Beethoven. kinds of fermented liquors that receive the general title beer, and for the processes of their production, the reader is referred to the articles ALE; BOCK BEER; BREWING; DISTILLATION; FERMENTATION; FERMENTED LIQUORS; LAGER BIER; PORTER; SCHENK BIER. BEERBHOOM ́, or BIRBHOOм', a district in the lower provinces of Bengal, with an area of 1753 sq. m., and a pop. (1891) of 798,000. BEERBOHM-TREE, HERBERT, actor, b. in London, England, in 1853; achieved his first success in Grimaldi in 1878; afterward managed the Comedy and Haymarket theatres; became popular in The Red Lamp, Hamlet, Hypatia, The Tempter, A Bunch of Violets, John-a-Dreams, Trilby (1895), etc. He visited the United States in 1895, accompanied by his wife, an accomplished actress. BEER-MONEY was a peculiar payment to non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the English army. It was established in the year 1800, at the suggestion of the duke of York, and consisted of one penny per day for troops when on home-service, as a substitute for an issue of beer and spirits. It continued as an addition to the daily pay until 1873, when, the stoppages for rations having been abolished, the opportunity was taken to consolidate beer-money and pay proper. BEER SHEBA, or BIR-ES-SEBA ("well of the oath," or "well of the seven"), so called because here Abraham entered into an alliance with Abimelech, king of Gerar, which he ratified with an oath and a gift of seven ewe lambs. B. was situated on the southern border of Palestine, about 52 m. s. w. from Jerusalem, and formed the limit in that direction of the Israelitish dominion. It was one of the most ancient as well as one of the most interesting places in sacred record. While Abraham resided at this place, he received the command to sacrifice Isaac, whose residence it also was. Esau was robbed of his birthright and blessing here, and here Jacob sacrificed to God before departing into Egypt; the sons of Samuel were made judges here, and it was from hence that Elijah was forced to flee into the desert from Jezebel's wrath. After the captivity, B. was occupied for some time by the Jews, and in the 4th c. A.D., it was a Roman garrison. Afterwards, the crusaders are said to have fortified it, and to have regarded it as a place of importance. Two circular wells of fine pure water-the largest being 44 ft. deep to the surface of the water, and 124 ft. in diameter-and a heap of ruins about half a mile long and a quarter broad, remain to mark the place where B. once was. BEE'SHA, a genus of grasses with the habit and most of the characters of bamboos, but remarkable for the fleshy pericarp which incloses the seed, forming a sort of berry. The species are few, natives of the East Indies. BEES-WAX is principally obtained from the ordinary bee-hive, where it is elaborated by the workers. See BEE. For some time, it was matter of dispute whether the bees really manufactured the wax from other ingredients in their food, or if they performed the simple task of carrying the wax ready made from the plant to the hive. It appears now to be definitely settled, that while, in ordinary circumstances, bees may derive part of the wax from plants, yet, when they are fed entirely upon pure sugar, they continue to elaborate wax, and to build up the walls and partitions of the honey-comb. The wax procured from British hives is considered the purest and best, but the smallness of the amount necessitates the importation of comparatively large quantities from North America, Brazil, Singapore, Ceylon, Gambia, and Mogadore. British bees wax is naturally of a yellow color, whilst that procured from foreign countries is darker in tint; and in the case of the wax from Brazil, which is yielded by a species of black bee hiving under-ground, the color is a dark mahogany, and the material is soft and tenacious. In the separation of the honey from the wax, the honey-comb is subjected to pressure, which squeezes out most of the honey; the residual comb is then treated with water, and heated, with constant stirring, till the wax melts, when the whole is passed through hairbags. The wax is received in a vessel of cold water, where it is at the same time washed, and cooled down till it solidifies, as a thick cake, on the surface of the water. For many purposes, it is necessary to bleach the wax, and the common method is to obtain it in thin sheets or ribbons, by melting it under water, and pouring it upon hori zontal wooden cylinders, which are kept revolving half immersed in water in a perfo rated vessel. The sheets or ribbons of wax so obtained are laid out upon a field with a southern aspect, and being repeatedly watered, are subjected to the joint action of the sun's rays, the ozone of the air, and moisture. In a short time, the wax loses its yellow tint, and becomes white. Attempts have been made to perform the bleaching more expeditiously by employing chlorine, bleaching-powder, and other chemical agents. The only process which appears not to injure the wax is to melt it, and for every pound add 2 ozs. of pulverized nitrate of soda, and 1 oz. oil of vitriol, diluted previously with 8 ozs. of water. While the latter is gradually poured in, heat is applied, and the whole mixture swells up, necessitating the employment of a capacious vessel. On cooling, the *A shebeen is the name given in Scotland to a house or place where liquors are sold without a justice's or excise certificate. Every person found in such a place, drunk or drinking, may be taken before a justice, or detained in a police-station till this can be done, and he may then be fined ten shillings, or, in default, imprisoned ten days. wax gathers on the surface, and being repeatedly treated with hot water, to wash away impurities, is finally allowed to solidify in a cake. Purified B. has a density of 960 to 966, and is therefore lighter than water, which is taken as 1000. In thin slices, it is translucent, and is tasteless, odorless, and colorless. At 32° F., it is hard, brittle, and solid. When heated to 85° or 90° F., it softens, and can then be kneaded between the fingers like moist dough or putty, and at 145° F. it fuses, and becomes a true liquid. It is insoluble in water, and is partly soluble in boiling alcohol, and partly not. The alcoholic solution, which takes up about 80 to 90 per cent of the wax, contains principally a substance called cerine, which separates in crystals as the solution cools, and ceroleine, which remains dissolved in the cold alcohol. The matter which resists the solvent action of the alcohol is a substance called myricine. B. is largely used in the manufacture of wax-candles and tapers; and though it has recently been very much excluded from the manufacture of ordinary candles, from the readiness with which first-class composite candles can be made indirectly from tallow, yet it is often used as one of the ingredients in composite candles to impart hardness to the manufactured article. The very large candles used in Roman Catholic countries for church-services, are always made of wax alone. BEET, Beta, a genus of plants of the natural order chenopodiacea (q.v.), distinguished by a 5-cleft perianth, 5 stamens inserted on a fleshy ring surrounding the ovary, and the fruit adhering to the calyx, and collected in clusters of two or three. The species are not numerous; they are mostly biennials, with smooth, ovate, stalked rootleaves, and tall, leafy, flowering-stems. They are natives of the temperate parts of the old world. The COMMON B. (B. vulgaris) is a native of the shores of the Mediterranean, but is now in very general cultivation both in fields and gardens, chiefly for the sake of its large succulent and generally carrot-shaped roots, which are used as food both for man and for cattle, and from which also sugar is largely extracted on the continent of Europe. Beet-roots may be substituted for malt, when deprived of the greater part of their juice by pressure. The variety chiefly cultivated in gardens is known as RED B., from the color of the root, which also more or less appears in the leaves and leafstalks. The subvarieties are very numerous. In some, the root is rather turnip-shaped than carrot-shaped, and the size and color also vary much, some being of a deep bloodred, or even almost blackish color, both externally and internally; and others of a much lighter red, and internally even white. It forms a favorite pickle, and is also very agreeable as a boiled vegetable when properly dressed. The seed is sown so late in spring, that the plants may not produce flowering stems the first year, which, when it occurs, renders the root fibrous and useless.-MANGOLD-WURZEL (q. v.), so valuable as a field-crop for food of cattle, is, in general, regarded as merely a larger and coarser variety of the common B., in which the red color is comparatively little exhibited, although some botanists have, on very slender grounds, endeavored to erect it into a distinct species.-The WHITE B. of our gardens (B. cicla of some botanists) is now also generally supposed to be a mere variety of the common B., with little or no red in its roots or leaves, and a comparatively slender root. It is cultivated for the sake of its leaves, which are used in the same manner as spinach, and form an excellent substitute for it, especially in the beginning of spring. The leaf-stalks and midribs (chards) of the leaves, especially of a variety in which these parts are unusually developed, are also dressed for the table.—SEA-B. (B. maritima) grows wild upon the shores of Britain, and differs from the common B. in its perennial root, its partly prostrate stems, and other characters. The leaves are used for food in Ireland, as are those of B. Bengalensis in the East Indies. BEET-FLY, Anthomyia Beta, an insect which infests crops of mangold-wurzel, and other kinds of beet, depositing its eggs on the leaves, the soft parts of which the larvæ devour, causing them to assume a blistered appearance, and when numerous, injuring the health of the plants. It is a two-winged insect (see DIPTERA), of the great family muscides, of which the common house-fly may be regarded as the type, and belongs to a genus of which more than 100 British species are known, the larvae of some of which are well known as feeding upon the roots of cabbages, turnips, etc. See CABBAGE-FLY, TURNIP-FLY, and POTATO-FLY. It is not so large as the common house-fly. BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VON, Composer, was born in Bonn, Germany, Dec. 16, 1770; and died in Vienna, March 26, 1827. The family, whose name was variously written Biethoffen, Biethofen, Biethoven, Bethoven, Betthoven, and Bethof, until it returned to its original form, came from a village near Lokrain, whence they removed to Antwerp. Beethoven's grandfather, Ludwig, and his father, Jean, were musicians in the court band of the Elector of Cologne at Bonn, and his mother was the daughter of the head cook at Ehrenbreitstein. He began to study music under his father at the age of four, and subsequently under Pfeiffer, a tenor in the opera at Bonn, Van den Eeden, organist of the court-chapel, and Neefe, who succeeded him. At the age of eight years he created astonishment by his violin-playing, and when only eleven had mastered Bach's Wohltemperite Klavier. In 1784 he studied the violin under Franz Ries, and in 1787 went to Vienna, where he took a few lessons with Mozart. Returning to Bonn, he instructed the children of von Breuning, in whose house be acquired a taste for literature. In 1788 he played the second viola in the National Theatre, and in 1792 was sent by the Elector to Vienna. Here he studied composition under Haydn, and also took lessons from Albrechtsberger in counterpoint, Schuppanzigh on the violin, Salieri in vocal com. position, and Aloys Förster in quartet-writing. He first became known in Vienna as a pianist at the musical entertainments of Prince Lichnowsky and the Baron von Swieten. On March 29, 1795, he made his first public appearance, playing his Concerto for the pianoforte in C, at a concert in the Burg Theatre. He played in Prague, Nuremberg, and Berlin, and returned to Vienna, where he brought out his C major symphony, April 2, 1800. This attracted the eyes of the world towards him, and made an era in the history of orchestral-music. Beethoven never held official posts, but received allowances from wealthy and noble patrons. In 1801 his deafness, which had threatened him in 1798, began to trouble him seriously. In this sad inviolable solitude, he produced his new symphonies, his sublime overtures, his quintets and quartets, so full of profound conceptions and mysterious revelations of the highests harmonies, and his pianoforte sonatas, which express, sometimes, a peculiar train of feelings, at other times appear to represent his own recluse character. Shut out in a large measure from the ordinary pleasures of life, ignorant of the sweetness of married life, and able to enjoy only in a slender measure social intercourse, he retired for compensation into the world of his own imagination, and brought forth from its deep resources those treasures of harmony which, though at first received with a shy astonishment rather than a cordial admiration, are now ranked among the works of art which cannot die. These new forms and original creations, which display B.'s majestic powers in music, were only gradually developed; in his early productions, he submitted to established forms of composition. Notwithstanding his brusque manners, Beethoven was universally courted. He was constantly in love, and with women of rank and education. In his early Vienna days, he attempted to dress in the fashion, and wore silk stockings, perruque, long boots and sword, and carried a double-eye glass, but this soon became unendurable, and he is described by one of his admirers as "meanly dressed and very ugly to look at, but full of nobility and highly cultivated. He was about five feet five inches but finely builtthe image of strength." His head was large, with forehead broad and high, and abundant black hair which turned white in his late years. His authentic portraits are: a miniature by Hornemann (1802), photographed in Breunings Schwarz panier haus (Vienna, 1874); head by Letronne engraved by Höfel and Riedel for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (1817); and a little full length caricature sketch by Lyser. His attitude at the pianoforte is described as quiet and dignified, but his method of conducting was extrav agant. He was fond of the country, and frequently composed in the open air, making sketches in his note-book, which be afterwards elaborated, wrote and rewrote for years until he was satisfied. He denied himself many comforts so that be might provide for his nephew, Carl, whose recklessness and ingratitude brought sorrow to his declining years. His death was caused by the effects of a severe cold, and his funeral was attended by 20,000 people, among whom were many distinguished artists and musicians. His body was interred in the Währingen Cemetery, Vienna, and was twice removed, the last time to the Central Cemetery in 1888. The works of B. may be divided into three classes, or may be assigned to three distinct periods of his intellectual development. All the works of his first period, though important, show the influence of his teacher Haydn, or of his more highly esteemed model, Mozart. This period of composition may be said to extend to his 16th orchestral work, including, besides several pianoforte sonatas, trios for pianoforte and for stringed instruments. All these early works display the highest cultivation of the forms and principles of art previously established in the Viennese school of music. The second period of B.'s artistic life, in which his genius was completely self-reliant, extends from the 16th to the 80th work. This was certainly the most productive and brilliant part of his career. To it belong his greatest creations, his magnificent and powerful orchestral works-symphonies, overtures, etc.-all of which display the highest quali ties of imaginative composition. Besides the great orchestral works, it includes many sonatas for pianoforte, and various compositions of chamber-music-septets, quintets, quartets, trios, serenades, etc. In dramatic composition, B. produced only one opera, but this was Fidelio, the first truly German musical work of a dramatic character. This was the result of great study, and, as it is now given, is the reconstruction of an earlier composition. Other dramatic pieces are-the overture, interludes, and melodramatic music in Goethe's Egmont, and the instrumental music and choruses in the Ruins of Athens. In the third and last period of B.'s career we find those two gigantic works, the Missa Solemnis in D Minor, and the ninth symphony (D minor) with chorus. These works transcend all common laws and forms, and belong to the highest sphere of art. Their deep mysteries can be apprehended only by those who have deep emotions and profound technical knowledge of music. His works include 9 symphonies, in C, op. 21, in D, op. 36, in E-flat (the Eroica), op. 55, in B-flat, op. 60, in C minor, op. 67, in F (the Pastorale), op. 68; in A, op. 92, in F, op. 93; and in D minor (the Choral), op. 125; 10 overtures; music to Goethe's Egmont, op. 84; chamber-music; pianoforte music; sonates for various instruments; variations for various instruments; arias, including Ah perfido! op. 65; songs, including Adelaide, op. 46; and part-songs for men's voices. See A. W. Thayer, Verzeichniss der Werke B.'s (Berlin, 1865); do., Beethoven's Leben (ib., 9. Cockroach. 10. Praying cricket or 17. Wood-louse. 18. Water-fly. 28. Camel-necked BEETLES, CRICKETS, FLIES, ETC.-1 to 8. Termites. 36. Sand-bug. 37. Swimming-beetle. 38. Turn-bug. 44. Burying-beetle. 45. Scaphidium. |