730 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



repulsive manners which characterize the 

 baboons in general. 



Bacteria (Gr. baktfrion, a rod). A class of 

 very minute microscopic organisms, often of a 

 rod-like form, which are regarded as of vege- 

 table nature, and as being the cause of putre- 

 faction; they art- also called microhcn or micro- 

 phytes. The genus Hin-tcriuni, in a restricted 

 sense, comprises microscopic unicellular rod- 

 shaped vegetable organisms, which multiply by 

 transverse division of the cells. Species are 

 found in all decomposing animal and vegetable 

 liquids. The bacilli are often spoken of as bac- 

 teria, this latter term being used in a wide 

 sense and comprising organisms of various forms 

 and with several distinct names, as spirillum, 

 micrococoix, etc. They consist of a mass of 

 protoplasm inclosed in a membrane, and all 

 have at some stage or other cilia serving for 

 locomotion. Reproduction is asexual and by 

 division. 



Badger. A plantigrade, carnivorous mam- 

 mal, allied both to the bears and to the weasels, 

 of a clumsy make, with short, thick legs, and 

 long claws on the fore-feet. The common bad- 

 ger (Meles vulgaris) is as large as a middling- 

 sized dog, but much lower on the legs, with a 

 flatter and broader body, very thick, tough hide, 

 and long, coarse hair. It inhabits the north of 

 Europe and Asia, burrows, is indolent and 

 sleepy, feeds by night on vegetables, small quad- 

 rupeds, etc. Its flesh may be eaten, and its 

 hair is used for artists' brushes in painting. 

 The American badger belongs to a separate 

 genus. Badger baiting, or drawing the badger, is 

 a barbarous sport formerly, and yet to some 

 extent, practiced, generally as an attraction to 

 public-houses of the lowest sort. A badger is 

 put in a barrel, and one or more dogs are put 

 in to drag him out. When this is effected he is 

 returned to his barrel, to be similarly assailed 

 by a fresh set. The badger usually makes a 

 most determined and savage resistance. 



Balata. A gum yielded by Mimiisops Ba- 

 Intd. a tree growing abundantly in British, 

 French, and Dutch Guiana, Honduras, and 

 Brazil, obtained in a milky state by "tapping" 

 the tree, and hardening to a substance like 

 leather. Used for similar purposes to india- 

 rubber, and in the United States chewed as a 

 masticatory. 



Balm of Gilead. The exudation of a 

 tree, Balsamodendron gileadense, nat. order 

 Amyridacece, a native of Arabia Felix, and 

 also obtained from the closely allied species 

 Balsamodendron Opobalsamum. The leaves of 

 the former tree yield when bruised a strong 

 aromatic scent; and the balm of Gilead of the 

 shops, or balsam of Mecca or of Syria, is ob- 

 tained from it by making an incision in its 

 trunk. It has a yellowish or greenish color, a 

 warm, bitterish, aromatic taste, and an acidu- 

 lous, fragrant smell. It is valued as an odorif- 

 erous unguent and cosmetic. 



Balsam. An aromatic, resinous substance, 

 flowing spontaneously or by incision from cer- 

 tain plants. A great variety of substances pass 

 under this name. But in chemistry the term 

 is confined to such vegetable juices as consist 

 of resins mixed with volatile oils, and yield the 



volatile oil on distillation. The resins are pro- 

 duced from the oils by oxidation. A balsam is 

 thus intermediate between a volatile oil and a 

 resin. It is soluble in alcohol and ether, ami 

 capable of yielding benzoic acid. The balsam- 

 are either liquid or more or lees solid; as, 

 example, the balm of Gilead, and the bal-am- 

 of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. Benzoin, dragonV 

 blood, and storax are not true balsams, though 

 sometimes called so. The balsams are used in 

 perfumery, medicine, and the arts. 



Bamboo. The common name of the arbor- 

 eseent grasses belonging to the genus />V///// 

 There are many species, belonging to the wanner 

 parts of Asia, Africa, and America, and growing 

 from a few feet to as much as 100, requiring 

 much moisture to thrive properly. The b 

 known species is B. arundinacea, common in 

 tropical and sub-tropical regions. From tin- 

 creeping underground rhizome, which is long. 

 thick, and jointed, spring several round jointed 

 stalks, which send out from their joints several 

 shoots, the stalks also being armed at their 

 joints with one or two sharp, rigid spines. The 

 oval leaves, eight or nine inches long, are placed 

 on short footstalks. The flowers grow in large 

 panicles from the joints of the stalk. Some 

 stems grow to eight or ten inches in diameter, 

 and are so hard and durable as to be used for 

 building purposes. The smaller sticks are used 

 for walking-sticks, flutes, etc.; and, indeed, the 

 plant is used for innumerable purposes in the 

 East Indies, China, and other Eastern countries. 



; Cottages are almost wholly made of it; al><>, 

 bridges, boxes, water-pipes, ladders, fences, bows 



' and arrows, spears, baskets, mats, paper, masts 

 for boats, etc. The young shoots are pickle* 1 

 and eaten, or otherwise used as food; the seeiU 

 of some species are also eaten. The substance 

 called tabasheer is a siliceous deposit that gathers 

 at the internodes of the stems. The bamboo is 

 imported into Europe and America as a paper 

 material as well as for other purposes. 



Banyan, or Banian, a tree of India, 

 of the fig genus. The most peculiar feature of 

 this tree is its method of throwing out from the 



I horizontal branches, supports which take root 

 as soon as they reach the ground, enlarge into 

 trunks, and extending branches in their turn, 

 soon cover a prodigious extent of ground. A 

 celebrated banyan- tree has been known to shelter 

 7,000 men beneath its shade. The wood is soft 

 and porous, and from its white, glutinous juice 

 bird-lime is sometimes prepared. Both juice 

 and bark are regarded by the Hindoos a 

 uable medicines. 



Baobab, or Monkey-bread Tree. A 

 tree belonging to the natural order (or sub-order / 

 Bombacerc, and the only known species of its 

 genus, which was named after the naturalist, 



I A.danson. It is one of the largest of trees, its 

 trunk sometimes attaining a diameter of thirty 



j feet; and as the profusion of leaves and droop- 

 ing boughs sometimes almost hides the stem, 

 the whole forms a hemispherical mass of 

 dure 140 to 150 feet in diameter and sixty tn 

 seventy feet high. It is a native of Western 

 Africa, and is found also in Abyssinia; it i> 

 cultivated in many of the warmer parts of the 



j world. The roots are of extraordinary length, 



