BIS 
BIS 
tism, granting administrations, and taking 
probates of wills; these parts of his function 
depend upon the ecclesiastical law. By 
the common law he is to certify to the 
judges concerning legitimate and illegiti- 
mate births and marriages ; and to his juris- 
diction, by the statute law, belongs the 
licensing of physicians, surgeons, and school 
masters, and the uniting of small parishes, 
which last privilege is now peculiar to the 
Bishop of Norwich. 
All bishops of England are peers of the 
realm, except the Bishop of Man, and as 
such sit and vote in the House of Lords ; 
they are barons in a three fold manner, viz. 
feudal, in regard to the temporalities an- 
nexed to their bishoprics ; by writ, as being 
summoned by writ to parliament ; and 
lastly, by patent and creation : accordingly 
they have the precedence of all other barons, 
vote as barons and bishops, and claim 
all the privileges enjoyed by the temporal 
lords, excepting that they cannot be tried 
by their peers, because, in cases of blood, 
they themselves cannot pass upon the trial, 
for they are prohibited by the canons of the 
church to be judges of life and death. 
Bishop’s court, an ecclesiastical court, 
held in the cathedral of each diocese, the 
judge whereof is the bishop’s chancellor, 
who judges by the civil and canon law; and 
if the diocese be large he has his commis- 
saries in remote parts, who hold what they 
call consistory courts for matters limited to 
them by their commission. 
BISHOPRIC, the district over which a 
bishop’s jurisdiction extends, otherwise call- 
ed a diocese. 
In England there are twenty-four bishop- 
rics and two archbishoprics ; in Scotland 
none at all ; in Ireland eighteen bishoprics 
and four archbishoprics ; and in Popish 
countries they are still more numerous. 
BISMUTH, one of the brittle and easily 
fused metals. The ores of this metal are 
very few in number, and occur chiefly in 
Germany. This, in some measure, accounts 
for the ignorance of the Greeks and Ara- 
bians, neither of whom appear to have been 
acquainted with bismuth. The German 
miners, however, seem to have distinguished 
it at a pretty early period, and to have given 
it the name of bismuth ; for Agricola des- 
cribes it under that name as well known in 
Germany, and considers it as a peculiar 
metal. The miners gave it also the name of 
tectum argenti ; and appear to have consi- 
dered it as silver beginning to form, and not 
yet completed. Mr. Pott collected in his 
dissertation on bismuth every tiling respect- 
ing it contained in the writings of the alchy- 
mists. Beecher seems to have been the 
first chemist who pointed out some of its 
most remarkable properties. Bismuth is of 
a reddish white colour, and almost destitute 
both of taste and smell. It is composed of 
broad brilliant plates adhering to each 
other. The figure of its particles, accord- 
ing to Hauy, is an octahedron, or two four- 
sided pyramids, applied base to base. Its 
specific gravity is 9.82. When hammered 
cautiously, its density, as Muschenbroeck 
ascertained, is considerably increased. It 
is not therefore very brittle : it breaks, how- 
ever, when struck smartly by a hammer, 
and consequently is not ma'eable. Neither 
can it be drawn out into wire. Its tenacity, 
from the trials of Muschenbroeck, appears 
to he such, that a rod Jjth of an inch in 
diameter is capable of sustaining a weight of 
nearly 29 lbs. When heated to the tempera- 
ture of 476° it melts ; and if the heat be 
much increased it evaporates, and may be 
distilled over in close vessels. When allowed 
to cool slowly, and when the liquid metal is 
withdrawn as soon as the surface congeals, 
it crystallizes in parallelopipeds, which cross 
each other at right angles. When kept 
melted at a moderate heat, it becomes co- 
vered with an oxide of a greenish grey 
or brown colour. In a more violent heat 
it is volatile, and may be sublimed in close 
vessels ; but, with the access of air, it emits 
a blue flame, and its oxide exhales in a yel- 
lowish smoke, condensible by cold bodies. 
This oxide is very fusible ; and is convertible 
by heat into a yellow transparent glass. 
Sulphuric acid acts on bismuth, and sulphu- 
rous acid is disengaged. A part of the bis- 
muth is dissolved, and the remainder is 
changed into an insoluble oxide. Nitric 
acid dissolves bismuth with great rapidity. 
To one part and a half of nitric acid, at dis- 
tant intervals, add one of bismuth, broken 
into small pieces. The solution is crystal- 
lizable. It is decomposed when added to 
water ; and a white substance is precipitat- 
ed, called magistery of bismuth, or pearl- 
white. This pigment is defective, inasmuch 
as it is liable to be changed by sulphuretted 
hydrogen, and by the vapours of putrifying 
substances in general. Muriatic acid acts 
on bismuth. The compound, when deprived 
of water by evaporation, is capable of being 
sublimed, and affords a soft salt, which deli- 
quesces into what has been improperly call- 
ed butter of bismuth. Bismuth is capable 
of forming the basis of a sympathetic ink. 
