ly two formed
bodies of the Light Brigade found their way back. The 13th Light Dragoons
mustered but ten mounted men at the evening parade; the brigade as a whole
had lost 247 men and 497 horses out of a total strength of 673 engaged in
the charge, which lasted twenty minutes from first to last. The two
infantry divisions which now approached the field were again halted, and
Liprandi was left undisturbed on the Vorontsov ridge and in possession of
the captured guns. The result of the day was thus unfavourable to the
allies, but the three chief incidents of the engagement--the two cavalry
charges and the fight of the 93rd Highlanders--gave to it all the prestige
of a victory. The impression created by the conduct of the Light Brigade
was forcibly expressed in Tennyson's well-known ballad, and in spite of the
equally celebrated remark of the French general Bosquet, _C'est magnifique
mais ce n'est pas la guerre_, it may be questioned whether the moral effect
of the charge did not outweigh the very serious loss in trained men and
horses involved.

BALALAIKA, a stringed instrument said to have retained its primitive form
unchanged, very popular in Russia among the peasants, more especially in
Ukraine. The instrument has a triangular soundboard to which is glued a
vaulted back, forming a body having a triangular base, enabling it to stand
upright. To the body is added a fretted neck strung with two, three or four
strings, generally so tuned as to produce a minor chord when sounded
together. The strings are generally plucked with the fingers, but the
peasants obtain charming "glissando" effects by sweeping the strings
lightly one after the other with the fingers or side of the hand. The
Balalaika is common to the Slav races, who use it to accompany their
folk-songs and dances. It is also to be seen in the hands of gipsies at
rural festivities and fairs.

BALANCE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. _bilantia_, an
apparatus for weighing, from _bi_, two, and _lanx_, a dish or scale), a
term originally used for the ordinary beam balance or weighing machine with
two scale pans, but extended to include (with or without adjectival
qualification) other apparatus for measuring and comparing weights and
forces. In addition to beam and spring balances (see WEIGHING MACHINES),
apparatus termed "torsion balances," in which forces are measured or
compared by their twisting moment on a wire, are used, especially in
gravitational, el