e was made of the exceptional
opportunities of studying the natural history of those countries. For
his many contributions to geological science Dr Blanford was in 1883
awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London; and for
his labours on the zoology and geology of British India he received in
1901 a royal medal from the Royal Society. He had been elected F.R.S. in
1874, and was chosen president of the Geological Society in 1888. He was
created C.I.E. in 1904. He died in London on the 23rd of June 1905. His
principal publications were: _Observations on the Geology and Zoology of
Abyssinia_ (1870), and _Manual of the Geology of India_, with H.B.
Medlicott (1879).

Biography, with bibliography and portrait, in _Geological Magazine_,
January 1905.

BLANK (from the Fr. _blanc_, white), a word used in various senses based
on that of "left white," i.e. requiring something to be filled in; thus
a "blank cheque" is one which requires the amount to be inserted, an
insurance policy in blank, where the name of the beneficiary is lacking,
"blank verse" (_q.v_.) verse without rhyme, "blank cartridge" that
contains only powder and no ball or shot. The word is also used, as a
substantive, for a ticket in a lottery or sweepstake which does not
carry a number or the name of a horse running or for an unstamped metal
disc in coining.

BLANKENBERGHE, a seaside watering-place on the North Sea in the province
of West Flanders, Belgium, 12 m. N.E. of Ostend, and about 9 m. N.W. of
Bruges, with which it is connected by railway. It is more bracing than
Ostend, and has a fine parade over a mile in length. During the season,
which extends from June to September, it receives a large number of
visitors, probably over 60,000 altogether, from Germany as well as from
Belgium. There is a small fishing port as well as a considerable
fishing-fleet. Two miles north of this place along the dunes is
Zeebrugge, the point at which the new ship-canal from Bruges enters the
North Sea. Fixed population (1904) 5925.

BLANKENBURG. (1) A town and health resort of Germany, in the duchy of
Brunswick, at the N. foot of the Harz Mountains, 12 m. by rail S.W. from
Halberstadt. Pop. (1901) 10,173. It has been in large part rebuilt since
a fire in 1836, and possesses a castle, with various collections, a
museum of antiquities, an old town hall and churches. There are
pine-needle baths and a hospital for nervous diseases. Gardeni