Balæ´niceps ('whale-head'), a genus of wading birds belonging to the Sudan, intermediate between the herons and storks, and characterized by an enormous bill, broad and swollen, giving the only known species (B. rex), also called shoe-bird, a peculiar appearance. It feeds on fishes, water-snakes, carrion, &c., and makes its nest in reeds or grass adjoining water. The bill is yellow, blotched with dark-brown, the general colour of the plumage dusky-grey, the head, neck, and breast slaty, the legs blackish.
Balænop´tera. See Rorqual.
Balagarh (bä-lä-gar'), town of Hindustan, in the Punjab. Pop. 11,233.
Balaghat´, a district of India, in the Central Provinces, Nagpur division; area, 3146 sq. miles; capital, Burha, a small place. The surface is diversified, comprising extensive uplands as well as lowlands; forests are extensive, and a comparatively small part of the area is under cultivation, rice being the chief crop. Iron exists in considerable quantities, and it is worked in a small way; gold is also worked. Pop. 330,000, almost entirely rural.
Balaguer (ba˙-la˙-gār'), Victor, Spanish author and politician, important writer in the Catalonian dialect, born 1824, died 1901. Born at Barcelona, he studied law there, and, becoming learned in Catalonian history, was appointed archivist and soon after professor of history. In 1869 he entered the Cortes as a Liberal; in 1872 was Minister of Public Works; from 1886 to 1888 Colonial Minister. He wrote much both in prose and verse, his prose comprising historical works, novels, &c., his verse lyrics, ballads, tragedies, odes, &c. His tragedies were partly on subjects taken from Catalonian history, partly on subjects connected with Greek and Roman history or literature. Among his lyrical and other poems are: El Trovador de Montserrat; Primavera de Ultimo Trovador Catalan; Poesias Completas (1874); Obras Poeticas (1880). Don Juan de Serrallonga is the most popular of his novels. Among other works of his are: Historia Politica y Literaria de los Trovadores; Historia de Cataluña; Los Pirineos; Cristobal Colon; Estudios Historicos y Politicos; Historias y Tradiciones; Instituciones y Reyes de Aragon. As a poet he was imitative, reminding us of Quintana, Zorilla, and Byron.
Balaklava (ba˙-la˙-klä'va), a small seaport in the Crimea, 8 miles S.S.E. Sevastopol. In the Crimean war it was captured by the British, who used the harbour as a base of supplies. The famous battle of Balaklava was fought some distance to the north of the seaport, on 25th Oct., 1854. The Russians brought a force of 25,000 men against the allies, a much larger force than they had to encounter, and the chief incidents in the battle were as follows: The Russians captured a series of positions occupied by the Turks in front of the British position; a Russian cavalry charge was repulsed by the 93rd Highlanders; a great mass of Russian cavalry was defeated by a charge of British heavy cavalry; the British light cavalry brigade charged and took a Russian battery, and put to flight the cavalry behind it, but were compelled by overpowering force to retreat with heavy loss, their retreat being covered by a brilliant charge of the French. The celebrated charge of the light brigade, or of the 'six hundred', though a brilliant feat of arms, was made under an erroneous interpretation of orders; that of the heavy brigade was equally glorious, and contributed far more to the final repulse of the enemy.
Balako´vo, a river-port of South-Eastern Russia, on the left bank of the Volga, government of Samara, with a very important trade in grain. Pop. 16,000.
Balalai´ka, a musical instrument of very ancient Slavonic origin, common among the Russians and Tartars. It is a narrow, shallow guitar with only two strings.
Bal´ance, an instrument for determining the relative weights of bodies. Balances are of various forms; in that most commonly used a horizontal beam rests so as to turn easily upon a fulcrum in the middle. From the extremities of the beam, called the centres of suspension, hang the scales; and a slender metal pointer between them, and in front of the fulcrum, indicates when the beam is level. The characteristics of a good balance are: (1) that the beam should rest in a horizontal position when the scales are either empty or loaded with equal weights; (2) that a very small addition of weight put into either scale should cause the beam to deviate from the level, which property is denominated the sensibility of the balance; (3) that when the beam is deflected from the horizontal position by inequality of the weights on the scales, it should have a tendency speedily to restore itself and come to rest in the level, which property is called the stability of the balance. To secure these qualities the arms of the beam should be exactly similar, equal in weight and length, and as long as possible; the centres of gravity and suspension should be in one straight line, and the fulcrum immediately above the centre of gravity; and the fulcrum and the centres of suspension should cause as little friction as possible. The fulcrum ought to be a knife-edge; and if the balance requires to be very delicate, the centres of suspension ought to be knife-edges also. If the balance has no tendency to one position more than another, when the scales are either loaded, empty, or off altogether, it is proof that the centre of gravity and the fulcrum coincide, and the remedy is to lower the centre of gravity. If the beam is disturbed by a small addition of weight to either scale, and exhibits no tendency to resume the horizontal position, we may infer that the centre of gravity is above the fulcrum. If it requires a considerable excess of weight to deflect the beam from the level, we may infer either that there is too much friction at the fulcrum, or that the centre of gravity is too low. If two weights are found to be in equipoise, one being in each scale, and if, when that which is in one scale is put into the other, there is no longer equilibrium, then we may infer that the arms of the beam are of unequal lengths. For purposes of accuracy, balances have occasionally means of raising or depressing the centre of gravity, of regulating the length of the arms, &c., and the whole apparatus is usually enclosed in a glass case, to prevent the heat from expanding the arms unequally, or currents of air from disturbing the equilibrium. A refinement in weighing is obtained by the use of the milligram rider, a short bent wire which can be moved along a scale engraved on the beam.