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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Caird, Edward

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​CAIRD, EDWARD (1835–1908), British philosopher and theologian, brother of John Caird (q.v.), was born at Greenock on the 22nd of March 1835, and educated at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford. He took a first class in moderations in 1862 and in Literae humaniores in 1863, and was Pusey and Ellerton scholar in 1861. From 1864 to 1866 he was fellow and tutor of Merton College. In 1866 he became professor of moral philosophy in the university of Glasgow, and in 1893 succeeded Benjamin Jowett as master of Balliol. With Thomas Hill Green he founded in England a school of orthodox neo-Hegelianism (see Hegel, ad fin.), and through his pupils he exerted a far-reaching influence on English philosophy and theology. Owing to failing health he gave up his lectures in 1904, and in May 1906 resigned his mastership, in which he was succeeded by James Leigh Strachan-Davidson, who had previously for some time, as senior tutor and fellow, borne the chief burden of college administration. Dr Caird received the honorary degree of D.C.L. in 1892; he was made a corresponding member of the French Academy of Moral and Political Science and a fellow of the British Academy. His publications include Philosophy of Kant (1878); Critical Philosophy of Kant (1889); Religion and Social Philosophy of Comte (1885); Essays on Literature and Philosophy (1892); Evolution of Religion (Gifford Lectures, 1891–1892); Evolution of Theology in the Greek Philosophers (1904); and he is represented in this encyclopaedia by the article on Cartesianism. He died on the 1st of November 1908.
For a criticism of Dr Caird’s theology, see A. W. Benn, English Rationalism in the 19th Century (London, 1906).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cairn

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​CAIRN (in Gaelic and Welsh, Carn), a heap of stones piled up in a conical form. In modern times cairns are often erected as landmarks. In ancient times they were erected as sepulchral monuments. The Duan Eireanach, an ancient Irish poem, describes the erection of a family cairn; and the Senchus Mor, a collection of ancient Irish laws, prescribes a fine of three three-year-old heifers for “not erecting the tomb of thy chief.” Meetings of the tribes were held at them, and the inauguration of a new chief took place on the cairn of one of his predecessors. It is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters that, in 1225, the O'Connor was inaugurated on the cairn of Fraech, the son of Fiodhach of the red hair. In medieval times cairns are often referred to as boundary marks, though probably not originally raised for that purpose. In a charter by King Alexander II. (1221), granting the lands of Burgyn to the monks of Kinloss, the boundary is described as passing “from the great oak in Malevin as far as the Rune Pictorum,” which is explained as “the Carne of the Pecht’s fieldis.” In Highland districts small cairns used to be erected, even in recent times, at places where the coffin of a distinguished person was “rested” on its way to the churchyard. Memorial cairns are still occasionally erected, as, for instance, the cairn raised in memory of the prince consort at Balmoral, and “Maule’s Cairn,” in Glenesk, erected by the earl of Dalhousie in 1866, in memory of himself and certain friends specified by name in the inscription placed upon it. (See Barrow.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Caird, John

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​CAIRD, JOHN (1820–1898), Scottish divine and philosopher, was born at Greenock on the 15th of December 1820. In his sixteenth year he entered the office of his father, who was partner and manager of a firm of engineers. Two years later, however, he obtained leave to continue his studies at Glasgow University. After a year of academic life he tried business again, but in 1840 he gave it up finally and returned to college. In 1845 he entered the ministry of the Church of Scotland, and after holding several livings accepted the chair of divinity at Glasgow in 1862. During these years he won a foremost place among the preachers of Scotland. In theology he was a Broad Churchman, seeking always to emphasize the permanent elements in religion, and ignoring technicalities. In 1873 he was appointed vice-chancellor and principal of Glasgow University. He delivered the Gifford Lectures in 1892–1893 and in 1895–1896. His Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (1880) is an attempt to show the essential rationality of religion. It is idealistic in character, being in fact a reproduction of Hegelian teaching in clear and melodious language. His argument for the Being of God is based on the hypothesis that thought—not individual but universal—is the reality of all things, the existence of this Infinite Thought being demonstrated by the limitations of finite thought. Again his Gifford Lectures are devoted to the proof of the truth of Christianity on grounds of right reason alone. Caird wrote also an excellent study of Spinoza, in which he showed the latent Hegelianism of the great Jewish philosopher. He died on the 30th of July 1898.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cairns

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​CAIRNS, a seaport of Nares county, Queensland, Australia, 890 m. direct N.N.W. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901) 3557. The town lies parallel with the sea, on the western shore of Trinity Bay, with an excellent harbour, and a long beach, finely timbered. Cairns is the natural outlet for the gold-fields, tin-mines and silver-fields of the district and for the rich copper district of Chillagoe. A government railway, 48 m. long, runs to Mareeba, whence a private company’s line continues to Mungana, 100 m. W. There is also a line belonging to a private company connecting Chillagoe with Mareeba. In the vicinity of Cairns are extensive sugar plantations, with sugar mills and refineries; the culture of coffee and tobacco has rapidly extended; bananas, pine-apples and other fruits are exported in considerable quantities and there is a large industry in cedar. The Barron Falls, among the finest in Australia, are near Kuranda, 19 m. from Cairns. Cairns became a municipality in 1885.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cairo (Illinois)

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​CAIRO, a city and the county-seat of Alexander county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the S. part of the state, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, 365 m. S. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 10,324; (1900) 12,566, of whom 5000 were negroes; (1910 census) 14,548. Cairo is served by the Illinois Central, the Mobile & Ohio, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and the St Louis South-Western railways, and by river steamboat lines. The city, said to be the “Eden” of Charles Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit, is built on a tongue of land between the rivers, and has suffered many times from inundations, notably in 1858. It is now protected by great levees. A fine railway bridge (1888) spans the Ohio. The city has a large government building, a U.S. marine hospital (1884), and the A. B. Safford memorial library (1882), and is the seat of St Joseph’s Loretto Academy (Roman Catholic, 1864). In one of the squares there is a bronze statue, “The Hewer,” by G. G. Barnard. In the N. part of the city is St Mary’s park (30 acres). At Mound City (pop. in 1910, 2837), 5 m. N. of Cairo, there is a national cemetery. Lumber and flour are Cairo’s principal manufactured products, and the city is an important hardwood and cotton-wood market; the Singer Manufacturing Co. has veneer mills here, and there are large box factories. In 1905 the value of the city’s factory products was $4,381,465, an increase of 40.6% since 1900. Cairo is a shipping-point for the surrounding agricultural country. The city owes its origin to a series of commercial experiments. In 1818 a charter was secured from the legislature of the territory of Illinois incorporating the city and bank of Cairo. The charter was soon forfeited, and the land secured by it reverted to the government. In 1835 a new charter was granted to a second company, and in 1837 the Cairo City & Canal Co. was formed. By 1842, however, the place was practically abandoned. A successful settlement was made in 1851–1854 under the auspices of the New York Trust Co.; the Illinois Central railway was opened in 1856; and Cairo was chartered as a city in 1857. During the Civil War Cairo was an important strategic point, and was a military centre and depot of supplies of considerable importance for the Federal armies in the west. In 1862 Admiral Andrew H. Foote established at Mound City a naval depot, which was the basis of his operations on the Mississippi.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bessemer

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​BESSEMER, a town of Jefferson county, Alabama, U.S.A., about 12 m. S.W. of Birmingham, a little N. of the centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 4544; (1900) 6538, including 3695 negroes; (1910) 10,864. The town is served by the Alabama Great Southern (Queen & Crescent route), the Louisville & Nashville, the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (St Louis & San Francisco system), the Birmingham Southern, and the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic railways. Bessemer is situated in the midst of the iron ore and limestone district of Alabama, in the south part of Jones’ Valley (about 3 m. wide.); to the east is the Red Ore mountain range, rich in red haematite; to the north-west are the Warrior coalfields; to the south-west, south and south-east are immense fossiliferous iron ore seams and the Cahaba coalfields; in the immediate vicinity of the city are limestone quarries, and about 18 m. north-east are the limestone kilns of Gate City. Mining, iron smelting and the manufacture of iron and coke are the chief industries of Bessemer; truck farming is also an important industry. In 1900 Bessemer was the eighth city of the state in population, second in amount of capital invested in manufacturing, and fourth in the value of its manufactured product for the year. Bessemer was laid out in 1887, and was incorporated in 1889.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bessarion, Johannes

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​BESSARION, JOHANNES, or Basilius (c. 1395–1472), titular patriarch of Constantinople, and one of the illustrious Greek scholars who contributed to the great revival of letters in the 15th century, was born at Trebizond, the year of his birth being variously given as 1389, 1395 or 1403. He was educated at Constantinople, and in 1423 went to the Peloponnese to hear Gemistus Pletho expound the philosophy of Plato. On entering the order of St Basil, he adopted the name of an old Egyptian anchorite Bessarion, whose story he has related. In 1437 he was made archbishop of Nicaea by John VII. Palacologus, whom he accompanied to Italy in order to bring about a union between the Greek and Latin churches with the object of obtaining help from the West against the Turks. The Greeks had bitterly resented his attachment to the party which saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. At the councils held in Ferrara and Florence Bessarion supported the Roman church, and gained the favour of Pope Eugenius IV., who invested him with the rank of cardinal. From that time he resided permanently in Italy, doing much, by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings, to spread abroad the new learning. He held in succession the archbishopric of Siponto and the bishoprics of Sabina and Frascati. In 1463 he received the title of Latin patriarch of Constantinople; and it was only on account of his Greek birth that he was not elevated to the papal chair. For five years (1450–1455) he was legate at Bologna, and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to Louis XI. of France in 1471. Vexation at an insult offered him by Louis is said to have hastened his death, which took place on the 19th ​of November 1472, at Ravenna. Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Xenophon’s Memorabilia, his most important work is a treatise directed against George of Trebizond, a violent Aristotelian, entitled In Calumniatorem Platonis. Bessarion, though a Platonist, is not so thoroughgoing in his admiration as Gemistus Pletho, and rather strives after a reconciliation of the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of Platonism to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of theology. His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek MSS., was presented by him to the senate of Venice, and formed the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark.
See A. M. Bandini, De Vita et Rebus Gestis Bessarionis (1777); H. Vast, Le Cardinal Bessarion (1878); E. Legrand, Bibliographie Hellénique (1885); G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums, ii. (1893); on Bessarion at the councils of Ferrara and Florence, A. Sadov, Bessarion de Nicée (1883); on his philosophy, monograph by A. Kandelos (in Greek: Athens, 1888); most of his works are in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, clxi.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bessborough, Earls of

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​BESSBOROUGH, EARLS OF. The Ponsonby family, who have contributed many conspicuous men to Irish and English public life, trace their descent to Sir John Ponsonby (d. 1678), of Cumberland, a Commonwealth soldier who obtained land grants in Ireland. His son William (1657–1724) was created Baron Bessborough (1721) and Viscount Duncannon (1723), and the latter’s son Brabazon was raised to the earldom of Bessborough in 1739. He was the father not only of the 2nd earl (1704–1793), but of John Ponsonby (q.v.), speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The 2nd earl was a well-known Whig politician, who held various offices of state; and his son the 3rd earl (1758–1844) was father of the 4th earl (1781–1847), first commissioner of works in 1831–1834, lord privy seal from 1835 to 1839 and lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1846. He was succeeded by his three sons, the 5th earl (d. 1880), 6th earl (1815–1895), a famous cricketer and chairman of the Bessborough commission (1881) to inquire into the Irish land system, and 7th earl (d. 1906), and the last named by his son the 8th earl.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bessel Function

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​BESSEL FUNCTION, a certain mathematical relation between two variables. The Bessel function of order m satisfies the differential equation d $^2$u/dρ$^2$＋1/ρ du/dρ＋(1 − m$^2$/ρ$^2$) u＝0 and may be expressed as the series ρ$^m$/2$^m$.m! $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$1−ρ$^2$/2.2m+2＋ρ$^4$/2.4.2m+2.2m+4 . . .$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$; the function of zero order is deduced by making m＝0, and is equivalent to the series 1−ρ$^2$/2$^2$＋ρ$^4$/2$^2$.4$^2$, &c. O. Schlömilch defines these functions as the coefficients of the power of t in the expansion of exp 1/2ρ(t−t $^{−1}$). The symbol generally adopted to represent these functions is J$_m$(ρ) where m denotes the order of the function. These functions are named after Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, who in 1817 introduced them in an investigation on Kepler’s Problem. He discussed their properties and constructed tables for their evaluation. Although Bessel was the first to systematically treat of these functions, it is to be noted that in 1732 Daniel Bernoulli obtained the function of zero order as a solution to the problem of the oscillations of a chain suspended at one end. This problem has been more fully discussed by Sir A. G. Greenhill. In 1764 Leonhard Euler employed the functions of both zero and integral orders in an analysis into the vibrations of a stretched membrane; an investigation which has been considerably developed by Lord Rayleigh, who has also shown (1878) that Bessel’s functions are particular cases of Laplace’s functions. There is hardly a branch of mathematical physics which is independent of these functions. Of the many applications we may notice:—Joseph Fourier’s (1824) investigation of the motion of heat in a solid cylinder, a problem which, with the related one of the flow of electricity, has been developed by W. E. Weber, G. F. Riemann and S. D. Poisson; the flow of electromagnetic waves along wires (Sir J. J. Thomson, H. Hertz, O. Heaviside); the diffraction of light (E. Lömmel, Lord Rayleigh, Georg Wilhelm Struve); the theory of elasticity (A. E. Love, H. Lamb, C. Chree, Lord Rayleigh); and to hydrodynamics (Lord Kelvin, Sir G. Stokes).
The remarkable connexion between Bessel’s functions and spherical harmonics was established in 1868 by F. G. Mehler, who proved that a simple relation existed between the function of zero order and the zonal harmonic of order n. Heinrich Eduard Heine has shown that the functions of higher orders may be considered as limiting values of the associated functions; ​this relation was discussed independently, in 1878, by Lord Rayleigh.
For the mathematical investigation see Spherical Harmonics and for tables see Table, Mathematical.
See A. Gray and G. B. Matthews, Treatise on Bessel’s Functions (1895); Encyclopädie der math. Wissenschaften; F. W. Bessel, Untersuchung des Teils der planetarischen Störungen (1824).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bessus

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​BESSUS, satrap of Bactria and Sogdiana under Darius III. In the battle of Gaugamela (1st of October 331) he commanded the troops of his satrapy. When Alexander pursued the Persian king on his flight to the East (summer 330), Bessus with some of the other conspirators deposed Darius and shortly afterwards killed him. He then tried to organize a national resistance against the Macedonian conqueror in the eastern provinces, proclaimed himself king and adopted the name Artaxerxes. But he was taken prisoner by treachery in the summer of 329. Alexander sent him to Ecbatana, where he was condemned to death. Before his execution his nose and ears were cut off, according to the Persian custom; we learn from the Behistun inscription that Darius I. punished the usurpers in the same way.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Besom

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​BESOM (Old Eng. besema, a rod), originally a bundle of rods or twigs, used for sweeping, &c.; a stiff broom.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/La Marmora, Alfonso Ferrero

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​LA MARMORA, ALFONSO FERRERO (1804–1878), Italian general and statesman, was born at Turin on the 18th of November 1804. He entered the Sardinian army in 1823, and was a captain in March 1848, when he gained distinction and the rank of major at the siege of Peschiera. On the 5th of August 1848 he liberated Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, from the Milan revolutionaries, and in October was promoted general and appointed minister of war. After suppressing the revolt of Genoa in 1849, he again assumed in November 1849 the portfolio of war, which, save during the period of his command of the Crimean expedition, he retained until 1859. Having reconstructed the Piedmontese army, he took part in the war of 1859 against Austria; and in July of that year succeeded Cavour in the premiership. In 1860 he was sent to Berlin and St Petersburg to arrange for the recognition of the kingdom of Italy, and subsequently he held the offices of governor of Milan and royal lieutenant at Naples, until, in September 1864, he succeeded Minghetti as premier. In this capacity he modified the scope of the September Convention by a note in which he claimed for Italy full freedom of action in respect of national aspirations to the possession of Rome, a document of which Visconti Venosta afterwards took advantage when justifying the Italian occupation of Rome in 1870. In April 1866 La Marmora concluded an alliance with Prussia against Austria, and, on the outbreak of war in June, took command of an army corps, but was defeated at Custozza on the 23rd of June. Accused of treason by his fellow-countrymen, and of duplicity by the Prussians, he eventually published in defence of his tactics (1873) a series of documents entitled Un po’ più di luce sugli eventi dell’ anno 1866 (More light on the events of 1866) a step which caused irritation in Germany, and exposed him to the charge of having violated state secrets. Meanwhile he had been sent to Paris in 1867 to oppose the French expedition to Rome, and in 1870, after the occupation of Rome by the Italians, had been appointed lieutenant-royal of the new capital. He died at Florence on the 5th of January 1878. La Marmora’s writings include Un episodio del risorgimento italiano (Florence, 1875); and I segreti di stato nel governo constituzionale (Florence, 1877).
See G. Massani, Il generale Alfonso La Marmora (Milan, 1880).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/La Porte

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​LA PORTE, a city and the county seat of La Porte county, Indiana, U.S.A., 12 m. S. of Lake Michigan and about 60 m. S.E. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 7126; (1900) 7113 (1403 foreign-born); (1910) 10,525. It is served by the Lake Erie & Western, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Père Marquette, the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana (electric), and the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line railways. La Porte lies in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and the shipment of farm and orchard products is one of its chief industries. There are also numerous manufactures. La Porte’s situation in the heart of a region of beautiful lakes (including Clear, Pine and Stone lakes) has given it a considerable reputation as a summer resort. The lakes furnish a large supply of clear ice, which is shipped to the Chicago markets. La Porte was settled in 1830, laid out in 1833, incorporated as a town in 1835, and first chartered as a city in 1852.