Blackfeet
a tribe of Indians. This tribe hunted the buffalo in the vast region extending from the valley of the Yellowstone to Hudson Bay . The Blackfoot was the most northwesterly representative of the great Algonquin family. Their warriors were related, therefore, in a remote way to Pocahontas, King Philip, Tecumseh, and Black Hawk. About 3,000 of these Indians linger on a reservation in Montana. As many more make their home in Canada. The name is said, rather fancifully it would seem, to have originated in the accidental circumstance that the first members of the tribe seen by white men had blackened their leggings by traveling across a burnt prairie. The tribe that wandered the furthest from the primitive home of the stock (the Algonquin) were the Blackfeet, or Sisika, which word has this signification. It is derived from their earlier habitat in the valley of the Red River of the North where the soil was dark and blackened their moccasins.... They have an interesting mythology and an unusual knowledge of the constellations.--D. G. Brinton, The American Race.
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Blackfish
a fish caught on the coast of the United States, especially in the vicinity of Long Island. Its back and sides are of a bluish or crow black; the under parts, He died in 1838. There are "Lives" by especially in the males, are Another fish, the centrolophus morio, found in the Mediterranean and on the coasts of western Europe, is also called mackerel blackfish. It belongs to the family. In Scotland the term is applied spawned fish. In the to foul or newly United States two species of small whale of the genus globiocephalus also have this name.
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Blackfriars Bridge
a bridge across the Thames, London. The structure is built of iron. The bridge consists of five iron arches resting on granite piers. The central arch has a span of 185 feet. The bridge is 1,272 feet long and 80 feet broad. It was completed in 1869 at a cost of $1,600,000. Blackfriars commands a magnificent view of the shipping in the Thames. The dome of St. Paul's is seen to best advantage here. The present bridge occupies the site of an older bridge, known by the same name. The first Blackfriars Bridge was a stone structure. It was begun in 1760, and was finished in 1769. It cost $1,500,000. It was 995 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 62 feet above the water with a central span of 100 feet. About 1864 the stone pillars suddenly began to give way , rendering the bridge unsafe, and it was torn down. The diminished length of the new bridge may be accounted for in part by the building of Victoria Embankment. The northern end of the new bridge terminates at a massive stone wall. The space between this wall and the old river bank has been filled in with earth, and converted into solid land.
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Blackie
JOHN STUART, a Scottish author, born in Glasgow in July, 1809; received his education in Edinburgh , Göttingen, Berlin, and Rome; was Professor of Greek in Edinburgh University to from 1852 till 1882, and continued write and lecture till his death. He advocated preserving the Gaelic language, and founded a Celtic chair in Edinburgh University. His books include transfrom the Greek and German; lations "Lays of the Highlands and Islands" Lan- (1872); "Self-Culture" (1874); " guage and Literature of the Scottish " (1882); Highlands" (1875); "Altavona "Wisdom of Goethe" (1883); "Life of on Sub- Burns" (1888); and "Essays Interest" jects of Moral and Social (1890). He died in Edinburgh, March n2, 1895.
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Blacking-bag
A coarse linen or worsted bag to hold charcoal-dust or other facing, and by means of which to distribute the same evenly over the surface of greensand moulds by a process of shaking. The loose dust is afterward pressed close by returning the pattern, or with the moulder's tools. See FACING; PRINTING.
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Blackleg
a swindler, especially in cards and races. So called from gamecocks, whose legs are always black.
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Blackmar
FRANK WILSON, an American author and educator, born in West Springfield, Pa., in 1854. He studied at the University of the Pacific and later at Johns Hopkins University. In 1889 he became professor of history and sociology at the University of Kansas, and took an active part in the university extension movement. He was made professor of sociology and economics at the University of Kansas in 1899. Among his publications are "Spanish Colonization" (1890); "History of Higher Education in Kansas" (1900); "Elements of Sociology" (1905); "Economics for High Schools" (1907); and "Play-grounds and Parks" (1910). He was editor of the "Cyclopedia History of Kansas."
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Blackmore
RICHARD DODD- RIDGE, an English novelist, born in Longworth, Berkshire, June 9, 1825. He graduated from Oxford in 1847, was called to the bar in 1852, but devoted himself to literature. Among his novels are "Lorna Doone" (London, 1869), by far the most celebrated. "Clara Vaughan" (1864); "The Maid of Sker" (1872); "Cripps, the Carrier" (1876); "Erema" (1877); "Mary Anerley" (1880); "Cristowell" (1882); "Springhaven" (1887); "Kit and Kitty" (1889); "Perlycross" (1894); "Slain by the Doones" (1895); and "Dariel" (1897). He also published a version of Vergil's "Georgics." He died in London, Jan. 21, 1900
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Blackmore, Richard Doddridge
Richard Doddridge (1825-1900), an English novelist. He was a native of Berkshire and was educated for the law, but took to writing tales of English life. His one success is Lorna Doone , published in 1869. It is a story of an English farmstead and a band of robber Doones. Lorna is the heroine. It ranks certainly among the best of English novels. Of a score of volumes written by the same author Clara Vaughan and Alice Lorraine may be mentioned, but the best of these is not to be compared with Lorna Doone.
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Blackstone
SIR WILLIAM, an English jurist, born in London, July 10, 1723; educated at the Charter House and Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1743 he was elected fellow of All-Souls College, Oxford, and in 1746 was called to the bar; but, having attended the Westminster law courts for seven years without success, he retired to Oxford. Here he gave lectures on law, which suggested to Mr. Viner the idea of founding a professorship at Oxford for the study of the common law; and Blackstone was, in 1758, chosen the first Vinerian Professor. In 1759 he published a new edition of the "Great Charter and Charter of the Forest"; and, during the same year, resumed his attendance at Westminster Hall with abundant success. In 1761 he was elected M. P. for Hindon, General to the Queen. He was also appointed Principal of New Inn Hall; which office, with the Vinerian Professorship, he soon resigned. In 1765 he published the first volume of his famous "Com SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE A black sheep: a disgrace to the mentaries on the Laws of England." It was long the principal text-book English law. He died Feb. 14, 1780.
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