BESSONIES, Rt. Rev. Mgr. AUGUST, American Roman Catholic prelate, died at Indianapolis, February 22, 1901. He was born near Cahors, France, June 18, 1815, and studied for the ministry at Issy and St. Sulpice in Paris, graduating at the latter seminary in 1838. The next year he came to the United States as an assistant to Bishop Brute, of Vincennes, Ind. He was ordained priest in 1840 and sent out to labor among the Indians in Perry County, of that State, where he remained for ten years. He had charge of various parishes throughout the State, finally becoming established at Indianapolis in 1857. In 1881 he became vicar-general of his diocese and received the rank of monseigneur in 1884. Father Bessonies was a tireless temperance worker, was deeply interested in home missionary work, and was respected and esteemed by his associates, of whatever denomination.

BIBLE SOCIETY, AMERICAN, founded in 1816 for the distribution of bibles among the destitute and poor. At the close of the fiscal year 1900-01 the society had issued a total of 68,953,434 copies of the Scriptures. The total issues of the year amounted to 1,554,128 copies, nearly two-thirds of which were sent to foreign countries. More than half of the issues were manufactured at the Bible House, and of the remainder a large number were printed in Syria, Turkey, Siam, China, and Japan. The income of the year, from gifts, funds, etc., was $391,383, nearly half of which has been authorized for the foreign work during the current year. Since its organization the society has received over $30,000,000 from the public in America. Publications: The Bible Society Record, an illustrated monthly,_and_annually thousands of leaflets in various languages. Secretaries, Rev. John Fox, D.D., and Rev. William I. Haven, D.D., Bible House, New York City.

BICYCLING. See CYCLING.

BIEDERMANN, KARL, German politician and philosopher, died at Leipsic, March 5, 1901. He was born at Leipsic, September 25, 1812, and was educated at Heidelberg and the university of his native city, becoming professor of philosophy at the latter in 1838. For political reasons he was dismissed in 1845, and in 1848 began an active career in politics with his election to the National Assembly at Frankfort in that year. He was restored to his professorship in 1849, but was removed again in 1854 for editorial utterances in the Deutscher Annalen. In 1865 he was again reinstated and in 1874 was made an honorary professor. Throughout his political prominence, which was terminated by his resignation from the Reichstag in 1874 and from the Saxton Landtag in 1876, Professor Biedermann adhered to the most pronounced liberal ideas, which he expressed fearlessly in various political papers of which he was editor at different times. A prolific writer, he produced, among other works, Die Deutsche Philosophie von Kant bis auf unsere Zeit (1843); Erinnerungen aus der Paulskirche (1849); Gedankens (1892); Fünfzig Jahre im Dienste des Nationalen Gedankens (1892); Vorlesungen über Socialismus und Socialpolitik (1900); and the dramas Heinrich IV. (1861) and Kaiser Otto III. (1862).

BILLIARDS. The amateur championships of 1900-01 were carried through by the Amateur Athletic Union. Class B events (14-inch balk-line) were held December 5-17, 1900, at the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, New York City. A. G. Cutler, of Boston; J. A. Hendrick, of New York, and W. W. Kellogg, of Chicago, tied for first place with 4 out of 5 games each. By a previous agreement, made during the tournament, the championship was accorded to Cutler, as his grand average for the last two games was 7.19, against 5.37 for Kellogg and 5.17 for Hendrick, who took second and third prizes respectively. The average for the whole tournament for the three was respectively 7.13, 4.61, and 5.70; high runs, 48, 41, and 48. Cutler also made the best single average, 9.67, in his first game. The class A tournament (14-inch balk-line, anchor-nurse barred) was held at the same place during February 5-16, 1901. C. Fred. Conklin, by defeating all his opponents, won the honor of playing the holder of the championship, Wilson P. Foss, of Haverstraw, N. Y., in the finals. In a game requiring 46 innings Conklin led during the first half, but Foss won by 500 points to Conklin's 238, with an average of 10 40-46. Foss's highest run was 69. Conklin's highest run was 43, his average 5 32-46.

BIOLOGICAL STATIONS. See ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS AND STATIONS. BIOLOGY. The progress of biology during 1901 was not unusually notable, but there were some forward steps taken which are worthy of mention. Most important of all is undoubtedly the work of Hugo de Vries, of Amsterdam, which throws much light upon questions of evolution. Although his work has been carried on with plants as the subject of investigation, his results are distinctly biological and not specially botanical. The report of his work is entitled Die Mutationstheorie, and is published at Leipsic. His results may be briefly summarized thus: He examined 50,000 plants of an evening primrose (Enothera lamarckiana), descendants under natural conditions of a single plant. Of these, 49,200 were distinctly plants of the

same type, showing no tendency toward gradual change in any direction, but 800 showed such a marked change that they could not properly be called E. lamarckiana. They represent no less than 7 distinct types of structure, which De Vries calls species; of the one he calls gigas, there was I specimen, of scintillans 8, of rubrinervis 32, of albida 56, of nanella 158, of lata 221, and of oblonga 350. But more remarkable still is the fact that these species tend to reproduce their own kind; thus, the one plant of gigas gave rise to 450 plants, all but one of which were distinctly gigas. So far as De Vries's observations go, therefore, new species may appear suddenly by mutation, and not by the process of progressive variation. In other words, De Vries has actually seen the formation of new species in nature. The results of these observations are far-reaching, and if they are subsequently confirmed in other cases among plants and in the animal kingdom, they will prove to be the most important contribution to biological evolution that has appeared for many years. A new and fascinating field of research is thus opened up, and new life is infused into the old problem of the origin of species.

Another contribution to the theory of evolution is a paper by Mr. O. F. Cook, read before the Biological Society of Washington, and called A Kinetic Theory of Evolution. Mr. Cook points out that the differentiation of species is a phenomenon distinct from evolutionary progress, and that the relative importance of natural selection has differed greatly in the evolution of the various natural groups. He says further that "there is no essential connection between evolution and use. The vast majority of variations and specific differences are also obviously non-useful." "All hereditary characters are acquired, but not all acquired characters are hereditary." "Reactions to external conditions are not hereditary." "No direct nexus between environment and heredity has been demonstrated, and none is necessary under a kinetic theory.” Mr. Cook's views are based primarily upon his observations in myriapods, but he has also studied termites, and various groups of plants. His conclusions are of special interest when compared with those of De Vries given above.

A paper of great importance by Prof. E. B. Wilson, of Columbia University, has appeared, recounting his observations upon the centrosomes of eggs which have developed by artificial parthenogenesis. According to him, there is little difference in the centrosomes of such eggs and those of normal ones, except that the cytasters are much better developed. Moreover, in normal fertilization "the activity of the egg-nucleus is modified through its union with an active individualized sperm-centrosome, the presence of which inhibits the formation of an egg-centrosome such as occurs in the magnesium eggs." Professor Loeb, of the University of Chicago, has continued his work upon the effect of chemicals upon the unfertilized eggs of marine animals, and, as was the case in 1900, his valuable and interesting results were seized upon by the sensational daily press, and distorted into the most grotesque statements of the discovery of the secret of perennial youth and the possibilities of unending life in our present bodies. No investigator of recent years has been so persistently exaggerated and misrepresented as has this distinguished physiologist. The most interesting of his results during 1901 were those on the effects of cyanide of potassium upon the eggs of the sea-urchin, which indicate that that poison acts under certain conditions as a preservative of life and a protection against what is called staleness in eggs. One other contribution to the general problems of biology may be mentioned; namely, A. G. Mayer's account of the Variations of a Newly Arisen Race of Medusa. Of 1,000 specimens of a hydromedusa, Pseudoclytia pentacta, occurring at the Dry Tortugas, 703 are normal pentactate individuals, while the others have 4, 3, 2, 6, 7, or 8 radial canals or lips, though 50 per cent. of them are radially symmetrical. The abnormal individuals appear to survive as well as normal ones, and mature their reproductive cells quite as commonly. They are not weeded out by natural selection, but they have not yet established new species. These observations are of great interest in connection with the recent discoveries of De Vries, to which reference has already been made. See ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS AND STATIONS and ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE; also PHYSIOLOGY, CHEMICAL.

BIRD PROTECTION. See ORNITHOLOGY.

BIRTHRATE. See VITAL STATISTICS.

BISHOP, JOEL PRENTISS. American lawyer and legal writer, died at Cambridge, Mass., November 4, 1901. He was born at Volney, N. Y., in 1814, and was educated at Whitestone Seminary, the Oneida Institute, and the Stockbridge Academy. Admitted to the bar in 1844, he became active in the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War, and published in 1864 Effect of Secession on Slavery. Mr. Bishop was best known as the author of a long series of legal text-books, among which may be cited: Commentaries on Criminal Procedure (1867); The First Book of the Law (1868); Law of Marriage and Divorce (1869); Doctrines of the Law of Contracts in Their Principal Outlines (1878); a volume on Civil Practice (1882), and Common Law and Codification (1888).

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO, a group of islands in the Pacific ocean belonging to Germany, formerly called New Britain Archipelago, and renamed in 1884, when they came under German control, have an estimated area of 19,200 square miles and an estimated population of 188,000. There are only about 200 European inhabitants, of whom half are Germans. The principal islands are Neu Pommern, Neu Mecklenburg, Neu Lauenburg, New Hanover, Admiralty, Anchorite, Commerson, and Hermit. Missionary work is established by the Wesleyans and Catholics. The trade is controlled by the German New Guinea Company. The imports for 1899 amounted to a value of 1,060,00 marks; exports, 939,110 marks (the mark equals 23.8 cents). The export is chiefly copra, little agriculture existing, except plantations of the cocoa palm. There is steamship communication with Singapore. The capital is Matupi, where the New Guinea Company has a station.

BISMARCK-SCHÖNHAUSEN, Count WILHELM ALBRECHT OTTO, German soldier and official, the second son of Prince Bismarck, died at Varzin, Prussia, May 30, 1901. He was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 1, 1852, and was educated at Bonn. After a short military service (1870-71), he entered the civil service in 1873 and became in 1879 secretary to the governor of Alsace-Lorraine. He was rapidly promoted, and in 1889 became chief president of the province of East Prussia. Count Bismarck was also a member of the Reichstag (1873-81) and of the Prussian Chamber (1882-85).

BISMUTOSE is an odorless, tasteless, white powder which becomes gray on exposure to light. It is insoluble in water. It is a combination of bismuth and albumin and contains 22 per cent. of bismuth. It is used with success in gastrointestinal diseases, and also locally in burns, intertrigo, and some forms of eczema. BIZZOZERO, GIULIO, professor of pathological anatomy in the University of Turin, died April 8, 1901. He was born March 20, 1846, and was elected a fellow of the Academia dei Tincei in 1883 and a senator in 1890. He was the founder of an Italian school of histology, and among his pupils was the celebrated Golzi. Professor Bizzozero's researches and discoveries dealt largely with the spinous cells of the epidermis, the functions of the medulla of the bones, the intestinal epithelium, and the morphological elements of the blood.

BLACK LEAD. See GRAPHITE.

BLODGETT, LORIN, American statistician and economist, died in Philadelphia, March 24, 1901. He was born near Jamestown, N. Y., May 25, 1823, and was educated at Jamestown Academy and Geneva (now Hobart) College. In 1851-52 he was assistant in charge of researches in climatology at the Smithsonian Institution, and for four years afterwards was engaged in Pacific railway survey work for the United States War Department. From 1863 to 1877 he was employed in the United States Treasury Department in the preparation of reports and statistics. He published The Climatology of the United States; Commercial and Financial Resources of the United States, and about 150 volumes of financial and industrial reports and statistics.

BOAT-RACING. See RoWING.

BOECKLIN, ARNOLD, Swiss painter, died at Fiesole, Italy, January 16, 1901. He was born at Basle, Switzerland, October 16, 1827, and studied art at Düsseldorf under Schirmer. After some years of further study in Paris and Rome, he went to Munich in 1858, and was called from that place to the new school of fine arts at Weimar in 1860, as teacher of landscape painting. Two years later he went to Rome, and later settled in Florence. In his landscape paintings he shows notable powers of conception, movement, and life, in subjects including the mythological as well as the purely modern landscape study. In 1868 M. Boecklin exhibited his first important work at the Paris Salon-"Petrarch in Solitude" and "Christ and the Magdalen," the latter being acquired by the museum at Basle. It was by the Basle Museum also that his picture, the "Centaur Struggle," was purchased. "The Sea Idyl," which won for M. Boecklin a medal from the Berlin Academy, is perhaps characteristic of his greatest work, and it was this picture that he sent to the Paris Exposition of 1900. “A Nymph and Fauns," bolder in conception and treatment than most of the preceding, raised a tempest of criticism, but it is admittedly the work of a man of large imagination. His pictures are to be found in nearly every large public and private collection in Germany, where his success was greatest. BOERS. See TRANSVAAL.

BOKHARA. See TURKISTAN, RUSSIAN.

BOLIVIA, an interior republic of South America, lies between Brazil on the east and Peru and Chile on the west. The capital is La Paz.

Area and Population.-The eight departments comprising Bolivia have an estimated area of 567,430 square miles. A ninth department, the Littoral, embracing

29,910 square miles, was mortgaged to Chile after the war of 1879-80 and has never been redeemed. There is an unsettled boundary dispute with Peru. A protocol submitting to arbitration this question and others pending between the two countries was signed at La Paz on November 26, 1901. A joint Brazilian-Bolivian commission began its work of fixing the boundary between the two republics in March, 1901, The estimated number of inhabitants has been placed at over two and one-quarter million, including 250,000 uncivilized Indians, but according to an estimate of 1898 the entire population numbered only 1,310,000, comprising 79,050 whites, 299,500 mestizos, and 931,450 Indians, of whom 60,000 were classified as uncivilized. In 1901 the population of La Paz was reported at 46,000; Cochabamba, 21,896; Sucré, 20,907; Potosí, 20,000. The state religion and that prevailing among the people is Roman Catholicism. Primary instruction is free and nominally compulsory. In 1899 the reported number of primary schools was 692, the municipal schools numbering 366 and the private schools 322; the total number of pupils was 36,418. There are also schools for secondary, higher, professional, and industrial education.

Government.-The chief eecutive is a president, who is assisted by a cabinet of five members. The legislative power devolves upon a congress of two houses, the senate and the chamber of deputies. The president since October 26, 1899, has been General José Manuel Pando. The departments are administered by prefects. The regular army numbers about 2,500 and the national guard about 80,000.

Finance. The monetary standard is silver and unit of value the boliviano, worth in United States money 45.1 cents on October 1, 1900, and 42.8 cents on October 1, 1901. The chief source of revenue is customs and the largest items of expenditure are for finance, war, and public works. Reports of actual receipts and expenditures are not available. The estimated revenue and expenditure for 1899 were 7,973,190 and 8,104,200 bolivianos respectively, and for 1900, 7,331,400 bolivianos and 7,930,188 bolivianos respectively. For the fiscal year 1902 the budget estimates were 10,117,700 bolivianos for revenue and 9,989,153 bolivianos for expenditure. The estimated import and export duties were 4,287,000 bolivianos and 2,091,390 bolivianos respectively, while the largest estimated expenditure was 2,748,943 bolivianos for war. The total debt, exclusive of the internal debt, in 1901, was reported at 13,857,852 bolivianos; the internal debt in 1900 stood at 3,934,250 bolivianos.

Industries and Commerce.-Agriculture and mining are the principal industries, but neither, in proportion to the capabilities of the country, is greatly developed. Aside from the minerals, the principal product is rubber; others of importance are cacao, cinchona, and coffee. Cereals and other foodstuffs are grown for domestic consumption. Of the numerous minerals that occur, the most important mined at present are silver, tin, and copper.

The revolution of 1899 was disastrous to economic conditions in Bolivia, but in 1901 these conditions showed a decided improvement. Numerous metallurgic enterprises were established and mineral industries, especially tin mining, were unusually successful. The depreciation of silver, however, has lessened the output of this metal. The rubber industry is most important in the Beni and Caupolican districts; the export in 1899, valued at 13,560,000 bolivianos, comprised 3,151,000 kilogrammes, of which about 90 per cent. was shipped by way of the River Amazon and the remainder by the Paraguay. The rubber export in 1900 was valued at 10,403,959 bolivianos, and about the same in 1901. The principal ores exported in 1900 were: Silver, 13.691,268 pounds; tin, 8,579,539 pounds; copper, 1,025,030 pounds. The principal imports are provisions, hardware, alcoholic liquors, textiles, wearing apparel, and furniture. The values of the total imports and exports in bolivianos have been reported as follows: 1897, 12,457,242 and 21,990,455 respectively; 1898, 11,897,245 and 27,456,677; 1899, 12,839.962 and 27.365.747; 1900, 13,344,114 and 35,657,690. The exports for the last-named year were classified as follows: Mining products, 23,727,266 bolivianos; agricultural products (including rubber), 11,249,295; cattle, 297,482; manufactures, 227,041; miscellaneous, 156,606. In 1900 the leading countries from which imports were received were: Germany, 3,109,521 bolivianos; Great Britain, 2,265,307; Peru, 1,710,305; Argentina, 1,028,714; the United States, 815,555; France, 777,881.

Communications.-Inadequate transportation facilities continue to be one of the chief obstacles to industrial development in Bolivia. The roads are few and their condition is primitive. The principal routes are: Cochabamba-Sucré, 202 miles; La Paz-Oruro, 152 miles; Tarija-Tupiza, 143 miles; Oruro-Cochabamba, 127 miles; Potosí-Sucré, 90 miles; La Paz-Corocoro, 68 miles; Challapata-Sucré, 62 miles; Oruro-Lagunillas, 59 miles, and La Paz-Puerto Perez, 47 miles. The only railway is the narrow-gauge Oruro, which connects that town with Antofagasta (Chile), 575 miles distant. At Unguni, 379 miles from Antofagasta, there is an extension of 22 miles to the Huanchaca mines. An extension of the line is projected from Oruro to La Paz, the distance by rail being 37 miles greater than the length of the present cart road; the length of the entire line, accordingly, would be 764 miles.

Other proposed railways are: From Oruro to Cochabamba and the Beni River; from Colquechaca to the Oruro road; from La Paz to the River Desaguadero (under construction in 1901); from La Paz to Puerto Perez; from Potosí to Uyuni; and, among others, a continuation of the Argentine line from Jujuy. In 1901 the government accepted the proposal of a Belgian company for the construction of a port at Bahia Negra, and from there a railway to Santa Cruz, with branches to Sucré and Potosi; and for the canalization of certain rivers in eastern Bolivia and the establishment of colonies in lands for which the company had received concessions. Events of 1901.-For certain financial and commercial considerations, including free transport through Antofagasta and the privilege of levying customs there, Chile in the fall of 1900 sought to secure from Bolivia a definite cession of the former Bolivian department, the Littoral, now mortgaged to Chile. Bolivia rejected the proposals. In the spring of 1901, however, Señor Medina, the Bolivian foreign minister, issued a circular letter to the Bolivian legations abroad, in which, while maintaining Bolivia's right to the department, he intimated that his government might accept the compensation-already mentioned in diplomatic correspondence of about $10,000,000 in lieu of a seaport.

In June, 1901, a British party, led by Mr. John W. Evans, started for Bolivia to continue there the work of exploration begun by Sir Martin Conway. The region to be explored comprises over 10,000 square miles, lying between the crest of the Andes and the Amazonian plain and the rivers Kaka and Beni and the River Pando (Tambopata). This region is not entirely unknown, but it has never been mapped or explored scientifically. It contains "the fertile valleys of Las Yungas and the famous gorges of the Tipuani, Mapiri, and Coroico, whence so large a part of the gold of the Incas was brought." Mr. Evans is a well-known geologist and traveler and has already done good work in western Brazil.

BORAX. The production of borax in the United States in 1900 was 24,235 short tons of crude and 1,602 tons of refined, having a total value of $1,018,251. The total production for 1899 was 20,357 short tons, valued at $1,139,882.

BORNEO, an East Indian island, has an estimated area of nearly 300,000 square miles and an estimated population of about 1,900,000. The northern part is under British protection; the remainder, comprising over two-thirds of the total area, is a possession of the Netherlands.

Dutch Borneo has an estimated area of 212,737 square miles and an estimated population, exclusive of several districts as yet unexplored, of about 1,181,000. Important settlements have been made in the coast districts, but the interior is not well known and is practically under the control of the natives.

British North Borneo, a protectorate having an estimated area of 31,106 square miles and an estimated population of 175,000, occupies the northeastern part of the island. The territory is administered by a governor (Edward W. Birch in 1901), who is assisted by a council and by several official residents. The revenue and expenditure for the fiscal year 1899 were 542,919 dollars (Mexican) and 410,290 dollars respectively; for 1900, 587,226 dollars and 398,152 dollars respectively. The revenue for the fiscal year 1901 was reported at about 700,000 dollars and the estimated revenue for 1902 at 820,000 dollars. The increase in revenue has been remarkable, the receipts for 1893 having amounted to only 289,000 dollars. There is no public debt. Various tropical and sub-tropical products are exported, the most important export being leaf tobacco, which amounted to 1,679,500 dollars in 1900. The total imports in 1900 were valued at 3,178,929 dollars, as against 2,456,999 dollars in 1899, and the total exports at 3,336,621 dollars, as against 3,439,560 in the preceding year. In the fall of 1901 there were under construction, from Brunei Bay into the interior and thence to Jesselton, in Gaya Bay, 110 miles of railway, of which about 90 miles were practically completed; and over 400 miles of telegraph were in operation.

Brunei, on the north coast, is a native state under British protection, having ar estimated area of 3,000 square miles, though various other estimates are given, and an estimated population of 50,000. It is not unlikely that the latter figure is too large. The internal administration is in the hands of a native sultan, who is assisted by various chiefs. The chief export is sago, but there is little trade and the rev enue is small.

Sarawak, a British protectorate on the north coast southwest of Brunei, has an estimated area of 50,000 square miles and an estimated population of 500,000. The state is administered by Rajah Sir Charles Anthony Brooke.

According to a British consular report the situation in Sarawak in 1900 was highly satisfactory, trade and agriculture being on the increase. To increase the production of rice so that Sarawak may be able to supply herself, an attempt was being made in 1901, with the support of the government, to form two colonies of Chinese agriculturists on the Rejand River. The revenue and expenditure, which in