5G8 



BLOBM ART BLOOD. 



given time, to complete the shells of as many blocks 

 as fifty men euulil do by the old method ; and tin- 

 blocks produced by the machinery tar surpass in 

 make those produced by the hand. This wondi rl'til 

 cast of mechanical contrivance was finished in 1808, 

 six years having been ticciipicd in iis erection, during 

 which peruxl linincll recched one guinea per 

 tiny, as salary, and, as a final reward, the profits 

 of one year's operation, which amounted to about 

 20,000. 



Ui OKMAKT, sometimes also called I>M>M. Abraham, 

 a Dutch painter, born at Gorcum, in 1666, died at 

 Utrecht, in lii 17. His paintings are reproached with 

 \.irious faults, yet he is distinguished by the brilliancy 

 of Ins colouring, and the richness of his invention. In 

 the representation of the clnitro oscuro, he may be 

 called great. He painted all sorts of objects ; but 

 his landscapes lire the most esteemed. He had four 

 sons, of whom the youngest, Cornelius, is the most 

 distinguished. He was born at Utrecht, in 1G03, and 

 died at Home, in 1680. He was an engraver, and 

 his ciiyrav ings are distinguished for purity, elegance, 

 and softness. He was the founder of a new school, 

 from which proceeded Baudot, Poilly, Chasteau, 

 Speier, Houllet, &c. 



BUMS (anciently Bleta, and Castrum Blesense) ; a 

 city of France, and capital of Loir-and-Cher ; thirty- 

 six miles S. W. Orleans; Ion. 1 2ff E. ; lat. 47 35' 

 N. ; population, 13,054. Before the revolution, it 

 was a bishop's see, the seat of a lieutenant-general, 

 a grand bailiwick, and capital of the Blaisois, once 

 the abode of the kings of France. B. has been seve- 

 ral times conspicuous in French history. There are 

 several fountains in different parts of the town, sup- 

 plied by an aqueduct, supposed to have, been erected 

 by the Romans. 



BLOMFIELD, Edward Valentine, brother of Charles 

 James Blomfield, bishop of London, was born in 

 1788, studied in Caius college, at Cambridge, and 

 excited the highest expectations. Among several 

 prizes which he received, we may mention the medal 

 assigned him, in 1809, for his -beautiful ode, In Desi- 

 derium Porsoni. In 1812, a fellowship in Emmanuel 

 college was conferred on him. In 1813, he visited 

 Germany, where he acquired a good knowledge of 

 the German language, and became acquainted with 

 Wolf in Berlin, and Schneider in Breslau. After 

 his return, he wrote in the Museum criticum, or Cam- 

 bridge Classical Researches (Ft. 2), remarks on 

 German literature, which was received with approba- 

 tion. The university of Cambridge appointed him 

 one of the preachers of St Mary's church. He began 

 a translation of Schneider's Griechisch-deutches Lean- 

 con, but did not live to finish it. Matthias's Griech- 

 ische Gramniatik, however, he translated completely. 

 His translation was published by his brother, and every 

 where well received. He was in Switzerland in 1816, 

 with his pupil, a young nobleman, and, in his haste to 

 return to Cambridge, on hearing that he was appoint- 

 ed proctor for the following year, the fatigue of rapid 

 travelling occasioned a sickness, of which he died in 

 October, 1816. 



BLONDEL, a confidential servant and instructor in 

 music of Richard Coeur de Lion of England, about 

 the year 1190. While his master was the prisoner of 

 the duke of Austria, B. went through Palestine, and 

 all parts of Germany, in search of him. He under- 

 stood, it is said, that a prisoner of rank was confined 

 in Lowenstein castle, and hastened thither. Placing 

 himself under a grated tower, he began to sing one 

 of the French lays which he had formerly composed 

 for Richard. Scarcely had he finished the first 

 stanza, when a voice from the dungeon of the tower 

 responded. Thus he discovered his king, delivered 

 him and gained the name of the faithful Blondel. 



Cn'try's fine opera, Richard fnwdc Lion, is founded 

 on this anecdote. 



BLOOD is the red fluid contained in the blood-vessels 

 of animal bodies. It is found in the mammalia, in 

 birds, in reptiles, and in fishes. In the last tv, o 

 classes of animals, the temperature of the blood is 

 much lower than in the former, for which reason 

 they are distinguished by the name <W//-MW/Y/, 

 while the others are termed wartu-lilimili-il animals. 

 Insects and worms, instead of red blood, have a juice 

 of a whitish colour, which is called wit it r l,t<m<l. In i In- 

 Diced, two dillcrent substances are contained, which 

 are separated by coagulation t.]\e serum, a fluid like 

 the white of an egg, and a thick matter, to which t In- 

 red colour properly belongs, which is innch heavier 

 than the former, and is called the coagulum. The 

 last may be divided again into two different parts 

 into the cruor, or tliat part of the blood which is 

 intrinsically red, and coagulable, and lymph, or 

 Jil-i)in, to which the coagulation of the blood must be 

 ascribed. The fibrine, in young animals, is much 

 whiter than in older and stronger ones. The blood 

 of the latter contains much more azote than that of the 

 former. If the nourishment of animals is changed, 

 we also find an alteration in the constituent parts of 

 their blood. It is also changed by diseases. In 

 animals that are hunted to death, or killed by light- 

 ning, the blood does not coagulate. The blood of 

 birds is more highly coloured, and warmer than that 

 of viviparous animals, and coagulates more easily in 

 the air. That of -reptiles and fishes coagulates with 

 difficulty. Aided by magnifying glasses of a strong 

 power, one may observe, in examining the blood of 

 the living animal, or in blood which is newly drawn, 

 that it consists, especially the cruor, of little globular 

 bubbles, the globules of the blood, as they are called, 

 the diameter of which amounts to about the three- 

 hundredth part of a line. In blood that has been 

 drawn some time, although this time may be very 

 short, they are not to be discovered. They are the 

 effect of the life that pervades the blood. The more 

 robust and healthy an animal is, the more globules 

 are perceived. They show, as it were, the transition 

 from the formless liquid to the original form of the first 

 organized matter. The blood is of the greatest 

 importance to the life of an animal, and may be 

 considered as the source of life. As long as the body 

 is living, the blood is in perpetual motion. When it 

 is taken out of the body, a remarkable change soon 

 follows : it begins to coagulate, and then undergoes, 

 first, an acetous, and, after a few days, a putrid fer- 

 mentation. All the blood takes its origin from the 

 chyle, and deposits, by degrees, the nourishing 

 particles requisite to the preservation and growth of 

 the body, by a multitude of vessels adapted thereto. 

 This is done while it is driven from the heart into the 

 remotest parts of the body, and from thence back. 

 The circulation of the blood is, as it were, the prin- 

 ciple and first condition of life. With it, except in 

 cases of fainting, suffocation, &c., life ceases. The 

 heart, the centre of the circulation of the blood, has 

 a two-fold motion, of contraction, and dilatation, 

 which constantly alternate. With the heart, two 

 kinds of vessels are connected the arteries and the 

 veins. (See Blood-vessels). The circulation of the 

 blood proceeds with an astonishing rapidity : did it 

 flow at an equal rate in a straight line, it would run, 

 in the space of one minute, through 1 49 feet. This 

 swiftness, however, exists only in the larger vessels 

 near the heart ; the farther the blood recedes from 

 the heart, the slower its motion becomes. In a grown 

 up person, in good health, we may reckon on the mass 

 of blood at 2430 pounds. 



Blood-Vessels are the tubes or vessels in which the 

 blood circulates. They are divided into iwo classes 



