These are made of beams over which hurdles or fascines are spread, that finally receive a sufficiently thick layer of earth as a covering. During the Boer war of 1899-1902 Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley were largely defended by means of bomb-proof shelters or blinds.

Blindness, inability to see, resulting from disease or injury of the external eye, of the light-receiving portions of the eye, the retina, of the nerve-conducting paths, the optic tracts, or of the light-perceiving or intellectual centres in the occipital cortex of the brain. It may be transitory or permanent, partial or complete, congenital or acquired, curable or incurable. There is a form of night-blindness, in which dim light fails to give impressions; or of day-blindness, in which excess of light is obstructive to vision. Certain regular or irregular areas on the retina may be blind; one half of one eye or of both eyes may be blind. Blindness to certain colors is a well-known form of this affection. Objects may look too small, or too large, or be distorted. See AMAUROSIS; AMBLYOPIA; BLIND; EYE, Diseases of.

Blinds, screens or shutters to prevent too strong a light from shining in at a window, or to keep outsiders from seeing in. Venetian blinds are made of slats of wood, so connected as to overlap each other when closed, and to show a series of open spaces for the admission of light and air when in the other position.

Blindsnake, a family of small serpents (Typhlopida) having worm-shaped bodies, only a few inches in length, very rigid, and suited for burrowing. These little snakes exist in all warm countries, and lead a subterranean life, worming their way through the loose top-soil, and feeding on earth-worms, grubs, and insects. Their eyes, through disuse, have become minute and weak, and in many species almost covered by overlapping plates. In India they sometimes come out upon the surface after showers, when they are regarded with superstitious dread by the natives; but they are perfectly harmless. Many species inhabit Mexico and tropical America, two or three occurring in New Mexico and Texas, where they are frequently found in

ant-hills.

Blindstory. See TRIFORIUM.

Bliss, Aaron Thomas, American politician: b. Smithfield, N. Y., 22 May 1837. He served in the Federal army during the Civil War, and was for six months a prisoner in Andersonville, Columbia, and other Southern prisons. In 1865 he settled in Saginaw, Mich., where he has been engaged in lumbering, banking, and other business enterprises. He was a member of Congress, 1889-91, was elected governor of Michigan in 1900, and re-elected Nov. 1902.

Bliss, Cornelius Newton, American merchant and statesman: b. Fall River, Mass., 26 Jan. 1833. He was educated in New Orleans; entered his stepfather's counting room there; engaged in the commission business in Boston, and became head of the dry goods commission house of Bliss, Fabyan & Company, New York, in 1881. He was a member of the Pan-American Conference; chairman of the New York Republican State Committee 1877-8; and treasurer of the National Republican Committee in 1892 and 1896; declined to be a candidate for gov

ernor of New York in 1885 and 1891; and was secretary of the Interior Department in President McKinley's Cabinet in 1897-8.

Bliss, Daniel, American missionary: b. Georgia, Vt., 17 Aug. 1823. He graduated

at

Amherst College in 1852, and at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1855; was ordained a Congregational minister 17 Oct. 1855; engaged in missionary work in Syria in 1855-62; and in 1866 became president of the Syrian Protestant College of Beyrout. His publications include: Mental Philosophy' and 'National Philosophy,' both in Arabic.

Bliss, Edwin Elisha, American missionary: b. Putney, Vt., 12 April 1817; d. Constantinople, 29 Dec. 1892. He graduated at Amherst College in 1837, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1842; was ordained as a missionary in 1843, and joined the American Mission in Turkey, being stationed at Trebizond, 1843-52; Marsovan, Armenia, 1852-6; and at Constantinople after 1856. In addition to the ordinary work of a missionary he edited, 1865-92, the 'Messenger, published at Constantinople in the Turkish and Armenian languages, and compiled a number of text-books, notably the 'Bible Handbook,' in Armenian.

Bliss, Edwin Munsell, American missionary: b. Erzerum, Turkey, 12 Sept. 1848. He was educated at Robert College, Constantinople; at the high school, Springfield, Mass., and at Amherst College, where he graduated in 1871, later taking a course at Yale Divinity School. In 1872 he was sent to Constantinople as agent for the American Bible Society, and traveled in Turkey and Persia. On his return to the United States in 1888 he edited the 'Encyclopædia of Missions.' He has also written The Turk in Armenia, Crete, and Greece,' and 'A Concise History of Missions. Since 1896 he has been associate editor of the New York 'Independent.'

(son of Daniel Bliss, q.v.): b. Mount Lebanon, Bliss, Frederick Jones, American explorer Syria, 23 Jan. 1859. He graduated at Amherst College in 1880, and at the Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1887; was principal of the preparatory department of the Syrian Protestant College of Beyrout for three years; was appointed explorer to the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1890, and is best known for his excavations and finds in Jerusalem in 1894-7. Here he unearthed an ancient city wall with towers, besides streets, drains, stairways, churches, and other structures. He has published 'Mounds of Many Cities'; 'Excavations at Jerusalem,' etc.

Bliss, George, George, American lawyer: b. Springfield, Mass., 3 May 1830; d. near Wakefield, R. I., 2 Sept. 1897. He graduated at Harvard College in 1851; studied for two years in Berlin and Paris, and after his return read law principally at the Harvard Law School. He established himself in practice in New York. In 1859-60 he was private secretary to Gov. Morgan; in 1861 was appointed to his staff; in 1862 became paymaster-general of New York; and in that and the following year organized three regiments of United States colored infantry under instructions from the secretary of war. In 1866 he was appointed attorney for the Metropolitan boards of excise and health; in 1872, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, and in 1881 a

special assistant to the United States attorneygeneral for the prosecution of the Star Route postal cases. He drafted the New York charter of 1873; drew up the New York Consolidation Act, and was author of the first tenement-house act for the city. He published three editions of the Law of Life Insurance) and four editions of the Annotated Code of Civil Procedure.'

Bliss, Philip Paul, American singing evangelist: b. Clearfield County, Pa., 9 July 1838; killed in railroad accident, Ashtabula, Ohio, 29 Dec. 1876. He received some musical instruction from G. W. Root, but was very largely self-taught. His evangelistic work was done chiefly in conjunction with Maj. D. W. Whittle and D. L. Moody, who became his warm friend and admirer. He had a fine personal presence, a gift of ready and effective speech, and these, combined with his wonderful voice, which appealed strongly to the hearts of the multitude, gave him great power over his audiences. He frequently composed both the words and music of the songs which have made his name known throughout Christendom. Of these the most popular are: "Hold the Fort, for I am Coming"; "Down Life's Dark Vale We Wander"; "Jesus Loves Me"; "Hallelujah! 'Tis Done"; and "Pull for the Shore, Sailor." His services as a revivalist were in demand throughout the United States and Canada. His songs appeared in the following named collections: The Charm' (1871); 'The Song Tree' (1872); 'The Joy' (1873); Gospel Songs (1874).

com

Bliss, Porter_Cornelius, American diplomatist: b. Erie County, N. Y., 28 Dec. 1838; d. New York, 2 Feb. 1885. He was educated at Hamilton and Yale colleges; became private secretary to James Watson Webb, United States minister to Brazil; explored the Gran Chaco for the Argentine government; compiled the various Indian dialects, and investigated the antiquities of that region; and in 1866 became private secretary to Charles A. Washburn, United States minister to Paraguay. He was missioned by President Lopez to write a history of Paraguay, and while doing so war broke out between that country and Brazil, and he was imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of being a Brazilian spy. It required the presence of an American squadron to effect his release. In 1869-70 he edited the Washington Chronicle; in 1870-4 he was secretary of the United States legation in Mexico, and during that time made several archæological explorations and wrote on the opportunities of American enterprise in that country. In 1874-8 he was an associate editor of Johnson's Universal Cyclopædia,' and in 1879 went to South America as correspondent

for the New York Herald.

Bliss, William Dwight Porter, American clergyman: b. Constantinople, 1856. He graduated at Amherst College in 1878, and at Hartford Theological College in 1882; was ordained a Congregational clergyman; became an Episcopal priest in 1887; organized the first Christian Socialist Society in the United States in 1889, and was president of the National Reform League. He edited The Dawn' (1889-96); "The American Fabian' (1895-6); and the 'Encyclopædia of Social Reform,' and published a 'Handbook of Socialism.'

Bliss, William Julian Albert, American physicist: b. Washington, D. C., 1867. He graduated at Harvard University in 1888 and pursued a course of studies in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, at which university he became successively assistant in physics (1895-8), associate (1898-1901), and professor in the latter year. He is the author of several works bearing on his profession.

Blister, a local collection of blood serum beneath the cuticle. Blisters may be produced by a variety of agents. In all instances, however, there is irritation of the part; this is followed by dilated blood vessels and an exudation of the serum from the blood vessels near the irritant. Medicinally, blistering agents or irritants may be classified in four principal groups, as follows: rubefacients, when redness alone is produced; vesicants, when blistering is brought about; pustulants, when the blisters are usually small and contain pus; and escharotics, when burning or destruction of tissue may take place. Heat is an excellent illustration. Mild heat will cause redness; temperature above 125° to 400° F. will cause blistering; temperature above 400° will burn; and high temperatures can char. The most commonly used blistering agents are heat (the hot iron being lightly touched to the skin), mustard, capsicum, mezereum, turpentine, and cantharides. The hot iron and cantharides are preferred, because their action can be controlled. Mustard mixed with cold water makes an excellent rubefacient, but it is not advised to be used as a vesicant. Blisters are used to influence deep-seated and chronic joint, muscle, and tendon troubles. For general purposes of counter-irritation rubefacients are more serviceable than vesicants.

Blister-beetle, or Spanish Fly, an oilbeetle of the family Meloida, in which there is a small head and a distinct neck; the wingcovers and sides of the body without any coadaptation, while each claw of the feet bears a long appendage closely applied beneath it. The integument is soft, flexible, and many of the species contain a substance which forms an acfly (Lytta vesicatoria) is larger than any of our tive vesicant, called cantharadine. The Spanish native species, is of a bright shining green, and when powdered and applied to the skin raises blisters. It inhabits the south of Europe, and is usually imported from Spain. Our native blister-beetles, when dried, can also be used for producing blisters or making blister-plasters. They are black or gray, and occur on potato plants, on the flowers of the golden-rod, etc. Their transformations are wonderfully complicated, since they pass through more than one larval stage (see METAMORPHOSIS). The females lay their eggs in the earth; the young, on hatching, are of a singular primitive shape, called a "triungulin," which is very active, entering the egg-pods and devouring the eggs of locusts. It soon molts, assuming a different but still active larval stage; it molts again, entering its third larval stage, when it resembles the grub of a May beetle (scarabæid stage). the fourth stage the grub is helpless, lying on one side; it increases rapidly in size, and when fully grown leaves the remains of the egg-pod it has been living on and forms a small cavity near by. Here it lies motionless on its side, but grad

In

ually contracting till the skin separates and is pushed down to the end of the body, disclosing the semi-pupa or coarctate larva, which hibernates. In the spring the skin bursts and discloses a sixth larval form like the fourth. In this stage it is again active, burrowing in the earth, but taking no food, and in a few days passes into the pupa state. Other species of the family pass through a similar hypermetamorphosis.

Blister-steel. See STEEL MANUFACTURE.

Blithedale Romance, The, the third of Nathaniel Hawthorne's romances, published 1852. It was the outcome of an intimate acquaintance with the members of the Brook Farm (q.v.) Community, and immortalized the brief attempt of that little group of transcendentalists to realize equality and fraternity in labor. It is more objective and realistic than Hawthorne's other works, and therefore in a sense more ordinary. Its central figure is Zenobia, a beautiful, intellectual, passionate woman; drawn as to some outlines, perhaps, from Margaret Fuller. At the time it opens she has taken up her abode at Blithedale Farm, the counterpart of Brook Farm. The other members of the community are Hollingsworth, a self-centred philanthropist; a Yankee farmer, Silas Forster, and his wife; Miles Coverdale, the relater of the story; and Priscilla, who is Zenobia's half-sister, though of this fact Zenobia is ignorant. The Blithedale Romance' is a brilliant instance of Hawthorne's power as a story-teller. No scene in the whole range of fiction is more realistic than the finding of Zenobia's body in the dead of night; drawn from the dank stream, crooked, stiff shape, and carried to the farmhouse where old women in nightcaps jabber over it. Nothing could be more in the manner of Hawthorne than his comment that if Zenobia could have foreseen her appearance after drowning, she would never have committed the act.

a

Blizzard, a peculiarly fierce and cold wind, accompanied by a very fine, blinding snow which suffocates as well as freezes men and animals exposed to it. The origin of the word is dubious. It came into general use in American newspapers during the bitterly cold winter of 1880-1, although some papers claim its use as early as the seventies. Such a storm comes up very suddenly and overtakes the traveler without premonition. The sky becomes darkened, and the snow is driven by a terrible wind which comes with a deafening roar. One of the most severe of these storms recorded in the West was that of January 1888 which extended from Dakota to Texas. The thermometer in some places fell from 74° to -28° F., and in Dakota to -40°. The number of deaths amounted to 235. Children were frozen on their way home from school, and farmers in their fields, and travelers were suffocated by the fine snow. The blizzard which will long be remembered in the eastern States began 11 March 1888, and raged until the 14th, New York and Philadelphia being the cities

most affected. The wind at one time blew at the rate of 46 miles an hour. The streets and roads were blocked, railroad trains snowed up for days, telegraphic communication cut off, and many lives were lost.

Bloat, Hoven, or Tympanites, a diseased condition of sheep or cattle, consisting of distention of the first stomach (rumen) and commonly caused by an overabundance of leguminous diet. Animals unaccustomed to graze in clover are liable to the malady, but over-eating of grain may also produce bloat. The use of cathartic remedies, such as Epsom salts or linseed oil, will often prove effective, except in severe cases. Sometimes the accumulation of gas in the rumen is so abundant and distressing that relief must be obtained by an incision made by a surgical instrument.

Bloch, Karl Heinrich, Danish painter: b. Copenhagen, 1834; d. 1890. He studied at the Copenhagen Academy and in 1852 went to Italy where he spent about 12 years. In 1883 he became a professor in the Academy in which he had been trained. Although his chief paintings are historical, he was also successful in naturestudies, and some of his pictures are notable for their humorous characteristics. Among his works are: 'Peasant's Cottage'; 'Roman Street Barber'; James of Scotland Visiting Tycho Brahe'; Christian II.; and two frescoes in the Copenhagen University.

Bloch, Marcus Eliezer, Jewish naturalist: b. Anspach (of poor parents), 1723; d. 1799. In the 19th year of his age he understood neither German nor Latin, nor had he, with the exception of some rabbinical writings, read anything. Nevertheless he became tutor in the house of a Jewish surgeon in Hamburg. Here he learned German and Latin, and besides acquired some knowledge of anatomy. His principal work is the Natural History of Fishes' (folio, 1785-99), adorned with many colored plates.

Block, or Blok, Adriaen, Dutch navigator who visited Manhattan (now New York) about 1613 and again in 1614 in the Tiger. This ship being accidentally burned he built the Unrest, a craft of 16 tons, in which he coasted as far north as Nahant, discovering the Housatonic and the Connecticut rivers and the island which See BLOCK ISLAND. bears his name.

Block, a mechanical contrivance consisting of one or more grooved pulleys mounted in a casing or shell which is furnished with a hook, eye, or strap by which it may be attached to an object, the function of the apparatus being to transmit power or change the direction of motion by means of a rope or chain passing round the movable pulleys. Blocks are single, double, treble, or four-fold, according as the number of sheaves or pulleys is one, two, three, or four. A running block is attached to the object to be raised or moved; a standing block is fixed to some permanent support. Blocks also receive different denominations from their shape, purpose, and mode of application.

after, the invention of printing, books printed Block Books, before, and for a short time from wooden blocks, each the size of a page and having the matter to be reproduced, whether These were intended for the popular use and text or picture, cut in relief on the surface. were adorned with crude paintings, the makers of block books and card painters being the same till about the opening of the 15th century.

the process of block printing, cutting into

BLOCK COAL

wooden blocks or metal plates in such a manner as to leave letters and pictures in relief, and after applying color to these, taking impressions from them. One or both sides of the sheet were printed from these blocks. See also PRINTING.

Block Coal, the name of certain kinds of bituminous coal having a tendency to break into forms approaching the cube. See also COAL.

Block Island, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Montauk Point, L. I., and Point Judith, R. I.; eight miles long, and from two to five miles wide. It belongs to the State of Rhode Island, from the shore of which it is about 10 miles distant. It has become a noted summer resort, and constitutes the township of New Shoreham. Pop. (1900) 1,396.

Block Printing. See PRINTING.

Block System, a system of working the traffic on railroads according to which the line is divided into short sections, each section with a signal and telegraphic connection at the end. The essential principle of the system is that no train is allowed to enter upon any one section till that section is signalled wholly clear, so that between two successive trains there is not merely an interval of time, but also an interval of space. See RAILWAY SIGNALS.

Block Tin. See TIN.

Blockade' is the rendering of intercourse with the seaports of an enemy unlawful on the part of neutrals, and it consists essentially in the presence of a sufficient naval force to make such intercourse difficult. It must be declared or made public, so that neutrals may have notice of it. If a blockade is instituted by a sufficient authority, and maintained by a sufficient force, a neutral is so far affected by it that an attempt to trade with the place invested subjects vessel and cargo to confiscation by the blockading power. The term is also used to describe the state of matters when hostile forces sit down around a place and keep possession of all the means of access to it, so as entirely to cut off its communication with the outside world, and so compel surrender from want of supplies.

To be sufficient, the blockade must be effective and made known. By the convention of the Baltic powers of 1780, and again in 1801, and by the ordinance of Congress of 1781, it is required that there should be a number of vessels stationed near enough to the port to make the entry apparently dangerous. The government of the United States has uniformly insisted that the blockade should be made effective by the presence of a competent force stationed and present at or near the entrance of the port. (1 Kent Com. 145.) But an accidental absence of the blockading force, or the circumstance of being blown off by the wind, if the suspension and reason of the suspension are known, will not be sufficient in law to remove a blockade. But negligence or remissness on the part of cruisers stationed to maintain the blockade may excuse persons, under certain circumstances, for violating the blockade. Taylor (International Public Law,' p. 767), upon this subject,

says:

"Under that rule the government of Great Britain naturally accepted the contention of that of the United States, made during the American Civil War,

to the effect that the legal efficiency of the blockade of Charleston, usually maintained by one ship lying off the bar between the two principal channels, with two or three others cruising outside within signalling distance, was not destroyed by the absence of the Niagara, a blockading vessel whose withdrawal, in the attempt to intercept a cargo of arms expected at another part of the coast, left the harbor open for at least five days. It was admitted, under the British rule, that there was no cessation of the Charleston blockade, despite the fact that a large number of vessels succeeded in passing it, owing to the peculiar nature of the coast. As there is no rule requiring the blockading squadron to remain within a certain disinterdicted, Buenos Ayres was held to have been suf tance of the place blockaded, provided access is really ficiently blockaded by vessels stationed in the vicinity of Monte Video; and, in like manner, the blockade of Riga was maintained, during the Russian war in 1854, at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from the town by a ship in the Lyser Ort, a channel three miles wide, forming the only navigable entrance to the gulf."

When on 21 Nov. 1806, the Berlin Decree of in a state of blockade, that blockade, being ludiNapoleon I. declared the whole British Islands crously ineffective, was illegal; so also, though to a somewhat less extent, were the British Orders in Council of II and 21 Nov. 1807, which placed France and all its tributary states in a state of blockade. The retaliatory Napoleonic Milan Decree of 27 Dec. 1807, extending the previously announced blockade to the British dominions in all quarters, labored to a still greater extent under the same defect. More effective, as being more limited in area, were the blockades of the Elbe by Great Britain in 1803, those of the Baltic by Denmark in 1848-9 and 1864, those of the ports of the Confederate States of America by President Lincoln on 19 April 1861, and that of the Cuban ports by the United States in 1898.

To involve a neutral in the consequences of violating the blockade, it is absolutely necessary that he have due notice of it. This communication may be communicated in two ways, either actually by a formal notice from the blockading power, or constructively, by notice to his government, or by the notoriety of the fact. Formal notice is not required; any authentic information is sufficient. Phillimore, 'International Law (page 397); Taylor, 'International Public Law (1901, p. 768). A violation may be either by going into the place blockaded, or by coming out of it with a cargo laden after the commencement of the blockade. For a master to place himself so near a blockaded port as to be in a

condition to slip in without observation is a violation of the blockade, and raises the presumption of a criminal intent. The sailing for a blockaded port, knowing it to be blockaded, is, it seems, such an act as may charge the party with a breach of the blockade. (1 Kent Com. 150; 5 Cranch, 335.) By provision in the treaties between the United States and Greece, Prussia, and Sweden and Norway, it is agreed that vessels arriving at a port supposed at the time of departure to be blockaded shall not be captured and condemned for an attempt to enter, unless on proof that they had or could have learned of the continuance of the blockade, but an attempt to re-enter after warning will subject them to condemnation. Vessels in port before the establishment of the blockade are to be permitted to depart with their cargoes. They are usually allowed from 15 to 45 days in which to make their exit. Any one running a blockade does so at his peril; his government, by international law, cannot protect him from for

feiting his vessel with its cargo, and his liberty if he be captured by the blockading fleet. See INTERNATIONAL LAW; U. S., DIPLOMACY OF THE.

Blockhouse, in fortification, a house made of beams joined together crosswise, and often doubled, with a covering and loopholes, large enough for from 25 to 100 men. In addition to this, it is commonly covered with earth, to render it entirely bomb- and fire-proof. Forts of this kind are often fitted up to receive cannon. Blockhouses are generally built in the form of a square or a cross. Their use is to afford a feeble garrison of an important place, which is very much exposed, an opportunity of holding out against the cannonade and assault of the enemy till they are relieved. They also serve for bomb-proof guardhouses, and places of last resort, in the interior of intrenchments, and in the covered passages of fortresses, where the cannon are stationed. Blockhouses were much employed as a defense against Indians in America, by the French in Algeria, and by the Spanish in Cuba, where a line of blockhouses connected by wire barricades was built across the island in 1898.

Blocks of Five, a political expression in the United States, originating in the presidential campaign of 1888. A letter purporting to have been written by the treasurer of the Republican National Committee to the chairman of the Indiana State Committee, recommending securing "floaters in blocks of five." This was construed to mean the bribery of voters at wholesale rates. The Democratic managers circulated the letter as widely as possible, before election. Proceedings for libel were afterward begun, but never brought to trial.

Blocksberg, the name of several elevations in Germany, particularly the Brocken (q.v.), forming the summit of the Hartz Mountains and the highest point in the northern part of the empire.

Blod'get, Lorin, American statistician: b. near Jamestown, N. Y., 25 May 1823; d. Philadelphia, 24 March 1901. He was educated at Hobart College; appointed assistant professor at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., in charge of researches on climatology, 1851; was employed on the Pacific Railroad survey for the War Department, 1852-6; and was engaged in the United States treasury department, 1863-77. He was also editor of the Philadelphia North American, and secretary of the board of trade of that city, 1858-64. He is credited with having laid the foundation of American climatology. His publications include The Climatology of the United States' (1857), a work that met high favor in the United States and Europe; 'Commercial and Financial Resources of the United States; and about 150 volumes of reports and

statistics.

Blod'gett, Henry Williams, American jurist: b. Amherst, Mass., 21 July 1821. He was educated at Amherst Academy; studied surveying and engineering; was admitted to the bar in 1844; and settled in Waukegan, Ill., to practise, in the following year. He served in the lower house of the legislature, 1852-4, and in the State Senate, 1859-65; and was United States district judge for the Northern District of Illinois, 1869-93, when he retired. He was ap

pointed one of the counsel on the part of the United States before the arbitration tribunal on the Bering Sea fur-seal controversy between the United States and Great Britain, in 1892.

Blodgett, Samuel, American inventor: b. Woburn, Mass., I April 1724; d. Haverhill, Mass., 1 Sept, 1807. He took part in the French and Indian war; was a member of the expedition against Louisburg in 1745; and subsequently became a judge of the court of common pleas in Hillsboro County, N. H. He was the inventor of an apparatus by which he recovered a valuable cargo from a sunken ship near Plymouth, Mass., in 1783. His success led him to go to Europe for similar enterprises. He met with no encouragement in Spain, and in England proposed to raise the Royal George, which went down off Spithead with 800 persons on board, but his proposition was not accepted. In 1793 he began the construction of the canal around Amoskeag Falls in the Merrimac which now bears his name, but did not live to complete the

work.

Bloede, ble'dė, Gertrude, American poet and novelist, better known as STUART STERNE: b. Dresden, Saxony, 10 Aug. 1845. She has written in verse Angelo (new ed. 1879); Giorgio and Other Poems (1881); 'Beyond the Shadow, and Other Poems (1888); Piero da Castiglione'; and 'The Story of Two Lives,' a novel.

Bloemaert, bloo'märt, or Blom, Abraham, Utrecht, 1647, or more probably 1657. His paintDutch painter: b. Gorkum about 1565; d. ings are reproached with various faults, yet he is distinguished by the brilliancy of his coloring and the richness of his invention. He painted all sorts of objects, but his landscapes are the most esteemed. He had four sons, of whom Cornelis (b. Utrecht, 1603; d. Rome, 1680), was a distinguished engraver.

Bloemen, Jan Frans van, Flemish painter: b. Antwerp, 1662; d. Rome, 1748 (?). He was surnamed "Orizzonte," an allusion to the great beauty of the coloring he put into his landscapes.

Bloemen, Pieter van, Flemish painter, brother of Jan Frans: b. Antwerp, 1651; d. 1662. After study in Italy he was appointed dean of the Guild of St. Luke in his native city. His work is chiefly landscapes and military subjects. He is known as STANDAERT.

Bloemfontein, bloom'fon-tin, Orange River Colony, South Africa, the chief town and seat of government of the colony, 680 miles northeast of Cape Town, situated in an elevated and healthy region. It stands on a plain surrounded by low hills, and is regularly laid out, has several fine buildings, including the Anglihaving a large market-square in the centre. It can cathedral, the Dutch Reformed church, and other places of worship; the presidency; the town-hall; the post-office; the library; the national museum; the new Raadzaal, or councilchamber of the legislature; the old Raadzaal; Grey College and St. Andrew's College for boys; the Eunice Institute for girls; a government hospital and a cottage hospital; a lunatic asylum, etc. It is on the main railway line of the Colony, which is continuous with the Cape Colony and Transvaal systems. Pop. about 8,000, half being whites.