Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/308

292 the bottoms of the cups, and thus causes the ball to drop on the head of the type, beneath which it presses against the recording sheet on the cylinder. The ball immediately rolls down a groove to the sheriff s desk outside the chamber, where it is handed to the next voter, only one ball being used in connection with each register (unless, of course, there are more votes than one to be given). The closing of the exit door restores the bottoms to the cups. This simple and effectual plan has the merit of secrecy, of immediate detection of fraud (e.g., the introduction of a non-official ball to the cup), of rapidity in voting and in counting, and of leaving almost nothing to the voter s presence of mind. The voter can make only one well-defined mark on the paper, and this he can do only in leaving the chamber before the next voter has entered. Mr Davie s invention, which in 1870 received a prize from the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, is obviously not adapted to cumulative voting, but may be worked with any number of candidates under single voting. Although the motion of the cylinder would record in a diagonal direction the series of votes, it would be practically impossible to identify votes from a numbered list of the voters.  BALLYCASTLE, a seaport town of Ireland, county Antrim, situated on a bay opposite Rathlin island. The town is well built, consisting of two parts, about a quarter of a mile asunder, and connected by a fine avenue. Towards the close of the 18th century, one of the Boyd family devoted himself to the extension and improvement of the town, establishing manufactures, endowing charities, and building churches, and succeeded in producing a temporary vitality. Upwards of 150,000 is said to have been ex pended upon the pier and harbour; but the violence of the sea overthrew the former, and the latter has been filled with sand. To the east of the town are the remains of an abbey. Population in 1871, 1253.  BALLYMENA, a town of Ireland, county Antrim, on the Braid, an affluent of the Maine, two miles above their junction. It is 33 miles N.N.W. of Belfast, with winch it is connected by railway. The town owes its prosperity chiefly to its linen trade, introduced in 1733, which gives employment to the greater part of the inhabitants. It has a parish church, several chapels and schools, a market- house, and four branch banks. There is a newspaper published in the town called the Ballymena Observer. Population in 1871, including Hanyville in the suburbs, 7931.  BALLYSHANNON, a seaport and market-town of Ireland, county of Donegal, situated at the mouth of the Erne. Lat. 54 30 N, long. 8 11 W. The river is here crossed by a bridge of fourteen arches, which connects the town with the suburb of Purt. Below the bridge the river forms a beautiful cascade, 150 yards wide, with a fall at low water of 16 feet. The harbour is a small creek of Donegal Bay, about 600 yards long and 350 yards broad, and is only accessible to small vessels. The town contains a church, several chapels, a bank, a market-house, barracks, and a union workhouse. The salmon fishery is the only important occupation. Previous to the Union Ballyshannon returned two members to the Irish Parliament. Population in 1871, 2958.  BALMEZ,, a Spanish ecclesiastic, eminent as a political writer and a philosopher, was born at Vich in Catalonia, on the 28th August 1810, and died there on the 9th July 1848. The most important of his works, and that on which his fame principally rests, is entitled El Protestantismo comparado con el Catolicismo en sus rela- ciones con la Civilisacion Europea, published 1842-44, a most able defence of Catholicism. It has been translated into French, Italian, German, and English. The best of liis philosophical works, which are able expositions of the old scholastic system of thought, are the Fttosofia Foti- damental, 1846, and the Corso de Filosofia Elemental, 4 vols. 1847. The Protestantism and Catholicity and the Fundamental Philosophy have both been translated into English (1849, 2 vols. 1857). Nearly all the works are to be had in German and French. See M. de Blanche- Ruffin, Jacques Balmes, sa Vie et ses Ouvrages, Paris, 1849.  BALMORAL CASTLE, a residence of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, on the right bank of the River Dee, about 9 miles above Ballater and 50 miles from Aberdeen. The property, which now consists of upwards of 10,000 acres, besides a large tract of hill ground, belonged in its original extent to the Farquharsons of Inverey, by whom it was sold to the Earl of Fife. In 1848 it waa leased by the late Prince Consort, and in 1852 was finally pur chased for a sum of 32,000. The castle, which was erected at Prince Albert s private expense, ia of the Scotch baronial style of architecture.  BALNAVES,, a Scottish Protestant, born at Kirkcaldy in Fife, in the reign of James V., and educated at the university of St Andrews. There is some doubt both as to the exact date of his birth, which has been fixed as 1520, and as to the rank in society to which he be longed. He completed his studies on the Continent, and, returning to Scotland, entered the family of the Earl of Arran, who at that time was regent; but in the year 1542 the earl dismissed him for embracing the Protestant religion. In 1546 he was implicated in the murder of Cardinal Beaton, at least he is known to have taken refuge with the conspirators in the castle of St Andrews ; and when they were at last obliged to surrender to the French, he was sent with the rest of the garrison as a prisoner to France. During his confinement at Rouen he wrote the work entitled Confession of Faith, to which Knox added marginal notes and a preface ; but it was not published till 1584, five years after his death. He returned to Scot land about the year 1559, and having joined the Congre gation, was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the duke of Norfolk on the part of Queen Elizabeth. In 1563 he was made one of the lords of Session, an office which he is said to have held for the first time in 1538, and was appointed by the General Assembly, with other learned men, to revise the Book of Discipline. Knox, his contemporary and fellow-labourer, gives him the char acter of a very learned and pious man. Balnaves died at Edinburgh in 1579.  BALSAM, an oleo-resin or natural compound of resin and essential oil, in such proportions that the substance is in a viscous or semi-fluid condition. The gradations from a solid resin to a limpid essential oil are insensible, and most resins have a balsamic consistency on their exudation, only hardening by exposure to air. It has been proposed to limit the name balsam to such substances as contain cinnainic or an analogous acid in addition to the volatile oil and resin which turpentines contain alone ; but this distinction has not been carried out. The fragrant balsams which contain cinnamic or benzoic acid may, however, be regarded as a distinct class, allied to each other by their composition, properties, and uses. Those of this class found in commerce are the balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, liquid storax, and liquidambar. Balsam of Peru is the produce of a lofty leguminous tree, Myrospermum peruiferum, growing within a limited area in San Salvador, Central America, but now introduced into Ceylon. It is a thick, viscid oleo-resin of a deep brown or black colour and a fragrant balsamic odour. It has been analysed by Kachler, who thus states its percentage com position, cinnamic acid 46, resin 32, benzylic alcohol 20. It is used in perfumery, and in medicine as a stimulant application to indolent sores, as well as internally for <section end="BALSAM"/>