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* BLUE BIDGE. 204 BLtTM. Harper's Ferry. See Appalachians; Black Mountains. Consult Whitney, United States (Boston, 18S9). BLUE BIVEB, or BIG BLUE BIVER. A river rising in ^ashington Counly. Intl., flowing southwest and emptying into the Ohio River a few miles above Leavenworth. It has a course ot less than 100 miles, but it atVords some water- power. Tlis name is also applied to the east fork of the White River. See White R^-er. BLUE SEA. See Aeal Lake. BLUE SICKNESS. See Hog-Cholera. BLUE-STEM GRASSES. See Andropogon. BLUESTOCKING CLUB. A social gath- ering, probably an Anglieization of the Hotel de Rambouillct movement of Seventeenth-Century France, which extended to England in the Eigh- teenth Centurv. The meetings, held at the houses of Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Vesey, and other lit- erary women, were characterized by plainness of dress. One of the members, :Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet. is said to have habitually worn blue hose, and the wits were not long in dubbing the coterie 'The Bluestocking Club.' The name 'bluestocking' {bns bleu) has been applied since then to any woman who makes a pretense to learning. An interesting account of these meet- ings may be found in the Memoirs of Elizabeth Carter (London, 1816). BLUE STRING, Robin. A name applied to Sir Robert Walpole, because of the blue rib- bon of his decoration as a Knight of the Garter. BLUE THISTLE, See Viper's Bugloss. BLUETHROAT. A remarkable little Euro- pean bird, allied to the robin (and hence some- times called 'bluebreast' in England, where it is an infrequent visitor), assigned to the genus Cyanecula: and characterized by a bright-blue throat, separated from the white below it by crescentic bands of black and rust-red. Two species are known, one having a white spot in the centre of the blue (Cyanecula Icucocycnea), and ranging from Barbary to Holland and Germany; and the other (Cyanecula suecica) with a brick- red fan-shaped patch in the midst of the blue. (See Plate of Song-Birds with Thrush.) This latter species is liighly niigi-atory, spending its winters in tropical Africa and India, and going each summer to breeding-haunts in Scandinavia, northern Russia, Siberia, and western Alaska. One feature of this migration renders it extra- ordinary — namely, that the bird has almost never been seen in the countries intermediate between its .summer and winter homes, so that apparently it makes the whole journey of not less than 1500 miles in a single flight, either at night or at an invisible altitude. ( See Migration of Animals. ) The Alaskan visitors also cross Bering Strait twice annually, never migiating southward. The bluethroat is known tliroughout northern Europe as the Swedish nightingale on account of its fine singing; and the Laplanders style it 'the bird of the liundied voices,' because of its re- markable powers of miniicry. Seebohm and Brown (Ibis, VI., 125, 1876) were gieatly impressed by this power in Siberia, where it is exceedingly abundant in thickets and along stream-courses as far north as 71°, making its nest in bushes and weeds. They mention its imitating the trillin" of the sandpiper, the rich song of the redwing, and various oilier birds. '•Sometimes he runs these together in such a way as to form a perfect niedlev of bird-musie." Consult the books on the ornithology of Europe, Siberia, and Alaska, mentioned under Birds. BLUE VITRIOL. See Copper. BLUEWING. A duck. See Teal. BLUFF, Colonel. The name of a character in The Intriguing Chambermaid (1734), by Fielding. BLUFF'TON. A city, the county-seat of Wells Countv, Ind., 25 ' miles south of Fort 'a;iaie, on the abash River, and on the Lake Erie and Western and the Toledo, Saint Louis and Kansas City railroads (Map: Indiana, D 2). It has a considerable grain and lumber trade, foundry and machine shops, wind-pump factory, and manufactures of barrels, hoops, staves and headings, buck-handles, clay pottery, mittens, etc. Settled in 1837, Bluffton was incorporated in 1840. The government is administered by a mayor, elected every two years, and a municipal council. The city "owns and operates its water- works and electric-light plant. Population, in 1890, .3580: in 1900, 4479. BLUHME, bloo'me, Christian Albrecht (1794-1866). A Danish statesman, born in Copen- hagen. He studied jurisprudence from 1811 to 1816. was appointed director of the general cus- tom-house in 1843, and in 1848 Minister of Commerce. In 1851 he became Minister of For- eign Aflfairs. He took measures for the mainte- nance of Danish neutrality during the Crimean War. and having resigned in 1854, was brought to trial with the remainder of the ministry on the ground that the expenditures for national defense had been made without appeal to the Rigsdag. He was acquitted in 1856, and again in 1864-65 took charge of the portfolio of Foreign AtTairs, and at the same time acted as president of the Council of the Ministry. BLUHME, Frieurich (1797-1874). A Ger- man jurist and judge. He was born in Hamburg, and educated in Gtittingen, Berlin, and Jena. In 1833 he was appointed'judge of the High Court of Appeal at Liibeck. and was professor suc- cessively at Halle ( 1823). Giittingen ( 1831), and Bonn (1843). His works include many valuable studies in Roman and German law, among them Orundri.is des Pandcktenrechts (1844), and En- cyklopiidie der in Dculschlnnd geltenden Rechte ( 1847-58) . The treatise "Die Ordnung der Frag- niente in den Pandektentiteln" (Zcitschrift filr geschichtliche liechtswissenschnft. Vol. IV., 1820) explained the method followed in ar- ranging the excerpts in Justinian's Pandects. BLUING. A blue, soluble compound used in huindrv-work to neutralize the yellow tinge of white 'clothes. Formerly a preparation of indigo, such as indigo and starch, was chiefly usecL but more recently soluble Prussian blue or other soluble blue pigments, frequently made up into balls, have come into use. BLUING OF METALS. See Temperino Steel. BLUM, Fr. pron. bleN, Ernest (1836—). A French dramatist, born in Paris. He made his debut as a writer at the age of sixteen with Vne fcmme qui mord. As a jour- nalist he lias been associated with Chartvari, Rappcl, Oaulois, and other publications. Many