VOLUME IV SLICE I Bisharin to Bohea

Articles in This Slice

BISHÂRÎN BLENDE

BISHOP, SIR HENRY ROWLEY BLENHEIM

BISHOP, ISABELLA BLENNERHASSETT, HARMAN

BISHOP BLERA

BISHOP AUCKLAND BLESSINGTON, MARGUERITE

BISHOP’S CASTLE BLIDA

BISHOP STORTFORD BLIGH, WILLIAM

BISKRA BLIND, MATHILDE

BISLEY BLIND HOOKEY

BISMARCK, OTTO EDUARD LEOPOLD VON BLINDING

BISMARCK (North Dakota, U.S.A.) BLINDMAN’S-BUFF

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO BLINDNESS

BISMILLAH BLISS, CORNELIUS NEWTON

BISMUTH BLISTER

BISMUTHITE BLIZZARD

BISMYA BLOCK, MARK ELIEZER

BISON BLOCK, MAURICE

BISQUE BLOCK

BISSELL, GEORGE EDWIN BLOCKADE

BISSEXT BLOCKHOUSE

BISTRE BLOEMAERT, ABRAHAM

BIT BLOEMEN, JAN FRANS VAN

BITHUR BLOEMFONTEIN

BITHYNIA BLOET, ROBERT

BITLIS BLOIS, LOUIS DE

BITONTO BLOIS

BITSCH BLOIS (Countship of)

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS BLOMEFIELD, FRANCIS

BITTERFELD BLOMFIELD, SIR ARTHUR WILLIAM

BITTERLING BLOMFIELD, CHARLES JAMES

BITTERN (bird) BLOMFIELD, EDWARD VALENTINE

BITTERN (liquor) BLONDEL, DAVID

BITTERS BLONDEL, JACQUES FRANÇOIS

BITUMEN BLONDIN

BITURIGES BLOOD

BITZIUS, ALBRECHT BLOOD-LETTING

BIVOUAC BLOOD-MONEY

BIWA BLOODSTONE

BIXIO, NINO BLOOM

BIZERTA BLOOMER, AMELIA JENKS

BIZET GEORGES BLOOMFIELD, MAURICE

BJÖRNEBORG BLOOMFIELD, ROBERT

BJÖRNSON, BJÖRNSTJERNE BLOOMFIELD

BLACHFORD, FREDERIC ROGERS BLOOMINGTON (Illinois, U.S.A.)

BLACK, ADAM BLOOMINGTON (Indiana, U.S.A.)

BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLOOMSBURG

BLACK, JOSEPH BLOUNT, CHARLES

BLACK, WILLIAM BLOUNT, EDWARD

BLACK APE BLOUNT, THOMAS

BLACKBALL BLOUNT, SIR THOMAS POPE

BLACKBERRY BLOUNT, WILLIAM

BLACKBIRD BLOUSE

BLACK BUCK BLOW, JOHN

BLACKBURN, COLIN BLACKBURN BLOW-GUN

BLACKBURN, JONATHAN BLOWITZ, HENRI GEORGES STEPHAN ADOLPHE DE

BLACKBURN BLOWPIPE

BLACKBURNE, FRANCIS BLÜCHER, GEBHARD LEBERECHT VON

BLACKCOCK BLUE

BLACK COUNTRY, THE BLUEBEARD

BLACK DROP BLUE-BOOK

BLACKFOOT BLUESTOCKING

BLACK FOREST BLUFF

BLACK HAWK BLUM, ROBERT FREDERICK

BLACKHEATH BLUMENBACH, JOHANN FRIEDRICH

BLACK HILLS BLUMENTHAL, LEONHARD

BLACKIE, JOHN STUART BLUNDERBUSS

BLACK ISLE BLUNT, JOHN HENRY

BLACKLOCK, THOMAS BLUNT, JOHN JAMES

BLACKMAIL BLUNT, WILFRID SCAWEN

BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD BLUNTSCHLI, JOHANN KASPAR

BLACKMORE, RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLYTH

BLACK MOUNTAIN B’NAI B’RITH, INDEPENDENT ORDER OF

BLACKPOOL BOA

BLACK ROD BOABDIL

BLACK SEA (body of water) BOADICEA

BLACK SEA (district of Russia) BOAR

BLACKSTONE, SIR WILLIAM BOARD

BLACK VEIL BOARDING-HOUSE

BLACKWATER BOARDING-OUT SYSTEM

BLACKWATER FEVER BOARDMAN, GEORGE DANA

BLACKWELL, THOMAS BOASE, HENRY SAMUEL

BLACKWOOD, WILLIAM BOAT

BLADDER BOATSWAIN

BLADDER AND PROSTATE DISEASES BOBBILI

BLADDER-WORT BOBBIO

BLADES, WILLIAM BOBER

BLAENAVON BOBRUISK

BLAGOVYESHCHENSK BOCAGE, MANUEL MARIA BARBOSA DE

BLAIKIE, WILLIAM GARDEN BOCAGE

BLAINE, JAMES GILLESPIE BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI

BLAINVILLE, HENRI MARIE DUCROTAY DE BOCCALINI, TRAJANO

BLAIR, FRANCIS PRESTON BOCCHERINI, LUIGI

BLAIR, HUGH BOCCHUS

BLAIR, JAMES BOCHART, SAMUEL

BLAIR, ROBERT BOCHOLT

BLAIR ATHOLL BOCHUM

BLAIRGOWRIE BÖCKH, PHILIPP AUGUST

BLAKE, EDWARD BÖCKLIN, ARNOLD

BLAKE, ROBERT BOCLAND

BLAKE, WILLIAM BOCSKAY, STEPHEN

BLAKELOCK, RALPH ALBERT BODE, JOHANN ELERT

BLAKENEY, WILLIAM BLAKENEY BODEL, JEHAN

BLAKESLEY, JOSEPH WILLIAMS BODENBACH

BLAMIRE, SUSANNA BODENSTEDT, FRIEDRICH MARTIN VON

BLANC, LOUIS BODHI VAMSA

BLANC, MONT BODICHON, BARBARA LEIGH SMITH

BLANCHARD, SAMUEL LAMAN BODIN, JEAN

BLANCHE, JACQUES ÉMILE BODKIN

BLANCHE OF CASTILE BODLE

BLANCH FEE BODLEY, GEORGE FREDERICK

BLANDFORD BODLEY, SIR THOMAS

BLANDRATA, GIORGIO BODMER, JOHANN JAKOB

BLANE, SIR GILBERT BODMIN

BLANFORD, WILLIAM THOMAS BODÖ

BLANK BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA

BLANKENBERGHE BODY-SNATCHING

BLANKENBURG BOECE, HECTOR

BLANKETEERS BOEHM, SIR JOSEPH EDGAR

BLANK VERSE BOEHM VON BAWERK, EUGEN

BLANQUI, JERÔME ADOLPHE BOEHME, JAKOB

BLANQUI, LOUIS AUGUSTE BOEOTIA

BLANTYRE (town of Central Africa) BOER

BLANTYRE (parish of Scotland) BOERHAAVE, HERMANN

BLARNEY BOETHUS

BLASHFIELD, EDWIN HOWLAND BOETIUS, ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS

BLASIUS, SAINT BOG

BLASPHEMY BOGATZKY, KARL HEINRICH VON

BLASS, FRIEDRICH BOGHAZ KEUI

BLASTING BOGIE

BLAUBEUREN BOGNOR

BLAVATSKY, HELENA PETROVNA BOGÓ

BLAYDES, FREDERICK HENRY MARVELL BOGODUKHOV

BLAYDON BOGOMILS

BLAYE-ET-STE LUCE BOGORODSK

BLAZE BOGOS

BLAZON BOGOTÁ

BLEACHING BOGRA

BLEAK BOGUE, DAVID

BLEEK, FRIEDRICH BOGUS

BLEEK, WILHELM HEINRICH IMMANUEL BOHEA

BISHÂRÎN (the anc. Ichthyophagi), a nomad tribe of African “Arabs,” of Hamitic origin, dwelling in the eastern part of the Nubian desert. In the middle ages they were known as Beja (q.v.), and they are the most characteristic of the Nubian “Arabs.” With the Abâbda and Hadendoa they represent the Blemmyes of classical writers. Linguistically and geographically the Bishârîn form a connecting link between the Hamitic populations and the Egyptians. Nominally they are Mahommedans. They, however, preserve some non-Islamic religious practices, and exhibit traces of animal-worship in their rule of never killing the serpent or the partridge, which are regarded as sacred.

BISHOP, SIR HENRY ROWLEY (1786-1855), English musical composer, was born in London on the 18th of November 1786. He received his artistic training from Francisco Bianchi, and in 1804 wrote the music to a piece called Angelina, which was performed at Margate. His next composition was the music to the ballet of Tamerlan et Bajazet, produced in 1806 at the King’s theatre. This proved successful, and was followed within two years by several others, of which Caractacus, a pantomimic ballet, written for Drury Lane, may be named. In 1809 his first opera, The Circassian’s Bride, was produced at Drury Lane; but unfortunately the theatre was burned down after one performance, and the score of the work perished in the flames. His next work of importance, the opera of The Maniac, written for the Lyceum in 1810, established his reputation, and probably secured for him an appointment for three years as composer for Covent Garden theatre. The numerous works—operas, burlettas, cantatas, incidental music to Shakespeare’s plays, &c.—which he composed while in this position, are in great part forgotten. The most successful were—The Virgin of the Sun (1812), The Miller and his Men (1813), Guy Mannering and The Slave (1816), Maid Marian and Clari, introducing the well-known air of “Home, Sweet Home” (1822). In 1825 Bishop was induced by Elliston to transfer his services from Covent Garden to the rival house in Drury Lane, for which he wrote with unusual care the opera of Aladdin, intended to compete with Weber’s Oberon, commissioned by the other house. The result was a failure, and with Aladdin Bishop’s career as an operatic composer may be said to close. On the formation of the Philharmonic Society (1813) Bishop was appointed one of the directors, and he took his turn as conductor of its concerts during the period when that office was held by different musicians in rotation. In 1830 he was appointed musical director at Vauxhall; and it was in the course of this engagement that he wrote the popular song “My Pretty Jane.” His sacred cantata, The Seventh Day, was written for the Philharmonic Society and performed in 1833. In 1839 he was made bachelor in music at Oxford. In 1841 he was appointed to the Reid chair of music in the university of Edinburgh, but he resigned the office in 1843. He was knighted in 1842, being the first musician who ever received that honour. In 1848 he succeeded Dr Crotch in the chair of music at Oxford. The music for the ode on the occasion of the installation of Lord Derby as chancellor of the university (1853) proved to be his last work. He died on the 30th of April 1855 in impoverished circumstances, though few composers ever made more by their labours. Bishop was twice married: to Miss Lyon and Miss Anne Rivière. Both he and his wives were singers. His name lives in connexion with his numerous glees, songs and smaller compositions. His melodies are clear, flowing, appropriate and often charming; and his harmony is always pure, simple and sweet.

BISHOP, ISABELLA (1832-1904), English traveller and author, daughter of the Rev. Edward Bird, rector of Tattenhall, Cheshire, was born in Yorkshire on the 15th of October 1832. Isabella Bird began to travel when she was twenty-two. Her first book, The Englishwoman in America (1856), consisted of her correspondence during a visit to Canada undertaken for her health. She visited the Rocky Mountains, the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, producing some brightly written books of travel. But her reputation was made by the records of her extensive travels in Asia: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (2 vols., 1880), Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan (2 vols., 1891), Among the Tibetans (1894), Korea and her Neighbours (2 vols., 1898), The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (1899), Chinese Pictures (1900). She married in 1881 Dr John Bishop, an Edinburgh physician, and was left a widow in 1886. In 1892 she became the first lady fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and in 1901 she rode a thousand miles in Morocco and the Atlas Mountains. She died in Edinburgh on the 7th of October 1904.

See Anna M. Stoddart, The Life of Isabella Bird (1906).

BISHOP (A.S. bisceop, from Lat. episcopus, Gr. ἐπίσκοπος, “overlooker” or “overseer”), in certain branches of the Christian Church, an ecclesiastic consecrated or set apart to perform certain spiritual functions, and to exercise oversight over the lower clergy (priests or presbyters, deacons, &c.). In the Catholic Church bishops take rank at the head of the sacerdotal hierarchy, and have certain spiritual powers peculiar to their office, but opinion has long been divided as to whether they constitute a separate order or form merely a higher degree of the order of priests (ordo sacerdotium).

In the Roman Catholic Church the bishop belongs to the highest order of the hierarchy, and in this respect is the peer even of the pope, who addresses him as “venerable brother.” By the decree of the council of Trent he must be thirty Roman Catholic. years of age, of legitimate birth, and of approved learning and virtue. The method of his selection varies in different countries. In France, under the Concordat, the sovereign—and under the republic the president—had the right of nomination. The same is true of Austria (except four sees), Bavaria, Spain and Portugal. In some countries the bishop is elected by the cathedral chapter (as in Württemberg), or by the bishops of the provinces (as in Ireland). In others, as in Great Britain, the United States of America and Belgium, the pope selects one out of a list submitted by the chapter. In all cases the nomination or election is subject to confirmation by the Holy See. Before this is granted the candidate is submitted to a double examination as to his fitness, first by a papal delegate at his place of residence (processus informativus in partibus electi), and afterwards by the Roman Congregation of Cardinals assigned for this purpose (processus electionis definitivus in curia). In the event of both processes proving satisfactory, the bishop-elect is confirmed, preconized, and so far promoted that he is allowed to exercise the rights of jurisdiction in his see. He cannot, however, exercise the functions proper to the episcopal order (potestas ordinis) until his consecration, which ordinarily takes place within three months of his confirmation. The bishop is consecrated, after taking the oath of fidelity to the Holy See, and subscribing the profession of faith, by a bishop appointed by the pope for the purpose, assisted by at least two other bishops or prelates, the main features of the act being the laying on of hands, the anointing with oil, and the delivery of the pastoral staff and other symbols of the office. After consecration the new bishop is solemnly enthroned and blesses the assembled congregation.

The potestas ordinis of the bishop is not peculiar to the Roman Church, and, in general, is claimed by all bishops, whether Oriental or Anglican, belonging to churches which have retained the Catholic tradition in this respect. Besides the full functions of the presbyterate, or priesthood, bishops have the sole right (1) to confer holy orders, (2) to administer confirmation, (3) to prepare the holy oil, or chrism, (4) to consecrate sacred places or utensils (churches, churchyards, altars, &c.), (5) to give the benediction to abbots and abbesses, (6) to anoint kings. In the matter of their rights of jurisdiction, however, Roman Catholic bishops differ from others in their peculiar responsibility to the Holy See. Some of their powers of legislation and administration they possess motu proprio in virtue of their position as diocesan bishops, others they enjoy under special faculties granted by the Holy See; but all bishops are bound, by an oath taken at the time of their consecration, to go to Rome at fixed intervals (visitare sacra limina apostolorum) to report in person, and in writing, on the state of their dioceses.

The Roman bishop ranks immediately after the cardinals; he is styled reverendissimus, sanctissimus or beatissimus. In English the style is “Right Reverend”; the bishop being addressed as “my lord bishop.”

The insignia (pontificalia or pontificals) of the Roman Catholic bishop are (1) a ring with a jewel, symbolizing fidelity to the church, (2) the pastoral staff, (3) the pectoral cross, (4) the vestments, consisting of the caligae, stockings and sandals, the tunicle, and purple gloves, (5) the mitre, symbol of the royal priesthood, (6) the throne (cathedra), surmounted by a baldachin or canopy, on the gospel side of the choir in the cathedral church.

The spiritual function and character of the Anglican bishops, allowing for the doctrinal changes effected at the Reformation, are similar to those of the Roman. They alone can administer the rite of confirmation, ordain priests and deacons, and exercise a certain dispensing power. In Anglican. the established Church of England the appointment of bishops is vested effectively in the crown, though the old form of election by the cathedral chapter is retained. They must be learned presbyters at least thirty years of age, born in lawful wedlock, and of good life and behaviour. The mode of appointment is regulated by 25 Henry VIII. c. 20, re-enacted in 1 Elizabeth c. 1 (Act of Supremacy 1558). On a vacancy occurring, the dean and chapter notify the king thereof in chancery, and pray leave to make election. A licence under the Great Seal to proceed to the election of a bishop, known as the congé d’eslire, together with a letter missive containing the name of the king’s nominee, is thereupon sent to the dean and chapter, who are bound under the penalties of Praemunire to proceed within twelve days to the election of the person named in it. In the event of their refusing obedience or neglecting to elect, the bishop may be appointed by letters patent under the Great Seal without the form of election. Upon the election being reported to the crown, a mandate issues from the crown to the archbishop and metropolitan, requesting him and commanding him to confirm the election, and to invest and consecrate the bishop-elect. Thereupon the archbishop issues a commission to his vicar-general to examine formally the process of the election of the bishop, and to supply by his authority all defects in matters of form, and to administer to the bishop-elect the oaths of allegiance, of supremacy and of canonical obedience (see Confirmation of Bishops). In the disestablished and daughter Churches the election is by the synod of the Church, as in Ireland, or by a diocesan convention, as in the United States of America.

In the Church of England the potestas ordinis is conferred by consecration. This is usually carried out by an archbishop, who is assisted by two or more bishops. The essential “form” of the consecration is in the simultaneous “laying on of hands” by the consecrating prelates. After this the new bishop, who has so far been vested only in a rochet, retires and puts on the rest of the episcopal habit, viz. the chimere. After consecration the bishop is competent to exercise all the spiritual functions of his office; but a bishopric in the Established Church, being a barony, is under the guardianship of the crown during a vacancy, and has to be conferred afresh on each new holder. A bishop, then, cannot enter into the enjoyment of the temporalities of his see, including his rights of presentation to benefices, before doing homage to the king. This is done in the ancient feudal form, surviving elsewhere only in the conferring of the M.A. degree at Cambridge. The bishop kneels before the king, places his hands between his, and recites an oath of temporal allegiance; he then kisses hands.

Besides the functions exercised in virtue of their order, bishops are also empowered by law to exercise a certain jurisdiction over all consecrated places and over all ordained persons. This jurisdiction they exercise for the most part through their consistorial courts, or through commissioners appointed under the Church Discipline Act of 1840. By the Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 it was decreed that the trial of clerks accused of unfitness to exercise the cure of souls should be before the consistory court with five assessors. Under the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874, which gave to churchwardens and aggrieved parishioners the right to institute proceedings against the clergy for breaches of the law in the conduct of divine service, a discretionary right was reserved to the bishop to stay proceedings.

The bishops also exercise a certain jurisdiction over marriages, inasmuch as they have by the canons of the Church of England a power of dispensing with the proclamation of banns before marriage. These dispensations are termed marriage licences, and their legal validity is recognised by the Marriage Act of 1823. The bishops had formerly jurisdiction over all questions touching the validity of marriages and the status of married persons, but this jurisdiction has been transferred from the consistorial courts of the bishops to a court of the crown by the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. They have in a similar manner been relieved of their jurisdiction in testamentary matters, and in matters of defamation and of brawling in churches; and the only jurisdiction which they continue to exercise over the general laity is with regard to their use of the churches and churchyards. The churchwardens, who are representative officers of the parishes, are also executive officers of the bishops in all matters touching the decency and order of the churches and of the churchyards, and they are responsible to the bishops for the due discharge of their duties; but the abolition of church rates has relieved the churchwardens of the most onerous part of their duties, which was connected with the stewardship of the church funds of their parishes.

The bishops are still authorized by law to dedicate and set apart buildings for the solemnization of divine service, and grounds for the performance of burials, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England; and such buildings and grounds, after they have been duly consecrated according to law, cannot be diverted to any secular purpose except under the authority of an act of parliament.

The bishops of England have also jurisdiction to examine clerks who may be presented to benefices within their respective dioceses, and they are bound in each case by the 95th canon of 1604 to inquire and inform themselves of the sufficiency of each clerk within twenty-eight days, after which time, if they have not rejected him as insufficiently qualified, they are bound to institute him, or to license him, as the case may be, to the benefice, and thereupon to send their mandate to the archdeacon to induct him into the temporalities of the benefice. Where the bishop himself is patron of a benefice within his own diocese he is empowered to collate a clerk to it,—in other words, to confer it on the clerk without the latter being presented to him. Where the clerk himself is patron of the living, the bishop may institute him on his own petition. (See Benefice.)

As spiritual peers, bishops of the Church of England have (subject to the limitations stated below) seats in the House of Lords, though whether as barons or in their spiritual character has been a matter of dispute. The latter, however, would seem to be the case, since a bishop was entitled to his writ of summons after confirmation and before doing homage for his barony. Doubts having been raised whether a bishop of the Church of England, being a lord of parliament, could resign his seat in the Upper House, although several precedents to that effect are on record, a statute of the realm, which was confined to the case of the bishops of London and Durham, was passed in 1856, declaring that on the resignation of their sees being accepted by their respective metropolitans, those bishops should cease to sit as lords of parliament, and their sees should be filled up in the manner provided by law in the case of the avoidance of a bishopric. In 1869 the Bishops’ Resignation Act was passed. It provided that, on any bishop desiring to retire on account of age or incapacity, the sovereign should be empowered to declare the see void by an order in council, the retiring bishop of archbishop to be secured the use of the episcopal residence for life and a pension of one-third of the revenues of the see, or £2000, whichever sum should prove the larger. Other sections defined the proceedings for proving, in case of need, the incapacity of a bishop, provided for the appointment of coadjutors and defined their status (Phillimore i. 82).

In view of the necessity for increasing the episcopate in the 19th century and the objection to the consequent increase of the spiritual peers in the Upper House, it was finally enacted by the Bishoprics Act of 1878 that only the archbishops and the bishops of London, Winchester and Durham should be always entitled to writs summoning them to the House of Lords. The rest of the twenty-five seats are filled up, as a vacancy occurs, according to seniority of consecration.

Bishops of the Church of England rank in order of precedency immediately above barons. They may marry, but their wives as such enjoy no title or precedence. Bishops are addressed as “Right Reverend” and have legally the style of “Lord,” which, as in the case of Roman Catholic bishops in England, is extended to all, whether suffragans or holders of colonial bishoprics, by courtesy.

The insignia of the Anglican bishop are the rochet and the chimere, and the episcopal throne on the gospel side of the chancel of the cathedral church. The use of the mitre, pastoral staff and pectoral cross, which had fallen into complete disuse by the end of the 18th century, has been now very commonly, though not universally, revived; and, in some cases, the interpretation put upon the “Ornaments rubric” by the modern High Church school has led to a more complete revival of the pre-Reformation vestments.

In the Orthodox Church of the East and the various communions springing from it, the potestas ordinis of the bishop is the same as in the Western Church. Among his qualifications the most peculiar is that he must be unmarried, which, since the secular priests are compelled to Orthodox Eastern. marry, entails his belonging to the “black clergy” or monks. The insignia of an oriental bishop, with considerable variation in form, are essentially the same as those of the Catholic West.

Besides bishops presiding over definite sees, there have been from time immemorial in the Christian Church bishops holding their jurisdiction in subordination to the bishop of the diocese. (1) The oldest of these were the chorepiscopi Subordinate bishops. (τῆς χώρας ἐπίσκοποι), i.e. country bishops, who were delegated by the bishops of the cities in the early church to exercise jurisdiction in the remote towns and villages as these were converted from paganism. Their functions varied in different times and places, and by some it has been held that they were originally only presbyters. In any case, this class of bishops, which had been greatly curtailed in the East in A.D. 343 by the council of Laodicea, was practically extinct everywhere by the 10th century. It survived longest in Ireland, where in 1152 a synod, presided over by the papal legate, decreed that, after the death of the existing holders of the office, no more should be consecrated. Their place was taken by arch-presbyters and rural deans. (2) The Episcopi regionarii, or gentium, were simply missionary bishops without definite sees. Such were, at the outset, Boniface, the apostle of Germany, and Willibrord, the apostle of the Frisians. (3) Bishops in partibus infidelium were originally those who had been expelled from their sees by the pagans, and, while retaining their titles, were appointed to assist diocesan bishops in their work. In later times the custom arose of consecrating bishops for this purpose, or merely as an honorary distinction, with a title derived from some place once included within, but now beyond the bounds of Christendom. (4) Coadjutor bishops are such as are appointed to assist the bishop of the diocese when incapacitated by infirmity or by other causes from fulfilling his functions alone. Coadjutors in the early church were appointed with a view to their succeeding to the see; but this, though common in practice, is no longer the rule. In the Church of England the appointment and rights of coadjutor bishops were regulated by the Bishops’ Resignation Act of 1869. Under this act the coadjutor bishop has the right of succession to the see, or in the case of the archiepiscopal sees and those of London, Winchester and Durham, to the see vacated by the bishop, translated from another diocese to fill the vacancy. (5) Suffragan bishops (episcopi sufraganei or auxiliares) are those appointed to assist diocesan bishops in their pontifical functions when hindered by infirmity, public affairs or other causes. In the Roman Church the appointment of the suffragan rests with the pope, on the petition of the bishop, who must prove that such is the custom of the see, name a suitable priest and guarantee his maintenance. The suffragan is given a title in partibus, but never that of archbishop, and the same title is never given to two suffragans in succession. In the Church of England the status of suffragan bishops was regulated by the Act 26 Henry VIII. c. 14. Under this statute, which, after long remaining inoperative, was amended and again put into force by the Suffragans’ Nomination Act of 1888, every archbishop and bishop, being disposed to have a suffragan to assist him, may name two honest and discreet spiritual persons for the crown to give to one of them the title, name, style and dignity of a bishop of any one of twenty-six sees enumerated in the statute, as the crown may think convenient. The crown, having made choice of one of such persons, is empowered to present him by letters patent under the great seal to the metropolitan, requiring him to consecrate him to the same name, title, style and dignity of a bishop; and the person so consecrated is thereupon entitled to exercise, under a commission from the bishop who has nominated him, such authority and jurisdiction, within the diocese of such bishop, as shall be given to him by the commission, and no other.

The title of bishop survived the Reformation in certain of the Lutheran churches of the continent, in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Transylvania; it was temporarily restored in Prussia in 1701, for the coronation Lutheran churches. of King Frederick I., again between 1816 and 1840 by Frederick William III., and in Nassau in 1818. In these latter cases, however, the title bishop is equivalent to that of “superintendent,” the form most generally employed. The Lutheran bishops, as a rule, do not possess or claim unbroken “apostolic succession”; those of Finland and Sweden are, however, an exception. The Lutheran bishops of Transylvania sit, with the Roman and Orthodox bishops, in the Hungarian Upper House. In some cases the secularization of episcopal principalities at the Reformation led to the survival of the title of bishop as a purely secular distinction. Thus the see of Osnabrück (Osnaburgh) was occupied, from the peace of Westphalia to 1802, alternately by a Catholic and a Protestant prince. From 1762 to 1802 it was held by Frederick, duke of York, the last prince-bishop. Similarly, the bishopric of Schwerin survived as a Protestant prince-bishopric until 1648, when it was finally secularized and annexed to Mecklenburg, and the see of Lübeck was held by Protestant “bishops” from 1530 till its annexation to Oldenburg in 1803.1

In other Protestant communities, e.g. the Moravians, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Mormons, the office and title of bishop have survived, or been created. Their functions and status will be found described in the accounts of the several churches.

See Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, s. “Bischof” and “Weihen”; Hinschius, Kirchenrecht, vol. ii.; Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, s. “Bischof” (the author rather arbitrarily classes Anglican with Lutheran bishops as not bishops in any proper sense at all); Phillimore’s Ecclesiastical Law; the articles Order, Holy; Vestments; Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; Episcopacy.

(W. A. P.)

1 The title prince-bishop, attached in Austria to the sees of Laibach, Seckau, Gurk, Brixen, Trent and Lavant, and in Prussia to that of Breslau, no longer implies any secular jurisdiction, but is merely a title of honour recognized by the state, owing either to the importance of the sees or for reasons purely historical.

BISHOP AUCKLAND, a market town in the Bishop Auckland parliamentary division of Durham, England, 11 m. S.S.W. of the city of Durham, the junction of several branches of the North Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 11,969. It is beautifully situated on an eminence near the confluence of the Wear and the Gaunless. The parish church is 1 m. distant, at Auckland St Andrews, a fine cruciform structure, formerly collegiate, in style mainly Early English, but with earlier portions. The palace of the bishops of Durham, which stands at the north-east end of the town, is a spacious and splendid, though irregular pile The site of the palace was first chosen by Bishop Anthony Beck, in the time of Edward I. The present building covers about 5 acres, and is surrounded by a park of 800 acres. On the Wear 1½ m. above Bishop Auckland there is a small and very ancient church at Escomb, massively built and tapering from the bottom upward. It is believed to date from the 7th century, and some of the stones are evidently from a Roman building, one bearing an inscription. These, no doubt, came from Binchester, a short distance up stream, where remains of a Roman fort (Vinovia) are traceable. It guarded the great Roman north road from York to Hadrian’s wall. The industrial population of Bishop Auckland is principally employed in the neighbouring collieries and iron works.

BISHOP’S CASTLE, a market town and municipal borough in the southern parliamentary division of Shropshire, England; the terminus of the Bishop’s Castle light railway from Craven Arms. Pop. (1901) 1378. It is pleasantly situated in a hilly district to the east of Clun Forest, climbing the flank and occupying the summit of an eminence. Of the castle of the bishops of Hereford, which gave the town its name, there are only the slightest fragments remaining. The town has some agricultural trade. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 1867 acres.

Bishop’s Castle was included in the manor of Lydbury, which belonged to the church of Hereford before the Conquest. The castle, at first called Lydbury Castle, was built by one of the bishops of Hereford between 1085 and 1154, to protect his manor from the Welsh, and the town which sprang up round the castle walls acquired the name of Bishop’s Castle in the 13th century. In 1292 the bishop claimed to have a market every Friday, a fair on the eve, day and morrow of the Decollation of St John, and assize of bread and ale in Bishop’s Castle, which his predecessors had held from time immemorial. Ten years later he received a grant from Richard II. of a market every Wednesday and a fair on the 2nd of November and two days following. Although the town was evidently a borough by the 13th century, since the burgesses are mentioned as early as 1292, it has no charter earlier than the incorporation charter granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1572. This was confirmed by James I. in 1617 and by James II. in 1688. In 1584 Bishop’s Castle returned two members to parliament, and was represented until 1832, when it was disfranchised.

BISHOP STORTFORD, a market town in the Hertford parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England; 30½ m. N.N.E. from London by the Cambridge line of the Great Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7143. It lies on the river Stort, close to the county boundary with Essex, and has water-communication with London through the Lea and Stort Navigation. The church of St Michael, standing high above the valley, is a fine embattled Perpendicular building with western tower and spire. The high school, formerly the grammar school, was founded in the time of Elizabeth. Here were educated Sir Henry Chauncy, an early historian of Hertfordshire (d. 1719), and Cecil Rhodes, who was born at Bishop Stortford in 1853. There are a Nonconformist grammar school, a diocesan training college for mistresses, and other educational establishments. The industries include brewing and malting, coach-building, lime-burning and founding, and there are important horse and cattle markets.

Before the Conquest the manor of Bishop Stortford is said to have belonged to Eddeva the Fair, wife of Harold, who sold it to the bishop of London, from whom it was taken by William the Conqueror. William restored it after a few years, and with it gave the bishop a small castle called Waytemore, of which there are scanty remains. The dungeon of this castle, called “Bishop’s Hole” or “Bishop’s Prison,” was used as an ecclesiastical prison until the 16th century. The town now possesses no early incorporation charters, and although both Chauncy and Salmon in their histories of Hertfordshire state that it was created a borough by charter of King John in 1206, the charter cannot now be found. The first mention of Bishop Stortford as a borough occurs in 1311, in which year the burgesses returned two members to parliament. The town was represented from that date until 1332, and again in 1335-1336, but the privilege was then allowed to lapse and has never been revived.

BISKRA, a town of Algeria, in the arrondissement of Batna, department of Constantine, 150 m. S.W. of the city of Constantine and connected with it and with Philippeville by rail. It lies in the Sahara 360 ft. above the sea, on the right bank of the Wad Biskra, a river which, often nearly dry for many months in the year, becomes a mighty torrent after one or two days’ rain in winter. The name Biskra applies to a union of five or six villages of the usual Saharan type, scattered through an oasis 3 m. in length by less than 1 m. broad, and separated by huge gardens full of palm and olive trees. The houses are built of hardened mud, with doors and roof of palm wood. The foreign settlement is on the north of the oasis; it consists of a broad main street, the rue Berthe (from which a few side streets branch at right angles), lined with European houses, the whole in the style of a typical French winter resort, a beautiful public garden, with the church in the centre, an arcade, a pretentious mairie in pseudo-Moorish style with entrance guarded by terra-cotta lions, some good shops, a number of excellent hotels and cafes, a casino, clubs, and, near by, a street of dancing and singing girls of the tribe of Walad-Nail. East of the public garden is Fort St Germain, named after an officer killed in the insurrection of the Zaatcha in 1849; it is capable of resisting any attack of the Arabs, and extensive enough to shelter the whole of the civil population, who took refuge therein during the rebellion of 1871. It contains barracks, hospital and government offices. To the south-east lies the Villa Landon with magnificent gardens filled with tropical plants. The population (1906) of the chief settlement was 4218, of the whole oasis 10,413.

From November to April the climate of Biskra is delightful. Nowhere in Algeria can be found more genial temperature or clearer skies, and while in summer the thermometer often registers 110° F. in the shade, and 90° at night, the pure dryness of the air in this practically rainless region makes the heat endurable. The only drawback to the climat is the prevalence of high cold winds in winter. These winds cause temperatures as low as 36°, but the mean reading, on an average of ten years, is 73°.

In the oasis are some 200,000 fruit trees, of which about 150,000 are date-palms, the rest being olives, pomegranates and apricots. In the centre of the oasis is the old kasbah or citadel.

In 1844 the duc d’Aumale occupied this fort, and here, on the night of the 12th of May of that year, the 68 men who formed the French garrison were, with one exception, massacred by Arabs. In the fort are a few fragments of Roman work—all that remains of the Roman post Ad Piscinam.

Biskra is the capital of the Ziban (plural of Zab), a race of mixed Berber and Arab origin, whose villages extend from the southern slopes of the Aures to the Shat Melrir. These villages, built in oases dotted over the desert, nestle in groves of date-palms and fruit trees and waving fields of barley. The most interesting village is that of Sidi Okba, 12 m. south-east of Biskra. It is built of houses of one story made of sun-dried bricks. The mosque is square, with a flat roof supported on clay columns, and crowned by a minaret. In the north-west corner of the mosque is the tomb of Sidi Okba, the leader of the Arabs who in the 1st century of the Hegira conquered Africa for Islam from Egypt to Tangier. Sidi Okba was killed by the Berbers near this place in A.D. 682. On his tomb is the inscription in Cufic characters, “This is the tomb of Okba, son of Nafi. May God have mercy upon him.” No older Arabic inscription is known to exist in Africa.

BISLEY, a village of Surrey, England, 3½ m. N.W. of Woking. The ranges of the National Rifle Association were transferred from Wimbledon here in 1890. (See Rifle.)

BISMARCK, OTTO EDUARD LEOPOLD VON, Prince, duke of Lauenburg (1815-1898), German statesman, was born on the 1st of April 1815, at the manor-house of Schönhausen, his father’s seat in the mark of Brandenburg. The family has, since the 14th century, belonged to the landed gentry, and many members had held high office in the kingdom of Prussia. His father (d. 1845), of whom he always spoke with much affection, was a quiet, unassuming man, who retired from the army in early life with the rank of captain of cavalry (Rittmeister). His mother, a daughter of Mencken, cabinet secretary to the king, was a woman of strong character and ability, who had been brought up at Berlin under the “Aufklärung.” Her ambition was centred in her sons, but Bismarck in his recollections of his childhood missed the influences of maternal tenderness. There were several children of the marriage, which took place in 1806, but all died in childhood except Bernhard (1810-1893), Otto, and one sister, Malvina (b. 1827), who married in 1845 Oscar von Arnim. Young Bismarck was educated in Berlin, first at a private school, then at the gymnasium of the Graue Kloster (Grey Friars). At the age of seventeen he went to the university of Göttingen, where he spent a little over a year; he joined the corps of the Hannoverana and took a leading part in the social life of the students. He completed his studies at Berlin, and in 1835 passed the examinations which admitted him to the public service. He was intended for the diplomatic service, but spent some months at Aix-la-Chapelle in administrative work, and then was transferred to Potsdam and the judicial side. He soon retired from the public service; he conceived a great distaste for it, and had shown himself defective in discipline and regularity. In 1839, after his mother’s death, he undertook, with his brother, the management of the family estates in Pomerania; at this time most of the estate attached to Schönhausen had to be sold. In 1844, after the marriage of his sister, he went to live with his father at Schönhausen. He and his brother took an active part in local affairs, and in 1846 he was appointed Deichhauptmann, an office in which he was responsible for the care of the dykes by which the country, in the neighbourhood of the Elbe, was preserved from inundation. During these years he travelled in England, France and Switzerland. The influence of his mother, and his own wide reading and critical character, made him at one time inclined to hold liberal opinions on government and religion, but he was strongly affected by the religious revival of the early years of the reign of Frederick William IV.; his opinions underwent a great change, and under the influence of the neighbouring country gentlemen he acquired those strong principles in favour of monarchical government as the expression of the Christian state, of which he was to become the most celebrated exponent. His religious convictions were strengthened by his marriage to Johanna von Puttkamer, which took place in 1847.

In the same year he entered public life, being chosen as substitute for the representative of the lower nobility of his district in the estates-general, which were in that year summoned to Berlin. He took his seat with Parliamentary career. extreme right, and distinguished himself by the vigour and originality with which he defended the rights of the king and the Christian monarchy against the Liberals. When the revolution broke out in the following year he offered to bring the peasants of Schönhausen to Berlin in order to defend the king against the revolutionary party, and in the last meeting of the estates voted in a minority of two against the address thanking the king for granting a constitution. He did not sit in any of the assemblies summoned during the revolutionary year, but took a very active part in the formation of a union of the Conservative party, and was one of the founders of the Kreuzzeitung, which has since then been the organ of the Monarchical party in Prussia. In the new parliament which was elected at the beginning of 1849, he sat for Brandenburg, and was one of the most frequent and most incisive speakers of what was called the Junker party. He took a prominent part in the discussions on the new Prussian constitution, always defending the power of the king. His speeches of this period show great debating skill, combined with strong originality and imagination. His constant theme was, that the party disputes were a struggle for power between the forces of revolution, which derived their strength from the fighters on the barricades, and the Christian monarchy, and that between these opposed principles no compromise was possible. He took also a considerable part in the debates on the foreign policy of the Prussian government; he defended the government for not accepting the Frankfort constitution, and opposed the policy of Radowitz, on the ground that the Prussian king would be subjected to the control of a non-Prussian parliament. The only thing, he said, that had come out of the revolutionary year unharmed, and had saved Prussia from dissolution and Germany from anarchy, was the Prussian army and the Prussian civil service; and in the debates on foreign policy he opposed the numerous plans for bringing about the union of Germany, by subjecting the crown and Prussia to a common German parliament. He had a seat in the parliament of Erfurt, but only went there in order to oppose the constitution which the parliament had framed. He foresaw that the policy of the government would lead it into a position when it would have to fight against Austria on behalf of a constitution by which Prussia itself would be dissolved, and he was, therefore, one of the few prominent politicians who defended the complete change of front which followed the surrender of Olmütz.

It was probably his speeches on German policy which induced the king to appoint him Prussian representative at the restored diet of Frankfort in 1851. The appointment was a bold one, as he was entirely without diplomatic experience, Diplomatic career. but he justified the confidence placed in him. During the eight years he spent at Frankfort he acquired an unrivalled knowledge of German politics. He was often used for important missions, as in 1852, when he was sent to Vienna. He was entrusted with the negotiations by which the duke of Augustenburg was persuaded to assent to the arrangements by which he resigned his claims to Schleswig and Holstein. The period he spent at Frankfort, however, was of most importance because of the change it brought about in his own political opinions. When he went to Frankfort he was still under the influence of the extreme Prussian Conservatives, men like the Gerlachs, who regarded the maintenance of the principle of the Christian monarchy against the revolution as the chief duty of the Prussian government. He was prepared on this ground for a close alliance with Austria. He found, however, a deliberate intention on the part of Austria to humble Prussia, and to degrade her from the position of an equal power, and also great jealousy of Prussia among the smaller German princes, many of whom owed their thrones to the Prussian soldiers, who, as in Saxony and Baden, had crushed the insurgents. He therefore came to the conclusion that if Prussia was to regain the position she had lost she must be prepared for the opposition of Austria, and must strengthen herself by alliances with other powers. The solidarity of Conservative interests appeared to him now a dangerous fiction. At the time of the Crimean War he advocated alliance with Russia, and it was to a great extent owing to his advice that Prussia did not join the western powers. Afterwards he urged a good understanding with Napoleon, but his advice was met by the insuperable objection of King Frederick William IV. to any alliance with a ruler of revolutionary origin.

The change of ministry which followed the establishment of a regency in 1857 made it desirable to appoint a new envoy at Frankfort, and in 1858 Bismarck was appointed ambassador at St Petersburg, where he remained for four years. During this period he acquired some knowledge of Russian, and gained the warm regard of the tsar, as well as of the dowager-empress, herself a Prussian princess. During the first two years he had little influence on the Prussian government; the Liberal ministers distrusted his known opinions on parliamentary government, and the monarchical feeling of the prince regent was offended by Bismarck’s avowed readiness for alliance with the Italians and his disregard of the rights of other princes. The failure of the ministry, and the estrangement between King William and the Liberal party, opened to him the way to power. Roon, who was appointed minister of war in 1861, was an old friend of his, and through him Bismarck was thenceforward kept closely informed of the condition of affairs in Berlin. On several occasions the prospect of entering the ministry was open to him, but nothing came of it, apparently because he required a free hand in foreign affairs, and this the king was not prepared to give him. When an acute crisis arose out of the refusal of parliament, in 1862, to vote the money required for the reorganization of the army, which the king and Roon had carried through, he was summoned to Berlin; but the king was still unable to make up his mind to appoint him, although he felt that Bismarck was the only man who had the courage and capacity for conducting the struggle with parliament. He was, therefore, in June, made ambassador at Paris as a temporary expedient. There he had the opportunity for renewing the good understanding with Napoleon which had been begun in 1857. He also paid a short visit to England, but it does not appear that this had any political results. In September the parliament, by a large majority, threw out the budget, and the king, having nowhere else to turn for help, at Roon’s advice summoned Bismarck to Berlin and appointed him minister president and foreign minister.

Bismarck’s duty as minister was to carry on the government against the wishes of the lower house, so as to enable the king to complete and maintain the reorganized army. The opposition of the House was supported by the country Ministry. and by a large party at court, including the queen and crown prince. The indignation which his appointment caused was intense; he was known only by the reputation which in his early years he had won as a violent ultra-Conservative, and the apprehensions were increased by his first speech, in which he said that the German question could not be settled by speeches and parliamentary decrees, but only by blood and iron. His early fall was predicted, and it was feared that he might bring down the monarchy with him. Standing almost alone he succeeded in the task he had undertaken. For four years he ruled without a budget, taking advantage of an omission in the constitution which did not specify what was to happen in case the crown and the two Houses could not agree on a budget. The conflict of the ministers and the House assumed at times the form of bitter personality hostility; in 1863 the ministers refused any longer to attend the sittings, and Bismarck challenged Virchow, one of his strongest opponents, to a duel, which, however, did not take place. In 1852 he had fought a duel with pistols against Georg von Vindre, a political opponent. In June 1863, as soon as parliament had risen, Bismarck published ordinances controlling the liberty of the press, which, though in accordance with the letter, seemed opposed to the intentions of the constitution, and it was on this occasion that the crown prince, hitherto a silent opponent, publicly dissociated himself from the policy of his father’s ministers. Bismarck depended for his position solely on the confidence of the king, and the necessity for defending himself against the attempts to destroy this confidence added greatly to the suspiciousness of his nature. He was, however, really indispensable, for his resignation must be followed by a Liberal ministry, parliamentary control over the army, and probably the abdication of the king. Not only, therefore, was he secure in the continuance of the king’s support, but he had also the complete control of foreign affairs. Thus he could afford to ignore the criticism of the House, and the king was obliged to acquiesce in the policy of a minister to whom he owed so much.

He soon gave to the policy of the monarchy a resolution which had long been wanting. When the emperor of Austria summoned a meeting of the German princes at Frankfort to discuss a reform of the confederation, Bismarck Foreign policy. insisted that the king of Prussia must not attend. He remained away, and his absence in itself made the congress unavailing. There can be no doubt that from the time he entered on office Bismarck was determined to bring to an issue the long struggle for supremacy in Germany between the house of Habsburg and the house of Hohenzollern. Before he was able to complete his preparations for this, two unforeseen occurrences completely altered the European situation, and caused the conflict to be postponed for three years. The first was the outbreak of rebellion in Poland. Bismarck, an inheritor of the older Prussian traditions, and recollecting how much of the greatness of Prussia had been gained at the expense of the Poles, offered his help to the tsar. By this he placed himself in opposition to the universal feeling of western Europe; no act of his life added so much to the repulsion with which at this time he was regarded as an enemy of liberty and right. He won, however, the gratitude of the tsar and the support of Russia, which in the next years was to be of vital service to him. Even more serious were the difficulties arising in Denmark. On the death of King Frederick VII. in 1863, Prince Frederick of Augustenburg came forward as claimant to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had hitherto been joined to the crown of Denmark. He was strongly supported by the whole German nation and by many of its princes. Bismarck, however, once more was obliged to oppose the current of national feeling, which imperiously demanded that the German duchies should be rescued from a foreign yoke. Prussia was bound by the treaty of London of 1852, which guaranteed the integrity of the Danish monarchy; to have disregarded this would have been to bring about a coalition against Germany similar to that of 1851. Moreover, he held that it would be of no advantage to Prussia to create a new German state; if Denmark were to lose the duchies, he desired that Prussia should acquire them, and to recognize the Augustenburg claims would make this impossible. His resistance to the national desire made him appear a traitor to his country. To check the agitation he turned for help to Austria; and an alliance of the two powers, so lately at variance, was formed. He then falsified all the predictions of the opposition by going to war with Denmark, not, as they had required, in support of Augustenburg, but on the ground that the king of Denmark had violated his promise not to oppress his German subjects. Austria continued to act with Prussia, and, after the defeat of the Danes, at the peace of Vienna the sovereignty of the duchies was surrendered to the two allies—the first step towards annexation by Prussia. There is no part of Bismarck’s diplomatic work which deserves such careful study as these events. Watched as he was by countless enemies at home and abroad, a single false step would have brought ruin and disgrace on himself; the growing national excitement would have burst through all restraint, and again, as fifteen years before, Germany divided and unorganized would have had to capitulate to the orders of foreign powers (see Schleswig-Holstein Question).

The peace of Vienna left him once more free to return to his older policy. For the next eighteen months he was occupied in preparing for war with Austria. For this war the was alone responsible; he undertook it deliberately War with Austria. as the only means of securing Prussian ascendancy in Germany. The actual cause of dispute was the disposition of the conquered duchies, for Austria now wished to put Augustenburg in as duke, a plan to which Bismarck would not assent. In 1865 a provisional arrangement was made by the treaty of Gastein, for Bismarck was not yet ready. He would not risk a war unless he was certain of success, and for this he required the alliance of Italy and French support; both he secured during the next year. In October 1865 he visited Napoleon at Biarritz and Paris. No formal treaty was made, but Napoleon promised to regard favourably an extension of Prussian power in Germany; while Bismarck led the emperor to believe that Prussia would help him in extending the frontier of France. A treaty of alliance with Italy was arranged in the spring of 1866; and Bismarck then with much difficulty overcame the reluctance of the king to embark in a war with his old ally. The results of the war entirely justified his calculations. Prussia, though opposed by all the German states except a few principalities in the north, completely defeated all her enemies, and at the end of a few weeks the whole of Germany lay at her feet.

The war of 1866 is more than that of 1870 the crisis of modern German history. It finally settled the controversy which had begun more than a hundred years before, and left Prussia the dominant power in Germany. It determined Settlement of 1866. that the unity of Germany should be brought about not by revolutionary means as in 1848, not as in 1849 had been attempted by voluntary agreement of the princes, not by Austria, but by the sword of Prussia. This was the great work of Bismarck’s life; he had completed the programme foreshadowed in his early speeches, and finished the work of Frederick the Great. It is also the turning-point in Bismarck’s own life. Having secured the dominance of the crown in Prussia and of Prussia in Germany, he could afford to make a reconciliation with the parties which had been his chief opponents, and turn to them for help in building up a new Germany. The settlement of 1866 was peculiarly his work. We must notice, first, how in arranging the terms of peace he opposed the king and the military party who wished to advance on Vienna and annex part of Austrian Silesia; with greater foresight he looked to renewing the old friendship with Austria, and insisted (even with the threat of resignation) that no territory should be demanded. The southern states he treated with equal moderation, and thereby was able to arrange an offensive and defensive alliance with them. On the other hand, in order to secure the complete control of North Germany, which was his immediate object, he required that the whole of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Nassau and the city of Frankfort, as well as the Elbe duchies, should be absorbed in Prussia. He then formed a separate confederation of the North German states, but did not attempt to unite the whole of Germany, partly because of the internal difficulties which this would have produced, partly because it would have brought about a war with France. In the new confederation he became sole responsible minister, with the title Bundes-Kanzler; this position he held till 1890, in addition to his former post of premier minister. In 1871 the title was altered to Reichs-Kanzler.

The reconciliation with the Prussian parliament he effected by bringing in a bill of indemnity for the money which had been spent without leave of parliament. The Radicals still continued their opposition, but he thereby made possible the formation of a large party of moderate Liberals, who thenceforward supported him in his new Nationalist policy. He aslo, in the constitution for the new confederation, introduced a parliament (Bundestag) elected by universal suffrage. This was the chief demand of the revolutionists in 1848; it was one to which in his early life he had been strongly opposed. His experience at Frankfort had diminished his dislike of popular representation, and it was probably to the advice of Lassalle that his adoption of universal suffrage was due. He first publicly proposed it just before the war; by carrying it out, notwithstanding the apprehensions of many Liberal politicians, he placed the new constitution on a firmer base than would otherwise have been possible.

Up to 1866 he had always appeared to be an opponent of the National party in Germany, now he became their leader. His next task was to complete the work which was half-finished, and it was this which brought about the second of the great wars which he undertook.

The relations with Napoleon III. form one of the most interesting but obscurest episodes in Bismarck’s career. We have seen that he did not share the common prejudice against co-operation with France. He found Napoleon Bismarck and France. willing to aid Prussia as he had aided Piedmont, and was ready to accept his assistance. There was this difference, that he asked only for neutrality, not armed assistance, and it is improbable that he ever intended to alienate any German territory; he showed himself, however, on more than one occasion, ready to discuss plans for extending French territory, on the side of Belgium and Switzerland. Napoleon, who had not anticipated the rapid success of Prussia, after the battle of Königgratz at the request of Austria came forward as mediator, and there were a few days during which it was probable that Prussia would have to meet a French attempt to dictate terms of peace. Bismarck in this crisis by deferring to the emperor in appearance avoided the danger, but he knew that he had been deceived, and the cordial understanding was never renewed. Immediately after an armistice had been arranged, Benedetti, at the orders of the French government, demanded as recompense a large tract of German territory on the left bank of the Rhine. This Bismarck peremptorily refused, declaring that he would rather have war. Benedetti then made another proposal, submitting a draft treaty by which France was to support Prussia in adding the South German states to the new confederation, and Germany was to support France in the annexation of Luxemburg and Belgium. Bismarck discussed, but did not conclude the treaty; he kept, however, a copy of the draft in Benedetti’s handwriting, and published it in The Times in the summer of 1870 so as to injure the credit of Napoleon in England. The failure of the scheme made a contest with France inevitable, at least unless the Germans were willing to forgo the purpose of completing the work of German unity, and during the next four years the two nations were each preparing for the struggle, and each watching to take the other at a disadvantage.

It is necessary, then, to keep in mind the general situation in considering Bismarck’s conduct in the months immediately preceding the war of 1870. In 1867 there was a dispute regarding the right to garrison Luxemburg. Bismarck then produced the secret treaties with the southern states, an act which was, as it were, a challenge to France by the whole of Germany. During the next three years the Ultramontane party hoped to bring about an anti-Prussian revolution, and Napoleon was working for an alliance with Austria, where Beust, an old opponent of Bismarck’s, was chancellor. Bismarck was doubtless well informed as to the progress of the negotiations, for he had established intimate relations with the Hungarians. The pressure at home for completing the work of German unity was so strong that he could with difficulty resist it, and in 1870 he was much embarrassed by a request from Baden to be admitted to the confederation, which he had to refuse. It is therefore not surprising that he eagerly welcomed the opportunity of gaining the goodwill of Spain, and supported by all the means in his power the offer made by Marshal Prim that Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern should be chosen king of that country. It was only by his urgent and repeated representations that the prince was persuaded against his will to accept. The negotiations were carried out with the greatest secrecy, but as soon as the acceptance was made known the French government intervened and declared that the project was inadmissable. Bismarck was away at Varzin, but on his instructions the Prussian foreign office in answer to inquiries denied all knowledge or responsibility. This was necessary, because it would have caused a bad impression in Germany had he gone to war with France in support of the prince’s candidature. The king, by receiving Benedetti at Ems, departed from the policy of reserve Bismarck himself adopted, and Bismarck (who had now gone to Berlin) found himself in a position of such difficulty that he contemplated resignation. The French however, by changing and extending their demands enabled him to find a cause of war of such nature that the The Ems telegram. whole of Germany would be united against French agression. France asked for a letter of apology, and Benedetti personally requested from the king a promise that he would never allow the candidature to be resumed. Bismarck published the telegram in which this information and the refusal of the king were conveyed, but by omitting part of the telegram made it appear that the request and refusal had both been conveyed in a more abrupt form than had really been the case.1 But even apart from this, the publication of the French demand, which could not be complied with, must have brought about a war.

In the campaign of 1870-71 Bismarck accompanied the headquarters of the army, as he had done in 1866. He was present at the battle of Gravelotte and at the surrender of Sedan, and it was on the morning of the 2nd of September that he had his famous meeting with Napoleon after the surrender of the emperor. He accompanied the king to Paris, and spent many months at Versailles. Here he was occupied chiefly with the arrangments for admitting the southern states to the confederation, and the establishment of the empire. He also underwent much anxiety lest the efforts of Thiers to bring about an interference by the neutral powers might be successful. He had to carry on the negotiations with the French preliminary to the surrender of Paris, and to enforce upon them the German terms of peace.

For Bismarck’s political career after 1870 we must refer to the article Germany, for he was thenceforward entirely absorbed in the affairs of his country. The foreign policy he controlled absolutely. As chancellor he was responsible After 1870. for the whole internal policy of the empire, and his influence is to be seen in every department of state, especially, however, in the great change of policy after 1878. During the earlier period the estrangement from the Conservatives, which had begun in 1866, became very marked, and brought about a violent quarrel with many of his old friends, which culminated in the celebrated Arnim trial. He incurred much criticism during the struggle with the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1873 he was shot at and slightly wounded by a youth called Rullmann, who professed to be an adherent of the Clerical party. Once before, in 1866, just before the outbreak of war, his life had been attempted by a young man called Cohen, a native of Württemberg, who wished to save Germany from a fratricidal war. In 1872 he retired from the presidency of the Prussian ministry, but returned after a few months. On several occasions he offered to retire, but the emperor always refused his consent, on the last time with the word “Never.” In 1877 he took a long leave of absence for ten months. His health at this time was very bad. In 1878 he presided over the congress of Berlin. The following years were chiefly occupied, besides foreign affairs, which were always his first care, with important commercial reforms, and he held at this time also the office of Prussian minister of trade in addition to his other posts. During this period his relations with the Reichstag were often very unsatisfactory, and at no time did he resort so freely to prosecutions in the law-courts in order to injure his opponents, so that the expression Bismarck-Beleidigung was invented. He was engaged at this time in a great struggle with the Social-Democrats, whom he tried to crush by exceptional penal laws. The death of the emperor William in 1888 made a serious difference in his position. He had been bound to him by a long term of loyal service, which had been rewarded with equal loyalty. For his relations to the emperors Frederick and William II., and for the events connected with his dismissal from office in March 1890, we must refer to the articles under those names.

After his retirement he resided at Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg, a house on his Leuenburg estates. His criticisms of the government, given sometimes in conversation, sometimes in the columns of the Hamburger Nachrichten, caused an open breach between him and the emperor; and the new chancellor, Count Caprivi, in a circular despatch which was afterwards published, warned all German envoys that no real importance must be attached to what he said. When he visited Vienna for his son’s wedding the German ambassador, Prince Reuss, was forbidden to take any notice of him. A reconciliation was effected in 1893. In 1895 his eightieth birthday was celebrated with great enthusiasm: the Reichstag alone, owing to the opposition of the Clericals and the Socialists, refused to vote an address. In 1891 he had been elected a member of the Reichstag, but he never took his seat. He died at Friedrichsruh on the 31st of July 1898.

Bismarck was made a count in 1865; in 1871 he received the rank of Fürst (prince). On his retirement the emperor created him duke of Lauenburg, but he never used the title, which was not inherited by his son. In 1866 he received £60,000 as his share of the donation voted by the Reichstag for the victorious generals. With this he purchased the estate of Varzin in Pomerania, which henceforth he used as a country residence in preference to Schönhausen. In 1871 the emperor presented him with a large part of the domains of the duchy of Lauenburg. On his seventieth birthday a large sum of money (£270,000) was raised by public subscription, of which half was devoted to repurchasing the estate of Schönhausen for him, and the rest was used by him to establish a fund for the assistance of schoolmasters. As a young man he was an officer in the Landwehr and militia, and in addition to his civil honours he was eventually raised to the rank of general. Among the numerous orders he received we may mention that he was the first Protestant on whom the pope bestowed the order of Christ; this was done after the cessation of the Kulturkampf and the reference of the dispute with Spain concerning the Caroline Islands to the arbitration of the pope.

Bismarck’s wife died in 1894. He left one daughter and two sons. Herbert (1840-1904), the elder, was wounded at Mars-le-Tour, afterwards entered the foreign office, and acted as private secretary to his father (1871-1881). In 1882 he became councillor to the embassy at London, in 1884 was transferred to St Petersburg, and in 1885 became under-secretary of state for foreign affairs. In 1884 he had been elected to the Reichstag, but had to resign his seat when, in 1886, he was made secretary of state for foreign affairs and Prussian minister. He conducted many of the negotiations with Great Britain on colonial affairs. He retired in 1890 at the same time as his father, and in 1893 was again elected to the Reichstag. He married Countess Margarete Hoyos in 1892, and died on the 18th of September 1904. He left two daughters and three sons, of whom the eldest, Otto Christian Archibald (b. 1897), succeeded to the princely title. The second son, Wilhelm, who was president of the province of Prussia, died in 1901. By his wife, Sybilla von Arnim-Kröchlendorff, he left three daughters and a son, Count Nikolaus (b. 1896).

Authorities.—The literature on Bismarck’s life is very extensive, and it is only possible to enumerate a few of the most important books. The first place belongs to his own works. These include his own memoirs, published after his death, under the title Gedanken und Erinnerungen; there is an English translation, Bismarck: his Reflections and Reminiscences (London, 1898). They are incomplete, but contain very valuable discussions on particular points. The speeches are of the greatest importance both for his character and for political history; of the numerous editions that by Horst Kehl, in 12 vols. (Stuttgart, 1892-1894), is the best; there is a cheap edition in Reclam’s Universalbibliothek. Bismarck was an admirable letter-writer, and numbers of his private letters have been published; a collected edition has been brought out by Horst Kohl. His letters to his wife were published by Prince Herbert Bismarck (Stuttgart, 1900). A translation of a small selection of the private letters was published in 1876 by F. Maxse. Of great value for the years 1851-1858 is the corrspondence with General L. v. Gerlach, which has been edited by Horst Kohl (3rd ed., Berlin, 1893). A selection of the political letters was also published under the title Politische Briefe aus den Jahren 1849-1899 (2nd ed., Berlin, 1890). Of far greater importance are the collections of despatches and state papers edited by Herr v. Poschinger. These include four volumes entitled Preussen im Bundestag, 1851-1859 (4 vols., Leipzig, 1882-1885), which contain his despatches during the time he was at Frankfort. Next in importance are two works, Bismarck als Volkswirth and Aktenstucke zur Wirthschaftspolitik des Fursten Bismarck, which are part of the collection of state papers, Akenstucke zur Geschichte der Wirthschaftspolitik in Preussen. They contain full information on Bismarck’s commercial policy, including a number of important state papers. A useful general collection is that by Ludwig Hahn, Bismarck, sein politisches Leben, &c. (5 vols., Berlin, 1878-1891), which includes a selection from letters, speeches and newspaper articles. These collections have only been possible owing to the extreme generosity which Bismarck showed in permitting the publication of documents; he always professed to have no secrets. A full account of the diplomatic history from 1863 to 1866 is given by Sybel in Die Begrundung des deutschen Reichs (Munich, 1889-1894), written with the help of the Prussian archives. The last two volumes, covering 1866-1870, are of less value, as he was not able to use the archives for this period. Poschinger has also edited a series of works in which anecdotes, minutes of interviews and conversations are recorded; they are, however, of very unequal value. They are Bismarck und die Parlamentarier, Furst Bismarck und der Bundesrath, Die Ansprache des Fursten Bismarck, Neue Tischgesprache, and Bismarck und die Diplomaten. Selections from these have been published in English by Charles Lowe, The Tabletalk of Prince Bismarck, and by Sidney Whitman, Conversations with Bismarck. By far the fullest guide to Bismarck’s life is Horst Kohl’s Furst Bismarck, Regesten zu einer wissenschaftlichen Biographie (Leipzig, 1891-1892), which contains a record of Bismarck’s actions on each day, with references to and extracts from his letters and speeches. For the works of Moritz Busch, which contain graphic pictures of his daily life, see the article Busch. Further materials were published periodically in the Bismarck-Jahrbuch, edited by Horst Kohl (Berlin, 1894-1896; Stuttgart, 1897-1899). Herr v. Poschinger also brought out a Bismarck Portfeuille. Of German biographies may be mentioned Hans Blum, Bismarck und seine Zeit (6 vols., Munich, 1894-1895), with a volume of appendices, &c. (1898); Heyck, Bismarck (Bielefeld, 1898); Kreutzer, Otto von Bismarck (2 vols., Leipzig, 1900); Klein-Hattingen, Bismarck und seine Welt, 1815-1871, Bd. i. (Berlin, 1902); Lenz, Geschichte Bismarcks (Leipzig, 1902); Penzler, Furst Bismarck nach seiner Entlassung (7 vols., ib. 1897-1898); Liman, one volume under the same title (ib. 1901). There are English biographies by Charles Lowe, Bismarck, a Political Biography (revised edition in 1 vol., 1895), by James Headlam (1899), and by F. Stearns (Philadelphia, 1900). A useful bibliography of all works on Bismarck up to 1895 is Paul Schulze and Otto Koller’s Bismarck-Literatur (Leipzig, 1896).

(J. W. He.)

1 It 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. (See Admiralty 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 his Exercitationes chemicae de Wismutho (1769), and of N. Geoffroy, son of Claude Joseph Geoffroy, whose contribution to our knowledge of this metal appeared in the Mémoires de l’académie française for 1753. Torbern Olof Bergman reinvestigated its properties and determined its reactions; his account, which was published in his Opuscula, 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 (see Lead), 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 is aqua regia or 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 regia and 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 (see Fusible 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: BiCl2 and 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’Espagne or blanc de fard has 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. Bismuth disulphide 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; Bi6O3S4 and 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. 2250 B.C.). The city was divided into two parts by a canal, on an island in which stood the temple, E-mach, with a ziggurat, 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 millennium B.C. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, c. 3000 B.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.