Bat´avi. See Batavians.
Bata´via, a city and seaport of Java, on the north coast of the island, the capital of the Dutch East Indies. It is situated on a wide, deep bay, the principal warehouses and offices of the Europeans, the Java Bank, the exchange, &c., being in the old town, which is built on a low, marshy plain near the sea, intersected with canals and very unhealthy; while the Europeans reside in a new and much healthier quarter. Batavia has a large trade, sugar being the chief export. It was founded by the Dutch in 1619, and attained its greatest prosperity in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Its inhabitants are chiefly Malay, with a considerable admixture of Chinese and a small number of Europeans. Pop. 234,697 (1918).
Batavian Republic. See Belgium; Netherlands.
Batavians, an old German nation which inhabited a part of the present Holland, especially the island called Batavia, formed by that branch of the Rhine which empties itself into the sea near Leyden, together with the Waal and the Meuse. Tacitus asserts that they were a branch of the Catti. They were subdued by Germanicus, and were granted special privileges for their faithful services to the Romans, but revolted under Vespasian. They were, however, again subdued by Trajan and Adrian, and at the end of the third century the Salian Franks obtained possession of the Island of Batavia.
Batchian. See Bachian.
Bates, Henry Walter, traveller and naturalist, born at Leicester 1825, learned the hosiery trade, but in 1847 went to the Amazon with Russel Wallace, and remained there for eleven years studying the natural history of the region. Returning to England, he published in 1862 his Naturalist on the River Amazons, a work regarded as a classic. He was assistant secretary to the Royal Geographical Society from 1864 till his death in 1892. A large part of his collections is in the British Museum.
Bath (ba˙th), a city of England, in Somersetshire, on the Avon, which is navigable for barges from Bristol; is beautifully placed among the hills, and the houses are built of freestone, obtained from the neighbourhood. The Abbey Church, dating from the fifteenth century, ranks as one of the finest specimens of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. Bath is remarkable for its medicinal waters, the four principal springs yielding no less than 184,000 gallons of water a day; and the baths are both handsome and
roomy. The temperature of the springs varies from 109° to 117° F. They contain carbonic acid, chloride of sodium and of magnesium, sulphate of soda, carbonate and sulphate of lime, &c. Bath was founded by the Romans, and called by them Aquæ Solis (Waters of the Sun). Amongst the Roman remains discovered there have been some fine baths. The height of its prosperity was reached, however, in the eighteenth century, when Beau Nash was leader of the fashion and master of its ceremonies. Since then, though it still attracts large numbers of visitors, it has become the resort of valetudinarians chiefly. Jointly with Wells it is the head of a diocese, and since 1918 returns one member to the House of Commons. Pop. (1921), 68,648.
Bath, a town, United States, Maine, on the west side and at the head of the winter navigation of the Kennebec, 12 miles from the sea. Chief industries: shipbuilding and allied crafts. Pop. 9396.
Bath, the immersion of the body in water, or an apparatus for this purpose.