Bitter Root River
a tributary of the Columbia in Montana, flowing N. into Clark's river in Missoula county; length about 110 miles. Gold has been found in this region.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: B (64)
Each of these 26 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.
Bitter Root Valley
on the E. of the Bitter Root Range, in Montana, is 90 miles long and 7 miles wide, enwalled by lofty mountains, and abounding in farms and cornfields.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter Salt
Epsom salt, sulphate of magnesia.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter Spar
rhomb-spar, the crystallized form of dolomite or magnesian limestone.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter Sweet
the woody nightshade, solānum dulcamāra.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter Vetch
a name applied to two kinds of leguminous plants, (a) ervum ervilia, a lentil cultivated for fodder; and (b) all the species of orobus, e. g., the common bitter vetch of Great Britain, O. tuberosus, a perennial her-ba by Capes Ras-el-Zebib and El-Arid. baceous plant with racemes of purple flowers and sweet, edible tubers.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter Wood
the timber of xylopia glabra and other species of xylopia, order anonaceæ, all noted for the extreme bitterness of the wood. The name is also given to other bitter trees, as the bitter ash. yellow gentian
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bitter-Wort
(gentiāna lutěa). markable for its inflammability and its strong, peculiar odor; generally, however, supposed to be of a vegetable origin. The name, which was in use among the ancient Romans, is variously employed, sometimes to include a number of the substances called mineral resins, particularly the liquid mineral substances called naphtha and petroleum, or mineral oil, and the solid ones called mineral pitch, asphalt, mineral caoutchouc, etc.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bittersweet
a shrubby climber. In grows along streams and in thickets. It is related to the waahoo and the strawberry-bush. A profusion of orange colored berries, the size of peas, opens late in autumn, making a fine display of the scarlet coverings of the seeds. J. G. Holland has chosen Bitter-Sweet as the title of a poem in which he aims to teach that life contains a share of both elements.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Bitumen, in Magic
Bitumen was greatly used in magical practices. Images for the purpose of sympathetic magic were often made of this substance; and it was used in the ceremonies for the cleansing of houses in which any uncleanness had appeared-being spread on the floor like clay.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Bituminous Coal
coal which burns with a yellow, smoky flame, and on distillation gives out hydrocarbon or tar. It contains from 5 to 15, or even 16 or 17 per cent. of oxygen. See COAL.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bituminous Schist
schist impregnated with bitumen; occurs in the Lower Silurian rocks of Russia. Sir R. Murchison considered that it arose from the decomposition of the fucoids imbedded in these rocks.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bituminous Shale
an argillaceous shale impregnated with bitumen, which is very common in the coal measures.
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Bivalves
those mollusks whose coverings consist of two concave shelly plates or valves united by a hinge. A vast majority of recent bivalve shells belong to Cuvier's testaceous order of ascephalous mollusca, the lamellibranchiate mollusca of Owen, although with them are some classed as multivalves, on account of accessory valves which they possess. There are also mollusks of the class brachiopoda or palliobranchiata, which possess bivalve shells, as the terebratulæ, or lamp shells, etc. A very large proportion of the bivalve shells of the older fossiliferous rocks belong to the brachiopoda.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bivouac
an encampment of soldiers in the open air without tents, each remaining dressed and with his weapons at hand. fortified seaport of
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Bizerta
a Tunis, the most northern town of Africa; at the extremity of a bay formed The town is built on the shore of a lake which communicates with the sea by a canal; and in the time of Barbarossa it was a city of great strength and magnificence. The lake is the chief source of trade, as it abounds in many valuable kinds of fish. Besides the fishery there are valuable coral, grape, olive, and pottery industries. The port is surrounded by walls and defended by two castles. Bizerta steadily declined in com-
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bizet
ALEXANDRE on the "Theogony, Philosophy, and Cos- CESAR LEOPOLD (better known as mogony of the Hindus," etc. He died in 1847.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bjelbog
in Slavonic mythology the pale or white god, as opposed to Tchernibog, the black god, or god of darkness.
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Bjerregaard
HENRIK ANKER (byer'e-gär), a Norwegian dramatic poet, born at Ringsaker, in 1792. His position in his country's literature is very influential, the plays, "Magnus Barefoot's Sons" and "A Mountain Adventure," being national models. A volume of "Poems" (1829) also displays genius. He died in 1842.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Art
exorcism, the alleged ability to expel evil spirits from haunted houses or from persons bewitched; necromancy, or anything similar. The reason why it was called black was that proficients in it were supposed to be in league with the powers of darkness. cent. of caustic soda with calcium sul-
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Ash
a mixture of 25 per phide, quicklime, and unburnt coal, obtained in the process of making sodium carbonate . The mixture of sodium sulphate, chalk, and powdered coal is fused sidue is the black ash. in a furnace, gases escape, and the re-
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Assize
in English history, the High Sheriff and 300 other persons an assize held at Oxford in 1557, when died of infectious disease caught from the prisoners. It was called also the fatal assize .
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Band
a valuable kind of clay iron-stone occurring in beds in the coal measures, and containing 10 or 15 or even 30 per cent. of coaly matter. Most of the Scotch iron is obtained from it. the cockroach.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Beauty
a story by Anna Sewall. Black Beauty is a horse, and his history is told in autobiographical form. The book has been read widely, and has been influential in securing kind treatment for horses. The circulation of Black Beauty, in all languages so far as I can estimate (1909), is approximately three million copies. It would be impossible to determine the exact number, as this book has been published by many different firms in many different places. I suppose Mr. Angell put out by far the larger number, probably over two million copies.--Guy Richardson, Editor, Our Dumb Animals.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Black Beetle
a popular name for
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Black Douglas, The
The, Sir James Douglas, a character in Scott's Castle Dangerous, a story of the series, The Tales of My Landlord. Black Douglas was a generic name given to the elder branch of the noble Scottish family of Douglas. The scene of the story is Scotland, the time the fourteenth century, while Edward I of England and Bruce of Scotland are at war. The plot is concerned largely with the efforts of the Black Douglas to win back his castle from the English. See Douglas
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia