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BARI. a rectangular plan, with broad avenues, squares, and gardens. The most interesting building is the Church and Priory of Saint Nicholas, founded in 1087, where Urban II., in 1098, as- sembled a council of Greek and Latin bishops to discuss the theological differences that di- vided the East and the West. It contains the splendid nuiusoleum of Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland and Duchess of Bari, who died here in 1.557. In a vault under the silver altar in the crypt lie the bones of Saint Nicholas, from which is said to exude a fluid, mniina di ^an AUcota, which heals miraculously. The Saint's festival, on the 8th of May, is attended by thousands of pilgrims. Tle cathedral, which dates from the first part of the Eleventh Century, was spoiled by repairs made in the Eighteenth. It contains paintings by Paolo Veronese, Tinto- retto, and Calabrese. The castle, built in the Twelfth Century, is now used as a prison. Bari also has a seminary, a lyceum, the Ateneo. con- taining a technical school, and a provincial museum, a casino, a theatre constructed by An- tonio Niccolini, and public gardens. The new har- bor is accessible to the deepest ships, and the town enjoys a growing maritime trade. Some 1672 vessels, with a tonnage of 933,- 000, cleared in 1899, as against 1114, with a tonnage of 45.9,000, in 1890. There is regu- lar steamboat communication with Venice, An- cona, Trieste, Brindisi, Genoa, and Marseilles. Bari manufactures organs, pianos, mirrors, furni- ture, candles, soap, and cordials, and has an ex- tensive commerce in oil, wine, almonds, saffron, grain, fruit, cotton, and wool. The United States and other countries are represented by consular agents.

The importance of Barium, Gk. Bdpiov, Barion, in the Third Century B.C. is shown by its coins. Horace wrote of the Bnrii md-nia piscosi. In the Middle Ages, Goths, Greeks, Franks, Sara- cens, Lombards, Venetians, and Normans fought for the possession of it. Population, in 1881, ei,500; in 1901, 77,478.

BARI. A negro tiibe living on the White Nile, near Gondokoro. They practice agriculture to some extent, but their chief occupation is the raising of cattle. They are a warlike people, and offered a stout resistance both to the slave- traders and to the Egyptians, until they were subdued by Baker Pasha, in 1871. The Bari are very tall and finely formed. Both sexes shave the hair and paint .;the body red. Con- sult: Kaufmann, i^chihlcrungeii aus Cenlral- afrika (Brixen, 1852) : and for a grammar of their language, Mitterrutzrer (Brixen, 1867). See AfeicanLanguages.

BARIE, bfa'e (Gk. Pap6s, harys, heavy). The unit of pressure in the C. G. S. system (q.v.) adopted by the International Congress of Physicists at Paris in 1900, and corresponding to "a pressiue of 1 dyne to the square centimeter. The practical unit of pressure is the mefiabarie. or a pressure corresponding to a megadyne ( lO' dynes) to the square centimeter, and very nearly equivalent to the pressure of 75 centimeters of mercury. The mcgabarie is also a usefd unit in that it corresponds approximately to the pressure of 76 centimeters of mercury iiniler nor- mal condition, or '1 atmosphere.' This pressure is equal to 1.0133 megabaries. Sec MechaniCAL Units.

BARILI, ba-re'le. A town of Cebu, Philip- pines, situated 52 miles from Cebu, the capital of the province. Population, in 1898, 20,914. BARIL'LA (Sp. burrilla, impure soda). The crude sodium carbonate obtained from the ashes of marine plants, especially the Hahola soda, which was formerly raised for that purpose in Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Canary Islands, and the Levant.' The seeds were usually sown- at the close of the year, and in the September following the plants were ready for cutting. A month later the barilla was obtained in the following manner: Holes were dug in the earth, capable of holding one or two tons of the soda. Iron bars were laid across the cavities and the dried jilants, mixed with reeds, were placed upon them and burned. The alkali contained in the plants passed into the cavities below as a red-hot fluid. By constantly adding the plants the burn- ing was continued lintil the pits were filled, w'hen they were covered with earth. When sufficiently cool the barilla was ready for shiinnent. Tlie crude soda contained about 20 per cent, of alkali, together with sodium, calcium, and aluminum chlorides and sulphates, with a little sulphur. It was formerly much used for the manufacture of soap, but since the introduction of the im- proved process for manufacturing soda from salt, its production has declined. British barilla is the name sometimes given to kelp.

BARING, ba'ring, or bar'mg. The firm of Baring Brothers was long one of the greatest commercial houses in the world. Its founder was John Baring, a German, who settled in a small business in Exeter, England, in the first half of the Eighteenth Century. Two of his sons, Fran- cis and .Tohn, established in London, in 1770, a banking-house.

In November, 1890, owing to the continued failures of the Argentine Republic to pay the interest due upon its debt, which had been guar- anteed by the Barings, the firm was threatened with suspension, but was saved by the action of the Bank of England, which, in conjunction with the firm of Brown, Shipley & Co., ad- vanced the sum of £13,000,000 to tide over the crisis. The house of the Barings has since been reorganized as a limited company for carrying on a regular banking business, though on a less extensive scale than before.

Sir Francis Baring (1740-1810) became a director of the East India Company, and being a stanch supporter of Pitt, was created a baronet by that minister in 1793. He took an active par. in the discussions relative to the Bank Restriction Act of 1797.

Sir TuoMAS Baring (1772-1848), eldest son of the above, succeeded his father in the baron- etcy. He was a member of the Commons in 1830-32. He appears to have taken no active part in the business of the firm, and is known chiefly as an admirer and encourager of art. His magnificent collection of paintings was dis- persed by public sale after his death. Sir Francis Thorxiiill Baring (1796-1866), son of Sir Thomas, whon^ he succeeded, was edu- cated at Oxford. He entered the Commons for P(n-lsmouth in 1820, and under successive Whig governments was Lord of the Treasury, Secretary to the Treasury, Chancellor of tlie Exchequer, and First Lord of the Adm.iralty. He was created Baron Northbrook in 1866.