BLENHEIM 63 BLESSINGTON cess of air the metal burns and passes off in vapor which condenses as the white oxide, which is collected and forms a pig- ment known as zinc white. BLENHEIM (blen'em or blen'him), a village in Bavaria on the Danube. Near it was fought, Aug. 13, 1704, during the war of the Spanish Succession, the fa- mous battle of Blenheim (or Hochstadt, from another village in the vicinity), in which Marlborough and Prince Eugene, commanding the allied forces of England and Germany (52,000 men), gained a brilliant victory over the French and Bavarians (56,000). The victors lost some 12,000 in killed and wounded; the vanquished 40,000, including prisoners, of whom Villars was one. Here, the French defeated the Austrians, June, 1800. BLENHEIM DOG, a variety of spaniel, bearing a close resemblance to the King Charles breed, but somewhat smaller, so named from having been orig- inally bred by one of the Dukes of Marl- borough. It has a short muzzle, long, silky hair without any curl, and long, pendulous ears. BLENNERHASSETT, HARMAN, an Englishman of Irish descent, noted for his connection with Aaron Burr's con- spiracy, born in Hampshire, Oct. 8, 1764 or 1765; was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; studied law; and came to the United States in 1797. In the following year he built a beautiful residence on a little island in the Ohio river below Parkersburg where Aaron Burr was a guest after New York became unsafe for him to live in. Burr proposed his scheme for taking Mexico, where, in case of suc- cess, Burr was to be Emperor and Blen- nerhassett a duke and ambassador to Eng- land. Large sums were expended to fit out the expedition and when Burr was arrested, and Blennerhassett as a sus- pected pei'son with him, creditors seized the island and home, and Blennei'hassett found himself bankrupt. After this all projects failed with him. In his last years he was supported by the charity of a relative. He died on the island of Guern- sey, Feb. 1, 1831. His wife was a daugh- ter of Governor Agnew, of the Isle of Man, and the author of many poems, in- cluding "The Deserted Isle," etc. BLENNIUS, a genus of spiny finned fishes, the typical one of the family blenniidx. The species are small, agile fishes of no economic value, often left be- hind in pools by the retreating tide. They have long dorsal and large pectoral fins, while their heads are often furnished with tentacles, simple or branched. ELENNORRHCEA, a genus of dis- eases, including those which consist of mucous discharges, especially from the genital and urinary systems. Modern microscopical research claims to have shown that this class of diseases are the product of idiopathic conditions, such as catarrh, or of lack of cleanliness. BLENNY, the English name of the several fishes belonging to the genus blennius. BLERE (bla-ra'), a French town, ir the department of Indre-et-Loire, on the Cher, 15 miles E. S. E. of Tours. In the vicinity is the Chateau Chenonceaux, built in the time of Francis I., and still in excellent preservation. It was given by Henry II. to his mistress, Diana de Poitiers, who was dispossessed on the death of Henry by Catherine de Medici. In the latter part of the 18th century it was frequented by Fontenelle, Voltaire, Rousseau, and all the wits of the time, who were drawn together by the then owner of the chateau, Madame Dupin, widow of a fermier general who died in 1799. BLESBOK, an antelope of south Africa with a white marked face, a general pur- plish chocolate color, and a saddle of a bluish color; found in great numbers in the late Boer republics in south Africa and much hunted. BLESSED THISTLE, the English name of several thistles. (1) Cnicus benedictus, formerly called Centaurea benedicta. Both the English name and the Latin specific appellation refer to the fact that formerly it was believed to destroy intestinal worms, to cure fevers, the plague, and even the most stubborn ulcers and cancers, an opinion for which there seems to have been no foundation whatever. (2) Carduus benedictus ["United States Pharmacopseia"], the blessed thistle of modern medicine, in which it has an honorable place as a tonic and diaphoretic. (3) Carthamiis lanatus is also in some localities called the blessed thistle. BLESSINGTON. MARGARET, COUNTESS OF, an Irish author, born near Clonmel, Sept. 1, 1789. She was the daughter of Edmund Power, an improvi- dent man of good family, and at the age of 15 was married to a Captain Farmer, who died in 1817; and a few months after his death his widow married Charles John Gardiner, Earl of Blessington. In 1822 they went abroad, residing there till the Earl's death in 1829, when Lady Blessington took up her abode in Gore House, Kensington. Her residence be-
