North America at an early age, and later spent thirteen years in Asia, showing skill, courage, and tact. Married to John Bishop, M. D., in 1881, and widowed in 1886, she continued her travels, lectures, and writing. In 1892 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Her nine volumes of travel (many of which first appeared under her maiden name, Bird) on North America, Hawaii, Japan, the Malay Peninsula, Persia, Kurdistan, Tibet, Korea, Siberia, China, and Morocco, show great ability. In 1901 she went on a philanthropic mission to India. Among the best-known of her books are Korea and Her Neighbors (1898) and The Yang-tse Valley and Beyond (1900).
BISHOP, Seth Scott (1852—). An American physician, born at Fond du Lac, Wis. He graduated in 1876 at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), and subsequently was appointed professor of otology at the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital and professor of diseases of the nose, throat, and ear at the Illinois Medical College. He became an editor of The Laryngoscope, and published a work on Diseases of the Ear, Nose, and Throat, and Their Accessory Cavities.
BISHOP, William Henry (1847—). An American novelist and graduate of Yale University, 1867. The best-known of his novels and sketches are: Detmold (1879); The House of a Merchant Prince (1882); Choy Susan and Other Stories (1884); Fish and Men in the Maine Islands (1885); The Golden Justice (1887); The Brownstone Boy and Other Queer People (1888); A House Hunter in Europe (1893); Writing to Rosina (1894). Old Mexico and Her Lost Provinces (1883) is a book of travel.
BISH′OP-AUCK′LAND. A town in the county of Durham, England, 9 miles southwest of the city of Durham, on an eminence near the confluence of the Wear and Gaunless (Map: England, E 2). There is a fine town hall, dating from 1863. The chief building of interest, however, is the palace of the Bishop of Durham, a large pile covering some five acres in the midst of a park. The principal industries of the town are cotton manufactures, and in the neighborhood are several collieries. Population, in 1891, 10,500; in 1901, 12,000.
BISHOP BLOU′GRAM'S APOLOGY. A fine dramatic monologue by Robert Browning, in which, among other significant points made, it is held that the vitality of faith is conditioned on healthy doubt.
BISHOPS' BOOK. A primer of doctrine and instruction, compiled by a commission of bishops and ministers of the English Church, in 1537, and known also as The Institution of a Christian Man. It contains an exposition of the Apostles' Creed, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the doctrines of justification and purgatory. It is contained in Formularies of Faith Put forth by Authority during the Reign of Henry VIII. (Oxford, 1823). Consult Hardwick, Reformation (London, 1856).
BISH′OPSGATE. A quaint London street, so called from a gate of that name, which once stood in the north wall of the city, and which was destroyed in 1812.
BISKRA, or BISKARA, bēs′kȧ-rä (named after the tribe Biskri). A town and commune in the Department of Constantine, Algeria, on the south side of the Aures Mountains, 117 miles southwest of Constantine by rail. It is the most important military post of the district, and formerly had a large caravan trade between the Sahara and the Tell (Map: Africa, E 1). Biskra is situated in the midst of a highly fertile oasis, rich in date-palms and olives. The climate is the warmest in Algeria, the summer temperature rising often above 120° F.; in winter, however, the freezing-point is not infrequently reached. The town has broad streets, with substantial houses, a fort, barracks, caravanserai, and hospital. Burnous and carpets are manufactured, and iron, limestone, and saltpeter are mined in the neighborhood. The Zaba of the Romans, it was an important town under the Moors, but declined after the plague of 1863, by which 71,000 inhabitants perished. In 1844 it was taken by the French, with whom it has become a favorite health resort. Population (commune), in 1891, 7166; in 1890, 8417.
BISMARCK, bĭz′märk. The capital of North Dakota, and county-seat of Burleigh County, on the Missouri River, and on the Northern Pacific Railroad (Map: North Dakota, E 3). It has an attractive situation on the east bank of the river, which is here crossed by a magnificent bridge of steel and iron, 50 feet above high water, and contains a fine court-house, several Federal institutions, the State penitentiary, the State Library, and Saint Alexius's Hospital. The capitol, completed in 1894 at a cost of half a million dollars, is the most prominent building. The city controls a very extensive river trade, the principal articles of commerce being coal, with which the surrounding region is underlaid, grain, hides, etc. The industrial establishments include grain-elevators, a large flouring-mill, etc. Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-05 on or near the site of Bismarck, which was permanently settled in 1873 and incorporated shortly afterwards. In 1883 it was made the capital of Dakota Territory, and in 1889 was chosen as the State capital of North Dakota. The government, under a general State law of 1900, is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, who has important appointive powers in municipal offices, and a city council. Population, in 1890, 2186); in 1900, 3319.
BISMARCK, bĭz′märk, Ger. pron. bēz′märk, Friedrich Wilhelm, Count (1783-1860). A German soldier and military author. He was born at Windheim, Westphalia, and was a member of the Rhenish branch of the Schönhausen line of the Bismarck family. He served with Hanoverian, and afterwards with Nassau regiments, and in 1804 became a member of the English German Corps. Compelled to resign from the English service because of a duel, he entered the cavalry service of Württemberg, at that time in alliance with France. He greatly distinguished himself in the campaigns against Austria (1809) and Russia (1812). After the battle of Leipzig he was employed in various diplomatic missions in the service of Württemberg. He was a prolific writer, especially on cavalry tactics, and a great admirer of Napoleon, whose later campaigns he describes in the work entitled Aufzeichnungen (1846). Among his other publications are the following: Vorlesungen über die Taktik der Reiterei (1826); Reiterbib-
