BISPHAM. 127 BISTRE. BISPHAM, bis'pom. David (1S57— ). An Anicii<MU singer, horn in Phihulcliiliia, Pa., iind educated at Haverfonl t'olk'<;i'. ile stiulicil in p'loreiicc unilcr 'anniiccini. and in London un- der Williaui Shakespeare, and in 18!)1 made his professional debut at the Koyal Englisli Opera, London, as the Due de Ijongueville in La lia- soche. Since 1892 he has sunt; in Italian, Ger- man, and EnglLsh, as the principal barytone of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London. At the Metropolitan Opera-House, in Xew York City, he has appeared as the chief Wagnerian barytone. He has also sung much and most suc- cessfully in concerts. BISSAGOS, bis-sa'gfiz, or BIJXJ'GA IS- LANDS I from a negro tribe Bujago, or Bijuga, inhabiting several of the islands). A group of small volcanic islands, off the west coast of Africa, in latitude 11° X. and longitude 16° W., opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande. About half of the islands are inhabited by negroes imder the immediate dominion of native chiefs. The climate is unhealthy, but the vegetation is rich. Orange is the largest island. The chief to«Ti, Bulama, is situated on the island of the same name, and has a population of over 3700. The group forms a dependencv of Portuguese Guinea (Map: Africa, C 3). BISSAO, bes-sii'fl, or BISSEO, -sa'6. The chief port of Portuguese Guinea (q.v.). BISSCHOP, bis'Kop, Christoffel (1828 — ). A Dutch painter, born at Leeuwarden (Fries- land). He was a pupil of Schmidt in Delft, and of Gleyre and Comte in Paris. His works derive their material chiefly from Friesland, and are particularly successful in the treatment of in- terior light effects. His method is not unlike that of Rembrandt and other Seventeenth-Cen- tury Dutch masters. Among his paintings are: '•The Dealer in Curiosities," "Winter in Fries- land," and "The Morning Sun." He was elected to the .Academy of The Hague. BIS'SELL," Edwin Cone (1832-94). An .merican biblical scholar. He was born at Schoharie, N. Y., March 2, 1832, and graduated at Amherst College (1855), and at Union Theo- logical Seminary (1859). He served as a Con- gregational pastor at Westhampton, Mass., San Francisco, Cal., Winchester, Mass., and was a foreign missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign ^lissions at Inns- bnick, Austria (1874-79).' In 1S81 be became professor of Hebrew in the Hartford Congrega- tional Theological Seminary, whence he passed in the same capacity to the MeCormick Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1892. He died in Chicago, April 9, 1894. He was captain of Company H. Fiftv-second Massachusetts Volun- teer Regiment (1862-63), while still pastor of Westhampton, and stated supply at Honolulu, Oahu, 1869-70. He was a conservative biblical scholar, but not reactionary, and produced sev- eral still valuable works: The Historic Origin of the Bible (1873); The Pentateuch: Its Origin and structure: An Examination of Iteeent Theo- ries (1885); Biblieal Antiquities (1888, 2d ed., 1892) ; A Practical Introductory Hebrew Oram- mar ( 1891) ; Genesis, Printed in Colors, Showing the Original Sources from which it is Supposed to have been Compiled, with an Introduction { 1892) . But his best and most original work was his volume on The Apocnipha of the Old Testa- ment, with HiKlorirdl Iiilroductions; A Retisrd Translation, and Xotes Critical and Explana- tory (1880), which Dr. Schaff incorporated in his edition and translation of Lange's Commen- tary. BISSELL, Wilson Shannon (1847-1903). An .iiu rican lawyer. He was born in Xew London, Oneida County, X'. Y., graduated at Yale, stud- ied law in Buffalo, and in 1872 began prac- tice with a law firm tc which, in the year follow- ing, Grover Cleveland was admitted. On the election of Cleveland as Governor of Xew York, Bissell became the senior partner of a newly organized lirm, and gradually confined his legal practice to the special line of coimsel for cor- porations. From 1893 to 1895, during Cleve- land's second administration as President, Bis- sell was Postmaster-General of the United States. BIS'SEN, Herm. n WiLHELM (1798-1868). A Danish sculptor. He was born in Schleswig, Oc- tober 13, 1798, and studied first in Copenhagen, where in later years (1850) he was made director of the .Academy "of Arts. In 1823 he took the great gold medal and was sent to Rome to work under Thorwaldsen. with whom he studied ten years. .After returning to Denmark he executed a num- ber of excellent works, among them a bust of Oersted, "Atalanta Hunting," etc. In 1841 he returned to Rome to complete for the Govern- ment eighteen statues. He has left numerous examples of his work. Among his masterpieces are the "Valkyrie," "Cupid Sharpening His Ar- rows," and "Moses." A frieze, 134 feet long, was burned in Copenhagen in 1884. By the will of Thorwaldsen he was commissioned to complete that master's work. Bissen died in Copenhagen March 10. 1868. BISSEX'TILE (Lat. bissextili.i) . The old name of leap-year. In the .Julian computation a day was added to February every fourth year; but instead of making it, as now, the 29th, the 24th day of the month was counted twice {bis), and as that day was the sixth (sextus) before the calends of March, it w^as called bis-sexlilis. See Cai.end.vr. BISTINEATJ, bis'te-no'. A lake in the north- western part of Louisiana, about25niiles southeast of Shreveport ; it is about 25 miles long and has an average width of about two miles. It receives a number of streams, mainly from the north, and discharges its water through the Red River, with which it is connected by a short river. It is navigalile for river steamboats. BIS'TORT (Lat. bis, twice + tortus, twisted; leferring to its root) — Polygonum bistorta. A perennial plant, 1 to IV; feet high, with a sim- ple stem, ovate subcordate and wavy leaves, the radical leaves tapering into a long petiole, and one dense terminal cylindrical spiked raceme of flesh-colored flowers. The root is about the thickness of the little finger, blackish-brown ex- ternally, reddish within, and tortuous (whence the nii'me bistort). The whole plant is astrin- gent, containing much tannin. Bistort is a native of Eirope and -Asia. It is found in Great Britain, but is by no means common. BISTRE, bis'ter (Fr. bistre, dark brown). A blacki.-.h-brown color, often made of moistened soot mixed with a little gum. Chinese ink, or India ink, has largely replaced bistre in water- colors.
