Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 4 (1/2)
BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867- ), American sculptor, was born in Vienna on the 6th of December 1867. After studying art there, in 1889 he removed to the United States, where he became naturalized. In America he gained great popularity as a sculptor, and in 1906-1907 was president of the National Sculpture Society, New York. Among his princ.i.p.al works are: the Astor memorial gates, Trinity church, New York; ”Elements Controlled and Uncontrolled,” on the Administration Building at the Chicago Exposition; a large relief, ”Triumph of Civilization,” in the waiting-room of the Broad Street station of the Pennsylvania railway in Philadelphia; decorations for the Dewey Naval Arch in New York City; the ”Standard Bearers,” at the Pan-American Exposition grounds; a sitting statue and a bust of Dr Pepper, provost of the University of Pennsylvania; and the Villard and Hubbard memorials in the New York chamber of commerce.
BITTERFELD, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, 26 m.
N. from Leipzig by rail, on the river Mulde, and an important junction of railways from Leipzig and Halle to Berlin. Pop. (1900) 11,839. It manufactures drain-pipes, paper-roofing and machinery, and has saw-mills. Several coal-mines are in the vicinity. The town was built by a colony of Flemish immigrants in 1153. It was captured by the landgrave of Meissen in 1476, and belonged thenceforth to Saxony, until it was ceded to Prussia in 1815. Owing to its pleasant situation and accessibility, it has become a favourite residence of business men of Leipzig and Halle.
BITTERLING (_Rhodeus amarus_), a little carp-like fish of central Europe, belonging to the Cyprinid family. In it we have a remarkable instance of symbiosis. The genital papilla of the female acquires a great development during the breeding season and becomes produced into a tube nearly as long as the fish itself; this acts as an ovipositor by means of which the comparatively few and large eggs (3 millimetres in diameter) are introduced through the gaping valves between the branchiae of pond mussels (_Unio_ and _Anodonta_), where, after being inseminated, they undergo their development, the fry leaving their host about a month later. The mollusc reciprocates by throwing off its embryos on the parent fish, in the skin of which they remain encysted for some time, the period of reproduction of the fish and the mussel coinciding.
BITTERN, a genus of wading birds, belonging to the family _Ardeidae_, comprising several species closely allied to the herons, from which they differ chiefly in their shorter neck, the back of which is covered with down, and the front with long feathers, which can be raised at pleasure.
They are solitary birds, frequenting countries possessing extensive swamps and marshy grounds, remaining at rest by day, concealed among the reeds and bushes of their haunts, and seeking their food, which consists of fish, reptiles, insects and small quadrupeds, in the twilight. The common bittern (_Botaurus stellaris_) is nearly as large as the heron, and is widely distributed over the eastern hemisphere. Formerly it was common in Britain, but extensive drainage and persecution have greatly dimished its numbers and it is now only an uncertain visitor. Not a winter pa.s.ses without its appearing in some numbers, when its uncommon aspect, its large size, and beautifully pencilled plumage cause it to be regarded as a great prize by the lucky gun-bearer to whom it falls a victim. Its value as a delicacy for the table, once so highly esteemed, has long vanished. The old fable of this bird inserting its beak into a reed or plunging it into the ground, and so causing the booming sound with which its name will always be a.s.sociated, is also exploded, and nowadays indeed so few people in Britain have ever heard its loud and awful voice, which seems to be uttered only in the breeding-season, and is therefore unknown in a country where it no longer breeds, that incredulity as to its booming at all has in some quarters succeeded the old belief in this as in other reputed peculiarities of the species. The bittern in the days of falconry was strictly preserved, and afforded excellent sport. It sits crouching on the ground during the day, with its bill pointing in the air, a position from which it is not easily roused, and even when it takes wing, its flight is neither swift nor long sustained. When wounded it requires to be approached with caution, as it will then attack either man or dog with its long sharp bill and its acute claws. It builds a rude nest among the reeds and flags, out of materials which surround it, and the female lays four or five eggs of a brownish olive. During the breeding season it utters a booming noise, from which it probably derives its generic name, _Botaurus_, and which has made it in many places an object of superst.i.tious dread. Its plumage for the most part is of a pale buff colour, rayed and speckled with black and reddish brown. The American bittern (_Botaurus lentiginosus_) is somewhat smaller than the European species, and is found throughout the central and southern portions of North America. It also occurs in Britain as an occasional straggler. It is distinguishable by its uniform greyish-brown primaries, which want the tawny bars that characterize _B.
stellaris_. Both species are good eating.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Bittern.]
BITTERN (from ”bitter”), the mother liquor obtained from sea-water or brines after the separation of the sodium chloride (common salt) by crystallization. It contains various magnesium salts (sulphate, chloride, bromide and iodide) and is employed commercially for the manufacture of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) and bromine. The same term is applied to a mixture of qua.s.sia, iron sulphate, _cocculus indicus_, liquorice, &c., used in adulterating beer.
BITTERS, the name given to aromatized (generally alcoholic) beverages containing a bitter substance or substances, used as tonics, appetizers or digestives. The bitterness is imparted by such substances as bitter orange rind, gentian, rhubarb, qua.s.sia, cascarilla, angostura, quinine and cinchona. Juniper, cinnamon, carraway, camomile, cloves and other flavouring agents are also employed in conjunction with the bitter principles, alcohol and sugar. Some bitters are prepared by simple maceration and subsequent filtration (see LIQUEURS), others by the more complicated distillation process. Those prepared by the latter process are the finer commercial articles. Bitters are usually sold under the name of the substance which has been used to give them the predominant flavour, such as orange, angostura or peach bitters, &c. The alcoholic strength of bitters varies, but is generally in the neighbourhood of 40% of alcohol. Some bitters, although possessing tonic properties, may be regarded as beverages pure and simple, notwithstanding the fact that they are seldom consumed in an undiluted state; others again, are obviously medicinal preparations and should be treated as such.
BITUMEN, the name applied by the Romans to the various descriptions of natural hydrocarbons, the word _petroleum_ not being used in cla.s.sical Latin. In its widest sense it embraces the whole range of these substances, including _natural gas_, the more or less liquid descriptions of _petroleum_, and the solid forms of _asphalt, albert.i.te, gilsonite_ or _uintahite, elaterite, ozokerite_ and _hatchett.i.te_. To distinguish bitumen intermediate in consistency between asphalt and the more liquid kinds of crude petroleum, the term _maltha_ (Latin) is frequently employed. The bitumens of chief commercial importance may be grouped under the three headings of (1) _natural gas_, (2) _petroleum_, and (3) _asphalt_, and will be found fully described under these t.i.tles.
In the scriptures there are numerous references to bitumen, among which the following may be quoted:--In Genesis ix. 3, we are told that in the building of the tower of Babel ”slime had they for mortar,” and in Genesis xiv. 10, that the vale of Siddim ”was full of slime-pits,” the word _slime_ in the latter quotation from our version appearing as _bitumen_ in the Vulgate. Herodotus alludes to the use of the bitumen brought down by the Is, a tributary of the Euphrates, as mortar in building the walls of Babylon. Diodorus, Curtius, Josephus, Bochart and others make similar mention of this use of bitumen, and Vitruvius tells us that it was employed in admixture with clay.
In its various forms, bitumen is one of the most widely distributed of substances. It occurs, though sometimes only in small quant.i.ty, in almost every part of the globe, and throughout the whole range of geological strata, from the Laurentian rocks to the most recent members of the Quaternary period. Although the gaseous and liquid forms of bitumen may be regarded as having been formed in the strata in which they are found or as having been received into such strata shortly after formation, the semi-solid and solid varieties may be considered to have been produced by the oxidation and evaporation of liquid petroleum escaping from underlying or better preserved deposits into other strata, or into fissures where atmospheric action and loss of the more volatile const.i.tuents can take place. It should, however, be stated that there is some difference of opinion as to the precise manner of production of some of the solid forms of bitumen, and especially of ozokerite.
(B. R.)
BITURIGES, a Celtic people, according to Livy (v. 34) the most powerful in Gaul in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. At some period unknown they split up into two branches--Bituriges Cubi and Bituriges Vivisci. The name is supposed to mean either ”rulers of the world” or ”perpetual kings.”
The Bituriges Cubi, called simply Bituriges by Caesar, in whose time they acknowledged the supremacy of the Aedui, inhabited the modern diocese of Bourges, including the departments of Cher and Indre, and partly that of Allier. Their chief towns were Avaric.u.m (Bourges), Argentomagus (Argenton-sur-Creuse), Neriomagus (Neris-les-Bains), Noviodunum (perhaps Villate). At the time of the rebellion of Vercingetoix (52 B.C.), Avaric.u.m, after a desperate resistance, was taken by a.s.sault, and the inhabitants put to the sword. In the following year, the Bituriges submitted to Caesar, and under Augustus they were incorporated (in 28 B.C.) in Aquitania. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ iv. 109) speaks of them as _liberi_, which points to their enjoying a certain amount of independence under Roman government. The district contained a number of iron works, and Caesar says they were skilled in driving galleries and mining operations.
The Biturgies Vivisci occupied the strip of land between the sea and the left bank of the Garonne, comprising the greater part of the modern department of Gironde. Their capital was Burdigala (Bordeaux), even then a place of considerable importance and a wine-growing centre. Like the Cubi, they also are called _liberi_ by Pliny.
See A. Desjardins, _Geographie historique de la Gaule romaine_, ii.
(1876-1893); A. Longnon, _Geographie de la Gaule on VI^e siecle_ (1878); A. Hohler, _Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz_; T.R. Holmes, _Caesar's Conquest of Gaul_ (1899).