Chapter XIV: Front Matter (14)

_Nervous System_.--At the base of the epidermis (which is in general ciliated) there is over the entire surface of the body a layer of nerve-fibres, occurring immediately outside the basement-membrane which separates the epidermis from the subjacent musculature. The nervous system is thus essentially epidermal in position and diffuse in distribution; but an interesting concentration of nerve-cells and fibres has taken place in the collar-region, where a medullary tube, closed in from the outside, opens in front and behind by anterior and posterior neuropores. This is the collar nerve-tube. Sometimes the central canal is wide and uninterrupted between the two neuropores; in other cases it becomes broken up into a large number of small closed medullary cavities, and in others again it is obsolete. In one family, the _Ptychoderidae_, the medullary tube of the collar is connected at intermediate points with the epidermis by means of a variable number of unpaired outgrowths from its dorsal wall, generally containing an axial lumen derived from and in continuity with the central canal. These hollow roots terminate blindly in the dorsal epidermis of the collar, and place the nervous layer of the latter in direct connexion with the fibres of the nerve-tube. The exact significance of these roots is a matter for speculation, but it seems possible that they are epiphysial structures remotely comparable with the epiphysial (pineal) complex of the craniate vertebrates. In accordance with this view there would be also some probability in favour of regarding the collar nerve-tube of the Enteropneusta as the equivalent of the cerebral vesicle only of _Amphioxus_ and the Ascidian tadpole, and also of the primary fore-brain of vertebrates.

Special thickenings of the diffuse nervous layer of the epidermis occur in certain regions and along certain lines. In the neck of the proboscis the fibrous layer is greatly thickened, and other intensifications of this layer occur in the dorsal and ventral middle lines of the trunk extending to the posterior end of the body. The dorsal epidermal nerve-tract is continued in front into the ventral wall of the collar nerve-tube, and at the point of junction there is a circular commissural thickening following the posterior rim of the collar and affording a special connexion between the dorsal and ventral nerve-tracts. From the ventral surface of the collar nerve-tube numerous motor fibres may be seen passing to the subjacent musculature. These fibres are not aggregated into roots.

[v.03 p.0238]

_bc_, coelom. _tb_, tongue-bars. _ds_, mesentery. _pr_, ridge. _vv_, vessel. _gp_, gill-pore. _dn_, dorsal nerve. _dv_, vessel. _oe_, oesophagus. _vs_, mesentery. _vn_, ventral nerve. ]

_Gill-slits_.--The possession of gill-slits is as interesting a feature in the organization of _Balanoglossus_ as is the presence of tracheae in _Peripatus_. These gill-slits occupy a variable extent of the anterior portion of the trunk, commencing immediately behind the collar-trunk septum. The branchial bars which constitute the borders of the clefts are of two kinds:--(1) Septal bars between two contiguous clefts, corresponding to the primary bars in _Amphioxus_; (2) Tongue-bars. The chief resemblances between _Balanoglossus_ and _Amphioxus_ in respect of the gill-slits may be stated briefly as follows:--([alpha]) the presence of two kinds of branchial bars in all species and also of small crossbars (synapticula) in many species; ([beta]) numerous gill-slits, from forty to more than a hundred pairs; ([gamma]) the addition of new gill-slits by fresh perforation at the posterior end of the pharynx throughout life. The chief differences are, that (a) the tongue-bar is the essential organ of the gill-slit in _Balanoglossus_, and exceeds the septal bars in bulk, while in _Amphioxus_ the reverse is the case; (b) the tongue-bar contains a large coelomic space in _Balanoglossus_, but is solid in _Amphioxus_; (c) the skeletal rods in the tongue-bars of _Balanoglossus_ are double; (d) the tongue-bar in _Balanoglossus_ does not fuse with the ventral border of the cleft, but ends freely below, thus producing a continuous U-shaped cleft. The meaning of this singular contrast between the two animals may be that we have here an instance of an interesting gradation in evolution. From serving primitively as the essential organ of the cleft the tongue-bar may have undergone reduction and modification, becoming a secondary bar in _Amphioxus_, subordinate to the primary bars in size, vascularity and development; finally, in the craniate vertebrates it would then have completed its involution, the suggestion having been made that the tongue-bars are represented by the thymus-primordia.

_Gill-pouches and Gill-pores_.--Only rarely do the gill-slits open freely and directly to the exterior (fig. 1). In most species of _Balanoglossus_ each gill-slit may be said to open into its own atrial chamber or gill-pouch; this in its turn opens to the exterior by a minute gill-pore. There are, therefore, as many gill-pouches as there are gill-slits and as many gill-pores as pouches. The gill-pores occur on each side of the dorsal aspect of the worm in a longitudinal series at the base of a shallow groove, the branchial groove. The respiratory current of water is therefore conducted to the exterior by different means from that adopted by _Amphioxus_, and this difference is so great that the theory which seeks to explain it has to postulate radical changes of structure, function and topography.

_Excretory and Vascular Systems_.--It seems likely that the coelomic pore-canals were originally excretory organs, but in the existing Enteropneusta the pore-canals (especially the collar canals) have, as we have seen, acquired new functions or become vestigial, and the function of excretion is now mainly accomplished by a structure peculiar to the Enteropneusta called the glomerulus, a vascular complex placed on either side of the anterior portion of the stomochord, projecting into the proboscis-coelom. The vascular system itself is quite peculiar, consisting of lacunae and channels destitute of endothelium, situated within the thickness of the basement-membrane of the body-wall, of the gut-wall and of the mesenteries. The blood, which is a non-corpuscular fluid, is propelled forwards by the contractile dorsal vessel and collected into the central blood-sinus; this lies over the stomochord, and is surrounded on three sides by a closed vesicle, with contractile walls, called the pericardium (_Herzblase_). By the pulsation of the pericardial vesicle (best observed in the larva) the blood is driven into the glomerulus, from which it issues by efferent vessels which effect a junction with the ventral (sub-intestinal) vessel in the trunk. The vascular system does not readily lend itself to morphological comparison between such widely different animals as _Balanoglossus_ and _Amphioxus_, and the reader is therefore referred to the memoirs cited at the end of this article for further details.

a, Arrow from proboscis-cavity (pc) passing to left of pericardium (per) and out through proboscis pore-canal. b^1, arrow from central canal of neurochord (cnc) passed out through anterior neuropore. b^2, ditto; through posterior neuropore. c, arrow intended to pass from 1st gill-pouch through collar pore-canal into collar-coelom (cc). cts, posterior limit of collar. dv, dorsal vessel passing into central sinus (bs). ev, efferent vessel passing into ventral vessel (vv). epr, epiphysial tubes. st, stomochord. vs, ventral septum of proboscis. sk, body of nuchal skeleton. m, mouth. th, throat. tb, tongue-bars. tc, trunk coelom. ]

_Reproductive System_.--The sexes are separate, and when mature are sometimes distinguished by small differences of colour in the genital region. Both male and female gonads consist of more or less lobulated hollow sacs connected with the epidermis by short ducts. In their disposition they are either uniserial, biserial or multiserial. They occur in the branchial region, and also extend to a variable distance behind it. In exceptional cases they are either confined to the branchial region or excluded from it. When they are arranged in uniserial or biserial rows the genital ducts open into or near the branchial grooves in the region of the pharynx and in a corresponding position in the post-branchial region. An important feature is the occurrence in some species (_Ptychoderidae_) of paired longitudinal pleural or lateral folds of the body which are mobile, and can be approximated at their free edges so as to close in the dorsal surface, embracing both the median dorsal nerve-tract and the branchial grooves with the gill-pores, so as to form a temporary peri-branchial and medullary tube, open behind where the folds cease. On the other hand, they can be spread out horizontally so as to expose their own upper side as well as the dorsal surface of the body (fig. 1). These folds are called the genital pleurae because they contain the bulk of the gonads. Correlated with the presence of the genital pleurae there is a pair of vascular folds of the basement membrane proceeding from the dorsal wall of the gut in the post-branchial portion of the branchio-genital region, and from the dorsal angles made by the pleural folds with the body-wall in the pharyngeal region; they pass, in their most fully developed condition, to the free border of the genital pleurae. These vascular membranes are called the lateral septa. Since there are many species which do not possess these genital pleurae, the question arises as to whether their presence or their absence is the more primitive condition. Without attempting to answer this question categorically, it may be pointed out that within the limits of the family (_Ptychoderidae_) which is especially characterized by their presence there are some species in [v.03 p.0239] which the genital pleurae are quite obsolete, and yet lateral septa occur (_e.g._ _Ptychodera ruficollis_), seeming to indicate that the pleural folds have in such cases been secondarily suppressed.

_Development_.--The development of _Balanoglossus_ takes place according to two different schemes, known as direct and indirect, correlated with the occurrence in the group of two kinds of ova, large and small. Direct development, in which the adult form is achieved without striking metamorphosis by a gradual succession of stages, seems to be confined to the family _Balanoglossidae_. The remaining two families of Enteropneusta, _Ptychoderidae_ and _Spengelidae_, contain species of which probably all pursue an indirect course of development, culminating in a metamorphosis by which the adult form is attained. In these cases the larva, called _Tornaria_, is pelagic and transparent, and possesses a complicated ciliated seam, the longitudinal ciliated band, often drawn out into convoluted bays and lappets. In addition to this ciliated band the form of the _Tornaria_ is quite characteristic and unlike the adult. The Tornaria larva offers a certain similarity to larvae of Echinoderms (sea-urchins, star-fishes, and sea-cucumbers), and when first discovered was so described. It is within the bounds of possibility that _Tornaria_ actually does indicate a remote affinity on the part of the Enteropneusta to the Echinoderms, not only on account of its external form, but also by reason of the possession of a dorsal water-pore communicating with the anterior body-cavity. In the direct development Bateson showed that the three divisions of the coelom arise as pouches constricted off from the archenteron or primitive gut, thus resembling the development of the mesoblastic somites of _Amphioxus_. It would appear that while the direct development throws light upon the special plan of organization of the Enteropneusta, the indirect development affords a clue to their possible derivation. However this may be, it is sufficiently remarkable that a small and circumscribed group like the Enteropneusta, which presents such a comparatively uniform plan of composition and of external form, should follow two such diverse methods of development.

_Distribution_.--Some thirty species of _Balanoglossus_ are known, distributed among all the principal marine provinces from Greenland to New Zealand. The species which occurs in the English Channel is _Ptychodera sarniensis_. The _Ptychoderidae_ and _Spengelidae_ are predominantly tropical and subtropical, while the _Balanoglossidae_ are predominantly arctic and temperate in their distribution. One of the most singular facts concerning the geographical distribution of Enteropneusta has recently been brought to light by Benham, who found a species of _Balanoglossus_, _sensu stricto_, on the coast of New Zealand hardly distinguishable from one occurring off Japan. Finally, _Glandiceps abyssicola_ (_Spengelidae_) was dredged during the "Challenger" expedition in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa at a depth of 2500 fathoms.

AUTHORITIES.--W. Bateson, "Memoirs on the Direct Development of Balanoglossus," _Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci._ (vols. xxiv.-xxvi., 1884-1886); W. B. Benham, "Balanoglossus otagoensis, n. sp," _Q. J. M. S._ (vol. xlii. p. 497, 1899); Yves Delage and Ed. Herouard, _Traite de zoologie concrete_ (t. viii.), "Les Procordes" (1898); S. F. Harmer, "Note on the Name Balanoglossus," _Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc._ (x. p. 190, 1900); T. H. Morgan, "Memoirs on the Indirect Development of Balanoglossus," _Journ. Morph._ (vol. v., 1891, and vol. ix., 1894); W. E. Ritter, "_Harrimania maculosa_, a new Genus and Species of Enteropneusta from Alaska," Papers from the Harriman Alaska Exhibition (ii.), _Proc. Washington Ac._ (ii. p. 111, 1900); J. W. Spengel, "Die Enteropneusten," _Eighteenth Monograph on the Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel_ (1893); A. Willey, "Enteropneusta from the South Pacific, with Notes on the West Indian Species," _Zool. Results_ (Willey), part iii., 1899; see also _Q. J. M. S._ (vol. xlii. p. 223, 1899); J. P. Hill, "The Enteropneusta of Funafuti," _Mem. Austral. Mus._ (iii., 1897-1898); M. Caullery and F. Mesnil, "Balanoglossus Kochleri, n. sp. English Channel," _C. R. Soc. Biol._ lii. p. 256 (1900).

(A. W.*)

BALARD, ANTOINE JEROME (1802-1876), French chemist, was born at Montpellier on the 30th of September 1802. He started as an apothecary, but taking up teaching he acted as chemical assistant at the faculty of sciences of his native town, and then became professor of chemistry at the royal college and school of pharmacy and at the faculty of sciences. In 1826 he discovered in sea-water a substance which he recognized as a previously unknown element and named _bromine_. The reputation brought him by this achievement secured his election as successor to L. J. Thenard in the chair of chemistry at the faculty of sciences in Paris, and in 1851 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the College de France, where he had M. P. E. Berthelot first as pupil, then as assistant and finally as colleague. He died in Paris on the 30th of April 1876. While the discovery of bromine and the preparation of many of its compounds was his most conspicuous piece of work, Balard was an industrious chemist on both the pure and applied sides. In his researches on the bleaching compounds of chlorine he was the first to advance the view that bleaching-powder is a double compound of calcium chloride and hypochlorite; and he devoted much time to the problem of economically obtaining soda and potash from sea-water, though here his efforts were nullified by the discovery of the much richer sources of supply afforded by the Stassfurt deposits. In organic chemistry he published papers on the decomposition of ammonium oxalate, with formation of oxamic acid, on amyl alcohol, on the cyanides, and on the difference in constitution between nitric and sulphuric ether.

BALA SERIES, in geology, a series of dark slates and sandstones with beds of limestone which occurs in the neighbourhood of Bala, Merionethshire, North Wales. It was first described by A. Sedgwick, who considered it to be the upper part of his Cambrian System. The series is now placed at the top of the Ordovician System, above the Llandeilo beds. The Bala limestone is from 20 to 40 ft. thick, and is recognizable over most of North Wales; it is regarded as the equivalent of the Coniston limestone of the Lake District. The series in the type area consists of the Hirnant limestone, a thin inconstant bed, which is separated by 1400 ft. of slates from the Bala limestone, below this are more slates and volcanic rocks. The latter are represented by large contemporaneous deposits of tuff and felsitic lava which in the Snowdon District are several thousand feet thick. In South Wales the Bala Series contains the following beds in descending order:--the _Trinucleus seticornis_ beds (Slade beds, Redhill shales and Sholeshook limestone), the Robeston Wathen beds, and the _Dicranograptus_ shales. The typical graptolites are, in the upper part, _Dicellograptus anceps_ and _D. complanatus_; in the lower part, _Pleurograptus linearis_ and _Dicranograptus Clingani_. In Shropshire this series is represented by the Caradoc and Chirbury Series; in southern Scotland by the Hartfell and Ardmillan Series, and by similar rocks in Ireland. See CARADOC SERIES and ORDOVICIAN SYSTEM.

BALASH (in the Greek authors, Balas; the later form of the name Vologaeses), Sassanian king in A.D. 484-488, was the brother and successor of P[=e]r[=o]z, who had died in a battle against the Hephthalites (White Huns) who invaded Persia from the east. He put down the rebellion of his brother Zareh, and is praised as a mild and generous monarch, who made concessions to the Christians. But as he did nothing against his enemies, he was, after a reign of four years, deposed and blinded, and his nephew, Kavadh I., raised to the throne.

(ED. M.)

BALASORE, a town and district of British India, in the Orissa division of Bengal. The town is the principal one and the administrative headquarters of the district, and is situated on the right bank of the river Burabalang, about 7 m. from the sea-coast as the crow flies and 16 m. by the river. There is a station on the East Coast railway. The English settlement of Balasore, formed in 1642, and that of Pippli in its neighbourhood seven years earlier, became the basis of the future greatness of the British in India. The servants of the East India Company here fortified themselves in a strong position, and carried on a brisk investment in country goods, chiefly cottons and muslins. They flourished in spite of the oppressions of the Mahommedan governors, and when needful asserted their claims to respect by arms. In 1688, affairs having come to a crisis, Captain William Heath, commander of the company's ships, bombarded the town. In the 18th century Balasore rapidly declined in importance, on account of a dangerous bar which formed across the mouth of the river. At present the bar has 12 to 15 ft. of water at spring-tides, but not more than 2 or 3 ft. at low water in the dry season. Large ships have to anchor outside in the open roadstead. The town still possesses a large maritime trade, despite the silting-up of the river mouth. Pop. (1901) 20,880.

The district forms a strip of alluvial land between the hills and the sea, varying from about 9 to 34 m. in breadth; area, 2085 sq. m. The hill country rises from the western boundary line. The district naturally divides itself into three well-defined tracts--(1) The salt tract, along the coast; (2) The arable tract, or rice country; and (3) The submontane tract, or jungle lands. The salt tract runs the whole way down the coast, and forms a desolate strip a few miles broad. Towards the beach it rises into sandy ridges, from 50 to 80 ft. high, sloping inland and covered with a [v.03 p.0240] vegetation of low scrub jungle. Sluggish brackish streams creep along between banks of fetid black mud. The sandhills on the verge of the ocean are carpeted with creepers and the wild convolvulus. Inland, it spreads out into prairies of coarse long grass and scrub jungle, which harbour wild animals in plenty; but throughout this vast region there is scarcely a hamlet, and only patches of rice cultivation at long intervals. From any part of the salt tract one may see the boundary of the inner arable part of the district fringed with long lines of trees, from which every morning the villagers drive their cattle out into the saliferous plains to graze. The salt tract is purely alluvial, and appears to be of recent date. Towards the coast the soil has a distinctly saline taste.

Salt used to be largely manufactured in the district by evaporation, but the industry is now extinct. The arable tract lies beyond the salt lands, and embraces the chief part of the district. It is a long dead-level of rich fields, with a soil lighter in colour than that of Bengal or Behar; much more friable, and apt to split up into small cubes with a rectangular cleavage. A peculiar feature of the arable tract is the _P[=a]ts_ (literally cups) or depressed lands near the river-banks. They were probably marshes that have partially silted up by the yearly overflow of the streams. These _p[=a]ts_ bear the finest crops. As a whole, the arable tract is a treeless region, except around the villages, which are encircled by fine mango, _pipal_, banyan and tamarind trees, and intersected with green shady lanes of bamboo. A few palmyras, date-palms and screw-pines (a sort of aloe, whose leaves are armed with formidable triple rows of hook-shaped thorns) dot the expanse or run in straight lines between the fields. The submontane tract is an undulating country with a red soil, much broken up into ravines along the foot of the hills. Masses of laterite, buried in hard ferruginous clay, crop up as rocks or slabs. At Kopari, in Kila Ambohata, about 2 sq. m. are almost paved with such slabs, dark-red in colour, perfectly flat and polished like plates of iron. A thousand mountain torrents have scooped out for themselves picturesque ravines, clothed with an ever-fresh verdure of prickly thorns, stunted gnarled shrubs, and here and there a noble forest tree. Large tracts are covered with sal jungle, which nowhere, however, attains to any great height.

Balasore district is watered by six distinct river systems: those of the Subanrekha, the Burabalang, the Jamka, the Kansbans and the Dhamra.

The climate greatly varies according to the seasons of the year. The hot season lasts from March to June, but is tempered by cool sea-breezes; from June to September the weather is close and oppressive; and from October to February the cold season brings the north-easterly winds, with cool mornings and evenings.

Almost the only crop grown is rice, which is largely exported by sea. The country is exposed to destructive floods from the hill-rivers and also from cyclonic storm-waves. The district is traversed throughout its entire length by the navigable Orissa coast canal, and also by the East Coast railway from Calcutta to Madras. The seaports of Balasore, Chandbali and Dhamra conduct a very large coasting trade. The exports are almost confined to rice, which is sent to Ceylon, the Maldives and Mauritius. The imports consist of cotton twist and piece goods, mineral oils, metals, betel-nuts and salt. In 1901 the population was 1,071,197, an increase of 9% in the decade.

BALASSA, BALINT, BARON OF KEKKO and GYARMAT (1551-1594), Magyar lyric poet, was born at Kekko, and educated by the reformer, Peter Bornemissza, and by his mother, the highly gifted Protestant zealot, Anna Sulyok. His first work was a translation of Michael Bock's _Wuertzgertlein fuer die krancken Seelen_, to comfort his father while in prison (1570-1572) for some political offence. On his father's release, Balint accompanied him to court, and was also present at the coronation diet of Pressburg in 1572. He then joined the army and led a merry life at the fortress of Eger. Here he fell violently in love with Anna Losonczi, the daughter of the hero of Temesvar, and evidently, from his verses, his love was not unrequited. But a new mistress speedily dragged the ever mercurial youth away from her, and deeply wounded, she gave her hand to Krisztof Ungnad. Naturally Balassa only began to realize how much he loved Anna when he had lost her. He pursued her with gifts and verses, but she remained true to her pique and to her marriage vows, and he could only enshrine her memory in immortal verse. In 1574 Balint was sent to the camp of Gaspar Bekesy to assist him against Stephen Bathory; but his troops were encountered and scattered on the way thither, and he himself was severly wounded and taken prisoner. His not very rigorous captivity lasted for two years, and he then disappears from sight. We next hear of him in 1584 as the wooer and winner of Christina Dobo, the daughter of the valiant commandant of Eger. What led him to this step we know not, but it was the cause of all his subsequent misfortunes. His wife's greedy relatives nearly ruined him by legal processes, and when in 1586 he turned Catholic to escape their persecutions they declared that he and his son had become Turks. His simultaneous desertion of his wife led to his expulsion from Hungary, and from 1589 to 1594 he led a vagabond life in Poland, sweetened by innumerable amours with damsels of every degree from cithara players to princesses. The Turkish war of 1594 recalled him to Hungary, and he died of his wounds at the siege of Esztergom the same year. Balassa's poems fall into four divisions: religious hymns, patriotic and martial songs, original love poems, and adaptations from the Latin and German. They are all most original, exceedingly objective and so excellent in point of style that it is difficult even to imagine him a contemporary of Sebastian Tinodi and Peter Ilosvay. But his erotics are his best productions. They circulated in MS. for generations and were never printed till 1874, when Farkas Deak discovered a perfect copy of them in the Radvanyi library. For beauty, feeling and transporting passion there is nothing like them in Magyar literature till we come to the age of Michael Csokonai and Alexander Petofi. Balassa was also the inventor of the strophe which goes by his name. It consists of nine lines--a a b c c b d d b, or three rhyming pairs alternating with the rhyming third, sixth and ninth lines.

See Aron Szilady, _Balint Balassa's Poems_ (Hung.) Budapest, 1879.

(R. N. B.)

BALATON (PLATTENSEE), the largest lake of middle Europe, in the south-west of Hungary, situated between the counties of Veszprem, Zala and Somogy. Its length is 48 m., average breadth 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 m., greatest breadth 7-1/2 m., least breadth a little less than 1 m. It covers 266 sq. m. and has an extreme depth of 149 ft. Its northern shores are bordered by the beautiful basaltic cones of the Bakony mountains, the volcanic soil of which produces grapes yielding excellent wine; the southern consist partly of a marshy plain, partly of downs. The most beautiful point of the lake is that where the peninsula of Tihany projects in the waters. An ancient church of the Benedictines is here situated on the top of a hill. In a tomb therein is buried Andrew I. (d. 1061), a king of the Hungarian Arpadian dynasty. The temperature of the lake varies greatly, in a manner resembling that of the sea, and many connect its origin with a sea of the Miocene period, the waters of which are said to have covered the Hungarian plain. About fifty streams flow into the lake, which drains into the Danube and is well stocked with fish. It often freezes in winter. Lake Balaton is of growing importance as a bathing resort.

BALAYAN, a town and port of entry of the province of Batangas, Luzon, Philippine Islands, at the head of the Gulf of Balayan, about 55 m. S. by W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 8493. Subsequently in October 1903, Calatagan (pop. 2654) and Tuy (pop. 2430) were annexed. Balayan has a healthful climate, and is in the midst of a fertile district (with a volcanic soil), which produces rice, cane-sugar, cacao, coffee, pepper, cotton, Indian corn, fruit (oranges, bananas, mangoes, &c.) and native dyes. Horses and cattle are raised for market in considerable numbers. The fisheries are important. The native language is Tagalog.

BALBI, ADRIAN (1782-1848), Italian geographer, was born at Venice on the 25th of April 1782. The publication of his _Prospetto politico-geografico dello stato attuale del globo_ (Venice, [v.03 p.0241] 1808) obtained his election to the chair of professor of geography at the college of San Michele at Murano; in 1811-1813 he was professor of physics at the Lyceum of Fermo, and afterwards became attached to the customs office at his native city. In 1820 he visited Portugal, and there collected materials for his _Essai statistique sur le royaume de Portugal et d'Algarve_, published in 1822 at Paris, where the author resided from 1821 until 1832. This was followed by _Varietes politiques et statistiques de la monarchie portugaise_, which contains some curious observations respecting that country under the Roman sway. In 1826 he published the first volume of his _Atlas ethnographique du globe, ou classification des peuples anciens et modernes d'apres leurs langues_, a work of great erudition. In 1832 appeared the _Abrege de Geographie_, which, in an enlarged form, was translated into the principal languages of Europe. Balbi retired to Padua and there died on the 14th of March 1848. His son, Eugenio Balbi (1812-1884), followed a similar career, being professor of geography at Pavia, and publishing his father's _Scritti Geografici_ (Turin, 1841), and original works in _Gea, ossia la terra_ (Trieste, 1854-1867) and _Saggio di geografia_ (Milan, 1868).

BALBO, CESARE, COUNT (1789-1853), Italian writer and statesman, was born at Turin on the 21st of November 1789. His father, Prospero Balbo, who belonged to a noble Piedmontese family, held a high position in the Sardinian court, and at the time of Cesare's birth was mayor of the capital. His mother, a member of the Azeglio family, died when he was three years old; and he was brought up in the house of his great-grandmother, the countess of Bugino. In 1798 he joined his father at Paris. From 1808 to 1814 Balbo served in various capacities under the Napoleonic empire at Florence, Rome, Paris and in Illyria. On the fall of Napoleon he entered the service of his native country. While his father was appointed minister of the interior, he entered the army, and undertook political missions to Paris and London. On the outbreak of the revolution of 1821, of which he disapproved, although he was suspected of sympathizing with it, he was forced into exile; and though not long after he was allowed to return to Piedmont, all public service was denied him. Reluctantly, and with frequent endeavours to obtain some appointment, he gave himself up to literature as the only means left him to influence the destinies of his country. This accounts for the fitfulness and incompleteness of so much of his literary work, and for the practical, and in many cases temporary, element which runs through even his most elaborate productions. The great object of his labours was to help in securing the independence of Italy from foreign control. Of true Italian unity he had no expectation and no desire, but he was devoted to the house of Savoy, which he foresaw was destined to change the fate of Italy. A confederation of separate states under the supremacy of the pope was the genuine ideal of Balbo, as it was the ostensible one of Gioberti. But Gioberti, in his _Primato_, seemed to him to neglect the first essential of independence, which he accordingly inculcated in his _Speranze_ or _Hopes of Italy_, in which he suggests that Austria should seek compensation in the Balkans for the inevitable loss of her Italian provinces. Preparation, both military and moral, alertness and patience were his constant theme. He did not desire revolution, but reform; and thus he became the leader of a moderate party, and the steady opponent not only of despotism but of democracy. At last in 1848 his hopes were to some extent satisfied by the constitution granted by the king. He was appointed a member of the commission on the electoral law, and became first constitutional prime-minister of Piedmont, but only held office a few months. With the ministry of d'Azeglio, which soon after got into power, he was on friendly terms, and his pen continued the active defence of his political principles till his death on the 3rd of June 1853. The most important of his writings are historico-political, and derive at once their majesty and their weakness from his theocratic theory of Christianity. His style is clear and vigorous, and not unfrequently terse and epigrammatic. He published _Quattro Novelle_ in 1829; _Storia d'Italia sotto i Barbari_ in 1830; _Vita di Dante_, 1839; _Meditazioni Storiche_, 1842-1845; _Le Speranze d'Italia_, 1844; _Pensieri sulla Storia d'Italia_, 1858; _Della Monarchia rappresentativa in Italia_ (Florence, 1857).

See E. Ricotti, _Della Vita e degli Scritti di Cesare Balbo_ (1856); A. Vismara, _Bibliografia di Cesare Balbo_ (Milan, 1882).

BALBOA, VASCO NUNEZ DE (_c._ 1475-1517), the discoverer of the Pacific, a leading figure among the Spanish explorers and conquerors of America, was born at Jerez de los Caballeros, in Estremadura, about 1475. Though poor, he was by birth a gentleman (_hidalgo_). Little is known of his life till 1501, when he followed Rodrigo de Bastidas in his voyage of discovery to the western seas. He appears to have settled in Hispaniola, and took to cultivating land in the neighbourhood of Salvatierra, but with no great success, as his debts soon became oppressive. In 1509 the famous Ojeda (Hojeda) sailed from San Domingo with an expedition and founded the settlement of San Sebastian. He had left orders with Enciso, an adventurous lawyer of the town, to fit out two ships and convey provisions to the new settlement. Enciso set sail in 1510, and Balboa, whose debts made the town unpleasant to him, managed to accompany him by concealing himself, it is said, in a cask of "victuals for the voyage," which was conveyed from his farm to the ship. The expedition reached San Sebastian to find Ojeda gone and the settlement in ruins. While Enciso was undecided how to act, Balboa proposed that they should sail for Darien, on the Gulf of Uraba, where he had touched when with Bastidas. His proposal was accepted and a new town was founded, named Sta Maria de la Antigua del Darien; but quarrels soon broke out among the adventurers, and Enciso was deposed, thrown into prison and finally sent off to Spain with Balboa's ally, the alcalde Zamudio. Being thus left in authority, Balboa began to conquer the surrounding country, and by his bravery, courtesy, kindness of heart and just dealing gained the friendship of several native chiefs. On one of these excursions he heard for the first time, from the cacique Comogre, of the ocean on the other side of the mountains and of the gold of Peru. Soon after his return to Darien he received letters from Zamudio, informing him that Enciso had complained to the king, and had obtained a sentence condemning Balboa and summoning him to Spain. In his despair at this message Vasco Nunez resolved to attempt some great enterprise, the success of which he trusted would conciliate his sovereign. On the 1st of September 1513 he set out with one hundred and ninety Spaniards (Francisco Pizarro among them) and one thousand natives; on the 25th or 26th of September he reached the summit of the range, and sighted the Pacific. Pizarro and two others were sent on to reconnoitre; one of these scouts, Alonzo Martin, was the first European actually to embark upon the new-found ocean, in St Michael's Gulf. On the 29th of September Balboa himself arrived upon the shore, and formally took possession of the "Great South Sea" in the name of the Spanish monarch. He remained on the coast for some time, heard again of Peru, visited the Pearl Islands, and thence returned to Darien, which he entered in triumph with a great booty on the 18th of January 1514. He at once sent messengers to Spain bearing presents, to give an account of his discoveries; and the king, Ferdinand the Catholic, partly reconciled to his daring subject, named him _Adelantado of the South Sea_, or admiral of the Pacific, and governor of Panama and Coyba. None the less an expedition sailed from Spain under Don Pedro Arias de Avila (generally called Pedrarias Davila) to replace Balboa in the government of the Darien colony itself. Meanwhile the latter had crossed the isthmus and revisited the Pacific several (some say more than twenty) times; plans of the conquest of Peru and of the exploration of the western ocean began to shape themselves in his mind; and with a view to these projects, materials for shipbuilding were gathered together upon the Pacific coast, and two light brigantines were built, launched and armed. With these Vasco Nunez now took possession of the Pearl Islands, and, had it not been for the weather, would have reached the coast of Peru. But his career was stopped by the jealousy of Pedrarias, who pretended that Balboa proposed to throw off his allegiance, and enticed him to Acla, near Darien, by a crafty message. As soon as he had him in his power, he threw [v.03 p.0242] him into prison, had him tried for treason, and forced the judge to condemn him to death. The sentence was carried into execution on the public square of Acla in 1517. From a reckless adventurer, Balboa had developed into an able general, an excellent colonial administrator, and a statesman of mature judgment and brilliant foresight.

See G. F. de Oviedo, _Historia general ... de las Indias_ (1526, bk. xxxix. chs. 2, 3); D. M. T. Quintana, _Vidas de Espanoles celebres_; M. F. de Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viajes y Descubrimientos_ (1825-1837); J. Acosta, _Compendio historico de la Nueva Granada_ (1848); O. Peschel, _Geschichte der Erdkunde_ (1865, p. 237), and _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, pp. 442-3 &c.; Washington Irving's _Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus_ (1831), and Varela's notes on the same in _Biblioteca del Comercio del Plata_ (Monte Video); Ferdinand Denis, art. "Vasco Nunez de Balboa," in _Nouv. Biog. Gen._

BALBRIGGAN, a market-town and seaport of Co. Dublin, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, 21-3/4 m. N.N.E. of Dublin by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 2236. The harbour, though dry at low tides, has a depth of 14 ft. at high-water springs, and affords a good refuge from the east or southeast gales. There are two piers, and a railway viaduct of eleven arches crosses the harbour. The town has considerable manufactures of cottons and hosiery, "Balbriggan hose" being well known. The industry was founded by Baron Hamilton in 1761. There is some coast trade in grain, &c., and sea-fishery is prosecuted. Balbriggan is much frequented as a watering-place in summer.

BALBUS, literally "stammerer," the name of several Roman families. Of the Acilii Balbi, one Manius Acilius Balbus was consul in 150 B.C., another in 114. To another family belonged T. Ampius Balbus, a supporter of Pompey, but afterwards pardoned by Julius Caesar (cf. Cic. _ad Fam._ vi. 12 and xiii. 70). We know also of Q. Antonius Balbus, praetor in Sicily in 82 B.C., and Marcus Atius Balbus, who married Julia, a sister of Caesar, and had a daughter Atia, mother of Augustus. The most important of the name were the two Cornelii Balbi, natives of Gades (Cadiz).

1. LUCIUS CORNELIUS BALBUS (called _Major_ to distinguish him from his nephew) was born early in the last century B.C. He is generally considered to have been of Phoenician origin. For his services against Sertorius in Spain, the Roman citizenship was conferred upon him and his family by Pompey. Becoming friendly with all parties, he had much to do with the formation of the First Triumvirate, and was one of the chief financiers in Rome. He was careful to ingratiate himself with Caesar, whom he accompanied when propraetor to Spain (61), and to Gaul (58) as chief engineer (_praefectus fabrum_). His position as a naturalized foreigner, his influence and his wealth naturally made Balbus many enemies, who in 56 put up a native of Gades to prosecute him for illegally assuming the rights of a Roman citizen, a charge directed against the triumvirs equally with himself. Cicero, Pompey and Crassus all spoke on his behalf, and he was acquitted. During the civil war he endeavoured to get Cicero to mediate between Caesar and Pompey, with the object of preventing him from definitely siding with the latter; and Cicero admits that he was dissuaded from doing so, against his better judgment. Subsequently, Balbus became Caesar's private secretary, and Cicero was obliged to ask for his good offices with Caesar. After Caesar's murder, Balbus seems to have attached himself to Octavian; in 43 or 42 he was praetor, and in 40 consul--an honour then for the first time conferred on an alien. The year of his death is not known. Balbus kept a diary of the chief events in his own and Caesar's life (Suetonius, _Caesar_, 81). The 8th book of the _Bell. Gall._, which was probably written by his friend Hirtius at his instigation, was dedicated to him.

Cicero, _Letters_ (ed. Tyrrell and Purser, iv. introd. p. 62) and _Pro Balbo_; see also E. Jullien, _De L. Cornelia Balbo Maiore_ (1886).

2. LUCIUS CORNELIUS BALBUS (called _Minor_), nephew of the above, received the Roman citizenship at the same time as his uncle. During the civil war, he served under Caesar, by whom he was entrusted with several important missions. He also took part in the Alexandrian and Spanish wars. He was rewarded for his services by being admitted into the college of pontiffs. In 43 he was quaestor in Further Spain, where he amassed a large fortune by plundering the inhabitants. In the same year he crossed over to Bogud, king of Mauretania, and is not heard of again until 21, when he appears as proconsul of Africa. Mommsen thinks that he had incurred the displeasure of Augustus by his conduct as praetor, and that his African appointment after so many years was due to his exceptional fitness for the post. In 19 Balbus defeated the Garamantes, and on the 27th of March in that year received the honour of a triumph, which was then for the first time granted to one who was not a Roman citizen by birth, and for the last time to a private individual. He built a theatre in the capital, which was dedicated on the return of Augustus from Gaul in 13 (Dio Cassius liv. 25; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. 12, 60). Balbus appears to have given some attention to literature. He wrote a play of which the subject was his visit to Lentulus in the camp of Pompey at Dyrrhachium, and, according to Macrobius (_Saturnalia_, iii. 6), was the author of a work called [Greek: Exegetika], dealing with the gods and their worship.

See Velleius Paterculus ii. 51; Cicero, _ad Att._ viii. 9; and on both the above the exhaustive articles in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, iv. pt. i. (1900).

BALCONY (Ital. _balc[=o]ne_ from _balco_, scaffold; cf. O. H. Ger. _balcho_, beam, Mod. Ger. _Balken_, Eng. _balk_), a kind of platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade. Sometimes balconies are adapted for ceremonial purposes, _e.g._ that of St Peter's at Rome, whence the newly elected pope gives his blessing _urbi et orbi_. Inside churches balconies are sometimes provided for the singers, and in banqueting halls and the like for the musicians. In theatres the "balcony" was formerly a stage-box, but the name is now usually confined to the part of the auditorium above the dress circle and below the gallery.

BALDE, JAKOB (1604-1668), German Latinist, was born at Ensisheim in Alsace on the 4th of January 1604. Driven from Alsace by the marauding bands of Count Mansfeld, he fled to Ingolstadt where he began to study law. A love disappointment, however, turned his thoughts to the church, and in 1624 he entered the Society of Jesus. Continuing his study of the humanities, he became in 1628 professor of rhetoric at Innsbruck, and in 1635 at Ingolstadt, whither he had been transferred by his superiors in order to study theology. In 1633 he was ordained priest. His lectures and poems had now made him famous, and he was summoned to Munich where, in 1638, he became court chaplain to the elector Maximilian I. He remained in Munich till 1650, when he went to live at Landshut and afterwards at Amberg. In 1654 he was transferred to Neuberg on the Danube, as court preacher and confessor to the count palatine. In the opinion of his contemporaries, Balde revived the glories of the Augustan age, and Pope Alexander VII. and the scholars of the Netherlands combined to do him honour; even Herder regarded him as a greater poet than Horace. While such judgments are naturally exaggerated, there is no doubt that he takes a very high place among modern Latin poets. He died at Neuberg on the 9th of August 1668.

A collected edition of Balde's works in 4 vols. was published at Cologne in 1650; a more complete edition in 8 vols. at Munich, 1729; also a good selection by L. Spach (Paris and Strassburg, 1871). An edition of his Latin lyrics appeared at Regensburg in 1884. There are translations into German of his finer odes, by J. Schrott and M. Schleich (Munich, 1870). See G. Westermayer, _Jacobus Balde, sein Leben und seine Werke_ (1868); J. Bach, _Jakob Balde_ (Freiburg, 1904).

BALDER, a Scandinavian god, the son of Odin or Othin. The story of his death is given in two widely different forms, by Saxo in his _Gesta Danorum_ (ed. Holder, pp. 69 ff.) and in the prose Edda (_Gylfaginning_, cap. 49).

See F. Kauffmann, _Balder: Mythus und Sage_ (Strassburg, 1902). For other works, see TEUTONIC PEOPLES, s. 7.

BALDERIC, the name given to the author of a chronicle of the bishops of Cambrai, written in the 11th century. This _Gesta episcoporum Cambracensium_ was for some time attributed to Balderic, archbishop of Noyon, but it now seems tolerably certain that the author was an anonymous canon of Cambrai. The work is of considerable importance for the history of the north of France during the 11th century, and was first published in 1615. [v.03 p.0243] The best edition is in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores_, Bd. vii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826-1892), which contains an introduction by L. C. Bethmann.

See _Histoire litteraire de la France_, tome viii. (Paris, 1865-1869).

BALDI, BERNARDINO (1533-1617), Italian mathematician and miscellaneous writer, was descended of a noble family at Urbino, in which city he was born on the 6th of June 1533. He pursued his studies at Padua with extraordinary zeal and success, and is said to have acquired, during the course of his life, no fewer than sixteen languages, though according to Tiraboschi the inscription on his tomb limits the number to twelve. The appearance of the plague at Padua obliged him to retire to his native city, whence he was, shortly afterwards, called to act as tutor to Ferrante (Ferdinand) Gonzaga, from whom he received the rich abbey of Guastalla. He held office as abbot for twenty-five years, and then retired to his native town. In 1612 he was employed by the duke as his envoy to Venice, where he distinguished himself by the congratulatory oration he delivered before the Venetian senate on the election of the new doge, Andrea Memmo. Baldi died at Urbino on the 12th of October 1617. He was, perhaps, the most universal genius of his age, and is said to have written upwards of a hundred different works, the chief part of which have remained unpublished. His various works give satisfactory evidence of his abilities as a theologian, mathematician, geographer, antiquary, historian and poet. The _Cronica dei Matematici_ (published at Urbino in 1707) is an abridgment of a larger work, on which he had bestowed twelve years of labour, and which was intended to contain the lives of more than two hundred mathematicians. His life has been written by Affo, Mazzuchelli and others.

BALDINGER, ERNST GOTTFRIED (1738-1804), German physician, was born near Erfurt on the 13th of May 1738. He studied medicine at Erfurt, Halle and Jena, and in 1761 was entrusted with the superintendence of the military hospitals connected with the Prussian encampment near Torgau. He published in 1765 a treatise _De Militum Morbis_, which met with a favourable reception. In 1768 he became professor of medicine at Jena, whence he removed in 1773 to Goettingen, and in 1785 to Marburg, where he died of apoplexy on the 21st of January 1804. Among his pupils were S. T. Soemmerring and J. F. Blumenbach. Some eighty-four separate treatises are mentioned as having proceeded from his pen, in addition to numerous papers scattered through various collections and journals.

BALDINUCCI, FILIPPO (1624-1696), Italian writer on the history of the arts, was born at Florence. His chief work is entitled _Notizie de' Professori del Disegno da Cimabue ... (dal 1260 sino al 1670)_, and was first published in six vols. 4to, 1681-1728. The capital defect of this work is the attempt to derive all Italian art from the schools of Florence. A good edition is that by Ranalli (5 vols. 8vo, Florence, 1845-1847). Baldinucci's whole works were published in fourteen vols. at Milan, 1808-1812.

BALDNESS[1] (technically _alopecia_, from [Greek: alopex], a fox, foxes often having bald patches on their coats), the result of loss of hair, particularly on the human scalp. So far as remediable alopecia is concerned, two forms may be distinguished: one the premature baldness so commonly seen in young men, due to alopecia seborrhoica, the other alopecia areata, now regarded as an epidemic disease.

Alopecia seborrhoica is that premature baldness so constantly seen, in which the condition steadily advances from the forehead backwards, until only a fringe of hair is left on the head. It is always due to the underlying disease seborrhoea, and though it progresses steadily if neglected, is yet very amenable to treatment. The two drugs of greatest value in this trouble are sulphur and salicylic acid, some eighteen grains of each added to an ounce of vaseline making a good application. This should be rubbed well into the scalp daily for a prolonged period. Where the greasiness is objected to, the following salicylic lotion may be substituted, though the vaseline application has probably the greater value: [Rx.] Ac. salicyl. [dr.] i-iv; Ol. ricini [dr.] ii-iv; Ol. ros. geran. [min.] x; Spt. vini ad [oz.] vi. The head must be frequently cleansed, and in very mild cases a daily washing with soap spirit will at times effect a cure unaided.

Alopecia areata is characterized by the development of round patches more or less completely denuded of hair. It is most commonly observed on the scalp, though it may occur on any part of the body where hair is naturally present. The patches are rounded, smooth and somewhat depressed owing to the loss of a large proportion of the follicles. At the margin of the patches short broken hairs are usually to be seen. Clinical evidence is steadily accumulating to show that this disease may be transmitted. Organisms are invariably present, in some cases few in number, but in others very abundant and forming a continuous sheath round the hair. They were first described by Dr George Thin, who gave them the name of _Bacterium decalvens_. The disease must be distinguished from ringworm--especially the bald variety; but though this is at times somewhat difficult clinically, the use of the microscope leaves no room for doubt. It must be remembered that for patients under forty years of age, time alone will generally bring about the desired end, though treatment undoubtedly hastens recovery. After forty every year added to the patient's age makes the prognosis less good. The general hygiene and mode of life of the sufferer must be very carefully attended to, and any weakness suitably treated. The following lotion should be applied daily to the affected parts, at first cautiously, later more vigorously, and in stronger solution:--[Rx.] Acidi lactici [dr.] i-[oz.] i; Ol. ricini [dr.] ii; Spt. vini ad [oz.] iv.

The loss of hair following acute fevers must be treated by keeping the hair short, applying stimulating lotions to the scalp, and attending to the general hygiene of the patient.

[1] The adjective "bald" M. E. "balled" is usually explained as literally "round and smooth like a ball," but it may be connected with a stem _bal_, white or shining. The Greek [Greek: phalakros] certainly suggests some such derivation.