEXLEY, NICHOLAS VANSITTART BERLIN (carriage) BEXLEY BERLIOZ, HECTOR BEY BERM BEYBAZAR BERMONDSEY BEYLE, MARIE HENRI BERMUDAS BEYRICH, HEINRICH ERNST VON BERMUDEZ BEYSCHLAG, WILLIBALD BERN (Swiss canton) BEZA, THEODORE BERN (Swiss city) BEZANT BERNARD, SAINT BEZANTEE BERNARD OF CHARTRES BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH BERNARD, CHARLES DE BEZEL BERNARD, CLAUDE BEZIQUE BERNARD, JACQUES BEZWADA BERNARD, MOUNTAGUE BHAGALPUR BERNARD, SIMON BHAMO BERNARD, SIR THOMAS BHANDARA BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST BHANG BERNAUER, AGNES BHARAHAT BERNAY BHARAL BERNAYS, JAKOB BHARATPUR BERNBURG BHATGAON BERNERS, JOHN BOURCHIER BHATTIANA BERNERS, JULIANA BHAU DAJI BERNHARD OF SAXE-WEIMAR BHAUNAGAR BERNHARDT, SARAH BHEESTY BERNHARDY, GOTTFRIED BHERA BERNI, FRANCESCO BHILS BERNICIA BHIMA BERNICIAN SERIES BHIWANI BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO BHOPAL BERNIS, FRANCOIS PIERRE DE BHOPAWAR BERNKASTEL BHOR BERNOULLI BHUJ BERNSTEIN, AARON BHUTAN BERNSTORFF, ANDREAS PETER BIANCHINI, FRANCESCO BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GUNTHER BIARRITZ BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HARTWIG ERNST BIAS (Sage of Greece) BEROSSUS BIAS (something oblique) BERRY, CHARLES ALBERT BIBACULUS, MARCUS FURIUS BERRY, CHARLES FERDINAND BIBER, HEINRICH JOHANN FRANZ VON BERRY, JOHN BIBERACH BERRY BIBIRINE BENT, JAMES THEODORE (1852-1897), English traveller, was the son of James Bent of Baildon House, near Leeds, Yorkshire, where he was born on the 30th of March 1852. He was educated at Repton school and Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1875. In 1877 he married Mabel, daughter of R.W. Hall-Dare of Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, and she became his companion in all his travels. He went abroad every year and became thoroughly acquainted with Italy and Greece. In 1879 he published a book on the republic of San Marino, entitled _A Freak of Freedom_, and was made a citizen of San Marino; in the following year appeared _Genoa: How the Republic Rose and Fell_, and in 1881 a _Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi_. He spent considerable time in the Aegean archipelago, of which he wrote in _The Cyclades: or Life among the Insular Greeks_ (1885). From this period Bent devoted himself particularly to archaeological research. The years 1885-1888 were given up to investigations in Asia Minor, his discoveries and conclusions being communicated to the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ and other magazines and reviews. In 1889 he undertook excavations in the Bahrein Islands of the Persian Gulf, and found evidence that they had been a primitive home of the Phoenician race. After an expedition in 1890 to Cilicia Trachea, where he obtained a valuable collection of inscriptions, Bent spent a year in South Africa, with the object, by investigation of some of the ruins in Mashonaland, of throwing light on the vexed question of their origin and on the early history of East Africa. He made the first detailed examination of the Great Zimbabwe. Bent described his work in _The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_ (1892). In 1893 he investigated the ruins of Axum and other places in the north of Abyssinia, partially made known before by the researches of Henry Salt and others, and _The Sacred City of the Ethiopians_ (1893) gave an account of this expedition. Bent now visited at considerable risk the almost unknown Hadramut country (1893-1894), and during this and later journeys in southern Arabia he studied the ancient history of the country, its physical features and actual condition. On the Dhafar coast in 1894-1895 he visited ruins which he identified with the Abyssapolis of the frankincense merchants. In 1895-1896 he examined part of the African coast of the Red Sea, finding there the ruins of a very ancient gold-mine and traces of what he considered Sabean influence. While on another journey in South Arabia (1896-1897), Bent was seized with malarial fever, and died in London on the 5th of May 1897, a few days after his return. Mrs Bent, who had contributed by her skill as a photographer and in other ways to the success of her husband's journeys, published in 1900 _Southern Arabia, Soudan and Sakotra_, in which were given the results of their last expedition into that region. The conclusions at which Bent arrived as to the Semitic origin of the ruins in Mashonaland have not been accepted by archaeologists, but the value of his pioneer work is undeniable (see ZIMBABWE). BENT. 1. (From "to bend"), primarily the result of bending; hence any inclination from the straight, as in curved objects like a hook or a bow; this survives in the modern phrase "to follow one's own bent," i.e. to pursue a certain course in a direction deviating from the normal, as also in such phrases as Chaucer's "Downward on a hill under a bent," indicating a hollow or declivity in the general configuration of the land. From the bending of a bow comes the idea of tension, as in Hamlet, "they fool me to the top of my bent," i.e. to the utmost of my capacity.