Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/845

BEMIS. works entitled Muiiicipnl Monopolies (1809) and MimiciiHil Owncrsliij) of diis-Worls in the Unit- ed Slates (1891), and is a frequent eontributor to magazines on the subjects of munieipal gov- ernment, trusts, trades-unions, and monopolies.

BEMIS HEIGHTS. See Saratoga, Battles OF.

BEMMEL, bem'mel, Peter von (1085-1754). A German painter, son of Wilhelm von Bemmel (1(330-1708). He Avas born at Nuremberg, and Avas educated by his father, from whose style, lH)v<'ver, he afterwards departed. He was em- ployed principally by Franz Konrad von Stadinn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, whose palace-walls he adorned. He manifested a marked predilection for thundeistorms and winter landscapes. Many of his pictures are at Bamberg and Brunswick. He was, after his father, tlie most prominent representative of the Bemmel family, fourteen members of which have achieved distinction as artists.

BEN. The Hebrew word for 'son,' used as a prefix to names — e.g. Benhadad, the son or wor- .sbipcr of Hadad, the chief deity of the Syrians; Benjamin, son of the right hand, etc. (1) The ])lural. Bene, is used to indicate a combination of families into a clan or tribe, or of elans into a confederation — Bene Amnion, Bene Israel. (2) In Arabic, one finds tlie corresponding word Ibn similarlj' used, which sometimes appears modified in European languages as Ebn, Aben, or Aven. Its plural, Beni, is found in the names of many Arab tribes — as Beni Omayyah, the sons of Omayyah, the family known in history as the Ommiads; and sometimes in the name of places — as Beni-IIassan.

BEN, BEINN, or BHEIN. A Gaelic word signifying mountain or mountain-head. It Is prefixed to the name of a great manj mountains in Scotland — as Ben Nevis, Ben llacdhui, Ben Cruachaji. etc. The eorres]xmding term in vari- ous parts of Europe is Pen, which is found in many of the names in Cornwall and Wales, in the Pennine Alps, and also in the word Apen- nines, and probabty the Cevennes of France.

BEN, Oil of ( Ar. ban, name of the tree ). A fixed oil used in perfumery in extracting the fragrant principles of various plants. It is itself odorless, and does not readily decompose. It is obtained by expressing the seeds (called hen or ben nuts) of several species of Moringa, a genus of trees growing in northern Africa, Arabia, and the East Indies. The ben-oil of commerce is derived mainly from the Moringa aptrru.

BENA'CUS, Lacus (Lat., Benacus Lake). The Roman name of the Lake of Garda (Logo di Garda), a long stretch of water in Venetian territory, which in 1859 formed part of the boundary line between Austria and Italy.

BENALCAZAR, ba'nal-ka'thiir, Sebastian DE, properly SEnA.STlAK Moyano (c. 1499-1550). A Spanish conqueror, born in Benalclzar, Estre- madura. He accompanied Pedrarias to Darien in 1514, came to stand high in the confidence of Francisco Pizarro, and in 15.33 defeated the Pe- ruvian Army on the Plains of Riobamba and took the city of Quito. Subsequently he pro- ceeded to the invasion of Popayan, a region com- prising the southwestern portion of the present Colombia. He was appointed governor of Popa- yan Province in 1538.

BENARD, ba'niir', Henri Jean Emile ( 1844 — ). . French architect, born at Godcrville. He studied at the Eeole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 18(i7. Upon his return from Rome he settled in Havre, and remained there until 1SS8. when he went to Paris. He executed several buildings there for the Government, notably the Palace of Compifegne. He entered the international competition for permanent plans for the University of Califor- nia, and gained the first prize over a hundred competitors. These plans were exhibited at the Architectural League in 1900. They call for a .$10,000,000 building. With s(jme slight changes, Bcnard's drawings were adopted.

BENARES, be-na'rez. A division in« the Northwest Provinces of British India. Area, 10.423 square miles; population, in 1891, 5,368,- 600; in 1901, 5,0.32,500.

BENARES (Skr. Varanasi, from Yariind. modern stream Barna-j-asi, rivulet; its ancient Skr. name was 7i«fi). The holy city of the Hindus, capital of the Benares division. North- west Provinces, British India, situated on the left side of the Ganges, which here varies, ac- cording to the season, between 50 and 90 feet in depth, and in width lietween 000 yards and a little more than half a mile (Map: India, D 3). Since 1887 the river has been spanned at Be- nares by the Dufferin Railway Bridge, 3518 feet long. The city Is in latitude 25° 17' N. and longitude 83° 4' E., 421 miles northwest of Cal- cutta, and 406 and 74 miles respectively south- east of Delhi and Allahabad. Without reckoning Secrole, which is distant 2 or 3 miles to the westward, and contains the official establish- ments and European residences, Benares covers an amphitheatre of 3 miles in front and 1 mile in depth on the immediate margin of the river, which is comparatively steep, being chiefly occu- pied by 47 flights of steps, or ghats, where crowds of all classes spend the day in business, amusement, or devotion. Backed by the minarets of about 300 mosques, and the pinnacles of about 1000 pagodas, this scene presents a picturesque appearance to spectators on the opposite shore of the Ganges. On closer inspection, however, the city, as a whole, is disappointing. The streets, or rather alleys, impracticable for car- riages, barely afford a passage to individual horsemen or single beasts of burden ; and these thoroughfares, besides being shut out from sun and air by buildings of several stories, are shared Avith the sacred bulls that roam about at will. As the central seat of Hinduism, Benares, on festive occasions, attracts immense crowds of pilgrims — sometimes as many as 100,000.

In the traditions of the country, Benares is believed to have been coeval with creation ; and tolerably autlientic history assigns to it a high antiquity. In its actual condition, Benares is a modern city. In extent and in embellishment, it owes much to the influence of Mahratta ascend- ency, and it possesses, perhaps, not a single structure that reaches back to the close of the Sixteenth Century.

On the Sanskrit College, instituted in 1792, there was at a later date ingrafted an English department, comprising poetry, history, mathematics, and political economy, and the institu-