Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/70

* BICKELL. 54 BICYCLE. BICK^ELL, GrsTAv Wii.helm Higo (1S3S — ). A German philologist and tlieolojiian : born at Cassel. lie studied in ISoT-lii at ;Marlnirg and Halle. In 18(i7 he was consecrated a priest of the Roman Catholic Chun;h. and appointed a professor in the college at Miinstcr. He be- came professor of Christian archioology and Semitic languages at the I'nivcrsity of linisbruck in 1S74. and in 1891 professor of Semitic jihilol- ogy at the l"niversity of Vienna. In addition to j; translation of the poems of Kpliracni Syrns. and an edition of the works of Isaac of Antioch, his publications include (Irundriss der hebriiisch- en (Irammatik, English trans, by Curtiss (1869- 70) ; Coiispectiis Kci Syronim Litiernriw (1871), and .If esse und Pascha (1872). BICK'EESTAFF, Is.AO. Astrologer. A pseudciiiyiii ailopted by Dean Swift in the pam- phlet (i7(l!l) in which he dearly jiroved that the luckless almanac-maker. Partridge, was dead, despite the protestations of that worthy as to his own sotind health. The name was later adopted by Steele in the Tutlcr (1709-11), which has for its sub-title "The Lucubrations of Isaac BickerstafT, Esquire, Astrologer." BICK'ERSTAFFE, Is.vac (173.5-1812). An Irish dramatist, author of numerous comedies and light musical pieces which were produced under (iarrick's management, and had great suc- cess. In 1740 he became page to Lord Chester- field, then lord lieutenant of Ireland. Afterwards he was an olliccr of marines, but was dismissed for some discreditable otVense, and in 1772 Hed to the Continent. Nothing is certainly known regard- ing his after-life. His best known pieces are: The Miid of the Mill (1765) ; The Padlock (1768) ; He Would if Be Could (1771) ; Love in a Vil- laqe (1763): The Hypocrite (1768); and The C(ij,tirr (1769), BICK'ERSTETH, Edwaku Hkxry (1825—). An English bishop and poet. He was bom at Is- lington in 1825, son of Edward Bickersteth, was educated at Cambridge, and was ordained in 1848. He was in charge of parishes in various places until 1885, when he became the Dean of Cilonceste.-, and in the same year was conse- crated Bishop of Exeter. He is an author of some distinction in ])ro.se and poetry. His eschatological poem. Yesterday, To-day, and For- ever (London, 1866, 16th ed. 1889) has been re- printed and widely read. BICK'MORE, Ai.nERT Smith (1839—). An American naturalist; born at Saint George, !Maine. He graduated at Dartmouth in I860, stud- ied at Lawrence Scientific School under Agassiz, and was an assistant in the Museum of Compara- tive Zoology. From 1865 to 1869 he traveled in the Malay Archipelago and eastern Asia, and upon his return was for a short time professor of nat- ural history at Madison (now Colgate) I'niver- sity. He founded the Musciun of Natural His- tory in New York (see Miseums), and became lecturer in charge of the department of public instruction there in 1885. He has published Trareln i» the East Indian Archipelago (1809), and other works. BICOL. b.'-kr.l'. See VicoL. BI'CORNED, Lord. A term applied to Alex- ander the (Jreat, stiggestcd by the two horns with which, on certain ancient coins, his head is dec- orateil. BI'CYCLE (Lat. his. twice + Gk, xwXot. kyklos, circle, wheel). A name given to the spe- cial form of man-inot<n' macliine which was intro- duced into England about 1H73 and the United States in lS77,and was the innnediate forerunner of the modern bicycle. This early and now obso- lete bicycle was a skeleton vcliicle consisting pri- marily of two tandem wheels, the forward one and 'driver' being very much larger than the other; hence arose the familiar name, "the wheel,' which is also applied, though less a])propriately, to the machine of to-day, which was first known as a 'safety bicycle,' in which the two wheels are of the same diameter. Within ten years the bicycle leaped into public favor by enormous bounds, and for a while its >isc became well-nigh luiiversal in the I'nited States, and as a natural con.sequence its manufacture developed into a vast industry. Its poinilarity, however, has re- cently greatly declined. The history of cycling, as a popular pastime at least, might justifiably be assumed to begin with the advent of the English high-wheel bicycle in 1873; but, 'u order to trace the evolution of the machine from its conception, we have to go back to a period more than half a century ear- lier. About the year 181IJ Baron von Drais de- vised a vehicle to assist him in tlie performance of his daily duties as chief forester to the Grand Duke of Baden. This machine, which was named 'draisine,' after the inventor, and was exhibited and patented in France shortly aftei-wards, is claimed to have been a rudimentary bicycle. It DBAIStNE OB CELERIPEDE, 1816. was eomi)osed of two tandem wheels of equal size, connected by a perch, on which the rider partly sat, propelling it by thrusting with his feet upon the ground, and guiding it by a bar connected with the front wheel, and i>rovided with a rest for the arms. In 1891 a liandsome monument was erected in memory of the 'Father of the Bicycle' over his grave at Karlsruhe, the ex- penses of which were borne exclusively by bicy- clists. An improved fi>rm of draisine a|ipeared in England in 1S18. and was patented by Denis .lohnsiin, tinder the name of '.Tohns(m's Pedes- trian Curricule.' This machine was very popular for a short time, but as soon as it acquired the suggestive titles of 'hobby horse' and "dandy horse,' it rapidly fell into disuse. In .Tune, 1819,