works entitled Muiiicipnl Monopolies (1809) and MimiciiHil Owncrsliij) of diis-Worls in the Unit- ed Slates (1891), and is a frequent eontributor to magazines on the subjects of munieipal gov- ernment, trusts, trades-unions, and monopolies.
BEMIS HEIGHTS. See Saratoga, Battles
OF.
BEMMEL, bem'mel, Peter von (1085-1754).
A German painter, son of Wilhelm von Bemmel
(1(330-1708). He Avas born at Nuremberg, and
Avas educated by his father, from whose style,
lH)v<'ver, he afterwards departed. He was em-
ployed principally by Franz Konrad von Stadinn,
Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, whose palace-walls he
adorned. He manifested a marked predilection
for thundeistorms and winter landscapes. Many
of his pictures are at Bamberg and Brunswick.
He was, after his father, tlie most prominent
representative of the Bemmel family, fourteen
members of which have achieved distinction as
artists.
BEN. The Hebrew word for 'son,' used as a
prefix to names — e.g. Benhadad, the son or wor-
.sbipcr of Hadad, the chief deity of the Syrians;
Benjamin, son of the right hand, etc. (1) The
])lural. Bene, is used to indicate a combination
of families into a clan or tribe, or of elans into
a confederation — Bene Amnion, Bene Israel.
(2) In Arabic, one finds tlie corresponding word
Ibn similarlj' used, which sometimes appears
modified in European languages as Ebn, Aben,
or Aven. Its plural, Beni, is found in the names
of many Arab tribes — as Beni Omayyah, the
sons of Omayyah, the family known in history
as the Ommiads; and sometimes in the name
of places — as Beni-IIassan.
BEN, BEINN, or BHEIN. A Gaelic word
signifying mountain or mountain-head. It Is
prefixed to the name of a great manj mountains
in Scotland — as Ben Nevis, Ben llacdhui, Ben
Cruachaji. etc. The eorres]xmding term in vari-
ous parts of Europe is Pen, which is found in
many of the names in Cornwall and Wales, in
the Pennine Alps, and also in the word Apen-
nines, and probabty the Cevennes of France.
BEN, Oil of ( Ar. ban, name of the tree ) .
A fixed oil used in perfumery in extracting the
fragrant principles of various plants. It is
itself odorless, and does not readily decompose.
It is obtained by expressing the seeds (called
hen or ben nuts) of several species of Moringa,
a genus of trees growing in northern Africa,
Arabia, and the East Indies. The ben-oil of
commerce is derived mainly from the Moringa
aptrru.
BENA'CUS, Lacus (Lat., Benacus Lake).
The Roman name of the Lake of Garda (Logo
di Garda), a long stretch of water in Venetian
territory, which in 1859 formed part of the
boundary line between Austria and Italy.
BENALCAZAR, ba'nal-ka'thiir, Sebastian
DE, properly SEnA.STlAK Moyano (c. 1499-1550) .
A Spanish conqueror, born in Benalclzar, Estre-
madura. He accompanied Pedrarias to Darien
in 1514, came to stand high in the confidence of
Francisco Pizarro, and in 15.33 defeated the Pe-
ruvian Army on the Plains of Riobamba and
took the city of Quito. Subsequently he pro-
ceeded to the invasion of Popayan, a region com-
prising the southwestern portion of the present
Colombia. He was appointed governor of Popa-
yan Province in 1538.
BENARD, ba'niir', Henri Jean Emile ( 1844
— ). . French architect, born at Godcrville.
He studied at the Eeole des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 18(i7.
Upon his return from Rome he settled in Havre,
and remained there until 1SS8. when he went to
Paris. He executed several buildings there for the
Government, notably the Palace of Compifegne.
He entered the international competition for
permanent plans for the University of Califor-
nia, and gained the first prize over a hundred
competitors. These plans were exhibited at the
Architectural League in 1900. They call for a
.$10,000,000 building. With s(jme slight changes,
Bcnard's drawings were adopted.
BENARES, be-na'rez. A division in« the
Northwest Provinces of British India. Area,
10.423 square miles; population, in 1891, 5,368,-
600; in 1901, 5,0.32,500.
BENARES (Skr. Varanasi, from Yariind.
modern stream Barna-j-asi, rivulet; its ancient
Skr. name was 7i«fi). The holy city of the
Hindus, capital of the Benares division. North-
west Provinces, British India, situated on the
left side of the Ganges, which here varies, ac-
cording to the season, between 50 and 90 feet in
depth, and in width lietween 000 yards and a
little more than half a mile (Map: India, D 3).
Since 1887 the river has been spanned at Be-
nares by the Dufferin Railway Bridge, 3518 feet
long. The city Is in latitude 25° 17' N. and
longitude 83° 4' E., 421 miles northwest of Cal-
cutta, and 406 and 74 miles respectively south-
east of Delhi and Allahabad. Without reckoning
Secrole, which is distant 2 or 3 miles to the
westward, and contains the official establish-
ments and European residences, Benares covers
an amphitheatre of 3 miles in front and 1 mile
in depth on the immediate margin of the river,
which is comparatively steep, being chiefly occu-
pied by 47 flights of steps, or ghats, where
crowds of all classes spend the day in business,
amusement, or devotion. Backed by the minarets
of about 300 mosques, and the pinnacles of about
1000 pagodas, this scene presents a picturesque
appearance to spectators on the opposite shore
of the Ganges. On closer inspection, however,
the city, as a whole, is disappointing. The
streets, or rather alleys, impracticable for car-
riages, barely afford a passage to individual
horsemen or single beasts of burden ; and these
thoroughfares, besides being shut out from sun
and air by buildings of several stories, are shared
Avith the sacred bulls that roam about at will.
As the central seat of Hinduism, Benares, on
festive occasions, attracts immense crowds of
pilgrims — sometimes as many as 100,000.
In the traditions of the country, Benares is believed to have been coeval with creation ; and tolerably autlientic history assigns to it a high antiquity. In its actual condition, Benares is a modern city. In extent and in embellishment, it owes much to the influence of Mahratta ascend- ency, and it possesses, perhaps, not a single structure that reaches back to the close of the Sixteenth Century.
On the Sanskrit College, instituted in 1792, there was at a later date ingrafted an English department, comprising poetry, history, mathematics, and political economy, and the institu-
