Balsam, an aromatic, resinous substance, flowing spontaneously or by incision from certain plants. A great variety of substances pass under this name. But in chemistry the term is confined to such vegetable juices as consist of resins mixed with volatile oils, and yield the volatile oil on distillation. The resins are produced from the oils by oxidation. A balsam is thus intermediate between a volatile oil and a resin. It is soluble in alcohol and ether, and capable of yielding benzoic acid. The balsams are either liquid or more or less solid; as, for example, the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. Benzoin, dragon's-blood, and storax are not true balsams, though sometimes called so. The balsams are used in perfumery, medicine, and the arts. See Copaiba, &c.—Balsam of Gilead or of Mecca, balm of Gilead (q.v.).—Canada balsam. See Canada balsam.
Balsam Fir. See Balm of Gilead.
Balsa´mo, Joseph. See Cagliostro, Count.
Balsamoden´dron, a genus of trees or bushes, ord. Amyridaceæ, species of which yield such balsamic or resinous substances as balm of Gilead, bdellium, myrrh, &c.
Balta, a town in the Ukraine, government of Podolia, on the Kodema, an affluent of the Bug, 115 miles N.N.W. of Odessa. Pop. 18,450.
Baltic, Battle of the. See Copenhagen; Parker, Sir Hyde.
Baltic Provinces, a term commonly given to the former Russian governments of Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia (q.v.).
Baltic Sea, an inland sea or large gulf connected with the North Sea, washing the coasts of Denmark, Germany, Russia, and Sweden; nearly 900 miles long, extending to 200 broad; superficial extent, together with the Gulfs of
Bothnia and Finland, 171,743 sq. miles. Its greatest depth is 126 fathoms; mean, 44 fathoms. A chain of islands separates the southern part from the northern, or Gulf of Bothnia. The water of the Baltic is colder and clearer than that of the ocean: it contains a smaller proportion of salt, and the ice obstructs the navigation three or four months in the year. Among the rivers that enter it are the Neva, Dwina, Oder, Vistula, and Niemen. Islands: Samsoe, Moen, Bornholm, Langeland, Laaland, which belong to Denmark (besides Zealand and Funen); Gottland and Oeland, belonging to Sweden; Rügen, belonging to Prussia; Dagoe and Oesel, belonging to Russia; and the Åland Islands. The Sound, the Great and the Little Belt lead from the Kattegat into the Baltic. The Baltic and North Sea were long connected by the Eider and a canal from it to the neighbourhood of Kiel, but this has been superseded by the great ship canal, starting from the Elbe near its mouth and ending in Kiel Bay.
Bal´timore, a city and port in Maryland, United States, finely situated on the N. side of the Patapsco, 14 miles above Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore takes its name from Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland; it was first laid out as a town in 1729; and was erected into a city in 1797. It is well built, chiefly of brick, and is known as the 'monumental city', from the public monuments which adorn it, the principal being the Washington monument. Among its buildings are the city hall, built in Renaissance style, of white marble, with a tower and dome rising 240 feet; the Peabody Institute, containing a library, art gallery, &c.; the Maryland Institute; the custom-house; the post office; the United States court-house and jail, the Johns Hopkins hospital, the Roman Catholic cathedral, &c. The chief educational institution, now one of the most important in the States, is the Johns Hopkins University, endowed with 3,500,000 dollars by its founder (whose name it bears). There is a Roman Catholic archbishop with the rank of primate, and a Protestant episcopal bishop. Industries: shipbuilding; manufactures of iron, wool, cotton, pottery, &c.; sugar-refining, distilling, tanning, the making of agricultural implements, canning oysters and fruits, &c. As a flour market Baltimore is an important centre; and it does an immense trade in exporting tobacco and other products. The harbour is very extensive. Pop. (1920), 733,826.