Booth, William (b. April 10, 1829, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—d. Aug. 20, 1912, London) British religious leader, founder and general (1878-1912) of the Salvation Army. At age 15 he underwent a religious conversion and became a revivalist preacher. In 1849 he went to London, where he became a regular preacher of the Methodist New Connection (1852-61) and then an independent revivalist. Aided by his wife, Catherine Mumford Booth (1829-90), a fellow preacher and social worker, he founded the Christian Mission in 1865, which in 1878 became the Salvation Army. He traveled worldwide to lecture and organize branches of the Army. His proposals for remedying social ills received widespread acceptance and the encouragement of Edward VII.
Boothia Peninsula Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada. Almost an island, it is the northernmost point of the North American mainland, reaching 71°58' N, and was formerly the location of the north magnetic pole. With an area of 12,483 sq mi (32,330 sq km), it extends into the Arctic Ocean and is separated from Baffin Island by the Gulf of Boothia and from Prince of Wales Island by the Franklin Strait. It was discovered in 1829 by James Clark Ross, who named it Boothia Felix for Sir Felix Booth, the expe¬ dition’s financier. It is sparsely populated.
bootlegging Illegal traffic in liquor in the U.S. The term was probably first used to describe the practice of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops when going to trade with Indians. It became widely used in the 1920s when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act of 1919 effected the prohibition of liquor manufacturing and sales. Early bootleggers smuggled foreign-made liquor into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico and from ships anchored in international waters. Later sources included medicinal whiskey, denatured alcohol, and the manufacture of com liquor. Bootlegging led to the rise of organized-crime syndicates that controlled operations from the manufacture of liquor to its distribution in restaurants and speakeasies. In 1933 Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment. Some counties and municipalities continue to ban liquor, and bootlegging is still practiced.
bop See bebop
Bophuthatswana \,bo-pu-ta-'tswa-na\ Former political entity, South Africa. Consisting of a group of noncontiguous black enclaves, it was established by South African authorities as a “homeland” for the Tswana people and granted its independence in 1977, with its capital at Mma- batho. It was never internationally recognized as independent. Under the 1993 South African constitution, Bophuthatswana was dissolved and the area was reincorporated into South Africa. Its various enclaves, with a population of more than 2,500,000, became parts of Orange Free State (now Free State) and the newly created North-West and Eastern Trans¬ vaal (now Mpumalanga) provinces.
Bopp Yb6p\, Franz (b. Sept. 14, 1791, Mainz, archbishopric of Mainz—d. Oct. 23, 1867, Berlin, Prussia) German linguist. He published the first lengthy comparative analysis of Indo-European languages, his voluminous Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Zend, Latin, Lithuanian, Old Slavic, Gothic, and German (1833-52). Though the relation of San¬ skrit to European languages was known at the time, Bopp was a pioneer in isolating common elements in the verbal and nominal morphology of Sanskrit and other older Indo-European languages. Most of his career was spent at the University of Berlin.
borage Large hairy annual herb ( Borago officinalis ), an ornamental species with large, rough, oblong leaves and loose, drooping clusters of starlike blue flowers. It is a member of the family Boraginaceae, which contains mostly herbs but also some trees and shrubs, all found in tropi¬ cal, subtropical, and temperate areas and most concentrated in the Medi¬ terranean region. Several other ornamental species are grown in gardens, including the Virginia bluebell ( Mertensia virginica), forget-me-nots,
Boomslang (Dispholidus typus )
DADE THORNTON FROM THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION-PHOTO RESEARCHERS/EB INC.
Edwin Booth, photograph by Bradley and Rulofson
COURTESY OF THE THEATRE COLLECTION, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AT LINCOLN CENTER, ASTOR, LENOX AND T1LDEN FOUNDATIONS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Borah ► Borges I 251
heliotropes, and lungworts ( Pulmo- naria). Borage is also used as an herbal and bee plant and eaten as a vegetable.
Borah, William E(dgar) (b.
June 29, 1865, Fairfield, Ill.,
U.S.—d. Jan. 19, 1940, Washington,
D.C.) U.S. senator (1907-40). He practiced law in Boise, Idaho, and in 1892 became the state’s Republican Party chairman. In the Senate he wielded great power as chairman of the foreign relations committee from 1924. A champion of isolationism in foreign policy, he was best known for his role in preventing the U.S. from joining the League of Nations; he also opposed efforts to aid the Allies before the U.S. entered World War II. A maverick Republican, he supported many of the New Deal pro¬ grams to relieve economic hardship and sponsored bills establishing the Department of Labor as well as the federal Children’s Bureau.
borax or tincal Vtiq-koL Sodium tetraborate decahydrate (Na 2 B 4 0 7 •10H 2 O), a soft, light, colourless crystalline mineral used as a component of glass and pottery glazes in the ceramics industry, as a solvent for metal-oxide slags in metallurgy, as a flux in welding and soldering, and as a fertilizer additive, a soap supplement, a disinfectant, a mouthwash, and a water softener. About 50% of the world’s supply comes from south¬ ern California deserts, including Death Valley.
Borch, Gerard ter See Gerard Terborch
Bordeaux \bor-'do\ City (pop., 1999: city, 215,363; metro, area, 753,931), southwestern France. Lying on the Garonne River above its junction with the Dordogne, Bordeaux has long been noted for its wine production. As Burdigala, it was the chief town of the Bituriges Vivisci, a Celtic people. Under Roman rule it was capital of Aquitania province. As part of the inheritance of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Bordeaux became English in 1154 on her husband’s accession to the English throne as Henry II. It enjoyed great prosperity through a thriving trade with the English until it was united with France on the English defeat in the Hundred Years' War (1453). As a Girondin centre, it suffered severely in the French Revo¬ lution. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the French government was transferred to Bordeaux, as it was again in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. Its university, founded in 1441, educated such figures as Montesquieu. The economy focuses on the service sector.
Borden, Sir Frederick (William) (b. May 14, 1847, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia—d. Jan. 6, 1917, Canning, Nova Scotia, Can.) Canadian politician. After studying at Harvard University, he returned to Nova Scotia to practice medicine. In 1874 he was elected as a Liberal Party member to the House of Commons, where he served almost continuously until 1911. As minister of militia and defense (1896-1911), he improved the training of the armed services and helped create a Canadian navy.
Borden, Lizzie (Andrew) (b. July 19, 1860, Fall River, Mass., U.S.—d. June 1, 1927, Fall River) U.S. murder suspect. The daughter of a businessman, she lived with her wealthy but parsimonious father and stepmother. On Aug. 4, 1892, Lizzie (according to her testimony) discov¬ ered her father and his wife dead in their home, brutally mutilated with a sharp instrument. Lizzie and the maid admitted to being in the house at the time of the murders. Lizzie was arrested and tried for both crimes, the maid being suspected as an accomplice. Evidence against Lizzie included her attempt to buy prussic acid (a poison) the day before the murders took place. An ax, which some suspected was the murder weapon, was found in the basement. Acquitted because of the circumstantial nature of the evidence, she remained in Fall River until her death, largely ostracized by the community.