Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/14

BESTUZHEFF. of a Circassian chief, and gives interesting pic- tures of the scenery of the Caucasus. Several of his novels were translated into German by Seebach (Leipzig, 1837), and his works appeared at Saint Petersburg (5 vols., 1835; ed. 3, 12 vols., 1839, and ed. 4, 1847) under the name of ilarlinski's Tales.

BESTUZHEFF-BYUMIN, ryoo'nifen, Kon- STAXTi.N XiKOLAVEViTCU (1829-97). A Russian historian, born in the Government of Nizhni Novgorod. He studied law at the University of Moscow, was assistant editor of the Moscow Gazette from lfe5G to 1859, and in 1859 an editor ^>f the Moscow Review. In 1803-64 he was editor of the Journal of the Geograph- ical Society, from 18G5 to 1882 occupied the chair of Russian history at the University of Saint Petersburg, and from 1878 to 1882 was president of the Slavic Benevolent So- ciety. He was elected to the Imperial Acad- emy of Sciences in 1890. He contributed numer- ous articles to periodicals, was an editor of Krayefsky's EncycluiJicdic Dictionary, with Tib- len, translated Buckle's History of Civilization ill 'England, and also published The Vhristian- ization of Russia (1804), The Black Days of the Reign of the Tartars (1804), and other popular monographs. His most important work is his Historii of Russia (Vol. 1., 1872; Vol. II., 1885; unfinished ), extending through the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and distinguished by a scholarly use of sources. A collection of essays, Biograr phies and Characteristics, appeared in 1882.

BETANZOS, batiln'thAs (anciently, Brigan- tium Flavium). A city of Spain, in the Province of Coruiia, 11 miles east-southeast of the city of the same name (Map: Spain, A 1). It is attractively located, and contains remains of a Moorish castle and ancient granite gateways. The town has manufactures of linen, leather, and earthenware, and carries on a trade in wine and grain. Betflnzos is one of the most ancient towns of Galicia, and at an early time in its history was allied with Coruna, which was its port. Henry IV., in 1405, raised it to the dignity of a city. " Population, in 1897, 8187.

BETE HUMAINE, bii'tu'min', La (The Human Beast). A realistic novel by Zola, hav- ing for its theme the homicidal mania of a loco- nidtive engineer.

BE'TEL, or BETLE (Sp., Portug., from Tamil vettilei, betel; literally, a mere leaf), or Pawn. A narcotic stinuilant, much used in the East, and particularly by all the tribes of the Malay race. It consists of a leaf of one or other of "certain species of pepper, to which tlic name of betel-pepper is indiscriminately applied, plucked green, spread over with moistened quick- lime {chunani), generally procured by calcination of shells, and wrapped around a few scrapings of the areca-nut (see AnECA), sometimes called the betelnut, and also known as pinang. This is p>it into the mouth and chewed. It causes giddiness in persons unaccustomed to it, excori- ates the mouth, and deadens for a time the sense of taste. It is so burning that Europeans do not readily become habituated to it, but its consumption in the Kast Indies is prodigious. Men and women, young and old. indulge in it from morning to night. The use of it is so genernl as to have become a matter of etiquette: the Malays rarely go out without their betel- boxes, which they present to one another as Europeans did, at one time, their snuff-bo.e3. The chewing of betel is a practice of great antiquity, and can certainly be traced back to at least the Fifth Century B.C. It gives a red color to the saliva, so that the lips and teeth appear covered with blood ; the lips and teeth are also blackened by its habitual use, and the teeth are destroyed, so that men of twenty-five years of age are often quite toothless. Whether the use of betel is to be regarded as having any advantages except the mere pleasure afforded to those who have acquired the habit of it, to coun- terbalance its obvious disadvantages, is a ques- tion upon which difference of opinion exists. Some have represented it as beneficially pro- moting the secretion of saliva, strengthening the digestive powers, and warding off attacks of fever; while others pronounce against it an unqualified condemnation. Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his valuable and interesting work on Ceylon, expresses the opinion that it is ad- vantageous to a people of whose ordinary food flesh forms no part, and that it is at once the antacid, the tonic, and the carminative which they require.

The name betel is often given to the species of pepper of which the leaves are ordinarily chewed in the manner just described, which are also called Betel-Pepper or Pawn. Some of them are very extensively cultivated, particu- larly Chavica betle, Chavica siraboa, and Charica malamiri, climbing shrubs with leathery leaves, which are heart-shaped in the first and second of these species, and oblong in the third. They are trained to poles, trellises, or the stems of palms, and require much heat with moisture and shade; upon which account, in the north of India, where the climate would not otherwise be suitable, they are cultivated with great attention in low sheds, poles being placed for their support^ at a few feet apart. The genus Chavica is one of those into which the old genus Piper (see Pepper) has been divided. The requi- site qualities of betel are probably found in the leaves of numerous species not only of this but of other genera of the same family. The leaf of the ava (q.v.) is sometimes used.

BETH, (Heb., house). A word frequently introduced as an element in the name of places, as Beth-el. house of God: Beth Aven, house of iniquity: Beth-seda, house of mercy, etc. The corresponding word in Arabic, which is similarly used, is Beit (q.v.).

BETHAB'ARA. See Bethany.

BETH'AM-ED'WARDS, Matilda (1836—), An English novelist and writer, a first cousin of Amelia B. Edwards, the novelist. She was born at Westerfield, Suffolk. Her mother was the little Barbara Betham to whom Mary Lamb "penned as charming letter as was ever addressed to a child." Miss Edwards was educated at home and by foreign travel. She began as a poet, contributing to TIciMsehnld TVords an exquisite poem called "The Golden Bee." and receiving from Dickens £5 for it. This was republished in a volume of poems in 1855 and again in 1885. At the age of If) she published her 'first novel. The White TJnuse Ini the Sea. (1855), and thenceforth devotrd herself to literature, contributing to the leading magazines. iong her popular novels are John and I