Page:EB1911 - Volume 04.djvu/831

 built of steel, with bulkheads to lessen the risk of their sinking by collision, and, with the exception of bell buoys, do not contain water ballast. In 1878 gas buoys, with fixed and occulting lights of 10-candle power, were introduced. In 1896 Mr T. Matthews, engineer-in-chief in the London Trinity Corporation, developed the present design (fig. 12). It is of steel, the lower plates being in. and the upper in. in thickness, thus adding to the stability. The buoy holds 380 cub. ft. of gas, and exhibits an occulting light for 2533 hours. This light is placed 10 ft. above the sea, and, with an intensity of 50 candles, is visible 8 m. It occults every ten seconds, and there is seven seconds’ visibility, with three seconds’ obscuration. The occultations are actuated by a double valve arrangement. In the body of the apparatus there is a gas chamber having sufficient capacity, in the case of an occulting light, for maintaining the flame in action for seven seconds, and by means of a by-pass a jet remains alight in the centre of the burner. During the period of three seconds’ darkness the gas chamber is re-charged, and at the end of that period is again opened to the main burner by a tripping arrangement of the valve, and remains in action seven seconds. The gas chamber of the buoy, charged to five atmospheres, is replenished from a steamer fitted with a pump and transport receivers carrying indicating valves, the receivers being charged to ten atmospheres. Practically no inconvenience has resulted from saline or other deposits, the glazing (glass) of the lantern being thoroughly cleaned when re-charging the buoy. Acetylene, generated from calcium carbide inside the buoy, is also used. Electric light is exhibited from some buoys in the United States. In England an automatic electric buoy has been suggested, worked by the motion of the waves, which cause a stream of water to act on a turbine connected with a dynamo generating electricity. Boat-shaped buoys are also used (river Humber) for carrying a light and bell. The Courtenay whistling buoy (fig. 13) is actuated by the undulating movement of the waves. A hollow cylinder extends from the lower part of the buoy to still water below the movement of the waves, ensuring that the water inside keeps at mean level, whilst the buoy follows the movements of the waves. By a special apparatus the compressed air is forced through the whistle at the top of the buoy, and the air is replenished by two tubes at the upper part of the buoy. It is fitted with a rudder and secured in the usual manner. Automatic buoys cannot be relied on in calm days with a smooth sea. The nun buoy (fig. 14) for indicating the position of an anchor after letting go, is secured to the crown of the anchor by a buoy rope. It is usually made of galvanized iron, and consists of two cones joined together at the base. It is painted red for the port anchor and green for the starboard.

Mooring buoys (fig. 6) for battleships are built of steel in four watertight compartments, and have sufficient buoyancy to keep afloat should a compartment be pierced; they are 13 ft. long with a diameter of 6 ft. The mooring cable (bridle) passes through a watertight 16-in. trunk pipe, built vertically in the centre of the buoy, and is secured to a “rocking shackle” on the upper surface of the buoy. Large mooring buoys are usually protected by horizontal wooden battens and are fitted with life chains.

BUPALUS ATHENIS, sons of Archermus, and members of the celebrated school of sculpture in marble which flourished in Chios in the 6th century  They were contemporaries of the poet Hipponax (about 540 ), whom they were said to have caricatured. Their works consisted almost entirely of draped female figures, Artemis, Fortune, the Graces, whence the Chian school has been well called a school of Madonnas. Augustus brought many of the works of Bupalus and Athenis to Rome, and placed them on the gable of the temple of Apollo Palatinus.

BUPHONIA, in Greek antiquities, a sacrificial ceremony, forming part of the Diipolia, a religious festival held on the 14th of the month Skirophorion (June–July) at Athens, when a labouring ox was sacrificed to Zeus Polieus as protector of the city in accordance with a very ancient custom. The ox was driven forward to the altar, on which grain was spread, by members of the family of the Kentriadae (from , a goad), on whom this duty devolved hereditarily. When it began to eat, one of the family of the Thaulonidae advanced with an axe, slew the ox, then immediately threw away the axe and fled. The axe, as being polluted by murder, was now carried before the court of the Prytaneum (which tried inanimate objects for homicide) and there charged with having caused the death of the ox, for which it was thrown into the sea. Apparently this is an early instance analogous to (q.v.). Although the slaughter of a labouring ox was forbidden, it was considered excusable in the exceptional circumstances; none the less it was regarded as a murder.

BUR, or (apparently the same word as Danish borre, burdock, cf. Swed. kard-boore), a prickly fruit or head of fruits, as of the burdock. In the sense of a woody outgrowth on the trunk of a tree, or “gnaur,” the effect of a crowded bud-development, the word is probably adapted from the Fr. bourre, a vine-bud.

BURANO, a town of Venetia, in the province of Venice, on an island in the lagoons, 6 m. N.E. of Venice by sea. Pop. (1901) 8169. It is a fishing town, with a large royal school of lace-making employing some 500 girls. It was founded, like all the towns in the lagoons, by fugitives from the mainland cities at the time of the barbarian invasions. Torcello is a part of the commune of Burano.

BURAUEN, a town of the province of Leyte, island of Leyte, Philippine Islands, on the Dagitan river, 21 m. S. by W. of Tacloban, the capital. Pop. (1903) 18,197. Burauen is situated in a rich hemp-growing region, and hemp is its only important product. The language is Visayan.

BURBAGE, JAMES (d. 1597), English actor, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon. He was a member of the earl of Leicester’s players, probably for several years before he is first mentioned (1574) as being at the head of the company. In 1576, having secured the lease of land at Shoreditch, Burbage erected there the successful house which was known for twenty years as The Theatre from the fact that it was the first ever erected in London. He seems also to have been concerned in the erection of a second theatre in the same locality, the Curtain, and later, in spite of all difficulties and a great deal of local opposition, he started what became the most celebrated home of the rising drama,—the Blackfriars theatre, built in 1596 near the old Dominican friary.

His son (c. 1567–1619), more celebrated than his father, was the Garrick of the Elizabethan stage, and acted all the great parts in Shakespeare’s plays. He, too, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon, and made his first appearance at an early age at one of his father’s theatres. He had established a reputation by the time he was twenty, and in the next dozen years was the most popular English actor, the “Roscius” of his day. At the time of his father’s death, a lawsuit was in progress against the lessor from whom James Burbage held the land on which The Theatre stood. This suit was continued by Richard and his brother Cuthbert, and in 1569 they pulled down the Shoreditch house and used the materials to erect the Globe theatre, famous for its connexion with Shakespeare. They occupied it as a summer playhouse, retaining the Blackfriars, which was roofed in, for winter performances. In this venture Richard Burbage had Shakespeare and others