was taken over in 1875, and the electric in 1900 for L420,000. The local
sources of water-supply are the rivers Bourne and Blythe, the Plant
Brook and the Perry Stream, and eight deep wells. These works can
provide 20 million gallons daily in dry weather. A large area outside
the city boundaries is supplied, and in 1891, the demand having risen to
nearly 17 millions a day, new sources had to be considered, and it was
determined to seek an entirely new supply in Wales. By an act of 1892
power was given to acquire the watershed of the rivers Elan and
Claerwen, tributaries of the Wye, lying west of Rhyader in Wales, and to
construct the necessary works, the capital authorized being L6,000,000.
About L5,900,000 had been spent when, on the 21st of July 1904, King
Edward VII. formally opened the supply. Two reservoirs on the river
Elan, formed by masonry dams from 98 to 128 ft. above the river-bed,
were then completed, the construction of the three planned on the
Claerwen being deferred until necessity should arise. Nearly a mile
below the confluence of the rivers the great Caban Coch dam, 122 ft.
high, and the same in thickness at the base, and 600 ft. long at the
top, holds up the water for over 4 m. in the Elan, and over 2 in the
Claerwen, having a capacity of 1500 million gallons. A series of thirty
filter beds is included in the original scheme; and the water travels
73.3 m. from the source to Birmingham by gravity alone with a fall of
about 170 ft. The area of the gathering ground is 45,562 acres, the mean
annual rainfall in the district being 63 in. The complete scheme
provided water for fifty years in advance, and a maximum of 75 million
gallons a day was taken into account, in addition to 27 million gallons
for compensation water to the river. The part of the works opened in
1904 provided about 27 million gallons of supply daily to the city. The
corporation is obliged by the act to supply towns within 15 m. of the
line of the aqueduct. A village for the accommodation of workmen was
established near the Caban Coch dam; and the corporation adopted a
modified form of the Gothenburg system in respect of the supply of
intoxicating liquors, permitting no publican to open a licensed house.
The administration of the poor-law is vested in a board of guardians of
sixty members for the parish of Birmingham. The parish of Edgbaston
(wholly within the borough) is in the poor-law union of King's Norton,
and that part of the parish of Aston included in the borough is in the
Aston Union. There are three workhouses--that for Birmingham parish,
situated at Birmingham Heath, is capable of receiving over 2000 inmates.
In 1882 a superintendent relieving officer was appointed, and a system
of cross-visitation started for the purpose of checking abuses of
outdoor relief. Workhouses, infirmaries and cottage homes are managed by
the board, on which women first sat in 1880. The administration of
justice was performed from 1838 to 1884 by a court of quarter sessions,
with a recorder, and a court of petty sessions. In 1884 Birmingham was
made an assize district of Warwickshire. In 1905 a special juvenile
offenders' court was initiated. The borough gaol is at Winson Green
towards Smethwick. The drainage system is managed by the Birmingham,
Tame and Rea District drainage board, constituted in 1877, and
consisting of members from the city council and from districts outside
the municipal area.
Birmingham was enfranchised in 1832, when two representatives were
assigned to it, and Thomas Attwood and Joshua Scholefield, leaders of
the Political Union, were elected. In 1867 three members were assigned,
and in 1885 the number was increased to seven, and a corresponding
number of parliamentary divisions created, namely Bordesley, Central,
East, Edgbaston, North, South and West. By the Provincial Local
Government Board Act of 1891 four local board districts were added to
the city of Birmingham for local government--Harborne (Staffordshire),
Balsall Heath (Worcestershire), Saltley and the rural hamlet of Little
Bromwich (Warwickshire). These districts were by the act declared to be
in the county of Warwick, though still remaining in their respective
counties for the exercise of freehold votes. By this act the boundaries
of the city were made conterminous for parliamentary, municipal and
school board purposes. The area is 12,639 acres.
The population of Birmingham in 1700 was about 15,000. In 1801 it was
73,000, and it increased rapidly through the century. In 1891 it was
478,113 and in 1901, 522,204.
University.
_Education._--The oldest educational institution is the grammar school
of King Edward VI., founded in 1552 out of the lands of the Gild of the
Holy Cross, then of the annual value of L21. The endowments now yield
upwards of L37,000. The principal school included in the foundation is
the boys' high school, held in the building in New Street. It has a
classical and a modern side, and educates about 500 boys. Adjoining it,
in a new building opened in 1896, is a large high school for girls, with
300 pupils. There are also on the foundation seven middle schools,
called grammar schools, four for girls and three for boys, situated in
different parts of the city, and containing about 1900 pupils
altogether. The schools have numerous scholarships tenable at the
schools as well as exhibitions to the universities and other places of
higher education. Queen's College, founded in 1828 as a school of
medicine, subsequently embraced other subjects, though in 1882 only the
medical and theological departments were maintained. In 1882 a large
part of the scientific teaching, hitherto done by special professors in
Queen's College, was taken over by Mason College, and in 1892 the whole
medical department was removed to the same institution under an order
from the court of chancery. This change helped to advance the Birmingham
medical school to a position of high repute. The theological students
(Church of England) of Queen's College are few. The idea of developing
Queen's College into a university had long existed. But it was destined
to be realized in connexion with Mason College, founded by Sir Josiah
Mason in 1870. Subsequent deeds (1874 and 1881) added Greek and Latin to
the practical, mechanical and artistic curriculum of the original
foundation, and provided that instruction may be given in all such other
subjects as the trustees may from time to time judge necessary, while
once in every fifteen years the provisions of the deed may be varied to
meet changing needs--theology only being definitely excluded. In 1897 a
new act was passed at the instance of the trustees, creating a court of
180 members, and removing the theological restriction. A measure of
popular control is given through the appointment by the city council of
five out of the eleven trustees. In 1898 a public meeting carried a
resolution in favour of creating a university. It was estimated that a
quarter of a million was needed to endow and equip a university on the
scale proposed. Including L50,000 offered by Mr Andrew Carnegie, an
equal amount from an anonymous donor, and the rest from local
subscribers, in the autumn of 1899, L325,000 had been subscribed, and
the privy council was at once petitioned for a charter, which was
granted. The draft provided for the incorporation of the university of
Birmingham with faculties of science, arts, medicine and commerce, with
power to grant degrees, and for its government by a court of governors
(of which women may be members), a council and a senate. Mason College
was merged in the university. The faculty of commerce constitutes a
distinctive feature in the scheme of the university, the object being to
bring its teaching into close touch with the industrial life of the
city, the district and the kingdom. In 1905 Sir Edward Elgar (who
resigned in 1908) became the first occupant of a chair of music, founded
owing to the liberality of Mr Richard Peyton. From the same year great
strides were made in the development of the scientific departments of
the university. A site at Edgbaston was given by Lord Calthorpe, and the
erection of a complete and costly set of buildings was undertaken.
The Municipal School of Art was formed by the transference to the
corporation in 1885 of the then existing school of art and the society
of arts, and by the erection of the building in Margaret Street, the
site having already been given and a portion of the cost provided by
private donors. There are one central school and two branch schools.
Evening classes are also held in some of the provided schools. The
Midland Institute, the building of which was founded in 1855, and
enlarged subsequently, includes a general literary and an industrial
department. A marked development took place in 1885, when, fresh room
having been provided by the removal of the school of art hitherto held
in the building, the industrial department was greatly enlarged,
resulting in the creation of one of the best metallurgical schools in
the kingdom. The Municipal Technical School was established in 1893 in
the building of the Midland Institute, and in 1895 was housed in a fine
building of its own, in Suffolk Street, whither the whole of the
scientific teaching of the institute was transferred. It contains
metallurgical and engineering workshops and laboratories, lecture
theatres for the teaching of chemistry and physics, a women's
department, and rooms for the teaching of machine drawing and building
construction. Among other educational foundations may be mentioned a
number of industrial schools, reformatories and private schools of a
good class.
The principal libraries are the Birmingham library, founded in 1798 by
Dr Priestley, in a modern building, the Central free library, and other
free libraries in different parts of the city, each with a lending
department and a reading room.
_Charities._--The general hospital, the foundation of Dr Ash, an eminent
local physician, was opened in 1779. The old building was replaced in
1897 by a splendid new one in St Mary's Square, costing L206,000. The
Queen's hospital, Bath Row, the other large hospital of the town, was
founded in 1840 by W. Sands Cox, F.R.S., an eminent local surgeon, who
also founded the Queen's College as a medical school. The general
dispensary, the officers of which visit patients at their own homes,
relieves about 8000 yearly. The children's hospital (free) established
in 1864 by Dr Heslop, has two establishments--for out-patients (a
handsome Gothic building) in Steelhouse Lane, and an in-patient
department in Broad Street. There is also a women's hospital (free) for
the special diseases of women; a lying-in charity; special hospitals for
diseases of the eye, the ear, bodily deformities, and the teeth; and a
homoeopathic hospital. The parish of Birmingham maintains a large
infirmary at the workhouse (Birmingham Heath), and a dispensary for
out-patients in Paradise Street. The majority of the hospitals and
dispensaries are free. Nearly all these medical charities depend upon
subscriptions, donations, legacies and income from invested property.
There are two public organizations for aiding the charities, both of
which were begun in Birmingham. One is a simultaneous collection in
October in churches and chapels, on the Sunday called Hospital Sunday,
established in 1859; the other is the Saturday Hospital collection, made
by the work-people in March, which was established in 1873. A musical
festival is held triennially in aid of the general hospital. There is a
sanatorium at Blackwell, near the Lickey Hill, 10 m. south of
Birmingham, common to all the hospitals. Amongst the non-medical
charities the principal are the blind institution and the deaf and dumb
asylum, both at Edgbaston; and Sir Josiah Mason's orphanage at
Erdington. There are also in the town numerous almhouses for aged
persons, the chief of which are Lench's Trust, the James Charities, and
the Licensed Victuallers' asylum. Besides the general benefit societies,
such as the Oddfellows', Foresters', &c., which are strongly supported
in Birmingham, the work-people have numerous clubs of a charitable kind,
and there are several important local provident societies of a general
character, with many thousand members.
_Commerce._--From an early period Birmingham has been a seat of
manufactures in metal. Hutton, the historian of the town, claims for it
Saxon or even British antiquity in this respect, but without foundation.
The first direct mention of Birmingham trades is to be found in Leland's
_Itinerary_ (1538). He writes:--"I came through a pretty street as ever
I entered into Bermingham towne. This street, as I remember, is called
Dirtey [Deritend]. In it dwell smiths and cutlers. There be many smithes
in the towne that use to make knives and all manner of cutlery tooles,
and many lorimers that make bittes, and a great many naylors, so that a
great part of the towne is maintained by smithes, who have their iron
and sea-cole out of Staffordshire." The cutlers no longer exist, this
trade having gone to Sheffield; but the smiths remain, and the heavier
cutting tools are still largely made here. The wide importance of
Birmingham as a centre of manufactures began towards the close of the
17th century, one great source of it being the absolute freedom of the
town, there being no gilds, companies or restrictions of any kind;
besides which the easy access to cheap coal and iron indirectly helped
the development. It is remarkable that two important trades, now located
elsewhere, were first established here. Steel was made in Birmingham
until 1797, but then ceased to be so for about seventy years, when an
experiment in steel-making was made by a single firm. Cotton-spinning
was begun in Birmingham by John Wyatt, Lewis Paul and Thomas Warren as
early as 1730; but the speculation was abandoned before the end of the
century. The great staple of Birmingham is metal-working in all its
various forms. The chief variety is the brass-working trade.
Iron-working, though largely carried on, is a much less important trade,
works of this kind being chiefly established in the Staffordshire
district. Jewelry, gold, silver and gilt come next to brass. The
remarkable development of this branch of industry is demonstrated by the
increase in the amount of gold and silver marked, as recorded by the
Assay office--the figures of 48,123 oz. of gold and 84,323 oz. of silver
in 1870 had been increased to 363,000 oz. of gold and nearly 3,000,000
oz. of silver by the end of the century. Then follow "small arms" of all
kinds. Until 1906 a Royal Small Arms factory was maintained by the
government at Sparkbrook, but it was then transferred to the Birmingham
Small Arms Company, which had already extensive works in the district.
Buttons, hooks and eyes, pins and other articles used for dress,
constitute a large class of manufactures. Glass, especially table glass,
is a renowned staple of the town. Screws, nails, &c., are made in
enormous quantities; indeed, Birmingham has a monopoly of the English
screw trade. Steel pens are also a specialty, the name best known in
this connexion being that of Sir Josiah Mason. Electro-plating, first
established in 1841 by the firm of Elkington, is one of the leading
trades. Among other branches of manufacture are wire-drawing, bell
founding, metal rolling, railway-carriage building (a large and
important industry), the manufacture of cutting implements and tools of
all kinds, die-sinking, papier-mache making and a variety of others. In
1897 there was a sudden development of cycle manufacturing, followed in
1899 by an almost equally sudden collapse, but this industry is
maintained and accompanied by the manufacture of motor cars, tyres and
accessories, for which Birmingham is one of the principal centres in
Great Britain.
Birmingham may claim as her own the perfection of the steam engine,
through the genius of James Watt and the courage of Matthew Boulton. The
memory of the great Soho factory is one of the most precious heritages
of the town, and Watt's own private workshop continues just as he left
it, with no single article disturbed, carefully preserved in the garret
of his house at Heathfield. The mention of Watt and of Soho recalls the
memories of distinguished inventors and others who have been connected
with Birmingham. Here John Baskerville, the printer, carried on his
work. An institution called the Lunar Society, which met each month
about the time of full moon, brought together a brilliant company--Watt,
Boulton, Joseph Priestley, Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, Samuel Parr,
Dr William Withering, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir
William Herschel, Dr Solander, John Roebuck, James Keir and many others.
William Murdock, the inventor of gas, was a Soho man, and first used his
invention to light the Soho factory at the peace of Amiens in 1802. The
series of inventors is continued by the names of Gillott, Elkington,
Chance, Mason and others. Thomas Rickman, the reviver and historian of
Gothic architecture, practised as an architect in Birmingham. William
Hutton, the antiquary and historian, carried on his bookselling business
here. Many of the best engravers were Birmingham men, notably James
Tibbitts Willmore and John Pye, the special translators of Turner's
marvellous creations. Attwood, Joseph Parkes, John Bright and Joseph
Chamberlain speak for Birmingham in the region of politics and
statesmanship.
One of the most marked features of social life in Birmingham is the fact
that contrasts in the distribution of wealth are less strongly marked
than in most other great cities. The distance between the poorest and
the richest is bridged over by a larger number of intermediate
gradations. Colossal fortunes are few; on the other hand there is a
numerous class of rich men. These, however, for the greater part are
actually engaged in trade or manufactures, and hold their place in local
life rather on account of industry pursued than of wealth possessed. The
number of the leisured class, enjoying large incomes without
participating in any local industry, is relatively small, but is said to
be on the increase. There are many manufacturing companies, but great
private firms are also numerous. In regard to labour conditions, the
system of small masters holds its own in the manufactures of Birmingham,
and shows no signs of extinction. One effect of this condition is that
capital and labour are not brought into enmity, and consequently strikes
and disputes are infrequent. As regards the condition of the working
classes it may be noted that Birmingham was the birthplace of the
freehold land and building societies, by which workmen are enabled on
easy terms to acquire houses of their own. The risk of an overcrowded
population is consequently minimized; the houses, moreover, are
generally well situated as regards light and air, and many have small
gardens. Among industrial communities where peculiar attention is paid
to the housing of workmen and their families, that of Bourneville,
occupied by the _employes_ of Messrs Cadbury, chocolate manufacturers,
is well known.
_History._--Owing to its rapid expansion, and the consequent newness of
most of the public and other buildings, Birmingham is often supposed to
be a modern town. It was, however, in existence as a community in the
Saxon period. Proof of this was given in 1309 by William de Bermingham,
then lord of the manor, who showed in a law-suit that his ancestors had
a market in the place and levied tolls before the Conquest. Some authors
have endeavoured to identify the town with the supposed Roman station
called Bremenium, but this claim has long been abandoned as fabulous. A
Roman road runs north and south across the site of the town, but no
remains have been found other than a very few coins. The origin of the
name is untraceable; the spelling itself has passed through about 100
different forms. Dugdale, the historian of Warwickshire, adopts
Bromwycham, and regards it as of Saxon derivation. Hutton, the historian
of Birmingham, has the fanciful etymology of _Brom_ (broom), _wych_ (a
descent), and _ham_ (a home), making together the home on the hill by
the heath.
In _Domesday Book_ Birmingham is rated at four miles of land with half a
mile of woods, the whole valued at L203. Two hundred years later the
family of de Bermingham, the owners of the place, come into sight, one
of them, William, being killed at the battle of Evesham, in 1265,
fighting with Simon de Montfort and the barons against Henry III. The
son of this William afterwards took part in the French war, and was made
prisoner; his father's estates, forfeited by treason, were restored to
him. Thenceforward the family engaged in various local and other
offices, but seemingly abstained from politics. They held the place
until 1527, when Edward de Bermingham was deprived of his property by
means of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, who trumped up a pretended
charge of riot and robbery against him and procured Birmingham for
himself. On the attainder of Dudley the manor passed to the crown, and
was granted to Thomas Marrow, of Berkswell, from whom by marriage and
descent it went to Christopher Musgrave, and finally, as regards the
only valuable part--the market tolls--by purchase to the town itself. In
the Wars of the Roses it does not seem that Birmingham took any part;
but energy revived in the Civil War under Charles I., when the town
sided actively with the Parliamentarians. In 1642, when Charles was
marching from Shrewsbury to relieve Banbury, the Birmingham people
seized part of his baggage, including much plate, money and wine, which
they sent to the Parliamentary garrison at Warwick. Before the battle of
Edgehill Charles rested for two nights at Aston Hall, near the town, as
the guest of Sir Thomas Holte. The Birmingham people resented this by
helping the Parliamentarians to cannonade the Hall and to levy a fine
upon Sir Thomas Holte. They also supplied the Parliamentary army with
15,000 sword blades, refusing to make a single blade for the Royalists.
These manifestations of hostility were avenged in April 1643 by Prince
Rupert, who, with 2000 men and several pieces of artillery, attacked the
town, planting his cannon on an eminence near Sparkbrook, still known as
Camphill. The townspeople resisted, but were beaten, many persons being
killed or wounded. Amongst the former was Lord Denbigh, one of the
Royalist officers. Having captured the place, Prince Rupert allowed his
troops to plunder it, to burn about eighty houses and to set their
prisoners to ransom. He also levied a fine of L30,000, equal to at
least L100,000 of the present value of money. This bitter lesson kept
Birmingham quiet during the rest of the Civil War, though the sympathies
of the people with the Parliamentarians were unabated. In 1665
Birmingham suffered heavy losses by the plague, great numbers of dead
being buried in the Pest Field, at Ladywood, then a lonely place far
outside the town, but long since thickly covered with buildings. In 1688
the Revolution provoked a temporary outbreak of Protestant feeling.
James II. had given timber from the royal forest of Needwood, near
Burton, to build a Roman Catholic chapel and convent in a place still
called Mass-house Lane. This edifice the mob promptly destroyed when
James gave place to William and Mary. Rather more than a century of
quiet prosperity ensued, and then occurred the serious and most
lamentable outbreak of popular fury known as the Church and King riots
of 1791. For some years there had been much political activity in
Birmingham, the dissenters, particularly the Unitarians, being desirous
of relief from the political and religious disabilities under which they
laboured. The leader in these movements was the famous Dr Priestley, who
kept up an active controversy with the local clergy and others, and thus
drew upon himself and his co-religionists the hatred of the more violent
members of the Church and Tory party. The smouldering fire broke out on
the occasion of the French Revolution. On the 14th of July a dinner of
Birmingham Liberals was held at the Royal hotel to celebrate the
destruction of the Bastille. This was the signal of a popular outbreak.
A Church and King mob, encouraged and organized by leaders of better
station, who were too cowardly to show themselves, began an attack upon
the Unitarians. Priestley was not present at the dinner, but his house
at Fair Hill, Sparkbrook, was one of the first to be sacked and
burnt--his library and laboratory, with all his manuscripts, the records
of lifelong scientific and philosophical inquiries, perishing in the
flames. The house and library of Hutton the historian were also
destroyed. The Unitarian chapel was burnt, and several houses belonging
to members of the sect were sacked and burnt. The riot continued until a
strong body of troops was marched into the town, but before their
arrival damage to the amount of more than L60,000 had been done. Some of
the rioters perished in the burning buildings, in the cellars of which
they drank themselves into stupefaction. Others were tried and
imprisoned, and four of the prisoners were hanged. The persecuted
Unitarians recovered a small part of their losses from the county; but
Priestley himself, owing in a great measure to the unworthy prejudice
against him, was forced to remove to the United States of America, where
he spent the rest of his life. A late atonement was made by the town to
his memory in 1873, by the erection of a statue in his honour in front
of the town hall and the foundation of a Priestley scholarship at the
Midland Institute.
As if ashamed of the excesses of 1791, Birmingham thenceforth became,
with one or two exceptions, a peaceful town. In the dismal period from
1817 to 1819, when the manufacturing districts were heavily distressed
and were disturbed by riots, Birmingham remained quiet. Even when some
of the inhabitants were tried and punished for demanding parliamentary
representation, and for electing Sir Charles Wolseley as their delegate,
there was no demonstration of violence--the wise counsels of the leaders
inducing orderly submission to the law. The same prudent course was
observed when in the Reform agitation of 1831-1832 the Political Union
was formed, under the leadership of Thomas Attwood, to promote the
passing of the Reform Bill. Almost the whole town, and great part of the
surrounding district, joined in this agitation; vast meetings were held
on Newhall Hill; there was much talk of marching upon London 100,000
strong; but, owing to the firmness and statesmanship of Attwood and his
associates, there was no rioting or any sign of violence. Ultimately the
Political Union succeeded in its object, and Birmingham helped to secure
for the nation the enfranchisement of the middle classes and other
political reforms. One exception to the tranquillity of the town has to
be recorded--the occurrence of riots in 1839, during the Chartist
agitation. Chartism took a strong hold in Birmingham, and, under the
influence of Feargus O'Connor and some of his associates, nightly
meetings of a threatening character were held in the Bull Ring. The
magistrates resolved to put these down, and having obtained the help of
a detachment of the metropolitan police--the town then having no local
police force--a meeting was dispersed, and a riot ensued, which resulted
in injury to several persons and required military force to suppress it.
This happened on the 4th of July. On the 15th of the same month another
meeting took place, and the mob, strongly armed and numbering many
thousands, set fire to several houses in the Bull Ring, some of which
were burned to the ground and others were greatly damaged. The military
again interfered, and order was restored, several of the ringleaders
being afterwards tried and imprisoned for their share in the
disturbance. There was another riot in 1867, caused by the ferocious
attacks of a lecturer named Murphy upon the Roman Catholics, which led
to the sacking of a street chiefly inhabited by Irishmen; but the
incident was comparatively trivial and further disorders were prevented
by the prompt action of the authorities.
See W. Hutton, _History of Birmingham_ (2nd ed., Birm., 1783); J.A.
Langford, _A Century of Birmingham Life, 1741-1841_ (Birm., 1868), and
_Modern Birmingham and its Institutions, 1841-1871_ (Birm., 1873);
J.T. Bunce, _History of the Corporation of Birmingham_ (Birm., 1885).
BIRNEY, JAMES GILLESPIE (1792-1857), American reformer, leader of the
conservative abolitionists in the United States from about 1835 to 1845,
was born in Danville, Kentucky, of a family of wealth and influence, on
the 4th of February 1792. He graduated at the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University) in 1810. In 1814, after a course of legal study,
he began the practice of the law at Danville. He entered immediately, as
a Democrat, into Kentucky politics, and political ambition caused his
removal in 1818 to northern Alabama, near Huntsville. There was at that
time in the south-west much anti-slavery sentiment. Birney's father was
among those who advocated a "free state" constitution for Kentucky, and
the home environment of the boy had thus fostered a questioning attitude
towards slavery, though later he was himself a slave-holder. In the
general assembly of Kentucky in 1816, and in that of Alabama in 1819, he
opposed inter-state rendition of fugitive slaves and championed liberal
slave-laws. His career as a lawyer in Alabama was exceptionally
brilliant; but his political career was abruptly wrecked by his
opposition in 1819 to Andrew Jackson, whose friends controlled the
state. His tariff and anti-slavery views, moreover, carried him more and
more away from the Democratic party and toward the Whigs.
About 1826 he began to show an active interest in the American
Colonization Society, and in 1832-1833 served as its agent in the
south-west. In 1833 he returned to Danville, and devoted himself wholly
to the anti-slavery cause. He freed his own slaves in 1834. Convinced
that gradual emancipation would merely stimulate the inter-state slave
trade, and that the dangers of a mixed labour system were greater than
those of emancipation in mass, he formally repudiated colonization in
1834; moreover, gradualism had become for him an unjustifiable
compromise in a matter of religion and justice. At this time also he
abandoned the Whig party. He delivered anti-slavery addresses in the
North, accepted the vice-presidency of the American Anti-Slavery Society
and announced his intention to establish an anti-slavery journal at
Danville (1835). For this he was ostracized from Kentucky society; his
anti-slavery journals were withheld in the mails; he could not secure a
public hall or a printer. In these circumstances, he removed to
Cincinnati, Ohio, and there, in January 1836, founded the
_Philanthropist_, which, in spite of rancorous opposition, became of
great influence in the north-west. Birney soon relinquished its active
control in order to serve the Anti-Slavery Society as secretary and as a
lecturer. He favoured immediatism, but he differed sharply from the
Garrisonian abolitionists, who abhorred the federal Constitution and
favoured secession. He always wrote, spoke and laboured for the
permanent safety of the Union. The assaults of the South in defence of
slavery upon free speech, free press, the right of petition and trial by
jury, he pronounced "exorbitant claims ... on the liberties of the free
states"; the contest had become, he said, "one not alone of freedom for
the blacks but of freedom for the whites." Twenty-three years before
William H. Seward characterized as an "irrepressible conflict" the
antagonism between freedom and slavery, Birney proclaimed: "There will
be no cessation of conflict until slavery shall be exterminated or
liberty destroyed"--"liberty and slavery cannot both live in
juxtaposition" (1835). The ends being political, so also, thought
Birney, must be the means; as parties in the south were fusing, he
laboured to re-align parties in the north, and advocated the formation
of an independent anti-slavery party. After the separation of the
Garrisonian and the political abolitionists in 1840 the new party was
formed, and in 1840, and again in 1844, as the Liberty party (q.v.), it
made Birney its candidate for the presidency. In 1840 he received 7069
votes; in 1844, 62,263. A fall from his horse in 1843 made him a
hopeless invalid, and completely removed him from public life. He died
at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the 25th of November 1857.
Two of Birney's sons, William Birney (1810-1907) and David Bell Birney
(1825-1864), were prominent as officers on the Federal side during the
Civil War in America.
See _James G. Birney and His Times_ (New York, 1890), by his son,
William Birney; and his principal writings: _On the Sin of Holding
Slaves_ (1834). _Letter on Colonization_ (1834), _Vindication of
Abolitionists_ (1835), _American Churches the Bulwark of American
Slavery_ (1840, 3rd ed. 1885); _Speeches in England_ (1840); and _Case
of Strader et al._ v. _Graham_ (1852).
BIRON, ARMAND DE GONTAUT, BARON DE (1524-1592), a celebrated French
soldier of the 16th century. His family, one of the numerous branches of
the house of Gontaut, took its title from the territory of Biron in
Perigord, where on a hill between the Dropt and the Lide still stands
the magnificent castle begun by the lords of Biron in the 11th century.
As a page of the queen of Navarre Biron attracted the notice of the
marshal de Brissac, with whom he saw active service in Italy. A wound
received by him in his early years made him lame for life, but he did
not withdraw from the military career, and he held a command in Guise's
regiment of light horse in 1557. A little later he became chief of a
cavalry regiment, and in the wars of religion he repeatedly
distinguished himself.
His great services to the royal cause at Dreux, St Denis, Jarnac and
Moncontour were rewarded in 1569 by his appointment as a privy
councillor of the king and grand master of artillery. He commanded the
royal forces at the siege of La Rochelle in 1572, and four years later
was made a marshal of France. From 1576 to 1588 he was almost
continuously employed in high command. From 1589 he supported the cause
of Henry of Navarre, but was suspected of prolonging the civil wars in
his own interest. Biron was killed by a cannon-ball at the siege of
Epernay on the 26th of July 1592. He was a man of considerable literary
attainments, and used to carry a pocket-book, in which he noted
everything that appeared remarkable. Some of his letters are preserved
in the Bibliotheque Nationale and in the British Museum; these include a
treatise on the art of war.
His son, CHARLES DE GONTAUT, duc de Biron (1562-1602), fought
brilliantly for the royal party against the League. He was made admiral
of France in 1592, and marshal in 1594; governor of Burgundy in 1595, he
took the towns of Beaune, Autun, Auxonne and Dijon, and distinguished
himself at the battle of Fontaine-Francaise. In 1596 he was sent to
fight the Spaniards in Flanders, Picardy and Artois. After the peace of
Vervins he discharged a mission at Brussels (1598). From that time he
was engaged in intrigues with Spain and Savoy, and, notwithstanding,
directed the expedition sent against the duke of Savoy (1599-1600).
After fulfilling diplomatic missions for Henry IV. in England and
Switzerland (1600), he was accused and convicted of high treason and was
beheaded in the Bastille on the 31st of July 1602.
His collateral descendant, ARMAND Louis DE GONTAUT, due de Lauzun,
afterwards duc de Biron (1747-1793), is known for the part he played in
the War of American Independence and the revolutionary wars. Until 1788,
when he succeeded to the duchy of Biron on the death of his
uncle,--Louis Antoine de Gontaut, duc de Biron (1700-1788)--he bore the
title of duc de Lauzun, which had passed, on the death of Antoine Nompas
de Caumont, duc de Lauzun (1633-1723), to his niece, the wife of Charles
Armand de Gontaut, duc de Biron (1663-1756). After for a while wasting
his fortune in dissipation in various parts of Europe, he attracted
attention by an essay on the military defences of Great Britain and her
colonies (_Etat de defense d'Angleterre et de toutes ses possessions
dans les quatres parties du monde_). This led to his appointment to a
command against the English in 1779, in which he gained several
successes. In the following year he took a conspicuous part in the War
of American Independence, and on his return to France was made _marechal
de camp_. In 1789 he was returned as deputy to the states-general by the
_noblesse_ of Quercy, and attached himself to the revolutionary cause.
In 1791 he was sent by the Constituent Assembly to receive the oath of
the army of Flanders, and subsequently was appointed to its command. In
July 1792 he was nominated commander of the army of the Rhine, with the
duty of watching the movements of the Austrians. In May 1793 he was
transferred to the command of the army of La Rochelle, operating against
the insurgents of La Vendee. He gained several successes, among them the
capture of Saumur and the victory of Parthenay; but the insubordination
of his troops and the intrigues of revolutionary agents made his
position intolerable and he sent in his resignation. He was thereupon
accused by the notorious Carrier of _incivisme_ and undue leniency to
the insurgents, deprived of his command (July), imprisoned in the Abbaye
and condemned to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal. He was guillotined
on the 31st of December 1793. Some _Memoires_, which come down to 1783,
were published under his name in 1822 (new ed. 1858), and in 1865
letters said to have been written by him in 1789 to friends in the
country, describing the states-general.
BIRR, or PARSONSTOWN, a market-town of King's county, Ireland, on an
acclivity rising above the Birr, and on a branch of the Great Southern &
Western railway by which it is 87 m. W.S.W. from Dublin. Pop. of urban
district (1901) 4438. Cumberland Square, in which there is a Doric
column surmounted by a statue of the duke of Cumberland, to commemorate
the battle of Culloden, is the point from which the several principal
streets diverge in regular form. The fine castle of Birr, beside its
historical interest, has gained celebrity on account of the reflecting
telescope erected here (1828-1845) by William, third earl of Rosse. This
is 56 ft. in length and weighs 3 tons; and there is another smaller
instrument. Among institutions the model and preparatory schools of the
Brothers of the Presentation Order are noteworthy. There is a bronze
statue by Foley of Lord Rosse (d. 1867). Some trade is carried on in
corn and timber, and in brewing and distilling.
An abbey was founded at Birr by St Brendan (d. 573), to whom the present
parish church is dedicated. The district formed part of Ely O'Carroll,
and was not included in King's county till the time of James I. A great
battle is said to have been fought near Birr in the 3rd century between
Cormac, son of Cond of the Hundred Battles, and the people of Muenster.
The castle was the chief seat of the O'Carrolls. In the reign of James
I. it and its appendages were assigned to Lawrence Parsons, brother of
Sir William Parsons, surveyor-general. From him the alternative name of
the town is derived. The castle was more than once besieged in the time
of Cromwell, and was taken by Ireton in 1650. It also suffered assault
in 1688 and 1690.
BIRRELL, AUGUSTINE (1850- ), English author and politician, son of a
Nonconformist minister, was born near Liverpool on the 19th of January
1850. He was educated at Amersham Hall school and at Trinity Hall,
Cambridge. He went to the bar, and gradually obtained a good practice;
in 1893 he became a K.C., and he was professor of law at University
College from 1896 to 1899. But it was as a literary critic of unusually
clever style and an original vein of wit, that he first became known to
the public, with his volume of essays entitled _Obiter Dicta_ (1884). In
1889 he was returned to parliament for West Fifeshire as a Liberal. In
the House of Commons his light but pointed humour gradually led to the
coining of a new word, "barrelling," and his literary and oratorical
reputation grew apace. Whether he was writing miscellaneous essays or
law-books, his characteristic style prevailed, and his books on
copyright and on trusts were novelties indeed among legal textbooks, no
less sparkling than his literary _Obiter Dicta_. A second series of the
latter appeared in 1887. _Res Judicatae_ in 1892 and various other
volumes followed, for he was in request among publishers and editors,
and his easy charm of style and acute grasp of interesting detail gave
him a front place among contemporary men of letters. Mr Birrell was
first married in 1878, but his wife died next year, and in 1888 he
married Mrs Lionel Tennyson, daughter of the poet Frederick Locker
(Locker-Lampson). At the general election of 1900 he preferred to
contest the N.E. division of Manchester rather than retain his seat in
Fifeshire, but was defeated. He did valuable service, however, to his
party by presiding over the Liberal Publication Department, and at the
general election of 1906 he was returned for a division of Bristol. He
had been included in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet, and as
minister for education he was responsible for the education bill which
was the chief government measure in their first session. But the
prolonged controversy over the bill, and its withdrawal in the autumn
owing to the refusal of the government to accept modifications made by
the House of Lords in the denominational interest, made his retention of
that office impossible, and he was transferred (January 1907) to the
post of chief secretary for Ireland, which he subsequently retained when
Mr Asquith became prime minister in 1908. In the session of 1907 he
introduced an Irish Councils bill, a sort of half-way house to Home
Rule; but it was unexpectedly repudiated by a Nationalist convention in
Dublin and the bill was promptly withdrawn. His prestige as a minister,
already injured by these two blows, suffered further during the autumn
and winter from the cattle-driving agitation in Ireland, which he at
first feebly criticized and finally strongly denounced, but which his
refusal to utilize the Crimes Act made him powerless to stop by the
processes of the "ordinary law"; and the scandal arising out of the
theft of the Dublin crown jewels in the autumn of 1907 was a further
blot on the Irish administration. On the other hand his scheme for a
reconstituted Irish Roman Catholic university was very favourably
received, and its acceptance in 1908 did much to restore his reputation
for statesmanship.
BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the
root of the verb "to bear"), the act of bringing forth a child, or the
fact of its being born; so also a synonym for descent or lineage. In
law, a child not actually born, but _en ventre sa mere_, is supposed for
many purposes to be actually born, and may take any benefit to which it
would have been entitled if actually born, i.e. it may take as legatee
or devisee, or even as next-of-kin or heir, but none of these conditions
will take effect, unless the child is born alive (see MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE). The given year of age of a child is gained at the first
instant of the day preceding the birthday, and no account is taken of
parts of a day, e.g. a child born at 11.59 on the night of the 2nd-3rd
of May 1900, would be of age the first moment after midnight of the
1st-2nd of May 1921. In English law, by the Offences against the Person
Act of 1861, it is a misdemeanour punishable by a maximum of two years'
imprisonment with hard labour, to endeavour to conceal the birth of a
child by any secret disposition of its dead body, whether the child died
before, after or at its birth.
_Registration of Births._--The registration of baptisms is said to have
been first introduced by Thomas Cromwell when vicar-general in 1538, but
it is only in comparatively modern times that registration has been
fully carried out. The law relating to the registration of births was
consolidated for England by the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1874,
and for Ireland by the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Ireland)
1880. In Scotland it depends upon the Registration of Births, Deaths and
Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854, as amended by later acts. Previously to
the passing of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836, the records
of the births were compiled from parish registers, which were formerly a
part of the ecclesiastical organization, and continued to be attached,
more or less, to the church till the passing of the act of 1836. That
act provided a far more complete machinery than that before existing for
the exact record of all births. The new system relieved the clergy from
all functions previously thrown upon them, and finally, after
improvement by subsequent acts, was made compulsory in 1874. The act of
1836 established a general register office in London, presided over by
an officer called the registrar-general, with general superintendence
over everything relating to registration. The registrar-general is
appointed under the Great Seal. Every poor-law union or parish is
divided into districts, each of which is called by a distinct name, and
is in charge of a registrar, who is a local officer appointed by the
guardians of the union. Over each union is a superintendent registrar,
who has supervision over the registrars within his district. The office
of superintendent registrar is usually filled by the clerk to the
guardians of the union. He receives quarterly from every registrar
within his district certified copies of the births registered by him and
having verified their correctness, transmits them to the
registrar-general. He takes charge of the register-books within the
district, when filled. Every registrar is required to inform himself
carefully of every birth which happens within his sub-district and
register the same, with the various particulars required, according to
the forms laid down for the purpose. It is the duty of the father or
mother of any child born alive, or in their default, then of the
occupier of the house (if he knows of the birth) or of any person
present at the birth or having charge of the child, to give to the
registrars, within forty-two days after the day of the birth,
information of the particulars required to be registered concerning the
birth, and in the presence of the registrar to sign the register. Every
person required to give information concerning any birth who wilfully
refuses to answer questions put to him by the registrar concerning the
particulars required to be registered, or who refuses or fails without
reasonable excuse to give information of any birth, becomes liable to a
penalty of forty shillings. After three months a birth can only be
registered in the presence of the superintendent registrar, and after
the expiration of twelve months a birth can only be registered with the
written authority of the registrar-general. In the case of an
illegitimate child, no person as the father of such child is required to
give information, nor is the name of any one entered in the register as
the father of such a child, unless at the joint request of the mother
and the person who acknowledges himself to be the father. An additional
duty is placed upon the father by the Notification of Births Act 1907.
By that act it is the duty of the father of a child if he is actually
residing in the house where the birth takes place at the time of its
occurrence to give notice in writing of the birth to the medical officer
of health of the district in which the child is born within thirty-six
hours of the birth. The same duty is also imposed upon any person in
attendance (i.e. medical practitioner or midwife) upon the mother at the
time of or within six hours after the birth. The medical officer of
health is then in a position to take such steps, by advice or otherwise,
as may, in his opinion lead to the prevention of infant mortality.
Notice under the act is given by posting a prepaid letter or postcard to
the medical officer of health giving the necessary information. Failure
to give notice entails on summary conviction a penalty not exceeding
twenty shillings. The act is optional to local authorities, but may be
enforced within any area by the Local Government Board. By the Births
and Deaths Registration Act 1874 and the Merchant Shipping Act 1894,
commanding officers of ships trading to or from British ports must,
under a penalty, transmit returns of all births occurring on board their
ships to the registrar-general of shipping, who furnishes certified
copies of such returns to the registrars-general for England, Scotland
and Ireland. These returns of births (and deaths) constitute the "Marine
Register Book."
Registration is very efficiently carried out in practically every
European country, with the exceptions of Turkey and Russia. In the
United States laws requiring registration vary in the different states.
_Tax on Birth._--In 1694 an act was passed in England for "granting to
His Majesty certain rates and duties upon marriages, births and burials,
upon bachelors and widowers for the term of five years, for carrying on
the war against France with vigour." The taxes were graduated, rising
from four shillings on the burial of the humblest person to L50 in the
case of a duke or duchess. The duty on births varied according to the
rank of the parents. A duke paid L30 on the birth of an eldest son, and
L25 for every other child; a baronet or knight, L5 for an eldest son,
and L1 each for other children. An archbishop or bishop, or a doctor of
divinity, law or physic paid L1 for every child; a gentleman having a
personal estate of L600 or a real estate worth L50 per annum, paid ten
shillings on the birth of each child. Every other person not receiving
alms paid a tax of two shillings on the birth of each child. This
measure, however, was only temporary, and passed for revenue purposes
solely.
See also articles ILLEGITIMACY; INFANTICIDE; LEGITIMACY AND
LEGITIMATION; POPULATION; SUCCESSION; OBSTETRICS, &c.
BIRUNI [ABU-R-RAIHAN MUHAMMAD AL-BIRUNI] (973-1048), Arabian scholar,
was born of Persian parentage in Khwarizm (Khiva), and was a Shi'ite in
religion. He devoted his youth to the study of history, chronology,
mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and medicine. He corresponded with
Ibn Sina (see AVICENNA), and the answers of the latter are still
preserved in the British Museum. For some years he lived in Jurjan, and
then went to India, where he remained some years teaching Greek
philosophy and learning Indian. In 1017 he was taken by Mahmud of Ghazni
to Afghanistan, where he remained until his death in 1048. His _Athar
ul-Bakiya_ (Vestiges of the Past) was published by C.E. Sachau (Leipzig,
1878), and a translation into English under the title _The Chronology of
Ancient Nations_ (London, 1879). His _History of India_ was published by
C.E. Sachau (London, 1887), and an English translation (2 vols., London,
1888). Other works of his, chiefly on mathematics and astronomy, are
still in manuscript only.
See C. Brockelmann, _Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur_ (Weimar,
1898), vol. i. pp. 475-476. (G. W. T.)
BISALTAE, a Thracian people on the lower Strymon (Struma; Karasu, "black
water"), in the district between Amphipolis and Heraclea Sintica on the
east and Crestonice on the west. They also made their way into the
peninsulas of Acte and Pallene in the south, beyond the river Nestus in
the east, and are even said to have raided Cardia. Under a separate king
at the time of the Persian wars, they were annexed by Alexander I.
(498-454 B.C.) to the kingdom of Macedonia. At the division of Macedonia
into four districts by the Romans after the battle of Pydna (168) the
Bisaltae were included in Macedonia Prima (Livy xlv. 29).
Their country was rich in figs, vines and olive trees; the silver mines
in the mountain range of Dysorum brought in a talent a day to their
conqueror Alexander. The Bisaltae are referred to by Virgil (_Georgics_,
iii. 461) in connexion with the treatment of the diseases of sheep. The
fact that their eponymus is said to have been the son of Helios and Ge
points to a very early settlement in the district.
See Smith's _Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography_; M. Ihm in
Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopaedie_, iii. part i. (1897); W. Tomaschek,
_Die alien Thraker_ (Vienna, 1893); and for the coins of the Bisaltic
kings, B.V. Head, _Historia Numorum_, p. 178.
BISCAY (_Vizcaya_), a maritime province of northern Spain; bounded on
the N. by the Bay of Biscay, E. by Guipuzcoa, S. by Alava and W. by
Burgos and Santander. Pop. (1900) 311,361; area, 836 sq. m. A small
strip of isolated territory within the borders of Biscay, on the west,
is officially included in the province of Santander. Biscay is one of
the Basque Provinces, and its name is occasionally employed as
geographically equivalent to Basque, in that case including the three
provinces of Biscay proper, Guipuzcoa and Alava. The coast-line, which
extends from Ondarroa to a short distance east of Castro Urdiales, is
bold and rugged, and in some places is deeply indented. The surface of
the country is for the most part very mountainous, being traversed
towards the south by the great Cantabrian chain; but at the same time it
is diversified with numerous narrow valleys and small plains. Some of
the mountains are almost entirely composed of naked calcareous rock, but
most of them were formerly covered to their summits with forests of
oaks, chestnuts or pine trees, now destroyed to provide fuel. Holly and
arbutus are common, and furze and heath abound in the poorer parts. The
only river of any size is the Nervion, Ansa or Ibaizabal, on which
Bilbao is situated; the others, which are numerous, are merely large
mountain streams. The climate is rather inclement and variable; but the
thermometer seldom drops below freezing-point, nor does snow fall
frequently in winter except on the highest summits. The rainfall is on
an average greater than in any province except those of the extreme
north-west. The soil, though not very fertile, except in some of the
valleys and sheltered hillsides, produces wheat, maize, barley, rye,
flax, grapes, peaches, apples and other fruits. The mountainous slopes
of Biscay are studded with the traditional Basque _caserio_, or
farm-house, in which the peasantry live on the _metayer_ system,
dividing the profits of the soil with absentee landlords. The farms are
generally small, and are for the most part tilled by manual labour. The
fisheries are actively prosecuted along the coast by a hardy race of
fishers, who were the first of their craft in Europe to pursue the
whale, formerly abundant in the Bay of Biscay. Cod, bream, tunny and
anchovy are the principal fish taken. The fishing fleet consists of
several hundred boats, manned by nearly 5000 men and boys. Biscay is
very rich in minerals. Iron of the finest quality is found in almost
every part, and forms a main article of export. At the beginning of the
20th century an average of about 5,000,000 tons was produced every year,
and many large foundries were at work. Lead and zinc are mined in much
smaller quantities, alum and sulphur are also present, and marble, lime
and sandstone are abundant. Another very important industry is the
manufacture of dynamite and other explosives at Baracaldo, closely
connected with the mining interests. There are also potteries, paper,
soap and shoe factories, flour mills and breweries, and the many mineral
springs and spas are frequented by people from all parts of Spain. The
mining and industrial interests of Biscay were very materially assisted
by the quick and important development of means of communication of
every kind. The provincial and parish roads, kept up by the local
government, are excellent. No province in Spain had at the beginning of
the 20th century such a complete network of railways, all built since
1870.
Bilbao (pop. 83,306), the capital and principal port, and Baracaldo
(15,013), an important industrial town, are described in separate
articles. Sestao (10,833) is the only other town of more than 10,000
inhabitants; the port of Bermeo (9061) is the chief fishing station;
Durango (4319), on the river of the same name, was founded by the early
kings of Navarre in the 10th century, obtained the rank of a countship
in 1153, and contains one of the oldest churches in the Basque
Provinces, San Pedro de Tavira; Guernica (3250), a picturesque village
on the river Mondaca, was until 1876 the meeting-place of the provincial
parliament. The deputies assembled under an old oak-tree, celebrated by
the Basque poet, Jose Maria Iparraguirre, in a song which is regarded by
the Spanish Basques almost as a national anthem. For the history of the
Basques, see BASQUE PROVINCES; for their origin, language and customs,
see BASQUES. The inhabitants of Biscay are intelligent, enterprising and
well-educated; and, owing to the uniformly high birth-rate, low
death-rate, and very slight loss by emigration, their numbers increased
rapidly during the latter part of the 19th century, until in 1900 the
density of population (372.4 per sq. m.) was greater than in any other
Spanish province.
BISCAY, BAY OF (Fr. _Golfe de Gascogne_; Sp. _Golfo de Vizcaya_), an
inlet of the Atlantic Ocean; bounded on the E. and N.E. by France, as
far as the island of Ushant, and on the S. by Spain as far as Cape
Ortegal. The Bay of Biscay is the _Sinus Aquitanicus_, _Sinus
Cantabricus_ or _Cantaber Oceanus_ of the Romans; hence it is sometimes
known as the Cantabrian Sea. Its modern English name is a corrupt form
of the Spanish _Vizcaya_. The bay forms a fairly regular curve, broken
on the French seaboard only by the estuaries of the Loire, Garonne,
Adour and other rivers. The rugged Spanish coast is indented by many
fjord-like inlets, especially in the west, where navigation is
sometimes difficult and dangerous; but its rivers are comparatively
unimportant. The exposed position of the bay, and the diversity of its
currents, have rendered it notorious for its storms.
BISCEGLIE (perhaps anc. _Natiolum_), a seaport and episcopal see of
Apulia, Italy, on the E.S.E. coast, in the province of Bari, from which
it is distant 211/2 m. by rail. Pop. (1901) 30,885. Two towers, one some
90 ft. high, of a once strong Norman castle still remain; the cathedral
belongs to the same period. The church of S. Margherita, founded in
1197, has fine canopied Gothic tombs of the Falcone family.
BISCHOFSWERDA, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the
Wesenitz, and at the junction of the Dresden-Goerlitz and
Bischofswerda-Zittau railways in the governmental district of Bautzen.
Pop. (1905) 7465. There are cloth, artificial flower, and cigar
factories, glass-works, potteries, and in the neighbourhood large
granite quarries. It is famous as the scene of a battle, on the 12th of
May 1813, between the French and the Allies after Napoleon's retreat
from Moscow. It was the residence of Benno, bishop of Meissen, in the
11th century, and the "Bishop's Road" still runs from here to Meissen.
BISCHWEILER, a town of Germany, in the imperial territory of
Alsace-Lorraine, district of Lower Alsace, 23 m. by rail N. by E. from
Strassburg. Pop. (1900) 7897. It has manufactures of jute and machinery,
brewing and iron-founding.
BISCUIT (pronounced according to the old spelling "bisket," a Fr. form
from Lat. _bis_, twice, and _coctum_, cooked, in reference to the
original method of preparation; cf. Ital. _biscotto_, Sp. _bizcocho_,
&c.), a form of unvesiculated bread (q.v.) which is made in thin cakes
of various shapes and baked in such a way as to be crisp and short. In
the United States of America biscuits of this kind are usually called
crackers, but the word biscuit is used there, as also in the north of
England, for vesiculated bread baked in little flat loaves or cakes.
Earthenware, porcelain, &c., which has undergone its first baking and is
ready to be glazed is also known as biscuit or bisque.
The raw material chiefly used in biscuit manufacture is flour, but many
other substances, such as butter, sugar, salt, various flavouring
essences, &c., are also employed. The flour used by the biscuit-maker
differs somewhat from that preferred by the bread-baker. In the main the
bread-baker wants flour of some strength, that is to say, flour capable
of absorbing a considerable proportion of water and of making a loaf of
more or less volume. For biscuits flour strength is not such a
desideratum, and as a matter of fact such moisture as is used to make
the dough is largely evaporated by the oven; but, except for the
commoner kind of biscuits, colour is most essential, as well as
sweetness of flavour. In a large biscuit factory several hundred
different kinds of biscuits are made, ranging from plain water biscuits
to the daintiest fancy biscuits glistening in sugar and piping. The
storage required for such an establishment is extensive, but lifts serve
to handle both raw material and finished products with a minimum of
labour. The flour used by a firm which has a reputation to maintain is
sifted as a precaution against the presence of bits of string or other
foreign bodies which will make their way into flour sacked by the most
careful of millers, and like the butter, sugar and other raw materials,
is carefully inspected and tested before being accepted. After blending
it is run through a shoot or sleeve to the mixers, which may be of any
type used in bakehouses (see BREAD). From the mixers or kneaders the
dough is delivered on a flat table, or it may go direct to a pair of
rolls. These consist of iron rollers with a reversing motion, between
which the dough is rolled backwards and forwards into sheets of uniform
thickness. The next stage is the feeding of portions of this slab of
dough to a cutting and panning machine. In details this apparatus
differs as supplied by different makers, but the broad principle is the
same in every case. The dough, after first passing through a pair of
gauging rollers, which still further thin out the sheet and are capable
of regulating its thickness with the utmost nicety, is received by an
endless conveyor-band of webbing or similar material. By this band it is
carried forward by intermittent motion to a set of punches or stamps
which descend on it in quick succession, and serve to mould the surface
and cut the edges to the required pattern. This operation completed, the
moulded dough passes forward on the same endless band. The dough has now
been cut into two distinct divisions, the moulded biscuits and the
unworked portion which forms a continuous sheet of a sort of scrap. The
latter is separated from the moulded dough, and is carried upwards by
another band, which delivers it on a tray or box whence it is returned
to the rollers to be reworked. The moulded dough intended for the oven
is carried along by the first band and is gently deposited on trays of
sheet iron or woven wire. These trays are taken from the machine by boys
and placed on the travelling-chains at the oven, or the trays may be
automatically moved forward by a travelling-band and placed on the oven.
The oven used for biscuit-baking is quite unlike any bread oven. It is
much longer and is provided with sets of endless chains moving in
parallel lines, and travelling over sprocket-wheel terminals and
intermediate supports. The chains have special attachments on which the
trays of biscuits are rested, and thus pass them through the oven, and
discharge them at the opposite end. Some ovens are provided with a sort
of endless belt of iron plates on which the biscuits are placed. These
travelling bands are used chiefly for ship and also for dog biscuits,
but the most usual type is the oven in which trays are moved on the
travelling chains already described. The exact rate of travel, or the
time during which the biscuits are in the oven, can be easily adjusted
by means of countershafts and leather belts running on cone pulleys
fitted at the discharging end. The heat of the oven as well as the rate
of travel is varied according to the kind of biscuit, some varieties
requiring a gentle heat and a comparatively long sojourn in the oven,
while others must be exposed to a fierce heat, but only for a few
minutes. The ovens, fired by coke, may be 38 to 50 ft. in length. Their
temperature is not generally raised above 500 degrees, but the speed of
travel of the trays ranges between 31/2 and 25 minutes. The whole process
of biscuit-making is thus rapid and continuous. The dough is kneaded in
the mixers in a few minutes, and when discharged on the dough table is
rapidly moulded into the required form by the cutter and panner. By
means of endless bands the material is kept moving forwards, whether on
the cutter, or in the oven. For certain fancy biscuits special processes
are used. Piping and sugar decoration is still necessarily done by hand,
and the glaze on some fancy biscuits is imparted by spraying the moulded
biscuit with very fine jets of fresh milk. Cracknels are made from a
very stiff dough, and when cut out are thrown into coppers of boiling
water. They speedily float to the top, remaining apart and not forming
into groups. From these coppers they are taken out in trays pierced so
as to drain off the water. Then they go into vats of cold water, from
which they are again removed, and after being strained of their moisture
are panned and baked in a fierce oven. (G. F. Z.)
BISECTRIX (fem., of Lat. _bisector_, from _bi-_, two, _secare_, to cut),
in geometry, the same as bisector, i.e. a point which divides a line, or
a line which divides an angle, into two equal parts; in crystallography
it denotes the bisector of the angle between the optic axes.