Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/552

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BANKS.
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BANK SWALLOW.

son at Winchester. In April, 1862, at the head of two divisions, he was assigned to the task of protecting the Shenendoah while McClellan proceeded against Richmond by way of the Peninsula; but, soon weakened by the withdrawal of one of his divisions, he was defeated by Jackson at Front Royal on May 26, and was forced back upon the Potomac. Soon afterwards he joined Pope, then commanding the Army of Virginia, and on August 9 was defeated by a force of Confederates in the battle of Cedar Mountain. He then was in command for a time of the defenses of Washington, and in December, 1862, commanded the expedition to New Orleans, and replaced Gen. B. F. Butler as commander of the Department of the Gulf. In the spring of 1863 he conducted the campaign against Port Hudson (q.v.), which, after resisting several assaults, was finally surrendered. July 9. 1863, on the receipt of the news that Vicksburg, farther up the river, had been taken by Grant. Early in 1864 General Banks was directed to lead an expedition up the Red River, with a view to regaining western Louisiana from the Confederates, but he was defeated by Gen. Richard Taylor at Sabine Cross Roads, and was forced to withdraw to the Mississippi. In May, 1864, he was relieved of his command, and, resigning his commission, was again elected to Congress, where he served, with the exception of one term, until 1877, and was for many years chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He was again elected to Congress in 1888, but after 1890 suffered from a mental disorder and withdrew wholly from public life. In 1891 Congress voted him an annual pension of $1200. Because of his factory life when a young man, he was popularly known as "the Bobbin Boy."


BANKS, Thomas (1735-1805). An English sculptor. He was born at Lambeth. At fifteen lie was apprenticed to a wood-carver, and in the evenings studied sculpture under Scheemakers. He received premiums for models in sculpture from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, entered himself as a student of the Royal Academy, and obtained the gold medal, which entitled him to study three years in Rome. At this time he married Miss Wooton, an heiress. In Rome he devoted himself to the study of the antique, and executed those works in marble which were afterwards purchased by Catherine II. of Russia, namely, "Cupid Catching a Butter- fly" and "Caractacus Brought Prisoner to Rome." He returned to England, and in 1781 visited Russia, where he spent a year, and completed for the Empress a group called "Armed Neutral- ity." In his own country the lofty and noble style of his works was unappreciated. Such works he continued to create to please himself. His commissions were chiefly for monumental sculpture. He was one of those who must serve as a stepping-stone by which others coming after may win renown. He may be called the father of English ideal sculpture, for he prepared the way for Flaxman to make successful the classi- cal spirit in English art. In the entrance-hall of Burlington House is his model of "Achilles Mourning the Loss of Briseïs." never executed in marble. Consult: Leader Scott, Sculpture: Rennaissance and Modern (New York, 1886); A. G. Radcliffe, Schools and Masters of Sculpture (New York, 1894).


BANKS, Sir William Mitchell (1842-1904). A Scotch surgeon and anatomist, born in Edinburgh. He graduated in 1864 at Edinburgh University in 1845-47, was demonstrator of anatomy in the University of Glasgow, and subsequently, at Liverpool, became known as a consulting and operating surgeon. He reëstablished the Medical School of Liverpool, and founded University College, one of the three colleges constituting Victoria University. For some time he was professor of anatomy in University College. In 1886 he was elected first president of the Liverpool Biological Society, and in 1897 delivered the address in surgery before the British Medical Association assembled at Montreal. His publications include various papers and addresses.


BANK'SIA. A genus of Australian shrubs of the natural order Proteaceæ, and named in honor of Sir Joseph Banks. A few of the species become small trees. They have hard, dry leaves, and present a remarkable appearance from the umbellate arrangement of their branches, which bear toward their extremities oblong heads of ery numerous flowers, which secrete much honey. Some of the species are now frequent ornaments of greenhouses in Great Britain. They are abundant in all parts of Australia, forming a characteristic feature of its vegeta- tion, and are called honeysuckle trees. Banksia grandis exceeds all the rest of the genus in size, attaining a height of fifty feet.


BANK-SIDE. The south bank of the Thames, between Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges. London. Here stood the famous Globe Theatre in Shakespeare's time.


BANKS IS'LANDS. A group of islands in the Pacific, a dependency of New Hebrides (q.v.). They number seventeen, and are situated in latitude 13° S., and longitude 168° E. The most important of them are Vanua Lava, Saint Maria, Ureparapara (with a good harbor), and Valua. There is a mission-house on the small islet of Mota. The total area of the group is estimated at about 150 square miles, and the population at 5000.


BANKS LAND. An island in the Arctic Ocean, 70 miles southwest of Melville Island (Map: Arctic Regions, D 6). It is intersected by the parallel of 74° N., and by the meridian of 116° W. It was discovered by Parry in 1819.


BANK SWAL'LOW, or SAND MAR'TIN. This familiar swallow is one of the most numerous and widespread of all birds. It is known under one or another name throughout nearly the whole world, wherever the cut banks of streams give it an opportunity to make its burrowed nesting-place. The common species of America, Europe, and Asia is Clivicola riparia. From eastern India to southern China it is replaced by another species Clivicola Sinensis), which migrates in winter to the Malayan Archipelago. Egypt has another species (Clivicola Shelieyi); the brown-collared bank swallow (Clivicola cincta), abounds throughout tropical Africa, and several other forms are recognized elsewhere, but all are closely alike in appearance and habits.

The bank swallow is easily distinguishable from all other American swallows by its lesser size and the absence of metallic lustre in its plumage, which is sooty brown-black above and white on the lower surface of the body, with a