BLUE 74 France early in 1814. March 31, Blucher entered the capital of France. His King created him Prince of Wahlstadt, and gave him an estate in Silesia. On the renewal of the war in 1815, in chief com- mand, he led his army into the Nether- lands. June 16 Napoleon threw himself upon him, and Bliicher, on the 16th, was defeated at Ligny. In the battle of the 18th Blucher arrived at the most deci- sive moment upon the ground, and tak- ing Napoleon in the rear and flank as- sisted materially in completing the great victory of Belle Alliance or Waterloo. He was a rough and fearless soldier, noted for his energy and rapid movements, which had procured him the name of Marshal Vorwarts (Forward). He died at Krieblowitz, Silesia, Sept. 12, 1819. BLUE, one of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves when refracted through a glass prism, seen in nature in the clear expanse of the heavens; also a dye or pigment of this hue. The blue pigments in common use by artists are few in number, and con- sist of native and artificial ultramarine, cobalt, indigo, and Prussian blue. Gen- uine ultramarine, prepared from the mineral lapis lazuli, and ordinary co- balt blue, sold for artists' work, are per- manent colors. Prussian blue and indigo are highly useful colors, since it is only these that yield dark blues, and only from them, mixed with yellows or browns, that strong greens can be ob- tained. BLUE BEARD, the name of the blood- thirsty husband in the familiar tale of "Blue Beard," best described in Per- rault's "Tales" (1697). The original of this monstrous personage was a char- acter celebrated in Breton legend, Gilles de Laval, Baron de Retz (1396-1440), famous in wars of Charles VII, Ac- cording to tradition he used to entice the children of the peasants into his castle, and there sacrifice them to the Devil. He was condemned to death, strangled, and his corpse burned at the stake at Nantes in 1440. Another Bre- ton legend represents de Retz with a red beard about to marry a beautiful girl after having already made away with seven wives. The bride expostulates at the altar. De Retz offers her all his pos- sessions, finally his body and soul. "I accept," cried the bride at the same time transformed into a blue demon and mak- ing a sign that changes de Retz's beard from red to blue. Henceforth he belongs to Hell, and is the dread of the country tinder the name of Blue Beard. BLUEBELL (so called from the color and shape of the flowers), the English BLUEFIELDS name of the plant genus agraphis, and especially of the wild hyacinth {agraphis nutOiHs of Link, scilla nutans of Smith, hyacinthus nonscripHis of Linnaeus). The bluebell of Scotland is the round- leaved bell flower or harebell (campa^ nula rotundi folia). BLUEBERRY, a name given in the United States to the genus vaccinmvt, that which contains the bilberry, called in Scotland the blae berry {vaccinium myrtillus). The commonest species are v. pennsylvanicuw, and V. resinosum. BLUE BIRD, a beautiful bird, the Sylvia sialis of Wilson. Its whole upper parts are sky blue, shot with purple, with its throat, neck, breast, and sides red- dish chestnut, and part of its wings and its tail feathers black. It is about TV2 inches long. It has a soft, warbling note, which is one of the first harbingers of spring. BLUE BOTTLE, a two-winged fly, musca (lucilia) ccesar, the body of which has some faint resemblance to a bottle of blue glass. Also the centaurea cy- anus, more fully named the com blue bottle, from its being found chiefly in corn fields. It belongs to the order aS' teracese (composites), and the sub-order tubuliflorse. It is from 2 to 3 feet high with florets of the disk, which are small and purple, and those of the ray few, larger and bright blue. It is common in the United States and Europe, BLUE DISEASE, a condition in which the most prominent symptom is a pecu- liar discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes, due to the circulation of dark or venous blood in the vessels. It is also called cyanosis. BLUE EYE (entoTtiyza cyanotis), a beautiful little bird, abundant and very generally dispersed in New South Wales, although not found in Victoria. It is one of the honey eaters, or honey suckers, and is sometimes called the blue-cheeked honey eater. BLUEFIELD, a city of West Virginia in Mercer co. It is on the Norfolk and Western railroad. It is an important industrial center and has railway shops, flour mills, and several wholesale houses. The city is the distributing center for the Pocahontas coal fields. It is the seat of the State Normal School and has two sanitariums, an opera house, a Federal building, and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 11,188; (1920) 15,282. BLUEFIELDS, town, seaport, and cap- ital of the former Mosquito Indian Res- ervation ; now the department of Zelaya, Nicaragua, on the Atlantic coast near
