BAS'SET TA-BLE, The (Fr. basseite. It. Ijassetto. a game of cards resembling faro, and invented in ^'enice) . The title of a comedy by Susannah Centlivre (170G). As indicated by the name, the plot is built about the gaming-table.
BASS'FORD, William Kipp (1839—). An
American musician and composer, born in New
York. He studied music there under Samuel
Jackson, an organist, and after extensive tours
throughout the United States as a concert pian-
ist, became a teacher of pianoforte-playing, and
organist of the Madison Square (Xew York)
Presbyterian Church, and subsequently of Cal-
varj' Church, East Orange, X. J. His works in-
clude an opera, Cassilda, a Mass in E-flat, and
much vocal and instrumental music.
BAS'SIA. See Butter-Tkee.
BASSIM. See Bassein.
BASSO, bas'so. See Bass.
BASSOMPLERRE, ba-sox'pyar', Francois
DE (1.579-1040). A marshal of France. He was
born at Harouel, in Lorraine, and at an early
age gained the favor of Henry IV., whom he
resembled greatly in character. He fought in
Savoy (1602), in Hungarv (1603), at La Ro-
chelle (1628), at the Pass' of Susa (1629), and
in Languedoe (1631). He was also sent on dip-
lomatic missions to Spain, to England, and to
Switzerland. Made marshal in 1622, he awak-
ened the suspicion and resentment of Richelieu,
who, in 1031, caused him to be cast into the Bas-
tille, from which he was not liberated until the
tleath of Eielielieu, in 1643. Bassorapierre was
a type of the silken swordsman of the courts of
Henry IV. and Louis XIII., pictured so excel-
lently by Dumas, and constantly engaged in fight-
ing, plotting, and making love. At the time of
his arrest he is said to have burned 6000 love-
letters. His Memoires (Cologne, 1665; Amster-
dam, 1723), written in the Bastille, are ex-
tremely interesting.
BASSOON' (Fr. basson, It. bnssone, from
hasso, low, called in Italian fagotto, bundle). A
musical instrument of the double-reed variety,
the bass of the wood-wind family of instruments.
In 1539 Afranio, a canon of Ferrara, conceived
the idea of bending double the long bombardo
then in use, so as to make it easier for handling,
hence the Italian name. It is made of maple-
woo.d or plane-tree, with a long S-shaped metal
mouthpiece, and is provided generally with S
holes and 10 keys. Its enormous compass of
3 octaves, B,b "to C, contains 3 registers:
The lower — powerful, solemn, and majestic ;
the middle — sweetly expressive, but weak ; and
the upper register — sorrowful. In addition, it
possesses certain tones that are comic to gro-
tfesqueness, as in the famous 'honor' monologue
in Verdi's Falstaff. These combined qualities
make the bassoon the most serviceable and fre-
quently employed of the wind instruments (q.v.)
in an orchestra. The notes for the bassoon are
written on the bass-clef for the lower register,
and on the tenor-clef for the higher. There are
several sizes of bassoons, the most important
among them the tenor bassoon, a fifth higher,
and the double bassoon, an octave lower, than
the ordinarv bassoon. Bassoon is also the name
of an organ" stop, the pipes of which arc made to
imitate the tones of the instrument.
BASSO - BILIEVO, bas'sd re-lya'vo. See
Alto-Hii.ievo.
BASSORA, biis'sA-ra. See Basra.
BASSOBA GUM (from the city Bassora). A
yellowish-opaque substance of vegetable origin,
resembling gum arable, but differing from it by
being mostly insoluble in water.
BASS ROCK. A rocky islet in the Firth of
Forth, l^o miles off the coast of Haddington-
shire, Scotland (Map: Scotland, F 3). It rises
precipitously 320 feet above the sea, and is about
1 mile in circumference. The only landing is
found on the southwest side, and this is inacces-
sibly in rough weather. The rock from west to
east is tunneled by a cave accessible at low tide.
Of volcanic origin, and geologically interesting,
its chief importance arises from its historical as-
sociations. As a fortress and State prison, the
principal event in its history was the siege sus-
tained by 24 cf James II. 's supporters against
the forces of William 111. during 1691-94, which
ended in an honorable capitulation. This last
Jacobean stronghold was dismantled, and the
rock became private property. It is now tenanted
by a keeper. It is the resort of innumerable
flocks of sea-fowl, especially solan geese, which
form a profitable source of revenue.
BASS STRAIT. The channel separating Tas-
mania from Australia (Jlap: Australia, G 6).
It is about 185 miles long and from 80 to 150
miles broad, and contains many small islands.
The name of the strait is derived from that of
Dr. George Bass, Aho first proved that Tas-
mania was an island by circumnavigating it in
1798.
BASS il.ns) TTJ'BA. See Tuba.
BASS'WOOD. See Lime-Tree.
BAST (origin obscure). A term originally applied only to the fibrous tissue occurring as the innermost layer of bark. These fibres are longer and more elastic than wood fibres, and often have considerable economic importance.
The term has. however, come to hae a more extended technical application. In the structure of the higher plants (ferns and flowering plants) a system of conducting vessels occurs ("vascular system'). These vessels are organized into strands called 'bundles,' each bundle consisting of two kinds of tissue, 'bast' and 'wood.' In this way, each bundle is double, one part consisting of bast elements ('phloem'), the other of wood elements ('xylem'). The vessels which enter into the structure of the bast (phloem) region are called 'sieve vessels' or 'sieve tubes,' being elongated cells in whose walls there are perforated pbtes. In ordinary shrubs and trees there is a zone of actively dividing cells between the bast and the wood called the cambium. This forms new bast on the outside and new w-ood on the inside, resulting in an aimual increase in the diameter of the stem. In consequence of this, the bast or inner bark of the ordinary tree occurs in concentric zones. The bast varies accordingly in thickness, in fleshy roots and tubers representing most of the diameter. In trees in which the bark is not thrown off, the hast is very scanty, as in the beech, in which the entire bast zone in a tree 100 years old is only about 0.04 inch in thickness, "it the bark is thrown oflT, the bast is more abundant, the concentric zones often being conspicuous, but not indicating the age of the tissue. It is known, for example, that in willows with a smooth bark a tree which is a dozen years old may not show
