OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Andrés, Juan

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​ANDRÉS, JUAN (1740–1817), Spanish Jesuit, was born at Planes in the province of Valencia, and became professor of literature at Gandia and finally royal librarian at Naples. He died at Rome on the 12th of January 1817. He is the author of many miscellaneous treatises on science, music, the art of teaching the deaf and dumb, &c. But his chief work, the labour of fully twenty years, is entitled Dell’ origine, progressi, e stato attuale d’ogni Letteratura (7 vols., Parma, 1782–1799). A Spanish translation by his brother Carlos appeared at Madrid between 1784 and 1806, and an abridgment in French (1838–1846) was compiled by the Jesuit Alexis Nerbonne. The original was frequently reprinted during the first half of the 19th century.
See C. Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la compagnie de Jésus, première partie (Brussels and Paris), vol. i. col. 342-350.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Andújar

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​ANDÚJAR (the anc. Sliturgi), a town of southern Spain, in the province of Jaén; on the right bank of the river Guadalquivir and the Madrid-Cordova railway. Pop. (1900) 16,302. Andújar is widely known for its porous earthenware jars, called alcarrazas, which keep water cool in the hottest weather, and are manufactured from a whitish clay found in the neighbourhood.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Andrée, Salomon August

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​ANDRÉE, SALOMON AUGUST (1854–1897 ?), Swedish engineer, was born at Grenna, on Lake Vetter, on the 18th of October 1854. After education at the Stockholm technical college, he studied aeronautics, and in 1895 elaborated a plan for crossing the north polar region by a balloon which should be in some degree dirigible by sails and trailing ropes. After an abortive effort in 1896, the winds being contrary, he started with two companions from Danes Island, Spitsbergen, on the 11th of July 1897. The party was never seen again, nor is the manner of its fate known. Of several expeditions sent in search of it, the first started in November 1897, on the strength of a report of cries of distress heard by shipwrecked sailors at Spitsbergen; in 1898 and 1899 parties searched the north Asiatic coast and the New Siberia Islands; and in May 1899 Dr Nathorst headed an expedition to eastern Greenland. None was successful, and only scanty information was obtained or inferred from the discovery of a few buoys (on the west of Spitsbergen, northern Norway, Iceland, &c.) which the balloonists had arranged to drop, and a message taken from a carrier pigeon despatched from the balloon two days after its ascent. There were also messages in two of the buoys, but they dated only from the day of the ascent. The others were empty.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Anel, Dominique

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​ANEL, DOMINIQUE (1679–1730), French surgeon, was born at Toulouse about 1679. After studying at Montpellier and Paris, he served as surgeon-major in the French army in Alsace; then after two years at Vienna he went to Italy and served in the Austrian army. In 1710 he was teaching surgery in Rouen, whence he went to Genoa, and in 1716 he was practising in Paris. He died about 1730. He was celebrated for his successful surgical treatment of fistula lacrymalis, and while at Genoa invented for use in connexion with the operation the fine-pointed syringe still known by his name.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballenstedt

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​BALLENSTEDT, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Anhalt, on the river Getel, 20 m. E. of Quedlinburg by rail. Pop. (1900) 5423. It is pleasantly situated under the north-eastern declivity of the Harz mountains. The inhabitants are mostly engaged in agriculture and there is practically no other industry. The palace of the dukes of Anhalt, standing on an eminence, contains a library and collections of various kinds, including a good picture gallery. It is approached by a fine avenue of trees and is surrounded by a well-wooded park. In the Schlosskirche the grave of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg (1100–1170) has been discovered.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballia

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​BALLIA, a town and district of British India, in the Benares division of the United Provinces. The town is situated on the left bank of the Ganges, below the confidence of the lesser Sarju. It is really an aggregation of rural villages. Pop. (1901) 15,278.
The district of Ballia, constituted in 1879, occupies an angle at the junction of the Gogra with the Ganges, being bordered by two districts of Behar. It contains an area of 1245 sq. m. Owing to the great pressure on the soil from the density of the population, to the reluctance to part with land characteristic of small proprietors, to the generally great productiveness of land and to the very light assessment of government revenue, land in Ballia, for agricultural purposes merely, has a market value higher than in almost any other district. It commonly brings in Rs. 200 per bigha, or £20 per acre, and sometimes double that figure. In 1901 the population was 987,768, showing a decrease of 5% in the decade. The principal crops are rice, barley, other food-grains, pulse, sugar-cane and opium. There are practically no manufactures, except that of sugar. Trade is carried on largely by way of the two bordering rivers.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballinasloe

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​BALLINASLOE, a market town of county Galway, Ireland, in the east parliamentary division, 91 m. W. of Dublin, on the Midland Great Western main line. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4904. The river Suck, an affluent of the Shannon, divides it into two parts, of which the eastern was in county Roscommon until 1898. The town contains remains of a castle of Elizabethan date. Industries include brewing, flour-milling, tanning, hat-making and carriage-building. Trade is assisted by water communication through the Grand canal to the Shannon. The town is widely celebrated for its great annual cattle-fair held in October, at which vast numbers of cattle and sheep are offered for sale. Adjoining the town is Garbally Castle, the seat of the earl of Clancarty, into the demesne of which the great fair extends from the town.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballater

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​BALLATER (Gaelic for “the town on a sloping hill”), a village in the parish of Glenmuick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 670 ft. above the sea, on the left bank of the Dee, here crossed by a fine bridge, 431/4 m. by rail W. by S. of Aberdeen. It is the terminus of the Deeside railway and the station for Balmoral, 9 m. to the W. Founded in 1770 to provide accommodation for the visitors to the mineral wells of Pannanich, 11/2 m. to the E., it has since become a popular summer resort. It contains the Albert Memorial Hall and the barracks for the sovereign’s bodyguard, used when the king is in residence at Balmoral. Red granite is the chief building material of the houses. Ballatrich farm, where Byron spent part of his boyhood, lies some 4 m. to the E. Ballater has a mean temperature of 44·6° F., and an average annual rainfall of 33·4 in.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballina

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​BALLINA, a seaport and market-town of county Mayo, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, on the left bank of the river Moy, with a station on the Killala branch of the Midland Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4505. Across the river, and therefore in county Sligo, is the suburb of Ardnaree, connected with Ballina by two bridges. In Ardnaree is the Roman Catholic cathedral (diocese of Killala), with an east window of Munich glass, and the ruins of an Augustinian abbey (1427) adjoining. There is a Roman Catholic diocesan college and the Protestant parish church is also in Ardnaree. A convent was erected in 1867. In trade and population Ballina is the first town in the county. The salmon fishery and fish-curing are important branches of its trade; and it has also breweries and flour-mills and manufactures snuff and coarse linen. On the 25th of August 1798, Ballina was entered by the French under General Humbert, marching from their landing-place at Killala. In the neighbourhood there is the interesting cromlech of the four Maels, which, if actually erected over the criminals whose name it bears, is proved by the early annals of Ireland to belong to the 7th century A.D. Their story relates that these men, foster-brothers of Cellach, bishop of Kilmore-Moy, murdered him at the instigation of Guaire Aidhne, king of Connaught, but were themselves executed at Ardnare (Ard-na-riaghadh, the hill of the executions) by the bishop’s brother. The Moy is a notable salmon river for rod fishing and its tributaries and the neighbouring lakes contain trout.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Balloon

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​BALLOON, a globular bag of varnished silk or other material impermeable to air, which, when inflated with gas lighter than common air, can be used in aeronautics, or, according to its size, &c., for any purpose for which its ability to rise and float in the atmosphere adapts such a mechanism. “Balloon” in this sense was first used in 1783 in connexion with the invention of the brothers Montgolfier, but the word was in earlier use (derived from Ital. ballone, a large ball) as meaning an actual ball or ball-game, a primitive explosive bomb or firework, a form of chemical retort or receiver, and an ornamental globe in architecture; and from the appearance and shape of an air balloon the word is also given by analogy to other things, such as a “balloon skirt” in dress, “balloon training” in horticulture. (See Aeronautics, and Flight and Flying).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballarat and Ballarat East

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​BALLARAT [Ballaarat] and BALLARAT EAST, a city and a town of Grenville county, Victoria, Australia, 74 m. by rail W.N.W. of Melbourne. The city and Ballarat East, separated only by the Yarrowee Creek, are distinct municipalities. Pop. of Ballarat (1901) 25,448, of Ballarat East, 18,262. Ballarat is the second city and the chief gold-mining centre of the state. The alluvial gold-fields were the richest ever opened up, but as these deposits have become exhausted the quartz reefs at deep levels have been exploited, and several mines are worked at depths exceeding 2000 ft. The city is the seat of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops. It has a number of admirable public buildings, while, among several parks and recreation grounds, mention must be made of the fine botanical garden, 750 acres in extent, ​where, in Lake Wendouree, pisciculture is carried on with great success. The school of mines is the most important in Australia and is affiliated to the university of Melbourne. Ballarat is an important railway centre and its industries include woollen milling, brewing, iron-founding, flour-milling and distilling. Owing to its elevation of 1438 ft. it has an exceptionally cool and healthy climate. Although the district is principally devoted to mining it is well adapted for sheep-farming, and some of the finest wool in the world is produced near Ballarat. The existence of the towns is due to the heavy immigration which followed upon the discovery of the gold-fields in 1851. In 1854, in their resistance of an arbitrary tax, the miners came into armed conflict with the authorities; but a commission was appointed to investigate their grievances; and a charter was granted to the town in 1855. In 1870 Ballarat was raised to the rank of a city.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballast

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​BALLAST (O. Swed. barlast, perhaps from bar, bare or mere, and last, load), heavy material, such as gravel, stone or metal, placed in the hold of a ship in order to immerse her sufficiently to give adequate stability. In botany “ballast plants” are so-called because they have been introduced into countries in which they are not indigenous through their seeds being carried in such ballast. A ship “in ballast” is one which carries no paying cargo. In modern vessels the place of ballast is taken by water-tanks which are filled more or less as required to trim the ship. The term is also applied to materials like gravel, broken slag, burnt clay, &c., used to form the bed in which the sleepers or ties of a railway track are laid, and also to the sand which a balloonist takes up with him, in order that, by throwing portions of it out of the car from time to time, he may lighten his balloon when he desires to rise to a higher level.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basim

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​BASIM, a town of India, in the Akola district, Berar, 52 m. S.S.E. from Akola station of the Great Indian Peninsula railway. Pop. (1901) 13,823. Until 1905 it was the headquarters of the district of Basim, which had an area of 2949 sq. m.; but in that ​year the district was abolished, its component taluks being divided between the districts of Akola and Yeotmal. Its western portion, the Basim taluk, consists of a fertile tableland, about 1000 ft. above sea-level, sloping down westward and southward to the rich valley of the Penganga; its eastern portion, the taluks of Mangrul and Pasud, mainly of a succession of low hills covered with poor grass. In the Pasud taluk, however, there are wide stretches of woodland, while some of the peaks rise to a height of 2000 ft., the scenery (especially during the rains) being very beautiful. The climate of the locality is better than that of the other districts of Berar; the hot wind which blows during the day in the summer months being succeeded at night by a cool breeze. The principal crops are millet, wheat, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds and cotton; there is some manufacture of cotton-cloth and blankets, and there are ginning factories in the town. In 1901 the population was 353,410, showing a decrease of 11% in the decade, due to the famine of 1899–1900, which was severely felt in the district.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basin, Thomas

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​BASIN, THOMAS (1412–1491), bishop of Lisieux and historian, was born probably at Caudebec in Normandy, but owing to the devastation caused by the Hundred Years’ War, his childhood was mainly spent in moving from one place to another. In 1424 he went to the university of Paris, where he became a master of arts in 1429, and afterwards studied law at Louvain and Pavia. He attended the council of Ferrara, and was soon made canon of the church at Rouen, professor of canon law in the new university of Caen and vicar-general for the bishop of Bayeux. In 1447 he became bishop of Lisieux. He was much involved in the wars between the English and French and was employed by Charles VII. of France, and by his successor Louis XI., at whose request Basin drew up a memorandum setting forth the misery of the people and suggesting measures for alleviating their condition. In 1464 the bishop joined the league of the Public Weal, and fell into disfavour with the king, who seized the temporalities of his see. After exile in various places Basin proceeded to Rome and renounced his bishopric. At this time (1474) Pope Sixtus IV. bestowed upon him the title of archbishop of Caesarea. Occupied with his writings Basin then passed some years at Trier, and afterwards transferred his residence to Utrecht, where he died on the 3rd of December 1491. He was buried in the church of St John, Utrecht.
Basin’s principal work is his Historiae de rebus a Carolo VII. et Ludovico XI. Francorum regibus eorumque in tempore in Gallia gestis. This is of considerable historical value, but is marred to some extent by the author’s dislike for Louis XI. At one time it was regarded as the work of a priest of Liége, named Amelgard, but it is now practically certain that Basin was the writer. He also wrote a suggestion for reform in the administration of justice entitled Libellus de optimo ordine forenses lites audiendi et deferendi; an Apologia, written to answer the charges brought against him by Louis XI; a Breviloquium, or allegorical account of his own misfortunes; a Peregrinatio; a defence of Joan of Arc entitled Opinio et consilium super processu et condemnatione Johanne, dicte Puelle, and other miscellaneous writings. He wrote in French, Advis de Monseigneur de Lysieux au roi (Paris, 1677).
See the edition of the Historiae, by J. E. J. Quicherat (Paris, 1855–1859); also G. du F. de Beaucourt, Charles VII et Louis XI d’après Thomas Basin (Paris, 1858).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basilicata

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​BASILICATA, a territorial division of Italy, now known as the province of Potenza, which formed a part of the ancient Lucania (q.v.). It is bounded N. by the province of Foggia, N E. by those of Bari and Lecce, E. by the Gulf of Taranto (for a distance of 24 m.), S. by the province of Cosenza, and W. by the Mediterranean (for a distance of 10 m. only), and by the provinces of Salerno and Avellino. It has an area of 3845 sq. m. The province is as a whole mountainous, the highest point being the Monte Pollino (7325 ft.) on the boundary of the province of Cosenza, while the Monte Vulture, at the N.W. extremity, is an extinct volcano (4365 ft.). It is traversed by five rivers, the Bradano, Basento, Cavone or Salandrella, Agri and Sinni. The longest, the Bradano, is 104 m. in length; all run S.E. or E. into the Gulf of Taranto. The province is traversed from W. to E. by the railway from Naples to Taranto and Brindisi, which passes through Potenza and reaches at Metaponto the line along the E. coast from Taranto to Reggio di Calabria. A branch line runs N. from Potenza via Melfi to Rocchetta S. Antonio, a junction for Foggia, Gioia del Colle and Avellino (the second of these lines runs through the province of Potenza as far as Palazzo S. Gervasio), while a branch S. from the Naples and Taranto line at Sicignano terminates at Lagonegro, on the W. edge of the province. Communications are rendered difficult by the mountainous character of the interior. The mountains are still to some extent clothed with forests; in places the soil is fertile, especially along the Gulf of Taranto, though here malaria is the cause of inefficient cultivation. Olive-oil is the most important product. The total population of the province was 490,705 in 1901. The chief towns are Potenza (pop. 1901, 16,186), Avigliana (18,313), Matera (17,237), Melfi (14,649), Rionero in Vulture (11,809), Lauria (10,099).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basilisk

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​BASILISK (the Βασιλίσκος of the Greeks, and Tsepha (cockatrice) of the Hebrews), a name given by the ancients to a horrid monster of their own imagination, to which they attributed the most malignant powers and an equally fiendish appearance. The term is now applied, owing to a certain fanciful resemblance, to a genus of lizards belonging to the family Iguanidae, the species of which are characterized by the presence, in the males, of an erectile crest on the head, and a still higher, likewise erectile crest—beset with scales—on the back, and another on the long tail. Basiliscus americanus reaches the length of one yard; its colour is green and brown, with dark crossbars, while the crest is reddish. This beautiful, strictly herbivorous creature is rather common amidst the luxuriant vegetation on the banks of rivers and streams of the Atlantic hot lands of Mexico and Guatemala. The lizards lie upon the branches of trees overhanging the water, into which they plunge at the slightest alarm. Then they propel themselves by rapid strokes of the hind limbs, beating the water in a semi-erect position and letting the long rudder-like tail drag behind. They are universally known as pasa-rios, i.e. ferrymen.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basin

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​BASIN, or Bason (the older form bacin is found in many of the Romanic languages, from the Late Lat. baccinus or bacchinus, probably derived from bacca, a bowl), a round vessel for holding liquids. Hence the term has various technical uses, as of a dock constructed with flood-gates in a tidal-river, or of a widening in a canal for unloading barges; also, in physical geography, of the drainage area of a river and its tributaries.
In geology, “basin” is equivalent to a broad shallow syncline, i.e. it is a structure proper to the bed rock of the district covered by the term; it must not be confused with the physiographic river basin, although it occasionally happens that the two coincide to some extent. Some of the better known geological basins in England are, the London basin, a shallow trough or syncline of Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks; the Hampshire basin, of similar formations; and the numerous coal basins, e.g. the S. Wales coalfield, the Forest of Dean, N. Staffordshire coalfield, &c. The Paris basin is made of strata similar to those in the London and Hampshire basins. Strictly speaking, a structural basin is formed of rock beds which exhibit a centroclinal dip; an elongated narrow syncline or trough is not a basin. “Rock-basins” are comparatively small, steep-sided depressions that have been scooped out of the solid rock in mountainous regions, mainly through the agency of glaciers (see Cirque). Lakes sometimes occupy basins that have been caused by the removal in solution of some of the more soluble constituents (rock salt, &c.) in the underlying strata; occasionally lake basins have been formed directly by crustal movements.