Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/568

LEFT lEGGAB 468 BEIBA ated immediate attention and was con- sidered to mark a new era of sculpture in Germany. Among his most impor- tant monuments were those to Frederick William III. at Cologne, the Schiller monument in Berlin, Fountain of Nep- tune, monument to Bismarck, and a marble statue of Emperor William II. He also made many portrait busts and other works. He died in 1911. BEGGAR, one whose habitual practice is to implore people for alms, whether because he has some physical or mental defect which wholly or partially inca- pacitates him from working; or because he is too idle to work. BEGHARDS, BEGUARDS, or BO- GARDS, various spellings of a name said by some to be derived from their begging favor from God in prayer, and to the fact that they were religious men- dicants. Another opinion is that they are named after St. Begghe, whom they took for their patroness. In general Church history, "the ter- tiaries" of several monastic orders, Do- minicans and Franciscans. In a special sense, the tertiaries of the Franciscans. By the third rule of St. Francis, those might have a certain loose connection with this order, who, without forsaking their worldly business, or forbearing to marry, yet dressed poorly, were conti- nent, prayerful, and grave in manners. In France they were called Beguini, and in Italy, Bizochi, and Bocasoti. They were greatly persecuted by successive Popes. The name was also applied to certain religious people who associated them- selves into a kind of monastic lodging house under a chief, while they were un- married, retiring when they pleased. As they often supported themselves by weaving, they were sometimes called "Brother Weavers." They first attracted notice in the Netherlands in the 13th century. They were established at Ant- werp in 1228, and adopted the third rule of St. Francis in 1290. BEGONIA, a genus of plants, the typical one of the order begoniacese (be- goniads). Several species are cultivated in greenhouses, in flower pots, in houses, and in similar situations, BEHAR AND ORISSA, a province in lower Bengal, India, area, 120,000 square miles; constituted in 1912, between Bengal and the Himalayas. Pop. about 40,000,000. ^ Capital, Patna. The chief crops are rice, sugar-cane, corn, and in- digo. BEHISTUN, or BISUTUN, a moun- tain near a village of the same name in Persian Kurdistan, celebrated for the sculptures and cuneiform inscriptions cut upon one of its sides — a rock rising al- most perpendicularly to the height of 1,700 feet. These works, which stand about 300 feet from the ground, were executed by the orders of Darius I., King of Persia, and set forth his genealogy and victories. To receive the inscrip- tions, the rock was carefully polished and coated with a hard, siliceous varnish. Their probable date is about 515 B. c. They were first copied and deciphered by Rawlinson. BEHN (ban), APHRA, or AFRA, or APHARA, an English author, born in Wye, in 1640. Early in life she spent several years in the West Indies, where she met the Indians, who became the model of her famous "Oroonoko." She was the first woman writer in England who earned a livelihood by her pen. Her dramatic works include "The Forced Marriage" (1671) ; "The Amorous Prince" (1671); "The Dutch Lover" (1673); "Abdelazar" (1677); "The Rover" (1677) ; "The Debauchee" (1677) ; "The Town Fop" (1677) ; "The False Count" (1682), She also wrote' "Poems" (1684); etc. She died in Lon- don, April 16, 1689. BEHRING, another spelling of Be- ring (q. v.). BEHRING, EMIL ADOLPH VON, a German bacteriologist, born at Hansdorf , Prussia, in 1854. He studied medicine in Berlin and for a time served as army surgeon. In 1890 he became assistant to Koch in the Institution for Infectious Diseases. He carried on studies in dis- infectants and bacterial toxins. These led to the production of diphtheria anti- toxin. In 1894 Behring became profes- sor of hygiene at the Halle University, but in the following year was given charge of the Institute for Hygienic Research at Marburg University. He received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1901, In his later years he devoted much attention to tuberculosis and developed an antitoxin which rendered cattle im- mune. Following this he developed a method of inoculation against diphthe- ria. He wrote several volumes on med- ical subjects. He died in 1917. BEIRA (ba-e-raO, a province of Portugal, between Spain and the Atlan- tic, and bounded by the Douro on the N., and by the Tagus and Estremadura on the S. Area, 9,208 square miles. Pop. about 1,700,000. Chief town, Coimbra (pop. about 20,000). It is mountainous and well watered, and productive of wine and olives.