BENTON 489 BENZOIN BENTON, a city of Illinois, the county- seat of Franklin co. It is on the Illinois Central, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, and the Chicago and East- ern Illinois railroads. There are impor- tant industries, including the manufac- ture of stoves. There are also extensive coal mines in the neighborhood. Pop. (1910) 2,675; (1920) 7,201. BENTON, GUY POTTER, an Ameri- can educator, born at Kenton, 0., in 1865. He graduated from Baker Uni- versity and took post-graduate courses at the University of Wooster and in Ber- lin. From 1890 to 1895 he viras super- intendent of schools at Fort Scott, Kan., and in 1895-1896 he was assistant state superintendent of public instruction, Kansas. He served as professor of his- tory and sociology at Baker University from 1896 to 1899. From the latter year to 1902 he was president of the Upper Iowa University. In 1902 he was ap- pointed president of Miami University, serving until 1911, when he became pres- ident of the University of Vermont. He was a member of the Kansas State Board of Education, president of the South- eastern Kansas Teachers' Association, and a member and officer of several other educational societies. From 1910 he was secretary of the National Association of State Universities. During the World War he was in the service of the Y. M. C. A. in the city of Paris. He wrote "The Real College" (1909). BENTON, THOMAS HART, an Amer- ican statesman, born near Hillsboro, N. C, March 14, 1782; settled in Ten- nessee, where he studied law, and was elected to the L#egislature. In 1812 he raised a regiment of volunteers, and also served on General Jackson's staff. On the admission of Missouri as a State, he was chosen United States Senator in 1820, and served 30 years. A determined opponent of Calhoun's nullification scheme, he afterward supported Jackson in his war on the United States bank, and earned the sobriquet of "Old Bullion" by his opposition to the paper currency. He published "A Thirty Years' View, or a History of the Working of the Ameri- can Government from 1820 to 1850" (2 vols., 1854-1856) and "An Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856" (15 vols., 1857). He died in Wash- ington, April 10, 1858. BENTON HARBOR, a city of Michi- gan, in Berrien co. It is on the St. Joseph river, and on the Pere Marquette, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, and the Michigan Central rail- roads. It is connected with Lake Michi- gan by a ship canal, has an excellent har- bor, and is connected by steamboat lines with Chicago and Milwaukee. There are important manufactures of furniture, flour,, lumber, etc. In the neighborhood are medicinal springs which have made the city an important summer resort. Pop. (1910) 9,185; (1920) 12,233. BENZENE, an aromatic hydrocarbon, also called benzol, or phenyl hydride, dis- covered in 1825 by Faraday in the liquid condensed during the compression of oil gas. In 1849,, it was found in coal tar by C. B. Mansfield, who lost his life while experimenting with it on Feb. 25, 1855. Aniline is produced from it, which again is the source of the celebrated modern dyes. It is obtained from the more vol- atile portion of coal tar oil. It is also formed by distilling benzoic acid with lime. Benzene is a thin, colorless, strong- ly refracting liquid; it boils at 82°. It dissolves fats, resins, iodine, sulphur, and phosphorus; sp. gr., 0.885. BENZOATE OF SODA, a preserva- tive used in the manufacture of food products. The use of it in a quantity not greater than one-tenth of 1 per cent, is permitted by the Federal Government, but its use among packers of food has gradually been abolished. BENZOIC ACID, a vegetable acid ob- tained from benzoin and other resins and balsams, as those of Peru and Tolu. It forms light feathery needles; taste pun- gent and bitterish; odor, slightly aro' matic. The salts of benzoic acid are known as benzoates. BENZOIC ETHER, a colorless, oily liquid, with a feeble aromatic smell and a pungent aromatic taste, obtained by distilling together four parts alcohol, two of crystallized benzoic acid, and one of concentrated hydrochloric acid. BENZOIN, BENZOINE, BELZOIN, BENZOIL, or BENJAMIN, in botany and commerce, as benjamin, a kind of resin, obtained from a tree, the styrax benzoin, which belongs to the order ebenacese (ebenads). It grows in Su- matra, Borneo, and the adjacent islands. It is used as a medicine in chronic dis- eases of the lungs, as an ingredient in perfumery, and in the incense of Roman Catholic and Ritualist churches. In botany, as benzoin, a genus of plants belonging to the order lauracese (lau- rels). The species are found in North America and in Nepaul. The berries of benzoin odoriferum yield an aromatic stimulant oil. In chemistry (CmH.^Oj) a polymeric modification of benzoic aldehyde, which
