BISCAY, BAY OF (Fr. Golfe de Gascogne; Sp. Golfo de Vizcaya), an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean; bounded on the E. and N.E. by France, as far as the island of Ushant, and on the S. by Spain as far as Cape Ortegal. The Bay of Biscay is the Sinus Aquitanicus, Sinus Cantabricus or Cantaber Oceanus of the Romans; hence it is sometimes known as the Cantabrian Sea. Its modern English name is a corrupt form of the Spanish Vizcaya. The bay forms a fairly regular curve, broken on the French seaboard only by the estuaries of the Loire, Garonne, Adour and other rivers. The rugged Spanish coast is indented by many fjord-like inlets, especially in the west, where navigation is sometimes difficult and dangerous; but its rivers are comparatively unimportant. The exposed position of the bay, and the diversity of its currents, have rendered it notorious for its storms.
BISCEGLIE (perhaps anc. Natiolum), a seaport and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, on the E.S.E. coast, in the province of Bari, from which it is distant 21½ m. by rail. Pop. (1901) 30,885. Two towers, one some 90 ft. high, of a once strong Norman castle still remain; the cathedral belongs to the same period. The church of S. Margherita, founded in 1197, has fine canopied Gothic tombs of the Falcone family.
BISCHOFSWERDA, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Wesenitz, and at the junction of the Dresden-Görlitz and Bischofswerda-Zittau railways in the governmental district of Bautzen. Pop. (1905) 7465. There are cloth, artificial flower, and cigar factories, glass-works, potteries, and in the neighbourhood large granite quarries. It is famous as the scene of a battle, on the 12th of May 1813, between the French and the Allies after Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. It was the residence of Benno, bishop of Meissen, in the 11th century, and the “Bishop’s Road” still runs from here to Meissen.
BISCHWEILER, a town of Germany, in the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine, district of Lower Alsace, 23 m. by rail N. by E. from Strassburg. Pop. (1900) 7897. It has manufactures of jute and machinery, brewing and iron-founding.
BISCUIT (pronounced according to the old spelling “bisket,” a Fr. form from Lat. bis, twice, and coctum, cooked, in reference to the original method of preparation; cf. Ital. biscotto, Sp. bizcocho, &c.), a form of unvesiculated bread (q.v.) which is made in thin cakes of various shapes and baked in such a way as to be crisp and short. In the United States of America biscuits of this kind are usually called crackers, but the word biscuit is used there, as also in the north of England, for vesiculated bread baked in little flat loaves or cakes. Earthenware, porcelain, &c., which has undergone its first baking and is ready to be glazed is also known as biscuit or bisque.