Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/476

BALANCE OF TRADE. of international settlements. But in so doing the phrase once clear and distinct becomes in- volved and uncertain. It seems better to confine it to its original meaning to indicate one factor of modern commercial relations, and not the substance of them all.

It should be added that the practical deter- mination of the balance of trade is beset with difficulties. Jletliods of determining the value of both exports and imports are necessarily crude, and it is not to be doubted that many of the false conclusions that have arisen in the dis- cussion of trade balances have had their origin in the defects of commercial statistics. No analysis of trade returns can truthfully do more than indicate broad general tendencies without an examination into the methods by which such returns are prepared.

BALANGA, ba-Uin'ga. The capital of the Province of Bataan ( 1023 square miles ; popula- tion. 52,000), on the island of Luzon, Philip- pines (Map: Luzon. D 8). It is on the western coast of Manila Bay, 34 miles from Manila. It has a post-office and a telegraph-station. Irriga- tion from the river Talisay is carried on to a considerable extent. Population, in 1898, 9000.

BAL'ANOGLOS'SUS (Gk. /SclXaras, balanos, acorn, gland + yC><T<ra, r/lossa, tongue). A re- markable worm-like invertebrate animal, now generally regarded as in some way related to the probable ancestral form of the vertebrates. Two or three genera form the sole family of the onder Enteropneusta and the class Hemichorda (or Adelochorda ). The body is long and slen- der, and, some distance in front of the middle, is banded bv an elevated ring, called the collar, from the front of which springs the somewhat tongue-shaped proboscis. (See illustration on plate of AsciDi.xs, etc.) Back of the collar, on each side of the body, are series of vertical slits opening through both the body wall and the wall of the alimentary canal. Water taken into the mouth passes out through these open- ings and aerates the blood. The slits therefore function as gill-slits; and they are supported by 'chitinous' rods, like the gill-arches of Amphioxiis. Projecting forward from the an- terior upper side of the oesophagus is a short cartilaginous rod. which helps support the pro- boscis. This apparently corresponds to the noto- chord of the embryo of the higher_ vertebrates, and, because of its incomplete condition in Bal- anoglossus, the name Hemichorda is given to the class.

The species of Balanoglossus (and allied genera) are found buried in the sand of the sea- shore in shallow water in various parts of the world. They have been taken on both coasts of America, on the Pacilic coast, north to Alaska. on the European side of the Mediterranean, in the East Indies, in the Baliamas, and on the south shore of .Tamaica. Jilost of the known species are small and dull-colored, but some of the West Indian species are over a foot in length and half an inch in diameter, and are brightly colored with red and yellow. There are gcnerully little heajis of excrement about the entrance to the holes in which Balanoglossus lives. All the species have a musky odor, which is strong enough to indicate their presence to any one familiar with the smell- Sometimes it is "so strong as to be highly disagreeable. Many of the species have a complicated metamorphosis in their development, the pelagic bell-shaped larva being known as a tornaria. It resembles superficially the larval form of some of the cchinoderms, and for that reason some zoologists xavQ sought for evidence of relationship between that group and the Hemichorda. It is generally believed now, however, that the nearest living relatives of the Hemichorda are to be looked for among the Ascidians. Compare Amphioxus ; and CiiORDATA. For illustrations see Ascidi. s.

BALAO. ba-la'6 (Sp., to leap or dance). The name in the West Indies for the fishes of the family Heniiramphid*, allied to the gars. See Half-be.k.

BALARAMA, bu'la-ra'm.a. The elder brother to Krislma in the Brahminical Pantheon. He is a spectator of the legendary war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, which the great Hindu epic, the ilalixilhuraiu, recounts: and on several occasions he is restrained from interpos- ing only bv the infiuence of his younger but more powerful brother. He died shortly before Krish- na, and is said, in the Vaishnavas, to have been one of Vi--hnu"s many aratars.

BALARD, ba'liir', Axtoixe J£r6me (1802- 76). A French chemist. He was born at Mont- pellier, and died in Paris. He began his career as a pharmacist, but was subsequently appoint- ed professor of chemistry at the Sorbonne and at the College de France, "Paris. In 18GS he was made Inspector-General of Superior Instruction. Balard carried out a number of interesting in- vestigations both in pure and applied chemistry, but is best known as the discoverer of the ele- ment bromine, which he found in the mother- liquors remaining after the extraction of com- mon salt from sea-water.

BAL'AS (Ar. balakhsh, a ruby from Badakh- shni), Balashan, near Samarkand). The rose-red variety of ruby spinel, called also rnbieelle.

BALASHOV, bal'a-.sh6f'. The chief town of a district, in the Government of Saratov, Russia, on the left bank of the Khoper, a tributary of the Don, 170 miles west of the city of Saratov (Map: Russia, F 4). Balashov has a consider- able trade, exporting grain and raw products. Population, in 1S8.5, 10.100; in 1897, 12,200.

BALASORE, b:il'a-sor' (Turk, and Ar. bala, high + xurc, dwelling). The capital of the dis- trict of the same name in the Orissa division, Bengal, British India, near the Burabalang, which enters the sea to the west of the Hugli or Calcutta River, 118 miles southwest of Calcutta (Map: India, E 4). It has dry-docks and a coast- ing trade, and was the seat, successively, of Por- tuguese, Dutch, and Danish factories. In 1846 the Danes sold their interest in the place to the English. Population, about 20,000.

BALATE, ba-la'tsi. The name in the Phil- ippines for a local holothurian [Holothuria atra). which is a favorite sort of trepang. Con- sult Jordana y Jlorera, Bosqiiejo (jeograpco e his- torico-natiirai del archipelago Filipino (Madrid, 1885). See Tkepang.

BALATKA,, (1828&mdash;). A musician, born in Hoffnungsthal, Moravia. He studied music in Vienna, and afterwards came to America, and settled in Milwaukee, where in 1851 he founded the Musikverein, which he conducted until 1860. He then became conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Chicago,