Beam
The foundry lifting-beam consists of a rectangular beam of wrought or cast iron, or wood, mounted with straps and ring to hang central in the block-hook of a crane. Notches sunk at equal intervals from each end allow of a balanced lift being taken with a pair of slings which fit the beam at one end and the flask-trunnions at the other, by which means the flask can be turned clear over before it is rested. By means of beam-hooks, chains may be hitched at any number of places along the sides. See SLINGS; BEAM-HOOK. A sound oak beam would require to measure four times the thickness of cast-iron to be of equal strength. The table at page 44 will be found of great service when it is desired to construct a cast-beam for the purpose as described above, or for any other purpose for which cast iron beams are applicable.
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Beam-sling
A sling with its upper end forged to fit the beam used, the lower end being made to two diameters; the larger one for passing over the collar of the trunnion, the smaller to fit the body of the same. See SLING; BEAM; TRUNNION.
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Beans
A forbidden article of diet. The consumption of beans was prohibited by Pythagoras and Plato to those who desire veracious dreams, as they tend to inflate; and for the purpose of truthful dreaming, the animal nature must be made to lie quiet. Cicero, however, laughs at this discipline, asking if it be the stomach and not the mind with which one dreams ?
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Bear Baiting
the practice of setting mastiffs to fight with captive bears. The custom was once prevalent in England, and afforded great amusement, both to rustics and those of high degree; but it was a matter of life or death for the bear. The sport was forbidden by Parliament in 1853. One of Macaulay's most enjoyable quips at the expense of the Puritans is found in discussing bear-baiting. "The Puritans hated it, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." The real reason for objection, of course, was that they knew the sport brutalized the spectators. The Puritans were the first modern legislators to insist on humane treatment of all dumb animals. 2026 Editor's Note: Bear-baiting was a rival to the theater in Shakespeare's London — the bear-gardens stood near the Globe — before Britain finally banned it in 1835 (not 1853, as the entry says), part of the same humane awakening that founded the animal-welfare movement. Macaulay's famous jibe at the Puritans still stings, and the cruel sport sadly persists, illegally, in a few countries today. (Ed: BR 2026-06-05)
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Bear Lake
GREAT, an extensive sheet of fresh water in the Mackenzie district of Canada, between about 65° and 67° 32′ N. lat.; and under the 120th degree of W. long.; of irregular shape; area about 14,000 square miles. The water is very clear, and the lake abounds in fish. Bear Lake river, the outlet at the S. W. extremity of Great Bear Lake, runs S. W. for 70 miles and joins the Mackenzie river. BÉARN (byärn), formerly one of the 32 provinces into which France was divided, and now forming the greatest portion of the department of Basses- Pyrénées. The inhabitants are chiefly Gascons, with a strong infusion of Basque que bl blood, and they speak the purest Gascon dialect. Béarn was a portion of Aquitania under the Romans, and, after the downfall of that Empire, under its ruling dukes, it was a country of considerable importance. From the intermarriage of the ruling family, the counts of Foix, with that of Navarre, sprang the French monarch, Henry IV., because he was born and brought who, ho, up in Béarn, was derisively called Le Béarnois.
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Bear River
a river of the United States, 400 miles long; rises in the N. of Utah, and flows N. into Idaho; turns abruptly S., re-enters Utah, and empties into Great Salt Lake.
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Bearberry
a small, red-fruited plant of the blueberry kind. The ordinary bearberry grows in northern blueberry countries everywhere,--in Siberia, northern Europe, and North America . It is a favorite berry with the common bear. Some thirty other species of bearberry are found, chiefly in North and Central America . One, the Nevada bearberry, grows in the haunts of the grizzly bear, illustrating the principle that certain plants and animals are found together. Change your berry and you change your bear. 2026 Editor's Note: Bearberry, or uva-ursi ('bear's grape'), earned a place in the medicine cabinet: its leaves are still used in herbal remedies for urinary complaints, and Native Americans smoked it as 'kinnikinnick.' The entry's cheerful maxim — 'change your berry and you change your bear' — neatly captures the ecological truth that certain species always travel tog ether . (Ed: BR 2026-07-21)
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Beard
CHARLES AUSTIN, an American educator and historian, born at Knightstown, Ind., in 1874. He graduated from DePauw University in 1898 and took post-graduate studies at Oxford, Cornell, and Columbia universities, becoming adjunct professor of politics of Columbia University in 1907. He became successively assistant professor and professor in that subject. He resigned in 1916 and became director of the Training School for Public Service in New York City. He was a member of many historical and economic societies. His published writings include "Introduction to the English Historians" (1906); "Development of Modern Europe" (1907); "American Government and Politics" (1910); "American City Government" (1912); "Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy" (1915).
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Beard (II)
DANIEL CARTER, an American artist and writer, born in Cincinnati in 1850. He received an academic education and studied art in New York City from 1880 to 1884. He became well known as an illustrator of magazines and books. From 1893 to 1900 he was teacher of animal drawing at the Woman's School of Applied Design. He was editor of "Recreation" from 1905 to 1906. He was one of the organizers of the Boy Scouts movement of the United States ates and was national scout commissioner and honorary vice-president of the Boy Scouts of America. He was the author of many books for boys, includ- Boys' Handy Book" ing "American H (1882); "Dan Beard's Animal Book" (1907); "The Buckskin Book and Buckskin Calendar" (1911); "Shelters, Shacks and Shanties" (1914). He was chief of the school of woodcraft known as the Dan Beard Out-Door School.
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