OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballantine, William

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​BALLANTINE, WILLIAM (1812–1887), English serjeant-at-law, was born in London on the 3rd of January 1812, being the son of a London police-magistrate. He was educated at St Paul’s school, and called to the bar in 1834. He began in early life a varied acquaintance with dramatic and literary society, and his experience, combined with his own pushing character and acute intellect, helped to obtain for him very soon a large practice, particularly in criminal cases. He became known as a formidable cross-examiner, his great rival being Serjeant Parry (1816–1880). The three great cases of his career were his successful prosecution of the murderer Franz Müller in 1864, his skilful defence of the Tichborne claimant in 1871 and his defence of the gaekwar of Baroda in 1875, his fee in this last case being one of the largest ever known. Ballantine became a serjeant-at-law in 1856. He died at Margate on the 9th of January 1887, having previously published more than one volume of reminiscences. Serjeant Ballantine’s private life was decidedly Bohemian; and though he earned large sums, he died very poor.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ball, John (puritan divine)

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​BALL, JOHN (1585–1640), English puritan divine, was born at Cassington, Oxfordshire, in October 1585. After taking his B.A. degree from St Mary’s Hall, Oxford, in 1608, he went into Cheshire to act as tutor to the children of Lady Cholmondeley. He adopted Puritan views, and after being ordained without subscription, was appointed to the small curacy of Whitmore in Staffordshire. He was soon deprived by John Bridgeman, the high church bishop of Chester, who put him to much suffering. He became a schoolmaster and earned a wide and high reputation for his scholarship and piety. He died on the 20th of October 1640. The most popular of his numerous works was A Short Catechisme, containing all the Principal Grounds of Religion (14 editions before 1632). His Treatise of Faith (1632), and Friendly Trial of the Grounds tending to Separation (1640), the latter of which defines his position with regard to the church, are also valuable.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ball, Thomas

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​BALL, THOMAS (1819– ), American sculptor, was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 3rd of June 1819. He was the son of a house-and-sign-painter, and after starting, self-taught, as a portrait painter he turned his attention in 1851 to sculpture, his earliest work being a bust of Jenny Lind. At thirty-five he went to Florence for study; there, with an interval of work in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857–1865, he remained for more than thirty years, being one of the artistic colony which included the Brownings and Hiram Powers. He returned to America in 1897, and lived in Montclair, New Jersey, with a studio in New York City. His work includes many early cabinet busts of musicians (he was an accomplished musician himself, and was the first in America to sing “Elijah”), and later the equestrian statue of Washington in the Boston public gardens, probably his best work; Josiah Quincy in City Hall Square, Boston; Charles Sumner in the public gardens of Boston; Daniel Webster in Central Park, New York City; the Lincoln Emancipation group at Washington; Edwin Forrest as “Coriolanus,” in the Actors’ Home, Philadelphia, and the Washington monument in Methuen, Massachusetts. His work has had a marked influence on monumental art in the United States and especially in New England. In 1891 he published an autobiographical volume, My Three Score Years and Ten.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ball-flower

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​BALL-FLOWER, an architectural ornament in the form of a ball inserted in the cup of a flower, which came into use in the latter part of the 13th, and was in great vogue in the early part of the 14th century. It is generally placed in rows at equal distances in the hollow of a moulding, frequently by the sides of mullions. The earliest known is said to be in the west part of Salisbury cathedral, where it is mixed with the tooth ornament. It seems to have been used more and more frequently, till at Gloucester cathedral, in the south side, it is in profusion.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barlow, Peter

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​BARLOW, PETER (1776–1862), English writer on pure and applied mathematics, was born at Norwich in 1776 and died on the 1st of March 1862. In 1806 he was appointed mathematical master in the Woolwich Academy, and filled that post for forty-one years. In 1823 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and two years later received the Copley medal. Steam locomotion received much attention at his hands, and he sat on the railway commissions of 1836, 1839, 1842, 1845. He received many distinctions from British and foreign scientific societies. Barlow’s principal works are—Elementary Investigation of the Theory of Numbers (1811); New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary (1814); Essay on Magnetic Attractions (1820). The investigations on magnetism led to the important practical discovery of a means of rectifying or compensating compass errors in ships. Besides compiling numerous useful tables, he contributed largely to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barmecides

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​BARMECIDES, more accurately Barmakids, a noble Persian family which attained great power under the Abbasid caliphs. Barmak, the founder of the family, was a Persian fire-worshipper, and is supposed to have been a native of Khorasan. According to tradition, his wife was taken for a time into the harem of Abdallah, brother of Kotaiba the conqueror of Balkh, and became the mother of Khalid b. Barmak the Barmecide. Barmak subsequently (about A.D. 736) rebuilt and adorned his native city of Balkh after the rebellion of Harith. The family prospered, and his grandson Yaḥyā b. Khalid was the vizier of the caliph Mahdi and tutor of Harūn al-Rashid. His sons Fadl and Ja‛far (the Giafar of the Arabian Nights) both occupied high offices under Harūn. The story of their disgrace, though romantic, is not improbable. Harūn, it is said, found his chief pleasure in the society of his sister ‛Abbāsa and Ja‛far, and in order that these two might be with him continuously without breach of etiquette, persuaded them to contract a purely formal marriage. The conditions were, however, not observed and Harūn, learning that ‛Abbāsa had borne a son, caused Ja‛far suddenly to be arrested and beheaded, and the rest of the family except Mahommed, Yaḥyā’s brother, to be imprisoned and deprived of their property. It is probable, however, that Harūn’s anger was caused to a large extent by the insinuations of his courtiers that he was a mere puppet in the hands of a powerful family. See further Caliphate, section C, §§ 4, 5.
The expression “Barmecide Feast,” to denote an imaginary banquet, is drawn from one of the tales (“The Barber’s Tale of his Sixth Brother”) in the Arabian Nights, in which a series of empty dishes is served up to a hungry man to test his sense of humour by one of the Barmecides (see edition by L. C. Smithers, Lond., 1894, vol. i. 317).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barley-break

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​BARLEY-BREAK, an old English country game frequently mentioned by the poets of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was played by three pairs composed of one of each sex, who were stationed in three bases or plots, contiguous to each other. The couple occupying the middle base, called hell or prison, endeavoured to catch the other two, who, when chased, might break to avoid being caught. If one was overtaken, he and his companion were condemned to hell. From this game was taken the expression “the last couple in hell,” often used in old plays.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barley-corn

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​BARLEY-CORN, a grain of barley, and thus a measure taken from the length of a grain of barley, three of which (sometimes four) were considered to make up an inch. The barley-corn has been personified as representing the malt liquor made from barley, as in Burns’s song “John Barleycorn.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barmen

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​BARMEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province and the governmental district of Düsseldorf. Pop. (1816) 19,030; (1890) 116,144; (1905) 156,148. It is served by the main railway from Berlin to Aix-la-Chapelle, and lies immediately east of Elberfeld, with which it virtually forms one town. It stretches for some 4 m. along the narrow valley of the river Wupper, which, within the municipal boundaries, is crossed by twenty bridges. High wooded hills surround it. It is divided into three main districts, Upper, Middle and Lower Barmen, and is connected, throughout its length, with Elberfeld, by railway, tramway, and a suspended trolley line, hanging over the bed of the Wupper. It contains nine Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a stately modern town hall, a Hall of Fame (Ruhmeshalle), with statues of the emperors William I. and Frederick III., a theatre, a picture-gallery, an ethnographical museum, and an exchange. There are many public monuments, one to Bismarck another to the poet Emil Rittershaus (1834–1897), a native of the town, and one commemorative of the Franco-German War of 1870-71. There are several high-grade public schools, academies of technical science, engineering and textile industry, and a missionary theological seminary. Barmen is one of the most important manufacturing centres of Germany. The rapid development of its commercial activity only dates from the beginning of the 19th century. It is the chief seat of ribbon weaving in Germany, and manufactures thread, lace, braids, cotton and cloth goods, carpets, silks, machinery, steel wares, plated goods and buttons, the last industry employing about 15,000 hands. There are numerous bleaching-fields, print-fields and dyeworks famous for their Turkey-red, soap works, chemical works and potteries. There are also extensive breweries. Its export trade, particularly to the United States, is very considerable. The hills lying S. of the town are laid out in public grounds. Here are a health resort, a tower commanding an extensive view, and numerous villas. Barmen, although mentioned in chronicles in the 11th century, did not attain civic rights until 1808, when it was formed into a municipality by the grand-duke of Berg.
See A. Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency (1906), for a good description of the industrial aspect.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barlow, Sir George Hilaro

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​BARLOW, SIR GEORGE HILARO (1762–1847), Anglo-Indian statesman, was appointed to the Bengal Civil Service in 1778, and in 1788 carried into execution the permanent settlement of Bengal. When the marquess of Cornwallis died in 1805, Sir George Barlow was nominated provisional governor-general, and his passion for economy and retrenchment in that capacity has caused him to be known as the only governor-general who diminished the area of British territory; but his nomination was rejected by the home government, and Lord Minto was appointed. Subsequently Barlow was created governor of Madras, where his want of tact caused a mutiny of officers in 1809, similar to that which had previously occurred under Clive. In 1812 he was recalled, and lived in retirement until his death in February 1847. He was created a baronet in 1803.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barm

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​BARM (a word common to Teutonic languages), the scum formed on the top of malt liquor when fermenting; yeast used to leaven bread, or to set up fermentation in liquor.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barletta

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​BARLETTA (anc. Barduli), a seaport town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, on the E.S.E. coast, in the province of Bari, 341/2 m. W.N.W. of Bari by rail. Pop. (1901) 42,022. Its importance dates from the time of the Hohenstaufen. The Gothic church of S. Sepolcro was built at the close of the 12th century, and the Romanesque cathedral was begun at the same period, but added to later. In front of the former church stands a bronze statue, 14 ft. in height, of the emperor Heraclius. The castle behind the cathedral dates from 1537. The harbour is good. It was cleared by 508 sailing-vessels and 461 steamers, the latter with a total tonnage of 364,904 in 1904; the exports were of the value of £180,699 (principally wine, sulphur, oil, tartar and tartaric acid), and the imports £92,486 (coal, timber and sundries).
In the neighbourhood (between Andria and Corato), during the siege of Barletta by the French in 1503, the town being defended by the Spanish army, a combat took place between thirteen picked knights of Italy and France, which resulted in favour of the former: it has been celebrated by Massimo d’ Azeglio in his Disfida di Barletta. Seven miles to the N.W. are the salt-works of Barletta, now known under the name of Margherita di Savoia.  (T. As.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adenine

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​ADENINE, or 6-Amino-purin, C$_5$H$_5$N$_5$, in chemistry, a basic substance which has been obtained as a decomposition product of nuclein, and also from the pancreatic glands of oxen. It has been synthesized by E. Fischer (Berichte, 1897, 30, p. 2238) by heating 2.6.8-trichlorpurin with 10 times its weight of ammonia for six hours at 100° C.; by this means 6-amino-2.8-dichlorpurin is obtained, which on reduction by means of hydriodic acid and phosphonium iodide is converted into adenine. In 1898 E. Fischer also obtained it from 8-oxy-2.6-dichlorpurin (Berichte, 1898, 31, p. 104). It crystallizes in long needles; forms salts C$_5$H$_5$N$_5$·2HI and (C$_5$H$_5$N$_5$)$_2$·H$_2$SO$_4$·2H$_2$O, and is converted by nitrous acid into hypoxanthine or 6-oxypurin. On heating with hydrochloric acid at 180–200° C. it is decomposed; the products of the reaction being glycocoll, ammonia, formic acid and carbon dioxide. Various methyl derivatives of adenine have been described by E. Fischer (Berichte, 1898, 31, p. 104) and by M. Kruger (Zeit. für physiol. Chemie, 1894, 18, p. 434). For the constitution of adenine see Purin.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Address, The

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​“ADDRESS, THE,” an English parliamentary term for the reply of the Houses of Parliament (and particularly of the House of Commons) to the speech of the sovereign at the opening of a new parliament or session. There are certain formalities which distinguish this stage of parliamentary proceedings. “The king’s speech” itself is divided into three sections: the first, addressed to “My Lords and Gentlemen,” touches on foreign affairs; the second, to the “Gentlemen of the House of Commons,” has reference to the estimates; the third, to “My Lords and Gentlemen,” outlines the proposed legislation for the session. Should the sovereign in person open parliament, he does so in the House of Lords in full state, and the speaker and members of the House of Commons are summoned there into the royal presence. The sovereign then reads his speech. If the sovereign is not present in person, the speech is read by commission. The Commons then return to their House, and an address in answer is moved in both Houses. The government of the day selects two of its supporters in each House to move and second the address, and when carrying out this honourable task they appear in levee dress. Previous to the session of 1890–1891, the royal speech was answered paragraph by paragraph, but “the address” is now moved in the form of a single resolution, thanking the sovereign for his most gracious speech. The debate on the address is used as a means of ranging over the whole government policy, amendments being introduced by the opposition. A defeat on an amendment to the address is generally regarded by the government as a vote of no-confidence. After the address is agreed to it is ordered to be presented to the sovereign. The thanks of the sovereign for the address are then conveyed to the Lords by the lord steward of the household and to the Commons by the comptroller of the household.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adelung, Johann Christoph

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​ADELUNG, JOHANN CHRISTOPH (1732–1806), German grammarian and philologist, was born at Spantekow, in Pomerania, on the 8th of August 1732, and educated at the public schools of Anklam and Klosterbergen, and the university of Halle. In 1759 he was appointed professor at the gymnasium of Erfurt, but relinquished this situation two years later and went to reside in a private capacity at Leipzig, where he devoted himself to philological researches. In 1787 he received the appointment of principal librarian to the elector of Saxony at Dresden, where he continued to reside until his death on the 10th of September 1806.
The writings of Adelung are very voluminous, and there is not one of them, perhaps, which does not exhibit some proofs of the genius, industry and erudition of the author. By means of his excellent grammars, dictionary and various works on German style, he contributed greatly towards rectifying the orthography, refining the idiom and fixing the standard of his native tongue. His German dictionary—Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart (1774–1786)—bears witness to the patient spirit of investigation which Adelung possessed in so remarkable a degree, and to his intimate knowledge of the history of the different dialects on which modern German is based. No man before Jakob Grimm (q.v.) did so much for the language of Germany. Shortly before his death he issued Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde (1806). The hint of this work appears to have been taken from a publication, with a similar title, published by Konrad von Gesner (1516–1565) in 1555; but the plan of Adelung is much more extensive. Unfortunately he did not live to finish what he had undertaken. The first volume, which contains the Asiatic languages, was published immediately after his death; the other two were issued under the superintendence of Johann Severin Vater (1771–1826). Of the very numerous works by Adelung the following may be noted: Directorium diplomaticum (Meissen, 1802); Deutsche Sprachlehre für Schulen (Berlin, 1781), and the periodical, Magazin für die deutsche Sprache (Leipzig, 1782–1784).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ademption

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​ADEMPTION (Lat. ademptio, from adimere, a taking away), in law, a revocation of a grant or bequest (see Legacy).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adelaer

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​ADELAER, or Adeler (Norwegian for “eagle”), the surname of honour given on his ennoblement to Kurt Sivertsen (1622–1675), the famous Norwegian-Danish naval commander. He was born at Brevig in Norway, and at the age of fifteen became a cadet in the Dutch fleet under van Tromp, after a few years entering the service of the Venetian Republic, which was engaged at the time in a war with Turkey. In 1645 he had risen to the rank of captain; and after sharing in various victories as commander of a squadron, he achieved his most brilliant success at the Dardanelles, on the 13th of May 1654, when, with his own vessel alone, he broke through the line of Turkish galleys, sank fifteen of them, and burned others, causing a loss to the enemy of 5000 men. The following day he entered Tenedos, and compelled the complete surrender of the Turks. On returning to Venice he was crowned with honours, and became admiral-lieutenant in 1660. Numerous tempting offers were made to him by other naval powers, and in 1661 he left Venice to return to the Netherlands. Next year he was induced, by the offer of a title and an enormous salary, to accept the command of the Danish fleet from Frederick III. Under Christian V. he took the command of the combined Danish fleets against Sweden, but died suddenly on the 5th of November 1675 at Copenhagen, before the expedition set out. When in the Venetian service, Adelaer was known by the name of Curzio Suffrido Adelborst (i.e. Dutch for “naval cadet”).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adelsberg

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​ADELSBERG (Slovene Postojina), a market-town in Carniola, Austria, 30 m. S.S.W. of Laibach by rail, Pop. (1900) 3636, mostly Slovene. About a mile from the town is the entrance to the famous stalactite cavern of Adelsberg, the largest and most magnificent in Europe. The cavern is divided into four grottoes, with two lateral ramifications which reach to the distance of about a mile and a half from the entrance. The river Poik enters the cavern 60 ft. below its mouth, and is heard murmuring in its recesses. In the Kaiser-Ferdinand grotto, the third of the chain, a great ball is annually held on Whit-Monday, when the chamber is brilliantly illuminated. The Franz-Joseph-Elisabeth grotto, the largest of the four, and the farthest from the entrance, is 665 ft. in length, 640 ft. in breadth and more than 100 ft. high. Besides the imposing proportions of its chambers, the cavern is remarkable for the variegated beauty of its stalactite formations, some resembling transparent drapery, others waterfalls, trees, animals or human beings, the more grotesque being called by various fanciful appellations. These ​subterranean wonders were known as far back as 1213, but the cavern remained undiscovered in modern times until 1816, and it is only in still more recent times that its vast extent has been fully ascertained and explored. The total length of the passages is now estimated at over 51/2 m. The connexion with the Ottokar grotto was established in 1890. The Magdalene grotto, about an hour’s walk to the north, is celebrated for the extraordinary subterranean amphibian, the proteus anguinus, first discovered there. It is about a foot in length, lives on snails and worms and is provided with both lungs and gills.