Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/634

616   BESSARION,, titular patriarch of Constantinople, and one of the illustrious Greek scholars who con tributed to the great revival of letters in the 15th century, was born at Trebizond iu 1389, or, according to others, in 1395. In 1423 he entered the order of St Basil, and studied under tho celebrated Platonic scholar, George Gemistus Pletho. In 1437 he was made archbishop of Nicaea by John Palosologns, whom he accompanied to Italy in order to bring about a union between the Greek and Latin Churches. At the councils held in Ferrara and Florence Bessarion supported the Roman Church, and gained the favour of Pope Eugenius, who invested him with the rank of cardinal From that time he resided per manently in Italy, doing much, by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings, to spread abroad the new learning. He held in succession the archbishopric of Siponto and the bishoprics of Sabina and Tusculum. In 1463 he received the title of patriarch of Constantinople ; and it was only on account of his Greek birth that he was not elevated to the Papal chair. For five years he was legate at Bologna, and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to Louis XI. of France in 1471. Vexation at an insult offered him by Louis is said to have hastened his death, which took place, on the 19th November 1472, at Ravenna. Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of Aristotle s Meta physics and of Xenophon s Memorabilia, his most important work is a treatise directed against George of Trebizond, a violent Aristotelian, and entitled In Galumniatorem Pla- tonis. Bessarion, though a Platonist, is not so thorough going in his admiration as Pletho, and rather strives after a reconciliation of the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of Platonisni to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of theology.  BESSÈGES, a town of France, in the department of Gard, 20 miles north of Alais by railway, of importance for its coal and iron mines and blast-furnaces. Population in 1872, 8036.  BESSEL,, a distinguished Prus sian astronomer, was born at Mindeu on the 22d July 1784. At an early age he was placed in the counting- house of a merchant at Bremen. His strong desire to obtair a situation as supercargo on a foreign voyage led him to the study first of navigation and then of mathema tics. He devoted himself with the utmost ardour to mathematical and astronomical calculations, and in 1804 undertook the reduction of the observations made on the comet of 1607. His results were communicated to Olbers, who warmly praised the young astronomer, and in 1806 recommended him for the post of assistant to Schroter iu the observatory at Lilienthal. In 1810, after his reputation had been much extended by various memoirs, treating par ticularly of cometary orbits, he was appointed director of the new observatory then being founded by the king of Prussia at Konigsberg. He was at the same time made professor of astronomy and mathematics in the university of that town. Bessel, from his keen practical intelligence, thorough acquaintance with all instrumental appliances, and complete mastery of the methods of calculation, was admir ably fitted for the post of observer. The establishment at Konigsberg was one of the best of its kind, and its observa tions, published continuously from 1813, are of great value. In 1818 Bessel completed a task on which he had been engaged for several years the reduction of Bradley s price less but neglected Greenwich observations. The results were published in the volume entitled Fundamenta Astro nomic, the importance of which for astronomical science cannot be overrated. By its publication the author at once took his place among the first astronomers of Europe ; he was received with honour by the various foreign scientific societies, and was made a privy councillor by the king of Prussia. Of his later labours in practical astronomy perhaps the most important is his determination of the parallax of tho star 61 Cygni, accomplished by methods of extreme ingenuity and delicacy. The Tubulce Regiomontance, 1830, and Astronomische Untersuchungen, 2 vols., 1841-42, are continuations of the Fundamenta. His memoirs, contained in the AstronomiscJie Nachrichten, are exceedingly numerous. A volume of Popular Lectures was published by Schumacher after the death of the author in 1846.  BETEL NUT. The name betel is applied to two different plants, which in the East are very closely associated in the purposes to which they are applied. The betel nut is the fruit of the Areca or betel palm, Areca Catechu, and the betel leaf is the produce of the betel vine or pan, Chavica Betel, a plant allied to that which yields black pepper. The areca palm is a graceful tree, which appears to be indigenous over a wide area in the East, including Southern India, Ceylon, Siain, the Malay Archipelago, and the Philippine Islands, in the whole of which it is extensively cultivated. The fruit of the palm is about the size of a small hen s egg, and within its fibrous rind is the seed or so-called nut, the albumen of which is very hard and has a prettily mottled grey and brown appearance. The chief purpose for which betel nuts are cultivated and collected is for use as a masti catory, their use in this form being so wide-spread among Oriental nations that it is estimated that one-tenth of the whole human family indulge in betel chewing. For this use the fruits are annually gathered between the months of August and November, before they are quite ripe, and deprived of their husks. They are prepared by boiling in water, cutting up into slices, and drying iu the sun, by which treatment the slices assume a dark brown or black colour. When chewed a small piece is wrapped up in a leaf of the betel vine or pan, with a pellet of shell lime or chunam ; and in some cases a little cardamom, turmeric, or other aromatic is added. The mastication causes a copious flow of saliva of a brick-red colour, and gives the mouth, lips, and gums of the chewer a repulsive appearance. The habit blackens the teeth, but it is asserted by those addicted to 