Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/228

208 BACTRIA BADAJOZ rating certain matters for the nourishment of germs, in the constant regeneration of animal and vegetable organs, and in the formation and action of cells. They may, according to B6champ, develop themselves and grow equal- ly well in an acid, alkaline, or neutral men- struum. The normal microzymas, or organic granules, or molecular granulations, as they are called, in plants and animals, may develop into bacteriums, and many forms of both may exist in the same plant. The inoculation of bacterium in a plant or animal causes their in- creased number, not by multiplication, but by so modifying the medium that the normal mi- crozymas more readily develop themselves into bacterium. Many of the phenomena of spon- taneous generation find their explanation in these all-pervading and minute organisms. Ac- cording to Bastian, while some of these mo- nads originate by subdivision of preexisting individuals (homogenesis), others originate de novo, just as crystals by certain chemical laws. He thus goes further than those advocates of spontaneous generation who believe that bac- teriums originate by transformation of living matter (heterogenesis) ; for his mode of spon- taneous generation he proposes the name of archebiosis. Torulas are very similar bodies, and are the germs of the yeast of fungus. Some bacteriums also may develop into fungi. (See YEAST.) BACTRIA, or Bactriana, an ancient country of Asia, bounded S. and 8. E. by the Paropami- sus (Hindoo Koosh) and N. by the Oxus, and corresponding to the modern territories of S. Bokhara, Balkh, and Khoondooz. It was in- habited by a warlike people, akin to the Medes and Persians, and generally regarded as be- longing to the original stock of the Aryan or Indo-European races. Zend was the language of the country. Bactra, or Zariaspe, its capi- tal, which occupied the site of the modern Balkh, was the headquarters of the Magi and a centre for the ancient Persian worship. Bactria was in very early times a powerful kingdom, but became a province of Persia about the time of Cyrus. It was conquered by Alexander, who left a colony of 14,000 Bactrian Gold Coin of King Agathocles, B. C. 262-256. (In the Cabinet of France.) Greeks there, and after his death it formed a part of the dominions of the Seleucida?. About 255 B. C. its governor, Diodotus or The- odotus, revolted, and it was an independent Greek kingdom, with some dependencies or affiliated realms toward India, from that time till about 126 B. C., when it was conquered by the Parthians. It was overrun by Genghis Khan and Tamerlane in the 13th and 14th centuries. A good deal of light was thrown upon the history of Bactria by the discovery! in 1824 by Ool. Tod of a large number of an- cient coins in the topes or burial places of Af- ghanistan. The names of kings and inscrip- tions in Greek or Zend are found on these, which have been closely studied by Prinsep, H. H. Wilson, Lassen, and other scholars. They are in the London and Paris museums. BACZKO, Lndwig von, a German author, born at Lyck, East Prussia, June 8, 1756, died in Konigsberg, March 27, 1823. He became blind in his 21st year, from an attack of small- pox, and in 1816 was made superintendent of the blind asylum at Konigsberg. Among his works are a history of Prussia in 6 volumes, and a history of the French revolution. He wrote also several romances and dramas. BADAJOZ. I. A province of Spain, in Estre- madura, bordering on Portugal; area, 8,687 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 430,049. It has a diver- sified surface, broken by several mountain ranges, is well wooded, and includes many alluvial lands of remarkable fertility, though agriculture is backward. The Guadiana trav- erses the province from E. to W. The climate is hot and unhealthy. There are mines of lead, copper, silver, and quicksilver, and one of gold. Linen, leather, and soap are the principal manufactures. Among the most no- ted towns, besides the capital, are Merida, Za- fra, and the fortresses Albuquerque and Oli- venca, near the Portuguese frontier. II. A fortified town (anc. Pax Avgvsta, corrupted by the Moors to Paxagousa, whence Badajoz), capital of the preceding province, and of Estre- madura, on the left bank of the Guadiana, 5 m. from the frontier of Portugal, and 203 m. S. W. of Madrid ; pop. in 1867, 22,895. It is built on a hill nearly 300 ft. high, crowned with the ruins of a Moorish castle. On the land side the city is protected by a wall flanked with bastions, around which are a moat and outworks, and on the heights beyond several forts. The river is here crossed by a mag- nificent stone bridge of 28 arches, originally built in the 15th century. There are many Moorish remains, including a mosque. The cathedral was begun by Alfonso the Wise, and contains several paintings by Morales. There were formerly eight monasteries and convents, but the buildings are now occupied for other purposes. Badajoz has manufacto- ries of soap and coarse cloth, and carries on an active trade with Portugal. The frontier position of the town and its strong defences have made it a conspicuous object of attack in the numerous wars in Spain. It was taken from the Moors by Alfonso IX., king of Leon, in 1230. It was besieged by the Portuguese