⠀⠀THERSITY

PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA

OF

THE SOCIETY

FOR THE

DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

JOHN HEWSTON JR

VOLUME V.

BLOIS BUFFALO.

LONDON:

CHARLES KNIGHT AND Co., 22, LUDGATE STREET.

MDCCCXXXVI.

Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, bound in cloth.

Chairman-The Right Hon. LORD BROUGHAM, F.R.S., Member of the National Institute of France.
Vice-Chairman-The Right Hon. EARL SPENCER.

THOMAS COATES, Esq., Secretary, No. 59, Lincoln's Inn Fiekis.

London: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and Sows, Stamford Street.

THE PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA

THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

which is very beautiful, stretches along the river. Brun.)

(Malte- | the name of Prin e Joseph de Chimay, who, with rare perseverance, and at great sacrifices, has so completely de voted himself to the noble labour of improving education. at an age when so many men have scarcely finished their own.

Before the Revolution Blois possessed many religious houses, there were two abbeys, one of Benedictines (called the Abbey of St. Laumer), very antient, and celebrated for its school as early as the twelfth century; and one of the order of St. Augustin, called the Abbey of Bourg Moyen; convents for Cordeliers, Capuchins, and Minimes; and nunneries for Carmelites, Nuns of the Visitation, and those called Véroniques. There was a Jesuits college previous to 1764, when that order of ecclesiastics was expelled from France. There was also an hospital for the sick (Hôtel-Dieu), attended by the nuns called Hospitalières, an hospital for the poor (or poor-house), and a seminary for the education of the priesthood. The churches at Blois were very much injured by the Protestants in the religious wars of the sixteenth century. The buildings of the Abbey of St. Laumer are now used as an hospital, and those of the Abbey of Bourg Moyen for the college or high school. The church of the Abbey of St. Laumer, now called St. Nicholas, is a remarkable monument of the architecture of a period when the Gallo-Roman style was passing away.

The gates of Blois have an image of the Virgin placed over them all, in commemoration of the deliverance of the townsmen from a dreadful pestilence which ravaged the place in 1631, and from which they were, as they deemed it, miraculously delivered in consequence of a vcw which they made to the Virgin. (Expilly, Dictionnaire des Gaules, &c.)

The manufactures of this town consist of serges and other light woollens, leather (which branch of industry has rather declined), cutlery and hardware, glass, gloves, and liquorice. Beside these articles, there are others in which trade is carried on, as timber, drugs, wine, brandy, and vinegar.

Blois is the capital of the department. It has a tribunal de première instance, or subordinate court of justice, and a tribunal de commerce, or court for the settlement of mercantile disputes. The arrondissement of Blois comprehends 718 square miles, or 459,520 acres, and had, in 1832, a population of 114,307. It was subdivided into ten cantons and 140 communes.

Blois was made the seat of a bishopric in the year 1697, and was, with the exception of the bishoprics of Dijon and St. Claude, the latest of those established up to the Revolution. Under the reduced hierarchy of the present day it maintains its episcopal rank. The diocese comprehends the department of Loir et Cher; the bishop is a suffragan oi the Archbishop of Paris. The celebrated M. Grégoire was bishop of Blois, or rather of the department of Loir et Cher under the constitution of Civilé du Clergé, 1791; but as the church has always protested against that act, he is not counted in the succession of bishops.

Among the more eminent natives of Blois may be mentioned the good king Louis XII., under whom, as already noticed, the county of Blois was united to the crown; Father Jean Morin (Morinus), a learned orientalist and biblical scholar; and the Marquis de Favras, who was executed at Paris in the year 1790 upon a charge (whether true or false) of having formed the project of a counter-revodis-lution.

On the side of the Loire opposite to Blois is the populous suburb of Vienne. As it is not mentioned separately in the returns of the population for 1832, we presume its population was included in that of Blois, which at that time amounted to 11,002 for the town and 13,138 for the whole commune. The people of this town have the reputation of speaking French with great purity, free from any provincialism; but the justness of the eulogy has been puted by some, who consider it to have been a mere complimentary inference from the frequent residence of the court here. There are at Blois a Collège or high school, which however is not of any great importance or repute, two hospitals, a cabinet of natural history, an agricultural society, a public library (already noticed), and a theatre. (M. Robert, Dictionnaire Géographique; Reichard, Descriptive Road Book of France.) Near Blois are the schools of Menars, established by the Prince of Chimay, of which an account is given in No. XIII. of the Journal of Education, and of which we subjoin the following particulars transmitted to us (1835) from Blois.

The county of Blois (commonly called in maps Le Blaisois but written by some Le Blésois) is bounded on the north by Le Dunois and L'Orléanais, properly so called, on the east and south by Berri, from which it is separated in one part by the Cher, and on the west by Touraine and Le Vendômois. It is divided into two parts by the Loire; the part to the south of that river comprehends part of the district of Sologne, one of the most barren tracts in France. The Loire is the only river of any importance which flows through it; the Beuvron and the Cosson, which fall into that river on the south side, are of minor importance, as also the Cisse, which falls into the Loire on the north bank. The Sauldre, a tributary of the Cher, waters the southern part. The chief towns in the Blésois, beside Blois, already described, were Romorantin, St. Dié, and Mer. Romorantin had, in 1832, 6537 inhabitants, or 6985 for the whole commune; and Mer, 1717 for the town, or 3733 for the whole commune; the others are probably of less importance. The Blésois was reputed one of the finest districts in France, abounding in game, poultry, and fish. It is now included in the department of Loir et Cher. The changes which this county passed through in the middle and later ages have been already noticed in speaking of the town of Blois. This country, in the time of the Romans, formed part of the territory of the Carnutes. (Malte-Brun; Expilly; Millin; Communication from Blois.)

Menars is a village five miles N.E. from Blois on the bank of the Loire, containing in the midst of a large park a very fine château, which was for some time the residence of Madame de Pompadour. A new and more powerful interest now attaches to this beautiful residence: Prince Joseph de Chimay, the owner of the Château de Menars, has formed, under the title of the Prytaneum, extensive establishments for instruction, rational in its character, and designed for special purposes,-instruction which corresponds to the varied wants of the different classes of which society is composed. Thus the first division of the Prytaneum, called the Institute of Commerce and the Belles Lettres,' embraces on the one hand a complete course of scientific and literary instruction, and on the other a complete commercial education. The second division is the School of BLOMEFIELD, FRANCIS, A.M., F.S.A., rector of Arts and Trades. There are seven workshops in this de- Fres field in Norfolk, and author of a very excellent history partment; those of the wheelwright, joiner and cabinet-of that county, was born at Fresfield on July 23rd, 1705. maker, blacksmith, polisher and finisher of hardwares, He was first educated at Diss, and then at Thetford, from turner in wood, saddler, and cutler. Theoretical and prac- whence he was sent to Gonville and Caius College, Camtical instruction are combined in the School of Arts and bridge, in 1724. He took his degree of B.A. in 1727, and Trades. Lastly, the third division, called the School of in the same year was ordained deacon of the church of St. Pioneers' (Ecole des Pionniers), a term employed in an Giles's in the Fields, London; and in the following year enlarged sense, comprehends the trades of tailor, shoe- was made a licensed preacher by Dr. Tanner, then chanmaker, bricklayer (maçon), sawyer, gardener, &c. Dif- cellor of Norwich. In 1729 he was instituted rector of ferent localities are assigned to each division of the Pry- Hargham in Norfolk, on the presentation of Thomas Hare, Esq.; and in September of the same year he was instituted rector of Fresfield, on the presentation of his own father, Henry Blomefield, Gent. He continued to hold both rectories till 1730, when he relinquished Hargham. The above particulars are derived from the genealogical table which he has given of his family in the History. Wa have found it difficult to get any further information concerning him, as the continuator of his work and the editor of the new edition do not furnish any additional facts. The

taneum.

The success of the Prytaneum, which was founded on.y three years ago, has settled the question of education for special purposes which has so long occupied attention, and which some men of liberal minds have at different times sought to bring to the test of experience, but which has never yet been solved as it now is by the Prytaneum de Menars. This work of civilization and of moral improvement has inscribed in the list of benefactors to their country

is a solid substance. It is the most complex substance of the animal body. It is composed of several distinct coustituents, each of which is endowed with specific properties, and the combination of the wno.e is so peculiar that there is nothing perfectly analogous to it.

property of it. In several tribes of animals which possess true and proper blood, this fluid is not of a red colour, and there is no animal whose blood is red in all the parts of the body. In the transparent cornea of the human eye there is abundance of blood; but the blood contained in the minute vessels of this delicate membrane is not red. The blood of the insect is colourless and transparent; that of the reptile is of a yellowish colour; in the main part of the body of the fish, that is, in the whole of its muscular system, the blood is without colour; hence the whiteness of the general substance of the body of the fish: but in the more important organs, and especially in those which constitute the circle of nutrition, called the organic organs, the blood is of a red colour, as in the heart, the branchiæ or gills, and so on. In the bird the blood is of a deep red; but it is the deepest of all in the quadruped. In some species of quadrupeds it is deeper than in others; in the hare, for example, it is much deeper than in the rabbit. It is deeper in some varieties of the same species than in others, and more especially in different varieties of the human family. Nay, it is deeper in some individuals of the same race than in others, and even in the same individual it is different at different periods, according to age, to the states of health and of disease, and to different species of disease.

publishers of the last edition, in eleven vols. 8vo., commenced in 1805, exerted themselves to procure a likeness of Blomefield, and having ascertained that there was none in existence, had recourse to the rather curious expedient of furnishing a portrait intended for another person, but which was considered a striking likeness of the historian of On first flowing from its vessel the blood is a thick, viscid, Norfolk. and tenacious fluid. In all the more highly-organized aniBlomefield's death must have taken place in or subse-mals it is of a red colour; but redness is not an essential quently to 1751, as his last work, printed in his own house at Norwich, is dated in that year. Mr. Gough intimates that he died in bad circumstances. His great work, which in its completed form constitutes one of the best county histories we possess, was published under the modest title of 'An Essay towards the Topographical History of the County of Norfolk. It was printed in his own house at Fresfield, and the publication began in numbers in 1739. It was left unfinished at his death, when he had carried it to nearly the end of the third (folio) volume, and the completion was ultimately undertaken by the Rev. C. Parkin, rector of Oxburgh, who had rendered some assistance to Blomefield in the previous portion, and had himself formed considerabie collections. This gentieman finished the third volume, and added two more, which are considered inferior to those by Blomefield. However, no part of Mr. Parkin's conti- | nuation was published until after his death, when it was issued by the bookseller who had purchased his library, which included that of Blomefield. The second volume was published in 1743, the third, completed by Parkin, not till 1769, and the fifth and final volume appeared in 1775. Blomefield was greatly assisted in his work by the collections which had been formed by Peter Le Neve, norroy king-at-arms, who spent above forty years in amassing at great expense and trouble the greatest collection of facts for the history of Norfolk that was ever formed for any county in the kingdom. He was also greatly aided by Bishop Tanner, who, having been chancellor of the diocese, was acquainted with a vast number of records relative to the county. Parkin also had the benefit of Le Neve's collections, as well as of those which had been formed by Blomefield himself. Blomefield's own last-printed work was the Collectanea Cantabrigiensia,' a collection relating to Cambridge University, town, and county. Although printed so late, the materials seem to have been collected before he began the History of Norfolk,' that is, between the years 1724 and 1734, including the period of his residence at the university.

(History of Norfolk, folio and 8vo. editions; Gough's British Topography.)

BLONDEL, or BLONDIAUX, a French minstrel of the twelfth century, and the friend of Richard I. of England, whom he accompanied to Palestine. He is also called Blondel de Nesles, from the name of his native town; but Fauchet (Origine de la Langue et Poesie Françoise, Paris, 1581), in his series of French poets anterior to 1300, expresses doubts whether the Blondel de Nesles was identical with Richard's minstrel. Accordingly, he bestows a separate article on each, giving under the head of Blondel de Nesles extracts from some of his songs, written in the Norman French, or 'Langue d'oui;' while under the head of Blondel, Richard's favourite, he relates the story of his wandering through Germany in 1193 in search of his master, who, on his return from Palestine, had been made a prisoner by Leopold duke of Austria, and confined in some unknown fortress. On arriving under the walls of the castle of Löwenstein, Blondel, who, from some intelligence he had obtained, suspected that to be Richard's prison, began singing an air which they had composed together, when to his joy he heard Richard's voice responding and concluding the song. The discovery led to Richard's release. This tale, which Fauchet gives on the authority of some old French chronicle, has furnished the subject of a well-known opera by Gretry. The truth of the story however is doubted. (See Berington's History of Richard I., and the article Blondel, in the Biographie Universelle.) This last styles Richard's Blondel Blondel de Nesles,' considering them as one person, and it states that there are twenty-nine of his songs in MS. in the National or Royal Library, and in the library of the Arsenal at Paris.

BLOOD, the animal fluid contained in the tubes called from their office blood-vessels. As long as it is retained in its proper vessel, and as long as the vessel remains alive, the blood is always found in a fluid state, but essentially it

In man and all the higher animals the body contains two kinds of blood, each of which is distinguished by a striking difference of colour. Each kind of blood is contained in its own peculiar set of vessels: the one in the vessel called a vein, hence called venous blood; the other in the vessel called an artery, arterial blood. Venous blood is of a dark or Modena-red colour; arterial blood is of a bright scarlet colour. Venous differs from arterial blood in its most essential properties no less than in its colour: venous blood is incapable of nourishing the body and of stimulating the organs; arterial blood is the proper nutrient and stimulant of the system.

The specific gravity of human blood (water being 1000) may be stated to be about 1050, from which standard it is capable of increasing to 1120, and of sinking to 1026, this being the extreme range of variation hitherto observed. Venous is heavier than arterial blood, the former being commonly estimated at 1052, and the latter at 1049: the difference in weight depends, as will be seen immediately, on the excess in venous blood of carbonaceous matter. The higher the organization of the blood the greater is its specific gravity: hence the specific gravity of the blood of the higher is greater than that of the lower animals, and the change produced in the human blood by disease is generally attended with a diminution of its weight. In one instance on record the specific gravity is stated to have been as low as 1022.

There is a remarkable difference in different classes of animals in the temperature of the blood. In some it is only a degree or two above that of the surrounding medium. Creatures with blood of this low temperature are called coldblooded, in contradistinction to warm-blooded animals, whose temperature is maintained, under whatever variety of circumstances they may be placed, considerably above that of the surrounding air. The temperature of the blood of the bird is higher than that of any other creature. In the duck it is as high as 107°. In many quadrupeds it is considerably higher than in man: as in the sheep, in which it ranges from 102° to 103°. In man it is 98°. Arterial is warmer by one degree than venous blood.

Disease is capable of effecting a considerable change in the temperature of the blood. In almost every case of fever the temperature of the blood differs from the natural standard. In the cold fit of intermittent fever (ague) it sometimes sinks as low as 94°; in some types of continued fever it rises as high as 102°. In inflammation of moderate severity it exceeds the natural standard by 4°; in intense inflammation it is capable of rising above it as high as 7.

The chemical properties of the blood are highly curious When blood is taken from its blood-vessel, and allowed t remain at rest, it soon separates spontaneously into two dis