Becker, a N. W. county of Minnesota; area, 1,400 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 308. The Red river of the North has its source in Elbow lake, in the N. E. part of the county. Detroit lake, in the S. W. part, empties into the Red river, and White Earth lake, in the N. part, into Wild Rice river. Buffalo river, also a branch of the Red, drains the W. part, while the S. E. corner is watered by affluents of the Crow Wing river.

Becker #1

Becker. I. Gottfried Wilhelm, a German physician and writer, born in Leipsic, Feb. 22,1778, died there, Jan. 17, 1854. He translated some of Cooper's novels, and Le mie prigioni of Silvio Pellico. By his literary labors he accumulated $40,000, to which his son Karl Ferdinand added a house of the value of $7,000, appropriating the whole amount to the establishment of an educational and charitable institution for the blind at Leipsic. II. Karl Ferdinand, a German musician, son of the preceding, born in Leipsic, July 17, 1804. He studied the piano, harmony, and composition under Fried-rich Schneider, and at the age of 14 made his first public appearance as a pianist. Soon after this he turned his attention specially to the organ, and became professor of the organ and of harmony at the Leipsic conservatory. He has published several pieces for the piano, not of great value, and made important collections of chorals; but he is better known as a writer on musical art than as either a composer or compiler. He contributed largely to musical journals, among others to the Cwcilia, edited by Gottfried Weber, the Eufonia, the Tageblatt, and the Zeitgenossen. Finally, when Robert Schumann established his Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, Becker became one of its most constant contributors.

He has published Rathgeber fur Organisten (Leipsic, 1828); Systematisch-chro-nologische Darstellung der musikalischen Lite-ratur (1836); Die Hausmusik in DeutscMand in dem 16., 17. und 18. Jahrliundert (1840); an index of musical works published during the 16th and 17th centuries (Die Tonwerhe des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, 1847); Die Ton-Tciinstler des 19. Jahrhunderts (1849), etc.

Becker #2

Becker. I. Wilhelm Gottlieb, a German archaeologist, born at Oberkallenberg, Nov. 4, 1753, died in Dresden, June 3, 1813. He studied at the university of Leipsic, was a teacher in Dessau, and became professor at the Dresden art academy (Ritterahademie) in 1782, director of the gallery of antiquities and of the numismatic museum in 1795, and of the green vaults in 1805. He edited the Encomium Morice of Erasmus (Lob der Narrheit, Basel, 1780), and published the works of Holbein (Berlin, 1781). His principal works are: Augusteum, Dresdens antike Denhmdler ent-haltend (2 vols., Dresden, 1805-'9; new and enlarged ed., 1832-7, with 162 engravings), and an illustrated work on the coins of the middle ages in the Dresden numismatic museum (Leipsic, 1813). II. Willhelm Adolf, son of the preceding, born in Dresden in 1796, died in Meissen, Sept. 30, 1846. He was professor of classical archaeology at the university of Leipsic. His Gallus (3d ed., 2 vols., Leipsic, 1863) and Charicles (2d ed., 3 vols., 1854) have been translated into English by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe, with notes (London, 1844 and 1854).

In these works the life, manners, and customs of the ancient Greeks and Romans are admirably depicted, accompanied by learned and elaborate excursuses. His principal work is Handbuch der romischen Alterthumer, completed after his death by Marquardt (5 vols., 1843-'64).