places of (the western) Buto, and refers to its festival, and to its oracle, which must have been important though nothing definite is known about it. It is strange that a city whose leading in the most ancient times was fully recognized throughout Egyptian history does not appear in the early lists of nome-capitals. Like Thebes, however (which lay in the 4th nome of Upper Egypt, its early capital being Hermonthis), it eventually became, at a very late date, the capital of a nome, in this case called Phtheneto, “the land of (the goddess) Buto.” The second Buto (hierogl. ’Im·t) was capital from early times of the 19th nome of Lower Egypt.
See Herodotus ii. 155; Zeitschr. f. ägyptische Sprache (1871), 1; K. Sethe in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie, s.v. “Buto”; D. G. Hogarth, Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxiv. I; W. M. F. Petrie, Ehnasya, p. 36; Nebesheh and Defenneh. (F. Ll. G.)
BUTRINTO, a seaport and fortified town of southern Albania, Turkey, in the vilayet of Iannina; directly opposite the island of Corfu (Corcyra), and on a small stream which issues from Lake Vatzindro or Vivari, into the Bay of Butrinto, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. Pop.(1900) about 2000. The town, which is situated about 2 m. inland, has a small harbour, and was formerly the seat of an Orthodox bishop. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the ancient Buthrotum, from which the modern town derives its name. The ruins consist of a Roman wall, about a mile in circumference, and some remains of both later and Hellenic work. The legendary founder of the city was Helenus, son of Priam, and Virgil (Aen. iii. 291 sq.) tells how Helenus here established a new Trojan kingdom. Hence the names New Troy and New Pergamum, applied to Buthrotum, and those of Xanthus and Simoïs, given to two small streams in the neighbourhood. In the 1st century B.C. Buthrotum became a Roman colony, and derived some importance from its position near Corcyra, and on the main highway between Dyrrachium and Ambracia. Under the Empire, however, it was overshadowed by the development of Dyrrachium and Apollonia. The modern city belonged to the Venetians from the 14th century until 1797. It was then seized by the French, who in 1799 had to yield to the Russians and Turks.
BUTT, ISAAC (1813–1879), Irish lawyer and Nationalist leader, was born at Glenfin, Donegal, in 1813, his father being the Episcopalian rector of Stranorlar. Having won high honours at Trinity, Dublin, he was appointed professor of political economy in 1836. In 1838 he was called to the bar, and not only soon obtained a good practice, but became known as a politician on the Protestant Conservative side, and an opponent of O'Connell. In 1844 he was made a Q.C. He figured in nearly all the important Irish law cases for many years, and was engaged in the defence of Smith O'Brien in 1848, and of the Fenians between 1865 and 1869. In 1852 he was returned to parliament by Youghal as a Liberal-Conservative, and retained this seat till 1865; but his views gradually became more liberal, and he drifted away from his earlier opinions. His career in parliament was marred by his irregular habits, which resulted in pecuniary embarrassment, and between 1865 and 1870 he returned again to his work at the law courts. The result, however, of the disestablishment of the Irish Church was to drive Butt and other Irish Protestants into union with the Nationalists, who had always repudiated the English connexion; and on 19th May 1870, at a large meeting in Dublin, Butt inaugurated the Home Rule movement in a speech demanding an Irish parliament for local affairs. On this platform he was elected in 1871 for Limerick, and found himself at the head of an Irish Home Rule party of fifty-seven members. But it was an ill-assorted union, and Butt soon found that he had little or no control over his more aggressive followers. He had no liking for violent methods or for “obstruction” in parliament; and his leadership gradually became a nullity. His false position undoubtedly assisted in breaking down his health, and he died in Dublin on the 5th of May 1879.
BUTT. (1) (From the Fr. botte, boute; Med. Lat. butta, a wine vessel), a cask for ale or wine, with a capacity of about two hogsheads. (2) (A word common in Teutonic languages, meaning short, or a stump), the thick end of anything, as of a fishing-rod, a gun, a whip, also the stump of a tree. (3) (From the Fr. but, a goal or mark, and butte, a target, a rising piece of ground, &c.), a mark for shooting, as in archery, or, in its modern use, a mound or bank in front of which are placed the targets in artillery or musketry practice. This is sometimes called a “stop-butt,” its purpose being to secure the ground behind the targets from stray shots. The word is used figuratively of a person or object at which derision or abuse are levelled.
BUTTE, the largest city of Montana, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Silver Bow county. It is situated in the valley of Deer Lodge river, near its head, at an altitude of about 5700 ft. Pop. (1880) 3363; (1890) 10,723; (1900) 30,470, of whom 10,210 were foreign-born, including 2474 Irish, 1518 English-Canadians, and 1505 English; (1910 census) 39,165. It is served by the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound, the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific, and the Oregon Short Line railways. Popularly the name “Butte” is applied to an area which embraces the city, Centerville, Walkerville, East Butte, South Butte and Williamsburg. These together form one large and more or less compact city. Butte lies in the centre of the greatest copper-mining district in the world; the surrounding hills are honey-combed with mines, and some mines are in the very heart of the city itself. The best known of the copper mines is the Anaconda. The annual output of copper from the Butte district almost equals that from all the rest of the country together; the annual value of copper, gold and silver aggregates more than $60,000,000. Although mining and its allied industries of quartz crushing and smelting dominate all other industries in the place, there are also foundries and machine shops, iron-works, tile factories, breweries and extensive planing mills. Electricity, used in the mines particularly, is brought to Butte from Cañon Ferry, 75 m. to the N.; from the plant, also on the Missouri river, of the Helena Power Transmission Company, which has a great steel dam 85 ft. high and 630 ft. long across the river, and a 6000-h.p. substation in Butte; and from the plant of the Madison River Power Company, on Madison river 712 m. S.E. of Norris, whence power is also transmitted to Bozeman and Belgrade, Gallatin county, to Ruby, Madison county, and to the Greene-Campbell mine near Whitehall, Jefferson county. In 1910 Butte had only one large smelter, and the smoke nuisance was thus abated. The city is the seat of the Montana School of Mines (1900), and has a state industrial school, a high school and a public library (rebuilt in 1906 after a fire) with more than 32,000 volumes. The city hall, Federal building and Silver Bow county court house are among the principal buildings. Butte was first settled as a placer mining camp in 1864. It was platted in 1866; its population in 1870 was only 241, and for many years its growth was slow. Prosperity came, however, with the introduction of quartz mining in 1875, and in 1879 a city charter was granted. In the decade from 1890 to 1900 Butte’s increase in population was 184.2%.
BUTTE (O. Fr. butte, a hillock or rising ground), a word used in the western states of North America for a flat-topped hill surrounded by a steep escarpment from which a slope descends to the plain. It is sometimes used for “an elevation higher than a hill but not high enough for a mountain.” The butte capped by a horizontal platform of hard rock is characteristic of the arid plateau region of the west of North America.
BUTTER (Lat. butyrum, Gr. βούτυρον, apparently connected with βοῦς, cow, and τυρός, cheese, but, according to the New English Dictionary, perhaps of Scythian origin), the fatty portion of the milk of mammalian animals. The milk of all mammals contains such fatty constituents, and butter from the milk of goats, sheep and other animals has been and may be used; but that yielded by cow’s milk is the most savoury, and it alone really constitutes the butter of commerce. The milk of the various breeds of cattle varies widely in the proportion of fatty matter it contains; its richness in this respect being greatly influenced by season, nature of food, state of the animals’ health and other considerations. Usually the cream is skimmed off the surface of the milk for making butter, but by some the churning is performed on the milk itself without waiting for the
