Biliary Calculus
a concretion which forms in the gall bladder or bile ducts; gall stone. It is generally composed of a peculiar crystalline fatty matter which has been called cholesterine.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: B (58)
Each of these 18 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
Bill Broker
a financial agent or money dealer, who discounts or negotiates bills of exchange , promissory notes, etc.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Billion
in English notation 1,000,- 000 times 1,000,000, and in England it is written 1,000,000,000,000, i. e., with twice as many ciphers as 1,000,000 has. In the United States and in France the notation is different, the word billion signifying only 1,000 millions, written 1,000,- 000,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Billiton
a Dutch East Indian island between Banca and the S. W. of Borneo, of an irregular, sub-quadrangular form, about 40 miles across. It produces iron and tin, and exports sago, cocoanuts, pepper, tortoise shell, trepang, edible birds' nests, etc. It was ceded to the British in 1812 by the Sultan of Palembang, but in 1824 it was given up to the Dutch. Pop. about 60,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Billon
an alloy of copper and silver, in which the former predominates, used in some countries for coins of low value, the object being to avoid the bulkiness of pure copper coin.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bilma
a town of the Sahara, central Africa, situated in 18° 40′ N. lat., 14° E. long., on an oasis called the Wady Kewar. It is the capital of the Tibu country, important as a resting-place of caravans crossing the desert, but is a poor place.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Biloxi
a city in Harrison co., Miss., on Biloxi Bay, opening into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Louisville and Nashville railroad; 80 miles N. E. of New Orleans. It is principally engaged in the canning of oysters, fish, fruit and vegetables, and has also considerable manufacturing and shipping interests. Biloxi is the site of the first settlement made near the Mississippi by white men, under the direction of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, in 1699. The city has electric lights, artesian waterworks, over 25 miles of shell roads, and an iron lighthouse with a light 62 above the sea level; and is a popufeet lar summer and winter resort. Pop. (1910) 7,988; (1920) 10,937.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Biloxi Indians
the name given to one of the 10 groups of tribes into which the Siouan stock of North American Indians is divided. In 1669 they had one village on Biloxi Bay near the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty years later there were three villages, Biloxi, Paskagula and Moctobi. A few survivors of the tribe are still to be found near Lecompte, Rapides parish, La.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bin
A wood or iron box for storing charcoal, sea-coal, lead, flour, or any other commodity used in the foundry. The providing of such repositories effects a considerable saving over the too common practice of having such things loose around the foundry in barrels.
Only in The Encyclopedia of Founding
Binah
In the supreme triangle of the Kabala the three sides are reason, which they name Kether ; necessity, Chochmah; and liberty, Binah.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Binary Arithmetic
a method of notation invented by Leibnitz, but which appears to have been in use in China about 4,000 years ago. As the term binary implies, there are only two characters in this notation; these are 1 and 0. By it, our 1 is noted by 1, our 2 by 10, 3 by 11, 4 by 100; 5 by 101, 6 by 110, 7 by 111, 8 by 1,000, 9 by 1,001, 10 by 1,010, etc. The principle is that 0 multiplies by 2 in place of by 10, as on the common system.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binary Engine
usually an engine having one cylinder, the piston being impelled by steam, which, having done its work there, is exhausted into another part of the apparatus, where it is allowed to communicate its unutilized heat to some liquid volatile at a lower temperature; the vapor of this second liquid, by its expansion in a second cylinder, yields additional useful force. Ether, chloroform, and bisulphide of carbon have all been tried.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binary Logarithms
a system of logarithms devised by Euler for facilitating musical calculations. Instead of having ing, like the common system of logarithms, 1 as the logarithm of 10, and 0.43429448 as the modulus, it had 1 as the logarithm of 2, and the modulus 1.442695.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binary Star
a star which, closely examined by the telescope, is found to consist of two stars revolving around their common center of gravity. In some cases they are colored differently from each other. In 1803 Sir William Herschel discovered that Gamma Leonis, Epsilon Bootis, Zeta Herculis, Delta Serpentis, and Gamma Virginis are revolving double stars, and others, including Castor, have since been added to the list, a large proportion of the later discoveries having been made by Sherburne W. Burnham, Professor of Practical Astronomy in the University of Chicago (1900). The period of revolution in various cases has been determined. It is found to vary from 26 to more than 1,200 years.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binary System
in zoölogy, a system of classification by which each sub-kingdom, class, order, etc., is perpetually divided into two, the one with a positive and the other with a negative character, till genera are reached. For instance, on this system, the animal subkingdom is divided into vertebrata and invertebrata, that is, animals which have, and animals which have not, vertebræ.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binary Theory
in chemistry, a hypothesis proposed by Davy to reduce the haloid salts (as NaCl) and the oxygen salts (as NaNO3) to the same type, the monad Cl' being replaced by the monad radical containing oxygen (NO₂)'. Acids are hydrogen salts, as HCl, or H (NO₂)'. A radical is only part of a molecule which can unite with or replace an element or another radical, atomicity for atomicity. Thus the dyad radical (SO₂)" )" can replace two monad radicals, (NO₂)', as in the equation Pb" (NO3)2 + Mg" (SO4)" Pb" (SO₂)" + Mg" = (NO3)2. A radical cannot exist in a separate state.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Binding Wire
Fine malleable iron wire used for binding articles while soldering, etc.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Binding-plates
Thin plates cast by the loam-moulder to strengthen weak walls in copes and cores built with bricks. They are bedded, at intervals, on soft loam and the building continued over them. A slot or opening on one side allows of their being set without removing the spindle. If, when the slot is made, they should be considered too weak, extending lugs at that point will serve to clamp or bolt them fast, after they have passed the spindle and are bedded in place. For cores, the lugs are internal; for copes, external. They are often called building-rings. See COURSE; BRICKING-UP; LOAM-MOULDING; HOOP-BINDER.
Only in The Encyclopedia of Founding