Beerbohm
MAX, an English author and artist, born in 1872. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford. His literary career began with contributions to "The Yellow Book." He attracted the attention of Lord Northcliffe and began writing for the latter's papers. Soon he contributed to most of the important English periodicals. He had remarkable talent as a caricaturist and he employed his pencil with great success in depicting the leading figures of English social and political life. His writings display great wit and powers of satire. They include "The Happy Hypocrite"; "The Poet's Corner"; "The Second Childhood of John Bull"; "Zuleika Dobson," a novel. :
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Beers
HENRY AUGUSTIN, an American educator, born in Buffalo in 1847. He graduated from Yale University in 1869, and in the following year he was admitted to the bar of New York. He joined the faculty of Yale University as tutor in 1871 and became assistant professor in 1864 and professor of English literature in 1880. He wrote "A Century of American Literature" (1878); "From Chaucer to Tennyson" (1890); "The Ways of Yale" (1895); "Points at Issue" (1904); etc. He was a frequent contributor to the leading magazines and wrote, in addition to those mentioned above, several volumes of verse. BEERSHEBA (now Bir-es-Seba, "the well of the oath"), the place where Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, and in common speech, representative of the southernmost limit of Palestine, near which it is situated. It is now a mere heap of ruins. BEES" WAX, the wax of bees, used by them for constructing their cells. It is a secretion elaborated within the body of the animal from the saccharine matter of honey, and extruded in plates from beneath the rings of the abdomen.
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Bees
It is maintained by certain demonologists that if a sorceress ate a queen-bee before being captured, she would be able to sustain her trial and tortures without making a confession. In some parts of Brittany it is claimed for these insects that they are very sensitive to the fortunes and misfortunes of their master, and will not thrive unless he is careful to tie a piece of black cloth to the hive when a death occurs in the family, and a piece of red cloth when there is any occasion of rejoicing. Solinus writes that there are no bees in Ireland , and even if a little Irish earth be taken to another country, and spread about the hives, the bees will be forced to abandon the place, so fatal to them is the earth of Ireland. The same story is found in the Origines of Isodore. "Must we seek," says Lebrun, "the source of this calumny of Irish earth ? No; for it is sufficient to say that it is a fable, and that many bees are to be found in Ireland."
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Bees-wax
An excellent substance for coating iron patterns with, to prevent the sand from adhering thereto. To prepare the patterns, let them be well finished, and sprinkled with dilute acid; after which, when rusted in the atmosphere, they can be cleaned, heated, and the wax applied while hot, spreading it evenly over the surface with a brush. See WAX.
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Beet Root
the root of the beet (beta vulgaris); ; a valuable food, owing to a large amount of sugar it _contains. Nearly all the sugar used in France is made from the beet, and in this country many of the sugar refiners use it in their sugar factories. In Germany, a coarse spirit is manufactured from the beet , a large proportion of which is imported into other countries and made into methylated spirit. Beet root contains 10 per cent. of sugar, and about 2 per cent. of nitrogenous matters. It was formerly used to adulterate coffee.
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Beet Sugar
the sugar obtained from the beet; similar to cane sugar; but inferior in sweetening power . Beet root contains an average of about 10 per cent. of saccharine matter ; sugar cane , 18 per cent. Of the varieties, the white Slevig beet is the richest. The beet sugar industry was started by Marggraf, in Germany, in 1747 , who was the first to discover that sugar could be extracted from the common beet. The first factory for its manufacture was erected by Achard, at Kunern , in Silesia, in 1802. Napoleon issued an imperial decree in the early part of his reign establishing this chis industry in France. In 1830, attempts were made in the United States to introduce the cultivation of the sugar beet. It was not, however, till 1876 that the first successful beet sugar factory was built, being erected in Alvarado, Cal. Others soon followed and the business has now become an important industry. The following shows the production of beet sugar in Europe, as officially reported for 1919-1920 (in tons of 2,240 pounds): Germany. Czecho-Slovakia. France.. Russia and Poland. Belgium. Holland.. Other countries. Total in Europe.... 750,000 535,000 154,444 225,000 144,662 236,277 630,666 2,676,049 The following shows the production of beet sugar in the United States, as officially reported for 1919 (in tons of 2,000 pounds): California. Michigan. Nebraska. Ohio.. Utah.. Wisconsin.. Colorado. Idaho...
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Beethoven
LUDWIG VAN (bātō'ven, or ba'tō-ven), one of the greatest musical composers of modern times , was born in Bonn, in 1770. His genius was very early displayed, and his musical education was begun by his father , and continued by the court organist, who introduced him to the works of Sebastian Bach and Handel. About 1790, he settled in Vienna, where Mozart quickly recognized his marvelous powers. When about 40 years of age, he was attacked with deafness, which lasted through life. He became, gradually, the victim of morbid irritability and hopeless melancholy , ending in confirmed hypochondria , and, finally, dropsy and delirium. He continued to compose, however, long after he had ceased to hear himself play. He died unmarried, in Vienna, March 26, 1827. The works of Beethoven are very numerous, and in every variety of style -orchestral, chamber music, pianoforte and vocal music. Among the most celebrated are the opera of "Fidelio "; the oratorio of the "Mount of Olives "; the cantata "Adelaide"; "Sinfonia Eroica" ("Heroic Symphony"); "Sinfonia Pastorale" ("Pastoral Symphony"); "Concerto in C Minor"; "Sonata Pathétique ": and the "Sonata with Funeral March" Vast power, intense passion , and infinite tenderness are manifested in all his compositions, which abound no less in sweetest melodies than in grand and complicated harmonies. A statue of Beethoven, by Hähnel, was erected at Bonn, in 1845 .
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