Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 2

After his retirement he resided at Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg, a house on his Leuenburg estates. His criticisms of the government, given sometimes in conversation, sometimes in the columns of the _Hamburger Nachrichten_, caused an open breach between him and the emperor; and the new chancellor, Count Caprivi, in a circular despatch which was afterwards published, warned all German envoys that no real importance must be attached to what he said. When he visited Vienna for his son's wedding the German amba.s.sador, Prince Reuss, was forbidden to take any notice of him. A reconciliation was effected in 1893. In 1895 his eightieth birthday was celebrated with great enthusiasm: the Reichstag alone, owing to the opposition of the Clericals and the Socialists, refused to vote an address. In 1891 he had been elected a member of the Reichstag, but he never took his seat. He died at Friedrichsruh on the 31st of July 1898.

Bismarck was made a count in 1865; in 1871 he received the rank of Furst (prince). On his retirement the emperor created him duke of Lauenburg, but he never used the t.i.tle, which was not inherited by his son. In 1866 he received 60,000 as his share of the donation voted by the Reichstag for the victorious generals. With this he purchased the estate of Varzin in Pomerania, which henceforth he used as a country residence in preference to Schonhausen. In 1871 the emperor presented him with a large part of the domains of the duchy of Lauenburg. On his seventieth birthday a large sum of money (270,000) was raised by public subscription, of which half was devoted to repurchasing the estate of Schonhausen for him, and the rest was used by him to establish a fund for the a.s.sistance of schoolmasters. As a young man he was an officer in the Landwehr and militia, and in addition to his civil honours he was eventually raised to the rank of general. Among the numerous orders he received we may mention that he was the first Protestant on whom the pope bestowed the order of Christ; this was done after the cessation of the Kulturkampf and the reference of the dispute with Spain concerning the Caroline Islands to the arbitration of the pope.

Bismarck's wife died in 1894. He left one daughter and two sons. Herbert (1840-1904), the elder, was wounded at Mars-le-Tour, afterwards entered the foreign office, and acted as private secretary to his father (1871-1881). In 1882 he became councillor to the emba.s.sy at London, in 1884 was transferred to St Petersburg, and in 1885 became under-secretary of state for foreign affairs. In 1884 he had been elected to the Reichstag, but had to resign his seat when, in 1886, he was made secretary of state for foreign affairs and Prussian minister.

He conducted many of the negotiations with Great Britain on colonial affairs. He retired in 1890 at the same time as his father, and in 1893 was again elected to the Reichstag. He married Countess Margarete Hoyos in 1892, and died on the 18th of September 1904. He left two daughters and three sons, of whom the eldest, Otto Christian Archibald (b. 1897), succeeded to the princely t.i.tle. The second son, Wilhelm, who was president of the province of Prussia, died in 1901. By his wife, Sybilla von Arnim-Krochlendorff, he left three daughters and a son, Count Nikolaus (b. 1896).

AUTHORITIES.--The literature on Bismarck's life is very extensive, and it is only possible to enumerate a few of the most important books.

The first place belongs to his own works. These include his own memoirs, published after his death, under the t.i.tle _Gedanken und Erinnerungen_; there is an English translation, _Bismarck: his Reflections and Reminiscences_ (London, 1898). They are incomplete, but contain very valuable discussions on particular points. The speeches are of the greatest importance both for his character and for political history; of the numerous editions that by Horst Kehl, in 12 vols. (Stuttgart, 1892-1894), is the best; there is a cheap edition in Reclam's _Universalbibliothek._ Bismarck was an admirable letter-writer, and numbers of his private letters have been published; a collected edition has been brought out by Horst Kohl. His letters to his wife were published by Prince Herbert Bismarck (Stuttgart, 1900).

A translation of a small selection of the private letters was published in 1876 by F. Maxse. Of great value for the years 1851-1858 is the corrspondence with General L. v. Gerlach, which has been edited by Horst Kohl (3rd ed., Berlin, 1893). A selection of the political letters was also published under the t.i.tle _Politische Briefe aus den Jahren 1849-1899_ (2nd ed., Berlin, 1890). Of far greater importance are the collections of despatches and state papers edited by Herr v.

Poschinger. These include four volumes ent.i.tled _Preussen im Bundestag, 1851-1859_ (4 vols., Leipzig, 1882-1885), which contain his despatches during the time he was at Frankfort. Next in importance are two works, _Bismarck als Volkswirth_ and _Aktenstucke zur Wirthschaftspolitik des Fursten Bismarck_, which are part of the collection of state papers, _Akenstucke zur Geschichte der Wirthschaftspolitik in Preussen._ They contain full information on Bismarck's commercial policy, including a number of important state papers. A useful general collection is that by Ludwig Hahn, _Bismarck, sein politisches Leben_, &c. (5 vols., Berlin, 1878-1891), which includes a selection from letters, speeches and newspaper articles.

These collections have only been possible owing to the extreme generosity which Bismarck showed in permitting the publication of doc.u.ments; he always professed to have no secrets. A full account of the diplomatic history from 1863 to 1866 is given by Sybel in _Die Begrundung des deutschen Reichs_ (Munich, 1889-1894), written with the help of the Prussian archives. The last two volumes, covering 1866-1870, are of less value, as he was not able to use the archives for this period. Poschinger has also edited a series of works in which anecdotes, minutes of interviews and conversations are recorded; they are, however, of very unequal value. They are _Bismarck und die Parlamentarier, Furst Bismarck und der Bundesrath, Die Ansprache des Fursten Bismarck, Neue Tischgesprache_, and _Bismarck und die Diplomaten_. Selections from these have been published in English by Charles Lowe, _The Tabletalk of Prince Bismarck_, and by Sidney Whitman, _Conversations with Bismarck_. By far the fullest guide to Bismarck's life is Horst Kohl's _Furst Bismarck, Regesten zu einer wissenschaftlichen Biographie_ (Leipzig, 1891-1892), which contains a record of Bismarck's actions on each day, with references to and extracts from his letters and speeches. For the works of Moritz Busch, which contain graphic pictures of his daily life, see the article BUSCH. Further materials were published periodically in the _Bismarck-Jahrbuch_, edited by Horst Kohl (Berlin, 1894-1896; Stuttgart, 1897-1899). Herr v. Poschinger also brought out a _Bismarck Portfeuille_. Of German biographies may be mentioned Hans Blum, _Bismarck und seine Zeit_ (6 vols., Munich, 1894-1895), with a volume of appendices, &c. (1898); Heyck, _Bismarck_ (Bielefeld, 1898); Kreutzer, _Otto von Bismarck_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1900); Klein-Hattingen, _Bismarck und seine Welt, 1815-1871_, Bd. i. (Berlin, 1902); Lenz, _Geschichte Bismarcks_ (Leipzig, 1902); Penzler, _Furst Bismarck nach seiner Entla.s.sung_ (7 vols., ib. 1897-1898); Liman, one volume under the same t.i.tle (ib. 1901). There are English biographies by Charles Lowe, _Bismarck, a Political Biography_ (revised edition in 1 vol., 1895), by James Headlam (1899), and by F. Stearns (Philadelphia, 1900). A useful bibliography of all works on Bismarck up to 1895 is Paul Schulze and Otto Koller's _Bismarck-Literatur_ (Leipzig, 1896). (J. W. He.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] It was not till many years later that our knowledge of these events (which is still incomplete) was established; in 1894 the publication of the memoirs of the king of Rumania showed, what had hitherto been denied, that Bismarck had taken a leading part in urging the election of the prince of Hohenzollern. It was in 1892 that the language used by Bismarck himself made it necessary for the German government to publish the original form of the Ems telegram.

BISMARCK, the capital of North Dakota, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Burleigh county, on the E. bank of the Missouri river, in the S. central part of the state. Pop. (1890) 2186, (1900) 3319, of whom 746 were foreign-born, (1905) 4913, (1910) 5443. It is on the main line of the Northern Pacific, and on the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste Marie railways; and steamboats run from here to Mannhaven, Mercer county, and Fort Yates, Morton county. The city is about 1650 ft. above sea-level.

It contains the state capitol, the state penitentiary, a U.S. land office, a U.S. surveyor-general's office, a U.S. Indian school and a U.S. weather station; about a mile S. of the city is Fort Lincoln, a United States army post. Bismarck is the headquarters for navigation of the upper Missouri river, is situated in a good agricultural region, and has a large wholesale trade, shipping grain, hides, furs, wool and coal.

It was founded in 1873, and was chartered as a city in 1876; from 1883 to 1889 it was the capital of Dakota Territory, on the division of which it became the capital of North Dakota.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO, the collective name of a large number of islands lying N. and N.E. of New Guinea, between 1 and 7 S., and 146 and 153 E., belonging to Germany. The largest island is New Pomerania, and the archipelago also includes New Mecklenburg, New Hanover, with small attendant islands, the Admiralty Islands and a chain of islands off the coast of New Guinea, the whole system lying in the form of a great amphitheatre of oval shape. The archipelago was named in honour of the first chancellor of the German empire, after a German protectorate had been declared in 1884. (See ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, NEW MECKLENBURG, NEW POMERANIA, NEW GUINEA.)

BISMILLAH, an Arabic exclamation, meaning "in the name of G.o.d."

BIs.m.u.tH, a metallic chemical element; symbol Bi, atomic weight 208.5 (O = 16). It was probably unknown to the Greeks and Romans, but during the middle ages it became quite familiar, notwithstanding its frequent confusion with other metals. In 1450 Basil Valentine referred to it by the name "wis.m.u.t," and characterized it as a metal; some years later Paracelsus termed it "wissmat," and, in allusion to its brittle nature, affirmed it to be a "b.a.s.t.a.r.d" or "half-metal"; Georgius Agricola used the form "wiss.m.u.th," latinized to "bisemutum," and also the term "plumb.u.m cineareum." Its elementary nature was imperfectly understood; and the impure specimens obtained by the early chemists explain, in some measure, its confusion with tin, lead, antimony, zinc and other metals; in 1595 Andreas Libavius confused it with antimony, and in 1675 Nicolas Lemery with zinc. These obscurities began to be finally cleared up with the researches of Johann Heinrich Pott (1692-1777), a pupil of Stahl, published in his _Exercitationes chemicae de Wis.m.u.tho_ (1769), and of N.

Geoffroy, son of Claude Joseph Geoffroy, whose contribution to our knowledge of this metal appeared in the _Memoires de l'academie francaise_ for 1753. Torbern Olof Bergman reinvestigated its properties and determined its reactions; his account, which was published in his _Opuscula_, contains the first fairly accurate description of the metal.

_Ores and Minerals._--The princ.i.p.al source of bis.m.u.th is the native metal, which is occasionally met with as a mineral, usually in reticulated and arborescent shapes or as foliated and granular ma.s.ses with a crystalline fracture. Although bis.m.u.th is readily obtained in fine crystals by artificial means, yet natural crystals are rare and usually indistinct; they belong to the rhombohedral system and a cube-like rhombohedron with interfacial angles of 92 20' is the predominating form. There is a perfect cleavage perpendicular to the trigonal axis of the crystals; the fact that only two (opposite) corners of the cube-like crystals can be truncated by cleavage at once distinguishes them from true cubes. When not tarnished, the mineral has a silver-white colour with a tinge of red, and the l.u.s.tre is metallic.

Hardness 2-2; specific gravity 9.70-9.83. The slight variations in specific gravity are due to the presence of small amounts of a.r.s.enic, sulphur or tellurium, or to enclosed impurities.

Bis.m.u.th occurs in metalliferous veins traversing gneiss or clay-slate, and is usually a.s.sociated with ores of silver and cobalt. Well-known localities are Schneeberg in Saxony and Joachimsthal in Bohemia; at the former it has been found as arborescent groups penetrating brown jasper, which material has occasionally been cut and polished for small ornaments. The mineral has been found in some Cornish mines and is fairly abundant in Bolivia (near Sorata, and at Tasna in Potosi). It is the chief commercial source of bis.m.u.th.

The oxide, bis.m.u.th ochre, Bi2O3, and the sulphide, bis.m.u.th glance or bis.m.u.thite, are also of commercial importance. The former is found, generally mixed with iron, copper and a.r.s.enic oxides, in Bohemia, Siberia, Cornwall, France (Meymac) and other localities; it also occurs admixed with bis.m.u.th carbonate and hydrate. The hydrated carbonate, bis.m.u.t.i.te, is of less importance; it occurs in Cornwall, Bolivia, Arizona and elsewhere.

Of the rarer bis.m.u.th minerals we may notice the following:--the complex sulphides, copper bis.m.u.th glance or wittichenite, BiCu3S3, silver bis.m.u.th glance, bis.m.u.th cobalt pyrites, bis.m.u.th nickel pyrites or saynite, needle ore (patrinite or aikinite), BiCuPbS3, emplect.i.te, CuBiS2, and kobellite, BiAsPb3S6; the sulphotelluride tetradymite; the selenide guanajuat.i.te, Bi2Se3, the basic tellurate montanite, Bi2(OH)4TeOe; the silicates eulyt.i.te and agricolite, Bi4(SiO2)3; and the urnayl a.r.s.enate walpurgite, Bi(UO2),(OH)24(A3O4)4.

_Metallurgy._--Bis.m.u.th is extracted from its ores by dry, wet, or electro-matallurgical methods, the choice depending upon the composition of the ore and economic conditions. The dry process is more frequently practised, for the easy reducibility of the oxide and sulphide, together with the low melting-point of the metal, renders it possible to effect a ready separation of the metal from the gangue and impurities. The extraction from ores in which the bis.m.u.th is present in the metallic condition may be accomplished by a simple liquation, or melting, in which the temperature is just sufficient to melt the bis.m.u.th, or by a complete fusion of the ore. The first process never extracts all the bisbuth, as much as one-third being retained in the matte or speiss; the second is more satisfactory, since the extraction is more complete, and also allows the addition of reducing agents to decompose any admixed bis.m.u.th oxide or sulphide. In the liquidation process the ore is heated in inclined cylindrical retorts, and the molten metal is tapped at the lower end; the residues being removed from the upper end. The fusion process is preferably carried out in crucible furnaces; shaft furnaces are unsatisfactory on account of the disintegrating action of the molten bis.m.u.th on the furnace linings.

Sulphuretted ores are smelted, either with or without a preliminary calcination, with metallic iron; calcined ores may be smelted with carbon (coal). The reactions are strictly a.n.a.logous to those which occur in the smelting of galena (see LEAD), the carbon reducing any oxide, either present originally in the ore or produced in the calcination and the iron combining with the sulphur of the bis.m.u.thite.

A certain amount of bis.m.u.th sulphate is always formed during the calcination; this is subsequently reduced to the sulphide and ultimately to the metal in the fusion. Calcination in reverberatory furnaces and a subsequent smelting in the same type of furnace with the addition of about 3% of coal, lime, soda and fluorspar, has been adopted for treating the Bolivian ores, which generally contain the sulphides of bis.m.u.th, copper, iron, antimony, lead and a little silver. The lowest layer of the molten ma.s.s is princ.i.p.ally metallic bis.m.u.th, the succeeding layers are a bis.m.u.th copper matte, which is subsequently worked up, and a slag. Ores containing the oxide and carbonate are treated either by smelting with carbon or by a wet process.

In the wet process the ores, in which the bis.m.u.th is present as oxide or carbonate, are dissolved out with hydrochloric acid, or, if the bis.m.u.th is to be extracted from a matte or alloy, the solvent employed is _aqua regia_ or strong sulphuric acid. The solution of metallic chlorides or sulphates so obtained is precipitated by iron, the metallic bis.m.u.th filtered, washed with water, pressed in canvas bags, and finally fused in graphite crucibles, the surface being protected by a layer of charcoal. Another process consists in adding water to the solution and so precipitating the bis.m.u.th as oxychloride, which is then converted into the metal.

The crude metal obtained by the preceding processes is generally contaminated by a.r.s.enic, sulphur, iron, nickel, cobalt and antimony, and sometimes with silver or gold. A dry method of purification consists in a liquation on a hearth of peculiar construction, which occasions the separation of the unreduced bis.m.u.th sulphide and the bulk of the other impurities. A better process is to remelt the metal in crucibles with the addition of certain refining agents. The details of this process vary very considerably, being conditioned by the composition of the impure metal and the practice of particular works.

The wet refining process is more tedious and expensive, and is only exceptionally employed, as in the case of preparing the pure metal or its salts for pharmaceutical or chemical purposes. The basic nitrate is the salt generally prepared, and, in general outline, the process consists in dissolving the metal in nitric acid, adding water to the solution, boiling the precipitated basic nitrate with an alkali to remove the a.r.s.enic and lead, dissolving the residue in nitric acid, and reprecipitating as basic nitrate with water. J.F.W. Hampe prepared chemically pure bis.m.u.th by fusing the metal with sodium carbonate and sulphur, dissolving the bis.m.u.th sulphide so formed in nitric acid, precipitating the bis.m.u.th as the basic nitrate, re-dissolving this salt in nitric acid, and then precipitating with ammonia. The bis.m.u.th hydroxide so obtained is finally reduced by hydrogen.

_Properties._--Bis.m.u.th is a very brittle metal with a white crystalline fracture and a characteristic reddish-white colour. It crystallizes in rhombohedra belonging to the hexagonal system, having interfacial angles of 87 40'. According to G.W.A. Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (_Ziet. Anorg. Chem. 29_, p. 294), its specific gravity is 9.78143; Roberts and Wrightson give the specific gravity of solid bis.m.u.th as 9.82, and of molten bis.m.u.th as 10.035. It therefore expands on solidification; and as it retains this property in a number of alloys, the metal receives extensive application in forming type-metals. Its melting-point is variously given as 268.3 (F.

Rudberg and A.D. von Riemsdijk) and 270.5 (C.C. Person); commercial bis.m.u.th melts at 260 (Ledebur), and electrolytic bis.m.u.th at 264 (Cla.s.sen). It vaporizes in a vacuum at 292, and its boiling-point, under atmospheric pressure, is between 1090 and 1450 (T. Carnelley and W.C. Williams). Regnault determined its specific heat between 0 and 100 to be 0.0308; Kahlbaum, Roth and Siedler (_loc. cit._) give the value 0.03055. Its thermal conductivity is the lowest of all metals, being 18 as compared with silver as 1000; its coefficient of expansion between 0 and 100 is 0.001341. Its electrical conductivity is approximately 1.2, silver at 0 being taken as 100; it is the most diamagnetic substance known, and its thermoelectric properties render it especially valuable for the construction of thermopiles.

The metal oxidizes very slowly in dry air at ordinary temperatures, but somewhat more rapidly in moist air or when heated. In the last case it becomes coated with a greyish-black layer of an oxide (dioxide (?)), at a red heat the layer consists of the trioxide (Bi2O3); and is yellow or green in the case of pure bis.m.u.th, and violet or blue if impure; at a bright red heat it burns with a bluish flame to the trioxide. Bis.m.u.th combines directly with the halogens, and the elements of the sulphur group. It readily dissolves in nitric acid, _aqua regia_ and hot sulphuric acid, but tardily in hot hydrochloric acid. It is precipitated as the metal from solutions of its salts by the metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths, zinc, iron, copper, &c.

In its chemical affinities it resembles a.r.s.enic and antimony; an important distinction is that it forms no hydrogen compound a.n.a.logous to arsine and stibine.

_Alloys_.--Bis.m.u.th readily forms alloys with other metals. Treated with sodammonium it yields a bluish-black ma.s.s, BiNa3, which takes fire in the air and decomposes water. A brittle pota.s.sium alloy of silver-white colour and lamellar fracture is obtained by calcining 20 parts of bis.m.u.th with 16 of cream of tartar at a strong red heat. When present in other metals, even in very small quant.i.ty, bis.m.u.th renders them brittle and impairs their electrical conductivity. With mercury it forms amalgams. Bis.m.u.th is a component of many ternary alloys characterized by their low fusibility and expansion in solidification; many of them are used in the arts (see FUSIBLE METAL).

_Compounds_.--Bis.m.u.th forms four oxides, of which the trioxide, Bi2O3, is the most important. This compound occurs in nature as bis.m.u.th ochre, and may be prepared artificially by oxidizing the metal at a red heat, or by heating the carbonate, nitrate or hydrate. Thus obtained it is a yellow powder, soluble in the mineral acids to form soluble salts, which are readily precipitated as basic salts when the solution is diluted. It melts to a reddish-brown liquid, which solidifies to a yellow crystalline ma.s.s on cooling. The Hydrate, Bi(OH)3, is obtained as a white powder by adding potash to a solution of a bis.m.u.th salt. Bis.m.u.th dioxide, BiO or Bi2O2, is said to be formed by the limited oxidation of the metal, and as a brown precipitate by adding mixed solutions of bis.m.u.th and stannous chlorides to a solution of caustic potash. Bis.m.u.th tetroxide, Bi2O4, sometimes termed bis.m.u.th bism.u.t.h.ate, is obtained by melting bis.m.u.th trioxide with potash, or by igniting bis.m.u.th trioxide with potash and pota.s.sium chlorate. It is also formed by oxidizing bis.m.u.th trioxide suspended in caustic potash with chlorine, the pentoxide being formed simultaneously; oxidation and pota.s.sium ferricyanide simply gives the tetroxide (Hauser and Vanino, _Zeit. Anorg. Chem_., 1904, 39, p. 381). The hydrate, Bi2O42H2O, is also known. Bis.m.u.th pentoxide, Bi2C5, is obtained by heating bis.m.u.thic acid, HBiO3, to 130C.; this acid (in the form of its salts) being the product of the continued oxidation of an alkaline solution of bis.m.u.th trioxide.

Bis.m.u.th forms two chlorides: BiCl2 and BiCl3. The dichloride, BiCl2, is obtained as a brown crystalline powder by fusing the metal with the trichloride, or in a current of chlorine, or by heating the metal with calomel to 250. Water decomposes it to metallic bis.m.u.th and the oxychloride, BiOCl. Bis.m.u.th trichloride, BiCl3, was obtained by Robert Boyle by heating the metal with corrosive sublimate. It is the final product of burning bis.m.u.th in an excess of chlorine. It is a white substance, melting at 225-230 and boiling at 435-441. With excess of water, it gives a white precipitate of the oxychloride, BiOCl.

Bis.m.u.th trichloride forms double compounds with hydrochloric acid, the chlorides of the alkaline metals, ammonia, nitric oxide and nitrosyl chloride. _Bis.m.u.th trifluoride_, BiF3, a white powder, _bis.m.u.th tribromide_, BiBr3, golden yellow crystals, _bis.m.u.th iodide_, BiI3, greyish-black crystals, are also known. These compounds closely resemble the trichloride in their methods of preparation and their properties, forming oxyhaloids with water, and double compounds with ammonia, &c.

_Carbonates_.--The basic carbonate, 2(BiO)2CO3H2O, obtained as a white precipitate when an alkaline carbonate is added to a solution of bis.m.u.th nitrate, is employed in medicine. Another basic carbonate, 3(BiO)2CO32Bi(OH)33H2O, const.i.tutes the mineral bis.m.u.t.i.te.

_Nitrates_.--The normal nitrate, Bi(NO3)35H2O, is obtained in large transparent asymmetric prisms by evaporating a solution of the metal in nitric acid. The action of water on this solution produces a crystalline precipitate of basic nitrate, probably Bi(OH)2NO3, though it varies with the amount of water employed. This precipitate const.i.tutes the "magistery of bis.m.u.th" or "subnitrate of bis.m.u.th" of pharmacy, and under the name of pearl white, _blanc d'Espagne_ or _blanc de fard_ has long been used as a cosmetic.

_Sulphides_.--Bis.m.u.th combines directly with sulphur to form a, disulphide, Bi2S2, and a trisulphide, Bi2S3, the latter compound being formed when the sulphur is in excess. A hydrated disulphide, Bi2S22H2O, is obtained by pa.s.sing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of bis.m.u.th nitrate and stannous chloride. Bis.m.u.th disulphide is a grey metallic substance, which is decomposed by hydrochloric acid with the separation of metallic bis.m.u.th and the formation of bis.m.u.th trichloride. Bis.m.u.th trisulphide, Bi2S3, const.i.tutes the mineral bis.m.u.thite, and may be prepared by direct union of its const.i.tuents, or as a brown precipitate by pa.s.sing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of a bis.m.u.th salt. It is easily soluble in nitric acid. When heated to 200 it a.s.sumes the crystalline form of bis.m.u.thite. Bis.m.u.th forms several oxysulphides: Bi4O3S const.i.tutes the mineral karelinite found at the Zavodinski mine in the Altai; Bi6O3S4 and Bi2O3S have been prepared artificially. Bis.m.u.th also forms the sulphohaloids, BiSCl, BiSBr, BiSI, a.n.a.logous to the oyxhaloids.

Bis.m.u.th sulphate, Bi2(SO4)3, is obtained as a white powder by dissolving the metal or sulphide in concentrated sulphuric acid. Water decomposes it, giving a basic salt, Bi2(SO4)(OH)4, which on heating gives (BiO)2SO4. Other basic salts are known.

Bis.m.u.th forms compounds similar to the trisulphide with the elements selenium and tellurium. The tritelluride const.i.tutes the mineral tetradymite, Bi2Te3.

_a.n.a.lysis_.--Traces of bis.m.u.th may be detected by treating the solution with excess of tartaric acid, potash and stannous chloride, a precipitate or dark coloration of bis.m.u.th oxide being formed even when only one part of bis.m.u.th is present in 20,000 of water. The blackish brown sulphide precipitated from bis.m.u.th salts by sulphuretted hydrogen is insoluble in ammonium sulphide, but is readily dissolved by nitric acid. The metal can be reduced by magnesium, zinc, cadmium, iron, tin, copper and substances like hypophosphorous acid from acid solutions or from alkaline ones by formaldehyde. In quant.i.tative estimations it is generally weighed as oxide, after precipitation as sulphide or carbonate, or in the metallic form, reduced as above.

_Pharmacology_.--The salts of bis.m.u.th are feebly antiseptic. Taken internally the subnitrate, coming into contact with water, tends to decompose, gradually liberating nitric acid, one of the most powerful antiseptics. The physical properties of the powder also give it a mild astringent action. There are no remote actions.

_Therapeutics_.--The subnitrate of bis.m.u.th is invaluable in certain cases of dyspepsia, and still more notably so in diarrhoea. It owes its value to the decomposition described above, by means of which a powerful antiseptic action is safely and continuously exerted. There is hardly a safer drug. It may be given in drachm doses with impunity.

It colours the faeces black owing to the formation of sulphide.

BIs.m.u.tHITE, a somewhat rare mineral, consisting of bis.m.u.th trisulphide, Bi2S3. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and is isomorphous with stibnite (Sb2S3), which it closely resembles in appearance. It forms loose interlacing aggregates of acicular crystals without terminal faces (only in a single instance has a terminated crystal been observed), or as ma.s.ses with a foliated or fibrous structure. An important character is the perfect cleavage in one direction parallel to the length of the needles. The colour is lead-grey inclining to tin-white and often with a yellowish or iridescent tarnish. The hardness is 2; specific gravity 6.4-6.5. Bis.m.u.thite occurs at several localities in Cornwall and Bolivia, often in a.s.sociation with native bis.m.u.th and tin-ores. Other localities are known; for instance, Brandy Gill in Caldbeck Fells, c.u.mberland, where with molybdenite and apat.i.te it is embedded in white quartz. The mineral was known to A. Cronstedt in 1758, and was named bis.m.u.thine by F.S. Beudant in 1832. This name, which is also used in the forms bis.m.u.thite and bis.m.u.thinite, is rather unfortunate, since it is readily confused with bismite (bis.m.u.th oxide) and bis.m.u.t.i.te (basic bis.m.u.th carbonate), especially as the latter has also been used in the form bis.m.u.thite. The name bis.m.u.th-glance or bis.m.u.tholamprite for the species under consideration is free from this objection. (L. J. S.)

BISMYA, a group of ruin mounds, about 1 m. long and m. wide, consisting of a number of low ridges, nowhere exceeding 40 ft. in height, lying in the Jezireh, somewhat nearer to the Tigris than the Euphrates, about a day's journey to the south-east of Nippur, a little below 32 N. and about 45 40' E. Excavations conducted here for six months, from Christmas of 1903 to June 1904, for the university of Chicago, by Dr Edgar J. Banks, proved that these mounds covered the site of the ancient city of Adab (Ud-Nun), hitherto known only from a brief mention of its name in the introduction to the Khammurabi code (c. 2250 B.C.). The city was divided into two parts by a ca.n.a.l, on an island in which stood the temple, E-mach, with a _ziggurat_, or stage tower. It was evidently once a city of considerable importance, but deserted at a very early period, since the ruins found close to the surface of the mounds belong to Dungi and Ur Gur, kings of Ur in the earlier part of the third millennium B.C. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, c. 3000 B.C. Below these there were still 35 ft. of stratified remains, const.i.tuting seven-eighths of the total depth of the ruins. Besides the remains of buildings, walls, graves, &c., Dr Banks discovered a large number of inscribed clay tablets of a very early period, bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. But the two most notable discoveries were a complete statue in white marble, apparently the most ancient yet found in Babylonia (now in the museum in Constantinople), bearing the inscription--"E-mach, King Da-udu, King of Ud-Nun"; and a temple refuse heap, consisting of great quant.i.ties of fragments of vases in marble, alabaster, onyx, porphyry and granite, some of which were inscribed, and others engraved and inlaid with ivory and precious stones.