Part 23

BAROM'ETER, an instrument for measuring the weight or pressure of the atmosphere and thus determining changes in the weather, the height of mountains, and other phenomena. It had its origin about the middle of the seventeenth century in an experiment of Torricelli, an Italian, who found that if a glass tube about 3 feet in length, open at one end only, and filled with mercury, were placed vertically with the open end in a cup of the same fluid metal, a portion of the mercury descended into the cup, leaving a column only about 30 inches in height in the tube. He inferred, therefore, that the atmospheric pressure on the surface of the mercury in the cup forced it up the tube to the height of 30 inches, and that this was so because the weight of a column of air from the cup to the top of the atmosphere was only equal to that of a column of mercury of the same base and 30 inches high. Pascal confirmed the conclusion in 1645; six years afterwards it was found by Perrier that the height of the mercury in the Torricellian tube varied with the weather; and in 1655 Boyle proposed to use the instrument to measure the height of mountains.

The common or _cistern_ barometer, which is a modification of the Torricellian tube, consists of a glass tube 33 inches in length and about one-third of an inch in diameter, hermetically sealed at the top, and having the lower end resting in a small vessel containing mercury, or bent upwards and terminating in a glass bulb partly occupied by the mercury and open to the atmosphere. The tube is first filled with purified mercury, and then inverted, and there is affixed to it a scale to mark the height of the mercurial column, which comparatively seldom rises above 31 inches or sinks below 28 inches. In general the rising of the mercury presages fair weather, and its falling the contrary, a great and sudden fall being the usual presage of a storm. The weather-points on the ordinary barometric scale are as follows: At 28 inches, stormy weather; 28-1/2, much rain or snow; 29, rain or snow; 29-1/2, changeable; 30, fair or frost; 30-1/2, settled fair or frost; 31, very dry weather or hard frost. Certain attendant signs, however, have also to be noted: thus, when fair or foul weather follows almost immediately upon the rise or fall of the mercury, the change is usually of short duration; while if the change of weather be delayed for some days after the variation in the mercury, it is usually of long continuance. The direction of the wind has also to be taken into account.

The _siphon_ barometer consists of a bent tube, generally of uniform bore, having two unequal legs, the longer closed, the shorter open. A sufficient quantity of mercury having been introduced to fill the longer leg, the instrument is set upright, and the mercury takes such a position that the difference of the levels in the two legs represents the pressure of the atmosphere. In the best siphon barometers there are two scales, one for each leg, the divisions on one being reckoned upwards, and on the other downwards from an intermediate zero point, so that the sum of the two readings is the difference of levels of the mercury in the two branches.

The _wheel_ barometer is the one that is most commonly used for domestic purposes. It is far from being accurate, but it is often preferred for ordinary use on account of the greater range of its scale, by which small differences in the height of the column of mercury are more easily observed. It usually consists of a siphon barometer having a float resting on the surface of the mercury in the open branch, a thread attached to the float passing over a pulley, and having a weight as a counterpoise to the float at its extremity. As the mercury rises and falls the thread and weight turn the pulley, which again moves the index of the dial.

The _mountain_ barometer is a portable mercurial barometer with a tripod support and a long scale for measuring the altitude of mountains. To prevent breakage, through the oscillations of such a heavy liquid as mercury, it is usually carried inverted, or it is furnished with a movable basin and a screw, by means of which the mercury may be forced up to the top of the tube. For delicate operations, such as the measurement of altitudes, the scale of the barometer is furnished with a nonius or vernier, which greatly increases the minuteness and accuracy of the scale. For the rough estimate of altitudes the following rule is sufficient: As the sum of the heights of the mercury at the bottom and top of the mountain is to their difference, so is 52,000 to the height to be measured, in feet. (See also _Heights, Measurement of_.) In exact barometric observations two corrections require to be made, one for the depression of the mercury in the tube by capillary attraction, the other for temperature, which increases or diminishes the bulk of the mercury. In regard to the measurement of heights, the general rule is to subtract the ten-thousandth part of the observed altitude for every degree of Fahrenheit above 32deg.

In the _aneroid_ barometer, as its name implies (Gr. _a_, not, _n[=e]ros_, liquid), no fluid is employed, the action being dependent upon the susceptibility to atmospheric pressure shown by a flat circular metallic chamber from which the air has been partially exhausted, and which has a flexible top and bottom of corrugated metal plate. By an ingenious arrangement of springs and levers the depression or elevation of the surface of the box is registered by an index on the dial, by which means it is also greatly magnified, being given in inches to correspond with the mercurial barometer. Aneroids are, however, generally less reliable than mercurial barometers, with which they should be frequently compared. The illustration shows an aneroid without its case. At the centre of the partially exhausted metal chamber is a small pillar [M], connected with a steel spring [R]. The rise and fall of the top of the chamber, due to changing atmospheric pressure, is transmitted by means of the levers [L], and [_m_] to a metallic axis [_r_], and this axis carries a lever [_t_], whose end is attached to a chain [_s_], which turns a drum on whose axis the index needle is fixed.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Abbe, _Meteorological Apparatus_; Marvin, _Barometers and the Measurement of Atmospheric Pressure_.

BAR'ON, originally, in the feudal system, the vassal or immediate tenant of any superior; but the term was afterwards restricted to the king's barons, and again to the greater of these only, who attended the Great Council, or who, at a later date, were summoned by writ to Parliament. It was the second rank of nobility, until dukes and marquesses were introduced and placed above the earls, and viscounts also set above the barons, who therefore now hold the lowest rank in the British peerage. The present barons are of three classes: (1) barons by writ, whose ancestors have long sat in the Upper House; (2) by patent; (3) by tenure, i.e. holding the title as annexed to land. The coronet is a plain gold circle with six balls or 'pearls' on its edge, the cap being of crimson velvet.

BARON AND FEME, a term used for husband and wife in English law.

BAR'ONET, a hereditary dignity in Great Britain and Ireland, next in rank to the peerage, originally instituted by James I in 1611, nominally to promote the colonization and defence of Ulster, each baronet, on his creation, being then obliged to pay into the treasury a sum of L1095, exclusive of fees. Baronets of Ireland were instituted in 1620, and of Scotland in 1625, the latter being called baronets of Nova Scotia, because their creation was originally intended to further the colonization of Nova Scotia. But the baronets of Scotland and of England have been baronets of Great Britain if created since 1707; since 1801 all creations have been known as baronetcies of the United Kingdom. A baronet has the title of 'Sir' prefixed to his Christian and surname, and his wife is 'Lady' so-and-so. Baronets rank before all knights except Knights of the Garter, the Thistle, and St. Patrick. They have as their badge a 'bloody hand' (the arms of Ulster), that is, a left hand, erect and open, cut off at the wrist, and red in colour.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pixley, _History of the Baronetage_; G. E. Cokayne, _Complete Baronetage_; _The Baronetage under 27 Sovereigns, 1309-1910_.

BARO'NIUS, or BARONIO, Caesar, Italian ecclesiastical historian, born 1538; educated at Naples; in 1557 went to Rome; was one of the first pupils of St. Philip of Neri, and member of the oratory founded by him; afterwards cardinal and librarian of the Vatican Library. He owed these dignities to the services which he rendered the Church by his _Ecclesiastical Annals_, comprising valuable documents from the papal archives, on which he laboured from the year 1580 until his death, 30th June, 1607. They were continued, though with less power, by other writers, of whom Raynaldus takes the first rank; others are Laderchi and Theiner.

BARON OF BEEF, two sirloins not cut asunder.

BARONS' WAR, the war carried on for several years by Simon de Montfort and other barons of Henry III against the king, beginning in 1263.

BARONY, a manor or landed estate under a baron, who formerly had certain rights of jurisdiction in his barony and could hold special courts. In Ireland baronies are still the chief subdivisions of the counties.

BAROSMA. See _Bucku_.

BAROT'SELAND, a former kingdom of South Africa, now a part of Rhodesia.

BAROUCHE (ba-roesh'), a four-wheeled carriage with a falling top and two inside seats in which four persons can sit, two facing two.

BARQUE (baerk), a three-masted vessel of which the fore-mast and main-mast are square-rigged, but the mizzen-mast has fore-and-aft sails only.

BARQUISIMETO (b[.a]r-k[=e]-s[=e]-m[=a]'t[=o]), a city in the north of the Republic of Venezuela, capital of the State of Lara. Pop. about 32,000.

BAR'RA, or BAR, a small kingdom in Africa, near the mouth of the Gambia. The Mandingoes, who form a considerable part of the inhabitants, are Mahommedans and the most civilized people on the Gambia. Pop. 200,000. The coast here belongs to Britain. The chief town is Barrinding, where the so-called king resides. See _Gambia_.

BARRA, an island of the Outer Hebrides, west coast of Scotland, belonging to Inverness-shire; 8 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad, of irregular outline, with rocky coasts, surface hilly but furnishing excellent pasture. On the west coast the Atlantic, beating with all its force, has hollowed out vast caves and fissures. Large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep are reared on the island. The coasts of this and adjacent islands abound with fish, and fishing is an important industry. The inhabitants, about 2500, are Roman Catholics, and speak Gaelic.

BARRA, a town about 3 miles east of Naples. Pop. 12,080.

BARRACAN', or BARRAGAN, strictly, a thick strong stuff made in Persia and Armenia of camel's hair, but the name has been applied, by Byron and others, to various wool, flax, and cotton fabrics.

BAR'RACK (Sp. _barraca_), originally a small cabin or hut for troops, but now applied to the permanent buildings in which troops are lodged. Despite the obvious evils of the quartering system, the introduction of barracks by George III met with considerable opposition in the British Parliament as dangerous to liberty, by estranging the soldier from the citizen, and fitting him to become a tool of despotism.

BARRACKPUR (-poer'), a town and military cantonment, Hindustan, on the left bank of the Hughli, 10 miles N.N.E. of Calcutta. The suburban residence of the Viceroy is in Barrackpur Park. Pop. 31,907.

BARRACOON', a negro barrack or slave depot, formerly plentiful on the west coast of Africa, in Cuba, Brazil, &c.

BARRACU'DA, a name for certain large and ferocious fishes of the genus Sphyraena, and allied to the mullets, inhabiting southern seas, and caught in abundance for food.

BARRAFRAN'CA, a town of Sicily, province Caltanissetta. Pop. 11,170.

BARRAMUN'DA. See _Ceratodus_.

BARRANQUILLA (b[.a]r-r[.a]n-k[=e]l'y[.a]), a port of S. America, in Colombia, on a branch of the River Magdalena, near its entrance into the Caribbean Sea, connected by rail with the seaport Puerto Colombia. Pop. 64,543.

BARRAS (b[.a]-rae), Paul Francois Jean Nicholas, Comte de, member of the French National Convention and of the Executive Directory, born in Provence 1755, died 1829. After serving in the army in India and Africa, he joined the revolutionary party and was a deputy in the _tiers etat_. He took part in the attack upon the Bastille and upon the Tuileries, and voted for the death of Louis XVI. In the subsequent events he displeased Robespierre, and on this account joined the members of the committee, who foresaw danger awaiting them, and being entrusted with the chief command of the forces of his party he made himself master of Robespierre. On 4th Feb., 1795, he was elected president of the Convention, and on 5th Oct., when the troops of the sections which favoured the royal cause approached, Barras for a second time received the chief command of the forces of the Convention. On this occasion he employed General Bonaparte, for whom he procured the chief command of the army of the interior, and afterwards the command of the army in Italy. From the events of the 18th Fructidor (4th Sept., 1797) he governed absolutely until the 13th June, 1799, when Sieyes entered the Directory, and in alliance with Bonaparte procured his downfall in the revolution of the 18th Brumaire (9th Nov., 1799). He afterwards resided at Brussels, Marseilles, Rome, and Montpellier under surveillance. His _Memoirs_ (in four volumes) were published in French and in English in 1895-6.

BAR'RATRY, in commerce, any fraud committed by the master or mariners of a ship, whereby the owners, freighters, or insurers are injured; as by deviation from the proper course of the voyage, by the captain, for his own private purposes; fraudulent negligence; embezzlement of any part of the cargo, &c.

BARRATRY, COMMON, in law, the stirring up of lawsuits and quarrels between other persons, the party guilty of this offence being indictable as a _common barrator_ or _barretor_. The commencing of suits in the name of a fictitious plaintiff is common barratry. In old Scots law it denotes the taking of bribes by a judge.

BARREL, a well-known variety of wooden vessel; but the term is also used as a definite measure and weight. A barrel of beer is 36 gallons, of flour 196 lb., of beef or pork 200 lb. The Italian _barile_ varies from 7 to 31 English gallons; the French _barrique_ of Bordeaux contains 50 English gallons = 228 French litres.

BARREL-ORGAN, a musical instrument usually carried by street musicians, in which a barrel, studded with pegs or staples, when turned round, opens a series of valves to admit air to a set of pipes, or acts upon wire strings like those of the piano, thus producing a fixed series of tunes.

BARREN GROUNDS, a large tract in the North-West Territories of Canada, extending northwards from Churchill River to the Arctic Ocean between Great Bear and Great Slave Lake and Hudson's Bay. It largely consists of swamps, lakes, and bare rock.

BARRHEAD', a town, Scotland, Renfrewshire, on the Levern, 7 miles S.W. of Glasgow; chief industries: printing of cottons, the spinning of cotton yarn, dyeing, bleaching, iron and brass founding, and sanitary ware. Pop. 11,387.

BARRIE, a town of Canada, province Ontario, 55 miles N.W. Toronto, picturesquely situated on Lake Simcoe, a favourite summer resort. Pop. 6420.

BARRIE, Sir James Matthew, a novelist and playwright, born in 1860 at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire; studied at Edinburgh University, graduating as M.A. in 1882. After working on a Nottingham journal he was a journalist in London. His first book, _Better Dead_ (1887), a satire on London life, was followed by the highly successful _Auld Licht Idylls_ (1888), with its sequel _A Window in Thrums_ (that is, Kirriemuir) (1889). Among his novels and tales are _When a Man's Single_, _My Lady Nicotine_, _The Little Minister_, _Sentimental Tommy_, _Tommy and Grizel_, _The Little White Bird_. Successful plays are _Peter and Wendy_, _The Professor's Love Story_, _The Little Minister_ (based on the novel), _The Admirable Crichton_, _Quality Street_, _Little Mary_, _Peter Pan_, _What Every Woman Knows_, _Dear Brutus_, _A Kiss for Cinderella_, _Mary Rose_. His plays on the whole have been even more successful than his other works. He was created a baronet in 1913, and elected Rector of the University of St. Andrews in 1919.--Cf. J. A. Hammerton, _J. M. Barrie and his Books_.

BARRIER REEF, a coral reef, or rather series of reefs, extending for 1260 miles off the N. E. coast of Australia, at a distance from land ranging from 10 to 100 miles. In sailing along this coast, steamers generally take the route inside the reef, where there is a channel about 12 fathoms deep throughout, protected by the reefs themselves; the outer channel is safer for sailing vessels.

BARRIER TREATY, the treaty (1718) by which, when the Spanish Netherlands were ceded to Austria, the Dutch secured the right to garrison several border fortresses of the country at the expense of Austria, to serve as a barrier against France. It was declared void in 1781 by Joseph II.

BAR'RINGTON, Daines, son of Viscount Barrington, lawyer, antiquarian, and naturalist, born 1727, died 1800. He wrote many papers for the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries; published some separate works, and was a correspondent of White of Selborne, who addressed to him a number of the letters in _The Natural History of Selborne_.

BAR'RISTER, in England or Ireland, an advocate or pleader, who has been admitted by one of the Inns of Court, viz. the Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn, to plead at the bar. It is they who speak before all the higher courts, being instructed in regard to the case they have in hand by means of the _brief_ which they receive from the solicitor who may happen to engage their services, and which has a certain fee endorsed upon it as the sum to be paid for the barrister's services in the case. Before a student can be admitted to the bar he must have been a member of one of those societies, and have kept twelve terms there. The examinations, which had dwindled into mere forms, have been revived and made more stringent. Barristers are sometimes called _utter_ or _outer barristers_, to distinguish them from the king's counsel, who sit within the bar in the courts and are distinguished by a silk gown. Barristers are also spoken of as _counsel_, as in the phrase _opinion of counsel_, that is, a written opinion on a case obtained from a barrister before whom the facts have been laid. All judges are selected from the barristers. A barrister cannot maintain an action for his fees, which are considered purely honorary. A _revising barrister_ is a barrister appointed to revise the list of persons in any locality who have a vote for a member of Parliament. The term corresponding to barrister is in Scotland _advocate_, in the United States _counsellor-at-law_; but the position of the latter is not quite the same.--Cf. J. R. V. Marchant, _Barrister-at-law_.

BAR'ROS, Joao de, Portuguese historian, born 1496. He was attached to the Court of King Emmanuel, who, after the publication in 1520 of Barros' romance, _The Emperor Clarimond_, urged him to undertake a history of the Portuguese in India, which appeared thirty-two years later. King John III appointed Barros Governor of the Portuguese settlements in Guinea, and General Agent for these colonies, further presenting him in 1530 with the province of Maranham, in Brazil, for the purpose of colonization. For his losses by the last enterprise the king indemnified him, and he died in retirement in 1570. Besides his standard work, the _Decadas_, a history of the Portuguese in India (a complete edition of which appeared at Lisbon between 1778 and 1788), he wrote a moral dialogue on compromise, and the first _Portuguese Grammar_.

BARRO'SA, a village, Spain, near the S. W. coast of Andalusia, near which General Graham, when abandoned by the Spaniards, defeated a superior French force in 1811.

BAR'ROW, a river in the south-east of Ireland, province Leinster, rising on the borders of the King's and Queen's Counties, and after a southerly course joining the Suir in forming Waterford harbour. It is next in importance to the Shannon, and is navigable for vessels of 200 tons for 25 miles above the sea. Its principal tributary is the Nore.

BAR'ROW, Isaac, an eminent English mathematician and divine, born in London in 1630; studied at the Charterhouse and at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1649. After a course of medical studies he turned to divinity, mathematics, and astronomy, and took his M. A. degree in 1652, and, failing to obtain the Cambridge Greek professorship, went abroad. In 1659 he was ordained; in 1660 elected Greek professor at Cambridge; in 1662 professor of geometry in Gresham College; and in 1663 Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge, a post which he resigned to Newton in 1669. In 1670 he was created D. D., in 1672 master of Trinity College, and in 1675 vice-chancellor of Cambridge University. He died in 1677. His principal mathematical works (written in Latin) were: _Euclidis Elementa_ (1655); _Euclidis Data_ (1657); _Mathematicae Lectiones_ (1664-6); _Lectiones Opticae_ (1669); _Lectiones Geometricae_ (1670); _Archimedis Opera_; _Apollonii Conicorum lib. iv_; _Theodosii Spherica_, (1675). All his English works, which are theological, were left in MS., and published by Dr. Tillotson in 1685, the best edition being that prepared by the Rev. A. Napier in 1859. As a mathematician Barrow was deemed inferior only to Newton. The Latin edition of his mathematical works was prepared by Whewell in 1860.

BARROW, Sir John, Bart., geographer and man of letters, born in 1764 in Lancashire. At the age of sixteen he went in a whaler to Greenland; and later on was teacher of mathematics in a school at Greenwich. In 1792 he was sent with Lord Macartney, in his embassy to China, to take charge of philosophical instruments for presentation to the Chinese emperor. His account of this journey was of great value, and not less so was the account of his travels in South Africa, whither he went in 1797 as secretary to Macartney. In 1804 he was appointed second secretary to the Admiralty, a post occupied by him for forty years. In 1835 he was made a baronet; and he died in 1848, three years after his retirement. Besides the accounts of his own travels, he published lives of Earl Macartney, Lord Anson, and Lord Howe; _Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Regions_; an _Autobiography_ written at the age of eighty-three, &c.