273 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY BEQUEST OF MRS. HARRIET J. BRADBURY COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION. The pronunciation of the words that form the titles of the articles is indicated in two ways: 1st, By re-writing the word in a different form and according to a simple system of transliteration. 2d, By marking the syllable on which the chief accent falls. Entries which simply have their accentuation marked are English or foreign words that present little difficulty, and in regard to which readers can hardly go far wrong. A great many of the entries, however, cannot be treated in this way, but must have their pronunciation represented by a uniform series of symbols, so that it shall be unmistakable. In doing this the same letter or combination of letters is made use of to represent the same sound, no matter by what letter or letters the sound may be represented in the word whose pronunciation is shown. The key to the pronunciation by this means is greatly simplified, the reader having only to remember one character for each sound. Sounds and letters, it may be remarked, are often very different things. In the English language there are over forty sounds, while in the English alphabet there are only twenty-six letters to represent them. Our alphabet is, therefore, very far from being adequate to the duties required of it, and still more inadequate to represent the various sounds of foreign languages. The most typical vowel sounds (including diphthongs) are as shown in the following list, which gives also the characters that are used in the Cyclopedia to show their pronunciation, most of these being distinguished by diacritical marks. Of the consonants, b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, ng, p, sh, t, v, z, always have their common English sounds, when used to transliterate foreign words. The letter c is not used by itself in re-writing for pronunciation, s or k being respectively used instead. The only consonantal symbols, therefore, that require explanation are the following: ch is always as in rich. d, nearly as th in this Sp. d in Madrid, &c. g is always hard, as in go. h represents the guttural in Scotch loch, Ger. nach, also other similar gutturals. ņ, Fr. nasal n as in bon. r represents both English r, and r in foreign words, s, always as in so. th, as th in thin. th, as th in this. w always consonantal, as in we. y always consonantal, as in yea (Fr. which is generally much more strongly trilled. | zh, as s in pleasure= Fr. j. XX CENTURY CYCLOPÆDIA. VOL. II. Black-quarter, a kind of apoplectic disease which attacks cattle, indicated by lameness of the fore-foot, one of the limbs swelling, and after death being suffused with black blood, which also is found throughout the body. Black'rock, town of Ireland, on Dublin Bay, about 5 miles from the capital; seabathing and residential locality. Pop. 8380. Black-rod, in England, the usher belonging to the order of the Garter, so called from the black rod which he carries. His full title is Gentleman-usher of the Black Rod, and his deputy is styled the Yeomanusher. They are the official messengers of the House of Lords; and either the gentleman- or the yeoman-usher summons the Commons to the House of Lords when the royal assent is given to bills; and also executes orders for the commitment of parties guilty of breach of privilege and contempt. Black Sea (ancient Pontus Euxinus), a sea situated between Europe and Asia, and mainly bounded by the Russian and Turkish dominions, being connected with the Mediterranean by the Bosporus, Sea of Marmora, and Dardanelles, and by the Strait of Kertsch with the Sea of Azov, which is, in fact, only a bay of the Black Sea; area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov about 175,000 square miles, with a depth in the centre of more than 150 fathoms and few shoals along its shores. The water is not so clear as that of the Mediterranean, and is less salt on account of the many large rivers which fall into it the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Don, &c. Though not tidal, there are strong currents. The tempests on it are very violent, as the land which confines its agitated waters gives to them a kind of whirling motion, and in the winter it is scarcely navigable. During January and February the shores from It Odessa to the Crimea are ice-bound. contains few islands, and those of small extent. The most important ports are those of Odessa, Kherson, Eupatoria, Sebastopol, Batum, Trebizond, Samsun, Sinope, and Varna. The fisheries are of some value. After the capture of Constantinople the Turks excluded all but their own ships from the Black Sea until 1774, when, by the Treaty of Kainarji, they ceded to Russia the right also to trade in it. The same right was accorded to Austria in 1784, and by the Peace of Amiens to Britain and France in 1802. The preponderance thereafter gained by Russia was one of the causes of the Crimean war, in which she was compelled to cede her right to keep armed vessels in it, the sea being declared neutral by the Treaty of Paris, 1856. In 1871, however, when France could not attend, owing to the Franco-German war, the sea was deneutralized by a conference of the European powers at London in response to the Russian protest. Black-snake (Coluber constrictor), a common snake in North America, reaching a length of 5 or 6 feet, and so agile and swift as to have been named the Racer, with no poison fangs, and therefore comparatively harmless. It feeds on small quadrupeds, birds, and the like, and is especially useful in killing rats. Black'stone, SIR WILLIAM, an eminent jurist, born in London in 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 33 BLACKSTONE 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, made king's counsel and solicitor-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 Commentaries on the Laws of England, the other three volumes being produced at intervals during the next four years. Its merits as an exposition made it for a long period the principal text-book of English law. He died in 1780. Blackstone, Worcester county, Mass., a thriving manufacturing town, 26 miles S. E. of Worcester; has 7 churches, a bank and public library. Pop. 5721. Black-thorn. See Sloe. Black Tin, tin ore when dressed, stamped, and washed ready for smelting, forming a black powder. Black Vomit, the dark substance thrown up in yellow fever: hence a name of this disease. Black Wadd, an ore of manganese, used as a drying ingredient in paints. Black Watch. See Highland Regiments. Blackwell, ELIZABETH, the first woman who ever obtained the degree of M.D. She was born in England in 1821, and settled in America with her parents in 1831, where from 1838 to 1847 she was engaged in teaching. After numerous difficulties she was admitted into the College of Geneva, N. Y., and graduated M.D. in 1849. She afterwards studied in Paris, and commenced practice in New York in 1851, where she has since chiefly resided. 1854, with her sister Emily, she opened an hospital for women and children in New York. In Blackwell's Island, in the East river, New York, a part of the city of N. Y. Is under the control of the Charities and Correction department; it has a lunatic asylum, workhouse, almshouse, penitentiary, charity, fever, and contagious diseases hos pitals; also an asylum for the blind. It has an area of 120 acres; taking its name from a family which long owned it. A stone lighthouse, with a fixed red light, fifty-four feet above the sea level, is situated at its north end. The island lies between that of Manhattan and Long Island. Black-wood, or INDIAN ROSEWOOD, a legu BLADDERWORT. minous tree of Hindustan (Dalbergia latı folia), the timber of which is highly valued and much used in the manufacture of fine furniture. The Australian Black-wood is the Acacia melano.cýlon. Black'wood, WILLIAM, an Edinburgh publisher, born at Edinburgh 1776, died 1834. He started as a bookseller in 1804, and soon became also a publisher. The first number of Blackwood's Magazine appeared 1st of April, 1817, and it has always been conducted in the Tory interest. He secured as contributors most of the leading writers belonging to the Tory party, among them Sir Walter Scott, Lockhart, Hogg, Professor Wilson, De Quincey, Dr. Moir (Delta), Thomas Aird, Dr. Maginn, etc. Bladder, URINARY, a musculo-membranous bag or pouch present in all mammalia, destined to receive and retain for a time the urine which is secreted by the kidneys. It occupies the anterior and median portion of the pelvis, and in the male of the human subject is situated behind the pubis and above and in front of the rectum; in the female above and in front of the vagina and uterus. The urine secreted by the kidneys is conveyed into this reservoir by means of two tubes called the ureters, which open near the neck or lower part of the bladder in an oblique direction, by which means they prevent the reflux of the urine. When empty it forms a rounded, slightly conoid mass about the size of a small hen's egg. As it gradually fills with urine its walls become distended in all directions except in front, and it then rises above the pelvis proper into the abdomen. It is held in its place by two lateral ligaments, one on each side, and an anterior ligament. The contents are carried off by the urethra, which, as well as the neck of the bladder, is surrounded by a structure called the prostate gland. Bladder-fern. See Cystopteris. Bladder-nut, a name of shrubs or small trees of the genus Staphylea, order Sapindaceae, natives of Europe, Asia, and North America, the fruits of which consist of an inflated bladdery capsule containing the seeds. Bladderwort, the common name of slender aquatic plants, genus Utricularia, order Lentibulariaceæ, species of which are natives of Britain, the United States, &c., growing in ditches and pools. They are named from having little bladders or vesicles, that fill with air at the time of flowering and raise |