BLACK HILLS. 142 BLACKING. limits, l)€sides coal, salt, petroleum, mica, gyp- sum, and building-stone. About one-third of the »rca is covered with dense dark forests of pine, whence the name, wliile deciduous trees are abimdant. The climate is salubrious the soil fertile, and the hills are well adapted to grazing purposes. See South D.kota. BLACK HOLE. An appellation familiarly given to a dungeon or dark c<dl in a prison, 'riie name is generally associated with the horrible confinement of a party of Engli-sh in an apart- ment called the 'Black Hole of Calcutta,' on the night of June 20, 175G. The garrison of the fort connected with the English factory at Calcutta was captured by the Nawab Siraj-ud-Davda, who caused all of the prisoners taken, 14ti in num- ber, to lie confined in an apartment 20 feet square. This cell had only two snull windows, obstructed by a veranda. The crush was dread- ful : and after a night of excruciating agony from pressure, heat, thirst, and want of air, there were in the morning only 23 survivors. One of them, Mr. John Z. Holwell. published a narrative of their sufferings in 1758. See Hin- dustan; also Maeaulay's essay on Clive. BLACK HORSE (a fish). The Missouri or gourd-seed sucker (Oi/clriitus eloiigaliis) , usu- ally about two feet long, "a ])eculiar species with small head, elongate body, and jet-black colora- tion, which comes up the smaller rivers tribu- tary to the Mississippi and Ohio in large nvini- bers in the spring." See Plate of Suckers. BLACK'IE, John Stuart (1809-95), A Scottish ])hilologist. He was born in Glasgow in ISO!), but received his early education in Aber- deen, where his father was agent for a bank. After going through the usiuil course of a Scotch university education — partly at Marischal Col- lege, Aberdeen, partly at Edinburgh — with a view to the Church, he went in 1829 to Germany, and studied for some time at both Gottingen and Berlin. He thus acquired a mastery of (ierman, and an acquaintance more extensive than ordi- nary with the literature of that language. On his return, having abandoned the thought of en- tering the Church, he liegan the study of law, and passed as advocate at the Edinbirgh bar in 1834, But he soon found the practice of the profession uncongenial, and devoted himself thenceforth to literary pursuits. Among his ear- liest productions was his translation, into lOng- lish verse, of Goethe's J'dusi (1834). He w^rote also about this period numerous articles in the Foreign Quarterly Review, the VtextminKler, Blackwood, and Tail, chiefly on German subjects. In 1841 he was appointed by the Crown to the chair of humanities in Marischal College, which he held imtil. in 1852, he was elected to the Greek chair in the University of Edinburgh. From the beginning of his professorial career he had been incessant in advocating educational reform in Scotland, and took an active part in the movement that led, in 1859, to the remodel- ing of the Scottish universities. During 1874-7(5 he advocated throughout the country, with great enthusiasm, the foundation of a Celtic chair in Edinburgh University, and was successful in raising upw'ard of £14,000 for its endowment. Of works of a professional and philological kind may be mentioned the lectures On the fitJtd;/in!J and T^nchint] of hanguancs; On the Rhythmieal Declamation of the Ancients; The Pronunciation of Greek; Accent and Quantity (1852). Among the most matured and scl|olarly of his produc- tions is his metrical translation, with notes, of the dramas of .Eschylus (1850). In 1853 he spent above three months in Athens acquiring a knowledge of the modem language ; and as fruits of the visit there appeared articles on the sub- ject in the North liritish and Westminster re- views. In 18G6 he i)ul)lished The Iliad of Homer, translated into English verse, with com- mentary and introductory dissertations, in which he endeavored to present Homer to the English reader as a po])ular singer. He resigned his professorship in 1SS2 and died March 2. 1S95. Besides his works on philological and educa- ti(mal subjects, Blackie nuide excursions into other fields. In 1858 he published a treatise on Beauty, in refutatitm of Lord .Jeflfrey's associa- tion theory. Others of his works are Lays and Legends of Ancient flrecce. xeith other Poems (1857) ; Lyrical Poems (1860) : Miisa Burschi- cosa (1869); War Songs of the Oermans, a translation (1870); Four Phases of Morals (1871); .S'oHjrs of the Highlands and L<ilands (1872); Self-Culture (1873): Horw Hellcnicm (1874); Songs of Religion and Life (1870); 'Natural History of Atheism (1877) ; Lay Ser- mons (1881); The Wisdom of Goethe (1883); lAfe of Burns (1887); Essays on Subjects of Moral and Social Interest (1890). BLACKING. A prejiaration employed for producing a black, glazed, shining surface on leather. There are numerous recipes for nuiking blacking, but they all involve the use of a pigment, which is usually ivory-black, bone-black, or lampblack, mi.xed with a vehicle which is usually some combination of oil, vinegar, beer, molasses, water, and hydrochloric or sulphuric acids. Blacking intended for harness usually has glue, gelatin, gum arabie, or some resinous comjxiund added to the vehicle. The fact that the addition of sulphuric acid to ivory-black and sugar produces sul|>hate of lime and solulde acid phosphate of lime, which makes a tenacious paste, is the foundation of many of the com- positions used as blacking. The famois English bhu'king known as Day & Martin's consists of bone-black, sperm-oil, molasses, vinegar, and sul- phuric acid. These ingredients, when mixed to- gether in the order named, produce a thick, tena- cious paste, which is liquefied by the addition of vinegar, and put into stoneware bottles. A familiar recipe for a liquid blacking is as fol- lows: Five ounces of ivory-black: 4 ounces of treacle: 'V'l ounce of sweet oil: triturate until the oil is thoroughly mi.xed in. then add one pint each of vinegar and beer-lees. A |)aste blacking which may be easily made consists of ivory-black, 4 pounds ; molasses, 3 ])ounds ; hot sperm-oil, 9 ounces; gum arable, 1 ounce, and vinegar, 12 ounces. These ingredients are mixed together and allowed to stand for about a week, with an occasional stirring, when the blacking is ready for use. By adding more vinegar the compound may be liquefied. A well-known rccijie for har- ness-blacking is as follows: Beeswax, 1 pound; ivory-black. Vt pound: I'nissian blue, 1 ounce; grouml in 2 ounces of linseed oil; oil of turpen- tine, 3 ounces; copal varnish, 1 ounce; mix well together and form into cakes w-liile warm. In founding (see Foundinc) the name 'blacking* is given to various washes of powdered charcoal, sea-coal, or graphite with which the surfaces of
