Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/37

LEFT BIELA 23 BIELA (be'la), WILHELM^ BARON VON, an Austrian army officer, born in Roslau, Prussia, March 19, 1782; Imown from his discovery of the comet bearing his name. He died in Venice, Feb. 18, 1856. BIELA'S COMET, a comet which took its name from Major Biela of the Aus- trian army, who traced it out in 1826 and furnished such data regarding its movements as to convince the other as- tronomers of his day that he had a pro- prietary right to it. The same comet had been noticed on March 8, 1772, and again in 1805. It was reckoned that the comet had passed its perihelion six times between the two periods without being detected by the astronomers. On another visit it passed out of sight on Jan. 3, 1833. Its next appearance was in July, 1839. It was found again late in November, 1845, when it was dis- covered to have divided into two parts. Late in August, 1852, the larger part came into view and three weeks later the smaller, now much fainter than its former companion, was seen about a million miles in the lead. From this time it has not been seen. Astronomers looked for the reappearance of this stream of meteors Nov. 13-14, 1899, but were disappointed, only a few stray me- teors putting in an appearance. BIELOZEBO (Polish, the white lake), a lake 25 miles long by 20 miles broad, in the province of Novgorod, Russia; named from its milky appearance, caused by the wash of the chalk forma- tion of its bed. It has an outlet into the Volga by the river Sheksua. BIELSHOHLE (bels'he-la), a stalac- tite cavern in the Harz Mountains, on the right bank of the Bode. It was dis- covered about 1672, but first made ac- cessible in 1788. Its entrance is 108 feet above the bed of the stream; and its total length is 230 yards. 3IENNE (be-en'), or BIEL, a town of Switzerland, canton of Bern, 16 miles N. W. of Bern, beautifully situated at the N. end of the lake of the same name, and at the foot of the Jura. Pop. about 25,000. The lake is about 10 miles long by 3 broad. It receives the waters of Lake Neufchatel by the Thiel and dis- charges itself into the Aar. BIENNIAL, a plant that requires two seasons to come to maturity, bearing fruit and dying the second year, as the turnip, carrot, wall flower. BIENVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE LE MOYNE (byen-vel'), a French colonist, BIET bom in Montreal, Feb. 23, 1680, In 1698, with his brother, Iberville, he left France to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. In 1700 he constructed a fort 54 miles above the mouth of the river, and in 1701, at the death of Sau- voUe, a second brother, he succeeded to the direction of the colony, the seat of which became Mobile. In 1718 he re- ceived a commission as governor of Mis- sissippi, and about this time founded the city of New Orleans. In 1724 he was summoned to France, and, on Aug. 9, 1726, was removed from office. In 1733 he was sent back to the colony as gov- ernor, with the rank of lieutenant-gen- eral. In 1743 he was again removed and returned to France, where he died in 1765. BIERSTADT, ALBERT, an American painter, born near Diisseldorf, Germany, Jan. 7, 1830; removed with his parents to Salem, Mass., in 1831; began to paint in oils in 1851; and in 1853 returned to Diisseldorf to study his art, spending a vidnter in Rome, traveling in Italy and Switzerland, and returning to the United States in 1857. In 1859 he ac- companied General Lander's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and studied mountain scenery. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1860. In 1861 he finished his painting, "Laramie Peak," and in 1863 "View of the Rocky Mountains — Lander's Peak." These at once gave him a high reputation. He received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany, and French, Rus- sian and Turkish orders. Among his best known paintings are "North Fork of the Platte" (1364); "Looking Down the Yosemite" (1865); "Storm on Mt. Rosalie" (1866) ; "Settlement of Califor- nia," and "Discovery of the Hudson River," both in the Capitol at Wash- ington; "In the Rocky Mountains" (1871) ; "Great Trees of California" (1874); "Estes Park, Colorado" (1878); "Storm on the Matterhorn" (1884); "Valley of Zermatt, Switzerland" (1885); "California Oaks" (1886). He died Feb. 18, 1902. BIES-BOSCH, a marshy sheet of water interspersed with islands, between the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and South Holland, formed in 1421 by an inundation which destroyed 72 villages and 100,000 people. BIET, ANTONIO (bet), a French missionary, in 1652 accompanied 600 col- onists to Cayenne, where he remained 18 months. He was the author of "Voy- ages de la France Equinoxiale" (1664), with a Galibi dictionary at the end.