BESANT 



700 



BESSEMER 



the beryl with many virtues, one learned 

 writer declaring it "rendered the wearer un- 

 conquerable and at the same time amiable, 

 while his intellect was quickened and he was 

 cured of laziness." For a long time the beryl 

 was the birthstone for October, but it has been 

 replaced in that connection by the opal. 



BESANT, bezant', SIR WALTER (1836-1901), 

 an English novelist and critic. His most no- 

 table work, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, 

 giving a clear picture of the sordid life and 

 surroundings of the people of East London, 

 was the inspiration of the People's Palace in 

 Mile End 'Road, London, and placed the author 

 among the social reformers of his day. Like 

 Dickens, he tried to arouse public sympathy for 

 the poor and oppressed. He was born at Ports- 

 mouth and educated at King's College, London, 

 and Christ's College, Cambridge. 



After teaching mathematics for a few years 

 he formed a literary partnership with James 

 Rice. Among the novels which they produced 

 together are Ready Money Mortiboy, The 

 Golden Butterfly and The Seamy Side. After 

 the death of Rice, Besant wrote alone a num- 

 ber of popular novels, including, besides his 

 masterpiece mentioned above, Dorothy Forster, 

 Armorel oj Lyonesse and Beyond the Dreams 

 oj Avarice. He was the founder of the Society 

 of Authors, a trade-union of writers, and the 

 editor of the Author, the publication of the 

 society. He was knighted by Queen Victoria 

 in 1895. 



BESSARABIA, besaray'bia, a province for- 

 merly in the extreme southwest of Russia, but 

 which voted late in the year 1918 to join the 

 enlarged country of Rumania, with permission 

 of the peace conference. It covers an area of 



LOCATION OF BESSARABIA 



16,181 square miles. The province is for the 

 most part flat, but the soil is extremely fertile, 

 producing an abundance of grain and raising 

 great numbers of sheep, cattle and horses, 



which are among the finest of Europe. Vine 

 growing is also an important industry, and wine 

 of good quality is exported. Manufactures are 

 in a backward state, the inhabitants being more 

 devoted to out-of-door pursuits than to confin- 

 ing industries. 



In the sixteenth century Bessarabia was 

 seized by the Turks, but it was taken by Russia 

 in 1770, to which it was formally ceded in 1812. 

 In 1856 the southeast portion was restored to 

 Turkey, but by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 

 it was again declared Russian territory. The 

 population is very much mixed, consisting of 

 Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Greeks, 

 Tartars, Jews, Turks, Armenians and numerous 

 tribes of gypsies. The capital is Kishinev, the 

 scene of a massacre of the Jews in 1907 (see 

 KISHINEV). Population, 2,400,000. 



BESSEMER, bes' emer, SIR HENRY (1813- 

 1898), an English inventor and engineer, cele- 

 brated for his discovery of the Bessemer process 

 for making steel. This discovery made it 

 possible to roll steel into shape without ham- 

 mering it (see STEEL, subhead Bessemer Proc- 

 ess). It is true that the process was discovered 

 by an American named William Kelly eight 

 or nine years earlier than by Bessemer, and 

 the American patents were granted to Kelly, 

 yet it was from Bessemer that the world 

 learned of it. Both inventors were first ridi- 

 culed by iron-makers, but Bessemer's superior 

 resources and business ability enabled him to 

 put his ideas into successful operation. His 

 experiments and discoveries relating to steel 

 and iron are best known, but his work in many 

 other fields also brought him fame. He dis- 

 covered a new process of making bronze 

 powder, made several important improvements 

 in type-casting machinery, and invented a 

 method, still in use, for compressing the 

 graphite used in making lead pencils. He was 

 knighted by Queen Victoria in 1879. 



BESSEMER, ALA., a city famous for its 

 iron, steel and coal industries. It is situated 

 in Jefferson County, on the Valley River, a 

 little north of the geographical center of the 

 state, and about eleven miles southwest of 

 Birmingham. The large tonnage produced in 

 the city and vicinity make it the objective 

 point of seven railroad lines. The city was 

 founded in 1887, incorporated in 1888 and 

 named for Sir Henry Bessemer, the English 

 inventor of the Bessemer process of steel manu- 

 facture. Its population is principally American, 

 but with a large percentage of negroes and 

 Italians, and increased from 10,864 in 1910 to 



