Beetling
in the manufacture of certain cotton and linen fabrics, a finishing process which renders them soft, smooth, and glossy. It also flattens the threads to a uniform thickness. The process may be described as a form of mangling. The beetling machine consists of two wooden rollers and some wooden weights or hammers. The cloth is wound on one of the rollers and runs slowly to the other, passing backward and forward several times. Meanwhile the hammers, which are suspended above the rollers, are raised mechanically, and fall by their own weight upon the fabric. The beetling process is continued for several days at a time in finishing certain linen goods.
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Begas
REINHOLD, sculptor, born in 1831. He studied in Germany and in Rome. His work created immediate attention and was considered to mark a new era of sculpture in Germany. Among his most important monuments were those to Frederick William III. at Cologne, the Schiller monument in Berlin, Fountain of Neptune, monument to Bismarck, and a marble statue of Emperor Emperor William II. He also made many portrait busts and other works. He died in 1911.
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Beggar
one whose habitual practice is to implore people for alms, whether because he has some physical or mental defect which wholly or partially incapacitates him from working; or because he is too idle to work.
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Beghards
BEGUARDS, or BO- GARDS, various spellings of a name said by some to be derived from their begging favor from God in prayer, and prayer, to the fact that they were religious mendicants. Another opinion is that they are named after St. Begghe, whom they took for their patroness. In general Church history, "the terti minicans and Franciscans. In a special sense, the tertiaries of the Franciscans. By the third rule of St. Francis, those might have a certain loose connection with this order, who, without forsaking their worldly business, or forbearing to marry, yet dressed poorly, were continent, prayerful, and grave in manners. In France they they were called Beguini, and in Italy, Bizochi, and Bocasoti. They were greatly persecuted by successive Popes. The name was also applied to certain religious people who associated themselves into a kind of monastic lodging house under a chief, while they were unmarried, retiring when they pleased. As they often supported themselves by weaving, they were sometimes called "Brother Weavers." They first attracted notice in the Netherlands in the 13th century. They were established at Antwerp in 1228, and adopted the third rule of St. Francis in 1290.
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Behar and Orissa
a province in lower Bengal, India, area, 120,000 square miles; constituted in 1912, between Bengal and the Himalayas. Pop. about 40,000,000. Capital, Patna. The chief crops are rice, sugar-cane, corn, and indigo.
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Behistun
or BISUTUN, a mountain near a village of the same name in Persian Kurdistan, celebrated for the sculptures and cuneiform inscriptions cut upon one of its sides a rock rising almost perpendicularly to the height of 1,700 feet. These works, which stand about 300 feet from the ground, were executed by the orders of Darius I., King of Persia, ia, and set forth his genealogy and victories. To receive the inscriptions, the rock was carefully polished and coated with a hard, siliceous varnish. Their probable date is about 515 b. c. They were first copied and deciphered by Rawlinson.
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Behmeria
a genus of plants, order urticaceæ. From several species valuable fibers are obtained. B. frutescens, or puya, a plant growing wild in Nepaul and Sikkim, is the source of the celebrated pooah fiber, which rivals the best European flax for tenacity. This species attains the height of six or eight feet; but the stem is usually very slender. It is cut down for use when the seed is formed; the bark is then peeled off, dried, boiled with wood ashes, and beaten with mallets, to separate its component fibers. grs. B. speciosa, the wild rhea, also yields a very strong fiber, which is much used in o the East. B. nivea, the tchou ma of the o Chinese, is now known to yield the fiber used in the manufacture of the beautiful fabric called Chinese grass cloth. The most important species, B. nivea or tenacissima, is best known by the more common name, Ramie.
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Behn
APHRA, or AFRA, or APHARA, an English author, born in Wye, in 1640. Early in life she spent several years in the West Indies, where she met the Indians, who became the model of her famous "Oroonoko." She was the first woman writer in England who earned a livelihood by her pen. Her dramatic works include "The Forced "The Amorous Marriage" (1671); Prince" (1671); "The Dutch Lover" (1673); "Abdelazar" (1677); "The Rover" (1677); "The Debauchee" (1677); "The Town Fop" (1677); "The False Count" (1682). She also wrote "Poems" (1684); etc. She died in London, April 16, 1689.
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Behring
EMIL ADOLPH VON, a German bacteriologist, born at Hansdorf, Prussia, in 1854. He studied medicine in Berlin and for a time served as army surgeon. In 1890 he became assistant to Koch in the Institution for Infectious Diseases. He carried on studies in disinfectants and bacterial toxins. These led to the production of diphtheria antitoxin. In 1894 Behring became professor of hygiene at the Halle University, but in the following year was given charge of the Institute for Hygienic Research at Marburg University. He received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1901. In his later years he devoted much attention to tuberculosis and developed an antitoxin which rendered cattle immune. Following this he developed a method of inoculation against diphtheria. He wrote several volumes on medical subjects. He died in 1917.
another spelling of BE- RING (q. v.).
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Behring Sea
. See Bering Sea Beige or Debeige, bazh, a light-weight, twilled, dress fabric. A peculiar color effect is produced by twisting two yarns of different colors. Gray and white, drab and white, or two shades of gray, of drab, or of slate, are the usual colors of beige. The word beige is from the French, and means gray.
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Beira
a province of Portugal, between Spain and the Atlantic, and bounded by the Douro on the N., and by the Tagus and Estremadura on the S. Area, 9,208 square miles. Pop . about 1,700,000. Chief town, Coimbra (pop. about 20,000). It is mountainous and well watered, and productive of wine and olives. BEIRUT. See BEYRUT.
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