Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/414

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394
BATTLE CREEK
BAUDENS

mace at the other; it was of great weight, often 10 pounds or over.

BATTLE CREEK, a city of Calhoun county, Michigan, at the junction of Battle creek with the Kalamazoo river, 120 m. W. of Detroit, on the Michigan Central and the Peninsula railroads; pop. in 1870, 5,838. It is in the vicinity of quarries of superior sandstone, and contains a number of woollen factories, flour mills, saw mills, machine shops, 4 grammar and 19 primary schools, and several churches. Five newspapers and periodicals are published here.

BATU KUAN, Mongol sovereign of Kaptchak, died in 1255. On the death of his father, Tushi, about 1224, he received from his grand-father Genghis Khan the rule over the western conquests, E. and W. of the Volga, out of which he subsequently organized the khanate of Kaptchak or of the Golden Horde. On the death of Genghis, in 1227, he acknowledged the supremacy of his uncle Oktai as great khan, and accompanied him in his expedition against China, and at his command swept over Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Dalmatia. He fought Henry, duke of Lower Silesia, at Wahlstadt in 1241, and Bela IV., king of Hungary, on the Sajo, in 1242. Bela fled into Dalmatia, whither Batu followed him and ravaged that territory, but retreated the next year. He held Russia for 10 years.

BATDTA, Ibn, MOHAMMED IBN ABDALLAH, a Moorish traveller and theologian, born at Tangier in 1302, died about 1378. He made extensive journeys between 1325 and 1353 over Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Persia, China, Tartary, Hindostan, the Maldive islands, the Indian archipelago, central Africa, and Spain, and wrote an account of his travels, the original manuscript of which has not been discovered, although supposed to have been preserved at Cairo or at Fez, to which latter place he returned after the completion of his travels. Fragments of his manuscript were epitomized by Mohammed ibn Tazri el-Kelbi, and extracts of this epitome were made by another Moorish admirer of Batuta, named Mohammed ibn Fal. This "Extract of an Epitome," as it is called, fell into the hands of Burckhardt, who bequeathed it to the English university of Cambridge. A translation of the "Extract," by the Rev.'Samuel Lee of Cambridge, appeared in 1828, in the publications of the oriental translation fund. A French version of Batuta's travels was published at Paris in 1853, in 4 vols. 8vo.

BATYCSHKOFF, Constanta MkolayeYlteh, a Russian poet, born at Vologda, May 29, 1787, died there, July 29, 1855. He was educated at St. Petersburg, took part in the campaign against Finland and in the French wars of 1813-'14, was some time librarian in the public library of St. Petersburg, and was subsequently attached to the foreign office at home, and to the Russian embassy at Naples. He wrote in prose on Russian literature, and translated Schiller's "Bride of Messina" into Russian. He lost his mind in 1818. A complete edition of his poems appeared at St. Petersburg in 1834, and in Smirdin's collection of classic Russian poets.

BAUCHER, Francois, a French teacher of horsemanship, born at Versailles about the beginning of this century, died in 1873. He invented a system of equine gymnastics, a portion of which, the method of suppling the horse's neck and jaw, has passed into general use and is adopted by every skilful trainer of saddle horses. By a progressive series of flexions the muscles are made so supple and yielding that the animal ceases to bear or pull upon the bit; while by the application of the whole system he comes to have no will except that of his rider. Baucher was repeatedly employed by the French government to train horses for the cavalry service; but the refinements of his method were not suited to that purpose. He had many partisans in foreign countries, and was a personal favorite with the duke of Wellington. He wrote in defence of his system, and his Methode d'équitation basee sur de nouveaux principes (Paris, 1842; 11th ed., 1859) has been translated into many languages. In the United States it has been published under the title " Method of Horsemanship on new Principles" (Philadelphia, 1852).

BAUCIS, in mythology, a Phrygian woman, who, with her husband Philemon, entertained Jupiter and Mercury when they, while travelling in disguise, had been refused hospitality throughout their route. A deluge destroyed the inhospitable people, but Baucis and Philemon were saved. At their request the gods transformed their cottage into a temple, in which they could act as priest and priestess. They expressed a desire to die together, and Jupiter changed them into trees.

BAUDELOCQUE, Jean Louis, a French surgeon and accoucheur, born at Heilly, department of the Somrne, in 1746, died May 1, 1810. He went to Paris at an early age, studied anatomy, surgery, and obstetrics, and obtained the first prize awarded in the school of practical anatomy. About 1771 he was appointed first surgeon to the hospital La Charite, but after a few years began to devote himself more exclusively to midwifery, in which he soon acquired a commanding reputation, and was appointed professor of midwifery in the school of hygiene, and surgeon-in-chief to the maternity hospital. He was generally recognized as standing at the head of the obstetricians of Paris, and was selected by Napoleon as chief accoucheur to the empress Maria Louisa. He was one of the earliest practitioners who made use of the forceps as a means of delivery in difficult parturition. His works are : Principes de Vart des accoucjiements (Paris, 1775 ; 5th ed., 1821) ; An in Partu propter Angustiam Pelvis impossibili Symphysis Ossium Pubis secanda? (1776); and Vart des accouchements (1781; 6th ed., 1822).

BAUDENS, Jean Baptiste Lucien, a French military surgeon, born at Aire, Pas-de-Calais, April