Part 32

On all French racecourses (since 1866), as on others nearly everywhere else on the continent, and likewise in the British colonies, a system of betting known as the _Pari-Mutuel_ or Totalizator, is carried on. Rows of offices are established behind or near the stands, on each of which lists are exhibited containing the numbers of the horses that are to run in the coming race. At some of these the minimum wager is five francs, at others ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred and in some cases a thousand. The person who proposes to bet goes to the clerk at one of these offices, mentions the number, as indicated on the card, of the horse he wishes to back, and states whether he desires to bet on it to win or for a place only. He receives a voucher for his money. After the race the whole amount collected at the various offices is put together and divided after a percentage has been deducted for the administration and for the poor. As soon as this has been done, the money is divided and the prices to be paid to winners are exhibited on boards. These prices are calculated on a unit of ten francs. Thus, for instance, if the winner is notified as bringing in twenty-five francs, the meaning is that the backer receives his original stake of ten and fifteen in addition, the money being paid immediately by another clerk attached to the office at which the bet was made. The great French municipalities derive considerable revenue in relief of rates from the _Paris Mutuels_. In Japan this system was made illegal in 1908.

BETAINE (OXYNEURINE, LYCINE), C5H13NO3, a substance discovered in the sugar beet (_Beta vulgaris_) in 1869 by C. Scheibler (_Ber._, 1869, 2, p. 292). It is also found in cotton seed, in the vetch and in wheat sprouts (E. Schulz and S. Frankfurt, _Ber._, 1893, 26, p. 2151). It may be synthetically prepared by oxidizing choline with chromic acid (O. Liebreich, _Ber._, 1869, 2, 13), (CH3)3N(OH).CH2.CH2OH --> C5H13NO3 + H2O; by heating trimethylamine with monochloracetic acid (Liebreich), (CH3)3N + CH2Cl.COOH = (CH3)3N(Cl).CH2.COOH (betaine hydrochloride); and by heating amino-acetic acid (glycocoll) with methyl iodide in the presence of an alkali (P. Griess, _Ber._, 1875, 8, p. 1406). It crystallizes from alcohol in large deliquescent crystals; and is readily soluble in water, but insoluble in ether. It is a weak base. As is shown by the various syntheses of the base, it is the methyl hydroxide of dimethyl glycocoll. This free base readily loses water on heating and gives an internal anhydride of constitution

/CH2\ (CH3)3N CO, \ O /

which is the type of the so-called "betaines." These organic betaines are internal anhydrides of carboxylic acids, which contain an ammonium hydroxide group in the [alpha]-position. A. Hantzsch (_Ber._, 1886, 19, p. 31) prepared the betaines of nicotinic, picolinic and collidine carboxylic acids from the potassium salts of the acids, by treatment with methyl iodide, followed by moist silver oxide. The reaction may be shown as follows:--

/\ /\ /\ / \ CO2K / \ CO2CH3 / \ __CO | | | | | | | | | --> | | --> | | | | | | | | | | \\ / \\ / \\ / | \\/ \\/ \\/ | N H3C-N-I H3C-N----O

The methyl betaine of nicotinic acid is identical with the alkaloid _trigonelline_, which was discovered in 1885 by E. Jahns in the seeds of _Trigonella faenum-graecum_ (_Ber._, 1885, 18, p. 2518). It has also been obtained from nicotine by A. Pictet by oxidizing the methyl hydroxide of nicotine with potassium permanganate (_Ber._, 1897, 30, p. 2117).

Substances closely related to betaine are choline, neurine and muscarine. Choline (bilineurine, sincaline), (Gr. [Greek: cholae], bile), C5H15NO2 or HO.CH2.CH2.N(CH3)3.OH, first isolated by A. Strecker in 1862 (_Ann._ 123, p. 353; 148, p. 76), is found in the bile, in brain substance, and in yolk of egg in the form of lecithin, a complex ester of glycerin with phosphoric acid and the fatty acids. It is also found in combination with sinapic acid in sinapin, the glucoside obtained from white mustard, and can be obtained from this glucoside by hydrolysis with baryta water,

C16H23NO5 + 2H2O = C5H15NO2 + C11H12O5. Sinapin. Choline. Sinapic acid.

It can be synthetically prepared by the action of trimethylamine on an aqueous solution of ethylene oxide (A. Wurtz, _Ann. Suppl._, 1868, 6, p. 201). It forms deliquescent crystals of strongly alkaline reaction, and absorbs carbon dioxide from the air. It is not poisonous. By continued boiling of its aqueous solution, it is resolved into glycol and trimethylamine.

Neurine, trimethyl vinyl ammonium hydroxide (Gr. [Greek: neuron], nerve), CH2 : CH.N(CH3)3.OH, is a product of the putrefaction of albumen. It may be prepared by the action of moist silver oxide on ethylene dibromide and trimethylamine,

CH2Br.CH2Br --> CH2Br.CH2N(CH3)3Br --> CH2 : CH.N(CH3)3.OH.

It is a crystalline solid, very soluble in water, and is strongly basic and very poisonous. Muscarine, C5H15NO3, is an exceedingly poisonous substance found in many fungi. It may be obtained synthetically by oxidizing choline with dilute nitric acid (O. Schmiedeberg, _Jahresb._, 1876, p. 804). The exact constitution has not yet been definitely determined.

BETEL NUT. The name betel is applied to two different plants, which in the East are very closely associated in the purposes to which they are applied. The betel nut is the fruit of the Areca or betel palm, _Areca Catechu_, and the betel leaf is the produce of the betel vine or pan, _Chavica Betel_, a plant allied to that which yields black pepper. The Areca palm is a native of the Malay Peninsula and Islands and is extensively cultivated over a wide area in the East, including southern India, Ceylon, Siam, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippine Islands. It is a graceful tree with a straight, slender, unbranched stem reaching 40 or 50 ft. in height and about 1-1/2 ft. in circumference, and bearing a crown of 6-9 very large spreading pinnate fronds. The fruit is about the size of a small hen's egg, and within its fibrous rind is the seed or so-called nut, the albumen of which is very hard and has a prettily mettled grey and brown appearance. The chief purpose for which betel nuts are cultivated and collected is for use as a masticatory,--their use in this form being so widespread among Oriental nations that it is estimated that one-tenth of the whole human family indulge in betel chewing. For this use the fruits are annually gathered between the months of August and November, before they are quite ripe, and deprived of their husks. They are prepared by boiling in water, cutting up into slices, and drying in the sun, by which treatment the slices assume a dark brown or black colour. When chewed a small piece is wrapped up in a leaf of the betel vine or pan, with a pellet of shell lime or chunam; and in some cases a little cardamom, turmeric or other aromatic is added. The mastication causes a copious flow of saliva of a brick-red colour, which dyes the mouth, lips and gums. The habit blackens the teeth, but it is asserted by those addicted to it that it strengthens the gums, sweetens the breath and stimulates the digestive organs. Among the Orientals betel is offered on ceremonial visits in the same manner as wine is produced on similar occasions by Europeans. Betel nuts are further used as a source of catechu, which is procured by boiling the nuts in water. The water of the first boiling becomes red and thick, and when this is inspissated after the removal of the nuts it forms a catechu of high astringency and dark colour called in Bombay "Kossa." The nuts are again boiled, and the inspissated juice of the second decoction yields a weaker catechu of a brown or reddish colour. Betel nuts have been used by turners for ornamental purposes, and for coat buttons on account of the beauty of their structure. At one time they were supposed to be useful as a vermifuge. The nuts of other species of _Areca_ are used by the poorer classes in the East as substitutes for the genuine betel nut.

The alkaloid arecaidine, C7H11NO2, occurs in areca or betel nuts, together with three other alkaloids: arecoline, C8H13NO2, guvacine, C6H9NO2, and arecaine, C7H11NO2. Arecaidine forms white crystals easily soluble in water, and difficultly soluble in alcohol. Chemically it is methyl-tetrahydro-nicotinic acid. Dehydration results in the formation of a "betaine," which is a tetrahydro-trigonelline (see BETAINE). Arecoline is an oil, and the physiological action of the betel nut is alone due to this substance. Chemically it is the methyl ester of arecaidine. Guvacine, named from "guvaca," an Indian designation of the betel palm, forms white crystals. It is a secondary base, but its constitution is uncertain. Arecaine is n-methyl-guvacine.

BETHANY (mod. _el-'Azariyeh_), a village nearly 2 m. E.S.E. from Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, 2208 ft. above the sea. It is interesting as the residence of Lazarus and his sisters, and a favourite retreat of Jesus (see especially John xi., which describes the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus at this place). From the 4th century down to the time of the Mahommedan invasion several ecclesiastical buildings were erected on the spot, but of these no distinct traces remain. El-'Azariyeh is a poor village of about thirty families, with few marks of antiquity; there is no reason to believe that the houses of Mary and Martha and of Simon the Leper, or the sepulchre of Lazarus, still shown by the monks, have any claim to the names they bear. Another Bethany (with the alternative reading Bethabara) is mentioned in John i. 28, as "beyond Jordan"; it has not been identified.

BETHEL (Heb. "House of God"), originally called _Luz_, an ancient city of Palestine, on the N.W. border of the tribe of Benjamin, 11 m. N. of Jerusalem and nearly 2900 ft. above sea-level. From very early times it was a holy place, a circumstance probably due primarily to a very extraordinary group of boulders and rock-outcrops north of the town. Abraham recognized its sanctity (Gen. xii. 8); Jacob, in ignorance, slept in the sacred enclosure and was granted a vision ("Jacob's ladder," Gen. xxviii). For a while the ark seems to have been deposited here (Judg. xx. 27), and it was a place for consulting the oracle (Judg. xx. 18). At the secession of the northern kingdom under Jeroboam, Bethel became a royal residence and a national shrine (1 Kings xii. 29-31, Amos vii. 13), for which its position at the junction of main roads from N. to S. and E. to W. well fitted it. It was taken from Jeroboam by Abijah, king of Judah (2 Chr. xiii. 19). It seems to have continued to flourish down into the Christian era; remains of its ecclesiastical buildings still exist. The present village, which bears the name of Beitin, occupies about three or four acres, and has a population of 2000.

BETHENCOURT, JEAN DE (c. 1360-1422), French explorer, belonged to a noble family of Normandy, and held important offices at the court of Charles VI., king of France. His spirit was fired by hearing of the deeds of explorers and adventurers, and having formed a plan to conquer the Canary Islands he raised some money by pledging his Norman estates, and sailed from La Rochelle on the 1st of May 1402 with two ships, commanded by himself and Gadifer de la Salle. He was delayed by a mutiny off the coast of Spain, but reached the island of Lanzarote in July. Unable to carry out his project of conquest, he left his men at the Canaries and went to seek help at the court of Castile. He obtained men and provisions from Henry III. king of Castile, through the good offices of his uncle, Robert de Braquemont, who had considerable influence with Henry; he also received the title of king, and did homage to Henry for his future conquests. Returning to the Canaries in 1404 he found that Gadifer de la Salle had conquered Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and explored other islands. La Salle, unwilling to accept a position of inferiority, left the Canaries and appealed unsuccessfully for redress at the court of Castile. Bethencourt was unable to complete his work of conquest and exploration. In 1405 he visited Normandy, and returned with fresh colonists who occupied Hierro. In December 1406 he left the islands to the government of his nephew, Maciot de Bethencourt, reserving for himself the royal title and a share in any profits obtained. He returned to Normandy, where he appears to have spent the remainder of his days. He died in 1422, and was buried in the church of Grainville-la-Teinturiere. Bethencourt wrote a very untrustworthy account of his "conquest of the Canary Islands," _Le Canarien, livre de la conquete et conversion ses Canaries_. This has been published with introduction and notes by G. Gravier (Rouen, 1874), and an English translation was edited by R.H. Major for the Hakluyt Society (London, 1872).

See also CANARY ISLANDS, for the controversy as to the relations between Bethencourt and La Salle.

BETHESDA (i.e. "House of Mercy," John v. 2), better perhaps BETHZATHA or BETHSAIDA, a pool or public bath in Jerusalem, where miraculous cures were believed to be performed. The following identifications have been suggested: _Birket Isra'il_, near St Stephen's gate; a large cistern, near St Anne's church; the "Twin Pools," north of the Haram (the ancient Temple area); the _Hammam esh-Shifa'_ or pool of healing, west of the Haram; the Virgin's fountain, south of the Haram; and the "Pool of Siloam." Which, if any, of these identifications is correct, it is impossible to say.

BETHESDA, an urban district of Carnarvonshire, N. Wales, 5 m. from Bangor, by a branch of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 5281. It lies near the lower end of the fine Nant Ffrancon (valley of the Ogwen stream). The scriptural name is due, as often in Wales, to the village or hamlet taking its title from the Nonconformist church. Here are extensive slate quarries belonging to Lord Penrhyn. A narrow-gauge railway connects these with Port Penrhyn, at the mouth of the stream Cegid (hemlock, "_cicuta_"), which admits the entry of vessels of 300 tons to the quay at low water.

BETH-HORON ("the place of the hollow way"), the name of two neighbouring villages, upper and lower Beth-horon, on the ascent from the coast plain of Palestine to the high tableland of Benjamin, which was until the 16th century the high road from Jerusalem to the sea. The two towns thus played a conspicuous part in Israelitish military history (see Josh. x. 10; 1 Sam. xiii. 18; 1 Kings ix. 17; 1 Macc. iii. 13-24, vii. 39 ff., ix. 50). Josephus (_Bell. Jud._ ii. 19) tells of the rout of a Roman army under Cestius Gallus in A.D. 66. The Talmud states that many rabbis were born in the place. It is now represented by Beit 'Ur-el-foka and Beit 'Ur-et-tahta.

BETHLEHEM (Heb. "House of Bread," or, according to a more questionable etymology, "of [the god] Lakhmu"), a small town in Palestine, situated on a limestone ridge (2550 ft. above sea-level), 5 m. S. of Jerusalem. The neighbourhood produces wheat, barley, olives and vines in abundance. It was occupied in very early times, though the references in Judges xvii., xix., and Ruth[1] are of doubtful date. It was the early home of David and of Joab (2 Sam. ii. 32). It was fortified by Rehoboam, and in the neighbouring inn of Chimham the murderers of Gedaliah took refuge (Jer. xli. 17). Micah (v. 2) and other writers speak of it as Bethlehem-Ephrathah; perhaps Ephrathah was the name of the district. Almost complete obscurity, however, was gathering round it when it became (according to Matt. ii. and Luke ii.) the birthplace of Jesus. The traditional scene of the Nativity, a grotto on the eastern part of the ridge, is alleged to have been desecrated during the reign of Hadrian by a temple of Adonis. In 330 it was enclosed by a basilica built by the orders of the emperor Constantine. This basilica (S. Maria a Praesepio), which is still standing, was restored and added to by Justinian, and was later surrounded by the three convents successively erected by the Greek, Latin and Armenian Churches (see de Vogue, _Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte_). Captured by the Crusaders in the 11th century, Bethlehem was made an episcopal see; but the bishopric soon sank to a titular dignity. Beside the grotto of the Nativity other traditional sites are shown within the church, such as the Altar of the Magi, the Tomb of Eusebius, the cave wherein Jerome made his translation of the Bible, &c.

There are several monasteries and convents, and British, French and German schools. The village is well built and comparatively clean. The population (8000) has contained few Moslems since the Moslem quarter was destroyed by Ibrahim Pasha, in revenge for the murder of one of his favourites, after the insurrection of 1834. The carving of crucifixes and other sacred mementoes gives employment to a large proportion of the population. In 1850 a dispute arose between France and Russia, in the name of the Latin and Greek Churches respectively, concerning the possession of the key of the chief door of the basilica, and concerning the right to place a silver star, with the arms of France, in the grotto of the Nativity. The Porte, after much futile temporizing, yielded to France. The disappointment thus inflicted on Russia was a determining cause of the outbreak of the Crimean War (see Kinglake, _Invasion of the Crimea_, chap. iii.). [There is a tiny village of the same name in Zebulun, 7 m. N.W. of Nazareth (Josh. xv. 19).]

See bibliography under PALESTINE. For the modern town see Palmer, "Das jetzige Bethlehem," in the _Zeitschrift_ of the Deutsche Palastina-Verein, xvii. p. 89. (R. A. S. M.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The country of Moab is clearly visible from around Bethlehem.

BETHLEHEM, a borough of Northampton and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the N. bank of the Lehigh river, opposite South Bethlehem and 55 m. N. by W. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 6762; (1900) 7293 (350 foreign-born); (1910) 12,837. It is served by the Central of New Jersey, the Lehigh & New England, the Lehigh Valley and the Philadelphia & Reading railways, and is connected by two long bridges with South Bethlehem. The borough lies on a ridge of ground commanding delightful landscape scenery extending north up the course of the river to the Blue Mountains 20 m. away. In Church Street and its vicinity still stand several specimens of the 17th-century style of architecture of eastern Germany. The same sect that erected these buildings, the Moravians, or United Brethren, maintain here the Moravian College and Theological Seminary, and a well-known school for girls (the Moravian Seminary), founded as a church boarding school in 1749 and reorganized in 1785, for girls of all denominations. During the War of Independence, from December 1776 to April 1777, and from September 1777 to April 1778, the old Colonial Hall in this seminary (built 1748) was used as a general hospital of the continental army. From its roof the famous Moravian trombones were long played on festal or funeral occasions, and later summoned the people to musical festivals. The Moravians have given Bethlehem a national reputation as a musical centre. Only a few years after the city was founded, Benjamin Franklin was strongly impressed with the fine music in its church, and towards the close of the 19th century a choir under the direction of the organist, J. Frederick Wolle, became widely known by rendering for the first time in America Bach's _St John Passion_ (in 1888), followed after short intervals by the _St Matthew Passion_, the _Christmas Oratorio_, the _Mass in B Minor_, and finally by an annual Bach festival continuing for three days, which was discontinued after Wolle's removal to the university of California in 1905. Bethlehem has often been called the American Bayreuth. Among the borough's industrial establishments, the manufactories of iron and steel are the most important, but it also manufactures brass, zinc, and silk and knit goods. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. Bethlehem was founded by the Moravians, led by Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, shortly before Christmas in 1741, and the season of the year suggested its name; for the first century of its existence it was almost exclusively a settlement of that sect, and it is still their American headquarters. Bethlehem was incorporated as a borough in 1845. In 1904 the borough of West Bethlehem (pop. in 1900, 3465) was consolidated with Bethlehem.

See J.M. Levering, _A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania_ (Bethlehem, 1903).

BETHLEHEMITES, a name borne at different times by three orders in the Roman Catholic Church. (1) A community of friars at Cambridge, in 1257, whose habit was distinguished from that of the ordinary Dominicans by a five-rayed red star (in reference to Matt. ii. 9 f). (2) An order of knighthood similar to the Knights of St John, established by Pius II. in 1459 to resist the inroads of the Turks. (3) The Bethlehemite Order of Guatemala, a nursing community founded in 1650 by Pedro Betancourt (d. 1667), extended by the brothers Rodrigo and Antonio of the Cross, and raised to an order by Innocent XI. in 1687. They wore a dress like that of the Capuchins, and Clement XI. in 1707 gave them the privileges of the mendicant orders. They spread throughout Central America and Mexico and as far south as Lima, and with the order of sisters, founded in 1668 by Anna Maria del Galdo, were conspicuous for their devotion during times of plague and other contagious diseases. This order became extinct about 1850. The name Bethlehemites has also sometimes been given to the Hussites of Bohemia because their leader preached in the Bethlehem church at Prague.