simply to have united verbally any two great ideas, though for a purpose the most differ. ent or even opposite, had the mysterious power of realizing them in act. An exclamation though in the purest spirit of sport was many times supposed to be a mandate and forerunner. Words that were blind, and words that were born from frantic depths of anguish oftentimes, it was thought, excited themselves." Xenophon in his Memorabilia speaks of the omens derived from chance sayings. Cicero in his treatise on Divination mentions the fact that M. Crassus when about to cross over from Brundisium with his army into Greece heard a fig dealer crying out "Cauneas !"-the name of a kind of figs. This was held to be an evil omen as it sounded like Cave ne eas (" beware of going !''). Suetonius tells us that Augustus Cæsar never commenced a journey on the Nones (Nonis) of the month because non is means "thou goest not." Alexander the Great approached the Pythian priestess at Delphi and demanded an oracle. The priestess delaying, Alexander grew impatient and urged her, until, vexed at his importunity, she exclaimed peevishly: "Youth, thou art not to be defeated!" referring to his imperious insistence; but Alexander accepted her hasty utterance as being the very omen that he wished; and went away. The reader is referred to De Quincey's Modern Superstitions and to an interesting chapter in Farrar's Chapters on Language, ch. xxii. See SUPERSTITIONS.

BATH METAL is an alloy of nine parts of zinc to thirty-two of copper.

BATHOM ETER, an instrument invented by C. Williams Siemens, for indicating the depth of the sea beneath a passing vessel. The density of sea-water is about 1.026, while that of solid earth or rock has an average of about 2.75. Hence, the attraction emanating from the water which lies beneath the ship, is less than that which would be exerted by earth or rock occupying the same relative position, and the greater the depth of the water, the greater the loss of attraction. Hence, further, the weight of a given mass of matter on board the ship will be greater when the ship is ashore than when afloat, by an amount which may be made appreciable by an instrument of sufficient delicacy, and this diminution of weight may become a recognizable function of the greater depth of water. Dr. Siemens fills with mercury a vertical steel tube of small bore, fitted below with a cup-shaped expansion closed with a corrugated steel-plate diaphragm. The pressure of the mercury upon the upper surface of the diaphragm is antagonized by a plate adjusted to bear upon the center of its under surface, and this plate is supported by steel spiral springs that are attached to the top of the column. In the construction of the instrument, care has been taken to compensate for the variations caused in the density of the mercury, and in the elasticity of the steel springs, by change of temperature. As the tension of the springs varies with their extension, while the pressure of the mercury on the diaphragm varies with the attraction from deep or shallow water, the two forces adjust themselves by a movement of parts, and the motion is so magnified by a micrometer screw, having an electric tell-tale, that the apparatus indicates a change of a fathom in depth of water for each division on the scale of the micrometer.

BA'THORI, ELIZABETH, the niece of Stephen Bathori, king of Poland, and wife of count Nadasdi, a Hungarian nobleman, was born in the latter half of the 16th century. Her diabolical cruelty has condemned her memory to eternal infamy. By means of large bribes, she induced an old man-servant and two female servants to kidnap and convey to her, either by stratagem or force, young girls from the neighboring country, whom she slowly put to death in the dungeons of her castle by the most horrible tortures. It is related that on a certain occasion, having violently struck one of her victims, the blood spirted up into her own face, and, as she fancied, left the skin whiter when it was wiped off. An infernal idea instantly possessed her. She invited to a grand banquet all the young girls round about, and caused 300 of them to be put to death, being under the impression that a bath of blood would renew her youth. So monstrous a story is proba bly exaggerated, but it at least shows that she was conceived capable of it. Inquiry was at length made into the appalling rumors, when it was discovered that this female fiend had murdered, in cold blood, not fewer than 650 maidens. The domestics who assisted her were either beheaded or burned alive; but the countess, whose crimes merited inti nitely the greater punishment, was merely imprisoned for life in her fortress of Esej, where she died in 1614.

BATHOS (Gr. bathos, depth) is a term employed by critics to designate a ludicrous descent from a lofty thought to a mean one, or a sinking below the ordinary level of thought in a ridiculous effort to aspire. See CLIMAX. It is of the essence of B. that he who is guilty of it should be unconscious of his fall, and while groveling on the earth, should imagine that he is still cleaving the heavens. A good example of B. is the wellknown couplet:

And thou, Dalhousie, thou great god of war,
Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar.

BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES, ACTS REGARDING. The establishment of public B. and W. is regulated in England and Wales by two acts of parliament-the 9 and 10 Vict. c. 74, and 10 and 11 Vict. c. 61-which are to be considered as one act. The sanitary regulations so legalized are merely permissive, and in no respect made compulsory on the public; but their wisdom, benevolence, and consideration for the health of the people, strongly recommend their adoption. The provisions of the act may be adopted for any incorporated borough, or for any parish not within any such incorporated

borough; subject, however, in the case of a parish, to the approval of one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state. In the case of a borough, the adoption of the act is left to the discretion of the council of the borough; and the expense is to be charged upon the borough fund, the council being empowered to levy, either as part of the borough rate, or by a separate rate, such sums as may from time to time be necessary. In the case, again, of a parish, it is left to the vestry, with the sanction of one of the secretaries of state, to decide on the adoption of the act; and in such case, the vestry shall appoint not less than three, and not more than seven persons, ratepayers, to be commissioners for carrying out the provisions of the act. Regulations for the proceedings of these commissioners are prescribed in the act. The expense is to be charged upon the poor-rate. The vestries of any two or more parishes may concur in carrying out the act. The act contains numerous other provisions and regulations relating to the facilities required for the operations of the borough councils and parish commissioners: thus, they may borrow money with the approval of the treasury; they may have money advanced to them by the public works loan commissioners; they may avail themselves of the railway companies clauses consolidation act of 1845 for certain limited purposes, such as borrowing money on mortgage, the accountability of officers of the company, the making of by-laws subject to other provisions, and the recovery of damages and penalties.

After these preliminary facilities, the act proceeds to specify the powers of the borough councils and parish commissioners, as to erection or purchase of buildings, etc., for the purposes contemplated. Among other things, it is provided that the number of baths and the number of washing-tubs for the laboring-classes shall not be less than twice the number of those for any higher class or classes.

The council and commissioners respectively are empowered to make by-laws for regulating the use of the B. and W., which, however, shall not be enforced until they have been approved by a secretary of state. These by-laws must make sufficient provision for a variety of purposes specified in the schedule (A) to the act 9 and 10 Vict. c. 47; the scope of those purposes being to secure order, cleanliness, and decency. The charges for the use of the B. and W. are regulated by another schedule attached to the act 10 and 11 Vict. c. 61. In the baths for the laboring-classes, a single cold bath is not to exceed one penny; a single warm or vapor bath is not to exceed twopence. B. for any higher class are not to exceed three times the charges for those of the laboring-classes. In the wash-houses for the laboring-classes, the use of a single washing-tub, and other conveniences, is not to be charged more than one penny for one hour, or threepence for two hours together.

BATH-STONE, a building-stone extensively used in England on account of its beauty, is obtained from quarries in the Lower Oolite, in Wiltshire and Somersetshire. It is fine grained, of a rich cream color, and is composed of about 94 per cent of carbonate of lime, and 24 per cent of carbonate of magnesium, but is free from silica. It is easily wrought in the quarry, some beds cutting almost as readily as chalk, and hardens on exposure to the air, but is not very durable. Within twenty-five years after the reparation of Henry VII.'s chapel, in Westminster abbey, with this stone, it had begun to decompose. The name is derived from the neighborhood of several of the quarries to Bath.

66

BATH'URST, a name applied to various localities in honor of earl Bathurst, colonial secretary at the time.-1. B. in New South Wales, the first county that was settled beyond the Blue Mountains (q.v.), long believed to be impassable. It was not before 1813 that a practicable route was formed; and in April, 1815, governor Macquarie crossed the range by the newly made road with his lady and a numerous retinue, in order to mark with becoming pomp and circumstance" so important an epoch in the growth of the colony. B. has been still further distinguished in the history of New South Wales as the seat of its gold-fields. As early as 1844, the precious metal had, on geological grounds, been supposed to exist in Australia; but it was only on 12th Feb. 1851, that Mr. Hargreaves, a digger of California experience, washed the glittering prize out of a tin dish of gravel on the Bathurst Plains. The county is bounded on the n.e. by the Macquarie, and on the s. w. by the Lachlan. The whole district is admirably adapted to pastoral pursuits. It is well watered, and, being 1970 ft. above the level of the sea, it has a moderate temperature. Its chief town, Bathurst, was erected into a municipality in 1862. In 1895 its population was estimated at 9,350. The population of the district in 1891 was 18,000.-2. Bathurst Island, off North Australia, about lat. 12° s., and long. 130° east. It is fully 2° due w. of Port Essington, with Melville Island between. Its length and greatest breadth is 30 miles. Excepting the w. end, which is barren, the island is densely wooded.-3. B., the principal settlement of the British colony on the Gambia. It is situated on a small island at the mouth of the river, in lat. 13° 28′ n., and long. 16° 32′ west. Pop. about 6000. There are government houses, barracks and a hospital. Facing the river are the stores of European merchants. The exports consist of gum, wax, hides, rice, cotton, ground nuts, and india rubber.-4. B., a lake in the centre of Newfoundland, 40 m. long and drained by the Exploits river.— 5. B., a port of entry in Gloucester co., New Brunswick, Canada, 175 m. n. by e. of St. John. It has a good harbor. Pop. '91, 3000.-6. B., an island in the Arctic ocean, intersected by the 100th meridian, and situated immediately beyond the 75th

Batrachia.

parallel. Sherard Osborn here found the vertebræ of an ichthyosaurus-one of the few instances of organic remains occurring on the American side of the polar basin. See ARCTIC OCEAN.

BATH'URST, ALLEN BATH'URST, Earl of, 1684-1775; an English statesman. He was sent to parliament, in 1705, and distinguished himself as a supporter of the union of England and Scotland. In 1711, queen Anne made him a baron, and he won further distinction in the upper house by impeaching the directors of the notorious South Sea scheme. B. was a determined opponent of Walpole, and when that minister was forced to resign, B. was made a member of the privy council. In 1757, he became treasurer to the prince of Wales, and when the prince became George III., B. still continued in the privy council, but on account of age took no further action in politics. Lord B. was a generous patron of literature, and such writers as Congreve, Vanburgh, Swift, Prior, Rowe, Addison, Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, and others, were happy in his acquaintance. Pope dedicated his Epistle on the Use of Riches to Lord B., and complimented him in characteristic lines. B. received further elevation to an earldom in 1762, and lived to see his son a baron and lord chancellor of England.

BATH'URST, HENRY BATH'URST, Earl of, eminent tory statesman, b. 22d May, 1762, son of second earl (lord chancelor from 1771 to 1778), was in 1804 appointed master worker of the mint. In 1807, he became president of the board of trade, and was secretary of state for foreign affairs from 11th Oct. to 6th Dec. 1809. Appointed, 11th June, 1812, secretary for the colonies, in the administration of the earl of Liverpool, he held that office for sixteen years. In 1828, in the Wellington administration, he became president of the council, which office he retained till the resignation of the ministry in 1830. He died 26th July, 1834. At the time of his death, he was a teller of the exchequer, clerk of the crown, and elder brother of the Trinity house, K.G., D.C.L., F. R.S., F.S.A., etc. He was much esteemed by his party. His son, Henry George, succeeded as fourth earl. He died in 1866, and was succeeded by his brother, William Lennox, fifth earl.

BATHURST, RALPH, 1620-1704; uncle of lord B., an English physician, prelate, and wit. In medicine he rose to eminence, and in the time of the commonwealth was appointed physician to the state. After the restoration he abandoned medicine, took holy orders, was chaplain to the king, and afterwards dean of Wells. Later he was vicechancellor of Oxford, and was offered the see of Bristol, which he declined. He was a perfect master of ridicule, and made that his weapon to correct college delinquents. Some of his verses in the Musa Anglicana are excellent of their kind.

BATH'URST INLET projects s. about 75 m. from Coronation gulf in the Arctic ocean, 68° n., 111° w.; 300 m. from Great Slave lake.

BATHYÁNI, See BATTHYÁNYI.

BATHYB'IUS, the name given by Huxley to a supposed low form of life found at the bottom of some parts of the deep sea, consisting of formless masses of slime without any detectable structure. It was first described in 1868, but is now usually regarded with skepticism. In 1872 Dr. Bessels dredged a similar quasi-organism in Smith's Sound from a depth of 92 fathoms, and named it proto-bathybius. It is regarded by some as merely the result of the protoplasmic debris of larger protozoa. See illus., INVERTEBRATES, Vol. VIII.

BATHYL'LUS of ALEXANDRIA, a freedman or favorite of Mecenas. He excelled in pantomimic dancing, and in the representation of comic characters.

BATIGNOLLES, an arrondissement of France, in the department Seine, n.e. of Paris, of which city it forms a suburb.

BATJAN. See BATSHIAN.

BATLEY, a Yorkshire t., near Dewsbury (q.v.).

BAT MALTHE'A, Malthaa vespertilio, a fish of the Atlantic ocean, noted for its extreme ugliness of shape; a monstrous aggregation of hideousness. It is something like a bat, and something like a scorpion; is covered with prickles and warts, with fins like wings armed with claws, goggle-eyed, and of a shape that defies measurement or delineation.

BATN-EL-HA'JAR (womb of rocks), a stony district, stretching along the Nile, in lat. 21° to 22° n., and long. 30° 40' to 31° 10' east. The Nile, in the upper portion of the dis trict, is often forced by the approaching rocks into a very narrow channel, and its navigation is frequently interrupted by small islands, rocks, and cataracts. The district is peopled by Beduins, and other Arabs.

BATON-variously written Battoon, Batune and in old French Baston-is the figure in heraldry commonly known as the Bastard Bar (q. v.).

BATON is the name of a short staff presented by the sovereign to each field-marshal, as a symbol of his newly bestowed authority. It is also the name of the long staff car ried by the drum-major of an infantry regiment, of the policeman's truncheon, and of the rod wielded by the conductor of an orchestra.

BATON ROUGE, the capital of Louisiana, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, 89 miles n. w. of New Orleans. It is a picturesque city, built on the last bluff as one descends the river, and rises regularly and beautifully from the banks. Many of the houses are quaint and old, of French and Spanish styles, the squares are peculiar, and the town has an air of quiet languor. The capitol is an Elizabethan structure, with battlemented towers and Gothic windows. The State University occupies the old United States Arsenal on a high bluff on the north, and the National Cemetery is near the city. The principal institutions are the Agricultural and Mechanical College, homes for the deaf and dumb and blind, an orphan asylum, insane asylum, national arsenal, and barracks, state penitentiary, and private and public schools. There are banks, newspapers, and extensive manufacturing interests, including lumber, cotton, oil, sugar, and artificial ice. The Illinois Central and Texas and Pacific railroads enter the city. Pop. 1890, 10,397.

BATON SINISTER (Heraldry). A bar, or ordinary, enclosed between two parallel lines, cut shorter than a bend, extending across an escutcheon (q. v.) or shield, from the sinis ter chief to the dexter base. It usually expresses illegitimacy of birth though sometimes only a difference. See HERALDRY.

BATRA CHIA (from Gr. batrachos, a frog), in zoology, nearly synonymous with amphibia, the name of what is now generally regarded as a distinct class of the subkingdom vertebrata, intermediate in many respects between fishes and reptiles (q.v.). The B. used often to be treated as one of four orders into which the reptiles were divided. The most important difference between the B. and the reptiles is that the young B. undergo metamorphoses, and breathe by gills alone, in the earlier part of their life; whilst in their adult state they either breathe by lungs alone, or possess at once both lungs and gills. The body is also covered with a soft naked skin, through which water is imbibed, and through which the aëration of the blood appears to be in part carried on. The B. are all oviparous; their eggs are not covered with a hard shell, but merely with a soft membrane. Fecundation commonly takes place after the eggs have been deposited. It is sometimes given as a distinctive character of B., that, in their adult state, they have limbs, but in some genera these are very rudimentary, and they are altogether wanting in Cæcilia (q.v.), a genus which is now decidedly referred to this order, because it has been found to undergo the metamorphosis from a gill-breathing to a lung breathing state, and which Cuvier, with hesitation, placed among serpents, because the fact of its metamorphosis had not then been ascertained. The ordinary number of limbs is four, but in the siren (q.v.) there are only two.-Another character frequently given as distinctive of the B., that their feet are destitute of claws, is in like manner only general, and not universal.

In the earlier period of life, the form of the B. is fish-like, of which the common tadpole, the young of the frog, is a familiar example; and this form some of them retain with comparatively little modification, whilst some of them ultimately acquire a form resembling that of lizards, with which the newts were indeed ranked by Linnæus as species of the same genus; and others, as frogs and toads, assume a peculiar quadruped form, the tail entirely disappearing, except in the elongated coccygeal bone which represents it to the anatomist.

In their anatomy, the adult B. present some important points of resemblance to fishes; in some important points, they differ both from fishes and from other reptiles. The skull resembles that of fishes in its general form, although rather agreeing with other reptiles in the parts of which it is composed. Teeth are often entirely wanting, sometimes they are present only in one jaw; when present, they are generally small and numerous, either in a single row or aggregated. In some of the fossil genera, however, which are referred to this order, the teeth are of large size. -The B. have either no ribs, or they have mere rudimentary ribs. They have, however, a breast-bone, often in great part cartilaginous, to which some of the most important muscles are attached. They breathe air by a sort of gulping.-The heart of the B. was long believed to have only one auricle and one ventricle, but the apparently single auricle is now known to consist of two divisions. As in the class reptiles, only a part of the blood received from the circulating system is sent to the organs of respiration, and another part returns immediately into the circulation. See REPTILES.

In the wonderful transformations which the B. undergo, the circulation of the blood is changed in accordance with the change in the organs of respiration. These, in the earliest stage, are external gills, which appear as long colored fringes, hanging loosely upon each side of the neck. In some B., these external gills, which resemble those of the aquatic mollusca, remain till the lungs are sufficiently developed for respiration; in some, as the axolotl (q.v.), they are permanent during the whole of life. In the greater part of the B. however, the external gills soon disappear, and are replaced by internal gills, when the tadpole exhibits its most perfectly fish-like form, its mode of progression also corresponding with that of fishes. Its respiration is carried on essentially as in fishes, water entering the cavity of the mouth, and being forced out through the gill openings, so as to come in contact with the minute filaments of the gills. The gills are attached, as in fishes, to arches connected with the hyoid bone. In this stage of existence, the large arterial trunk which proceeds from the ventricle of the heart, sends forth, from a bulbous enlargement which it forms, as in fishes, au artery to each of the gills, and the blood after being aërated in them, is collected into an aorta, and proceeds into the general cir

culation. But an artery is also provided on each side for the conveyance of blood to the lungs, both the lungs and their arteries being at first rudimentary, but increasing, whilst the gills, on the contrary, diminish along with the blood vessels connected with them; and the gill-breathing is gradually transformed into a lung-breathing animal, no longer perfectly aquatic, as at first, or capable of existence only in water, but amphibious, or almost entirely terrestrial, and incapable of remaining long under water without coming to the surface to breathe.-Whilst these changes take place, others no less extraordinary are also going on. The tadpole which subsisted on vegetable food, and possessed a mouth adapted to the purpose of feeding on it-a small horny beakacquires a mouth fitted for seizing and swallowing small insects, slugs, etc., upon which the adult B. chiefly or exclusively feed, and its habits change accordingly. The mouth of the siren, however, always retains a character somewhat similar to that of the tadpole. In the course of transformation, a pelvis is formed, and limbs sprout forth, which in some B., as frogs, become very perfect and powerful. Whilst the limbs grow, with all their bones, joints, muscles, blood-vessels, and nerves, the vertebræ, in many B., diminish in number, and the tail gradually shortens and disappears.

The extremely different characters of the adult B. suggest the idea of an arresting of the metamorphosis at different stages; but whilst this idea may be helpful to our understanding of the close affinities which really pervade the whole order, it must be remembered that it does not equally apply to all parts of the animal system; and that even as to those which have been particularly mentioned in the brief account above given of the metamorphosis of the B., some in their perfect state appear to have one part in what, for convenience, may be termed a more advanced state than another; whilst all are adapted with equal perfection to the situations in which they are appointed to live, both with reference to the wants of their own existence and the preservation of that of their species.

If the limbs of the tadpole or the frog are injured or destroyed during their growth, the loss is wonderfully repaired. This power of reproducing lost limbs continues to be possessed in an extraordinary degree by the adult newt (q.v.).

B. are generally inhabitants of warm or temperate climates. Those which inhabit temperate climates generally become torpid during winter. They are either almost entirely aquatic or are found in moist situations. The British species are very few. In some of the Scottish isles they are unknown.

B. are commonly divided into two sub-orders—caducibranchiata, in which the gilis (branchia) disappear (are caducous), and perennibranchiata, in which they are persistent (perennial). The perennibranchiate Batrachia are comparatively few. Axolotl, siren, and proteus are examples. The caducibranchiate Batrachia are subdivided into tailless or anourous, as frogs, toads, etc.; and tailed, as newts, salamanders, etc. Some of the frogs and toads of warm climates are much larger than those of Britain; but the largest known B. are the sieboldia maxima of Japan, and protonopsis horrida of the Ohio (variously styled helibender, mud devil, ground puppy, young alligator, and fish salamander), both creatures of the newt or salamander form, the latter of which is 2 ft. long, and the former is of still greater size.

Fossil remains and footprints in rock attest the existence, in former geological periods, of B. of large size. "It is only in tertiary and post-tertiary strata that extinct species referrible to still existing genera or families of this order have been found." These occur both of the tailed and tailless forms. One of them has been a subject of particular interest, because its remains, when first discovered by Scheuchzer, in the beginning of the 18th c., were mistaken for the remains of a human being, and the discoverer enthusiastically urged them upon the attention of his contemporaries as a proof of the deluge. To this salamandroid fossil the name andrias (from the Gr. for man) scheuchzeri has been given. -Footmarks in the sandstones and shales of the coal-measures in Pennsylvania seem to have belonged to B. resembling frogs or toads, but of great size, some of the footprints being 2 in. in diameter, and a breadth of nearly 4 in. between the right and left footprints.-Some of the older batrachian fossils differ so widely from all existing types that new sub-orders have been formed for them. Those of the sub-order ganocephala-of which archegosaurus (q.v.) is the best known-are remarkable for having the head covered with bony plates; those of the order labyrintho dontia, for the labyrinthic structure exhibited in the transverse section of the teeth. See LABYRINTHODON.

BA TRACHOMYOMA CHIA (the War of the Frogs and the Mice), a Greek mock-heroic poem, erroneously ascribed to Homer, with whose works it has been generally printed. Pigres of Caria, who lived in the times of the Persian wars, was named amongst the ancients as its author. It is a parody on the Iliad, in which the military preparations and contests of beasts, with single combats, intervention of the gods, and other Homeric circumstances, are described with much humor.

BATRACHUS. See FROG-FISH.

BATSHIAN' (correctly BATJAN), one of the Moluccas, lies w. of Gilolo, between 0° 13' to 0° 55′ s. lat., and 127° 22′ to 128° e. long. It belongs to the Dutch, is formed of two peninsulas, and has many mountains. B. produces gold, copper, much coal, sago, cocoanut trees, rice, cloves, and fine timber. There are sulphur springs. Its inhabitants are a mixed race of Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and natives. Chief t., Batjan, with a pop. of about 1890 on the e, coast.