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BASEDOW. with realities rather than with words. Many of these refonns, suggested by Basedow, were carried out by more practical and less erratic reformers, such as Pestalozzi and Froebel. The great-grandson of Basedow was Prof. Max Mill- ler, who contributed a "Life" of the reformer to the Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. A com- parison of Basedow and Comenius by Petru Garbovicianu (Bucharest, 1887) is commended by Quick.

Consult: Quick, Educational Refm-mers (Cin- cinnati, 1879) ; Barnard, German Teadiers and Educators (J^ew York, 1861) ; Pinloche, L'Edu- cation en Allemagne au dix-huitieme siecle (Paris. ISSfl).

BASEDOW'S DISEASE', GRATi:s's Disease, or Exophthalmic CJoitre. A disease character- ized by palpitation of the heart, enlargement of the thyroid glands, ana-mia, general nervous- ness, fine tremor and prominence of the eyeballs. It was first fully described by von Basedow in 1840. The exciting cause may be mental or physical shock, or anxiety or grief, fright, fatigue, sexual excess, or cold, in anfemic per- sons, or those with a nervous inheritance. It is 8.3 times as frequent in females as in males. Consult: Gowers, Diseases of the Xervoiis Sys- tem, Vol. II. : Pepper. Theory and Practice of Medicine, edited by Billings and Delafield (Phil- adelphia, 1804) ; Mannheim, Der Morbus Orave- sii (Berlin, 1894).

BASEILHAC, ba'za'lyak', Jean (1703-81). A French surgeon, better known as Fr&re Come. He was educated at the Hotel-Dieu, Paris, and for some time was physician in ordinary to the Archbishop of Bayeux. He invented the 'trocar,' used in cystotomy, and wrote Recueil de pieces importantes conrernant la taille faite par le lithotome cache (1751), and Nouvelle m4thode d'extraire la pierre de la vessie urinaire par dessus le pubis (1779).

BASEL, bil'zel, or BALE, biil (anciently, 6a- silia, royal residence, from Gk. potriXeiis, basileus, king; hasula in the Middle Ages). The capital of the half-canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland; lying on both sides of the Rhine, near the north- cm boundary of Switzerland (ilap: Switzerland, B 1 ). The city is situated in a charming plain over 800 feet above sea-level, and is divided by the river into Grossbasel and Kleinbasel. The former, the liigher portion of the city, is on the left bank, and is connected with Kleinbasel by three bridges, one of which, the wooden Alte Briicke (Old Bridge), was built in the early part of the Thirteenth Century. The city proper shows its mediicval origin, but about it are charming suburbs, occupied by the richer classes. The old ramparts have been leveled to form walks and promenades, the finest of these being the Sankt Alhan-Anlagp and the Eschengraben. In the Eschenplatz stands the Sankt .Jakob Mon- ument, to the memory of the Swiss who opposed Hie Armagnac invaders in 1444. Other memo- rials are the Strassburg Jlonument, by Bar- tholdi, commemorating the aid given by Switzer- land to the women and children of that city after the siege of 1870, and the Holbein Foun- tain, restored in 1887.

Basel abounds in fine buildings, both mediae- val and modern. Among these may be men- tioned the Kathaus or To«n Hall, built in the first quarter of the Si.xtcenth Century ; the Cathedral, said to have been begun bv Em. peror Henry I. ; and the Barf (isser Kirche, dating from the Fourteenth Century. The latter has a very high choir, and is now the quarters of the Historical Museum, which vies with that of Zurich as the finest in Switzerland. Other nota- ble buildings are the Church of Saint Elizabeth, the Natural History and Art Museum, the Kunst Halle, containing a collection of modern paint- ings, the theatre, and the post-office.

Basel has a university which dates from 1459. The university library has about 230.000 vol- umes, and about 1500 MSS., chiefly dealing with the Reformation. The botanical gardens and the institute of natural sciences, as well as the clinics attached to the city hospitals, are also affiliated with the university. ( For further de- tails, see Basel, Uni-er6Ity of.) Besides the university there are several high schools, and an industrial school and museum. The Historical Museum, which has been mentioned, contains some portions of the celebrated Danse Macabre, formerly a fresco in the Cathedral burial-ground and removed in 1805, besides a fine collection of mediiBval furniture. Basel was the home of the Holbeins, and the museum contains a valuable collection of their works, and tho.se of their pupils. There are several literary, musical, his- torical, and scientific societies. A notable organ- ization is the Association for Public Welfare, which cares for schools and other institutions designed for the bettering of the condition of the poor and the afflicted, such as the blind, stutter- ing, etc. Basel's hospitals include a Polyclinic supported by the State, while its mission-house and Bible Institute are world-famous.

Basel has long been the leading commercial town of Switzerland and an important manu- facturing centre. For more than 200 j'ears the chief industry has been ribbon-making, now giving employment to more than 8000 people. Other branches of industry are paper-making, silk and thread spinning, dyeing and dye-mak- ing, and the preparation of the 'Baseler Leck- erli,' or honey-cakes. The position of the city on the boundaries of Switzerl.and, Alsace, and Baden, and its location on the Rhine, here navi- gable, give it great advantages for trade, and it receives more than 50 per cent, of the entire im- ports of Switzerland. It is an important centre for the transport of the native products of the country, and as a result Basel is the most pow- erful financial city of Switzerland. Besides the communications given by the Rhine and the Rhine-Rhone canals, railroads from various parts of Switzerland form a junction in Basel, per- mitting connections with France.

The Basel-Stadt senii-canton consists of the city and three parishes; the cantonal councils have general jurisdiction over the city. In 1888 the population of the city was 74.245; in 1900, 112,885. Of these over two-thirds are Protestants, less than one-third Catholics, with about 3000 Jews.

Basel had its origin in the Basilia of the Ro- mans, a frontier post situated near the town of Augusta Rauracorum. It was taken in turn by the Alemahni and the Franks, and, on the partition of Charlemagne's empire, passed to Louis the German. In the Eleventh Century it enjoyed great prosperity as a free Imjierial city, ruled by its bishop and the chief nobility. In the course of many years the burghers acquired a large share in the municipal government,