rre_, Late Lat. _barra_, origin unknown), in physical
geography, a ridge of sand or silt crossing an estuary under water or
raised by wave action above sea-level, forming an impediment to navigation.
When a river enters a tidal sea its rate of flow is checked and the
material it carries in suspension is deposited in a shifting bar crossing
the channel from bank to bank. Where the channel is only partly closed, a
spur of this character is called a "spit." A bar may be produced by tidal
action only in an estuary or narrow gulf (as at Port Adelaide) where the
tides sweep the loose sand backwards and forwards, depositing it where the
motion of the water is checked. Nahant Bay, Mass., is bordered by the ridge
of Lynn Beach, which separates it from Lynn Harbor, and ties Nahant to the
mainland by a bar formed in this way.

BAR, THE. This term, as equivalent to the profession of barrister (_q.v._),
originated in the partition or bar dividing the English law-courts into two
parts, for the purpose of separating the members and officials of the court
from the prisoners or suitors, their advocates and the general public.
Theoretically, this division of the court is still maintained in England,
those who are entitled to sit within the bar including king's counsel,
barristers with patents of precedence, serjeants (till the order died out)
and solicitors, while the other members of the bar and the general public
remain without. Parties in civil suits who appear in person are allowed to
stand on the floor within the bar instead of, as formerly, appearing at the
bar itself. In criminal trials the accused still stands forward at the bar.
There is also a "bar" in parliament. In the House of Commons it remains
literally a bar--a long brass rod hidden in a tube from which it is pulled
out when required to mark the technical boundary of the House. Before it
appear those who are charged with having violated the privileges of the
House; below it also sit those members who have been returned at
bye-elections, to await their introduction to the House and the taking of
the oath of allegiance. In the House of Lords the place where Mr Speaker
and the members of the House of Commons stand when summoned by Black Rod is
called "the bar."

The "call to the bar" in England, by which a law student at one of the Inns
of Court is converted into a barrister, is dealt with under INNS OF COURT.
The exclusive privilege of calling to the bar belongs to those bod