BEA'CON (ME. beken. AS. baleen, bfren, Ger. Bake ; cf. AS. beacnian, Engl. beck, beckon, to make a sign). Any signal set upon a height, but especially the alarm-fires at one time used to spread the intelligence of foreign invasion or other great event. These fire-signals were in use in the earliest times. An instance is found in the book of the prophet .Jeremiah, in his call, in chapter vi. 1, to the people of Benjamin to "set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil ap peareth out of the north, and great destruction." Notices of beacons are found in the literary re mains of ancient Persia, Palestine, and Greece. Another occurs in the tragedy of Agamemnon, by the Greek poet _Eschylus. The commande•-in chief of the Greek Army at the siege of Troy is represented as communicating the intelligence of the fall of the city to his queen, Clytemnestra, at Mycerne, in the Peloponnesus. The line consists of eight mountains, and the news is supposed to be conveyed in one night from Troy.
In England the beacons were kept up by a rate levied on the counties. and had watches regularly stationed at them. They were carefully organ ized while the Spanish ,Armada, was expected. (See Maeaulay's Armada for a vivid description of this.) In the United States, as early as 1635, there was a knoll at Boston known as Beacon Hill (leveled in 1811), from which an alarm was sent out by signal-fires in ease of attack by In dians. During the Revolution a line of signals was established reaching across New England toward New Jersey and Pennsylvania, crossing New York at the Hudson Highlands. Two of these, above Fishkill, are now known as South Beacon and North Beacon. The latter was re lighted at a celebration in 1883. and in ISPD the site was marked by a monument erected by the Daughters of the Revolution.
In maritime affairs a beacon is a guide or warning signal. In former times signal-fires, either nlaced in a •resset on top of a pole, or in a tower on an eminence, were used to signal the approach of an enemy or to spread a call or warning for any purpose, a chain of them often conveying intelligence to great distances. Cari
ous hills have received the name of beacon from the fact that signal-fires have at one time been lighted on them. At present lighthouses, or other objects, placed conspicuously on a coast, or over a rock or shoal. to give notice of danger, as well as signals erected for facilitating the tri angulation of the coast, are known as beacons. Two principal characters are used for distin guishing beacons—colo• and shape; and the opin ion given by the International Marine Confer ence. held in Washington in 1SS9, was that the first object to he attained from an international standpoint was uniformity. For that purpose color is the best means, as applying to all sys tems of whatever kind, while the shape admits of numerous exceptions. The color is also appli cable in all countries and with little expense, whereas the immediate adoption of shape would involve changes of several existing systems. In consequence, it was recommended to adopt a uni formity in color, whereas the shape could remain optional. From an immense amount of data it was clearly shown that in the matter of beacons there has been a far greater lack of uniformity than in the matter of buoys, and even the differ ent countries have not in themselves rigidly ad hered to a fixed rule in relation to the construc tion of beacons. About the most extensive sys tem of day-marks and beacons at use along the coast of the United States is found along the Florida reefs. Here the beacons are in some cases lettered, and in others numbered. The cage, shaft, vane, letter, or figure is of different color in adjacent stations, so that there may be no confusion. Combinations of red, white, and black are used; and as a full description of each is to be had in the sailing directions of that sec tion, the navigator is always able to determine his position. See