Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/728

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708 BLEDSOE BLENDE works relating to chess was purchased by the royal library of Berlin. BLEDSOE, a S. E. county of Tennessee, drained by the Sequatchie river; area, 480 sq. ra. ; pop. in 1870, 4,870, of whom 709 were colored. It has an uneven and partly mountainous surface. Coal is found in several places. The chief productions in 1870 were 22,034 bushels of wheat, 201,667 of Indian corn, and 21,550 of oats. There were 1,137 horses, 1,354 milch cows. 3,969 other cattle, 5,555 sheep, and 11,- 048 swine. Capital, Pikeville. BLEDSOE, Albert Taylor, an American author and instructor, born in Kentucky about 1808. He entered the military academy at West Point in 1825, graduated in 1830, and served on the frontiers till 1832, when he resigned. In 1833-'4 he was professor of mathematics in Kenyon college, Ohio; in 1835-'6, in Miami university. In 1840-'48 he practised law at Springfield, 111. In 1848-'53 he was professor of mathematics and astronomy in the univer- sity of Mississippi, and in 1853-'61 professor of mathematics in the university of Virginia. He took part with the confederates in the civil war. He is author of "An Examination of Edwards on the Will" (1845); "Theodicy, or . Vindication of the Divine Glory " (1856) ; and " Essay on Liberty and Slavery " (1856). Af- ter the war he went to England, where he remained for some time. Returning to Ame- rica, he took up his residence in Baltimore, and is editor of the " Southern Review," pub- lished at St. Louis, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. BLEEE. I. Friedrich, a German theologian, born at Ahrensbok, Holstein, July 4, 1793, died in Bonn, Feb. 27, 1859. He studied under De Wette, Schleiermacher, and Neander, and after being connected with the university of Berlin, was for 30 years (1829-'59) professor of theology in Bonn. His principal work, Der Brief an die Hebriier, is a translation of and commentary on the epistle to the Hebrews (3 vols., Berlin, 1828-'40). In his Beitrage zur Evangeliencritik (1846) he vindicated the au- thenticity of the Gospel of St. John against the attack of the new Tubingen school. After his death appeared other works, the most impor- tant of which are Einleitung in das Alte Tes- tament (edited by his son, the Rev. Johann Friedrich Bleek, and by Camphausen, Berlin, 1860), and Einleitung in das Neue Testament (edited solely by the former, 1862). II. Wll- helm Helnrich Immannel, a German philologist, on of the preceding, born in Berlin, March 8, 1827. He studied at Berlin and Bonn, and ac- companied Baikie's expedition to the Niger in 1854 ; but ill health compelling his return after his arrival at Fernando Po, he accompanied Bishop Colenso to Natal in 1855, and the next year removed to Cape Town, where Sir George Grey subsequently appointed him director of the library which he had presented to the colony. He published a " Vocabulary of the Mozambique Languages" (London, 1856); a "Catalogue of Sir George Grey's Library" (185S-'fl); " Com- parative Grammar of South African Lan- guages" (2 vols., Cape Town and London, 1862-'9), &c. ; and he was the principal author of a "Handbook of African, Australian, and Polynesian Philology " (3 vols., London and Cape Town, 1858-'63). BLEIBTREf, Geprg, a German painter, born at Xanten, Rhenish Prussia, March 27, 1828. He studied at Diisseldorf, and has resided in Berlin since 1858. His "Battle of Waterloo " and several other works are in the gallery of the prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The national gallery of Berlin commissioned him to paint "The Battle of Koniggratz." BLEMYES, or Blemmyes, an ancient nomadic race of Africa, who appear to have occupied different regions at different epochs. In Ptole- my's time they held the territory between the Astaboras (Bahr-el-Azrek) and Astapns (At- bara). Older authorities speak of them as ex- tending beyond the desert of Libya. In the 2d century A. D. they had become very powerful about the borders of Egypt, then under Roman rule, and even made warlike and predatory expeditions into the province. Diocletian made extensive concessions to their powerful chiefs, and gave up to them the parts of N ubia held by the Romans. They continued their hostile expeditions, however, and as late as the 7th century molested the inhabitants of the territory about them. Several ancient writers represented the Blemyes as a fabu- lous race, and many stories were current of their savage and ferocious appearance and habits. The Bishareen, Ababdeh, and other tribes of the present day are supposed to be their descendants. BLENDE (Ger. blenden, to deceive), a com- mon ore of zinc, so named because, while often resembling galena, it yielded no lead, and thus deceived the miners. Another name for it is sphalerite, from a<t>a).ep6f, treacherous. When pure it is composed of sulphur 33, zinc 67= 100 ; but part of the zinc is often replaced by iron, and occasionally by cadmium. It some- times occurs in brilliant tetrahedral crystals, also fibrous, radiated, and massive. Its lustre is resinous to adamantine; color brown, yel- low, black, red, green white or yellow when pure. The English miners call it blackjack. Blende is found in both crystalline and sedi- mentary rocks, usually associated with galena, also with barite, fluorite, siderite, and ores of silver. It abounds with the lead ore of Mis- souri, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, and has been found in many other localities in the United States. Derbyshire, Cumberland, and Cornwall afford different varieties;, also Tran- sylvania, Hungary, the Hartz, Sahla in Swe- den, and many Saxon localities. Owing to the difficulty of working this class of ore, it was formerly allowed to accumulate about the mouths of mines, and was not economized for zinc. In modern times, with improved metal- lurgical processes, zinc is largely made from