treaty of 1819 of American claims to Texas. He once thought the Rocky Mountains the proper western limit of the United States (1824), but this view he soon outgrew. He was the originator of the policy of homestead laws by which the public lands were used to promote the settlement of the west by home

trade. With his brother SAMUEL (1785-1868), an antiquarian of some repute, he set up a printing establishment, but in 1829 he began business as a publisher in partnership with Henry Colburn in New Burlington Street. Colburn retired in 1832 and Bentley continued business on his own account. In 1837 he began | Bentley's Miscellany, edited for the first three years of its exist-seekers. No other man was so early and so long active for ence by Charles Dickens, whose Oliver Twist, with Cruikshank's illustrations, appeared in its pages. Bentley and his son GEORGE (1828-1895), as Richard Bentley & Son, published works by R. H. Barham, Theodore Hook, Isaac D'Israeli, Judge Haliburton and others; also the "Library of Standard Novels " and the "Favourite Novel Library." In the latter series Mrs Henry Wood's East Lynne appeared. In 1866 the firm took over the publication of Temple Bar, with which Bentley's Miscellany was afterwards incorporated. Richard Bentley died on the 10th of September 1871. His son, George Bentley, and his grandson, Richard Bentley, junior, continued the business until it was absorbed (1898) by Macmillan & Co.

See also R. Bentley & Son (Edinburgh, 1886), a history of the firm reprinted from Le Livre (October, 1885).

BENTON, THOMAS HART (1782-1858), American statesman, was born at Hillsborough, Orange county, North Carolina, on the 14th of March 1782. His father, an Englishman of refinement and scholarship, died in 1790, leaving the boy under the influence of a very superior mother, from whom he received lessons in book learning, piety and temperance quite unusual in the frontier country. His home studies, facilitated by his father's fine library, were supplemented by a brief stay at the university of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in 1799. The family removed, probably in this year, to a large tract of land which had been acquired by the father on the outskirts of the Indian country (at Benton Town, now Leipers Fork) near Franklin, Tennessee. The following years, during which Benton was at various times school teacher, farmer, lawyer and politician, were the distinctively formative period of his life. His intense democracy and many features of his boldly cast personality were perfectly representative of the border people among whom he lived; although his education, social standing and force of character placed him above his fellows. In 1809 he served a term as state senator. Between 1815 and 1817 he transferred his interests to St Louis, Missouri, and in 1820 was elected United States senator from the new state. His senatorial career of thirty years (18211851) was one of extreme prominence. A friendship early formed in Tennessee for Andrew Jackson was broken in 1813 by an armed fracas between the principals and their friends, but after the presidential election of 1824 Benton became a Jacksonian Democrat and Jackson's close friend, and as such was long the Democratic leader in the Senate, his power being greatest during Jackson's second term. He continued to be the administration's right-hand man under Van Buren, but gradually lost influence under Polk, with whom he finally broke both personally and politically.

The events of Benton's political life are associated primarily with three things: the second United States Bank, westward expansion and slavery. In the long struggles over the bank, the deposits and the "expunging resolution" (i.e. the resolution to expunge from the records of the Senate the vote of censure of President Jackson for his removal of the government deposits from the bank), Benton led the Jackson Democrats. His opposition to a national bank and insistence on the peculiar virtues of 'hard money," whence his sobriquet of "Old Bullion," went back to his Tennessee days. In all that concerned the expansion of the country and the fortunes of the West no public man was more consistent or more influential than Benton, and none so clear of vision. Reared on the border, and representing a state long the farthermost outpost across the Mississippi in the Indian country, he held the ultra-American views of his section as regarded foreign relations generally, and the "manifest destiny" of expansion westward especially. It was quite natural that he should advocate the removal westward of the Indian tribes, should urge the encouragement of trade with Sante Fé (New Mexico), and should oppose the abandonment in the Spanish 111 13

transcontinental railways. But Benton was not a land-grabber, whether in the interest of slavery or of mere jingoism. In the case of Oregon, for instance, he was firmly against joint occupation with Great Britain, but he was always for the boundary of 49° and never joined in the campaign-jingo cry of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight." It was he who chiefly aided Polk in withdrawing from that untenable position. He despised pretexts and intrigues. Both in the case of Oregon and in that of Texas, though one of the earliest and most insistent of those who favoured their acquisition, yet in the face of southern and western sentiment he denounced the sordid and devious intrigues and politics connected with their acquisition, and kept clear of these. For the same reason he opposed the Mexican War, though not its prosecution once begun. In the Texas question slavery was prominent. Toward slavery Benton held a peculiarly creditable attitude. A southerner, he was a slaveholder; but he seems to have gradually learned that slavery was a curse to the South, for in 1844 he declared that he would not introduce it into Texas lands “where it was never known," and in 1849 proclaimed that his personal sentiments were "against the institution of slavery." In the long struggle over slavery in the territories, following 1845, he was for the extreme demands of neither section; not because he was timorous or a compromiser, -no man was less of either, but because he stood unwaveringly for justice to both sections, never adopting exaggerated views that must or even could be compromised. The truth is that he was always a westerner before he was a southerner and a union man before all things else; he was no whit less national than Webster. Hence his distrust and finally hatred of Calhoun, dating from the nullification episode of 1832-1833. As the South under Calhoun's lead became increasingly sectional and aggressive, Benton increasingly lost sympathy with her. Though he despised political inaction Abolitionists, and hated their propaganda as inimical to the Union, he would not therefore close the national mails to Abolition literature, nor abridge the right of petition. No statesman was more prescient of the disunion tendencies of Calhoun's policies, and as early as 1844 he prophetically denounced the treason to the Union toward which the South was drifting. He would not drift with her for the sake of slavery, and this was his political undoing. In 1851 Missouri rejected him in his sixth candidacy for the Senate, after he had been an autocrat in her politics for thirty years. In 1852 he was elected to the House of Representatives, but his opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise caused his defeat in 1854. An unsuccessful campaign for the governorship of Missouri in 1856 ended his political career. He died at Washington on the 10th of April 1858.

Benton's entire career was eminently creditable, and he is, besides, one of the most picturesque figures in American political history. His political principles-whether as regarded lobbying, congressional jobbing, civil service or great issues of legislation and foreign affairs-were of the highest. He was so independent that he had great dislike for caucuses, and despised party platforms-although he never voted any but the Democratic ticket, even when his son-in-law, J. C. Frémont, was the Republican presidential candidate in 1856; nor would he accept instructions from the Missouri legislature. His career shows no truckling to self-interest, and on large issues he outgrew partisanship. Although palpably inferior to each of his great senatorial colleagues, Webster, Clay and Calhoun, in some gifts, yet if character, qualities and career be taken in the whole his were possibly the most creditable of all. Benton was austere, aggressive and vain; besides, he had a fatal deficiency of humour. Nevertheless he had great influence, which was a deserved tribute to his ability and high character. An indefatigable student, he treated all subjects capably, and especially in questions of his country's

2a

history and the exploration of the West had few equals in the | distilling a mixture of calcium benzoate and calcium formate; by latter none. He acted always with uncalculating boldness, and defended his acts with extraordinary courage and persistence. Benton wrote a Thirty Years' View . . . of the American Government (2 vols., 1854-1856), characteristic of the author's 'personality; it is of great value for the history of his time. He also compiled an Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, 1789-1850 (16 vols., 1857-1861), likewise of great usefulness; and published a bitter review of the Dred Scott decision full of extremely valuable historical details-Historical and Legal Examination of... the Dred Scott Case (1857). All were written in the last eight years of his life and mostly in the last three.

(CH),C-OH; with dimethylaniline and anhydrous zinc chloride | manufacture of "aniline for red," and the go % for "aniline for it forms leuco-malachite green C2H2CH[CH‚N(CH1)2]2; and with dimethylaniline and concentrated hydrochloric acid it gives dimethylaminobenzhydrol, CH,CH(OH)CH,N(CH3)2. Heated with sulphur it forms benzoic acid and stilbene:

CH+C1CONH,=HC1+CH.CONH

brominated and nitrated; when the nitration is carried out in | being subsequently hydrolysed; and similarly from benzene the presence of sulphuric acid, the nitro-groups take up the and chlorformamide:meta position with regard to the amino-groups. Benzidine finds commercial application since its tetrazo compound couples readily with amino-sulphonic acids, phenol carboxylic acids, and phenol and naphthol-sulphonic acids to produce substantive cotton dyes (see DYEING). Among such dyestuffs are chrysamine or flavophenine, obtained from salicylic acid and diazotized benzidine, and congo red obtained from sodium naphthionate and diazotized benzidine. On the constitution of benzidine see G. Schultz (Annalen, 1874, 174, p. 227).

the benzamide being then hydrolysed. It may also be prepared by boiling benzyl chloride with dilute nitric acid (G. Lunge, Berichte, 1877, 10, p. 1275); by fusing sodium benzene sulphonate with sodium formate: CH,SO,Na+HCO2Na=CH,COONa+ NaHSO,; by heating calcium phthalate with calcium hydroxide to 330°-350° C.; by heating benzotrichloride with water in a sealed tube, and from the hippuric acid which is found in the urine of the herbivorae. For this purpose the urine is concentrated and the hippuric acid precipitated by the addition of hydrochloric acid; it is then filtered and boiled for some time with concentrated hydrochloric acid, when it is hydrolysed into benzoic and amido-acetic acid. It is made commercially by boiling benzotrichloride (obtained from toluene) with milk of lime, the calcium benzoate so obtained being then decomposed by hydrochloric acid

The Benzidine and Semidine Change.-Aromatic hydrazo compounds which contain free para positions are readily converted by the action of acids, acid chlorides and anhydrides into diphenyl derivatives; thus, as mentioned above, hydrazobenzene is converted into benzidine, a small quantity of diphenylin being formed at the same time. The two products are separated by the different solubilities of their sulphates. This reaction is known as the benzidine transformation. If, 2C,H,CCl1+4Ca(OH); = (C,H,COO);Ca+3CaCl;+4H,O. however, one of the para positions in the hydrazo compound is substituted, then either diphenyl derivatives or azo compounds Benzoic acid crystallizes in glistening leaflets (from water) are formed, or what is known as the semidine change takes place which melt at 121.4° C. and boil at 249.2° C. (H. Kopp). Its (P. Jacobson, Berichte, 1892, 25, p. 992; 1893, 26, p. 681; 1896, specific heat is o.1946. It sublimes readily and is volatile in 29, p. 2680; Annalen, 1895, 287, p. 97; 1898, 303, p. 290). steam. It is readily soluble in hot water and the ordinary organic A para mono substituted hydrazo compound in the presence solvents, but is only slightly soluble in cold water. When heated of a hydrochloric acid solution of stannous chloride gives either with lime, it is decomposed, benzene being formed; if its vapours a para diphenyl derivative (the substituent group being elimiare passed over heated zinc dust, it is converted into benzalde nated), an ortho-semidine, a para-semidine, or a diphenyl base, hyde (A. Baeyer, Ann. 1866, 140, p. 296). Distillation of its whilst a decomposition with the formation of amines may also calcium salt gives benzophenone (q.v.) with small quantities of take place. The nature of the substituent exerts a specific other substances, but if the calcium salt be mixed with calcium influence on the reaction; thus with chlorine or bromine, formate and the mixture distilled, benzaldehyde is produced. ortho-semidines and the diphenyl bases are the chief products; By the action of sodium amalgam on an aqueous solution of the the dimethylamino, -N(CH3)2, and acetamino, -NHCOCH,, acid, benzyl alcohol, tetrahydrobenzoic acid and hexahydrogroups give the diphenyl base and the para-semidine respectively. benzoic acid are formed. The salts of benzoic acid are known With a methyl group, the chief product is an ortho-semidine, as the benzoates and are mostly soluble in water. They are whilst with a carboxyl group, the diphenyl derivative is the readily decomposed by mineral acids with the production of chief product. The ortho- and para- semidines can be readily benzoic acid, and on addition of ferric chloride to their neutral distinguished by their behaviour with different reagents; thus solutions give a reddish-brown precipitate of ferric benzoate. with nitrous acid the ortho-semidines give azimido compounds, Benzoic anhydride, (C.H.CO)2O, is prepared by the action of whilst the para-semidines give complex diazo derivatives; benzoyl chloride on sodium benzoate, or by heating benzoyl with formic or acetic acids the ortho-semidines give anhydrochloride with anhydrous oxalic acid (R. Anschütz, Ann. 1884, compounds of a basic character, the para-semidines give acyl 226, p. 15). It crystallizes in needles, melting at 42°C., and boiling products possessing no basic character. The carbon disulphide at 360°C. It is insoluble in water but readily soluble in alcohol and salicylic aldehyde products have also been used as means and ether. of distinction, as has also the formation of the stilbazonium bases obtained by condensing ortho-semidines with benzil (O. N. Witt, Berichte, 1892, 25, p. 1017).

Structurally we have:

-NHINHHydrazobenzene.

Benzoyl chloride, CH,COCI, is formed by distilling a mixture of phosphorus pentachloride and benzoic acid; by the action of chlorine on benzaldehyde, or by passing a stream of hydrochloric acid gas over a mixture of benzoic acid and phosphorus pentoxide heated to 200°C. (C. Friedel, Ber. 1869, 2, p. 80). It is a colourless liquid of very unpleasant smell, which boils at 198° C., and solidifies in a freezing mixture, the crystals obtained melting at -1° C. It shows all the characteristic properties of an acid NH2 chloride.

NH2

Diphenylin.

NH2.

Ethyl benzoate, CH:COOCHI, is best prepared by boiling benzoic acid and alcohol with a small quantity of sulphuric acid for some hours (E. Fischer and A. Speier, Berichte, 1896, 28, p. 3252). It is a colourless liquid of boiling point 213° C.

Benzamide, CH,CONH2, is prepared by the action of benzoyl chloride on ammonia or ammonium carbonate, or from ethyl benzoate and ammonia. It crystallizes (from water) in glistening leaflets which melt at 130° C. and boil at 288° C. Its silver salt behaves as if it were the salt of an imido benzoic acid, since it yields benzimido ethyl ether CH ̧·C(÷NH)·OC2Hs with ethyl iodide (J. Tafel and C. Enoch, Berichte, 1890, 23, p. 1550).

BENZOIC ACID, CH2O2 or CH,COOH, the simplest representative of the aromatic acids. It occurs naturally in some resins, especially in gum benzoin (from Styrax benzoin), in dragon's blood, and as a benzyl ester in Peru and Tolu balsams. It can be prepared by the oxidation of toluene, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde and cinnamic acid; by the oxidation of benzene with manganese dioxide and concentrated sulphuric acid in the cold (L. Carius, Ann. 1868, 148, p. 51); by hydrolysis of benzonitrile or of hippuric acid; by the action of carbon dioxide on benzene in the presence of aluminium chloride (C. Friedel and J. M. Crafts, Ann. chim, phys. 1888 [6], 14, p. 441); by the action of carbon dioxide on monobrombenzene in the presence of sodium; by condensing benzene and carbonyl chloride in presence of aluminium chloride, the benzoyl chloride formed | (9.v.).

Chlor-, brom-, iodo- and fluor-benzoic acids are known and can be obtained by oxidizing the corresponding halogen toluenes, or from the amido acids, or by substitution. Nitration of benzoic acid gives chiefly meta-nitro-benzoic acid. The ortho- and para-nitro-benzoic acids can be obtained by oxidizing orthoand para-nitro-cinnamic acids. Ortho-amino-benzoic acid, CH NHCOOH (anthranilic acid), is closely related to indigo

Gum benzoin, which contains from 12 to 20% of benzoic acid, BENZOPHENONE (DIPHENYL KETONE), C&H CO-CH, the is used in medicine as the essential constituent of benzoated lard, simplest representative of the true aromatic ketones. It may be Adeps benzoatus, which owes its antiseptic properties to benzoic prepared by distilling calcium benzoate; by condensing benzene acid; and in friar's balsam, Tinctura benzoini composita, which with benzoyl chloride in the presence of anhydrous aluminfum is an ancient and valuable medicament, still largely used for chloride; by the action of mercury diphenyl on benzoyl chloride, inhalation in cases of laryngitis, bronchitis and other inflamma- or by oxidizing diphenylmethane with chromic acid. It is a tory or actually septic conditions of the respiratory tract. It dimorphous substance existing in two enantiotropic forms, one owes its value to the benzoic acid which it contains. A fluid melting at 26° C. and the other at 48° C. (Th. Zincke, Berichte, 1871, drachm of friar's balsam may be added to a pint of water at a 4, p. 576). It boils at 306-1° C., under a pressure of 760-32 mm. It temperature of about 140° F., and the resultant vapour may be is reduced by sodium amalgam to benzhydrol or diphenyl carbinol inhaled from the spout of a kettle or from a special inhaler. CoH CHOH-CHs; a stronger reducing agent, such as hydriodic Benzoic acid itself, ammonium benzoate and sodium benzoate acid in the presence of amorphous phosphorus converts it into are all administered internally in doses of from five to thirty | diphenylmethane (CeHs)2 CH2. Potash fusion converts it into grains. The ammonium salt is most often employed, owing to benzene and benzoic acid. With phenylhydrazine it forms a the stimulant character of the ammonium base. The acid itself hydrazone, and with hydroxylamine an oxime, which exists in is a powerful antiseptic. When administered internally, it one form only; if, however, one of the phenyl groups in the oxime causes the appearance of hippuric acid in the urine. This is due be substituted in any way then two stereo-isomeric oximes are to its combination in the body with glycocoll. The combination produced (cf. STEREO-ISOMERISM); thus parachlorbenzophenone probably occurs in the kidney. The hippuric acid in the urine oxime exists in two different forms (V. Meyer and K. F. Auwers, acts as a stimulant and disinfectant to the urinary mucous Berichte, 1890, 23, p. 2403). Many derivatives are known, thus membrane. Benzoic acid is also excreted by the bronchi and ortho-amino-benzophenone, melting at 106° C., can be obtained tends to disinfect and stimulate the bronchial mucous membrane. by reduction of the corresponding nitro compound; it condenses Hence the value of friar's balsam. The acid and its salts are under the influence of heated lead monoxide to an acridine antipyretic and were used in Germany instead of salicylates in derivative and with acetone in presence of caustic soda it gives rheumatic fever. But the most important fact is that ammonium a quinoline. Tetramethyl-diamido-benzophenone or Mickler's benzoate is largely used-often in combination with urinary ketone, CO[CH,N-(CH3)2]2, melting at 173°, is of technical anodynes such as tincture of hyoscyamus-as a urinary antiseptic importance, as by condensation with various substances it can be in cases of cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) and pyelitis made to yield dye-stuffs. It is prepared by the action of carbonyl (inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney). chloride on dimethyl aniline in the presence of aluminium chloride: COC1:+2CHsN(CH3)2=2HCl+CO[C2H,N(CH2)2]2.

BENZOIN, CH,CHOH·CO-CH1, a ketone-alcohol, which may be prepared by boiling an alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde with potassium cyanide; by reducing benzil (CH&CO.CO·CH1) with zinc and acetic acid; or by the oxidation of hydrobenzoin (CH, CHOH-CHOH-CH). It is a colourless, crystalline solid, readily soluble in alcohol and ether, melting at 137° C. and boiling at 343-344°C. On passing the vapour of benzoin over heated lead oxide, it is converted into benzil and benzophenone. Owing to the readiness with which it is oxidized, it acts as a reducing agent, giving a red precipitate of cuprous oxide with Fehling's solution in the cold. Chlorine and nitric acid oxidize it to benzil; chromic acid mixture and potassium permanganate, to benzoic acid and benzaldehyde. On heating with zinc dust, desoxybenzoin (CICO-CH2CH) is obtained; sodium amalgam converts it into hydrobenzoin; and fuming hydriodic acid at 130° C. gives dibenzyl (CH, CH, CH2CH1). By fusion with alkali it is converted into benzil; and with an alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde in presence of ammonia it forms amarine (triphenyl dihydro-glyoxaline). In the presence of sulphuric acid it condenses with nitriles to oxazoles (q.v.).

BENZOIN, or GUM BENJAMIN (supposed to be from Arab. luban, frankincense, the first syllable being dropped in Romanic as if it were the article), a balsamic resin obtained from Styrax benzoin, a tree of considerable size, native to Sumatra and Java, and from other species of Styrax. It is obtained by making incisions in the bark of the trees, and appears to be formed as the result of the wound, not to be secreted normally. There are several varieties of benzoin in commerce: (1) Siam benzoin, which apparently does not come from Styrax benzoin, is the finest and most aromatic, and occurs in the form of small" tears, rarely exceeding 2 in. in length by in, in thickness, and of blocks" made up of these tears agglomerated by a clear reddish-brown resin. The odour of Siam benzoin is partly due to the presence of vanillin, and the substance contains as much as 38% of benzoic acid but no cinnamic acid. (2) Sumatra benzoin occurs only in masses formed of dull red resin enclosing white tears. It contains about 20% of cinnamic acid in addition to 18 or even more of benzoic. (3) Palembang benzoin, an inferior variety, said to be obtained from Styrax benzoin in Sumatra, consists of greyish translucent resinous masses, containing small white opaque tears. It does not appear to contain cinnamic acid. Large quantities of benzoin are used as incense. Its medicinal uses depend on the contained benzoic acid (q.v.).

BENZYL ALCOHOL (PHENYL CARBINOL), CH,CH2OH, occurs as a benzoic ester in Peru balsam, as cinnamic ester in Tolu balsam, as acetic ester in essential oil of jasmine, and also in storax. It may be synthetically prepared by the reduction of benzoyl chloride; by the action of nitrous acid on benzylamine; by boiling benzyl chloride with an aqueous solution of potassium carbonate, or by the so-called "Cannizzaro" reaction, in which benzaldehyde is shaken up with caustic potash, one half of the aldehyde being oxidized to benzoic acid, and the other half reduced to the alcohol. (Berichte, 1881, 14, p. 2394).

2CH.CHO+KOH=CH,COOK+C2H ̧CH2OH. It is a colourless liquid, with a faint aromatic smell, and boils at 206° C. On oxidation with nitric acid it is converted into benzaldehyde, whilst chromic acid oxidizes it to benzoic acid. Reduction by means of hydriodic acid and phosphorus at 140° C. gives toluene, whilst on distillation with alcoholic potash, toluene and benzoic acid are formed.

BEOTHUK, a tribe of North American Indians formerly dwelling in the interior of Newfoundland. A certain mystery attaches to them, since investigation of the few words of their language which have survived suggests that they were of distinct stock. The name (of Micmac origin) is said to mean simply" red men." They were bitterly hostile to the French settlers, and were hunted down and killed off until 1820, when a few survivors made their escape into Labrador. The last of them is believed to have died in 1829.

BEÖTHY, ÖDÖN (1796-1854), Hungarian deputy and orator, was born at Grosswardein, his father being a retired officer and deputy lord-lieutenant of the county of Bihar. At the age of sixteen he served in the war against Napoleon, and was present at the great battle of Leipzig. Like so many others of his compatriots, he picked up Liberal ideas abroad. He was sent to parliament by his county in 1826 and again in 1830, but did not become generally known till the session of 1832-1836, when along with Deák he, as a liberal Catholic, defended the Protestant point of view in "the mixed marriages question." He was also an energetic advocate of freedom of speech. After parliament rose he carried his principles to their logical conclusion by marrying a Protestant lady and, being denied a blessing on the occasion by an indignant bishop, publicly declared that he could very well dispense with such blessings. In 1841 he was elected deputy lord-lieutenant of his county to counteract the influence of the