Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/868

BENT. Harbor. He entered the United States Navy as midshipman in 1836, serving 25 years, during which time he made those researches in hydrography and meteorology which enabled him to add materially to the knowledge of storms, tornadoes, currents, rainfall, and the climate of what used to be called "the Great American Desert." He served in the Seminole War, voyaged in the South Pacific, and was especially active on survey work. He was on the brig Preble, under Commander Glynn, who, in February, 1849, at Nagasaki, Japan, procured the release of 18 American sailors, who had been kept prisoners. In this cruise he gained accurate information concerning the Japanese and how to deal with them, which was extremely valuable to Commodore M. C. Perry, under whom he served as captain and flag-lieutenant from 1852 to 1856. In this expedition he had charge of those hydrographic surveys which ultimately became the basis of the later work by the Japanese navy. He piloted the fleet into Napha, in the Riu-Kiu (Loo-choo) Islands, and was a commissioner for the United States in making a treaty with the Regent. In a lecture before the American Geographical Society, in December, 1855, he first described in scientific terms the Pacific Gulf Stream, 'the river in the ocean,' and its branches, the main part of which is called by the Japanese the Kuro Shiwo, or Black Tide. His numerous scientific studies greatly facilitated the progress of polar research and discovery. BEN'TANG. See. BENT GRASS (AS. beonet, found in composition only, OS. binut;  OHG. binuz, Ger. Binse, rush; possibly OHG. bi, by + naz, Ger. nass, wet; literally: that which grows in wet places), Agrostis. A genus of grasses, the species of which are numerous, and are found in almost all countries and climates; several are natives of Great Britain. All of them are grasses of a slender and delicate appearance. Some are very useful as pasture grasses and for hay, on account of their adaptation to certain kinds of soil. The species Agrostis alba, Agrostis vulgaris, and Agrostis stolonifera are often separated, although the last two are little more than varieties of Agrostis alba. The common bent grass (Agrostis vulgaris) forms a principal part of the pasture in almost all the elevated districts of Great Britain, and is equally abundant in many parts of the Continent of Europe. It resists drought better than almost any other grass, but is only sown by agriculturists on soils unsuitable for the more luxuriant grasses. It is also regarded as very suitable for lawns. It is as frequent on wet as on dry soils, and varies much in size and appearance. The marsh bent grass (Agrostis alba), also very common in Great Britain, forming a large part of the natural pasture in many moist situations, is very similar to the species just described. but generally taller and stouter. A variety with somewhat broader leaves and a more luxuriant habit of growth was at one time much celebrated among agriculturists, under the name of florin grass, or creeping bent grass (Agrostis stolonifera). It is a useful grass in moist grounds, newly reclaimed bogs, or land liable to inundation. The first three or four joints of the culms lie flat on the damp soil, emitting roots in abundance, and it was formerly propagated by chopping these into pieces and scattering them, but now generally by seed. Brown bent grass (Agrostis canina), a common perennial British grass, abundant in moist heaths and moorish grounds, is valuable for mixing with other grasses to form permanent pasture on poor, wet, peaty soils. In the United States it is commonly known as Rhode Island bent grass, and is considered one of the best of lawn grasses. Silky bent grass (Agrostis spica venti) is a beautiful grass, with very slender branches to its ample panicle, which, as it waves in the wind, has a glossy and silky appearance. It is a rare native of sandy grounds in England, common in Southern and Central Europe; it is an annual grass, occasionally sown in spring to fill up blanks in grass fields. BENTHAM, ben'tam or ben'tham, (1800-84). An English botanist, a nephew of (q.v. ). He was born at Stoke, near Plymouth, and studied law at Lincoln's Inn until 1832, but afterwards devoted himself to botany. He was a great linguist, and is said to have fluently read the literature on botany in 14 languages. In 1861 he became president of the Linnæan Society, and held this position continuously for 13 years. His most important works are the following: Labiatarum Genera et Species (1832-36); Handbook of the British Flora (1858 and 1865); Flora Hongkongensis (1861); Flora Australiensis (in collaboration with Ferdinand von Müller, 5 vols., 1863-70); Genera Plantarum ad Exemplaria Imprimis in Herbariis Kewensibus Servata Definata (with Hooker, 1862 et seq.). BENTHAM,  (1748-1832). An English jurist and philosopher. He was the son of a wealthy solicitor in London; received his early education at Westminster School; and when yet a boy, being little more than 12 years of age, went to Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1763, and his master's degree in 1766. Before entering it, he had already, by his precocious tendencies to speculation, acquired the title of 'the philosopher.' In 1763 his father, who expected his son to become Lord Chancellor, sent him to the study of the law at Lincoln's Inn; but soon afterwards he went back to Oxford, attracted by the fame of (q.v.) lectures. In 1767 he left Oxford to begin a legal career, but, much to the disappointment of his father, he had no relish for it, and took no pains to succeed in it. He studied chemistry and physics when he was expected to be working up cases. Turning from the practice of law to its theory, he became the greatest critic of legislation and government in his day. In 1776 he published A Fragment on Government, which was an acute criticism of some views contained in Blackstone's Commentaries. The Fragment abounds in fine, original, and just observation; it contains the germs of most of his after writings. It procured him the acquaintance of Lord Shelburne, in whose society at Bowood he afterwards passed perhaps the most agreeable hours of his life. It was in the Bowood society that he conceived an attachment for Miss Caroline Fox (Lord Holland's sister), to whom, years later, he offered his heart and hand, only to be rejected 'with all respect.' In 1778 he published View of the Hard Labor Bill, recommending an