Benlomond
a mountain of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, on the E. shore of Loch Lomond, rising to a height of 3,192 feet and giving a magnificent prospect of the vale of Stirlingshire, the Lothians, the Clyde, etc.
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Single-source entries: B (43)
Each of these 11 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
Bentham
JEREMY, an English jurist, born in London, Feb. 15, 1748; educated at Westminster and Oxford; entered Lincoln's Inn, in 1763. He was called to the bar, but did not practice, and, having private means, devoted himself to the reform of civil and criminal legislation. A criticism on a passage in Blackstone's "Commentaries," published under the title, "A Fragment on Government" (1776), brought him into notice. His most important works are: "The Hard Labor Bill" (1778); "Principles of Morals and Legislation" (1780); "A Defense of Usury" (1787); "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" (1789); "Discourses on Civil and Penal Legislation" (1802); "Treatise on Judicial Evidence" (1813); "Paper Relative to Codification and Public Instruction" (1817); and the "Book of Fallacies" (1824). His mind, though at once subtle and comprehensive, was characterized by something lacking in method and sense of proportion; and he is therefore seen at his best in works revised by his disciples. In England, James Mill, Romilly, John ohn Stuart Mill, Burton, and others of independent genius, have been among his exponents. In ethics he must be regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism; in polity and criminal law he anticipated or suggested many practical reforms; and his whole influence was stimulating and humanizing. He died in London, June 6, 1832, leaving his body for dissection.
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Bentham, Jeremy
ben'tam, Jeremy (1748-1832), a distinguished English writer. He was a native of London. Bentham may be associated in mind with Mill, Carlyle, Ruskin, and a host of other writers who insisted that English laws and English society did injustice to the great mass of the people. His house stood at the back end of an alley and faced inward on a little garden, "like an oasis in the desert." He desired privacy in order to busy himself with his studies, but his house was always open to his friends. It was quite a resort for thinking people. In 1823 he founded the Westminster Review, a periodical which had much influence on the legislation of Great Britain . A nephew, George Bentham, was a frequenter of the Kew Gardens and united with Sir Joseph Hooker in the preparation of Genera Plantarum, or genera of plants, the greatest descriptive botany ever written. See Mill
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Bentley
RICHARD, an English critic, born in Oulton, Yorkshire, Jan. 27, 1662. He is pronounced by some authorities the best classical scholar England has produced. produced. His writings are "Latin Epistle to John Mill, Containing Critical Observations on the Chronicle of Joannes Malala" (1691); the very celebrated "Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris" (1697); and editions of Horace and Terence, besides commentaries on the classics, all of great value. He died in July, 1742.
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Benton Harbor
a city of Michigan, in Berrien co. It is on the St. Joseph river, and on the Pere Marquette, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, and the Michigan Central railroads. It is connected with Lake Michigan by a ship canal, has an excellent harbor, and is connected by steamboat lines with Chicago and Milwaukee. There are important manufactures of furniture, flour, lumber, etc. In the neighborhood are medicinal springs which have made the city an important summer resort. Pop. (1910) 9,185; (1920) 12,233.
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Benton, Thomas Hart
Thomas Hart (1782-1858), a native of North Carolina . He was a member of the Tennessee legislature and served as a colonel in the War of 1812. He moved to Missouri to engage in newspaper work. He served that state as a United States Senator from 1821 to 1851. During his lifetime he published his Thirty Years' View, a historical retrospect of the period during which he sat in the Senate. While his rank was subordinate to that of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, his career was open and honorable. He was an ardent supporter of Jackson in the famous nullification contest with Calhoun. His efforts in support of sound money won him the nickname of "Old Bullion." He favored the extension of slavery. He failed in an attempt to harmonize the views of the Northern Democracy with those of the Southern wing, and consequently lost prestige and fell out of politics. See Fremont ; Douglas
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Benzene
an aromatic hydrocarbon, also called benzol, or phenyl hydride, discovered in 1825 by Faraday in the liquid condensed during the compression of oil gas. In 1849, it was found in coal tar by C. B. Mansfield, who lost his life while experimenting ing with it on Feb. 25, 1855. Aniline is produced from it, which again is the source of the the celebrated modern dyes. It is obtained from the more volatile portion of coal tar oil. It is also formed by distilling benzoic acid with lime. Benzene is a thin, colorless, strongly refracting liquid; it boils at 82°. It dissolves fats, resins, iodine, sulphur, and phosphorus; sp. gr., 0.885.
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Benzoate of Soda
a preservative used in the manufacture of food products. The use of it in a quantity not greater than one-tenth of 1 per cent. is permitted by the Federal Government, but its use among packers of food has gradually been abolished.
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Benzoic Acid
a vegetable acid obtained from benzoin and other resins and balsams, as those of Peru and Tolu. It forms light feathery needles; taste pungent and bitterish; odor, slightly aromatic. The salts of benzoic acid are known as benzoates.
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Benzoic Ether
a colorless, oily liquid, with a feeble aromatic smell and a pungent aromatic taste, obtained by distilling together four parts alcohol, two of crystallized benzoic acid, and one of concentrated hydrochloric acid.
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Benzoil
or BENJAMIN, in botany and commerce, as benjamin, a kind of resin, obtained from a tree, the styrax benzoin, which belongs to the order ebenacea (ebenads). It grows in Sumatra, Borneo, and the adjacent islands. It is used as a medicine in chronic diseases of the lungs, as an ingredient in perfumery, and in the incense of Roman Catholic and Ritualist churches. In botany, as benzoin, a genus of plants belonging to the order lauraceæ (laurels). The species are found in North America and in Nepaul. The berries of benzoin odoriferum yield an aromatic stimulant oil. In chemistry (C14H12O2) a polymeric modification of benzoic aldehyde, which remains in the retort when the crude oil is distilled with lime or iron oxide to free it from hydrocyanic acid.
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