Chapter 4

(B. R.)

BITURIGES,a Celtic people, according to Livy (v. 34) the most powerful in Gaul in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. At some period unknown they split up into two branches—Bituriges Cubi and Bituriges Vivisci. The name is supposed to mean either “rulers of the world” or “perpetual kings.”

The Bituriges Cubi, called simply Bituriges by Caesar, in whose time they acknowledged the supremacy of the Aedui, inhabited the modern diocese of Bourges, including the departments of Cher and Indre, and partly that of Allier. Their chief towns were Avaricum (Bourges), Argentomagus (Argenton-sur-Creuse), Neriomagus (Néris-les-Bains), Noviodunum (perhaps Villate). At the time of the rebellion of Vercingetoix (52B.C.), Avaricum, after a desperate resistance, was taken by assault, and the inhabitants put to the sword. In the following year, the Bituriges submitted to Caesar, and under Augustus they were incorporated (in 28B.C.) in Aquitania. Pliny (Nat. Hist.iv. 109) speaks of them asliberi, which points to their enjoying a certain amount of independence under Roman government. The district contained a number of iron works, and Caesar says they were skilled in driving galleries and mining operations.

The Biturgies Vivisci occupied the strip of land between the sea and the left bank of the Garonne, comprising the greater part of the modern department of Gironde. Their capital was Burdigala (Bordeaux), even then a place of considerable importance and a wine-growing centre. Like the Cubi, they also are calledliberiby Pliny.

See A. Desjardins,Géographie historique de la Gaule romaine, ii. (1876-1893); A. Longnon,Géographie de la Gaule on VIesiècle(1878); A. Hohler,Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz; T.R. Holmes,Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul(1899).

BITZIUS, ALBRECHT(1797-1854), Swiss novelist, best known by his pet name of “Jeremias Gotthelf,” was born on the 4th of October 1797 at Morat, where his father was pastor. In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmenthal. Here young Bitzius grew up, receiving his early education and consorting with the boys of the village, as well as helping his father to cultivate his glebe. In 1812 he went to complete his education at Bern, and in 1820 was received as a pastor. In 1821 he visited the university of Göttingen, but returned home in 1822 to act as his father’s assistant. On his father’s death (1824) he went in the same capacity to Herzogenbuchsee, and later to Bern (1829). Early in 1831 he went as assistant to the aged pastor of the village of Lützelflüh, in the Upper Emmenthal (between Langnau and Burgdorf), being soon elected his successor (1832) and marrying one of his granddaughters (1833). He spent the rest of his life there, dying on the 22nd of October 1854, and leaving three children (the son was a pastor, the two daughters married pastors). His first work, theBauernspiegel, appeared in 1837. It purported to be the life of Jeremias Gotthelf, narrated by himself, and this name was later adopted by the author as his pen name. It is a living picture of Bernese (or, strictly speaking, Emmenthal) village life, true to nature, and not attempting to gloss over its defects and failings. It is written (like the rest of his works) in the Bernese dialect of the Emmenthal, though it must be remembered that Bitzius was not (like Auerbach) a peasant by birth, but belonged to the educated classes, so that he reproduces what he had seen and learnt, and not what he had himself personally experienced. The book was a great success, as it was a picture of real life, and not of fancifully beribboned 18th-century villagers. Among his later tales are theLeiden und Freuden eines Schulmeisters(1838-1839),Uli der Knecht(1841), with its continuation,Uli der Pachter(1849),Anne Babi Jowager(1843-1844),Käthi die Grossmutter(1847),Die Käserei in der Vehfreude(1850), and theErlebnisse eines Schuldenbauers(1854). He published also several volumes of shorter tales. One slight drawback to some of his writings is the echo of local political controversies, for Bitzius was a Whig and strongly opposed to the Radical party in the canton, which carried the day in 1846.

Lives by C. Manuel, in the Berlin edition of Bitzius’s works (Berlin, 1861), and by J. Ammann in vol. i. (Bern, 1884) of theSammlung Bernischer Biographien. His works were issued in 24 vols. at Berlin, 1856-1861, while 10 vols., giving the original text of each story, were issued at Bern, 1898-1900 (edition not to be completed).

(W. A. B. C.)

BIVOUAC(a French word generally said to have been introduced during the Thirty Years’ War, perhaps derived fromBeiwacht, extra guard), originally, a night-watch by a whole army under arms to prevent surprise. In modern military parlance the word is used to mean a temporary encampment in the open field without tents, as opposed to “billets” or “cantonment” on the one hand and “camp” on the other. The use of bivouacs permits an army to remain closely concentrated for all emergencies, and avoids the necessity for numerous wagons carrying tents. Constant bivouacs, however, are trying to the health of men and horses, and this method of quartering is never employed except when the military situation demands concentration and readiness. Thus the outposts would often have to bivouac while the main body of the army lay in billets.

BIWA,a lake in the province of Omi, Japan. It measures 36 m. in length by 12 m. in extreme breadth, has an area of 180 sq. m., is about 330 ft. above sea-level, and has an extreme depth of some 300 ft. There are a few small islands in the lake, the principal being Chikubu-shima at the northern end.

Tradition alleges that Lake Biwa and the mountain of Fuji were produced simultaneously by an earthquake in 286B.C.On the west of the lake the mountains Hiei-zan and Hira-yama slope down almost to its margin, and on the east a wide plain extends towards the boundaries of the province of Mino. It is drained by a river flowing out of its southern end, and taking its course into the sea at Osaka. This river bears in succession the names of Seta-gawa, Uji-gawa and Yodo-gawa. The lake abounds with fish, and the beauty of its scenery is remarkable. Small steamboats ply constantly to the points of chief interest, and around its shores are to be viewed theOmi-no-hakkei, or “eight landscapes of Omi”; namely, the lake silvering under an autumn moon as one looks down from Ishi-yama; the snow at eve on Hira-yama; the glow of sunset at Seta; the groves and classic temple of Mii-dera as the evening bell sounds; boats sailing home from Yabase; cloudless peaks at Awazu; rain at nightfall over Karasaki; and wild geese sweeping down to Katata. The lake is connected with Kyoto by a canal constructed in 1890, and is thus brought into water communication with Osaka.

BIXIO, NINO(1821-1873), Italian soldier, was born on the 2nd of October 1821. While still a boy he was compelled by his parents to embrace a maritime career. After numerous adventures he returned to Italy in 1846, joined the Giovine Italia, and, on 4th November 1847, made himself conspicuous at Genoa by seizing the bridle of Charles Albert’s horse and crying, “Pass the Ticino, Sire, and we are all with you.” He fought through the campaign of 1848, became captain under Garibaldi at Rome in 1849, taking prisoners an entire French battalion, and gaining the gold medal for military valour. In 1859 he commanded a Garibaldian battalion, and gained the military cross of Savoy. Joining the Marsala expedition in 1860, he turned the day in favour of Garibaldi at Calatafimi, was wounded at Palermo, but recovered in time to besiege Reggio in Calabria (21st of August 1860), and, though again wounded, took part in the battle of Volturno, where his leg was broken. Elected deputy in 1861, he endeavoured to reconcile Cavour and Garibaldi. In 1866, at the head of the seventh division, he covered the Italian retreat from Custozza, ignoring the Austrian summons to surrender. Created senator in February 1870, he was in the following September given command of a division during the movement against Rome, took Cività Vecchia, and participated in the general attack upon Rome (20th September 1870). He died of cholera at Achin Bay in Sumatraen routefor Batavia, whither hehad gone in command of a commercial expedition (16th December 1873).

BIZERTA(properly pronounced Ben Zert; Fr.Bizerte), a seaport of Tunisia, in 37° 17′ N., 9° 50′ E. Pop. about 12,000. Next to Toulon, Bizerta is the most important naval port of France in the Mediterranean. It occupies a commanding strategical position in the narrowest part of the sea, being 714 m. E. of Gibraltar, 1168 m. W.N.W. of Port Said, 240 m. N.W. of Malta, and 420 m. S. by E. of Toulon. It is 60 m. by rail N.N.W. of Tunis. The town is built on the shores of the Mediterranean at the point where the Lake of Bizerta enters the sea through a natural channel, the mouth of which has been canalized. The modern town lies almost entirely on the north side of the canal. A little farther north are the ancient citadel, the walled “Arab” town and the old harbour (disused). The present outer harbour covers about 300 acres and is formed by two converging jetties and a breakwater. The north jetty is 4000 ft. long, the east jetty 3300 ft., and the breakwater—which protects the port from the prevalent north-east winds—2300 ft. long. The entrance to the canal is in the centre of the outer harbour. The canal is 2600 ft. long and 787 ft. wide on the surface. Its banks are lined with quays, and ships drawing 26 ft. of water can moor alongside. At the end of the canal is a large commercial harbour, beyond which the channel opens into the lake—in reality an arm of the sea—roughly circular in form and covering about 50 sq. m., two-thirds of its waters having a depth of 30 to 40 ft. The lake, which merchant vessels are not allowed to enter, contains the naval port and arsenal. There is a torpedo and submarine boat station on the north side of the channel at the entrance to the lake, but the principal naval works are at Sidi Abdallah at the south-west corner of the lake and 10 m. from the open sea. Here is an enclosed basin covering 123 acres with ample quayage, dry docks and everything necessary to the accommodation, repair, revictualling and coaling of a numerous fleet. Barracks, hospitals and waterworks have been built, the military town, called Ferryville, being self-contained.

Fortifications have been built for the protection of the port. They comprise (a) the older works surrounding the town; (b) a group of coast batteries on the high ground of Cape Bizerta or Guardia, 4 m. north-north-west of the town; these are grouped round a powerful fort called Jebel Kebir, and have a command of 300 to 800 ft. above sea-level; (c) another group of batteries on the narrow ground between the sea and the lake to the east of the town; the highest of these is the Jebel Tuila battery 265 ft. above sea-level.

TheLake of Bizerta, called Tinja by the Arabs, abounds in excellent fish, especially mullets, the dried roe of which, calledbotargo, is largely exported, and the fishing industry employs a large proportion of the inhabitants. The western shore of the lake is low, and in many places is covered with olive trees to the water’s edge. The south-eastern shores are hilly and wooded, and behind them rises a range of picturesque hills. A narrow and shallow channel leads from the western side of the lake into another sheet of water, the Lake of Ishkul, so called from Jebel Ishkul, a hill on its southern bank 1740 ft. high. The Lake of Ishkul is nearly as large as the first lake, but is very shallow. Its waters are generally sweet.

Bizerta occupies the site of the ancient Tyrian colony, Hippo Zarytus or Diarrhytus, the harbour of which, by means of a spacious pier, protecting it from the north-east wind, was rendered one of the safest and finest on this coast. The town became a Roman colony, and was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century. The place thereafter was subject either to the rulers of Tunis or of Constantine, but the citizens were noted for their frequent revolts. They threw in their lot (c. 1530) with the pirate Khair-ed-Din, and subsequently received a Turkish garrison. Bizerta was captured by the Spaniards in 1535, but not long afterwards came under the Tunisian government. Centuries of neglect followed, and the ancient port was almost choked up, though the value of the fisheries saved the town from utter decay. Its strategical importance was one of the causes which led to the occupation of Tunisia by the French in 1881. In 1890 a concession for a new canal and harbour was granted to a company, and five years later the new port was formally opened. Since then the canal has been widened and deepened, and the naval port at Sidi Abdallah created.

BIZET[Alexandre César Léopold]GEORGES(1838-1875), French musical composer, was born at Bougival, near Paris, on the 25th of October 1838, the son of a singing-master. He displayed musical ability at an early age, and was sent to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Halévy and speedily distinguished himself, carrying off prizes for organ and fugue, and finally in 1857, after an ineffectual attempt in the previous year, the Grand Prix de Rome for a cantata calledCloris et Clotilde. A success of a different kind also befell him at this time. Offenbach, then manager of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, had organized a competition for an operetta, in which young Bizet was awarded the first prize in conjunction with Charles Lecocq, each of them writing an operetta calledDocteur Miracle. After the three years spent in Rome, an obligation imposed by the French government on the winners of the first prize at the Conservatoire, Bizet returned to Paris, where he achieved a reputation as a pianist and accompanist. On the 23rd of September 1863 his first opera,Les Pêcheurs de perles, was brought out at the Théâtre Lyrique, but owing possibly to the somewhat uninteresting nature of the story, the opera did not enjoy a very long run. The qualities displayed by the composer, however, were amply recognized, although the music was stated, by some critics, to exhibit traces of Wagnerian influence. Wagnerism at that period was a sort of spectre that haunted the imagination of many leading members of the musical press. It sufficed for a work to be at all out of the common for the epithet “Wagnerian” to be applied to it. The term, it may be said, was intended to be condemnatory, and it was applied with little understanding as to its real meaning. The score of thePêcheurs de perlescontains several charming numbers; its dreamy melodies are well adapted to fit a story laid in Eastern climes, and the music reveals a decided dramatic temperament. Some of its dances are now usually introduced into the fourth act ofCarmen.

On the 3rd of June 1865 Bizet married a daughter of his old master, Halévy. His second opera,La Jolie Fitte de Perth, produced at the Théâtre Lyrique on 26th December 1867, was scarcely a step in advance. The libretto was founded on Sir Walter Scott’s novel, but the opera lacks unity of style, and its pages are marred by concessions to the vocalist. One number has survived, the characteristic Bohemian dance which has been interpolated into the fourth act ofCarmen. In his third opera Bizet returned to an oriental subject.Djamileh, a one-act opera given at the Opéra Comique on the 22nd of May 1872, is certainly one of his most individual efforts. Again were accusations of Wagnerism hurled at the composer’s head, andDjamilehdid not achieve the success it undoubtedly deserved. The composer was more fortunate with the incidental music he wrote to Alphonse Daudet’s drama,L’Arlésienne, produced in October 1872. Different numbers from this, arranged in the form of suites, have often been heard in the concert-room. Rarely have poetry and imagination been so well allied as in these exquisite pages, which seem to reflect the sunny skies of Provence.

Bizet’s masterpiece,Carmen, was brought out at the Opéra Comique on the 3rd of March 1875. It was based on a version by Meilhac and Halévy of a study by Prosper Mérimée—in which the dramatic element was obscured by much descriptive writing. The detection of the drama underlying this psychological narrative was in itself a brilliant discovery, and in reconstructing the story in dramatic form the authors produced one of the most famous libretti in the whole range of opera. Still more striking than the libretto was the music composed by Bizet, in which the peculiar use of the flute and of the lowest notes of the harp deserves particular attention.

On the 3rd of June, three months after the production ofCarmenin Paris, the genial composer expired after a few hours’ illness from a heart affection. Before dying he had the satisfactionof knowing thatCarmenhad been accepted for production at Vienna. After the Austrian capital came Brussels, Berlin and, in 1878, London, whenCarmenwas brought out at Her Majesty’s theatre with immense success. The influence exercised by Bizet on dramatic music has been very great, and may be discerned in the realistic works of the young Italian school, as well as in those of his own countrymen.

BJÖRNEBORG(Finnish,Pori), a district town of Finland, province of Åbo-Björneborg, on the E. coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of the Kumo. Lat. 51° 8′ N., long. 46° 0′ E. Pop. (1904) 16,053, mostly Swedes. Large vessels cannot enter its roadstead, and stop at Räfsö. The town has shipbuilding wharves, machine works, and several tanneries and brick-works, and has a total trade of over 16,000,000 marks, the chief export being timber.

BJÖRNSON, BJÖRNSTJERNE(1832-1910), Norwegian poet, novelist and dramatist, was born on the 8th of December 1832 at the farmstead of Björngen, in Kvikne, in Österdal, Norway. In 1837 his father, who had been pastor of Kvikne, was transferred to the parish of Noesset, in Romsdal; in this romantic district the childhood of Björnson was spent. After some teaching at the neighbouring town of Molde, he was sent at the age of seventeen to a well-known school in Christiania to study for the university; his instinct for poetry was already awakened, and indeed he had written verses from his eleventh year. He matriculated at the university of Christiania in 1852, and soon began to work as a journalist, especially as a dramatic critic. In 1857 appearedSynnöve Solbakken, the first of Björnson’s peasant-novels; in 1858 this was followed byArne, in 1860 byA Happy Boy, and in 1868 byThe Fisher Maiden. These are the most important specimens of hisbonde-fortaellingeror peasant-tales—a section of his literary work which has made a profound impression in his own country, and has made him popular throughout the world. Two of the tales,ArneandSynnöve Solbakken, offer perhaps finer examples of the pure peasant-story than are to be found elsewhere in literature.

Björnson was anxious “to create a new saga in the light of the peasant,” as he put it, and he thought this should be done, not merely in prose fiction, but in national dramas orfolke-stykker. The earliest of these was a one-act piece the scene of which is laid in the 12th century,Between the Battles, was written in 1855, but not produced until 1857. He was especially influenced at this time by the study of Baggesen and Ochlenschläger, during a visit to Copenhagen 1856-1857.Between the Battleswas followed byLame Huldain 1858, andKing Sverrein 1861. All these efforts, however, were far excelled by the splendid trilogy ofSigurd the Bastard, which Björnson issued in 1862. This raised him to the front rank among the younger poets of Europe. HisSigurd the Crusadershould be added to the category of these heroic plays, although it was not printed until 1872.

At the close of 1857 Björnson had been appointed director of the theatre at Bergen, a post which he held, with much journalistic work, for two years, when he returned to the capital. From 1860 to 1863 he travelled widely throughout Europe. Early in 1865 he undertook the management of the Christiania theatre, and brought out his popular comedy ofThe Newly Marriedand his romantic tragedy ofMary Stuart in Scotland. Although Björnson has introduced into his novels and plays songs of extraordinary beauty, he was never a very copious writer of verse; in 1870 he published hisPoems and Songsand the epic cycle calledArnljot Gelline; the latter volume contains the magnificent ode called “Bergliot,” Björnson’s finest contribution to lyrical poetry. Between 1864 and 1874, in the very prime of life, Björnson displayed a slackening of the intellectual forces very remarkable in a man of his energy; he was indeed during these years mainly occupied with politics, and with his business as a theatrical manager. This was the period of Björnson’s most fiery propaganda as a radical agitator. In 1871 he began to supplement his journalistic work in this direction by delivering lectures over the length and breadth of the northern countries. He possessed to a surprising degree the arts of the orator, combined with a magnificent physical prestige. From 1873 to 1876 Björnson was absent from Norway, and in the peace of voluntary exile he recovered his imaginative powers. His new departure as a dramatic author began withA BankruptcyandThe Editorin 1874, social dramas of an extremely modern and realistic cast.

The poet now settled on his estate of Aulestad in Gausdal. In 1877 he published another novel,Magnhild—an imperfect production, in which his ideas on social questions were seen to be in a state of fermentation, and gave expression to his republican sentiments in the polemical play calledThe King, to a later edition of which he prefixed an essay on “Intellectual Freedom,” in further explanation of his position.Captain Mansana, an episode of the war of Italian independence, belongs to 1878. Extremely anxious to obtain a full success on the stage, Björnson concentrated his powers on a drama of social life,Leonardo(1879), which raised a violent controversy. A satirical play,The New System, was produced a few weeks later. Although these plays of Björnson’s second period were greatly discussed, none of them (exceptA Bankruptcy) pleased on the boards. When once more he produced a social drama,A Gauntlet, in 1883, he was unable to persuade any manager to stage it, except in a modified form, though this play gives the full measure of his power as a dramatist. In the autumn of the same year, Björnson published a mystical or symbolic dramaBeyond our Powers, dealing with the abnormal features of religious excitement with extraordinary force; this was not acted until 1899, when it achieved a great success.

Meanwhile, Björnson’s political attitude had brought upon him a charge of high treason, and he took refuge for a time in Germany, returning to Norway in 1882. Convinced that the theatre was practically closed to him, he turned back to the novel, and published in 1884,Flags are Flying in Town and Port, embodying his theories on heredity and education. In 1889 he printed another long and still more remarkable novel,In God’s Way, which is chiefly concerned with the same problems. The same year saw the publication of a comedy,Geography and Love, which continues to be played with success. A number of short stories, of a more or less didactic character, dealing with startling points of emotional experience, were collected in 1894; among them those which produced the greatest sensation wereDust, Mother’s Hands, andAbsalom’s Hair. Later plays were a political tragedy calledPaul Lange and Tora Parsberg(1898), a second part ofBeyond our Powers(1895),Laboremus(1901),At Storhove(1902), andDaglannet(1904). In 1899, at the opening of the National theatre, Björnson received an ovation, and his saga-drama ofSigurd the Crusaderwas performed.

A subject which interested him greatly, and on which he occupied his indefatigable pen, was the question of thebonde-maal, the adopting of a national language for Norway distinct from thedansk-norsk(Dano-Norwegian), in which her literature has hitherto been written. Björnson’s strong and sometimes rather narrow patriotism did not blind him to the fatal folly of such a proposal, and his lectures and pamphlets against themaal-straevin its extreme form did more than anything else to save the language in this dangerous moment. Björnson was one of the original members of the Nobel committee, and was re-elected in 1900. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Björnson had done as much as any other man to rouse Norwegian national feeling, but in 1903, on the verge of the rupture between Norway and Sweden, he preached conciliation and moderation to the Norwegians. He was an eloquent advocate of Pan-Germanism, and, writing to theFigaroin 1905, he outlined a Pan-Germanic alliance of northern Europe and North America. He died on the 26th of April 1910.

See Björnson’sSamlede Vaerker(Copenhagen, 1900-1902, 11 vols.);The Novels of Björnstjerne Björnson(1894, &c.), edited by Edmund Gosse; G. Brandes,Critical Studies(1899); E. Tissot,Le drame norvégien(1893); C.D. af Wirsén,Kritiker(1901); Chr. Collin,Björnstjerne Björnson(2 vols., German ed., 1903), the most complete biography and criticism at present available; and B. Halvorsen,Norsk Forfatter Lexikon(1885).

(E. G.)

BLACHFORD, FREDERIC ROGERS,Baron(1811-1889), British civil servant, eldest son of Sir Frederick Leman Rogers, 7th Bart. (whom he succeeded in the baronetcy in 1851), wasborn in London on the 31st of January 1811. He was educated at Eton and Oriel college, Oxford, where he had a brilliant career, winning the Craven University scholarship, and taking a double first-class in classics and mathematics. He became a fellow of Oriel (1833), and won the Vinerian scholarship (1834), and fellowship (1840). He was called to the bar in 1837, but never practised. At school and at Oxford he was a contemporary of W.E. Gladstone, and at Oxford he began a lifelong friendship with J.H. Newman and R.W. Church; his classical and literary tastes, and his combination of liberalism in politics with High Church views in religion, together with his good social position and interesting character, made him an admired member of their circles. For two or three years (1841-1844) he wrote forThe Times, and he helped to foundThe Guardianin 1846; he also did a good deal to assist the Tractarian movement. But he eventually settled down to the life of a government official. He began in 1844 as registrar of joint-stock companies, and in 1846 became commissioner of lands and emigration. Between 1857 and 1859 he was engaged in government missions abroad, connected with colonial questions, and in 1860 he was appointed permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies. Sir Frederic Rogers was the guiding spirit of the colonial office under six successive secretaries of state, and on his retirement in 1871 was raised to the peerage as Baron Blachford of Wisdome, a title taken from his place in Devonshire. He died on the 21st of November 1889.

A volume of his letters, edited by G.E. Marindin (1896), contains an interesting Life, partly autobiographical.

BLACK, ADAM(1784-1874), Scottish publisher, founder of the firm of A. & C. Black, the son of a builder, was born in Edinburgh on the 20th of February 1784. After serving his apprenticeship to the bookselling trade in Edinburgh and London, he began business for himself in Edinburgh in 1808. By 1826 he was recognized as one of the principal booksellers in the city; and a few years later he was joined in business by his nephew Charles. The two most important events connected with the history of the firm were the publication of the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of theEncyclopaedia Brittannica, and the purchase of the stock and copyright of the Waverley Novels. The copyright of theEncyclopaediapassed into the hands of Adam Black and a few friends in 1827. In 1851 the firm bought the copyright of the Waverley Novels for £27,000; and in 1861 they became the proprietors of De Quincey’s works. Adam Black was twice lord provost of Edinburgh, and represented the city in parliament from 1856 to 1865. He retired from business in 1865, and died on the 24th of January 1874. He was succeeded by his sons, who removed their business in 1895 to London. There is a bronze statue of Adam Black in East Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.

SeeMemoirs of Adam Black, edited by Alexander Nicholson (2nd ed., Edinburgh, 1885).

BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN(1810-1883), American lawyer and statesman, was born in Stony Creek township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of January 1810. He was largely self-educated, and before he was of age was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. He gradually became one of the leading American lawyers, and in 1851-1857 was a member of the supreme court of Pennsylvania (chief-justice 1851-1854). In 1857 he entered President Buchanan’s cabinet as attorney-general of the United States. In this capacity he successfully contested the validity of the “California land claims”—claims to about 19,000 sq. m. of land, fraudulently alleged to have been granted to land-grabbers and others by the Mexican government prior to the close of the Mexican War. From the 17th of December 1860 to the 4th of March 1861 he was secretary of state. Perhaps the most influential of President Buchanan’s official advisers, he denied the constitutionality of secession, and urged that Fort Sumter be properly reinforced and defended. “For ... the vigorous assertion at last in word and in deed that the United States is a nation,” says James Ford Rhodes, “for pointing out the way in which the authority of the Federal government might be exercised without infringing on the rights of the states, the gratitude of the American people is due to Jeremiah S. Black.” He became reporter to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1861, but after publishing the reports for the years 1861 and 1862 he resigned, and devoted himself almost exclusively to his private practice, appearing in such important cases before the Supreme Court as the one known asEx-Parte Milligan, in which he ably defended the right of trial by jury, the McCardle case and theUnited Statesv.Blyew et al. After the Civil War he vigorously opposed the Congressional plan of reconstructing the late Confederate states, and himself drafted the message of President Johnson, vetoing the Reconstruction Act of the 2nd of March 1867. Black was also for a short time counsel for President Andrew Johnson, in his trial on the article of impeachment, before the United States Senate, and for William W. Belknap (1829-1890), secretary of war from 1869 to 1876, who in 1876 was impeached on a charge of corruption; and with others he represented Samuel J. Tilden during the contest for the presidency between Tilden and Hayes (seeElectoral Commission). He died at Brockie, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of August 1883.

SeeEssays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black, with a Biographical Sketch(New York, 1885), by his son, C.F. Black.

BLACK, JOSEPH(1728-1799), Scottish chemist and physicist, was born in 1728 at Bordeaux, where his father—a native of Belfast but of Scottish descent—was engaged in the wine trade. At the age of twelve he was sent to a grammar school in Belfast, whence he removed in 1746 to study medicine in Glasgow. There he had William Cullen for his instructor in chemistry, and the relation between the two soon became that of professor and assistant rather than of master and pupil. The action of lithontriptic medicines, especially lime-water, was one of the questions of the day, and through his investigations of this subject Black was led to the chemical discoveries associated with his name. The causticity of alkaline bodies was explained at that time as depending on the presence in them of the principle of fire, “phlogiston”; quicklime, for instance, was chalk which had taken up phlogiston, and when mild alkalis such as sodium or potassium carbonate were causticized by its aid, the phlogiston was supposed to pass from it to them. Black showed that on the contrary causticization meant the loss of something, as proved by loss of weight; and this something he found to be an “air,” which, because it was fixed in the substance before it was causticized, he spoke of as “fixed air.” Takingmagnesia alba, which he distinguished from limestone with which it had previously been confused, he showed that on being heated it lost weight owing to the escape of this fixed air (named carbonic acid by Lavoisier in 1781), and that the weight was regained when the calcined product was made to reabsorb the fixed air with which it had parted. These investigations, by which Black not only gave a great impetus to the chemistry of gases by clearly indicating the existence of a gas distinct from common air, but also anticipated Lavoisier and modern chemistry by his appeal to the balance, were described in the thesisDe humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia alba, which he presented for his doctor’s degree in 1754; and a fuller account of them was read before the Medical Society of Edinburgh in June 1753, and published in the following year asExperiments upon magnesia, quicklime and some other alkaline substances.

It is curious that Black left to others the detailed study of this “fixed air” he had discovered. Probably the explanation is pressure of other work. In 1756 he succeeded Cullen as lecturer in chemistry at Glasgow, and was also appointed professor of anatomy, though that post he was glad to exchange for the chair of medicine. The preparation of lectures thus took up much of his time, and he was also gaining an extensive practice as a physician. Moreover, his attention was engaged on studies which ultimately led to his doctrine of latent heat. He noticed that when ice melts it takes up a quantity of heat without undergoing any change of temperature, and he argued that this heat, which as was usual in his time he looked upon as a subtle fluid, must have combined with the particles of ice and thus become latent in its substance. This hypothesis he verified quantitativelyby experiments, performed at the end of 1761. In 1764, with the aid of his assistant, William Irvine (1743-1787), he further measured the latent heat of steam, though not very accurately. This doctrine of latent heat he taught in his lectures from 1761 onwards, and in April 1762 he described his work to a literary society in Glasgow. But he never published any detailed account of it, so that others, such as J.A. Deluc, were able to claim the credit of his results. In the course of his inquiries he also noticed that different bodies in equal masses require different amounts of heat to raise them to the same temperature, and so founded the doctrine of specific heats; he also showed that equal additions or abstractions of heat produced equal variations of bulk in the liquid of his thermometers. In 1766 he succeeded Cullen in the chair of chemistry in Edinburgh, where he devoted practically all his time to the preparation of his lectures. Never very robust, his health gradually became weaker and ultimately he was reduced to the condition of a valetudinarian. In 1795 he received the aid of a coadjutor in his professorship, and two years later he lectured for the last time. He died in Edinburgh on the 6th of December 1799 (not on the 26th of November as stated in Robison’s life).

As a scientific investigator, Black was conspicuous for the carefulness of his work and his caution in drawing conclusions. Holding that chemistry had not attained the rank of a science—his lectures dealt with the “effects of heat and mixture”—he had an almost morbid horror of hasty generalization or of anything that had the pretensions of a fully fledged system. This mental attitude, combined with a certain lack of initiative and the weakness of his health, probably prevented him from doing full justice to his splendid powers of experimental research. Apart from the work already mentioned he published only two papers during his life-time—“The supposed effect of boiling on water, in disposing it to freeze more readily” (Phil. Trans., 1775), and “An analysis of the waters of the hot springs in Iceland” (Trans. Roy. Soc. Ed., 1794).

After his death his lectures were written out from his own notes, supplemented by those of some of his pupils, and published with a biographical preface by his friend and colleague, Professor John Robison (1739-1805), in 1803 asLectures on the Elements of Chemistry, delivered in the University of Edinburgh.

BLACK, WILLIAM(1841-1898), British novelist, was born at Glasgow on the 9th of November 1841. His early ambition was to be a painter, but he made no way, and soon had recourse to journalism for a living. He was at first employed in newspaper offices in Glasgow, but obtained a post on theMorning Starin London, and at once proved himself a descriptive writer of exceptional vivacity. During the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 he represented theMorning Starat the front, and was taken prisoner. This paper shortly afterwards failed, and Black joined the editorial staff of theDaily News. He also edited theExaminer, at a time when that periodical was already moribund. After his first success in fiction, he gave up journalism, and devoted himself entirely to the production of novels. For nearly thirty years he was successful in retaining the popular favour. He died at Brighton on the 10th of December 1898, without having experienced any of that reaction of the public taste which so often follows upon conspicuous successes in fiction. Black’s first novel,James Merle, published in 1864, was a complete failure; his second,Love or Marraige(1868), attracted but very slight attention.In Silk Attire(1869) andKilmeny(1870) marked a great advance on his first work, but in 1871A Daughter of Hethsuddenly raised him to the height of popularity, and he followed up this success by a string of favourites. Among the best of his books areThe Strange Adventures of a Phaeton(1872);A Princess of Thule(1874);Madcap Violet(1876);Macleod of Dare(1878);White Wings(1880);Sunrise(1880);Shandon Bells(1883);Judith Shakespeare(1884);White Heather(1885);Donald Ross of Heimra(1891);Highland Cousins(1894); andWild Eelin(1898). Black was a thoroughgoing sportsman, particularly fond of fishing and yachting, and his best stories are those which are laid amid the breezy mountains of his native land, or upon the deck of a yacht at sea off its wild coast. His descriptions of such scenery are simple and picturesque. He was a word-painter rather than a student of human nature. His women are stronger than his men, and among them are many wayward and lovable creatures; but subtlety of intuition plays no part in his characterization. Black also contributed a life of Oliver Goldsmith to theEnglish Men of Lettersseries.

BLACK APE,a sooty, black, short-tailed, and long-faced representative of the macaques, inhabiting the island of Celebes, and generally regarded as forming a genus by itself, under the name ofCynopithecus niger, but sometimes relegated to the rank of a subgenus ofMacacus. The nostrils open obliquely at some distance from the end of the snout, and the head carries a crest of long hair. There are several local races, one of which was long regarded as a separate species under the name of the Moor macaque,Macacus maurus. (SeePrimates.)

BLACKBALL,a token used for voting by ballot against the election of a candidate for membership of a club or other association. Formerly white and black balls about the size of pigeons’ eggs were used respectively to represent votes for and against a candidate for such election; and although this method is now generally obsolete, the term “blackball” survives both as noun and verb. The rules of most clubs provide that a stated proportion of “blackballs” shall exclude candidates proposed for election, and the candidates so excluded are said to have been “blackballed”; but the ballot (q.v.) is now usually conducted by a method in which the favourable and adverse votes are not distinguished by different coloured balls at all. Either voting papers are employed, or balls—of which the colour has no significance—are cast into different compartments of a ballot-box according as they are favourable or adverse to the candidate.

BLACKBERRY,orBramble, known botanically asRubus fruticosus(natural order Rosaceac), a native of the north temperate region of the Old World, and abundant in the British Isles as a copse and hedge-plant. It is characterized by its prickly stem, leaves with usually three or five ovate, coarsely toothed stalked leaflets, many of which persist through the winter, white or pink flowers in terminal clusters, and black or red-purple fruits, each consisting of numerous succulent drupels crowded on a dry conical receptacle. It is a most variable plant, exhibiting many more or less distinct forms which are regarded by different authorities as sub-species or species. In America several forms of the native blackberry,Rubus nigrobaccus(formerly known asR. villosus), are widely cultivated; it is described as one of the most important and profitable of bush-fruits.

For details see F.W. Card in L.H. Bailey’sCyclopedia of American Horticulture(1900).

BLACKBIRD(Turdus merula), the name commonly given to a well-known British bird of theTurdidaefamily, for which the ancient name was ousel (q.v.), Anglo-Saxonósle, equivalent of the GermanAmsel, a form of the word found in several old English books. The plumage of the male is of a uniform black colour, that of the female various shades of brown, while the bill of the male, especially during the breeding season, is of a bright gamboge yellow. The blackbird is of a shy and restless disposition, courting concealment, and rarely seen in flocks, or otherwise than singly or in pairs, and taking flight when startled with a sharp shrill cry. It builds its nest in March, or early in April, in thick bushes or in ivy-clad trees, and usually rears at least two broods each season. The nest is a neat structure of coarse grass and moss, mixed with earth, and plastered internally with mud, and here the female lays from four to six eggs of a blue colour speckled with brown. The blackbird feeds chiefly on fruits, worms, the larvae of insects and snails, extracting the last from their shells by dexterously chipping them on stones; and though it is generally regarded as an enemy of the garden, it is probable that the amount of damage by it to the fruit is largely compensated for by its undoubted services as a vermin-killer. The notes of the blackbird are rich and full, but monotonous as compared with those of the song-thrush. Like many other singing birds it is, in the wild state, amocking-bird, having been heard to imitate the song of the nightingale, the crowing of a cock, and even the cackling of a hen. In confinement it can be taught to whistle a variety of tunes, and even to imitate the human voice.

The blackbird is found in every country of Europe, even breeding—although rarely—beyond the arctic circle, and in eastern Asia as well as in North Africa and the Atlantic islands. In most parts of its range it is migratory, and in Britain every autumn its numbers receive considerable accession from passing visitors. Allied species inhabit most parts of the world, excepting Africa south of the Sahara, New Zealand and Australia proper, and North America. In some of these the legs as well as the bill are yellow or orange; and in a few both sexes are glossy black. The ring-ousel,Turdus torquatus, has a dark bill and conspicuous white gorget, whence its name. It is rarer and more local than the common blackbird, and occurs in England only as a temporary spring and autumn visitor.

BLACK BUCK(Antilope cervicapra), the Indian Antelope, the sole species of its genus. This antelope, widely distributed in India, with the exception of Ceylon and the region east of the Bay of Bengal, stands about 32 in. high at the shoulder; the general hue is brown deepening with age to black; chest, belly and inner sides of limbs pure white, as are the muzzle and chin, and an area round the eyes. The horns are long, ringed, and form spirals with from three to five turns. The doe is smaller in size, yellowish-fawn above, and this hue obtains also in young males. These antelopes frequent grassy districts and are usually found in herds. Coursing black-buck with the cheeta (q.v.) is a favourite Indian sport.

BLACKBURN, COLIN BLACKBURN,Baron(1813-1896), British judge, was born in Selkirkshire in 1813, and educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking high mathematical honours in 1835. He was called to the bar in 1838, and went the northern circuit. His progress was at first slow, and he employed himself in reporting and editing, with T.F. Ellis, eight volumes of the highly-esteemed Ellis and Blackburn reports. His deficiency in all the more brilliant qualities of the advocate almost confined his practice to commercial cases, in which he obtained considerable employment in his circuit; but he continued to belong to the outside bar, and was so little known to the legal world that his promotion to a puisne judgeship in the court of queen’s bench in 1859 was at first ascribed to Lord Campbell’s partiality for his countrymen, but Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Wensleydale and Lord Cranworth came forward to defend the appointment. Blackburn himself is said to have thought that a county court judgeship was about to be offered him, which he had resolved to decline. He soon proved himself one of the soundest lawyers on the bench, and when he was promoted to the court of appeal in 1876 was considered the highest authority on common law. In 1876 he was made a lord of appeal and a life peer. Both in this capacity and as judge of the queen’s bench he delivered many judgments of the highest importance, and no decisions have been received with greater respect. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the commission charged to prepare a digest of the criminal law, but retired on account of indisposition in the following year. He died at his country residence, Doonholm in Ayrshire, on the 8th of January 1896. He was the author of a valuable work on theLaw of Sales.

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