[Bias], one of the seven wise men of Greece, born at Priene, in Ionia; lived in the 6th century B.C.; many wise sayings are ascribed to him; was distinguished for his indifference to possessions, which moth and rust can corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.
[Bible, The] (i. e. the Book par excellence, and not so much a book as a library of books), a collection of sacred writings divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New; the Old, written in Hebrew, comprehending three groups of books, the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, bearing on the religion, the history, the institutions, and the manners of the Jews; and the New, written in Greek, comprehending the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles. The Old Testament was translated into Greek at Alexandria by 72 Jews, 280 B.C., and is known as the Septuagint; and the whole book, Old and New, was translated into Latin in a grotto near Bethlehem by St. Jerome, A.D. 385-404, and is known as the Vulgate, after which the two came to be regarded by the Church as of equal divine authority and as sections of one book. It may be permitted to note that the Bible is written throughout, not in a speculative or a scientific, but a spiritual interest, and that its final aim is to guide men in the way of life. The spirit in which it is composed is the spirit of conviction; its essence, both in the root of it and the fruit of it, is faith, and that primarily in a moral power above, and ultimately a moral principle within, both equally divine. The one principle of the book is that loyalty to the divine commands is the one foundation of all well-being, individual and social.
[Biblia Pauperum] (i. e. Bible of the Poor), a book consisting of some 50 leaves, with pictures of scenes in the Life of Christ, and explanatory inscriptions, printed, from wooden blocks, in the 15th century, and before the invention of printing by movable types.
[Bibulus], a colleague of Julius Cæsar; a mere cipher, a fainéant.
[Bicêtre], a hospital, originally a Carthusian monastery, in the S. side of Paris, with a commanding view of the Seine and the city; since used for old soldiers, and now for confirmed lunatics.
[Bichât, Marie François Xavier], an eminent French anatomist and physiologist; physician to the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris; one of the first to resolve the structure of the human body into, as "Sartor" has it, "cellular, vascular, and muscular tissues;" his great work "Anatomie Générale appliquée à la Physiologie et à la Medecine"; died at 31 (1771-1802).
[Bickerstaff, Isaac], an Irish dramatist of 18th century, whose name was adopted as a nom de plume by Swift and Steele.
[Bickersteth, Edward], English clergyman; author of several evangelical works, and one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance (1786-1850).
[Bickerton, Sir Richard], vice-admiral, served in several naval engagements, and died commander-in-chief at Plymouth in 1792.
[Biddery ware], ware of tin, copper, lead, and zinc, made at Bidar, in India.