Hubcr, Keys, Vicat, and Dunbar. The Rev. L. L. Langstroth, of New York, has also written a very excellent volume on The Hive and Honey-Bee. To Pastor Dzierzon, the Baron von Berlepsch, and Yon Siebold of Germany, we are indebted for many accurate and valuable observa tions on. physiology and hive management; and a Manual of Bee-keeping, written in 1875 by Mr John Hunter, secretary of the British Beekeepers Association, contains much practical information on scientific and profitable bee keeping. We may add that the above association, estab lished in 1874 under the presidency of Sir John Lubbock, is the first vigorous effort made in England to extend and improve this neglected although valuable branch of rural
economy.BEECH, a well-known tree, the Fagus sylvatica. For the cultivation and properties of it see Arboriculture, vol. ii. p. 317. The name beech is from the Anglo-Saxon hoc, bece, or beoce (Ger. Buche, Swedish, bole), words meaning at once a book and a beech-tree. The connection of the beech with the graphic arts is supposed to have originated in the fact that the ancient Runic tablets were formed of thin boards of beech-wood. " The origin of the word," says Prior (Popular Names of British Plants), " is identical with that of the Sanskrit boko, letter, bokos, writings ; and this correspondence of the Indian and our own is interest ing as evidence of two things, viz., that the Brahmins had the art of writing before they detached themselves from the common stock of the Indo-European race in Upper Asia, and that we and other Germans have received alpha betic signs from the East by a northern route, and not by the Mediterranean." Beech-mast, the fruit of the beech- tree, was formerly known in England as buck ; and the county of Buckingham is so named from its fame as a beech- growing country. Buckwheat (Bucheweizen) derives its name from the similarity of its angular seeds to beech -mast. The generic name Fagus is derived from <ayw, to eat; but the </>?7yos of Theophrastus was probably the sweet chest nut (wsculus) of the Romans. Beech-mast has been used as food in times of distress and famine ; and in autumn it yields an abundant supply of food to park-deer and other game, and to pigs, which are turned into beech-woods in order to utilize the fallen mast. In France it is used for feeding pheasants and domestic poultry. Well-ripened beech-mast yields from 17 to 20 per cent, of a non-drying oil, suitable for illumination, and said to be used in some parts of France and other Continental countries in cooking, and as a substitute for butter
BEECHEY, Frederick William, a distinguished naval officer and navigator, son of Sir William Beechey, R.A., was born in London, in 1796. In 1806, at the age of ten, he entered the navy, and was for several years engaged in active service during the wars with France and A.merica. In 1818 he served under Franklin in Buchan s Arctic expedition, of which at a later period he published a nar rative ; and in the following year he accompanied Parry in the " Hecla." In 1821 he took part in the survey of the Mediterranean coast, under the direction of Captain, after wards Admiral, Smyth. He and his brother, H. W. Beechey, made an overland survey of the north coast of Africa, of which a full and valuable account was published in 1827. In 1825 he was appointed to the " Blossom," which was intended to explore Behring s Straits in concert with Franklin and Parry. He passed Behring s Straits and penetrated as far as lat. 71 23 3.1" N., and long. 156 21 30" W., reaching a point only 146 miles west of that reached by Franklin s expedition from the Mackenzie River. The whole voyage lasted more than three years ; and in the course of it Beechey discovered several islands in the Pacific, and an excellent harbour near Cape Prince of Wales. A full narrative of his voyage was published in 1825-28. From 1835 to 1847 Captain Beechey was em ployed on the coast survey of South America and Ireland. He was then appointed by Government to preside over the Marine Department of the Board of Trade. In 1854 he was made rear-admiral, and in the following year was elected president of the Geographical Society. He died on ! the 29th Nov. 1856.
BEECHEY, Sir William, R.A., a fashionable portrait-painter, born at Burford in December 1753, was originally bred as a conveyancer, but a strong love for painting induced him to become a pupil at the Royal Academy in 1772. Some of his smaller portraits gained him consider able reputation ; he began to be employed by the nobility, and in 1793 became associate of the Academy. In the same year he was made portrait-painter to Queen Charlotte, an appointment which increased his celebrity. He painted the portraits of the members of the royal family, and of nearly all the most famous or fashionable persons of the time. What is considered his finest production is a review of cavalry, a large composition, in the foreground of which he introduced portraits of George III., the Prince of Wales, and the duke of York, surrounded by a brilliant staff on horseback. It was painted in 1798, and obtained for ih- artist the honour of knighthood, and the rank of R.A. The earlier portraits of Beechey were carefully drawn ami well finished ; but in his later days the extent of his employment rendered him less careful in his design. His works are generally vigorous, but are wanting in grace and dignity. He was a good, but not an eminent portrait painter. He died in January 1839, at the advanced age of eighty-six.
all the Syro-Phcenician peoples was Baal, i.e., lord or owner; and by adding to it zcbub, insect, the proper name Baal- zebub was formed, the god of Ekron according to 2 Kings i. 2, the fly-god, the averter of insects, similar to the Zcrs uirofjivLo?, (iviaypos, and the Hercules /u-tmypos ; so that Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of a Hercules a7royu,t tos worshipped in Rome. Hug s hypothesis that this Philistine god was the dung-beetle, the Scarabceus pillularius, worshipped in Egypt, cannot be accepted. Beelzebub was so named not from his form, but from his supposed power of driving away noxious flies. In the New Testament the word is applied to Satan, the ruler or prince of the demons (Matt. x. 25, xii. 24, 27; Mark iii. 22; Luke xl 15, 18, 19). But the best Greek MSS. read BeeA^e- /3orA, Beelzebul, in the Gospels, an orthography followed by the latest critical editions, though the Syriac and Yul- gate versions have Beelzebub, which is also recommended by Jerome. What is the origin of Beelzebub 1 The most obvious derivation of it is ?-1^r?y?, Baal (or lord) of the dwelling, a name of Saturn among the Phoenicians, accord ing to Movers, synonymous with P> ^"?P?. So it may mean Baal of the heavenly dwelling or habitation, just as Satan is termed in the epistle to the Ephesians (ii. 2) " prince of the power of the air." Others suppose that Beelzebul arose from Beelzebub by a pun on the part of the later Jews, who wished to throw ridicule on idols by forming the appellation lord of dung, 7.31 or ?3T meaning dung in the Targumic and Talmudic dialects. This is improbable, because Beelzebul was not a current name in Jewish literature. Somewhat different is the opinion of Lightfoot,
based upon various Talmudic passages, in which zcbul.