BEHEM, or Behaim, Martin, a well-known navigator and cartographer, was born at Nuremberg about 1436. Having entered the service of Portugal, he was appointed, in 1484, to act as geographer in the expedition of Diego Cam to the western coast of Africa, and on his return to Lisbon received the honour of knighthood in reward for his services. He was afterwards employed by the king in various capacities, and visited the capital from time to time in connection with his engagements; but, after his marriage in 1486, his principal residence seems to have been at .Fayal, in the Azores, where his father-in-law, Job Huerter, held the rank of governor of the Flemish colony. On a visit to his native city in 1492, he constructed a terrestrial globe, in which he incorporated the discoveries of Marco Polo and other recent travellers. The globe is still preserved in the family, and has frequently been reproduced by engraving. (See Doppelmayr, Hist. Nachricht v. Nürnberg. Mathem. u. Künstler, 1730; Pigafetta, Prem. voy. autour du Monde, 1802; and atlas to Vivien de Saint Martin’s Hist, de la Geog., 1874.) Behem’s scientific attainments have been very variously estimated,—some placing him in the very first rank among the geographers of his time, while others maintain that he hardly reached the level of the ordinary Portuguese chart-makers. Blunders of 16 degrees are found on his globe in the localization of places which he himself visited, while in the contemporaneous maps errors of more than one degree were comparatively rare. It is generally agreed that he had no share in Transatlantic discovery, and though Columbus and he were in Portugal at the same time, no connection between the two has been established. He died at Lisbon in 1506, or, according to his tombstone, 1507....

בהמות. This term has greatly tried the ingenuity of the critics. By some, among whom are Bythner and Reiske, it is regarded in Job xl, 16, as a plural noun for beasts in general: the peculiar name of the animal immediately described not being mentioned, as unnecessary, on account of the description itself being so easily applied at the time. In this sense it is translated in various passages in the Psalms. Thus, l, 10, in which it is usually rendered cattle, as the plural of בהמת it means unquestionably a _beast_ or _brute_, in the general signification of these words: “For every beast of the field is mine, and the cattle,” _behemoth_, “upon a thousand hills.” So again, Isa. lxxiii, 22: “So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast,” _behemoth_, “before thee.” It is also used in the same sense in chap. xxxv, 11, of the book of Job: “Who teacheth us more than the beasts,” _behemoth_, “of the earth.” The greater number of critics, however, have understood the word behemoth, in the singular number, as the peculiar name of the quadruped described, Job xl, of whatever kind or nature it may be; although they have materially differed upon this last point, some regarding it as the hippopotamus, or river horse, and others as the elephant. The evidence in favour of the hippopotamus appears, however, to predominate. The hippopotamus is nearly as large as the rhinoceros. The male has been found seventeen feet in length, fifteen in circumference, and seven in height. The head is enormously large, and the jaws extend upwards two feet, and are armed with four cutting teeth, each of which is twelve inches in length. The body is of a lightish colour, thinly covered with hair. The legs are three feet long. Though amphibious, the hoofs, which are ...