Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/211

BLINDWORM. 181 BLISTER-BEETLE. phibia should not be confused with the lizards and snakes above mentioned. BLISS, CoRNELirs Xewto.x (1833 — ). An American merchant and politician, born in Fall River, Mass. He was a clerk in Xew Orleans, and subsequently in Boston, and in 1866 was ad- mitted a partner in the commission business of J. S. & E. Wright & Co., of the latter city. In 1881 his firm was merged into that of Bliss, Fab- yan & Co., of Xew York. He was chairman of the Republican State committees of Xew York of 1887 and 1888. and treasurer of the Republican Xational committees of 1892, 1896, and 1900. In 1897-98 he was Secretary of the Interior in President JIcKinley's Cabinet. BLISS, Enwix JlrxsELT. (1848—). An Amer- ican Presbyterian theologian, born in Erze- rum, Turkey, a son of Isaac G. Bliss, formerly agent of the American Bible Society for the Le- vant. He was educated at Robert College, Con- stantinople (1862), and afterwards at Amherst and Yale. Tlis extensive travels through Persia and Turkey, and his close association with for- eign missions, have given him an intimate acquaintance with Eastern conditions, of which he writes in his books. Encyclopedia of Missions (1891) ; The Turk in Armenia, Crete, and Greece (1896) : and Concise History of Missions (1897). BLISS, Frederick Jones (1859 — ). An American areha-ologist, born at Mount Lebanon, Syria. He graduated at Amherst College ( 1880) , and at the L'nion Theological Seminary, Xew Y'ork (1887), but was not ordained to the min- istry. After independently conducting researches in Syria, he was in 1890 associated as explorer with the Palestine Exploration Fund. He held this office until 1900, during which time he su- perintended the excavations at Tell-el-Hesy, on the site of Lachish (1891-93), and at Jerusalem (189-1-97). During the course of these excava- tions he discovered the site of a city. His exca- vations at four places in Palestine, between 1890 and 1900, revealed much concerning pre-Christian pottery. His published works include A Mound of Many Cities and Excavations at Jerusalem (1894-97). BLISS, Phiiip Pabx (1838-76). An Ameri- can singer and composer. He was born at Clear- field, Pa., and studied at the Geneseo Xormal A<;ademy of Music, Geneseo, X. Y. In 1874 he became an evangelistic speaker and singer. In 1864-76 he composed a number of hj-mns, for which he generally wrote the words, and which had a verv great popularitv. These include: "Hallelujah! 'Tis Done!" "Pull for the Shore," and -'Hold the Fort." He perished in the Ash- tabula (O.) railway disaster. BLISS, Porter Cobxet.its (1838-85). An -Vmerican journalist. He was bom in Erie County, X. Y., and was the son of the Rev. .sher Bliss, a missionary to the Indians. He investigated the condition of the Indian tribes in Maine, Xew Brunswick, and Xova Scotia, in 1860-01. and in 1861 went to Brazil as pri- vate seeretarj' to Gen. J. W. Webb. In 1863 he exj)lored the tract called the Gran Chaco for the .rgentine Government, and in 1860 became seeretarj' to Hon. C. A. Washbumc. United States Minister to Paraguay, whom he assisted in col- lecting material for a History of Paraguay, 2 vols. (1871). At the outbreak of the war be- tween Paraguay and Brazil, he was arrested by President Lopez as a Brazilian spy. He was re- leased in 1868, however, on the demand of the United States Government, and afterwards was a translator in the War Department, Washing- ton; edited the Washington Chronicle (1869-70) ; and was secretary of legation in Mexico (1870- 74). In 1879 he was the Xew York Herald's correspondent in South America. BLISS, William Dwight Porteb (18.56 — ). An American Episcopalian clergynum. He was born in Constantinople, Turkey, and was educated at Robert College, Constantinople, Phillips Acad- emy, Andover, Mass.; Amherst College (1878), and Hartford Theological Seminary ( 1882 ) . He oiganized the first Christian Socialist Society in the United States, in 1889, and he is president of the Xational Social Reform Union. He has been editor of The Daun ( 1889-96) , of the Ameri- can Fabian (1805-96), and of the Encyclopedia of tiocial Reform (1898), and in 1901 was editor of the publications entitled The Social Unity and The Ci'/ic Councilor. BLISS, William Jl-li.x Albert (1867 — ). An American phvsicist. born in Washington, D. 0. He graduated at Har-ard in 1888 (A.B.), and received a "proficient in electrical engineer- ing" at Johns Hopkins in 1891. He was assistant in physics at .Johns Hopkins from 1895 to 1898, and associate in physics there from 1898 to 1901, when he became collegiate professor of the same subject. His publications include a Manual of Experiments in Physics, in collaboration with Joseph S. Ames ( 1898 ) . BLISTER. A character in Fielding's Old Man Tautiht Wisdom: or. The Virgin Unmaslccd. He is in love with Lucy, and attempts to make himself agreeable by discussing his trade. BLISTER-BEETLE. A dark-colored, elon- gated beetle of the family ileloida?. so naip^ be- cause the dried and pulverized bodies of caWain of them are used to make blister-plastei-s. They are al.so called oil-beetles (q.v. ), because some species, as of Meloe, e.xude a disagreeable yellow lluid from the knee-joints when disturbed. In the adult stage these beetles occur on foliage and llowers, especially the goldenrod, and sev- eral kinds are destructive to the potato-plant. The food habits of the young are very difi'erent from those of the parent. These beetles illustrate a method of insect development termed h-per- metamorphosis. (See Metamorphosis.) The best-known one is the cantharis. or Spanish-fiy {Lytta vesicatoria) , of southern Europe, which is bright green, and about an inch long. It is gathered from its food-plants — lilae, privet, etc. — at night, when at rest, by beating the bushes and catching the insects in a cloth, by persons who guard their faces against the acrid volatile discharges of the beetles with veils and gloves. They are killed usually by immersion in hot vinegar and water, and then dried and put into air-tight bottles. Several other species of blister- beetles are similarly used in other parts of the world. The active principle of the blistering-flies is cantharidine, C,„H,.0,, which possesses such pow- erful properties that one-hundredth of a grain placed on the lip rapidly causes the rise of small blisters. .Vdministered internally, blistering-flies cause heat in the throat, stomach, intestines, respirator)- organs, etc. ; and if in large doses, they give rise to inflammation of a serious na-