1It was not till many years later that our knowledge of these events (which is still incomplete) was established; in 1894 the publication of the memoirs of the king of Rumania showed, what had hitherto been denied, that Bismarck had taken a leading part in urging the election of the prince of Hohenzollern. It was in 1892 that the language used by Bismarck himself made it necessary for the German government to publish the original form of the Ems telegram.
1It was not till many years later that our knowledge of these events (which is still incomplete) was established; in 1894 the publication of the memoirs of the king of Rumania showed, what had hitherto been denied, that Bismarck had taken a leading part in urging the election of the prince of Hohenzollern. It was in 1892 that the language used by Bismarck himself made it necessary for the German government to publish the original form of the Ems telegram.
BISMARCK,the capital of North Dakota, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Burleigh county, on the E. bank of the Missouri river, in the S. central part of the state. Pop. (1890) 2186, (1900) 3319, of whom 746 were foreign-born, (1905) 4913, (1910) 5443. It is on the main line of the Northern Pacific, and on the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste Marie railways; and steamboats run from here to Mannhaven, Mercer county, and Fort Yates, Morton county. The city is about 1650 ft. above sea-level. It contains the state capitol, the state penitentiary, a U.S. land office, a U.S. surveyor-general’s office, a U.S. Indian school and a U.S. weather station; about a mile S. of the city is Fort Lincoln, a United States army post. Bismarck is the headquarters for navigation of the upper Missouri river, is situated in a good agricultural region, and has a large wholesale trade, shipping grain, hides, furs, wool and coal. It was founded in 1873, and was chartered as a city in 1876; from 1883 to 1889 it was the capital of Dakota Territory, on the division of which it became the capital of North Dakota.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO,the collective name of a large number of islands lying N. and N.E. of New Guinea, between 1° and 7° S., and 146° and 153° E., belonging to Germany. The largest island is New Pomerania, and the archipelago also includes New Mecklenburg, New Hanover, with small attendant islands, the Admiralty Islands and a chain of islands off the coast of New Guinea, the whole system lying in the form of a great amphitheatre of oval shape. The archipelago was named in honour of the first chancellor of the German empire, after a German protectorate had been declared in 1884. (SeeAdmiralty Islands,New Mecklenburg,New Pomerania,New Guinea.)
BISMILLAH,an Arabic exclamation, meaning “in the name of God.”
BISMUTH,a metallic chemical element; symbol Bi, atomic weight 208.5 (O = 16). It was probably unknown to the Greeks and Romans, but during the middle ages it became quite familiar, notwithstanding its frequent confusion with other metals. In 1450 Basil Valentine referred to it by the name “wismut,” and characterized it as a metal; some years later Paracelsus termed it “wissmat,” and, in allusion to its brittle nature, affirmed it to be a “bastard” or “half-metal”; Georgius Agricola used the form “wissmuth,” latinized to “bisemutum,” and also the term “plumbum cineareum.” Its elementary nature was imperfectly understood; and the impure specimens obtained by the early chemists explain, in some measure, its confusion with tin, lead, antimony, zinc and other metals; in 1595 Andreas Libavius confused it with antimony, and in 1675 Nicolas Lemery with zinc. These obscurities began to be finally cleared up with the researches of Johann Heinrich Pott (1692-1777), a pupil of Stahl, published in hisExercitationes chemicae de Wismutho(1769), and of N. Geoffroy, son of Claude Joseph Geoffroy, whose contribution to our knowledge of this metal appeared in theMémoires de l’académie françaisefor 1753. Torbern Olof Bergman reinvestigated its properties and determined its reactions; his account, which was published in hisOpuscula, contains the first fairly accurate description of the metal.
Ores and Minerals.—The principal source of bismuth is the native metal, which is occasionally met with as a mineral, usually in reticulated and arborescent shapes or as foliated and granular masses with a crystalline fracture. Although bismuth is readily obtained in fine crystals by artificial means, yet natural crystals are rare and usually indistinct; they belong to the rhombohedral system and a cube-like rhombohedron with interfacial angles of 92° 20′ is the predominating form. There is a perfect cleavage perpendicular to the trigonal axis of the crystals; the fact that only two (opposite) corners of the cube-like crystals can be truncated by cleavage at once distinguishes them from true cubes. When not tarnished, the mineral has a silver-white colour with a tinge of red, and the lustre is metallic. Hardness 2-2½; specific gravity 9.70-9.83. The slight variations in specific gravity are due to the presence of small amounts of arsenic, sulphur or tellurium, or to enclosed impurities.
Bismuth occurs in metalliferous veins traversing gneiss or clay-slate, and is usually associated with ores of silver and cobalt. Well-known localities are Schneeberg in Saxony and Joachimsthal in Bohemia; at the former it has been found as arborescent groups penetrating brown jasper, which material has occasionally been cut and polished for small ornaments. The mineral has been found in some Cornish mines and is fairly abundant in Bolivia (near Sorata, and at Tasna in Potosi). It is the chief commercial source of bismuth.
The oxide, bismuth ochre, Bi2O3, and the sulphide, bismuth glance or bismuthite, are also of commercial importance. The former is found, generally mixed with iron, copper and arsenic oxides, in Bohemia, Siberia, Cornwall, France (Meymac) and other localities; it also occurs admixed with bismuth carbonate and hydrate. The hydrated carbonate, bismutite, is of less importance; it occurs in Cornwall, Bolivia, Arizona and elsewhere.
Of the rarer bismuth minerals we may notice the following:—the complex sulphides, copper bismuth glance or wittichenite, BiCu3S3, silver bismuth glance, bismuth cobalt pyrites, bismuth nickel pyrites or saynite, needle ore (patrinite or aikinite), BiCuPbS3, emplectite, CuBiS2, and kobellite, BiAsPb3S6; the sulphotelluride tetradymite; the selenide guanajuatite, Bi2Se3,the basic tellurate montanite, Bi2(OH)4TeOe; the silicates eulytite and agricolite, Bi4(SiO2)3; and the urnayl arsenate walpurgite, Bi(UO2),(OH)24(A3O4)4.
Metallurgy.—Bismuth is extracted from its ores by dry, wet, or electro-matallurgical methods, the choice depending upon the composition of the ore and economic conditions. The dry process is more frequently practised, for the easy reducibility of the oxide and sulphide, together with the low melting-point of the metal, renders it possible to effect a ready separation of the metal from the gangue and impurities. The extraction from ores in which the bismuth is present in the metallic condition may be accomplished by a simple liquation, or melting, in which the temperature is just sufficient to melt the bismuth, or by a complete fusion of the ore. The first process never extracts all the bisbuth, as much as one-third being retained in the matte or speiss; the second is more satisfactory, since the extraction is more complete, and also allows the addition of reducing agents to decompose any admixed bismuth oxide or sulphide. In the liquidation process the ore is heated in inclined cylindrical retorts, and the molten metal is tapped at the lower end; the residues being removed from the upper end. The fusion process is preferably carried out in crucible furnaces; shaft furnaces are unsatisfactory on account of the disintegrating action of the molten bismuth on the furnace linings.Sulphuretted ores are smelted, either with or without a preliminary calcination, with metallic iron; calcined ores may be smelted with carbon (coal). The reactions are strictly analogous to those which occur in the smelting of galena (seeLead), the carbon reducing any oxide, either present originally in the ore or produced in the calcination and the iron combining with the sulphur of the bismuthite. A certain amount of bismuth sulphate is always formed during the calcination; this is subsequently reduced to the sulphide and ultimately to the metal in the fusion. Calcination in reverberatory furnaces and a subsequent smelting in the same type of furnace with the addition of about 3% of coal, lime, soda and fluorspar, has been adopted for treating the Bolivian ores, which generally contain the sulphides of bismuth, copper, iron, antimony, lead and a little silver. The lowest layer of the molten mass is principally metallic bismuth, the succeeding layers are a bismuth copper matte, which is subsequently worked up, and a slag. Ores containing the oxide and carbonate are treated either by smelting with carbon or by a wet process.In the wet process the ores, in which the bismuth is present as oxide or carbonate, are dissolved out with hydrochloric acid, or, if the bismuth is to be extracted from a matte or alloy, the solvent employed isaqua regiaor strong sulphuric acid. The solution of metallic chlorides or sulphates so obtained is precipitated by iron, the metallic bismuth filtered, washed with water, pressed in canvas bags, and finally fused in graphite crucibles, the surface being protected by a layer of charcoal. Another process consists in adding water to the solution and so precipitating the bismuth as oxychloride, which is then converted into the metal.The crude metal obtained by the preceding processes is generally contaminated by arsenic, sulphur, iron, nickel, cobalt and antimony, and sometimes with silver or gold. A dry method of purification consists in a liquation on a hearth of peculiar construction, which occasions the separation of the unreduced bismuth sulphide and the bulk of the other impurities. A better process is to remelt the metal in crucibles with the addition of certain refining agents. The details of this process vary very considerably, being conditioned by the composition of the impure metal and the practice of particular works. The wet refining process is more tedious and expensive, and is only exceptionally employed, as in the case of preparing the pure metal or its salts for pharmaceutical or chemical purposes. The basic nitrate is the salt generally prepared, and, in general outline, the process consists in dissolving the metal in nitric acid, adding water to the solution, boiling the precipitated basic nitrate with an alkali to remove the arsenic and lead, dissolving the residue in nitric acid, and reprecipitating as basic nitrate with water. J.F.W. Hampe prepared chemically pure bismuth by fusing the metal with sodium carbonate and sulphur, dissolving the bismuth sulphide so formed in nitric acid, precipitating the bismuth as the basic nitrate, re-dissolving this salt in nitric acid, and then precipitating with ammonia. The bismuth hydroxide so obtained is finally reduced by hydrogen.Properties.—Bismuth is a very brittle metal with a white crystalline fracture and a characteristic reddish-white colour. It crystallizes in rhombohedra belonging to the hexagonal system, having interfacial angles of 87° 40′. According to G.W.A. Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (Ziet. Anorg. Chem. 29, p. 294), its specific gravity is 9.78143; Roberts and Wrightson give the specific gravity of solid bismuth as 9.82, and of molten bismuth as 10.035. It therefore expands on solidification; and as it retains this property in a number of alloys, the metal receives extensive application in forming type-metals. Its melting-point is variously given as 268.3° (F. Rudberg and A.D. von Riemsdijk) and 270.5° (C.C. Person); commercial bismuth melts at 260° (Ledebur), and electrolytic bismuth at 264° (Classen). It vaporizes in a vacuum at 292°, and its boiling-point, under atmospheric pressure, is between 1090° and 1450° (T. Carnelley and W.C. Williams). Regnault determined its specific heat between 0° and 100° to be 0.0308; Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (loc. cit.) give the value 0.03055. Its thermal conductivity is the lowest of all metals, being 18 as compared with silver as 1000; its coefficient of expansion between 0° and 100° is 0.001341. Its electrical conductivity is approximately 1.2, silver at 0° being taken as 100; it is the most diamagnetic substance known, and its thermoelectric properties render it especially valuable for the construction of thermopiles.The metal oxidizes very slowly in dry air at ordinary temperatures, but somewhat more rapidly in moist air or when heated. In the last case it becomes coated with a greyish-black layer of an oxide (dioxide (?)), at a red heat the layer consists of the trioxide (Bi2O3); and is yellow or green in the case of pure bismuth, and violet or blue if impure; at a bright red heat it burns with a bluish flame to the trioxide. Bismuth combines directly with the halogens, and the elements of the sulphur group. It readily dissolves in nitric acid,aqua regiaand hot sulphuric acid, but tardily in hot hydrochloric acid. It is precipitated as the metal from solutions of its salts by the metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths, zinc, iron, copper, &c. In its chemical affinities it resembles arsenic and antimony; an important distinction is that it forms no hydrogen compound analogous to arsine and stibine.Alloys.—Bismuth readily forms alloys with other metals. Treated with sodammonium it yields a bluish-black mass, BiNa3, which takes fire in the air and decomposes water. A brittle potassium alloy of silver-white colour and lamellar fracture is obtained by calcining 20 parts of bismuth with 16 of cream of tartar at a strong red heat. When present in other metals, even in very small quantity, bismuth renders them brittle and impairs their electrical conductivity. With mercury it forms amalgams. Bismuth is a component of many ternary alloys characterized by their low fusibility and expansion in solidification; many of them are used in the arts (seeFusible Metal).Compounds.—Bismuth forms four oxides, of which the trioxide, Bi2O3, is the most important. This compound occurs in nature as bismuth ochre, and may be prepared artificially by oxidizing the metal at a red heat, or by heating the carbonate, nitrate or hydrate. Thus obtained it is a yellow powder, soluble in the mineral acids to form soluble salts, which are readily precipitated as basic salts when the solution is diluted. It melts to a reddish-brown liquid, which solidifies to a yellow crystalline mass on cooling. The Hydrate, Bi(OH)3, is obtained as a white powder by adding potash to a solution of a bismuth salt. Bismuth dioxide, BiO or Bi2O2, is said to be formed by the limited oxidation of the metal, and as a brown precipitate by adding mixed solutions of bismuth and stannous chlorides to a solution of caustic potash. Bismuth tetroxide, Bi2O4, sometimes termed bismuth bismuthate, is obtained by melting bismuth trioxide with potash, or by igniting bismuth trioxide with potash and potassium chlorate. It is also formed by oxidizing bismuth trioxide suspended in caustic potash with chlorine, the pentoxide being formed simultaneously; oxidation and potassium ferricyanide simply gives the tetroxide (Hauser and Vanino,Zeit. Anorg. Chem., 1904, 39, p. 381). The hydrate, Bi2O4·2H2O, is also known. Bismuth pentoxide, Bi2C5, is obtained by heating bismuthic acid, HBiO3, to 130°C.; this acid (in the form of its salts) being the product of the continued oxidation of an alkaline solution of bismuth trioxide.Bismuth forms two chlorides: BiCl2and BiCl3. The dichloride, BiCl2, is obtained as a brown crystalline powder by fusing the metal with the trichloride, or in a current of chlorine, or by heating the metal with calomel to 250°. Water decomposes it to metallic bismuth and the oxychloride, BiOCl. Bismuth trichloride, BiCl3, was obtained by Robert Boyle by heating the metal with corrosive sublimate. It is the final product of burning bismuth in an excess of chlorine. It is a white substance, melting at 225°-230° and boiling at 435°-441°. With excess of water, it gives a white precipitate of the oxychloride, BiOCl. Bismuth trichloride forms double compounds with hydrochloric acid, the chlorides of the alkaline metals, ammonia, nitric oxide and nitrosyl chloride.Bismuth trifluoride, BiF3, a white powder,bismuth tribromide, BiBr3, golden yellow crystals,bismuth iodide, BiI3, greyish-black crystals, are also known. These compounds closely resemble the trichloride in their methods of preparation and their properties, forming oxyhaloids with water, and double compounds with ammonia, &c.Carbonates.—The basic carbonate, 2(BiO)2CO3·H2O, obtained as a white precipitate when an alkaline carbonate is added to a solution of bismuth nitrate, is employed in medicine. Another basic carbonate, 3(BiO)2CO3·2Bi(OH)3·3H2O, constitutes the mineral bismutite.Nitrates.—The normal nitrate, Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, is obtained in large transparent asymmetric prisms by evaporating a solution of the metal in nitric acid. The action of water on this solution produces a crystalline precipitate of basic nitrate, probably Bi(OH)2NO3, though it varies with the amount of water employed. This precipitate constitutes the “magistery of bismuth” or “subnitrate of bismuth” of pharmacy, and under the name of pearl white,blanc d’Espagneorblanc de fardhas long been used as a cosmetic.Sulphides.—Bismuth combines directly with sulphur to form a, disulphide, Bi2S2, and a trisulphide, Bi2S3, the latter compound being formed when the sulphur is in excess. A hydrated disulphide, Bi2S2·2H2O, is obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of bismuth nitrate and stannous chloride. Bismuthdisulphide is a grey metallic substance, which is decomposed by hydrochloric acid with the separation of metallic bismuth and the formation of bismuth trichloride. Bismuth trisulphide, Bi2S3, constitutes the mineral bismuthite, and may be prepared by direct union of its constituents, or as a brown precipitate by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of a bismuth salt. It is easily soluble in nitric acid. When heated to 200° it assumes the crystalline form of bismuthite. Bismuth forms several oxysulphides: Bi4O3S constitutes the mineral karelinite found at the Zavodinski mine in the Altai; Bi6O3S4and Bi2O3S have been prepared artificially. Bismuth also forms the sulphohaloids, BiSCl, BiSBr, BiSI, analogous to the oyxhaloids.Bismuth sulphate, Bi2(SO4)3, is obtained as a white powder by dissolving the metal or sulphide in concentrated sulphuric acid. Water decomposes it, giving a basic salt, Bi2(SO4)(OH)4, which on heating gives (BiO)2SO4. Other basic salts are known.Bismuth forms compounds similar to the trisulphide with the elements selenium and tellurium. The tritelluride constitutes the mineral tetradymite, Bi2Te3.Analysis.—Traces of bismuth may be detected by treating the solution with excess of tartaric acid, potash and stannous chloride, a precipitate or dark coloration of bismuth oxide being formed even when only one part of bismuth is present in 20,000 of water. The blackish brown sulphide precipitated from bismuth salts by sulphuretted hydrogen is insoluble in ammonium sulphide, but is readily dissolved by nitric acid. The metal can be reduced by magnesium, zinc, cadmium, iron, tin, copper and substances like hypophosphorous acid from acid solutions or from alkaline ones by formaldehyde. In quantitative estimations it is generally weighed as oxide, after precipitation as sulphide or carbonate, or in the metallic form, reduced as above.Pharmacology.—The salts of bismuth are feebly antiseptic. Taken internally the subnitrate, coming into contact with water, tends to decompose, gradually liberating nitric acid, one of the most powerful antiseptics. The physical properties of the powder also give it a mild astringent action. There are no remote actions.Therapeutics.—The subnitrate of bismuth is invaluable in certain cases of dyspepsia, and still more notably so in diarrhoea. It owes its value to the decomposition described above, by means of which a powerful antiseptic action is safely and continuously exerted. There is hardly a safer drug. It may be given in drachm doses with impunity. It colours the faeces black owing to the formation of sulphide.
Metallurgy.—Bismuth is extracted from its ores by dry, wet, or electro-matallurgical methods, the choice depending upon the composition of the ore and economic conditions. The dry process is more frequently practised, for the easy reducibility of the oxide and sulphide, together with the low melting-point of the metal, renders it possible to effect a ready separation of the metal from the gangue and impurities. The extraction from ores in which the bismuth is present in the metallic condition may be accomplished by a simple liquation, or melting, in which the temperature is just sufficient to melt the bismuth, or by a complete fusion of the ore. The first process never extracts all the bisbuth, as much as one-third being retained in the matte or speiss; the second is more satisfactory, since the extraction is more complete, and also allows the addition of reducing agents to decompose any admixed bismuth oxide or sulphide. In the liquidation process the ore is heated in inclined cylindrical retorts, and the molten metal is tapped at the lower end; the residues being removed from the upper end. The fusion process is preferably carried out in crucible furnaces; shaft furnaces are unsatisfactory on account of the disintegrating action of the molten bismuth on the furnace linings.
Sulphuretted ores are smelted, either with or without a preliminary calcination, with metallic iron; calcined ores may be smelted with carbon (coal). The reactions are strictly analogous to those which occur in the smelting of galena (seeLead), the carbon reducing any oxide, either present originally in the ore or produced in the calcination and the iron combining with the sulphur of the bismuthite. A certain amount of bismuth sulphate is always formed during the calcination; this is subsequently reduced to the sulphide and ultimately to the metal in the fusion. Calcination in reverberatory furnaces and a subsequent smelting in the same type of furnace with the addition of about 3% of coal, lime, soda and fluorspar, has been adopted for treating the Bolivian ores, which generally contain the sulphides of bismuth, copper, iron, antimony, lead and a little silver. The lowest layer of the molten mass is principally metallic bismuth, the succeeding layers are a bismuth copper matte, which is subsequently worked up, and a slag. Ores containing the oxide and carbonate are treated either by smelting with carbon or by a wet process.
In the wet process the ores, in which the bismuth is present as oxide or carbonate, are dissolved out with hydrochloric acid, or, if the bismuth is to be extracted from a matte or alloy, the solvent employed isaqua regiaor strong sulphuric acid. The solution of metallic chlorides or sulphates so obtained is precipitated by iron, the metallic bismuth filtered, washed with water, pressed in canvas bags, and finally fused in graphite crucibles, the surface being protected by a layer of charcoal. Another process consists in adding water to the solution and so precipitating the bismuth as oxychloride, which is then converted into the metal.
The crude metal obtained by the preceding processes is generally contaminated by arsenic, sulphur, iron, nickel, cobalt and antimony, and sometimes with silver or gold. A dry method of purification consists in a liquation on a hearth of peculiar construction, which occasions the separation of the unreduced bismuth sulphide and the bulk of the other impurities. A better process is to remelt the metal in crucibles with the addition of certain refining agents. The details of this process vary very considerably, being conditioned by the composition of the impure metal and the practice of particular works. The wet refining process is more tedious and expensive, and is only exceptionally employed, as in the case of preparing the pure metal or its salts for pharmaceutical or chemical purposes. The basic nitrate is the salt generally prepared, and, in general outline, the process consists in dissolving the metal in nitric acid, adding water to the solution, boiling the precipitated basic nitrate with an alkali to remove the arsenic and lead, dissolving the residue in nitric acid, and reprecipitating as basic nitrate with water. J.F.W. Hampe prepared chemically pure bismuth by fusing the metal with sodium carbonate and sulphur, dissolving the bismuth sulphide so formed in nitric acid, precipitating the bismuth as the basic nitrate, re-dissolving this salt in nitric acid, and then precipitating with ammonia. The bismuth hydroxide so obtained is finally reduced by hydrogen.
Properties.—Bismuth is a very brittle metal with a white crystalline fracture and a characteristic reddish-white colour. It crystallizes in rhombohedra belonging to the hexagonal system, having interfacial angles of 87° 40′. According to G.W.A. Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (Ziet. Anorg. Chem. 29, p. 294), its specific gravity is 9.78143; Roberts and Wrightson give the specific gravity of solid bismuth as 9.82, and of molten bismuth as 10.035. It therefore expands on solidification; and as it retains this property in a number of alloys, the metal receives extensive application in forming type-metals. Its melting-point is variously given as 268.3° (F. Rudberg and A.D. von Riemsdijk) and 270.5° (C.C. Person); commercial bismuth melts at 260° (Ledebur), and electrolytic bismuth at 264° (Classen). It vaporizes in a vacuum at 292°, and its boiling-point, under atmospheric pressure, is between 1090° and 1450° (T. Carnelley and W.C. Williams). Regnault determined its specific heat between 0° and 100° to be 0.0308; Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (loc. cit.) give the value 0.03055. Its thermal conductivity is the lowest of all metals, being 18 as compared with silver as 1000; its coefficient of expansion between 0° and 100° is 0.001341. Its electrical conductivity is approximately 1.2, silver at 0° being taken as 100; it is the most diamagnetic substance known, and its thermoelectric properties render it especially valuable for the construction of thermopiles.
The metal oxidizes very slowly in dry air at ordinary temperatures, but somewhat more rapidly in moist air or when heated. In the last case it becomes coated with a greyish-black layer of an oxide (dioxide (?)), at a red heat the layer consists of the trioxide (Bi2O3); and is yellow or green in the case of pure bismuth, and violet or blue if impure; at a bright red heat it burns with a bluish flame to the trioxide. Bismuth combines directly with the halogens, and the elements of the sulphur group. It readily dissolves in nitric acid,aqua regiaand hot sulphuric acid, but tardily in hot hydrochloric acid. It is precipitated as the metal from solutions of its salts by the metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths, zinc, iron, copper, &c. In its chemical affinities it resembles arsenic and antimony; an important distinction is that it forms no hydrogen compound analogous to arsine and stibine.
Alloys.—Bismuth readily forms alloys with other metals. Treated with sodammonium it yields a bluish-black mass, BiNa3, which takes fire in the air and decomposes water. A brittle potassium alloy of silver-white colour and lamellar fracture is obtained by calcining 20 parts of bismuth with 16 of cream of tartar at a strong red heat. When present in other metals, even in very small quantity, bismuth renders them brittle and impairs their electrical conductivity. With mercury it forms amalgams. Bismuth is a component of many ternary alloys characterized by their low fusibility and expansion in solidification; many of them are used in the arts (seeFusible Metal).
Compounds.—Bismuth forms four oxides, of which the trioxide, Bi2O3, is the most important. This compound occurs in nature as bismuth ochre, and may be prepared artificially by oxidizing the metal at a red heat, or by heating the carbonate, nitrate or hydrate. Thus obtained it is a yellow powder, soluble in the mineral acids to form soluble salts, which are readily precipitated as basic salts when the solution is diluted. It melts to a reddish-brown liquid, which solidifies to a yellow crystalline mass on cooling. The Hydrate, Bi(OH)3, is obtained as a white powder by adding potash to a solution of a bismuth salt. Bismuth dioxide, BiO or Bi2O2, is said to be formed by the limited oxidation of the metal, and as a brown precipitate by adding mixed solutions of bismuth and stannous chlorides to a solution of caustic potash. Bismuth tetroxide, Bi2O4, sometimes termed bismuth bismuthate, is obtained by melting bismuth trioxide with potash, or by igniting bismuth trioxide with potash and potassium chlorate. It is also formed by oxidizing bismuth trioxide suspended in caustic potash with chlorine, the pentoxide being formed simultaneously; oxidation and potassium ferricyanide simply gives the tetroxide (Hauser and Vanino,Zeit. Anorg. Chem., 1904, 39, p. 381). The hydrate, Bi2O4·2H2O, is also known. Bismuth pentoxide, Bi2C5, is obtained by heating bismuthic acid, HBiO3, to 130°C.; this acid (in the form of its salts) being the product of the continued oxidation of an alkaline solution of bismuth trioxide.
Bismuth forms two chlorides: BiCl2and BiCl3. The dichloride, BiCl2, is obtained as a brown crystalline powder by fusing the metal with the trichloride, or in a current of chlorine, or by heating the metal with calomel to 250°. Water decomposes it to metallic bismuth and the oxychloride, BiOCl. Bismuth trichloride, BiCl3, was obtained by Robert Boyle by heating the metal with corrosive sublimate. It is the final product of burning bismuth in an excess of chlorine. It is a white substance, melting at 225°-230° and boiling at 435°-441°. With excess of water, it gives a white precipitate of the oxychloride, BiOCl. Bismuth trichloride forms double compounds with hydrochloric acid, the chlorides of the alkaline metals, ammonia, nitric oxide and nitrosyl chloride.Bismuth trifluoride, BiF3, a white powder,bismuth tribromide, BiBr3, golden yellow crystals,bismuth iodide, BiI3, greyish-black crystals, are also known. These compounds closely resemble the trichloride in their methods of preparation and their properties, forming oxyhaloids with water, and double compounds with ammonia, &c.
Carbonates.—The basic carbonate, 2(BiO)2CO3·H2O, obtained as a white precipitate when an alkaline carbonate is added to a solution of bismuth nitrate, is employed in medicine. Another basic carbonate, 3(BiO)2CO3·2Bi(OH)3·3H2O, constitutes the mineral bismutite.
Nitrates.—The normal nitrate, Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, is obtained in large transparent asymmetric prisms by evaporating a solution of the metal in nitric acid. The action of water on this solution produces a crystalline precipitate of basic nitrate, probably Bi(OH)2NO3, though it varies with the amount of water employed. This precipitate constitutes the “magistery of bismuth” or “subnitrate of bismuth” of pharmacy, and under the name of pearl white,blanc d’Espagneorblanc de fardhas long been used as a cosmetic.
Sulphides.—Bismuth combines directly with sulphur to form a, disulphide, Bi2S2, and a trisulphide, Bi2S3, the latter compound being formed when the sulphur is in excess. A hydrated disulphide, Bi2S2·2H2O, is obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of bismuth nitrate and stannous chloride. Bismuthdisulphide is a grey metallic substance, which is decomposed by hydrochloric acid with the separation of metallic bismuth and the formation of bismuth trichloride. Bismuth trisulphide, Bi2S3, constitutes the mineral bismuthite, and may be prepared by direct union of its constituents, or as a brown precipitate by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of a bismuth salt. It is easily soluble in nitric acid. When heated to 200° it assumes the crystalline form of bismuthite. Bismuth forms several oxysulphides: Bi4O3S constitutes the mineral karelinite found at the Zavodinski mine in the Altai; Bi6O3S4and Bi2O3S have been prepared artificially. Bismuth also forms the sulphohaloids, BiSCl, BiSBr, BiSI, analogous to the oyxhaloids.
Bismuth sulphate, Bi2(SO4)3, is obtained as a white powder by dissolving the metal or sulphide in concentrated sulphuric acid. Water decomposes it, giving a basic salt, Bi2(SO4)(OH)4, which on heating gives (BiO)2SO4. Other basic salts are known.
Bismuth forms compounds similar to the trisulphide with the elements selenium and tellurium. The tritelluride constitutes the mineral tetradymite, Bi2Te3.
Analysis.—Traces of bismuth may be detected by treating the solution with excess of tartaric acid, potash and stannous chloride, a precipitate or dark coloration of bismuth oxide being formed even when only one part of bismuth is present in 20,000 of water. The blackish brown sulphide precipitated from bismuth salts by sulphuretted hydrogen is insoluble in ammonium sulphide, but is readily dissolved by nitric acid. The metal can be reduced by magnesium, zinc, cadmium, iron, tin, copper and substances like hypophosphorous acid from acid solutions or from alkaline ones by formaldehyde. In quantitative estimations it is generally weighed as oxide, after precipitation as sulphide or carbonate, or in the metallic form, reduced as above.
Pharmacology.—The salts of bismuth are feebly antiseptic. Taken internally the subnitrate, coming into contact with water, tends to decompose, gradually liberating nitric acid, one of the most powerful antiseptics. The physical properties of the powder also give it a mild astringent action. There are no remote actions.
Therapeutics.—The subnitrate of bismuth is invaluable in certain cases of dyspepsia, and still more notably so in diarrhoea. It owes its value to the decomposition described above, by means of which a powerful antiseptic action is safely and continuously exerted. There is hardly a safer drug. It may be given in drachm doses with impunity. It colours the faeces black owing to the formation of sulphide.
BISMUTHITE,a somewhat rare mineral, consisting of bismuth trisulphide, Bi2S3. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and is isomorphous with stibnite (Sb2S3), which it closely resembles in appearance. It forms loose interlacing aggregates of acicular crystals without terminal faces (only in a single instance has a terminated crystal been observed), or as masses with a foliated or fibrous structure. An important character is the perfect cleavage in one direction parallel to the length of the needles. The colour is lead-grey inclining to tin-white and often with a yellowish or iridescent tarnish. The hardness is 2; specific gravity 6.4-6.5. Bismuthite occurs at several localities in Cornwall and Bolivia, often in association with native bismuth and tin-ores. Other localities are known; for instance, Brandy Gill in Caldbeck Fells, Cumberland, where with molybdenite and apatite it is embedded in white quartz. The mineral was known to A. Cronstedt in 1758, and was named bismuthine by F.S. Beudant in 1832. This name, which is also used in the forms bismuthite and bismuthinite, is rather unfortunate, since it is readily confused with bismite (bismuth oxide) and bismutite (basic bismuth carbonate), especially as the latter has also been used in the form bismuthite. The name bismuth-glance or bismutholamprite for the species under consideration is free from this objection.
(L. J. S.)
BISMYA,a group of ruin mounds, about 1 m. long and ½ m. wide, consisting of a number of low ridges, nowhere exceeding 40 ft. in height, lying in the Jezireh, somewhat nearer to the Tigris than the Euphrates, about a day’s journey to the south-east of Nippur, a little below 32° N. and about 45° 40′ E. Excavations conducted here for six months, from Christmas of 1903 to June 1904, for the university of Chicago, by Dr Edgar J. Banks, proved that these mounds covered the site of the ancient city of Adab (Ud-Nun), hitherto known only from a brief mention of its name in the introduction to the Khammurabi code (c. 2250B.C.). The city was divided into two parts by a canal, on an island in which stood the temple, E-mach, with aziggurat, or stage tower. It was evidently once a city of considerable importance, but deserted at a very early period, since the ruins found close to the surface of the mounds belong to Dungi and Ur Gur, kings of Ur in the earlier part of the third millenniumB.C.Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, c. 3000B.C.Below these there were still 35 ft. of stratified remains, constituting seven-eighths of the total depth of the ruins. Besides the remains of buildings, walls, graves, &c., Dr Banks discovered a large number of inscribed clay tablets of a very early period, bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. But the two most notable discoveries were a complete statue in white marble, apparently the most ancient yet found in Babylonia (now in the museum in Constantinople), bearing the inscription—“E-mach, King Da-udu, King of Ud-Nun”; and a temple refuse heap, consisting of great quantities of fragments of vases in marble, alabaster, onyx, porphyry and granite, some of which were inscribed, and others engraved and inlaid with ivory and precious stones.
(J. P. Pe.)
BISON,the name of the one existing species of European wild ox,Bos(Bison)bonasus, known in Russian aszubr. Together with the nearly allied New World animal known in Europe as the (North) American bison, but in its own country as “buffalo,” and scientifically asBos (Bison) bison, the bison represents a group of the ox tribe distinguished from other species by the greater breadth and convexity of the forehead, superior length of limb, and the longer spinal processes of the dorsal vertebrae, which, with the powerful muscles attached for the support of the massive head, form a protuberance or hump on the shoulders. The bisons have also fourteen pairs of ribs, while the common ox has only thirteen. The forehead and neck of both species are covered with long, shaggy hair of a dark brown colour; and in winter the whole of the neck, shoulders and hump are similarly clothed, so as to form a curly, felted mane. This mane in the European species disappears in summer; but in the American bison it is to a considerable extent persistent.
The bison is now the largest European quadruped, measuring about 10 ft. long, exclusive of the tail, and standing nearly 6 ft. high. Formerly it was abundant throughout Europe, as is proved by the fossil remains of this or a closely allied form found on the continent and in England, associated with those of the extinct mammoth and rhinoceros. Caesar mentions the bison as abounding, along with the extinct aurochs or wild ox, in the forests of Germany and Belgium, where it appears to have been occasionally captured and afterwards exhibited alive in the Roman amphitheatres. At that period, and long after, it seems to have been common throughout central Europe, as we learn from the evidence of Herberstein in the 16th century. Nowadays bison are found in a truly wild condition only in the forests of the Caucasus, where they are specially protected by the Russian government. There is, however, a herd, somewhat in the condition of park-animals, in the forest of Byelovitsa, in Lithuania, where it is protected by the tsar, but nevertheless is gradually dying out. In 1862 the Lithuanian bisons numbered over 1200, but by 1872 they had diminished to 528, and in 1892 there were only 491. The prince of Pless has a small herd at Promnitz, his Silesian estate, founded by the gift of a bull and three cows by Alexander II. in 1855, his herd being the source of the menagerie supply.
Bison feed on a coarse aromatic grass, and browse on the leaves, shoots, bark and twigs of trees.
The American bison is distinguished from its European cousin by the following among other features: The hind-quarters are weaker and fall away more suddenly, while the withers are proportionately higher. Especially characteristic is the great mass of brown or blackish brown hair clothing the head, neck and forepart of the body. The shape of the skull and horns is also different; the horns themselves being shorter, thicker, blunter and more sharply curved, while the forehead of the skull is more convex and the sockets of the eyes are more distinctly tubular. This species formerly ranged over a third of North America in countless numbers, but is now practically extinct. The great herd was separated into a northern andsouthern division by the completion of the Union Pacific railway, and the annual rate of destruction from 1870 to 1875 has been estimated at 2,500,000 head. In 1880 the completion of the Northern Pacific railway led to an attack upon the northern herd. The last of the Dakota bisons were destroyed by Indians in 1883, leaving then less than 1000 wild individuals in the United State.
A count which was concluded at the end of February 1903, put the number of captive bisons at 1119, of which 969 were in parks and zoological gardens in the United States, 41 in Canada and 109 in Europe. At the same time it was estimated that there were 34 wild bison in the United States and 600 in Canada.
In England small herds are kept by the duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and by Mr C.J. Leyland at Haggerston Castle, Northumberland.
Two races of the American bison have been distinguished—the typical prairie form, and the woodland race,B. bison athabascae; but the two are very similar.
(R. L.*)
BISQUE(a French word of unknown origin, formerly spelt in English “bisk”), a term for odds given in the games of tennis, lawn tennis, croquet and golf; in the two former a bisque is one point to be taken at any time during a “set” at the choice of the receiver of the odds, while in croquet and golf it is one extra stroke to be taken similarly during a game. The name is given, in cookery, to a thick soup, made particularly of crayfish or lobsters.
BISSELL, GEORGE EDWIN(1839- ), American sculptor, son of a quarryman and marble-cutter, was born at New Preston, Connecticut, on the 16th of February 1839. During the Civil War he served as a private in the 23rd Connecticut volunteers in the Department of the Gulf (1862-1863), and on being mustered out became acting assistant paymaster in the South Atlantic squadron. At the close of the war he joined his father in business. He studied the art of sculpture abroad in 1875-1876, and lived much in Paris during the years 1883-1896, with occasional visits to America. Among his more important works are the soldiers’ and sailors’ monument, and a statue of Colonel Chatfield, at Waterbury, Connecticut; and statues of General Gates at Saratoga, New York, of Chancellor John Watts in Trinity churchyard, New York City; of Colonel Abraham de Peyster in Bowling Green, New York City; of Abraham Lincoln at Edinburgh; of Burns and “Highland Mary,” in Ayr, Scotland; of Chancellor James Kent, in the Congressional library, Washington; and of President Arthur in Madison Square, New York City.
BISSEXT,orBissextus(Lat.bis, twice;sextus, sixth), the day intercalated by the Julian calendar in the February of every fourth year to make up the six hours by which the solar year was computed to exceed the year of 365 days. The day was inserted after the 24th of February,i.e.the 6th day before the calends (1st) of March; there was consequently, besides thesextus, or sixth before the calends, thebis-sextusor “second sixth,” our 25th of February. In modern usage, with the exception of ecclesiastical calendars, the intercalary day is added for convenience at the end of the month, and years in which February has 29 days are called “bissextile,” or leap-years.
BISTRE,the French name of a brown paint made from the soot of wood, now largely superseded by Indian ink.
BIT(from the verb “to bite,” either in the sense of a piece bitten off, or an act of biting, or a thing that bites or is bitten), generally, a piece of anything; the word is, however, used in various special senses, all derivable from its origin, either literally or metaphorically. The most common of these are (1) its use as the name of various tools,e.g.centre-bit; (2) a horse’s “bit,” or the metal mouth-piece of the bridle; (3) in money, a small sum of money of varying value (e.g.threepenny-bit), especially in the West Indies and southern United States.
BITHUR,a town in the Cawnpore district of the United Provinces of India, 12 m. N.W. of Cawnpore city. Pop. (1901) 7173. It is chiefly notable for its connexion with the mutiny of 1857. The last of the peshwas, Baji Rao, was banished to Bithur, and his adopted son, the Nana Sahib, made the town his head-quarters. It was captured by Havelock on the 19th of July 1857, when the Nana’s palaces were destroyed.
BITHYNIA(Βιθυνία), an ancient district in the N.W. of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine. According to Strabo it was bounded on the E. by the river Sangarius; but the more commonly received division extended it to the Parthenius, which separated it from Paphlagonia, thus comprising the district inhabited by the Mariandyni. On the W. and S.W. it was separated from Mysia by the river Rhyndacus; and on the S. it adjoined Phrygia Epictetus and Galatia. It is in great part occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys and districts near the sea-coast of great fertility. The most important mountain range is the (so-called) “Mysian” Olympus (7600 ft.), which towers above Brusa and is clearly visible as far away as Constantinople (70 m.). Its summits are covered with snow for a great part of the year. East of this the range now called Ala-Dagh extends far above 100 m. from the Sangarius to Paphlagonia. Both of these ranges belong to that border of mountains which bounds the great tableland of Asia Minor. The country between them and the coast, covered with forests and traversed by few lines of route, is still imperfectly known. But the broad tract which projects towards the west as far as the shores of the Bosporus, though hilly and covered with forests—the Turkish Aghatch Denizi, or “The Ocean of Trees”—is not traversed by any mountain chain. The west coast is indented by two deep inlets, (1) the northernmost, the Gulf of Ismid (anc. Gulf of Astacus), penetrating between 40 and 50 m. into the interior as far as Ismid (anc. Nicomedia), separated by an isthmus of only about 25 m. from the Black Sea; (2) the Gulf of Mudania or Gemlik (Gulf of Cius), about 25 m. long. At its extremity is situated the small town of Gemlik (anc. Cius) at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the lake of Isnik, on which was situated Nicaea.
The principal rivers are the Sangarius (mod. Sakaria), which traverses the province from south to north; the Rhyndacus, which separated it from Mysia; and the Billaeus (Filiyas), which rises in the Ala-Dagh, about 50 m. from the sea, and after flowing by Boli (anc. Claudiopolis) falls into the Euxine, close to the ruins of the ancient Tium, about 40 m. north-east of Heraclea, having a course of more than 100 m. The Parthenius (mod. Bartan), the boundary of the province towards the east, is a much less considerable stream.
The natural resources of Bithynia are still imperfectly developed. Its vast forests would furnish an almost inexhaustible supply of timber, if rendered accessible by roads. Coal also is known to exist near Eregli (Heraclea). The valleys towards the Black Sea abound in fruit trees of all kinds, while the valley of the Sangarius and the plains near Brusa and Isnik (Nicaea) are fertile and well cultivated. Extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the silk for which Brusa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large scale.
According to ancient authors (Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, &c.), the Bithynians were an immigrant Thracian tribe. The existence of a tribe called Thyni in Thrace is well attested, and the two cognate tribes of the Thyni and Bithyni appear to have settled simultaneously in the adjoining parts of Asia, where they expelled or subdued the Mysians, Caucones, and other petty tribes, the Mariandyni alone maintaining themselves in the north-east. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as existing side by side; but ultimately the latter must have become the more important, as they gave their name to the country. They were incorporated by Croesus with the Lydian monarchy, with which they fell under the dominion of Persia (546B.C.), and were included in the satrapy of Phrygia, which comprised all the countries up to the Hellespont and Bosporus. But even before the conquest by Alexander the Bithynians appear to have asserted their independence, and successfully maintained it under two native princes, Bas and Zipoetes, the last of whom transmitted his power to his son Nicomedes I., the first to assume the title of king. This monarch founded Nicomedia, which soon rose to great prosperity, and during his long reign (278-250B.C.), as well as those of his successors, Prusias I.,Prusias II. and Nicomedes II. (149-91B.C.), the kingdom of Bithynia held a considerable place among the minor monarchies of Asia. But the last king, Nicomedes III., was unable to maintain himself against Mithradates of Pontus, and, after being restored to his throne by the Roman senate, he bequeathed his kingdom by will to the Romans (74B.C.). Bithynia now became a Roman province. Its limits were frequently varied, and it was commonly united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. This was the state of things in the time of Trajan, when the younger Pliny was appointed governor of the combined provinces (103-105A.D.), a circumstance to which we are indebted for valuable information concerning the Roman provincial administration. Under the Byzantine empire Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarias, to the west of which the name of Bithynia was restricted.
The most important cities were Nicomedia and Nicaea, which disputed with one another the rank of capital. Both of these were founded after Alexander the Great; but at a much earlier period the Greeks had established on the coast the colonies of Cius (afterwards Prusias, mod. Gemlik); Chalcedon, at the entrance of the Bosporus, nearly opposite Constantinople; and Heraclea Pontica, on the Euxine, about 120 m. east of the Bosporus. All these rose to be flourishing places of trade, as also Prusa at the foot of M. Olympus (seeBrusa). The only other places of importance at the present day are Ismid (Nicomedia) and Scutari.
See C. Texier,Ásie Mineure(Paris, 1839); G. Perrot,Calatie et Bithynie(Paris, 1862); W. von Diest inPetermanns Mittheilungen, Ergansungshelt, 116 (Gotha, 1895).
See C. Texier,Ásie Mineure(Paris, 1839); G. Perrot,Calatie et Bithynie(Paris, 1862); W. von Diest inPetermanns Mittheilungen, Ergansungshelt, 116 (Gotha, 1895).
(E. H. B.; F. W. Ha.)
BITLIS,orBetlis(Arm.Paghesh), the chief town of a vilayet of the same name in Asiatic Turkey, situated at an altitude of 4700 ft. in the deep, narrow valley of the Bitlis Chai, a tributary of the Tigris. The main part of the town and the bazaars are crowded alongside the stream, while suburbs with scattered houses among orchards and gardens extend up two tributary streams. The houses are massive and well built of a soft volcanic tufa, and with their courtyards and gardens climbing up the hillsides afford a striking picture. At the junction of two streams in the centre of the town is a fine old castle, partly ruined, which, according to local tradition, occupies the site of a fortress built by Alexander the Great. It is apparently an Arab building, as Arabic inscriptions appear on the walls, but as the town stands on the principal highway between the Van plateau and the Mesopotamian plain it must always have been of strategic importance. The bazaars are crowded, covered across with branches in summer, and typical of a Kurdish town. The population numbers 35,000, of whom about 12,000 are Armenians and the remainder are Kurds or of Kurdish descent.
Kurdish beys and sheids have much influence in the town and wild mountain districts adjoining, while the Sasun mountains, the scene of successive Armenian revolutions of late years, are not far off to the west. The town was ruled by a semi-independent Kurdish bey as late as 1836. There are some fine old mosques andmedresses(colleges), and the Armenians have a large monastery and churches. There are British, French and Russian consuls in the town, and a branch of the American Mission with schools is established also. The climate is healthy and the thermometer rarely falls below 0° Fahr., but there is a heavy snowfall and the narrow streets are blocked for some five months in the year.
A good road runs southward down the pass, passing after a few miles some large chalybeate and sulphur springs. Roads also lead north to Mush and Erzerum and along the lake to Van. Postal communication is through Erzerum with Trebizond. Tobacco of an inferior quality is largely grown, and the chief industry is the weaving of a coarse red cloth. Manna and gum tragacanth are also collected. Fruit is also plentiful, and there are many vineyards close by.
The Bitlis vilayet comprises a very varied section of Asiatic Turkey, as it includes the Mush plain and the plateau country west of Lake Van, as well as a large extent of wild mountain districts inhabited by turbulent Kurds and Armenians on either side of the central town of Bitlis, also some of the lower country about Sairt along the left bank of the main stream of the Tigris. The mountains have been little explored, but are believed to be rich in minerals, iron, lead, copper, traces of gold and many mineral springs are known to exist.
(F. R. M.)
BITONTO(anc.Butunti), a town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Bari, 10 m. west by steam tramway from Bari. Pop. (1901) 30,617. It was a place of no importance in classical times. Its medieval walls are still preserved. Its cathedral is one of the finest examples of the Romanesque architecture of Apulia, and has escaped damage from later restorations. The palazzo Sylos-Labini has a fine Renaissance court of 1502.
BITSCH(Fr.Bitche), a town of Germany, in Alsace-Lorraine, on the Horn, at the foot of the northern slope of the Vosges between Hagenau and Saargemund. Pop. (1905) 4000. There are a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church, a classical school and an academy of forestry. The industries include shoe-making and watch-making, and there is some trade in grain and timber. The town of Bitsch, which was formed out of the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as Bytis Castrum) standing on a rock some 250 ft. above the town. This had long given its name to the countship of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of the dukes of Lorraine. In 1297 it passed by marriage to Eberhard I. of Zweibrücken, whose line became extinct in 1569, when the countship reverted to Lorraine. It passed with that duchy to France in 1766. After that date the town rapidly increased in population. The citadel, which had been constructed by Vauban on the site of the old castle after the capture of Bitsch by the French in 1624, had been destroyed when it was restored to Lorraine in 1698. This was restored and strengthened in 1740 into a fortress that proved impregnable in all succeeding wars. The attack upon it by the Prussians in 1793 was repulsed; in 1815 they had to be content with blockading it; and in 1870, though it was closely invested by the Germans after the battle of Wörth, it held out until the end of the war. A large part of the fortification is excavated in the red sandstone rock, and rendered bomb-proof; a supply of water is secured to the garrison by a deep well in the interior.
BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS(1867- ), American sculptor, was born in Vienna on the 6th of December 1867. After studying art there, in 1889 he removed to the United States, where he became naturalized. In America he gained great popularity as a sculptor, and in 1906-1907 was president of the National Sculpture Society, New York. Among his principal works are: the Astor memorial gates, Trinity church, New York; “Elements Controlled and Uncontrolled,” on the Administration Building at the Chicago Exposition; a large relief, “Triumph of Civilization,” in the waiting-room of the Broad Street station of the Pennsylvania railway in Philadelphia; decorations for the Dewey Naval Arch in New York City; the “Standard Bearers,” at the Pan-American Exposition grounds; a sitting statue and a bust of Dr Pepper, provost of the University of Pennsylvania; and the Villard and Hubbard memorials in the New York chamber of commerce.
BITTERFELD,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, 26 m. N. from Leipzig by rail, on the river Mulde, and an important junction of railways from Leipzig and Halle to Berlin. Pop. (1900) 11,839. It manufactures drain-pipes, paper-roofing and machinery, and has saw-mills. Several coal-mines are in the vicinity. The town was built by a colony of Flemish immigrants in 1153. It was captured by the landgrave of Meissen in 1476, and belonged thenceforth to Saxony, until it was ceded to Prussia in 1815. Owing to its pleasant situation and accessibility, it has become a favourite residence of business men of Leipzig and Halle.
BITTERLING(Rhodeus amarus), a little carp-like fish of central Europe, belonging to the Cyprinid family. In it we have a remarkable instance of symbiosis. The genital papilla of the female acquires a great development during the breeding season and becomes produced into a tube nearly as long as thefish itself; this acts as an ovipositor by means of which the comparatively few and large eggs (3 millimetres in diameter) are introduced through the gaping valves between the branchiae of pond mussels (UnioandAnodonta), where, after being inseminated, they undergo their development, the fry leaving their host about a month later. The mollusc reciprocates by throwing off its embryos on the parent fish, in the skin of which they remain encysted for some time, the period of reproduction of the fish and the mussel coinciding.
BITTERN,a genus of wading birds, belonging to the familyArdeidae, comprising several species closely allied to the herons, from which they differ chiefly in their shorter neck, the back of which is covered with down, and the front with long feathers, which can be raised at pleasure. They are solitary birds, frequenting countries possessing extensive swamps and marshy grounds, remaining at rest by day, concealed among the reeds and bushes of their haunts, and seeking their food, which consists of fish, reptiles, insects and small quadrupeds, in the twilight. The common bittern (Botaurus stellaris) is nearly as large as the heron, and is widely distributed over the eastern hemisphere. Formerly it was common in Britain, but extensive drainage and persecution have greatly dimished its numbers and it is now only an uncertain visitor. Not a winter passes without its appearing in some numbers, when its uncommon aspect, its large size, and beautifully pencilled plumage cause it to be regarded as a great prize by the lucky gun-bearer to whom it falls a victim. Its value as a delicacy for the table, once so highly esteemed, has long vanished. The old fable of this bird inserting its beak into a reed or plunging it into the ground, and so causing the booming sound with which its name will always be associated, is also exploded, and nowadays indeed so few people in Britain have ever heard its loud and awful voice, which seems to be uttered only in the breeding-season, and is therefore unknown in a country where it no longer breeds, that incredulity as to its booming at all has in some quarters succeeded the old belief in this as in other reputed peculiarities of the species. The bittern in the days of falconry was strictly preserved, and afforded excellent sport. It sits crouching on the ground during the day, with its bill pointing in the air, a position from which it is not easily roused, and even when it takes wing, its flight is neither swift nor long sustained. When wounded it requires to be approached with caution, as it will then attack either man or dog with its long sharp bill and its acute claws. It builds a rude nest among the reeds and flags, out of materials which surround it, and the female lays four or five eggs of a brownish olive. During the breeding season it utters a booming noise, from which it probably derives its generic name,Botaurus, and which has made it in many places an object of superstitious dread. Its plumage for the most part is of a pale buff colour, rayed and speckled with black and reddish brown. The American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) is somewhat smaller than the European species, and is found throughout the central and southern portions of North America. It also occurs in Britain as an occasional straggler. It is distinguishable by its uniform greyish-brown primaries, which want the tawny bars that characterizeB. stellaris. Both species are good eating.
BITTERN(from “bitter”), the mother liquor obtained from sea-water or brines after the separation of the sodium chloride (common salt) by crystallization. It contains various magnesium salts (sulphate, chloride, bromide and iodide) and is employed commercially for the manufacture of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) and bromine. The same term is applied to a mixture of quassia, iron sulphate,cocculus indicus, liquorice, &c., used in adulterating beer.
BITTERS,the name given to aromatized (generally alcoholic) beverages containing a bitter substance or substances, used as tonics, appetizers or digestives. The bitterness is imparted by such substances as bitter orange rind, gentian, rhubarb, quassia, cascarilla, angostura, quinine and cinchona. Juniper, cinnamon, carraway, camomile, cloves and other flavouring agents are also employed in conjunction with the bitter principles, alcohol and sugar. Some bitters are prepared by simple maceration and subsequent filtration (seeLiqueurs), others by the more complicated distillation process. Those prepared by the latter process are the finer commercial articles. Bitters are usually sold under the name of the substance which has been used to give them the predominant flavour, such as orange, angostura or peach bitters, &c. The alcoholic strength of bitters varies, but is generally in the neighbourhood of 40% of alcohol. Some bitters, although possessing tonic properties, may be regarded as beverages pure and simple, notwithstanding the fact that they are seldom consumed in an undiluted state; others again, are obviously medicinal preparations and should be treated as such.
BITUMEN,the name applied by the Romans to the various descriptions of natural hydrocarbons, the wordpetroleumnot being used in classical Latin. In its widest sense it embraces the whole range of these substances, includingnatural gas, the more or less liquid descriptions ofpetroleum, and the solid forms ofasphalt, albertite, gilsoniteoruintahite, elaterite, ozokeriteandhatchettite. To distinguish bitumen intermediate in consistency between asphalt and the more liquid kinds of crude petroleum, the termmaltha(Latin) is frequently employed. The bitumens of chief commercial importance may be grouped under the three headings of (1)natural gas, (2)petroleum, and (3)asphalt, and will be found fully described under these titles. In the scriptures there are numerous references to bitumen, among which the following may be quoted:—In Genesis ix. 3, we are told that in the building of the tower of Babel “slime had they for mortar,” and in Genesis xiv. 10, that the vale of Siddim “was full of slime-pits,” the word slime in the latter quotation from our version appearing asbitumenin the Vulgate. Herodotus alludes to the use of the bitumen brought down by the Is, a tributary of the Euphrates, as mortar in building the walls of Babylon. Diodorus, Curtius, Josephus, Bochart and others make similar mention of this use of bitumen, and Vitruvius tells us that it was employed in admixture with clay.
In its various forms, bitumen is one of the most widely distributed of substances. It occurs, though sometimes only in small quantity, in almost every part of the globe, and throughout the whole range of geological strata, from the Laurentian rocks to the most recent members of the Quaternary period. Although the gaseous and liquid forms of bitumen may be regarded as having been formed in the strata in which they are found or as having been received into such strata shortly after formation, the semi-solid and solid varieties may be considered to have been produced by the oxidation and evaporation ofliquid petroleum escaping from underlying or better preserved deposits into other strata, or into fissures where atmospheric action and loss of the more volatile constituents can take place. It should, however, be stated that there is some difference of opinion as to the precise manner of production of some of the solid forms of bitumen, and especially of ozokerite.