Part 71

{ Be*cui"ba (?), n., Be*cui"ba nut` (?) }. [Native name.] (Bot.) The nut of the Brazilian tree Myristica Bicuhyba, which yields a medicinal balsam used for rheumatism.

Beg"ohm` (?), n. (Elec.) A unit of resistance equal to one billion ohms, or one thousand megohms.

||Be*ju"co (?), n. [Sp., a reed or woody vine.] Any climbing woody vine of the tropics with the habit of a liane; in the Philippines, esp. any of various species of Calamus, the cane or rattan palm.

Bel (?), n. [Hind., fr. Skr. bilva.] A thorny rutaceous tree (Ægle marmelos) of India, and its aromatic, orange-like fruit; -- called also Bengal quince, golden apple, wood apple. The fruit is used medicinally, and the rind yields a perfume and a yellow dye.

Bel"gi*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Belgium.

Belgian block. A nearly cubical block of some tough stone, esp. granite, used as a material for street pavements. Its usual diameter is 5 to 7 inches.

Bel"lar*mine (?), n. A stoneware jug of a pattern originated in the neighborhood of Cologne, Germany, in the 16th century. It has a bearded face or mask supposed to represent Cardinal Bellarmine, a leader in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation, following the Reformation; -- called also graybeard, longbeard.

Bel*leek" ware (?). A porcelainlike kind of decorative pottery with a high gloss, which is sometimes iridescent. A very fine kind is made at Belleek in Ireland.

Bell process. (Iron Metal.) The process of washing molten pig iron by adding iron oxide, proposed by I. Lowthian Bell of England about 1875.

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Bell's palsy. Paralysis of the facial nerve, producing distortion of one side of the face.

Bell system of control. (Aëronautics) See Cloche.

Bench mark. (Leveling) Any permanent mark to which other levels may be referred. Specif. : A horizontal mark at the water's edge with reference to which the height of tides and floods may be measured.

Benefit society. A society or association formed for mutual insurance, as among tradesmen or in labor unions, to provide for relief in sickness, old age, and for the expenses of burial. Usually called friendly society in Great Britain.

||Ben"thos (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; depth of the sea.] The bottom of the sea, esp. of the deep oceans; hence (Bot. & Zoöl.), the fauna and flora of the sea bottom; -- opposed to plankton.

{ Ben`zo*naph"thol (?), n. Also Ben`zo*naph"tol }. [Benzoin + naphthol.] (Chem.) A white crystalline powder used as an intestinal antiseptic; beta-naphthol benzoate.

Ben"zo*sol (?), n. (Pharm.) Guaiacol benzoate, used as an intestinal antiseptic and as a substitute for creosote in phthisis. It is a colorless crystalline pewder.

||Ber`ceuse" (?), n. [F.] (Mus.) A vocal or instrumental composition of a soft tranquil character, having a lulling effect; a cradle song.

Ber`e*ni"ce's Hair` (?). [See Berenice's, Locks, in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.] (Astron.) See Coma Berenices, under Coma.

||Berg"schrund` (?), n. [G., lit., mountain gap.] (Phys. Geog.) The crevasse or series of crevasses, usually deep and often broad, frequently occurring near the head of a mountain glacier, about where the névé field joins the valley portion of the glacier.

||Berg"stock` (?), n. [G., lit., mountain stick.] A long pole with a spike at the end, used in climbing mountains; an alpenstock.

Be"ring Sea Controversy (?). A controversy (1886 -- 93) between Great Britain and the United States as to the right of Canadians not licensed by the United States to carry on seal fishing in the Bering Sea, over which the United States claimed jurisdiction as a mare clausum. A court of arbitration, meeting in Paris in 1893, decided against the claim of the United States, but established regulations for the preservation of the fur seal.

Ber*mu"da lil"y. (Bot.) The large white lily (Lilium longiflorum eximium, syn. L. Harrisii) which is extensively cultivated in Bermuda.

Ber*seem" (?), n. [Ar. bershm clover.] An Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) extensively cultivated as a forage plant and soil- renewing crop in the alkaline soils of the Nile valley, and now introduced into the southwestern United States. It is more succulent than other clovers or than alfalfa. Called also Egyptian clover.

Ber`til`lon" sys"tem (?). [After Alphonse Bertillon, French anthropologist.] A system for the identification of persons by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements, notes of markings, deformities, color, impression of thumb lines, etc.

Bes"ti*a*ry (?), n. [LL. bestiarium, fr. L. bestiarius pert. to beasts, fr. bestia beast: cf. F. bestiaire.] A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.

A bestiary . . . in itself one of the numerous mediæval renderings of the fantastic mystical zoölogy.

Saintsbury.