in the probationaiy stage of knighthood — not esquires simpiv, but knights who, for lack of iiieans or from' nonage, had not yet raised their banner in the field (Ifvr banniere) ; (4) students who had completed the first grade of their uni- versity career; (o) unmarried men who, because of the"ir solitary condition, were regarded as can- didates or probationers for marriage. It is the last meaning that the term bachelor, at present, most often bears. Regarded as a class in the community, bachelors have formed the subject of legislation from the earliest times. Upon the principle that every citizen is bound to rear up legitimate children to the State, penalties have often been imposed upon male celibates in various countries. In proi)ortion as the interests of the State were regarded above those of the in- dividual, the enforcement of marriage was more severe. In ancient Sparta, it was considered a punishable crime not to marry, or to marry too hite in life: and at Athens celibacy, though not severely punished, was discouraged in early times. " At Rome marriage was fostered by posi- tive penalties imposed on unmarried men, and sometimes even on women, as well as by dis- crimination in favor of heads of families. In the allotment of the Campanian lands by .Julius C.tsar, portions were granted only to the fathers of three or more children. Under Augustus, a law was enacted prohibiting unmarried per- sons below the age of 60 in men, and .50 in women, from taking possession of a legacy; and this was applied even to widows, who. in order to secure their part of the deceased husband's estate, were forced to marry again within a pe- riod of two years. There are numerous instances in Great Britain of special taxes being imposed upon bachelors and widows, with a view, how- ever, more to the increase of revenue, than for any other object. In France, where the problem of "depopulation has been of such serious moment as to threaten the very position of the State among the great Powers of Europe, frequent at- tempts have been made to impose taxes upon bachelors, but with very little success. See Bachelor's Decree.
BACHELOR. See Crappie.
BACHELOR, Knight (Fr. 60s chevalier).
The lowest grade of knightliood, now only be-
stowed in the United Kingdom. It has fre-
quently been conferred for no weightier service
than carrying a congratulatory address to court.
See Knight.
BACHELOR OF SAL'AMAN'CA, The. A
novel by Le Sage, published in 17.30. Le Sage
pretended that it was drawn from an old Spanish
MS., but its inspiration need be traced no further
back than the ingenious brain of the author of
Gil Bins. It was liis last work.
BACHELORS' BUTTONS. A name commonly applied to fcrt;iin varic-tii'^ of the buttercup.
BACHELOR'S DEGREE'. One of the oldest
of academic distinctions, the exact significance of
which has varied in ditl'erent countries and in
different periods in the same countries. In gen-
eral, it has been conferred at the cIo.se of the
first stage in a lil)eral education, and is supposed
to indicate that the recipient is proficient in cer-
tain fundamental brandies. The original form
of the degree was Bachelor of Arts (B...), and
usually it is essential that this degree should l)e
taken "before proceeding to the higher degree of
Master of Arts, or Doctor of Philosophy. In
France there are two forms for the baccalaureate
degree — bachelier es let t res and bachelier es sci-
ences. Great Britain, while conservative about
the B.A. degree, recognizes also B.Sc, and the
bachelor's degree is also conferred in professional
courses. So, too, in the United States, there are
Bachelors of Law (LL.B. or B.L.), Bachelors of
Divinity ( B.D. or S.T.B. ) , Bachelors of Medicine
(M.B.), etc. Here, too, where academic degrees
are but slightly protected by law, many modifi-
cations of the baccalaureate degree have been
employed to indicate the completion of certain
special courses of study. The scientific schools
have given the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy
(as at Yale, since 18-52), Bachelor of Science (as
at Harvard, since 1851), and in many places the
degree of Bachelor of Letters is conferred upon
those whose studies are not scientific or classical,
but are based on modern literature. Bachelor of
Science (B.S.) is in almost every college and
university an established degree, while Bachelor
of Philosophy (Ph.B.) and Bachelor of Letters
(B.L. or Litt.B.) have in the majority of cases
been introduced onlj' to be discarded. The
bachelor's degree has also been given in phar-
macy, agriculture, music, veterinary medicine,
and man5- other subjects ; but tlicre is much op-
position to this use of the traditional 'baccalau-
reate,' and the tendency is more and more toward
its limitation.
BACHERACHT, bii'KeraKt, Thebese von.
See Lt'TZOW. Tuekese von.
BACHET, ba'sha', Claude-Gaspar, Sieur de
Meziriac (1581-1033). A French mathemati-
cian and philologist. He was born in Paris, and
is said to have belonged in his youth to the Order
of the .Jesuits. At the age of 20 he was teach-
ing rhetoric in the College of Milan, but soon
afterwards settled in Paris, where he became
a member of the French Academy from the time
of its foundation (16.35). He published some
literary works, among which is Epitrcs d'Ovide
en vers francais, avec des conimoitaires fort
curienx ( Bourg-en-Bresse, 1626; reprinted at
The Hague, 1716, with other of his works). In
mathematics he was the first in Europe system-
atically to undertake the solution of indetermi-
nate linear equations, and his commentaries were
a point of departure for the work of Fermat in
his theoiy of numbers. Bachet published Les
probUmcs plaisatits et dclectables fjiii se font par
hs nombres (Lyons, 1612; ed. 5, Paris, 1884);
Dioplwnti Alexandrini Arithnieticnrum Libri Sea;
ct de Xumeris Reetangulis Liber Uniis (Paris,
1621-70). He also left a manuscript, entitled
Elementorum Arithmeticorum Libri XIII. (Bib-
liotheque de I'lnstitut). extracts of which were
publislu'd in the Bollcttino Boncompagiii (1879).
BACHMAN, b.-ik'maii,.JonN (17001874). An
American naturalist and clergj-man. From 1815
until his death he was pastor of a IjUtheran
church in Charleston, S. C. He was assistant to
Audubon (q.v. ), and chief author of the work on
North American quadrupeds. Among his own
works are : .-I Defense of Luther and the Iteforma-
Hon (1853), and Characteri.^tics of Species and
(iencra as .Applicable to the Doctrine of the
Unity of the lluman Race (1854).
BACHMUT, biiG-moot'. See Bakhmut.
BACHO, ba'k6. See Baconthorpe, John.
