Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/750

BECKWITH. Exposition he exhibited "The Nautilus" and portraits of Mrs. Beckwith and F. H. Hitch.

BECKX, beks, (1795-1887). The twenty-second General of the Jesuits. He was born at Sichem, in Belgium, and became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1819, and the head of the order in 1853. Quite early his superiors recognized his rare abilities, and sent him on several delicate missions. When Duke Ferdinand of Anhalt-Köthen became a convert to the Roman Catholic religion, young Beckx was appointed his confessor, and officiated for some years as priest of the new church which was built at Köthen. After the death of the Duke, Beckx continued at the court with the widow, the Duchess Julia, whom, at a later period, he accompanied to Vienna. In 1847 he became procurator for the Society in Austria. In the following year the Jesuits were driven from Austria, and Father Beckx went to Belgium, where he was nominated rector of the Jesuit College at Louvain. When the Jesuits were reëstablished in Austria he zealously supported the projects of the Government, which were highly favorable to the interests of the Church. He lent his aid to the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Szcitowsky, who succeeded in obtaining the reinstatement of the Jesuits in that portion of the Empire, and in founding the novitiate at Tyrnau. He was sent as a delegate to the assembly at Rome in 1853 which was to choose a successor to Father Roothan, and was elected General of the order. The prodigious success of the Jesuits since that time, especially in non-Catholic countries, is due in no slight degree to the ability and foresight of Father Beckx. Besides some minor writings and occasional discourses, he published a Month of Mary, which has passed through numerous editions, and has been translated into many languages. He resigned his office in 1884, three years before his death.

BECKY SHARP. The significant name of the chief character in Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Endowed with uncommon wit, she has equal audacity, intrigue, and, above all, a calculating temperament by which she determines to rise in the world. She is incapable of love, but marries Rawdon Crawley for his position, which she is obliged to forfeit because of her scandalous relations with Lord Steyne.

BECQUE, bek, (1837-99). A French dramatic author. He was born in Paris, and first became known by his libretto for the opera Sardanapale (1867, music by de Joncières). He was a member of the staffs of several journals, was for a time a banker, and as playwright met with varying fortunes, his Michel Pauper (1870) and L'enlèvement (1871) being failures, while his Parisienne (1885) achieved decided success.

BECQUER, bii-kfir', (1836-70). A Spanish poet, burn at Seville, the son of the genre painter, Joaquin Becquer. An orphan at 10, he was brought up by his godmother, whose favor he lost by refusing to adopt a regular profession. At 18 he came, penniless, to Madrid, where he earned a precarious living by journalistic hack-work and by translating foreign novels, and where, after a fruitless struggle of fifteen years, he died. He left three volumes, made up of poems and prose legends. The latter, of which the best known is Leyendas españolas, are weird, morbid tales, strongly reminiscent of Hoffman, just as his poems are reminiscent of Heine, though lacking Heine's inimitable irony, and imbued with mysticism. His collected works (Madrid, 1885) have a biographical introduction by Correa.

BECQUEREL, bek'rel', (1820-1891). A French physicist, son of Antoine César Becquerel. He was born in Paris, and inherited the scientific tastes and talents of his father, whom he assisted in many of his investigations. He was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris in 1863, and in 1878 succeeded his father as professor of physics in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, in addition to coöperating with his father, he carried on a number of experiments in electricity and light, particularly in phosphorescence, an instrument known as the phosphoroscope having been invented by him. He is also well known for his work on the solar spectrum and the spectrum of the electric light. In addition to a large number of scientific papers published in French journals, Edmond Becquerel was the author of La lumière, ses causes et ses effets (1867), and, in coöperation with his father, of Eléments de physique terrestre et de météorologie, and other works.

BECQUEREL, (1788-1878). The first of several generations of distinguished French physicists. He was born at Châtillon-sur-Loing, in the Department of Loiret. In 1808 he entered the French Army as an officer of engineers, and served with distinction in Spain under Marshal Suchet. On his return to France he was appointed inspector of the Ecole Polytechnique, and after serving in that capacity and with the general staff of the army, at the Peace of 1815 retired from active service to pursue scientific studies. He became professor of physics at the Museum of Natural History in Paris in 1837. His attention was principally devoted to electricity and magnetism, and among his researches are many important discoveries. While studying the physical properties of yellow amber Becquerel had occasion to make experiments on the liberation of electricity by pressure. This led him to investigate the laws governing the production of electricity by chemical action. The result of his study was the overthrow of Volta's theory of contact, and the construction by him of a constant cell. The production of a current by contact between different pieces of the same metal and the determination of the resistance of various liquids and atmospheric electricity were also investigated, and he was greatly interested in meteorology and thermo-electric apparatus. He also discovered a method of determining the internal temperature of human and animal bodies, and in physiological investigations demonstrated that when a muscle contracts there is a development of heat. Becquerel may be considered one of the creators of electro-chemistry. His labors in this branch of science secured for him election to the Paris Academy of Sciences. After 1828 he applied electro-chemistry in the reproduction of mineral substances and in various electrolytic processes. In 1837 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London, and received the Copley Medal. Among his works, in several of which he had the coöperation of his son, Alex-