Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/730

BEARING. propeller shafts consist of a nut with incised threads engaging with collars on the shaft. These bearings differ from screw-bearings in that the threads are not spiral, but run straight around the nut and shaft, and so only rotary motion is possible. In machinery ball thrust- bearings are often employed. A roller thrust- bearing was made by the Ball-Bearing Company of Boston, Mass., in 1900, capable of carrying a thrust of 80 tons.

BEAR LAKE, A lake in the northwestern part of Canada, the most northerly of that chain of fresh-water lakes — Huron, Superior, Winnipeg, Athabasca, Great Slave, Great Bear — which mark a continuous hollow in the middle of the North American continent (Map: Northwest Territories, E 1). Great Bear Lake, in latitude 65° to 67° N. and longitude 117° to 123° W., is irregular in shape, 150 miles long, and has a surface estimated at 14,000 square miles. Its height above the ocean is computed at 230 feet. It sends forth a river of its own name to the Mackenzie. The climate of this region is of course severe, and the surface of the lake sometimes remains frozen over for nine months of the year.

BEAR-LEADER. One who leads a tame bear by a chain and causes the animal to dance and otherwise to furnish popular entertainment. From this ancient practice came the term 'bear-leader,' now used jocularly to signify a discreet person who takes charge of a youth of rank on his travels to see the world, or who acts as cicerone to any celebrated individual.

BEAR MOUN'TAIN. A hill of the Stony Mountain range in Dauphin County, Pa., north of Harrisburg. It contains valuable beds of anthracite. It rises to a height of about 760 feet.

BÉARN, ba'am' (Beneharnum of the Middle Ages; from the Gallic Benarni). An ancient province of France, now forming the greater part of the Department of the Basses-Pyrénées. Béarn was a portion of Aquitania under the Romans, and after the downfall of the Roman Empire passed under the domination of the Franks. After the Tenth Century the country attained to great importance under a line of independent counts of the houses of Foix and Navarre. Its cities enjoyed extensive municipal rights from a very early time. Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre and Béarn, was the mother of Henri II., who ascended the French throne as Henri IV. By his enemies he was derisively called the Béarnois. When he became King, Béarn virtually became a part of France, but was formally incorporated with it only in 1620 by Louis XIII. Consult Bordenave, Histoire de Béarn et Navarre (Paris, 1873).

BEAR RIV'ER. A river which rises in Utah, in the Uintah Mountains, and flows nearly north. It enters Wyoming, reenters Utah, again crosses into Wyoming, and, taking a northwest course, enters Idaho; but at Soda Spring, Bannock County, it turns to the south, and, reentering Utah, empties into Great Salt Lake (Map: Utah, B 1). It is about 400 miles long, and is noted for the many soda, magnesia, and other mineral springs to be found on its banks.

BEAR'S GREASE, or BEAR'S OIL. A name under which numerous preparations or pomades for strengthening and promoting the growth of the hair are sold. These preparations are usually made from beef marrow, hog's lard, veal fat, palm oil, or spermaceti, with some scenting ingredient to give them an agreeable perfume. Their manufacture and sale is based upon the belief that genuine bear's grease or oil has great efficacy in nourishing and promoting the growth of the hair.

BEAR STATE. Popular name for Arkansas. See.

BEAS, be'as (anciently, Hyphasis). One of the five rivers of India, which give name to the Punjab, or 'land of five waters.' It rises on the verge of the Rohtung Pass of the Himalayas, in latitude 32° 34' N. and longitude 77° 12' E., its source being 13,200 feet above the sea-level. After a course of about 300 miles, it joins the ."^utlej, 35 miles to the south-southeast of Amritsar.

BEAT. The motion of the hand and arm, or baton, by which the conductor of a chorus or orchestra indicates the time and rhythm of a musical composition, and insures perfect unanimity of performance on the part of the singers or players. In ancient times the leader used his foot to mark the time, and this person, called by the Greeks coryphæus, and by the Romans pedicularius, wore sandals of wood or metal to make his beat more emphatic. Leaders who marked the time by clapping their hands were called manaductores. The etiquette of modern musical performance demands that the conductor shall perform his task as inaudibly and inconspicuously as possible; but this refinement is of recent date; for Rousseau, in 1768, writing of the Paris Opera, declares that the listener is "shocked by the continual and disagreeable noise made by him who beats the measure."

With the Greeks the up beat (arsis) indicated the accented, and the down beat (thesis) the unaccented, part of the measure. In modern time-beating this is reversed. The first note or count of the measure, which has always the strongest accent, is marked by a downward motion of the hand or baton. In duple time, with two beats to the measure, this down beat is followed by an upward beat on the unaccented count. In triple time, with one strong and two weak beats, the first beat is down, the second to the right, and the third upward. In quadruple time, with four beats, the usual order is down, to the left, to the right, and up.

BEA'TA BEA'TRIX. A portrait by Rossetti in the National Gallery, London. Its subject is Dante's Beatrice, and the model was the artist's wife.

BEAT'IFICA'TION (Lat. beatus, blessed + facere, to make). A solemn act in the Catholic Church, by which the Pope, after scrutinizing the life and services of a deceased person, pronounces him blessed. After this he may be worshiped in a specified portion of the church, and the act holds out the prospect of future canonization, which entitles him to general worship in the Church Universal. Beatification was introduced in the Twelfth Century. It may be regarded as an inferior degree of canonization (q.v.).

BE'ATIF'IC VISION (Lat. beatificus, from beatus, happy + facere, to make; Lat. visio, from videre, to see). The direct vision of God,