B I I- 



301 



B I L 



an apothecary's hall, with a competent number of officers 

 in ,-\'. u-iit. Th ick are visited twice a-ilay by 



iiii and two surgeons of the town. A cmn- 

 miitei- nl MMrtabla cit.zens superintend the whole. The 

 hospital has been built and in supported by voluntur. 



11 1 cu-ry |KKr uivuhd of Bilbao lias admittance 



- also a Ca*a do Misericordia, or charity-house, 

 supported by voluntary contributions, and superintended 

 of respectable indi\iduals, to provide with 

 food, clothing, shelter, and instruction foundlings and 

 orphans, or otherwise destitute children. Tin-re is a 

 manufactory of common earthenware connected with 

 Itabtiabment in which the children work. They are 

 s instructed, nt the expense of the house, in some 

 business which may be the means of procuring them an 

 honest livelihood. The streets are all well paved with square 

 flat stones on both sides, and with small round stones in 

 ,1'ldle. Ni> carriage of any sort is allowed in them, by 

 which means the pavement is much longer kept in repair. 

 The water of the river is conducted through pipes to the 

 most elevated part of rtie different streets, from which it 

 flows through them in abundance, washing away all the 

 dirt, which it carries to the rivor. The market-place, si- 

 tuated at the eastern extremity of the town, is always 

 abundantly supplied. The slaughter-house, where the meat 

 is also sold, is a fine building of the Tuscan order situated 

 in the middle of the town. 1'. --'nig an abundant supply 

 of water from a fountain constantly (lowing, and being open 

 on all sides so as to permit a free current of air, there 

 is nothing in it to offend either the sight or the smell. 

 On the right bank of the river there is a wide and pleasant 

 promenade planted with lime-trees and oak, and lined with 

 many houses, gardens, and warehouses. Numerous wharfs 

 and strong moles are built on both banks at different places 

 down the river to Portugalete ; there are two bridges over 

 the river at Bilbao, one very old of two arches built of 

 stone, and another of wood of modern construction very 

 solid and handsome, with one arch. The tide ascends as 

 high as the town, but only small vessels under sixty or 

 seventy tons can sail so far up the river, except with a very 

 full tide : the greatest part of them remain at Olaveaga, 

 two short miles from the town. 



Bilbao is the seat of the government of the province (sec 

 BASQUE, BIZCAYA) and of the consulado, or tribunal of 

 commerce. That body has endowed schools for the gra- 

 tuitous instruction of the youth of the town in architecture, 

 mathematics, navigation, drawing, and the French and Eng- 

 lish languages. There is also a school where poor children 

 nr.^ instructed gratuitously in reading and writing, and an- 

 other for teaching the Latin language, both supported by 

 the ayuntamicnto, or common council. 



The people of Bilbao are kind and hospitable ; their 

 society is pleasing and easily accessible to strangers. The 

 women of the lower class, who are employed as carriers 

 and in other manly occupations, arc so robust fluu they 

 may be frequently seen after a day of laborious employ- 

 ment dancing as cheerfully as on a holiday. They are 

 clean and neatly dressed, and in general go barefooted. 

 To L'ratify the inclination of the common people for dancing, 

 the town pays three men, who play on the tambourine and 

 the provincial wind instruments at the public dances. There 

 u a public building for playing at ball and two for tennis, 

 of both which exercises the people are exceedingly fond. 

 There are five very pleasant fountains, a capacious and 

 handsome playhouse, several coffee-houses, and many shops 

 and warehouses, abundantly supplied with all articles of fo- 

 reign merchandise, which, owing to the moderate duties and 

 the intelligence of the people in mercantile concerns, may 

 be obtained as cheap as in the countries where they are 

 manufactured. The population of Bilbao is 15,000. Tlw 

 inhabitants arc employed in agriculture, commerce, and the 

 manufacturing of iron. The most productive iron mines in 

 Spain, and perhaps in the world, are those called \V 

 five miles from Bilbao. They produce, in general, thirty- 

 three per cent, without straining the ore. Tin 

 ulso manufactures of paper, bats, soap, leather, . ,;ii,,n 

 ware, and cigars. The principal articles of exportation are 

 wool and wheat to foreign countrici, and iron to other 

 parts of the Peninsula. (See Diccirtnariv GeograjJnco 



in (If la .-Ini-lr 



I'rll.HKKItV. a kind of berry-lii-aniig shrub, found on 

 the moors of Ib ountry. [Set VACCINIUM.J 



BILBILIS, a Celtiberian town, in Hispania Turraro- 

 ncnsis, situated on a branch of the Il.em~ < Kbro), which is 

 sometimes called by the same name as the town, nioi, 

 qurntly, however, mentioned by the name Salo (Martial, x. 

 1W3. 104.) Its site is supposed in corrc*|ioiid with that ft" 

 the modem Calatmud, which stands near the junction of 

 the Xiloca with the Xalon. It was built upon an eminence. 

 according to Martial, in the two epigrams above qimti -d 

 (quos Bilbilis acri montc crcat altani Bilbilim), and 



eel manufactories at this place' were celebrated in 

 antient times (Plin. N. II- xxxiv. 1-J; Justin, xhv. 3.; 



1. iv. 55.) ; but it is known to us principally as b 

 been the birth-place of M. Valerius Martialis Coqu\;- 

 great epigrammatist. It was a municipal town, as appears 

 from coins nf Tiberius, inscribed M. AUGUSTA BILBILIS TI. 

 CAKS. in., and M. AUGUSTA iiu.nii.is TI. CAKS. v. i.. AEI.IO 

 SKI ANO. About twenty-four Koinan miles up the Salo 

 the Aqua> Bilbilitanic irgrotnntibus salutares, ' the medi- 

 cinal springs of Bilbilis,' mentioned in the Itinerary of An- 

 toninus. 



[Copper, with head of Aufiului. Brit. II 



[Coin of Wlbilii, copper, Brit Mm.] 



BILE, an animal fluid of a greenish colour, bitter taste, 

 and viscid consistence. It is sometimes found as a limpid 

 and at other times as a turbid fluid. It is a very compound 

 substance, being composed of water, albumen, a peculiar 

 resinous principle, a portion of yellow colouring matter, and 

 several sails. The. principle, however, upon which its dis- 

 tinctive characters essentially depend is the resinous, and 

 the bile is therefore classed by physiologists among the 

 resinous secretions. According to Thenard, the composition 

 of the bile U as follows : 



Ox bile. 



Water ..... 700' 

 1'icromel and resin . . 84 3 



Yellow matter 4'3 



S ,d;i .... 4- 



Phosphate of soda . . . - 



Muriate of ditto . . . :\--> 



Sulphate of ditto 0'8 



Phosphate of lime . . ra 



Oxide of iron . . .a trace. 



Human bile. 

 Wnler . 



Yellow insoluble matter 

 Albumen . . . 



Kcsin . . . 



Soda . 

 Salts the same as in ox bilo 



800-0 



1000- 

 2' to 10- 

 4''- 

 41- 

 5-6 

 4-5 



According to Berzelius, the following is the composition 

 of human bile : 



Water ..... 908M 



Picromel .... SO' 



Albumen . 3- 



Soda .... 4-1 



Phosphate of lime . . , <rj 



( 'ommon salt . . . 3-4 



Phosphate of soda with some lime . ro 



IOOU'0 



