the Inhabitants of Europe from another Quarter of the Globe (1792); View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expenditure of the United States (1800); and the Political Writings of Joel Barlow (2nd ed., 1796). He also published an edition, “corrected and enlarged,” of Isaac Watt’s Imitation of the Psalms of David (1786).
See C. B. Todd’s Life and Letters of Joel Barlow (New York and London, 1886); A chapter, “The Literary Strivings of Joel Barlow,” in M. C. Tyler’s Three Men of Letters (New York and London, 1895).
BARLOW, PETER (1776–1862), English writer on pure and applied mathematics, was born at Norwich in 1776 and died on the 1st of March 1862. In 1806 he was appointed mathematical master in the Woolwich Academy, and filled that post for forty-one years. In 1823 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and two years later received the Copley medal. Steam locomotion received much attention at his hands, and he sat on the railway commissions of 1836, 1839, 1842, 1845. He received many distinctions from British and foreign scientific societies. Barlow’s principal works are—Elementary Investigation of the Theory of Numbers (1811); New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary (1814); Essay on Magnetic Attractions (1820). The investigations on magnetism led to the important practical discovery of a means of rectifying or compensating compass errors in ships. Besides compiling numerous useful tables, he contributed largely to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.
BARM (a word common to Teutonic languages), the scum formed on the top of malt liquor when fermenting; yeast used to leaven bread, or to set up fermentation in liquor.
BARMECIDES, more accurately Barmakids, a noble Persian family which attained great power under the Abbasid caliphs. Barmak, the founder of the family, was a Persian fire-worshipper, and is supposed to have been a native of Khorasan. According to tradition, his wife was taken for a time into the harem of Abdallah, brother of Kotaiba the conqueror of Balkh, and became the mother of Khalid b. Barmak the Barmecide. Barmak subsequently (about A.D. 736) rebuilt and adorned his native city of Balkh after the rebellion of Harith. The family prospered, and his grandson Yaḥyā b. Khalid was the vizier of the caliph Mahdi and tutor of Harūn al-Rashid. His sons Fadl and Ja‛far (the Giafar of the Arabian Nights) both occupied high offices under Harūn. The story of their disgrace, though romantic, is not improbable. Harūn, it is said, found his chief pleasure in the society of his sister ‛Abbāsa and Ja‛far, and in order that these two might be with him continuously without breach of etiquette, persuaded them to contract a purely formal marriage. The conditions were, however, not observed and Harūn, learning that ‛Abbāsa had borne a son, caused Ja‛far suddenly to be arrested and beheaded, and the rest of the family except Mahommed, Yaḥyā’s brother, to be imprisoned and deprived of their property. It is probable, however, that Harūn’s anger was caused to a large extent by the insinuations of his courtiers that he was a mere puppet in the hands of a powerful family. See further Caliphate, section C, §§ 4, 5.
The expression “Barmecide Feast,” to denote an imaginary banquet, is drawn from one of the tales (“The Barber’s Tale of his Sixth Brother”) in the Arabian Nights, in which a series of empty dishes is served up to a hungry man to test his sense of humour by one of the Barmecides (see edition by L. C. Smithers, Lond., 1894, vol. i. 317).
BARMEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province and the governmental district of Düsseldorf. Pop. (1816) 19,030; (1890) 116,144; (1905) 156,148. It is served by the main railway from Berlin to Aix-la-Chapelle, and lies immediately east of Elberfeld, with which it virtually forms one town. It stretches for some 4 m. along the narrow valley of the river Wupper, which, within the municipal boundaries, is crossed by twenty bridges. High wooded hills surround it. It is divided into three main districts, Upper, Middle and Lower Barmen, and is connected, throughout its length, with Elberfeld, by railway, tramway, and a suspended trolley line, hanging over the bed of the Wupper. It contains nine Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a stately modern town hall, a Hall of Fame (Ruhmeshalle), with statues of the emperors William I. and Frederick III., a theatre, a picture-gallery, an ethnographical museum, and an exchange. There are many public monuments, one to Bismarck another to the poet Emil Rittershaus (1834–1897), a native of the town, and one commemorative of the Franco-German War of 1870-71. There are several high-grade public schools, academies of technical science, engineering and textile industry, and a missionary theological seminary. Barmen is one of the most important manufacturing centres of Germany. The rapid development of its commercial activity only dates from the beginning of the 19th century. It is the chief seat of ribbon weaving in Germany, and manufactures thread, lace, braids, cotton and cloth goods, carpets, silks, machinery, steel wares, plated goods and buttons, the last industry employing about 15,000 hands. There are numerous bleaching-fields, print-fields and dyeworks famous for their Turkey-red, soap works, chemical works and potteries. There are also extensive breweries. Its export trade, particularly to the United States, is very considerable. The hills lying S. of the town are laid out in public grounds. Here are a health resort, a tower commanding an extensive view, and numerous villas. Barmen, although mentioned in chronicles in the 11th century, did not attain civic rights until 1808, when it was formed into a municipality by the grand-duke of Berg.
See A. Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency (1906), for a good description of the industrial aspect.
BARMOTE COURT (also written Berghmote, Barghmote, Bargemote, Barmoot), a name applied to courts held in the lead-mining districts of Derbyshire, England, for the purpose of determining the customs peculiar to the industry and also for the settlements of any disputes which may arise in connexion therewith. Barmote courts are of very ancient origin, having been in existence in the reign of Edward I. Their jurisdiction extends both to the crown lands in the duchy of Lancaster and to those under individual ownership, comprising seven clearly defined districts. Owing to the progress made in modern mining, many of the customs and much of the procedure had become obsolete, and their powers were regulated by the High Peak Mining Customs and Mineral Courts Act 1851. An appeal from the jurisdiction of the courts lies by way of certiorari.
BARMOUTH (Abermaw, mouth of the Maw, or Mawddach, in Cardigan Bay, the only haven in Merionethshire, North Wales), a small seaport on the north of the estuary. Pop. of urban district (1901), 2214. The ride to Dolgelley (Dolgellau) is fine. The parish church, Llanaber, 112 m. from Barmouth, is on a cliff overlooking the sea. Barmouth is a favourite bathing place, on the Cambrian railway. It is a centre for coaching in summer, especially to and through the Vale of Llangollen.
BARNABAS, in the New Testament, the surname, according to Acts iv. 36, given by the apostles (possibly in contrast to Joseph Barsabbas, Acts i. 23) to Joseph, “a Levite, a man of Cyprus by birth,” who, though like Paul not of the Twelve, came like him to rank as an apostle (Acts xiv. 4, 14, 1 Cor. ix. 6; see Apostle). The Greek rendering of this Semitic name υἱὸς παρακλήσεως) may be translated “son of consolation” (as in the A.V.), or “son of exhortation” (as in the R.V.). But there is an initial difficulty about the Greek rendering itself, as no satisfactory etymology of Bar-nabas in this sense has as yet been suggested. The one at present in favour on the ground of philological analogy (see Z.N.T.W., 1906, p. 91 for a fresh instance), viz. Bar-Nebo, lacks intrinsic fitness for a Jew and a Levite, and of course does not accord with the statement in Acts itself. Hence it still seems best to assume some unknown Aramaic form equivalent to παράκλησις, and then to take the latter in the sense of comfort or encouragement. This rendering, rather than “exhortation” in the sense of eloquence, best suits the usage of Acts, which suggests such comfort as is given by encouraging rather than rousing words (ix. 31, xi. 23, xiii. 15, xv. 31 f.; cf. Luke ii. 25, vi. 24). All we hear of Barnabas points to goodness of heart (“a good man,” xi. 24) as his distinctive quality, giving fineness of perception (ix. 27, xi. 25 f.) and large insight into essentials (xi. 23 f.). It was probably the practically helpful and encouraging form that his gift as a “prophet” took (Acts xiii. i,
