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to the constitution providing for a direct vote for presi dent by the people was one of the most important. He strove for this with great determination during several sessions, but being opposed by the machine politicians of the day he was unsuccessful. Col. B. opposed the rechartering of the U. S. bank after its original charter had expired, being a strong advocate of a gold and silver currency, and it was this advocacy which gained for him the Soubiquet of Old Bullion.' His insight into the possible future of his country, then growing into prosperity and power, was extraordinary, and influenced largely his legislative action. He was one of the prime movers of the Pacific railroad enterprise, and recommended and facilitated the various means for exploration in the far west and for overland traffic. He favored the opening of New Mexico to American trade, and the establishment of military stations on the Missouri and throughout the interior. He recommended and fostered amicable relations with the Indian tribes, and our lake commerce. He was also one of the pioneers in establishing and organizing our postoffice system upon the broadest possible basis. The great questions of the Oregon boundary and the annexation of Texas occupied Col. B.'s attention, and during the Mexican war his knowledge of the Spanish provinces made him a most useful assistant to the government. So important were his services and so valuable was his knowledge of the country that it was contemplated by Pres. Polk to offer him the title of lieut. gen. and to place him in command during the war. The exciting compromise acts of 1850 were opposed by Col. B., an opposition which brought him into direct conflict with Mr. Clay, and during the celebrated nullification fight with South Carolina he was the most powerful democratic opponent of John C. Calhoun, the struggle leading to an animosity between these two which lasted during their lives. Col. B. also opposed Mr. Calhoun on the Wilmot Proviso' question. He not only fought this question out in the senate, but on the adjournment of congress in 1849 took the stump in Missouri and canvassed the whole state, his speeches becoming famous for their bitterness and sarcasm, as well as the earnestnestness and force of the arguments on his side of the question, which was the exclusion of slavery from all territory to be subsequently acquired, thus putting himself on record in opposition to the doctrine of state rights. Col. B. retired from the senate after six consecutive sessions, and remained for two years in private life, when in 1852 he announced himself as a candidate for congress and was elected. During his term he supported the administration of Franklin Pierce, and opposed particularly the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which, however, he failed to defeat. Not being returned to congress at the next election he retired from politics for two years, and in 1856 was a candidate for governor of his state, but was defeated. In the presidential election of that year, although his son-inlaw, Col. Fremont, was a candidate, Col. B. supported Mr. Buchanan in opposition to him, on the ground that the

BENUE-BENYOWSKY.

election of Fremont would further sectionalism in party warfare.

Col. B., while senator, married Elizabeth, dau. of Col. James McDowell, of Virginia; she experienced a stroke of paralysis 1844, which physically disabled her, and she died 1854, leaving four daughters, the second of whom, Jessie, married Gen. John C. Fremont.

Col. B. devoted the last years of his life to writing his Thirty Years' View, and to an Abridgment of the Debates in Congress from 1789 to 1856, 15 vols. He was noticeable among other things for total abstinence from tobacco and liquor, also from gambling, giving as his reason that his mother had wished it, and he had determined to adhere to her wishes as long as he lived. After his death a fine bronze statue of him was erected in the public park of St. Louis.

BENUÉ, ben-ô-e', or BINUÉ, bin-ó-ă', or, as Dr. Barth prefers to spell it, BE'NUWE, called also Chadda and Tchadda, from the erroneous supposition that it was connected with Lake Tehad: important river of central Africa, forming the e. branch of the Quorra or Niger, which it joins about 230 m. above the mouth of that river in the Gulf of Guinea. At its junction with the Faro, lat. about 9° 33′ n., long. 12° 40 e., the point where Dr. Barth crossed, he describes the B. as being 800 yards across, with a general depth in its channel of 11 ft., and a liability to rise under ordinary circumstances at least 30 ft., or even at times 50 ft. higher.' In 1854, an expedition under the command of Dr. Baikie explored the B. as far as Dulti, a place about 350 m. above its confluence with the Niger, and some 80 or 100 m. from where Dr. Barth crossed. Dr. Barth regards this river as offering the best channel for the introduction of civilization into the heart of central Africa, seeing that the tract of land which separates the basins of the B. and the Shari, which flows into Lake Tchad, cannot exceed 20 m., consisting of an entirely level flat, and probably of alluvial soil. The level of the Tsad, and that of the river B. near Gewe, where it is joined by the Mayo Kebbi, seem to be almost the same.' In a second expedition, undertaken 1862, Dr. Baikie explored as far n. as Kano, in Haussa. The expedition of the Church Missionary Soc., 1879, explored several unvisited portions, and in 1883 Flegel reached its sources.

BENUMB, v. bě-num' [AS. benaman; Ger. benehmen, to take away, to stupefy]: to deprive of feeling; to make torpid; to stupefy. BENUMBING, imp. BENUMBED, pp. bě-numď. BENUMB'NESS, n. the state or condition of being benumbed.

BENYOWSKY, ba-ne-ov'ske, MAURICE AUGUSTUS, Count DE: 1741-86, May 23; b. Verbowa, Hungary. He served in the Seven Years' War, studied navigation, and then fought for the Polish Confederation, until he was taken prisoner, 1769. He was banished to Siberia, and thence to Kamtchatka. He was made tutor in the family

BENZERTA-BENZINE.

of the governor. Escaping after a struggle in which the governor was killed, B. sailed from Kamtchatka, 1771, and visited Japan, Macao, and France. He was sent to found a French colony in Madagascar, 1774, where some chiefs made him king, and was killed in a conflict with the French govt. of the Isle of France.-See Memoirs and Travels of B., written by Himself (1790).

BENZERTA, běn-zěr tă, LAKES OF: the ancient Hipponitis Palus and Sisara Palus, two lakes within the dominions of Tunis, near the town of Bizerta (q.v.) or Benzerta, 30 m. n.w. of the city of Tunis. They are each about 9 m. long, and the larger one, which is clear and salt, is about 5 m. broad; the smaller, which is tur bid and fresh, 31. A channel connects them.

On

BENZENE, ben'-zën, or BENZOL, ben' zōl: compound of carbon and hydrogen (C.H.) discovered by Faraday: found among the products of the destructive distillation of a great many organic bodies. See BENZINE. The most abundant source of B. is coal tar (see GAS: COAL). distilling coal tar, the more volatile liquid hydrocarbons pass over first mixed with acid and basic compounds, and constitute what is known as light oil or coal naphtha. When the crude naphtha is purified by redistillation and subsequent agitation, first with sulphuric acid, and then with caustic soda, an oil is obtained which consists mainly of B. and its homologues. By submitting this oil to a process of fractional distillation, a portion is obtained, boiling at 1762-212°, from which B. crystallizes out on cooling the liquid to 32°. The B. is freed by pressure from the substances remaining liquid at this temperature. Commercial B. is always impure. Pure B. is most readily obtained by cautiously distilling a mixture of one part benzoic acid with three parts of slaked lime. The mixture of B. and water which passes over is shaken up with a little potash, the B. decanted, treated with calcium chloride to take up the water, and the dried B. thus obtained is rectified on the water-bath. At ordinary temperatures, B. is a thin, limpid, colorless liquid, evolving a characteristic and pleasant odor. At 32° F., it crystallizes in beautiful fern-like forms, which liquefy at 40°; and at 177°, it boils, evolving a gas which is very inflammable, burning with a smoky flame. It readily dissolves in alcohol, ether, turpentine, and wood-spirit, but is insoluble in water. It is valuable to the chemist from the great power it possesses of dissolving caoutchouc, guttapercha, wax, camphor, and fatty substances. Impure B. is thus much used in removing grease-stains from woolen or silken articles of clothing. When heated, B. also dissolves sulphur, phosphorus, and iodine. B., when acted upon by chlorine, nitric acid, etc., gives rise to a very numerous class of compounds belonging to what is known as the aromatic series. The so-called coal-tar colors are all derivatives of B. and the homologous hydrocarbons. See DYE-STUFFS.

BENZINE, běn zin or ben-zēn': mixture of volatile

BENZOATE-BENZOIC ACID.

hydrocarbons: therein different from Benzene; used as solvent of fats, resins, etc.; got by fractional distillation of petroleum; improperly written Benzene.

BENZOATE, n. běn zō-āt [said to be from Ar. benzoah; Sp. benjui, benzoin]: a salt of benzoic acid. BENZOIN, n. běn zō-in, a compound obtained from oil of bitter almonds in brilliant prismatic crystals which are inodorous and tasteless-called also by a vulgar corruption benjamin; a fragrant resin obtained from a large tree of Sumatra, the styrax benzoin. BENZOIC, a. běn-zō'ik, applied to a fragrant acid obtained from the gum benzoin, commonly called benjamin flowers, and flowers of benzoin. BENZONITRIL, n. běn zo-nitril [benzoin, and nitrile]: a liquid having the odor of the volatile oil of bitter almonds, obtained by digesting hippuric acid with sand and chloride of zinc. BENZENE, n. ben'zën, or BENZINE, -zin, or BENZOL, běn zōl, a clear, colorless, inflammable liquid, of a disagreeable odor, prepared in immense quantities from coal tar for the manufacture of aniline, and to be used as a solvent for wax, caoutchouc, etc.-as a commercial product it is always impure; when pure, it is known as benzene, and is a thin, limpid, colorless liquid, with a peculiar, ethereal odorknown also as one of the aromatic hydrocarbons. BENZYLE, n. běn zil, or BENZOYLE, n. ben'zoyl [benzoin; and Gr. (hule, the substance from which anything is made]: an assumed compound forming the radical of oil of bitter almonds, benzoic acid, etc.-that is the benzoic series of ethers. BENZOLIN, n. běníză-lin, same sense as benzol.

BENZOIC ACID, běn-zỡ'řk, or THE FLOWERS OF BENZOIN: known since the beginning of the 17th c.; occurs naturally in many balsamiferous plants, especially in Benzoin Gum (q.v.), from which it may be readily obtained by several processes. The simplest is as follows: The coarsely powdered resin is gently heated in a shallow iron pot, the mouth of which is closed by a diaphragm of coarse filter paper. Over this is tied a covering of thick paper somewhat like a hat. The porous filter-paper allows the vapors of benzoic acid to pass through it, but keeps back the empyreumatic products. At the end of the operation, the hat-like cover is found lined with a crystalline sublimate of benzoic acid, nearly pure, mixed only with traces of a volatile oil, which gives it a pleasant smell, like vanilla. The benzoic acid thus prepared is the best for pharmaceutical purposes. Benzoic acid is also prepared from the urine of graminivorous animals. urine is allowed to putrefy, then mixed with milk of lime and filtered. The filtrate, concentrated by evaporation, gives with hydrochloric acid a precipitate of benzoic acid. Benzoic acid thus prepared is cheaper, but always smells of urine. By subliming it with a small quantity of benzoin gum, the pleasant vanilla-like smell may, however, be imparted to it also. Benzoic acid is always in the form of snow-white, glistening, feathery crystals, with a fairy aspect of lightness, having a hot bitter taste. It is readily dissolved by alcohol and ether, but sparingly soluble in water

The

BENZOIN.

Benzoic acid is one of the materials present in Tinctura Opii Camphorata, and has been administered in chronic bronchial affections; but the benefit derivable from its use in such cases is questionable. Benzoic acid taken into the stomach increases within three or four hours the quantity of hippuric acid in the urine. It forms a numerous class of compounds with the oxides of the metals, lime, etc.. called benzoates. The chemical formula for crystallized benzoic acid is C.H.COOH. Oil of bitter almonds (hydride of benzoyl) is the aldehyde of benzoic acid (see ALDEHYDES), and the corresponding alcohol, benzoic or benzylic alcohol, is also known.

BENZOIN, ben'zoyn, or BENJAMIN, or Benzo'ic Gum: a fragrant resinous substance, formed by the drying of the milky juice of the Benzoin or Benjamin Tree (Styrax, or Lithocarpus Benzoin), a tree of the nat. ord. Styracacea, and a congener of that which produces STORAX (q.v.), a native of Siam, and of Sumatra and other islands of the Indian Archipelago. The tree grows to nearly two ft. in diameter; the smaller branches are covered with a whitish rusty down; the leaves are oblong, acuminate, and entire, downy and white beneath; the flowers are in compound racemes. B. is exported in reddish-yellow transparent pieces. Different varieties, said to depend upon the age of the trees, are of very different price; the whitest, said to be the produce of the youngest trees, being the best. There is a variety known in commerce as Amygdaloidal Benzoin, which contains whitish almond-like tears diffused through its substance, and is said to be the produce of the younger trees. B. is obtained by making longitudinal or oblique incisions in the stem of the tree; the liquid which exudes soon hardens by exposure to the sun and air. B. contains about 10-14 per cent. of Benzoic Acid (q.v.); the remainder of it is resin. B. is used in perfumery, in pastilles, etc., being very fragrant and aromatic, and yielding a pleasant odor when burned. It is therefore much used as incense in the Greek and Rom. Cath. churches. Its tincture is prepared by macerating B. in rectified spirits for seven to fourteen days, and subsequent straining, when the Compound Tincture of Benjamin, Wound Balsam, Friar's Balsam, Balsam for Cuts, the Commander's Balsam or Jesuit's Drops, is obtained. B. is a good antiseptic, and it is to its germicidal properties that it owes its reputation. Previous to the antiseptic era in surgery, it was the custom to saturate the dressings with the tincture of B., the good results following its use being attributed to some mysterious power in it of promoting healing. It is now known that any good effect derived from its use is due to antiseptic action. In the preparation of Court-plaster, sarcenet (generally colored black) is brushed over with a solution of isinglass, then a coating of the alcoholic solution of benzoin. The tincture is likewise employed in making up a cosmetic styled Virgin's Milk, in the proportion of two drachms of the tincture to one pint of rose-water; and otherwise it is used in the preparation of soaps and washes, to the latter of which it imparts a milk-white color, and a smell resembling that of vanilla. B. possesses stimulant properties, and is