BUTTON 



1029 



BYRON 



when polished, the buttons are ready for mar- 

 ket. The finished buttons are sewn to cards 

 containing a certain number, all of the same 

 size. The first button factory on the Missis- 

 sippi was opened in 1891 and now many towns 

 and villages for a distance of 200 miles along 

 the river banks from Fort Madison south to 

 Sabula have their mussel-fishing or button- 

 making industry. 



Vegetable Ivory Buttons. Perhaps the most 

 interesting of all button-making processes is 

 that by which they are manufactured from 

 vegetable ivory, as the fruit of corozo nut palm 

 is called. The tree produces clusters of nuts 

 in a husk sometimes as large as an ostrich egg. 

 The nuts are shelled by machinery and the 

 kernels are extracted. The application of heat 

 causes the nut to become as hard as stone, 

 with the appearance of ivory. Vegetable ivory 

 can be dyed to any desired color by chemical 

 processes. The value of vegetable ivory but- 

 tons produced in 1912, in the United States 

 alone, exceeded $3,500,000. See IVORY PALM. 



Metal Buttons. Except when used for uni- 

 forms, metal buttons are employed principally 

 where strength is required rather than orna- 

 mentation. They are made by cutting out disks 

 or blanks from sheet metal and then molding 

 or pressing them to the desired shape. De- 

 signs or letters are stamped by means of dies. 

 Waterbury, Conn., is the center of the metal 

 button industry in America, its first factory 

 having been established in 1800, fifty years 

 after one had been opened at Philadelphia, 

 Pa. In England the great button center is 

 Birmingham, where the industry attained 

 great importance as long ago as the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth. Canada has button facto- 

 ries in all its large cities, but the greater part 

 of its supply is imported from Britain. 



Fraternal and Society Buttons. An impor- 

 tant branch of the button industry has re- 

 cently developed in the United States in the 

 manufacture of club, society, fraternity and 

 political buttons. These are usually made of 

 celluloid with a metal backing. On a disk of 

 metal a picture or design is placed and on top 

 of this a sheet of transparent celluloid, soaked 

 in alcohol and other chemicals, is pressed. The 

 button is then backed by a sheet of metal 

 with a pin for attaching it to the coat, or with 

 a stud to pass through a buttonhole. Fra- 

 ternity buttons are often made of mosaic de- 

 sign of precious and semi-precious stones and 

 are sometimes very artistically designed. 



Most of the buttons made in the United 



States are used in that country; few are im- 

 ported and practically none exported. The 

 annual production of the 450 factories engaged 

 in the button industry is valued at over $20,- 

 000,000 (1915). F.ST.A. 



BUZZARD, buz' ard, a species of hawk com- 

 mon both in Europe and North America. In 

 the United States and Southern Canada the 

 name is more commonly applied to the turkey 

 buzzard, which feeds on decaying things 

 things which even a goat would not touch. 

 The common buzzard of Europe feeds upon 

 mice, frogs, toads, worms and insects, and is 

 very sluggish in its habits. The red-tailed and 

 red-shouldered buzzards, commonly known as 

 hen-hawks, are not as harmful as is generally 

 supposed. Although they do steal chickens at 

 times, they more than atone for this by rid- 

 ding the meadows and orchards of destructive 

 pests, such as mice, worms and insects. The 

 defense of hawks in Longfellow's The Birds of 

 Killingworth might well apply to these buz- 

 zards. Buzzards are known for their wonder- 

 ful ease and grace* in flight; they often remain 

 in the air for hours at a time. Their sight is 

 very keen. When their prey is seen from on 

 high, they descend silently with a graceful 

 swoop and capture the unsuspecting victim. 

 See HAWK; TURKEY BUZZARD. 



BY-LAW, a particular or private law made 

 by an incorporated body for the regulation of 

 its affairs. The power to make or change its 

 by-laws belongs to every corporation even 

 without express authority. A by-law which is 

 counter or contrary to a constitutional pro- 

 vision or to a settled rule of law is invalid. 

 By-laws of a municipal corporation are called 

 ordinances, and are true laws, for they have 

 the state's authority behind them. In general, 

 however, by-laws are simply agreements or 

 rules as to methods of work among members 

 of an incorporated business organization, or 

 of a society for the promotion of any object. 



BY 'RON, GEORGE NOEL GORDON, Sixth Lord 

 (1788-1824), an English poet who in his own 

 day was looked upon as second only to Shake- 

 speare. Handsome, passionate, with a care- 

 fully-cultivated air of mystery and gloom, he 

 stood as one of the most prominent figures 

 of his day. His ofttimes bitter smile was 

 copied as carefully as was his loose collar and 

 flowing tie, and the word "Byronic" acquired a 

 very definite meaning. 



Byron was born in London on January 22, 

 1788. Until the age of seven he was entirely 

 under the care of his mother, and to her un- 



