BIRTHDAYS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE 750 



BISBEE 



striking example in favor of municipal owner- 

 ship of utilities. Its water supply, street rail- 

 ways, gas works, electric lighting plants, mar- 

 kets and slaughter houses are the property of 

 the municipality and are run at substantial 

 profit. Its water supply is derived from two 

 lakes in Wales and is conveyed seventy-three 

 miles by pipes and aqueducts. A recently- 

 installed sewage system has made this the 

 best-drained city in England. In 1876 the 

 municipality also acquired a larger district in 

 the most populous part of the city at a cost 

 of $8,000,000, and after condemning it as in- 

 sanitary rebuilt and made it the leading busi- 

 ness section. , 



The manufactures consist of steam and gas 

 engines, motors, hydraulic presses, machinery, 

 cutlery, screws, nails, railway cars and firearms, 

 in addition to which there are numerous glass 

 works, breweries and chemical works. There 

 are many fine buildings, the chief of which is 

 the town hall, in Greek style of architecture, 

 completed in 1850. Here is annually held the 

 Birmingham Musical Festival, one of the most 

 notable events of the English musical world. 

 In 1846 Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah was here 

 presented to the public for the first time. As 

 much as it is possible for a city to owe its 

 prosperity to one man, Birmingham is indebted 

 for its present position to Joseph Chamberlain 

 (which see), who became mayor in 1874 and 

 inaugurated an era of -progress. It is now the 

 fourth city of England, with a population of 

 525,830 in 1911. 



BIRTHDAYS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE. Lists 

 of birthdays of hundreds of the world's men 

 and women will be found in the articles relating 

 to the months of the year. To these the reader 

 is directed. 



BIRTHSTONES, certain precious gems that 

 through custom, imagination and sentiment 

 are associated with the twelve months of the 

 year, each month having dedicated to it a 

 special stone. Thus the stone of any month is 

 the birthstone of every person whose birthday 

 falls in that month, and the belief that a natal 

 stone is more intimately associated with one's 

 personality than any other stone is very wide- 

 spread. This belief may be traced to the 

 writings of Josephus, a Jewish historian of the 

 first century of the Christian Era, who found a 

 connection between the twelve stones of the 

 high priest's breastplate (see Exodus XVIII, 

 15-20, also article HIGH PRIEST), and the yearly 

 circle of months. Yet the custom of wearing 

 birthstones is comparatively of recent date, as 



it is supposed to have originated in the eight- 

 eenth century, in Poland. 



The list of birthstones given below was 

 adopted by the American National Retail Jew- 

 elers' Association at their convention held in 

 August, 1913. A comparison of this list with 

 the gems mentioned in the adornment of the 

 high priest's breastplate will suggest the changes 

 that the centuries have produced in the popular 

 beliefs about birthstones: 



January Garnet 



February Amethyst 



March Bloodstone or aquamarine 



April Diamond 



May Emerald 



June Pearl or moonstone 



July Ruby 



August Sardonyx or peridot 



September .... Sapphire 



October Opal or tourmaline 



November .... Topaz 

 December ....Turquoise or lapis-lazuli 

 Each gem named in the above list is described 

 in its place in these volumes. 



BISBEE, ARIZ., a prosperous copper-mining 

 and smelting center, with a mixed American, 

 English, Mexican and Slavonian population, 

 which in 1910 numbered 9,019. It is situated 

 in the extreme southeastern part of the state, 

 in Cochise County, about eight miles from the 

 Mexican border, thirty miles from Tombstone, 

 the county seat, and ninety miles southeast of 

 Tucson. Bisbee is the terminus of the El Paso 

 & Southwestern Railway, which connects with 

 the Southern Pacific Railroad at Benson. This 

 branch line was constructed to Bisbee in 1902. 

 The city was founded in 1877 and incorporated 

 as a city in 1901. 



Bisbee' is picturesquely located in the heart 

 of the Mule Pass Mountains, in a famous cop- 

 per region; its Copper Queen and Calumet and 

 Arizona mines are among the richest in the 

 world. The industries are dependent upon the 

 extensive copper, gold, silver and lead resources 

 of this district; in a period of three months, 

 18,000,000 pounds of copper were produced 

 from its ores. About 5,000 people are engaged 

 in mining, and the annual output of this indus- 

 try is valued at $18,000,000. An excellent 

 school system for a city of its size and a public 

 library offer educational advantages, and the 

 Young Men's Christian Association and the 

 Young Women's Christian Association have 

 branches here. The buildings of these associa- 

 tions, with the Elks Club, comprise the most 

 notable structures of the city. Shattuck Crys- 

 tal Cave and Tombstone Mountain Boulevard 

 are scenic points in the vicinity. J.H.Q. 



