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622 Beck Bed

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

mentioned: "Researches on the Sense of Taste in a Tongueless Human Being " (in collaboration with Cybulski), in Polish, 1887; "Die Strome der Nervencentren," 1890; "On the Present State of the Theory of Localizing the Functions of the Brain," in Polish, 1892; "Hermann Helmholtz," 1894; "On the Vital Processes and Methods for Their Investigation," in Polish, 1895; in collaboration with Cybulski, "Further Investigations on the Electrical Processes in the Brain," in Polish, 1896; "Dreams and Their Causes," in Polish, 1896; " Die Erregbarkeit Verschiedener Ncrvenstellen," 1897; "Zur Untersuchung der Erregbarkeit der Nerven," 1898; "On Color-Blindness, Artificially Produced," in Polish and in German, 1899. To the investigations represented by the foregoing should be added the extensive work of research conducted on similar lines in the Physiological Institute of the University of berg under Beck's immediate supervision.

A.

s.

ENOCH

BECK, JACOB BEN



Lem-

S. C.

Dayyan and

shohet at Leipnik, JMoravia, at the end of the eighteenth centuiy and the beginning of the nineteenth He was the author of "Zibhe Sbelamim" (Sacrifices of Peace-Offerings), containing the laws concerning the slaughtering of animals and the examination of the lungs. The work is arranged in questions and answers. It was published by the author himself at Brunn in 1795, and was so much appreciated for the convenience of its method that it was reprinted several times.

Bibliography Sulamith, ix.

42



Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim,

p. 152. s.

I.

BECK, KARL: 1817,

at Baja,

Austrian poet;

Hungary; died April

born 10,

Br.

May

Wahring, a suburb Although Jewish parentage, was brought up Vienna.

1,

1879, at

of of

he in

the Protestant Church.

Upon his completion of the high - school course in Budapest, he entered the University of Vienna with the view of devoting himself to the study of medicine; but in 1883 ill health compelled him Karl Beck.

to abandon his scientific pursuits, and he then

attempted to follow his father's commercial career. Barely six months had elapsed when he suddenly left the parental home and registered at the University of

62Z

ing of four songs " Hungary, " " Vienna, " " Weimar, and "Die Wartburg," the first of which is a splendid picture of Hungarian life and customs, and contains some of the best lines in the entire work. The " Stille Lieder," which appeared later (Leipsic, 1840), are the very antithesis to the author's "Gepanzerte Lieder," and were greeted with the same unqualified

favor.

Beck's next attempt was at drama

but his tragic "Saul" (Leipsic, 1841), produced in Budapest, although a model of poetic diction, and abounding in spirited and brilliant lines, was totally wanting in

play,

dramatic action.

With

his masterpiece,

an epic poem

entitled "

Yanko, der Ungarische Rosshirt " (Leipsic, 1842; 3d ed., 1870), Beck returned to his proper element in no other work did he paint a truer picture of his native land and its people. In 1843 Beck took up his abode in Vienna, where he formed an intimate acquaintance with the poet Lenau, whose style, it is said, he imitated in his works. Another year, however, found him back in Berlin, engaged in preparing a complete collection of his poems, which was first published in Berlin in 1844 and has since run into several editions. This work brought him into conflict with the Prussian government, which at first suppressed the entire edition. Later, however, the author's appeal to the Higher Court of Censure (OberzensurgericM) released all but two of his poems from the interdiction. The social and political movements in which the

poet took part during this period called forth his " Lieder vom Armen Mann," Berlin, 1848, 4th ed.(?), and another series of "Gepanzerte Lieder," Berlin, 1848. The Hungarian insurrection of 1848 drew him again to Vienna, and in an eloquent poem entitled " An Franz Joseph " (Vienna, 1849, two editions), he pleaded for a general amnesty in behalf of his defeated fellow-countrymen. In Vienna, Beck was for some time attached to the editorial staff of the ministerial organ " Lloyd, " occasionally contributing to its literary columns; but, disconsolate at the death of his wife, which had occurred only a few months after their marriage, he seized the opportunity of a change of scene, when he was offered the charge of a new journal devoted to art and literature, "Frische Quellen," founded in Budapest. Only a few numbers of this publication were issued; and Beck soon returned to the Austrian metropolis, where he spent his remaining years.

Despite a tendency to allow ulterior motives to influence his writings, Beck remained a true poet. His inspired enthusiasm and passionate sympathy for downtrodden Judaism lifted some of his creations to an almost prophetic height; while the fiery zeal

suffering

with which he embraced the cause of humanity lent to others of his poems a pathos and reality. But it was in the

Leipsic as a free student in the course of philosophy.

touch of

In Leipsic he found his true calling. Induced by his friend Gustav Klihne, then editor of the "Zeitung fur die Elegante Welt," he published his first poems, "Nachte. Gepanzerte Lieder," Leipsic, 1838, which met with great success. Gutzkow predicted for the author the fame of a Byron. Encouraged by the success of his first work, he soon followed it up by another, "Der Fahrende Poet," Leipsic, 1838, consist-

soul-stirring

descriptions of the singular, wildly of his native land and people that Beck reached the sublime. His superb epic poem "Yanko" seems, however, to have exhausted the fire of his genius. His later works " Aus der Hei-

passionate

life

—

math," Dresden, 1852; "Mater Dolorosa," a novel, Berlin, 1854; "Yadwiga," an epic poem, Leipsic, 1863; "Still und Bewegt," a collection of poems,