Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/694

 674 BJORNEBORG BLACK tin) is Dogmata Beligionu Christiana ad For- mulam Doctrinas, &c. (2 parts, 1847-'69 ; 2d edition of the first part, 1866). BJOR.N'EBORG, a seaport town of Finland, in the province of Abo-Bjorneborg, near the mouth of the Kurao, 72 m. N. N. W. of Abo ; pop. 7,270. The old town was wholly burned down in 1801 ; the new town is well and reg- ularly built. It exports pitch, tar, pine, oil, and wooden ware. BJOK.VSO.V, Bjornstjfrne, a Norwegian author, born at Kvikne, Osterdalen, Dec. 8, 1832. He is the son of a clergyman, studied at the uni- ; versity of Christiania in 1852, and early con- ] nected himself with the press, his contribu- tions attracting much attention. For two years he was manager of a theatre at Bergen, and next he edited a political journal in Ohristia- nia, encountering much opposition, which drove him from Norway, and he resided for a num- ber of years mainly in Copenhagen, returning to Christiania in 1862. He has acquired a wide reputation by his novels and tales, de- scriptive of Norwegian popular life, and by his dramas and poetry. Many of his works have been translated into English, German, and other languages. Among those best known by trans- lations in the United States and in England are "Arne" (London, 1866); "The Fisher Maiden," translated from the author's German edition by M. E. Niles (New York, 1869 ; trans- lated in England under the title of "The Fish- ing Girl," London, 1870, from the Norwegian edition); "The Newly Married Couple," and " Loye and Life in Norway " (London, 1870). BJORNSTJERNA, Magnus Fredrik Ferdinand; count, a Swedish statesman and author, born in Dresden, Oct. 10, 1779, died in Stockholm, Oct. 6, 1847. He went to Sweden in 1793, entered the army, served in the war in Fin- land, and in Germany at the battles of Dessau and Leipsic, negotiated the capitulation of Lu- beck with Gen. Lallemand, and, after taking an active part in the military operations in Hoi- stein and Norway, concluded the convention which established the union of Sweden and Norway. In October, 1812, he negotiated at London the sale of Guadeloupe. He wrote a work on the theogony, philosophy, and cos- mogony of the Hindoos, and another on the British rule in India. BLACAS, Pierre Lonis Jean Caslmir, duke de, a French statesman, born at Aulps, Jan. 12, 1771, died at Gorz, Nov. 17, 1839. At the j commencement of the revolution he emigrated, | but returned to France with Louis XVIIL, i entered his cabinet, and became one of the in- j timate advisers of the Bourbons. Sent to Rome as ambassador, Blacas negotiated the concordat of 1817. He was ' afterward ambassador at Naples. On the fall of the Bourbons in 1830 Blacas returned to exile and offered Charles X. his fortune, which the dethroned king would not accept. BLACK, Adam, a Scottish publisher, born in Edinburgh in 1784. In conjunction with his brother Charles he established a publishing firm in Edinburgh, well known in connection with Sir Walter Scott's works, the " Edinburgh Review," and the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica," to the 8th edition of which Mr. Black contrib- uted several articles. He avowed liberal opin- ions at a time when they were unfashionable, and joined warmly in the movement to secure parliamentary and municipal reform. lie was elected twice to the office of lord provost of Edinburgh, which he occupied from 1843 to 1848. Daring a visit to England, while hold- ing that position, he declined the honor of knighthood. In February, 1856, on the final retirement of Mr. Macaulay from the represen- tation of Edinburgh, Mr. Black was unani- mously chosen to succeed him, and held the seat till 1865. He advocated parliamentary reform and the ballot. BLACK, Jeremiah s., an American lawyer, born in the Glades, Somerset co., Penn., Jan. 10, 1810. He was admitted to the bar in 1830, appointed president judge of the judicial dis- trict in which he resided in April, 1842, elected judge of the supreme court of the state in 1851, and chosen chief justice. He was ree'lected in 1854. On March 5, 1857, he was appointed by President Buchanan attorney general of the United States, which oflBce he held till De- cember, 1860, when he became secretary of state, and continued in that position during the remainder of President Buchanan's term. Since retiring from office he has been engaged in the practice of his profession. BLACK, Joseph, a Scottish chemist, born in Bordeaux, France, in 1728, died in Edinburgh, Nov. 26, 1799. He was educated at Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, studied medicine, was a pupil and assistant of Dr. Cullen, and became distinguished by his experiments upon lime. It was supposed that quicklime held in absorption something of an igneous character ; but Black discovered that the causticity of the calcareous earths is not derived from any com- bination, but is their peculiar property, and that they lose this property when they com- bine with a certain portion of air, to which he gave the name of fixed air, but which is now known as carbonic acid gas. Dr. Black was invited in 1756 to succeed Dr. Cullen at Glas- gow, and there made his most important dis- covery. Ice, he observed, being converted into water, absorbs a large amount of heat, the existence of which is no longer indicated by the thermometer. Water being converted into vapor absorbs another large amount of heat, which is in like manner lost to the senses or the thermometer. Dr. Black, observing these phenomena, said that the heat is con- cealed (latet) in the water and vapor, and in- troduced the name and the theory of latent heat. This discovery suggested to Watt, who was a pupil of Black, his improvements in the steam engine. In 1766 Dr. Black was ap- pointed to the chemical chair of the university of Edinburgh, where his lectures were very sue-