BIEL-BIENNE. Pantcha Tantra, by H. H. Wilson-who determines the date of its production to be subsequent to the 5th c. A. D.-is printed in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i.; but an abridgment of it, called the Hitopadesa, is better known than the original. A critical edition of the Hitopadesa has been published by A. W. von Schlegel and Lassen (Bonn, 1829), and translations have been made into English by Wilkins and Jones, and into German by M. Müller (Leip. 1844). Under the Persian king, Nushirvan (531-579), the Pantcha Tantra was translated into the Pehlvi tongue by his physician Barsuyeh, under the title of Calilah and Dimnah (from two jackals that take a prominent part in the first fable). This Pehlvi version has perished with all the profane literature of ancient Persia; but under the Calif Almansur (754 -775), it was translated into Arabic by Abdallahibn-Almokaffa (published by De Sacy, Par. 1816). From Almokaffa's Arabic translation in the introduction to which the author of the collection is called Bidpai, the chief of Indian philosophers-have flowed all the other translations and paraphrases of the East and West. Several Arabic poets worked it up into complete poems; and in the new Persian literature a great variety of versions and paraphrases, some in verse, some in prose, were made. From the Persian of Vaez (about the end of the 15th c.), the work was translated into Turkish about 1540 by Ali Chelebi, under the title of Homayun-nameh, the Imperial Book. There are also translations into the Malay, Mongol, and Afghan languages. Towards the end of the 11th c., a translation had appeared, from the Arabic of Almokaffa, into Greek, by Simeon Sethus; and later, a Hebrew translation by Rabbi Joel, which John of Capua, a converted Jew, in the last half of the 13th c., retranslated into Latin with the title of Directorium Humanæ Vite (published first at Augs. 1480, and repeatedly since). A version from this was made into German by Eberhard L., Duke of Würtemberg (died 1325), which appeared with the title of Examples of the Ancient Sages (Ulm, 1483). Under Alfonso X. of Castile (1252-1284), Almokaffa's work was translated into Castilian, and afterwards from that into Latin by Raymond of Veziers, a learned physician. The other European translations follow, some the Latin of John of Capua, some that of Raymond of Veziers; Spanish (Burgos, 1498), Italian (Flor. 1548), English (Lond. 1570), Dutch (Amst. 1623), Danish (Cop. 1618), Swedish (Stock. 1743), German (most recent, Leip. 1802). BIEL. See BIENNE. BIE LÉFELD, a busy town of Westphalia, in Prussia, picturesquely situated on the Lutter or Lutterbach, at the foot of the Sparrenberg Mountain, and about 26 miles south-west of Minden. The broad ditch, which formerly surrounded B., is now converted into pleasant walks. The old walls of the town have been put to a similar use. The castle of Sparrenberg, erected in 1545 on the site of an old Guelphic fortress, and which now serves as a prison, is in the immediate neighbourhood. B., which is the centre of the Westphalian linen-trade, has extensive bleaching-grounds, manufactures of woollen thread, soap, leather, &c., and its meerschaum pipes are celebrated. Pop. 10,000. BIELE'V, an ancient town of European Russia, in the government of Tula, situated on the left bank of the Oka, in lat. 53° 45′ N., and long. 36° 5' E. It has a large trade, and manufactures of soap, hardware, leather, &c. Pop. 11,000. BIELITZ, a town of Austrian Silesia, on the left bank of the river Biala, about 18 miles north-east of Teschen. A bridge over the river connects it with the town of Biala, which is situated in Galicia. It has dye-works and print-fields, and carries on a large trade in woollens and kerseymeres with Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. B. belongs to the Princes Sulkowsky, whose castle, now converted into public offices, is situated here. Pop. 6000. BIE'LLA, a town of Piedmont, capital of the province of the same name, about 38 miles north-east of Turin, with which it is connected by railway. It is Sesia, and has manufactures of woollens, hats, paper, pleasantly situated on the Cervo, an affluent of the &c. Pop. about 9000. BIË'LO-OZ'ERO (the White Lake),'a lake in the government of Novgorod, Russia, lat. 60° 10' N., long. 37° 30′ E. It is elliptical in shape, its length being about 25 miles, and its breadth 20. Its bottom is composed of white clay, which, during stormy weather, gives to the water a milky appearance; hence, doubtless, the name White Lake. B. is fed by numerous small streams, is pretty deep, and abounds with fish. Its surplus waters are conveyed by the Sheksna River into the Volga. Canals unite it with the Onega, Sukona, and Dwina.-B.-OZERSK, an old wooden town on the south shore of the lake, formerly capital of an ancient principality of the same name, has a trade in cattle, corn, and pitch, and manufactures of candles. Pop. 3000. BIËLO'POL, a town of Russia, in the government of Kharkov, from which city it is distant 106 miles north-west. It has a considerable general trade and extensive distilleries. Pop. 10,500. BIELSHÖ'HLE, a singular cavern in one of the Harz Mountains, called Bielstein, on the right bank of the Bode, in the duchy of Brunswick, Germany. It was discovered in 1768. The entrance to it is more than 100 feet above the bed of the stream. The cavern is divided into eleven main compartments, and contains a great deal of that curiously freakish work which nature delights to execute in stalactites, when she sometimes condescends to imitate the inventions of human art, as in the eighth division, where she has contrived to fashion the framework of an organ out of the slow drip of ages. In the ninth, there is also a picture of a sea, as it were, arrested in its motion, its waves silent, but in act to roll. BIE'LSK, a town of Russian Poland, 25 miles south of Bialystok. It is situated in a very fertile district, watered by the Narev and Nurzek, was formerly capital of a Polish palatinate, is well built, and has a fine custom-house. Pop. 12,000. BIE'NNE, or BIEL, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Bern, 17 miles north-west of the city of Bern, beautifully situated at the foot of the vine-clad Jura, at the mouth of the valley of the Suze, and at the northern extremity of the lake of Bienne. It is surrounded by old walls, and approached by shady avenues. Pop. 4248, who are engaged in the manufacture of watches, leather, cotton, &c. B. is a place of great antiquity. It belonged to the Bishop of Bâle, or Basel; but as early as 1352, it entered into an alliance with Bern, for the protec tion of its liberties, and for this display of independence was burned by its ecclesiastical ruler. Reformation, however, so weakened the power of the clerical governors of B. that in the beginning of the 17th c. it had become merely nominal; and B. was essentially a free and independent city until 1798, when it was annexed to France. In 1815, it was united to Bern.-B., LAKE OF, extends from the town of B. along the foot of the Jura Mountains in a south-west direction, until within 3 miles of Lake Neuchâtel, its length being about 10 miles, and its greatest breadth 3. It is situated at an elevation of The BIENNIALS BIGAMY. 1419 feet above the level of the sea, 8 feet lower than Lake Neuchâtel, whose surplus waters it receives at its south extremity by the Thiel, by which river it again discharges its own. Its greatest depth is 400 feet. Towards its southern extremity is situated the island of St Pierre, crowned with a grove of fine old oaks, to which Rousseau retired for two months after his proscription at Paris in 1765. BIENNIALS, or BIENNIAL PLANTS, are plants which do not flower in the first season of their growth, but flower and bear fruit in the second season, and then die. Many of our cultivated plants are B., as the carrot, turnip, parsnip, parsley, celery, &c., and many of the most esteemed flowers of our gardens, as stock, wallflower, &c. But plants which in ordinary circumstances are B., often become annuals (q. v.), when early sowing, warm weather, or other causes promote the earlier development of a flowering stem, as is continually exemplified in all the kinds already named. If, on the other hand, the flowering of the plant is prevented-or, in many cases, if it is merely prevented from ripening its seed it will continue to live for a much longer period: the same bed of parsley, if regularly cut over, will remain productive for a number of years. BIERVLIET, a village of the Netherlands, province of Zeeland, 13 miles east-north-east of Sluis. It is deserving of mention as the birthplace of William Beukels (q. v.), who in 1386 invented the method of curing herrings. In 1377, B. was detached from the mainland by an inundation, and still remains insular. BIES-BO'SCH, a marshy sheet of water of the Netherlands, between the provinces North Brabant and South Holland, formed in November 1421 by an inundation which destroyed 72 villages and 100,000 people, and forming that part of the estuary of the Maas called Holland's Diep. It is interspersed with several islands. rather disqualification, according to the canonists, who explained it to consist in marrying two virgins successively, one after the death of the other, or in once marrying a widow; and persons so offending or disqualified were held to be incapable of holy orders, and therefore B. was anciently considered a good counterplea to the claim of benefit of clergy (q. v.), although the law in that respect was afterwards altered by a statute passed in the reign of Edward VI., when, bigamists or no bigamists, the clergy resumed their strange privilege. Different views prevailed in more modern times, and at a period, too, when the restraints of ecclesiastical It is known that dogmas had been thrown off. certain of the leaders of the German reformation, including Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, and Melander did not withhold their consent from Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, champion of the Reformation, who, having lost conceit of his wife, had applied to the Protestant doctors for licence to have another, and which licence was not withheld, for the marriage took place, and was performed by Melander in presence of Melancthon, Bucer, and others; and privately, as the marriage-contract bears, to avoid scandal, seeing that, in modern times, it has not been usual to have two wives at once, although in this case it be Christian and lawful. Whether Luther and the other Protestant doctors actually held views favourable to polygamy has been the subject of warm controversy (see Sir William Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy and Literature, 1852, 2d ed., 1853; and Archdeacon Hare's Vindication of Luther, 1855). Sir William Hamilton asserts that Luther believed in the religious legality' of polygamy, and wished it to be sanctioned by the civil authoritiesan assertion, however, of which the promised proof never appeared. Archdeacon Hare, on the other hand, maintains that Luther and Melancthon only held that in certain extraordinary emergencies dispensations from the usual law of marriage might be granted. Be that as it may, the conduct of the Reformation leaders in this matter has been universally condemned, even by Protestants. The ideas referred to never gained ground in Germany; while in Great Britain monogamy' not only continued an institution, but its violation was regarded as a serious offence, which continues to be treated in statutes, law-books, and in the practice of the criminal courts in the three kingdoms, under the name of bigamy. Nor, indeed, have the ideas referred to been followed by the Germans as a nation. offence as a felony was the 1 James I. c. 11, which The first statute which distinctly treated this enacted that a person so convicted should suffer death. What now constitutes the English law regarding the crime of bigamy, is the 22d section of 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, passed in 1828. B. is there declared to be committed by 'any person who, being married, shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall have taken place in England or elsewhere' -a definition that appears to be adopted by the recent Divorce Act, the 20 and 21 Vict. c. 85, where, for the purpose of that act, B. is to be taken to mean marriage of any person being married, to BIGAMY. This is an offence which, although any other person during the life of the former perfectly intelligible in itself to the popular and husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall unprofessional understanding, is yet, with a due have taken place within the dominions of her regard to the strict meaning of the word, extremely Majesty, or elsewhere.' More correctly, however, difficult, legally, to define. Blackstone objects to the the offence of B. may be said to consist in going use of it as a term descriptive of the offence in through the form or appearance of a second marview; for he says it is corruptly so called, because riage, while a first subsists, with a man or woman, B. properly signifies being twice married, which a against whom the most odious deceit and fraud is man or a woman may legally be; and he therefore thus practised, and upon whom, especially in case prefers the term polygamy. B., however, even of a woman, the deepest injury is inflicted; for according to the literal meaning, was an offence, or the second marriage is merely a marriage in form BIFFIN. See APPLE. BIG HORN, a navigable river of the United States, rises near Fremont's Peak in the Rocky Mountains, about 42° 20′ N., and 110° W. It has a north-east course of about 400 miles, being the largest affluent of the Yellowstone, which, again, is the largest affluent of the Missouri. BIG SANDY RIVER, a fine navigable affluent of the Ohio, flows through extensive beds of coal. It is formed by the junction of two branches the east and west forks-which both rise in Virginia. The latter traverses several counties of Kentucky, and the former is, during the latter part of its course, the boundary between the two states. Their united waters lose themselves in the Ohio, nearly opposite to Burlington, in the state of Ohio. BIGA, a Roman term applied in ancient times to vehicles drawn by two horses abreast; and commonly to the Roman chariot used in processions or in the circus. In shape it resembled the Geeek warchariot a short body on two wheels, low, and open behind, where the charioteer entered, but higher and closed in front. BIHACH-BILE. valuable timber, among which are Bignonia leucoxylon, a tree of Jamaica, the green or yellow wood of which is sometimes brought into the market under the name of Ebony; and the Ipe-tobacco and Ipe-una of Brazil, species of the same genus, the former of which is used for ship-building, and the latter is accounted the hardest timber in Brazil. Not a few of them are climbing shrubs, and the tough shoots of Bignonia Cherere are used for wicker-work in Guiana. Bignonia alliacea, a native of the West Indies, is remarkable for its strong alliaceous smell; the leaves of Bignonia Chica afford the red colouring matter called Chica (q. v.).-The Crescentiacea chiefly abound in Mauritius and Madagascar. The Calabash Tree (q. v.) is the best known example.-The Pedaliacea are tropical or subtropical; many of them herbaceous plants. The most important is SESAMUM (q. v.). The fleshy sweet root of Craniolaria annua is preserved in sugar as a delicacy by the Creoles. BIHA'CH, or BICHA'CZ, one of the strongest fortress-towns of Croatia, European Turkey, is situated on an island in the Una, in lat. 44° 43′ N., and long. 15° 53′ E., near the frontier of Dalmatia. It has been the scene of frequent contests during the Turkish wars. Formerly, it was possessed of a Christian church, but that has been completely destroyed by fanatic Mussulmans. Pop. 3000. and woollen manufactures, colonial produce, fish, &c., was 85,586,888 reals (£855,868); and the value of the exports, consisting of wool, iron, fruits, oil, &c., 24,604,572 reals (£246,045). As compared with 1855, both the shipping and exports exhibited a decrease. There are more than 200 commercial houses in B., among which are several German, Bohemian, and Irish. The women here do almost all of the heavy porterage. B. was founded in the year 1300 by Diego Lopez de Haro, under the name of Belvao, i. e., the fine fort,' and being well situated, and little disturbed by the civil wars of Spain, it soon attained great prosperity. In the 15th c., it was the seat of the most authoritative commercial tribunal in Spain. It suffered severely in the wars with France, first in 1795, and again in 1808, when 1200 of its inhabitants were slaughtered in cold blood. During the Carlist civil war, B. was exposed to two severe sieges. BI'LBERRY. See WHORTLEBERRY. BI'LBILIS, an old Iberian city of Spain, about two miles east from the modern town of Calatayud, in the province of Saragossa, chiefly celebrated as the birthplace of the poet Martial, but also famed for its highly tempered steel blades. Quintus Metellus won a victory over Sertorius here; and B., under the Romans, was a municipal town with the surname of Augusta. Several of its coins, struck off during the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula, are still in existence-some in the British Museum. BIJANAGHU'R, meaning, it is said, the City of Triumph, is a ruined city within the presidency of Madras, being in lat. 15° 19′ N., and long. 76° 32′ E. It stands about 40 miles to the north-west of BI'LBOES are long bars or bolts of iron, with Bellary, in a plain encumbered with granite rocks, shackles sliding on them, and a lock at one end. many of which have been rudely sculptured into a When an offender on shipboard is put in irons,' it variety of forms. After having been for two implies that B. are fastened to him, more or less centuries the metropolis of a powerful Hindu ponderous according to the degree of his offence. kingdom, B. was sacked and ruined by the Moham-The B. clasp the ankles in some such way as handmedans of the Deccan in 1564. Even now it cuffs clasp the wrist. presents traces of its grandeur, being 8 miles in circuit, and containing many edifices, both temples and palaces, of granite. BIJBAHA'R, the largest town of Cashmere, next to the capital Cashmere itself. It is situated on the banks of the Jailum, about 25 miles to the south-east of the metropolis, being in lat. 33° 47' N., and long. 75° 13′ E. The only particular worthy of notice is a wooden bridge across the Jailum, which, notwithstanding its simplicity and fragility, has endured for centuries, in consequence of the tranquil and equable weather of the valley. BIKH. See ACONITE. BI'LCOCK. See RAIL. BILDERDIJK, WILLEM, a Dutch poet and philologist, of much repute in his day, was born at law at Leyden, and afterwards, when practising at Amsterdam, 7th September 1756. While studying the Hague, he devoted himself assiduously to literature and poetry. On the invasion of Holland by the French, he repaired to Brunswick, and afterwards visited London, where he supported himself by lecturing and teaching. In the year 1806, he returned to Holland, where he was received as one who had done his country honour; and the newly elected king of Holland (Louis Bonaparte) appointed BI'LANDER, or BIʼLANDRE, is a small two-him president of the Institute at Amsterdam, just masted merchant-vessel, distinguished from others then organised after the fashion of the one at Paris, chiefly by a peculiar shape and arrangement of the and also made him his own instructor in the Dutch main-sail. Of these vessels, which were probably language. B. afterwards resided at Leyden, and then French in origin, there are not many now remaining. at Haarlem, where he died 18th December 1831. BILBAO, a seaport town of Spain, capital of the His contributions to poetic literature were very province of Vizcaya (Biscay), is situated in a moun-numerous; but though they contain many beauties, tain gorge on the Nervion, about 6 miles from its yet, with one or two exceptions, none of his poems mouth at Portugalete, in lat. 43° 14' N., long. 2° display any remarkable originality, or any great 56' W. B. is well built; the principal streets are wealth of imagination. With his poetical pursuits straight, and the houses substantial and imposing. he combined the theoretical study of his native Two suspension bridges, and a stone bridge of the language; and his writings on this subject are 14th c., cross the river, which divides the old town valuable contributions to the exposition of the from the new. There are several fine public walks, older monuments of Dutch literature. numerous fountains, but no public buildings of any note. The city is purely commercial. It has many extensive rope-walks and manufactures of hardware, leather, hats, tobacco, and earthenware. Pop. 15,000. Small vessels can navigate the river quite up to the town, but large vessels have to anchor at Portugalete. The number of ships entering B. in 1856 was 379, with a capacity of 27,657 tons; clearing outwards, 535 vessels, tonnage, 34,117. In the same year, the value of the imports, which consist chiefly of cotton BILE is a fluid secreted from the blood by the liver. One part of it is destined to serve in the process of digestion; the other to be eliminated from the system. It is coloured yellow in man; that of graminivorous animals seems coloured by the leaves they feed upon. The primary cells of the liver (the hepatic cells) separate the B. from the blood of the portal vein, and discharge it into small ducts, which unite to form larger ones, and eventually the right and left hepatic ducts. BILEDULGERID-BILL The latter unite to form the common hepatic duct, which is soon joined by that of the gall-bladder (the cystic duct). This junction forms the common B. duct, which pierces the second part of the duodenum, and running obliquely in its wall for a short distance, opens on its mucous surface. The secretion of B. is constantly going on, and if there is food in the intestine, the bile mingles with it, and dissolves the fatty portions, preparatory to their absorption, the excrementitious portion of the B. passing out of the body with the other indigestible materials. When the bowel is empty, the B. ascends the cystic duct, and is stored for future use in a small flask-like bag (the gall-bladder) situated under the liver. Should, from any cause, the elements of the B. be in excess in the blood, or should the liver suspend the function of secreting it, not only is digestion imperfectly performed, but the general health suffers from the impure condition of the blood, and the patient is said to be bilious. On the other hand, the B. may be secreted, but its escape interfered with, and then its reabsorption will produce jaundice (q. v.). Its solid portions, again, especially the cholesterine, may be in excess, solidify, and produce biliary calculi or gall-stones (q. v.). In chemical composition, B. is essentially a soap analogous to resin-soap, and as obtained from the ox, contains in 100 parts, Water, 90.44 The soap is formed from the union of the resinoid acids (Glycocholic and Taurocholic Acids) with the soda. Human B. has the specific gravity of about 1026 (water = 1000), is of a ropy consistence, with a yellowish-green colour; does not readily mix with water, but sinks therein, and only after repeated agitation becomes diffused through the water, which then assumes a frothy appearance resembling soap-suds. B. has a bitter taste, and a very sickening musky odour. It is interesting to observe that the B. of salt-water fishes contains potash in place of soda; although, from their being surrounded by much common salt (chloride of sodium) in the sea-water, we should naturally expect to find soda in abundance; and the B. of land and fresh-water animals contains soda, while, considering diet and habitat, potash might more naturally be looked for in largest quantity. B. performs important functions in the animal economy, which will be considered under NUTRITION; see also LIVER. BILEDULGERI'D. See BELED-EL-JERID. BILGE, sometimes spelled BULGE, is the part of the bottom of a ship nearest to the keel, and always more nearly horizontal than vertical. A ship usually rests on the keel and one B. when aground. The name of bilge-water is given to any rain or sea water which trickles down to the B. or lowest part of a ship, and which, being difficult of access, becomes dirty and offensive. BILGEWAYS are timbers which assist in the launching of a ship; for which, see LAUNCHING. BILIARY CA'LCULI. See GALL STONES. BILI'MBI. See CARAMBOLA. BILI'N, a town of Bohemia, beautifully situated in the valley of the Bila, 17 miles west of Leitmeritz, and famous for its mineral springs, the waters of which it exports to the extent of 500,000 jars annually. It has a manufactory of cotton yarn, and two castles, an old and a new one. In its vicinity, there is a remarkable isolated clinkstone rock, called Borzenberg, or Biliner Stein; and the Tripoli earth found at B. has been shewn by Professor Ehrenberg to be the remains of infusoria. Pop. about 3000. BILIOUS FEVER. See LIVER. BILL, in Natural History, the hard, horny mouth of birds (q. v.). It consists of two mandibles, an upper and a lower, into which the upper and lower jaws are respectively produced, all appearance of lips being lost. It is not furnished with proper teeth, although rudiments of them have been observed in some of the parrot tribe in the fœtal state, and the marginal lamine with which the bills of many water-fowl are furnished, partake of the same character, being secreted by distinct pulps. The resemblance of these marginal lamina to teeth is particularly marked in the Goosander (q. v.). The bills of birds differ much, according to their different habits, and particularly according to the kind of food on which they are destined to live, and the manner in which they are to seek it. In birds of prey, the B. is strong; the upper mandible arched or hooked, and very sharp; the edges sharp, often notched, and the whole B., or beak, adapted for seizing animals, and tearing and cutting to pieces their flesh. A powerful, short, hooked beak, sharp edged and notched, indicates the greatest courage and adaptation to prey on living animals. The beak of the vulture is longer and weaker than that of the eagle or falcon. In birds which feed on insects and vegetable substances, the hooked form of the B. is not found, or it is in a very inferior degree; those birds which catch insects on the wing, such as the Goat-suckers, are remarkable for the deep division Bill of Goat-sucker (Insect-eating bird). of the B., and their consequently wide gape, and an analogous provision to facilitate the taking of prey is to be observed in herons, kingfishers, and other fishing-birds; but the object is attained in their case by the elongation of the B., whereas birds which catch insects on the wing have the B. Birds which feed chiefly on seeds very short. have the B. short and strong, for bruising them; whilst the B. of insectivorous birds is comparatively slender. Many aquatic birds have broad and comparatively soft and sensitive bills, with laminæ on the inner margin for straining the mud from which much of their food is to be extracted; other birds, as snipes, avocets, &c., seeking their food also in mud, have slender bills of remarkable sensibility. The modifications of form are Bill of Bunting (Seed-eating bird). 91 |