BELUCHISTAN 



683 



BENEDICT 



transmitting motion or power from one to 

 another. The term belt is commonly applied 

 to the broad, flat bands or woven material. 

 Chains and ropes may also be employed, but 

 these are generally classed as chain drives and 

 rope drives. The two ends of the material of 

 which a belt is to be made are joined securely 

 together to produce what is called an endless 



BELT AND SHAFTING 



The belt may be shifted to larger or smaller 

 wheels, to increase or decrease speed. 



belt. Each manufacturer and machinist may 

 have his own favorite way of effecting the joint, 

 but the principle is the same in all. 



In lacing, the joint may be made by running 

 the lace through a series of holes as in lacing 

 a shoe, care being taken when crossing the lace 

 to do so on the top, or the side farthest from 

 the surface of the wheel. Another method is to 

 lace through two series of holes without cross- 

 ing, the two ends of the lace being tied together 

 on the upper surface. Metal rivets present an 

 even surface, but are more liable to breakage 

 than lacing. A combination of lacing and 

 cement has grown in favor, for it produces a 

 more permanent joint than any other method. 

 Imperfect lacing is often the cause of trouble 

 and power waste. A well-adjusted, properly- 

 jointed belt may be kept in use for thirty 

 years, if treated with proper care. Joints of 

 belts are usually tested to stand a certain 

 pressure per square inch, but in actual opera- 

 tion a belt should not be called upon to bear 

 more than one-third of the stated maximum 

 pressure. 



BELUCHISTAN, be lu chi stahn' , another 

 form of the word BALUCHISTAN (which see). 



BENARES , ben ah ' rez, the headquarters of 

 the Hindu religion in India, situated on the 

 right bank of the holy Ganges River, 390 miles 

 northwest of Calcutta. The Hindus regard it 

 as the holiest place on earth, created at the 

 beginning of the world, eternal; those who are 

 sufficiently blessed to die there are sure of 

 instant admittance to paradise. 



In reality, Benares is a very busy, flourishing 

 city, capital of the Benares district of the 

 United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and 

 decidedly modern for an Eastern city. But, 

 as in all Indian cities, there is a deep under- 

 current of oriental religious life, and the city 

 contains 1,500 temples which are visited by 

 vast numbers of pilgrims. Sacred cattle are 

 found roaming at will through many parts of 

 the city, and many of the temples are haunted 

 by numbers of sacred monkeys. The inhabi- 

 tants eye askance all Europeans, fearing and 

 quick to resent any imaginary slight to their 

 religious or racial prejudices. 



Benares carries on a large trade in cotton, 

 silk and woolen goods, and is famous for orna- 

 mental brass work known as Benares-ware. Its 

 stores contain the fine shawls, embroidery and 

 jewelry of the East and the most modern of 

 Western inventions. The streets are narrow 

 and crowded, but during recent years many 

 sanitary improvements have been made. Popu- 

 lation, 203,800. 



BENEDICT, ben'edikt, the name of fifteen 

 Popes, of whom the last will probably be 

 ranked by future historians as most important. 



Benedict XV (1854- ), GIACOMO BELLA 

 CHIESA, became Pope at a troublesome time, 

 shortly after the outbreak of the gigantic War 

 of the Nations in 1914. He was born at Pegli, 

 Italy, on November 21, 1854, was ordained 

 priest in 1878, and in 1887 became secretary to 

 Cardinal Rampolla, then the Papal secretary 

 of state. In 1907 he became one of the Advis- 

 ers to the Holy Office, and later in the same 

 year was appointed Bishop of Bologna. On 

 May 30, 1914, he was created cardinal, and a 

 few months later, after the death of Pope Pius 

 X, was chosen Pope on September 3, in a 

 conclave which lasted only four days. This 

 was the shortest conclave in the history of the 

 Papacy, and no other Pope has been chosen 

 after so short a service in the office of cardinal. 



Pope Benedict came to his high office after 

 a brief but thorough training. While secretary 

 to Cardinal Rampolla he was intimately con- 

 nected with the negotiations between the 

 Papacy and the European powers, thus acquir- 

 ing a knowledge of facts and diplomatic meth- 

 ods which stood him in good stead in the deli- 

 cate situations growing out of the War of the 

 Nations. Repeatedly during that great conflict 

 he endeavored to bring peace to the war- 

 torn countries, but his kind offices were rejected. 

 Similarly, the Pope's administration of the sec 

 of Bologna, one of the most important in 



