Bessel
FRIEDRICH WILHELM, astronomer, born in Minden, Prussia, July 22, 1784. After some experience as an assistant in Schröter's observatory, he was appointed director of the new observatory at Königsberg. He first developed the theory of correcting for instrumental sources of error in all kinds of observations, and almost all the im provements in astronomical accuracy since his time have been only the further carrying out of his ideas. His investigations into the length of the seconds pendulum and that of standards of length were of the highest importance. The later years of his life were largely taken up with this subject of the general connection of all the European triangulations into one consistent system. He died in Königsberg, March 17, 1846.
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Bessemer, Sir Henry
Sir Henry (1813-1898), an English inventor. He received his education chiefly in the type-foundry of his father, and early showed remarkable inventive ability. Among other inventions was a device for stamping deeds which was adopted by the English government, and to which he owed his knighthood. He discovered a method of making bronze powder which brought him commercial success. He also improved the methods of casting type. His greatest invention is that of the so-called Bessemer process of making steel. It consists essentially in blowing a blast of air through a molten mass of pig iron so as to clear it of carbon. A small quantity of carbon is then added, just enough to convert the mass into steel. This process so cheapened the cost of producing steel that it came into immediate favor for rails and general structural purposes. The great steel industries of the United States have been built up on the Bessemer patents. Bessemer, Alabama, and Bessemer, Michigan, were named for this inventor.
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Bessey
CHARLES EDWIN, an American botanist, born in Milton, O., May 21, 1845; educated at Harvard University; Professor of Botany in the Iowa Agricultural College in 1870-1884; Professor of Botany in the University of Nebraska since 1884. He was also President of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science in 1883- 1885; President of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences in 1891; acting Chancellor of the University of Nebraska in 1888-1891; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His publications include "Reports on Insects" (1873-1874); "Geography of Iowa" (1876); "The Erysiphei of North America" (1877); "Botany for High Schools and Colleges" (1880); "Essentials of Botany" (1884); Elementary Botany" (1904); "Synopsis of Plant Phyla" (1907); "Outlines of Plant Phyla" (1909), with others. "New Elementary Agriculture" (1911). He died in 1915.
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Best
WILLIAM THOMAS, an English musician, born in Carlisle, Aug. 13, 1826; received his musical training from Mr. Young, the organist of the Carlisle Cathedral. In 1848 he was appointed organist of the Philharmonic Society in Liverpool; in 1852 he went to London and became organist of the Panoptican of Science and Art, and also of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; in 1854 was organist of Lincoln's Inn Chapel; in 1855, returned to Liverpool, and became organist of St. George's Hall; in 1868 was organist of the Liverpool Musical Society; and in 1872 was again engaged by the Philharmonic Society. He was the author of "The Modern School for the Organ" (1853); "The Art of Organ Playing" (1870); "Arrangements from the Scores of the Great Masters" (1873); "The Organ Student," etc. He died in Liverpool, May 10, 1897.
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Bestiary
the name given to a class of written books of great popularity in the Middle Ages, describing all the animals of creation, real or fabled, composed partly in prose, partly in verse, and generally illustrated by drawings. But they were valuable for the moral allegories they contained, no less than as handbooks of zoological facts. The oldest Latin bestiaries had an early Greek original, the well known "Physiologus," under which name about 50 such allegories were grouped. The Greek text of this famous work is found only in manuscript. There are old Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopic, Arabic, Icelandic, and numerous Latin versions. Editions of the Latin have been issued-Mai, Heider, and Cahier. An Old High German version was made earlier than the 11th century; in the 12th century, versions in French were made by Philippe de Thaun and Guillaume, a priest of Normandy. The "Bestiary of Love" of Richard de Fournival was rather a parody upon the ealier form of such books.
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Betham-Edwards
MATILDA, an English author, born in Suffolk, in 1836; was educated privately; has published numerous works in poetry, fiction, and on French rural life. She was made an officer of public instruction in France in 1891. Among her works are "The White House by the Sea," "Kitty," "France of To-Day," "A Romance of Dijon," "The Lord of the Harvest," a volume of poems, "East of Paris" (1902); "Home Life in France" (1905); "French Men, Women, and Books" (1910).
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Bethania
or BETHANY a town in Syria, about 2 miles S. E. of Jerusalem, on the way to Jericho. It is now a small place, inhabited by a few Turkish families, by whom it is called Lazari, in memory of Lazarus. The inhabitants show the pretended sites of the houses of Lazarus, of Martha, of Simon the leper, and of Mary Magdalene.
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Bethany College
a coeducational institution in Bethany, W. Va., organized in 1841; under the auspices of the Church of the Disciples; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 29; students, 500; president, T. E. Cramblet, A. M.
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Bethel
a town of Palestine, about 10 miles from Jerusalem, now called Beitin, or Beiteen. The patriarch Jacob here had a vision of angels, in commemoration of which he built an altar. Interesting ruins abound in the vicinity.
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Bethel College
an educational institution in Russellville, Ky.; organized in 1854; under the auspices of the Baptist Church; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors 12; students, 263; president, G. F. Dasher.
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Bethesda
a pool in Jerusalem, near St. Stephen's Gate, ate, and the Temple of Omar. It is 400 feet long, 130 broad, and 75 deep, and is now known as Birket Israel (see John v: 2-9).
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Bethsaida
a village on the W. shore of the Lake of Galilee, the birthplace of Peter and Andrew and Philip. Its site has been identified with a heap of grass-grown ruins. At the N. E. extremity of the lake was another Bethsaida, a village, near which the 5,000 were fed. Philip the Tetrarch raised it to the dignity of a town, and renamed it Julias, in honor of the Emperor Augustus' daughter.
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