AND' PICTURE 



Bb 



B, the first con- 

 sonant and second 

 letter in all alpha- 

 bets which may be 

 traced back to the 

 Phoenician (see 



ALPHABET). Its name in the Phoenician alphabet was beth, which meant house, and in 

 its form it suggested a crude picture of a house, with one side left open as a doorwuy. 

 Gradually, as it was adopted by the Greeks, it was turned about, its straight lines were 

 softened to curves, and it became the familiar capital B. This letter, pronounced only 

 by the lips, is distinguished from p in that both the voice and the breath are used in 

 producing it. It often happens that the b of one language is replaced by p in a related 

 language, especially when it is the last 

 letter of a word or syllable. 



BAADER, bah' dur, BENEDICT FRANZ XAVIER 

 VON (1765-1841), a German Roman Catholic 

 philosopher, religious writer and mining en- 

 gineer, the discoverer of a new method of 

 making glass, by which Glauber's salt instead 

 of potash is used. He was born in Munich and 

 educated in Vienna. He worked for several 

 years as a mining engineer, and won a prize 

 of about $5,000 for the discovery in regard to 

 glass-making. Meantime, however, he had be- 

 come interested in philosophy, and in 1822 

 published a work on that subject that gained 

 a good deal of attention, and is yet read by 

 many churchmen. 



In 1826 Baader was made professor of philos- 

 ophy and theology at the University of Munich, 

 but twelve years later, having openly stated 

 that the Catholic Church had no right to inter- 

 fere in matters not religious, he was forbidden 

 to lecture on the philosophy of religion. He 

 had also opposed the Papacy as an institution. 

 In spite of his disagreement with the Church 

 leaders, he is looked upon to-day as one of the 

 greatest Catholic writers on theology. 



BAAL, ba' al, a Hebrew word meaning lord, 

 has been applied to a great many different 

 gods. The people of Canaan and Phoenicia 

 gave its name to various local gods, adding the 

 name of a town or other place to show what 



particular Baal was meant. Thus there was a 

 Baal of Tyre, of Sidon, of the Lebanon, etc. 

 Sometimes a Baal was distinguished by some 

 special quality, as Baal-zebub (the fly-god), 

 whom the Philistines worshipped. While there 

 were as many Baals as there were towns or 

 places of worship, a few Baals became very 

 important, especially the Baal of Babylonia, 

 more commonly known as Bel. When the 

 Hebrews settled in Canaan they took up the 

 worship of the Baals, and even gave the name 

 to Jehovah. It was this corruption of the true 

 worship that aroused the anger of Elijah and 

 the prophets who followed him. Consult a 

 Concordance to the Bible for references. 



BABBITT, bob 'it, METAL, a soft metal 

 resulting from melting together four parts of 

 copper, twelve parts of tin and eight parts of 

 antimony, adding twelve parts of tin when the 

 mixture is fully melted. It is used with the 

 view of obviating friction as far as possible in 

 the bearings of journals, cranks and axles. 

 Babbitt metal was invented by Isaac Babbitt, 

 a goldsmith of Boston, Mass., from whom it 

 takes its name. 



BABEL, bay' bel, TOWER OF, the place where 

 the confusion of the tongues of mankind took 

 place, as related in Genesis XI. In this story 

 the descendants of Noah, after the Flood, 



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