Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/707

 BLADDER BLAINVILLE 687 alternation of action and repose, although within a given period they do more work at one time than another. The urine thus secreted dribbles incessantly along the ure- ters, and drops into the bladder, where it ac- cumulates until the walls are distended, and a general uneasy sensation is produced which calls for an evacuation of the contents. Con- genital malformations of the bladder are not unfrequent. Sometimes it is altogether want- ing ; and in such cases the ureters empty into the rectum, as into the cloaca of birds, or at the pubes, or directly into the urethra. A still more frequent malformation is that in which, the lower portions of the recti muscles being imperfect, and the anterior wall of the bladder deficient, the posterior wall is protruded and forms a red fungus-like tumor above the pubes. The tumor presents two orifices, which are the mouths of the ureters, from which the urine constantly dribbles. Blasius describes a case in which the bladder was double. Molinetti, it is said, found in a female subject five kid- neys, five ureters, and five bladders. Inflam- mation may affect the coats of the bladder singly or together. When the mucous mem- brane is inflamed, there is a sense of irritation and a constant desire to discharge the contents. Ulcers, gangrenous spots, and indurations of various kinds may be produced by inflamma- tion. The secretion of the mucous membrane may be increased or altered, constituting what is termed catarrh of the bladder. The mucous membrane is sometimes found in a varicose state. In other cases it gives origin to cysts of different kinds, and fungous growths; the latter occur mostly in old people. Various ac- cidents and diseases may prevent the bladder from evacuating its contents, in which case it becomes excessively distended, and unless re- lieved inflammation ensues, a portion mortifies, through which the urine escapes into the ab- domen, and speedy death is the result. After three days' retention the bladder usually at- tains its utmost limits of distention, and if not relieved the contents are evacuated in small quantities, as they would be in a case of mere incontinence of urine ; and it is of great im- portance therefore not to mistake retention for incontinence where there is this point of simi- larity in their respective symptoms. When there is danger in delay, and a catheter cannot be introduced, the bladder may be punctured, either through the perineum or the rectum, or .above the pubes, as it is not covered by the peritoneum in these regions. Where urinary calculi exist in the bladder, they are removed by surgical operations. When small, they may be extracted through the urethra by a pair of forceps invented for the purpose ; when large, they may sometimes be reduced into small pieces, minute enough to pass away with the urine ; and where this is not practicable, they may be removed by cutting into the bladder. In the whole class of birds there are no urinary bladders ; the ureters descend from the kidneys 96 VOL. II. 44 and open into the cloaca, a musculo-membra- nous bag, which takes the place of the rectum, the uterus, and the bladder of the higher ani- mals, and serves as a reservoir for solid excre- ment, for urine, and for eggs. In these ani- mals the urine dilutes the fceces and forms the carbonate of lime or hard substance of the shell. The urinary bladder exists in several genera and species of fishes. BL4DEJF, a S. E. county of North Carolina, bounded N. E. by South river, and intersected by the Cape Fear ; area, about 800 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 12,831, of whom 6,102 were col- ored. The surface is generally level, and diver- sified by a number of small lakes. Much of the land is occupied by extensive pine forests. The chief productions in 1870 were 86,986 bushels of Indian corn, 68,123 of sweet pota- toes, 146 bales of cotton, and 38,187 Ibs. of rice. There were 478 horses, 2,380 milch cows, 4,700 other cattle, 4,398 sheep, and 11,526 swine. Capital, Elizabethtown. BLADE.VSBIRG, a town of Prince George's county, Maryland, on the east branch of the Potomac, about 6 m. N. E. of Washington ; pop. in 1870, 410. At the bridge over the Potomac W. of Bladensburg, the battle with the Eng- lish preceding the capture of Washington by Cockburn and Ross took place, Aug. 24, 1814. BLAGOVIESHTCHENSK, a town of Asiatic Rus- sia, capital of the province of the Amoor, sit- uated on the Amoor and the Dzega, not far from the Chinese town of Aigoon; pop. 3,107. It was founded in 1858. BLAINE, Ephralm, an American soldier, born in 1741, died at Carlisle, Penn., in March, 1804. He entered the army as a colonel at the com- mencement of the revolutionary war, and was subsequently made commissary general. He was with Washington in many of the most try- ing scenes of the revolution, and enjoyed his entire confidence. During the "dark winter" at Valley Forge the preservation of the Amer- ican army from starvation was in a great de- gree owing to the exertions of Col. Blaine. His great-grandson, JAMES GILLESPIE, born in Washington co., Pa., Jan. 31, 1830, was for some time a teacher at the south, afterward a journalist at Augusta and Portland, Me., and a member of the Maine legislature (1857-'62), and two years speaker of the house. He was elected to congress in 1862, has been reelected five times (1872), and in 1869 was chosen speaker of the house of representatives. BLAINVILLE, Henri Marie Dnerotay de, a French naturalist, born at Arques, near Dieppe in Normandy, Sept. 12, 1777, died in Paris, May 1, 1850. In 1794 or 1795 he entered the school of design at Rouen, and in 1796 entered as a pu- pil the studio of Vincent, the historical painter. He soon began to frequent the lectures on natural history at the jardin des plantes and at the college de France, became one of the most diligent disciples of Cuvier, and finally devoted all his time to the study of human anatomy, obtaining the degree of M. D. in