Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bradford, William" to "Brequigny, Louis" (part 2)

Cerebral Control over Lower Nervous Centres.—There accrues to the brain, especially to the fore-brain of higher Vertebrates, another function besides that of grafting psychical qualities upon the reactions of the nervous system. This function is exhibited as power to control in greater or less measure the pure reflexes enacted by the system. These pure reflexes have the character of fatality, in the sense that, given a particular stimulus, a particular reaction unvaryingly follows; the same group of muscles or the same gland is invariably thrown into action in the same way. Removal of the fore-brain, i.e. of that portion of the central nervous organ to which psychosis is adjunct, renders the nervous reactions of the animal more predictable and less variable. The animal, for instance, a dog, is given over more completely to simple reflexes. Its skin is touched and it scratches the spot, its jaw is stroked and it yawns, its rump is rubbed and it shakes itself, like a dog coming out of water; and these reactions occur fatally and inopportunely, for instance, when food is being offered to it, when the dog normally would allow no such insignificant skin stimuli as the above to defer his appropriate reaction. Goltz relates the behaviour of a dog from which almost the whole fore-brain had been removed. The animal lived healthily under the careful treatment accorded it. At feeding time a little quinine (bitter) added to its sop of meat and milk led to the morsels, after being taken into the mouth, being at once and regularly rejected. None was ever swallowed, nor was the slightest hesitation in their rejection ever obtained by any coaxing or command, or encouragement of the animal by the attendant who constantly had charge of it. On the other hand, directly an undoctored piece had entered the mouth it was swallowed at once. Goltz threw to his own house-dog a piece of the same doctored meat. The creature wagged its tail and took it eagerly, then after receiving it into its mouth pulled a wry face and hesitated, astonished. But on encouragement to go on eating it the dog did so. Perhaps it deemed it unseemly to appear ungrateful to the giver and reject the gift. It overcame its reflex of rejection, and by its self-control gave proof of the intact cerebrum it possessed.

There seems a connexion between consciousness and the power to modify reflex action to meet the exigencies of the occasion. Pure reflexes are admirably adapted to certain ends. They are reactions which have long proved advantageous to the phylum of which the existent animal is the representative embodiment. But the reflexes have a machine-like fatality, and conscious aim does not forerun their execution. The subject as active agent does not direct them. Yet they lie under the control of higher centres. The cough, the eye-closure, the impulse to smile, all these can be suppressed. The innate respiratory rhythm can be modified to meet the requirements of vocal utterance. In other words, the reaction of reflex arcs is controllable by the mechanism to whose activity consciousness is adjunct. The reflexes controlled are often reactions but slightly affecting consciousness, but consciousness is very distinctly operative with the centres which exert the control. It may be that the primary aim, object and purpose of consciousness is control. “Consciousness in a mere automaton,” writes Professor Lloyd Morgan, “is a useless and unnecessary epiphenomenon.” As to how this conscious control is operative on reflexes, how it intrudes its influence on the running of the reflex machinery, little is known.

The Cerebrum an Organ giving Adaptation and Readjustment of Motor Acts.—The exercise of this control and the acquirement of skilled actions have obviously elements in common. By skilled actions, we understand actions not innately given, actions acquired by training in individual experience. The controlling centres pick out from an ancestral motor action some part, and isolate and enhance that until it becomes a skilled act. The motor co-ordination ancestrally provided for the ring finger gives an extending of it only in company with extension of the fingers on either side of it. The isolated lifting of the ring finger can, however, soon be acquired by training. In such cases the higher centre with conscious effort is able to dissociate a part from an ancestral co-ordination, and in that way to add a skilled adapted act to the powers of the individual.

The nervous organs of control form, therefore, a special instrument of adaptation and of readjustment of reaction, for better accommodation to requirements which may be new. The attainment of more precision and speed in the use of a tool, or the handling of a weapon, means a process in which nervous organs of control modify activities of reflex centres themselves already perfected ancestrally for other though kindred actions. This process of learning is accompanied by conscious effort. The effort consists not so much in any course of reasoning but rather in the acquiring of new sensorimotor experience. To learn swimming or skating by simple cogitation or mere visual observation is of course impossible. The new ideas requisite cannot be constructed without motor experience, and the training must include that motor experience. Hence the training for a new skilled motor manoeuvre must be simply ad hoc, and is of itself no training for another motor co-ordination.

The more complex an organism the more points of contact does it have with its environment, and the more does it need readjustment amid an environment of shifting relationships. Hence the organs of consciousness and control, being organs of adaptation and readjustment of reaction, will be more pronounced the farther the animal scale is followed upward to its crowning species, man. The cerebrum and especially the cerebral cortex may be regarded as the highest expression of the nervous organ of individual adaptation of reactions. Its high development in man makes him the most successful animal on earth’s surface at the present epoch. The most important part of all this adjustment in his case, as he stands now, consists doubtless in that nervous activity which is intellectual. The mentality attached to his cerebrum includes reason in higher measure than is possessed by the mentality of other animals. He, therefore, more than they, can profitably forecast the future and act suitably to meet it from memory of the past. The cerebrum has proved itself by his case the most potent weapon existent for extending animal dominance over the environment.

Means and Present Aims of Physiological Study of the Brain.—The aspects of cerebral activity are therefore twofold. There is the contribution which it makes to the behaviour of the animal as seen in the creature’s doings. On the other hand there is its product in the psychical life of the animal. The former of these is subject matter for physiology; the latter is especially the province of psychology. Physiology does, however, concern itself with the psychical aspect of cerebral functions. Its scope, embracing the study of the bodily organs in regard to function, includes the psychic as well as the material, because as just shown the former inextricably interlace with the latter. But the relation between the psychic phenomena and the working of the brain in regard to any data of fundamental or intimate character connecting the two remains practically as unknown to us as to the Greek philosophers. What physiology has at present to be content with in this respect is the mere assigning of certain kinds of psychic events to certain local regions of the cerebrum. This primitive quest constitutes the greater part of the “neurology” of our day, and some advance has been made along its lines. Yet how meagre are really significant facts will be clear from the brief survey that follows. Before passing finally from these general considerations, we may note that it becomes more and more clear that the brain, although an organ than can be treated as a whole, is complex in the sense that separable functions belong in some measure to its several parts.

The means principally adopted in studying the functions of the brain—and it must be remembered that this study in its present phase is almost exclusively a mere search for localization—are four. These are the physiological, the clinico-pathological, the histological and the zoological. The first named proceeds by observing the effects of artificial excitation, chiefly electric, of various parts of the brain, and the defects produced by destruction or removal of circumscribed portions. The clinico-pathological proceeds by observing the disturbances of body and mind occurring in disease or injury, and ascertaining the extent of the disease or injury, for the most part post mortem. The histological method examines the microscopic structure of the various regions of the brain and the characters and arrangement of the nerve-cells composing it. The zoological follows and compares the general features of the brain, as represented in the various types of animal creation.

It is on the functions of the fore-brain that interest now mainly focuses, for the reasons mentioned above. And the interest in the fore-brain itself chiefly attaches to the functions of its cortex. This is due to several causes. In man and the animals nearest him the cortex forms by far the larger part of the whole cerebral hemisphere. More than any other part it constitutes the distinctively human feature. It lies accessible to various experimental observations, as also to traumatic lesions and to the surgeon’s art. It is composed of a great unbroken sheet of grey matter; for that reason it is a structure wherein processes of peculiar interest for the investigation in view are likely to occur. To make this last inference more clear a reference to the histology of nervous tissue must be made. The whole physiological function of the nervous system may be summed up in the one word “conduction.” This “conduction” may be defined as the transmission of states of excitement (nerve-impulses) along the neural arcs composing the system. The whole nervous system is built up of chains of nerve-cells (neurones) which are nervous conductors, the chains often being termed arcs. Each neurone is an elongated cell which transmits nerve-impulses from its one end to its other, without so far as is known modifying the impulses in transit, unless in that part of the nerve-cell where the nucleus lies. That part of the neurone or nerve-cell is called the perikaryon or cell-body, and from that part usually many branches of the cell (each branch being a nerve-fibre) ramify. There is no evidence that impulses are modified in transit along a branch of a nerve-cell, but there is clear evidence of manifold modification of nerve-impulses in transit along the nerve-arcs of the nervous system. These nerve-arcs are neurone-chains. In them one neurone continues the line of conduction where the immediately foregoing neurone left it. That is, the neurones are laid in conductive series, the far end of one apposed to the near end of its precursor. The place of juxtaposition of the end of one neurone against the beginning of another is called the synapse. At it the conduction which has so far been wholly intra-neuronic is replaced by an inter-neuronic process, in which the nerve impulse passes from one neurone to the next. The process there, it is natural to think, must be physiologically different from that conductive process that serves for transmission merely within the neurone itself. It may be that to this inter-neuronic conduction are due the differences between conduction in nerve-arcs and nerve-trunks (nerve-fibres) respectively. Significant of the former are changes in rhythm, intensity, excitability and modifications by summation and inhibition; in fact a number of the main features of nervous reaction. These characters impressed upon conduction in nerve arcs (neurone-chains) would therefore be traceable to the intercalation of perikarya and synapses, for both these structures are absent from nerve-trunks. It is therefore probably to perikarya and synapses that the greater part of the co-ordination, elaboration and differentiation of nervous reactions is due. Now, perikarya and synapses are not present in the white matter of the central nervous organ, any more than they are in nerve-trunks. They are confined exclusively to those portions of the central organ which consist of grey matter (so called from its naked-eye appearance). Hence it is to the great sheet of grey matter which enfolds the cerebrum that the physiologist turns, as to a field where he would expect to find evidences of the processes of cerebral co-ordination at work. It is therefore to items regarding the functions of the great sheet of cerebral cortex that we may now pass.

The Cerebral Cortex and its Functions.—The main question which vexed the study of the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres in the 19th century was whether differences of function are detectible in the different regions of the hemisphere and especially in those of its cortex. One camp of experimenters and observers held that the cortex was identical in function throughout its extent. These authorities taught that the various faculties and senses suffer damage in proportion to the amount of cortex removed or injured, and that it is a matter of indifference what may be the particular region wherein the destruction takes place. Against this an opposed set of observers held that different regions perform different functions, and this latter “differential” view was raised in two wholly dissimilar forms in the first and last quarters of the 19th century respectively. In the first quarter of the century, a school, with which the name of Gall is prominently associated, held that each faculty of a set of particular so-called “faculties,” which it assumed constituted intelligence, has in the brain a spatially separate organ proper to itself. Gall’s doctrine had two fundamental propositions. The first was that intelligence resides exclusively in the brain: the second, that intelligence consists of twenty-seven “faculties,” each with a separate local seat in the brain. The first proposition was not new. It is met with in Hippocrates, and it had been elaborated by Descartes and others. But Bichat in his Anatomie generale had partly wandered from the gradually established truth and referred the emotions to the visceral organs, returning to a naive view popularly prevalent. Gall’s first proposition was probably raised especially in reaction against Bichat. But Gall’s proposition was retrograde from the true position of the science of his time. Flourens and others of his contemporaries had already shown not only that intelligence was resident exclusively in the brain, but that it was resident exclusively in that part of the brain which is the fore-brain. Now Gall placed certain of his twenty-seven intellectual faculties in the cerebellum, which is part of the hind-brain.

Phrenology.—As to Gall’s second proposition, the set of faculties into which he analysed intelligence shows his power of psychological analysis to have been so weak that it is matter of surprise his doctrine could obtain even the ephemeral vogue it actually did. Among his twenty-seven faculties are, for instance, “l’amour de la progéniture, l’instinct carnassier, l’amitié, la ruse, la sagacité comparative, l’esprit métaphysique, le talent poétique, la mimique,” &c. Such crudity of speculation is remarkable in one who had undoubtedly considerable insight into human character. Each of the twenty-seven faculties had its seat in a part of the brain, and that part of the brain was called its “organ.” The mere spatial juxtaposition or remoteness of these organs one from another in the brain had, according to Gall, an influence on the constitution of the mind. “Comme l’organe des arts est placé loin de l’organe du sens des couleurs, cette circonstance explique pourquoi les peintres d’histoire ont été rarement coloristes.” All these “faculty-organs” were placed by Gall at the surface of the brain. “This explains the correspondence which exists between craniology and the doctrine of the functions of the brain (cerebral physiology), the single aim of my researches.” Gall wrote that he found the bump of pride (la bosse de l’orgueil) as far down in the animal series as the goat. Broussais traced the “organ” of veneration as far down as the sheep. Gall found the bump of murder (bosse du meurtre) in the carnivora. Later it was traced also in herbivora. Broussais added apologetically that “the herbivora cause a real destruction of plants.”

Gall’s doctrine enjoyed enormous vogue. He himself had the gifts and the demerits of quackery. His doctrine possessed, apart from its falsity, certain other mischievous qualities. “Que ces hommes si glorieux, qui font égorger les nations par millions, sachent qu’ils n’agissent point de leur propre chef, que c’est la nature qui a placé dans leur coeur la rage de la destruction.” One of his scientific opponents rejoined, “Nay, it is not that which they should know. What they should know is that if providence has allowed to man the possibility of doing evil, it has also endowed him with the power to do good.” The main cause of the success of phrenology (q.v.) has been no doubt the common desire of men to read the characters and hidden thoughts of others by external signs. Each bump or “bosse” on the cranium was supposed to indicate the existence and degree of development of one or other of the twenty-seven “faculties.” One such “bosse” showed the development of the organ of “goodness,” and another the development of the organ of “murder.” Such an easy means to arrive at information so curious delighted many persons, and they were not willingly undeceived.

Modern Localization Doctrines.—The crude localization of the phrenologists is therefore too clumsy to possess an interest it might otherwise have had as an early expression of belief in cerebral localization, a belief which other labours have subsequently justified, although on facts and lines quite different from these imagined by Gall and his followers. Patient scientific toil by the hands of E. Hitzig and D. Ferrier and their followers has slowly succeeded in obtaining certain facts about the cortex cerebri which not only show that different regions of it are concerned with different functions, but, for some regions at least, outline to some extent the kind of function exercised. It is true that the greater part of the cortex remains still terra incognita unless we are content with mere descriptive features concerning its coarse anatomy. For several scattered regions some knowledge of their function has been gained by physiological investigation. These scattered regions are the visual, the auditory, the olfactory and the precentral.

The grey matter of the cerebral cortex is broadly characterized histologically by the perikarya (nerve-cells bodies) which lie in it possessing a special shape; they are pyramidal. The dendrite fibres of these cells—that is, their fibres which conduct towards the perikarya—are branches from the apex and corners of the pyramid. From the base often near its middle arises one large fibre—the axone fibre, which conducts impulses away from the perikaryon. The general appearance and arrangement of the neurones in a particle of cortical grey matter are shown in fig. 15, above. The apices of the pyramidal perikarya are turned towards the free surface of the cortex. The figure as interpreted in terms of functional conduction means that the cortex is beset with conductors, each of which collects nerve-impulses, from a minute but relatively wide field by its branched dendrites, and that these nerve-impulses converge through its perikaryon, issue by its axone, and are carried whithersoever the axone runs. In some few cells the axone breaks up into branches in the immediate neighbourhood of its own perikaryon in the cortex. In most cases, however, the axone runs off into the subjacent white matter, leaving the cortex altogether. On reaching the subjacent white matter it mingles with other fibres and takes one of the following courses:—(1) to the grey matter of the cortex of the same hemisphere, (2) to the grey matter of the cortex of the opposite hemisphere, (3) to the grey matter of the pons, (4) to the grey matter of the bulb or spinal cord. It is noteworthy that the dendrite fibres of these cortical neurones do not transgress the limits of the grey cortex and the immediate neighbourhood of the perikaryon to which they belong; whereas the discharging or axone fibre does in the vast majority of cases transgress the limits of the grey matter wherein its perikaryon lies. The cortical neurone therefore collects impulses in the region of cortex just about its perikaryon and discharges them to other regions, some not cortical or even cerebral, but spinal, &c. One question which naturally arises is, do these cells spontaneously generate their impulses or are they stirred to activity by impulses which reach them from without? The tendency of physiology is to regard the actions of the cortex as reactions to impulses communicated to the cortical cells by nerve-channels reaching them from the sense organs. The neurone conductors in the cortex are in so far considered to resemble those of reflex centres, though their reactions are more variable and complex than in the use of the spinal. The chains of neurones passing through the cortex are more complex and connected with greater numbers of associate complex chains than are those of the spinal centres. But just as the reflex centres of the cord are each attached to afferent channels arriving from this or that receptive-organ, for instance, tactile-organs of the skin, or spindles of muscle-sense, &c., so the regions of cortex whose function is to-day with some certainty localized seem to be severally related each to some particular sense-organ. The localization, so far as ascertained, is a localization which attaches separate areas of cortex to the several species of sense, namely the visual, the auditory, the olfactory, and so on. This being so, we should expect to find the sensual representation in the cortex especially marked for the organs of the great distance-receptors, the organs which—considered as sense organs—initiate sensations having the quality of projicience into the sensible environment. The organs of distance-receptors are the olfactory, the visual and the auditory. The environmental agent which acts as stimulus in the case of the first named is chemical, in the second is radiant, and in the last is mechanical.

Olfactory Region of Cortex.—There is phylogenetic evidence that the development of the cortex cerebri first occurred in connexion with the distance-receptors for chemical stimuli—that is, expressed with reference to psychosis, in connexion with olfaction. The olfactory apparatus even in mammals still exhibits a neural architecture of primitive pattern. The cell which conducts impulses to the brain from the olfactory membrane in the nose resembles cells in the skin of the earthworm, in that its cell-body lies actually amid the epithelium of the skin-surface and is not deeply buried near or in the central nervous organ. Further, it has at its external end tiny hairlets such as occur in specially receptive-cells but not usually in purely nervous cells. Hence we must think that one and the same cell by its external end receives the environmental stimulus and by its deep end excites the central nervous organ. The cell under the stimulation of the environmental agent will therefore generate in itself a nervous impulse. This is the clearest instance we have of a neurone being actually excited under natural circumstances by an agent of the environment directly, not indirectly. The deep ends of these olfactory neurones having entered the central nervous organ come into contact with the dendrites of large neurones, called, from their shape, mitral. In the dog, an animal with high olfactory sense, the axone of each olfactory neurone is connected with five or six mitral cells. In man each olfactory neurone is connected with a single mitral cell only. We may suppose that the former arrangement conduces to intensification of the central reaction by summation. At the same time it is an arrangement which could tend to smother sharp differentiation of the central reaction in respect to locality of stimulus at the receptive surface. Considering the diffuse way in which olfactory stimuli are applied in comparison, for instance, with visual, the exact localization of the former can obviously yield little information of use for locating the exact position of their source. On the other hand, in the case of visual stimuli the locus of incidence, owing to the rectilinear propagation of light, can serve with extraordinary exactitude for inferences as to the position of their source. The adaptation of the neural connexions of the two organs in this respect is therefore in accord with expectation.

The earliest cerebral cortex is formed in connexion with the neurone-chains coming into the central nervous organ from the patch of olfactory cells on the surface of the head. The region of cerebrum thus developed is the so-called olfactory lobe and hippocampal formation. The greater part of the cerebral hemisphere is often termed the pallium, because as its development extends it folds cloak-wise over the older structures at the base of the brain. The olfactory lobe, from its position, is sometimes called the pallium basale, and the hippocampal formation the pallium marginale; and these two parts of the pallium form what, on account of their phylogenetic history, Elliott Smith well terms the archipallium. A fissure, the limbic fissure, marks off more or less distinctly this archipallium from the rest of the pallium, a remainder which is of later development and therefore designated by Elliott Smith the neopallium. Of the archipallium, the portion which constitutes the olfactory lobe is well formed in the selachian fish. In the reptilian cerebrum the hippocampal region, the pallium marginale, coexists in addition. These are both of them olfactory in function. Even so high up in the animal scale as the lowest mammals they still form one half of the entire pallium. But in the higher apes and in man the olfactory portion of the pallium is but a small fraction of the pallium as a whole. It is indeed so relatively dwarfed and obscured as to be invisible when the brain is regarded from the side or above. The olfactory part of the pallium exhibits little variation in form as traced up through the higher animals. It is of course small in such animals as Cetaceans, which are anosmatic. In highly osmatic such as the dog it is large. The uncus, and subiculum cornu ammonis of the human brain, belong to it. Disease of these parts has been accompanied by disturbance of the sense of smell. When stimulated electrically (in the rabbit) the olfactory pallium occasions peculiar torsion of the nose and lips (Ferrier), and change, often slowing or arrested, of the respiratory rhythm. P.E. Flechsig has shown that the nerve-fibres of this part of the pallium attain the final stage of their growth, that is to say, acquire their sheaths of myelin, early in the ontogenetic development of the brain. In the human brain they are myelinate before birth. This is significant from the point of view of function, for reasons which have been made clear especially by the researches of Flechsig himself.

The completion of the growth of the nerve-fibres entering and leaving the cortex occurs at very various periods in the growth of the brain. Study of the development of the fibres entering and leaving the various regions of the pallium in the human brain, discovers that the regions may be conveniently grouped into those whose fibres are perfected before birth and those whose fibres are perfected during the first post-natal month, and those whose fibres are perfected after the first but before the end of the fourth post-natal month. The regions thus marked out by completion before birth are five in number, and are each connected, as also shown by collateral evidence, with one or other particular species of sense-organ. And these regions have another character in common recognizable in the nerve-fibres entering and leaving them, namely, they possess fibres projected to or from parts of the nervous system altogether outside the cortex itself. These fibres are termed “projection” fibres. Other regions of the cortex possess fibres coming from or going to various regions of the cortex itself, but do not possess in addition, as do the five primitive cortical fields, the fibres of projection. So that the facts established by Flechsig for the regions of pallium, which other evidence already indicated as connected with the sense-organ of smell, support that evidence and bring the olfactory region of cortex into line with certain other regions of cortex similarly primarily connected with organs of sense.

It will be noted that what has been achieved by these various means of study in regard to the region of the cortex to which olfactory functions are attributed amounts at present to little more than the bare ascertainment of the existence there of nervous mechanisms connected with olfaction, and to the delimiting roughly of their extent and of their ability to influence certain movements, and in man sensations, habitually associated with exercise of the olfactory organ. As to what part the cortical mechanism has in the elaboration or association of mental processes to which olfaction contributes, no evidence worth the name seems as yet forthcoming. In this respect our knowledge, or rather our want of knowledge, of the functions of the olfactory region of the cortex, is fairly typical of that to which we have to confess in regard to the other regions of the cortex, even the best known.

Visual Region of the Cortex.—There is a region of the cortex especially connected with vision. The optic nerve and tract constitute the second link in the chain of neurones joining the retina to the brain. They may therefore be regarded as the equivalent of an intraspinal tract connecting the deep ends of the afferent neurones from the skin with higher nervous centres. In the bony fishes the optic tract reaches the grey matter of the optic lobe, a part of the mid-brain, to which the so-called anterior colliculus is equivalent in the mammalian brain. In the optic lobe the axones of the neurones of the optic tract meet neurones whose axones pass in turn to the motor neurones of the muscles moving the eyeballs, and also to other motor neurones. But in these fish the optic tract has no obvious connexion with the fore-brain or with any cerebral pallium. Ascending, however, to the reptilian brain is found an additional arrangement: a small portion of the optic tract passes to grey matter in front of the optic lobe. This grey matter is the lateral geniculate body. From this geniculate body a number of neurones extend to the pallial portion of the cerebrum, for in the reptilian brain the pallium is present. The portion of pallium connected with the lateral geniculate body lies above and behind the olfactory or archipallium. It is a part of what was mentioned above as neopallium.

In the mammalian brain the portion of the optic tract which goes to the optic lobe (ant. colliculus of the mammal) is dwarfed by great development of the part which goes to the geniculate body and an adjoining grey mass, the pulvinar (part of the optic thalamus). From these latter pass large bands of fibres to the occipital region of the neopallium. In mammals this visual region of the cortex is distinguished in its microscopic features from the cortex elsewhere by a layer of myelinate nerve-fibres, many of which are the axones of neurones of the geniculate body and pulvinar. Thus, whereas in the bony fishes all the third links of the conductive chain from the retina lead exclusively to the final neurones of motor centres for muscles, in the mammal the majority of the third links conduct to grey matter of the cortex cerebri.

The application of electric stimuli to the surface of the cortex does not for the greater part of the extent of the cortex evoke in higher mammalian brains any obvious effect; no muscular act is provoked. But from certain limited regions of the cortex such stimulation does evoke muscular acts, and one of these regions is that to which the neurones forming the third link of the conductive chain from the retina pass. The muscular acts thus provoked from that region are movements of the eyeballs and of the neck turning the head. In the monkey the movement is the turning of both eyeballs and the head away from the side stimulated. In short, the gaze is directed as to an object on the opposite side. The newer conductive chain traceable through the cortex does therefore, after all, like the older one through the optic lobe, lead ultimately to the motor neurones of the eye muscles and the neck, only it takes a longer course thither and is undoubtedly much more complex. What gain is effected by this new and as it were alternative and longer route, which takes a path up to the cerebral cortex and down again, we can only conjecture, but of one point we may rest well assured, namely, that a much richer inter-connexion with other arcs of the nervous system is obtained by the path that passes via the cortex. The functional difference between the old conductive circuit and the new can at present hardly indeed be stated even in outline. A natural inference might be that the phylogenetically older and less complex path is concerned with functions purely reflex-motor, not possessing sensation as an attribute. But fish, which possess only the older path, can be trained to seize bait of one colour and not of another colour, even against what appeared to be an original colour-preference in them. Such discrimination individually acquired seems to involve memory, though it may be rudimentary in kind. Where motor reaction to visual stimuli appears to involve memory—and without memory the training could hardly be effective—some germ of consciousness can hardly be denied to the visual reactions, although the reactions occurred in complete absence of a cortical path and indeed of a visual cortex altogether.

Removal of the visual pallium in the tortoise produces little or no obvious defect in vision; but in the bird such a lesion greatly impairs the vision of the eye of the side opposite to the lesion. The impairment does not, however, amount to absolute blindness. Schrader’s hawk, after removal of the pallium, reacted to movements of the mice with which it was caged. But the reactions were impaired: they lacked the sustained purpose of the normal reactions. The bird saw the mice; that was certain, for their movements across its field of vision made it turn its gaze towards them. But on their ceasing to move, the reaction on the part of the bird lapsed. Neither did their continuing to move excite the attack upon them which would have been the natural reaction on the part of the bird of prey towards its food. The bird apparently did not recognize them as prey, but saw them merely as moving objects. It saw them perhaps as things to which mental association gave no significance. Similarly, a dog after ablation of the occipital lobes of the cortex is able to see, for it avoids obstacles in its path; but if food is offered to it or the whip held up to it, it does not turn towards the food or away from the whip. It sees these things as if it saw them for the first time, but without curiosity, and as if it had no experience of their meaning. It gives no hint that it any longer understands the meaning of even familiar objects so long as these are presented to it through the sense of vision. Destruction of the visual cortex of one hemisphere alone produces in the dog impairment of vision, not as in the bird practically exclusively in the opposite eye, but in one lateral half of each eye, and that half the half opposite the hemisphere injured. Thus when the cortex destroyed is of the right cerebral hemisphere, the resultant visual defect is in the left half of the field of vision of both eyes. And this is so in man also.

In man disturbances of sensation can be better studied because it is possible to obtain from him his description of his condition. The relation of the cortex cerebri to human vision can be summarized briefly as follows. The visual cortex is distinguishable in higher mammals by a thin white stripe, the stripe of Gennari, seen in its grey matter when that is sectioned. This stripe results from a layer of nerve-fibres, many of which are axones from the neurones of the lateral geniculate body and the pulvinar, the grey masses directly connected with the optic nerve-fibres. In the dog, and in such monkeys as the Macaque, the region of cortex containing this stripe traceable to optic fibres forms practically the whole occipital lobe. But in the man-like apes and in man this kind of cortex is confined to one region of the occipital lobe, namely, that of the calcarine fissure and the cuneus behind that. This region of cortex thus delimited in man is one of Flechsig’s areas of earlier myelinization. It is also one of his areas possessing projection fibres; and this last fact agrees with the yielding by this area, when under electrical stimulation, of movements indicating that impulses have been discharged from it into the motor neurones of the muscles of the eyes and neck. Evidence from cases of disease show that destruction of the cortex of the upper lip of the calcarine fissure, say in the right half of the brain, causes in man impairment in the upper right-hand quadrant of both retinae: destruction of the lower lip of the fissure causes impairment in the lower right-hand quadrants. Destruction of the calcarine region of one hemisphere produces therefore “crossed hemianopia,” that is, loss of the opposite half of the field of vision. But in this hemianopia the region of central vision is always spared. That is, the piece of visual field which corresponds with the yellow spot of the retina is not affected in either eye, unless the calcarine regions of both hemispheres are destroyed. This central point of vision is connected therefore not with one side of the brain only but with both.

The impairment of sight is more severe in men than in lower animals. Where the destruction of the visuo-sensory cortex in one calcarine region is complete, a candle-flame offered in the hemianopic field cannot even be perceived. It may hardly excite a reflex contraction of the pupil. In such cases the visual defect amounts to blindness. But this is a greater defect than is found in the dog even after entire removal of both occipital lobes. The dog still avoids obstacles as it walks. Its defect is rather, as said above, a complete loss of interest in the visual images of things. But a dog or monkey after loss of the visual cortex hesitates more and avoids obstacles less well in a familiar place than it does when entirely blind from loss of the peripheral organ of vision. In man extensive destruction of the visual cortex has as one of its symptoms loss of memory of localities, thus, of the paths of a garden, of the position of furniture, and of accustomed objects in the patient’s own room. This loss of memory of position does not extend to spatial relations ordinarily appreciated by touch, such as parts of the patient’s own person or clothing. There is nothing like this in the symptoms following blindness by loss of the eye itself. Those who lose their sight by disease of the retina retain good memorial pictures of positions and directions appreciated primarily by vision.

Cases of disease are on record in which loss of visual memory has occurred without hemianopia. Visual hallucinations referred to the hemianopic side have been observed. This suggests that the function of visual memory in regard to certain kinds of percepts must belong to localities of cortex different from those pertaining to other visual percepts. The area of cortex characterized by the stripe of Gennari occupies in man, as mentioned, the calcarine and cuneate region. It is surrounded by a cortical field which, though intimately connected with it by manifold conducting fibres, &c., is yet on various grounds distinct from it. This field of cortex surrounding the visuo-sensory of the calcarine-cuneate region is a far newer part of the neopallium than the region it surrounds. Both in the individual (Flechsig) and in the phylum (Bolton, Campbell, Mott) its development occurs far later than that of the visuo-sensory which it surrounds. Flechsig finds that it has no “projection” fibres, that is, that it receives none of the optic radiations from the lower visual centres and gives no centrifugal fibres in the reverse direction. This field encompassing the visuo-sensory region differs from the latter in its microscopic structure by absence of the lower layer of stellate cells and by the presence in it of a third or deep layer of pyramidal cells (Mott). Its fibres are on the average smaller than are those of the visuo-sensory (W.A. Campbell). This zonal field is small in the lower apes, and hardly discoverable in the dog. In the anthropoid apes it is much larger. In man it is relatively much larger still. The impairment of visual memory and visual understanding in regard to direction and locality is said to be observed in man only when the injury of the cortex includes not only the calcarine-cuneate region but a wide area of the occipital lobe. From this it is argued that the zonal field is concerned with memories and recognitions of a kind based on visual perceptions. It has therefore been termed the visuo-psychic area. It is one of Flechsig’s “association-areas” of the cortex.

Adjoining the antero-lateral border of the just-described visuo-psychic area lies another region separate from it and yet related to it. This area is even later in its course of development than is the visuo-psychic. It is one of Flechsig’s “terminal fields,” and its fibres are among the last to ripen in the whole cortex. This terminal field is large in man. It runs forward in the parietal lobe above and in the temporal lobe below. Its wide extent explains, in the opinion of Mott, the displacement of the visuo-sensory field from the outer aspect of the hemisphere in the lower monkeys to the median aspect in man. To this terminal field all the more interest attaches because it includes the angular gyrus, which authorities hold to be concerned with the visual memory of words. Study of diseased conditions of speech has shown that the power to understand written words may be lost or severely impaired although the words may be perfectly distinct to the sight and although the power to understand heard words remains good. This condition is asserted by many physicians to be referable to destruction of part of the angular gyrus. Close beneath the cortex of the angular gyrus runs a large tract of long fibres which pass from the visual cortex (see above) to the auditory cortex (see below) in the superior temporal gyrus and to the lower part of the frontal lobe. This lower part of the frontal lobe is believed—and has long been believed—to be concerned intimately with the production of the movements of speech. A difficulty besetting the investigation of the function of the angular gyrus is the fact that lesion of the cortex there is likely to implicate the underlying tract of fibres in its damage. It cannot be considered to have been as yet clearly ascertained whether the condition of want of recognition of seen words—”word-blindness”—is due to cortical injury apart from subcortical, to the angular gyrus itself apart from the underlying tract. Word-blindness seems, in the right-handed, to resemble the aphasia believed to be connected with the lower part of the frontal lobe, in that it ensues upon lesions of the left hemisphere, not of the right. In left-handed persons, on the contrary, it seems to attach to the right hemisphere.

Auditory Region of the Cortex.—Besides the two great organs of distance-receptors, namely, the nose and eye, whose cerebral apparatus for sensation has just been mentioned, those of a third great distance-receptor have to be considered. The agents of stimulation of the two former are respectively chemical (olfactory) and radiant (visual); the mode of stimulation of the third is mechanical, and the sensations obtained by it are termed auditory. Their cerebral localization is very imperfectly ascertained. Electric stimuli applied to a part of the uppermost temporal gyrus excites movements of the ears and eyes in the dog. Destruction of the same region when executed on both hemispheres is argued by several observers to impair the sense of hearing. To this region of cortex fibres have been traced from the lower centres connected with the nerve-fibres coming from the cochlea of the ear. From each cochlear nerve a path has been traced which passes to the insulae and the above-mentioned temporal region of cortex of both the cerebral hemispheres. The insula is a deeper-seated area of cortex adjoining the uppermost temporal convolution. To it Flechsig’s chronological studies also impute a connexion with the nerves of the ear. Early myelinization of fibres, presence of ascending and descending “projection” tracts to and from lower centres outside the cortex, calibre of fibres, microscopic characters of its cortical cells, all those kinds of indirect items of evidence that obtain for the visual cortex likewise mark out this insular-temporal area as connected fairly directly with a special sense-organ, as in fact a sensory field of the cortex; and the suspicion is that it is auditory. Clinical observation supports the view in a striking way, but one requiring, in the opinion of some, further confirmation. It is widely believed that destruction of the upper and middle part of the uppermost temporal convolution produces “word-deafness,” that is, an inability to recognize familiar words when heard, although the words are recognized when seen.

More precise information regarding this auditory region of the cortex has recently been obtained by the experiments of Kalischer. These show that after removal of this region from both sides of the brain in the dog the animal shows great defect in answering to the call of its master. Whereas prior to the operation the animal will prick its ears and attend at once to the lightest call, it requires after the removal of the auditory regions great loudness and insistence of calling to make it attend and react as it did. This is the more striking in view of other experimental results obtained. Kalischer trained a number of his dogs not to take meat offered them except at the sound of a particular note given by an organ pipe or a harmonium. The dogs rapidly learned not to take the food on the sounding of notes of other pitch than the one taught them as the permissive signal. This reaction on the part of the animal was not impaired by the removal of the so-called auditory regions of the cortex. Kalischer suggests that this reaction taught by training is not destroyed by the operation which so greatly impairs the common reaction to the master’s call, because the former is a simpler process more allied to reflex action. In it the attention of the dog is already fastened upon the object, namely the food, and the stimulus given by the note excites a reaction which simply allows the act of seizing the food to take place, or on the other hand stops it. In the case of answering the call of the master the stimulus has to excite attention, to produce perception of the locality whence it comes, and to invoke a complicated series of movements of response. He finds that destruction of the posterior colliculi of the mid-brain, which have long been known to be in some way connected with hearing, likewise destroys the response to the call of the master, but did not destroy the trick taught to his dogs of taking meat offered at the sound of a note of one particular pitch but not at notes of other pitch given by the same instrument.

Other Senses and Localization in the Cortex Cerebri.—Turning now to the connexion between the function of the cortex and the senses other than those of the great distance-receptors just dealt with, even less is known. Disturbance and impairment of skin sensations are observable both in experiments on the cerebrum of animals and in cases of cerebral disease in man. But the localization in the cortex of regions specially or mainly concerned with cutaneous sensation has not been made sufficiently clear to warrant statement here. Still less is there satisfactory knowledge regarding the existence of cortical areas concerned with sensations originated in the alimentary canal. The least equivocal of such evidence regards the sense of taste. There is some slight evidence of a connexion between this sense and a region of the hippocampal gyrus near to but behind that related to smell.

As to the sensations excited by the numerous receptors which lie not in any of the surface membranes of the body but embedded in the masses of the organs and between them, the proprioceptors, buried in muscles, tendons and joints, there is little doubt that these sensations may be disturbed or impaired by injury of the cortex cerebri. They may probably also be excited by cortical stimulation. But evidence of localization of their seat in, and their details of connexion with, the cortex, is at present uncertain. Many authorities consider it probable that sensations of touch and the sensations initiated by the proprioceptors of muscles and joints (the organs of the so-called muscular sense) are specially related to the post-central gyrus and perhaps to the pre-central gyrus also. The clearest items on this point are perhaps the following.

Besides the regions instanced above, in the limbic (olfactory), occipital (visual), and temporal (auditory) lobes, as exhibiting precocity of development, there is a region showing similar precocity in the fronto-parietal portion of the hemisphere. This is the region which in the Primates includes the large central fissure (sometimes called the fissure of Rolando). To it fibres are traced which seem to continue a path of conduction that began with afferent tracts belonging to the spinal cord, and tracts which there is reason to think conduct impulses from the receptor-organs of skin and muscles. The part of the cortex immediately behind the central fissure seems to be the main cortical goal for these upward-conducting paths. That post-central strip of cortex would in this view bear to these paths a relation similar to that which the occipital and temporal regions bear to afferent tracts from the retina and the cochlea. There are observations which associate impaired tactual sense and impaired perception of posture and movement of a limb with injury of the central region of the cortex. But there are a number also which show that the motor defect which is a well-ascertained result of injury of the pre-central gyrus is sometimes unaccompanied by any obvious defect either of touch or of muscular sense. It seems then that the motor centres of this region are closely connected with the centres for cutaneous and muscular sense, yet are not so closely interwoven with them that mechanical damage inflicted on the one of necessity heavily damages the other as well. There is evidence that the sensory cortex in this region lies posterior to that which has been conveniently termed the “motor.” These latter in the monkey and the man-like apes and man lie in front of the central fissure: the sensory lie probably behind it. A.W. Campbell has found changes in the cortex of the post-central convolution ensuing in the essentially sensory disease, tabes dorsalis, a disease in which degeneration of sensory nerve-fibres of the muscular sense and of the skin senses is prominent. He considers that in man and the man-like apes the part of the post-central gyrus which lies next to and enters into the central fissure is concerned with simpler sensual recognitions, while the adjoining part of that convolution farther back is a “psychic region” concerned with more complex psychosis connected with the senses of skin and muscle. His subdivision of the post-central gyrus is based on histological differences which he discovers between its anterior and its posterior parts and on the above-described analogous differentiation of a “sensory” from a “psychic” part in the visual region of cortex.

It will be noted that although certain regions of the cortex are found connected closely with certain of the main sense organs, there are important receptive organs which do not appear to have any special region of cortex assigned to their sensual products. Thus, there is the “vestibular labyrinth” of the ear. This great receptive organ, so closely connected in function with the movements and adjustment of the postures of the head and eyes, and indeed of the whole body, is prominent in the co-ordination necessary for the equilibrium of the body, an essential part of the fundamental acts of progression, standing, &c. Yet neither structural nor functional connexion with any special region of the cortex has been traced as yet for the labyrinthine receptors. Perceptions of the position of the head and of the body are of course part of our habitual and everyday experience. It may perhaps be that these perceptions are almost entirely obtained through sense organs which are not labyrinthine, but visual, muscular, tactual, and so on. The labyrinth may, though it controls and adjusts the muscular activities which maintain the balance of the body, operate reflexly without in its operation exciting of itself sensations. The results of the unconscious reflexes it initiated and guided would be perceptible through other organs of sense. But against this purely unconscious functioning of the labyrinth and its nervous apparatus stands the fact that galvanic stimulation of the labyrinth is accompanied by well-known distinctive sensations—including giddiness, &c. Moreover, the prominent factor in sea-sickness, a disorder richly suffused with sensations, is probably the labyrinth. Yet there is marked absence of evidence of any special and direct connexion between the cortex cerebri and the labyrinth organs.

Also there is curiously little evidence of connexion of the cortex with the nervous paths of conduction concerned with pain. As far as the present writer can find from reference to books and from the clinical experience of others, “pain” is unknown as an aura in cortical epilepsy, or at most is of equivocal occurrence.

The preceding brief exposition of some of the main features of the localization of function in the cortex cerebri, gradually deciphered by patient inquiry, shows that the scheme of partition of function so far perceptible does not follow the quaint lines of analysis of the phrenologists with their supposed mental entities, so-called “faculties.” On the contrary it is based, as some of those who early favoured a differential arrangement of function in the cerebrum had surmised, on the separateness of the incoming channels from peripheral organs of sense. These organs fall into groups separate one from another not only by reason of their spatial differentiation at the surface and in the thickness of the body, but also because each group generates sensations which introspection tells us are of a species unbridgeably separate from those generated by the other groups. Between sensations of hearing and sensations of sight there is a dissimilarity across which no intermediate series of sensual phenomena extend. The two species of sensations are wholly disparate. Similarly there is a total and impassable gap between sensations of touch and sensations of sight and sound. In other words the sensations fall into groups which are wholly disparate and are hence termed species. But within each species there exist multifold varieties of the specific sensation, e.g. sensations of red, of yellow, &c. We should expect, therefore, that the conducting paths from the receptive organs which in their function as sense-organs yield wholly disparate sensations would in so far as subserving sensation diverge and pass to separate neural mechanisms. That these sense-organs should in fact be found to possess in the cortex of the cerebrum separate fields for their sensual nervous apparatus is, therefore, in harmony with what would be the a priori supposition.

But, as emphasized at the beginning of this article, the receptive organs belonging to the surfaces and the depths of the body and forming the starting-points for the whole system of the afferent nerves, have two functions more or less separate. One of these functions is to excite sensations and the other is to excite movements, by reflex action, especially in glands and muscles. In this latter function, namely the reflexifacient, all that the receptive organs effect is effected by means of the efferent nerves. They all have to use the efferent, especially the motor, nerves of the body. So rich is the connexion of the receptive organs with the efferent nerves that it is not improbable that, through the central nervous organ, each receptive organ is connected with every motor nerve of the whole nervous system,—the facts of strychnine poisoning show that if this is not literally true it is at least approximately so. Hence one of the goals to which each afferent fibre from a receptive organ leads is a number of motor nerves. Their conducting paths must, therefore, converge in passing to the starting-points of the motor nerves; because these latter are instruments common to the use of a number of different receptive organs in so far as they excite reflex actions. On the other hand those of their conducting paths which are concerned in the genesis of sensation, instead of converging, diverge, at least as far as the cortex cerebri, or if not divergent, remain separate. These considerations would make it appear likely that the conducting path from each receptive organ divides in the central nervous system into two main lines, one of which goes off to its own particular region of the cortex cerebri whither run conductors only of similar sensual species to itself, while the other main line passes with many others to a great motor station where, as at a telephone exchange, coordinate use of the outgoing lines is assured to them all. Now there is in fact a portion of the cortex in mammals the functions of which are so pre-eminently motor, as judged by our present methods, that it is commonly designated the motor cortex (see fig. 24). This region of the cortex occupies in the Primates, including Man, the pre-central gyrus. Among the items of evidence which reveal its motor capabilities are the following.

The Precentral or Motor Region of the Cortex.—The application to it of electric currents excites movements in the skeletal muscles. The movements occur in the half of the body of the side crossed from that of the hemisphere excited. The “motor representation,” as it is termed, is in the cortex better described as a representation of definite actions than of particular muscles. The actions “represented” in the top part of the gyrus, namely next the great longitudinal fissure, move the leg; those in the lowest part of the gyrus belong to the tongue and mouth. The topical distribution along the length of the gyrus may be described in a general way as following a sequence resembling that of the motor representation in the spinal cord, the top of the gyrus being taken as corresponding with the caudal end of the spinal cord. The sequence as the gyrus is followed downwards runs: perineum, foot, knee, hip, abdomen, chest, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, eyelids and ear, nose, mouth and tongue. The nature of the movement is very fairly constant for separate points of this motor cortex as observed both in the same and in similar experiments. Thus flexion of the arm will be excitable from one set of points, and extension of the arm from another set of points; opening of the jaw from one set and closure from another, and so on. These various movements if excited strongly tend to have characters like those of the movements seen in an epileptic convulsion. Strong stimulation excites in fact a convulsion like that of epilepsy, beginning with the movement usual for the point stimulated and spreading so as to assume the proportions of a convulsion affecting the entire skeletal musculature of one half or even of the whole body. The resemblance to an epileptic seizure is the closer because the movement before it subsides becomes clonic (rhythmic) as in epilepsy. The determination of the exact spots of cortex in which are represented the various movements of the body has served a useful practical purpose in indicating the particular places in the cortex which are the seat of disease. These the physician can localize more exactly by reason of this knowledge. Hence the surgeon, if the nature of the disease is such as can be dealt with by surgical means, can without unnecessarily damaging the skull and brain, proceed directly to the point which is the seat of the mischief.

The motor representation of certain parts of the body is much more liberal than is that of others. There is little correspondence between the mere mass of musculature involved and the area of the cortex devoted to its representation. Variety of movement rather than force or energy of movement seems to demand extent of cortex. The cortical area for the thumb is larger than those for the whole abdomen and chest combined. The cortical area for the tongue is larger than that for the neck. Different movements of one and the same part are very unequally represented in the cortex. Thus, flexion of the leg is more extensively represented than is extension, opening of the jaw has a much larger cortical area than has closure of the jaws. It is interesting that certain agents, for instance strychnine, and the poison of the bacilli which cause the disease known as tetanus or lock-jaw, upset this normal topography, and replace in the cortex flexion of the limb by extension of the limb, and opening of the jaw by closure of the jaw. There is, however, no evidence that they do this by changing in any way the cortical mechanisms themselves. It is more likely that their action is confined to the lower centres, bulbar and spinal, upon which the discharge excited from the cortex plays. The change thus induced in the movement excited by the cortex does, however, show that the point of cortex which causes for instance opening of the mouth is connected with the motor nerves to the closing muscles as well as with those of the opening muscles. This is an item of evidence that the “centres” of the cortex are connected with the motor nerves of antagonistic muscles in such a way that when the “centre” excites one set of the muscles to contract, it simultaneously under normal circumstances causes inhibition of the motor neurones of the opposed set of muscles (reciprocal innervation). In the great majority of movements excited from the motor cortex of a single hemisphere of the cerebrum, the movement evoked is confined to one side of the body, namely to that opposite to the hemisphere stimulated. There are, however, important exceptions to this. Thus, adduction of both vocal cords is excited from the cortex of either hemisphere. The movement of closure of the eyelids is usually bilateral, unless the stimulation be very weak; then the movement is of the eyelids of the opposite side only. The same holds true for the movements of the jaw. It, therefore, seems clear that with many movements which are usually bilaterally performed in ordinary life, such as opening of the jaw, blinking, &c., the symmetrical areas of the motor regions of both hemispheres are simultaneously in action.

In regard to all these movements elicitable by artificial stimuli from the motor cortex it is obvious that were there clearer evidence that the pallial region from which they are elicitable is fairly directly connected with corticopetal paths subserving cutaneous sensation or “muscular sense,” the movements might be regarded as falling into the category of higher reflexes connected with the organs of touch, muscular sense, &c., just as the movements of the eyeball excitable from the visual cortex may be regarded as higher reflexes connected with vision. The evidence of the connexion of the reactions of the motor cortex with cutaneous and muscular senses appears, however, scarcely sufficient to countenance at present this otherwise plausible view, which has on general grounds much to commend it.

It is remarkable that movements of the eyeball itself, i.e. apart from movement of the lids, are not in the category of movements elicitable from the precentral gyrus, the “motor” cortex. They are found represented in a region farther forward, namely in front of the precentral gyrus altogether, and occupying a scattered set of points in the direction frontal from the areas for movements of arm and face. This frontal area yields on excitation conjugate movements of both eyeballs extremely like if not exactly similar to those yielded by excitation of the occipital (visual) region of the cortex. It is supposed by some that this frontal area yielding eye-movements has its function in this respect based upon afferent conductors from other parts of the eyeball than the retina, for instance upon kinaesthetic (Bastian) impressions or upon sensual impressions derived from the cornea and the coats of the eyeball including the ciliary and iris muscles. The ocular muscles are certainly a source of centripetal impulses, but their connexion with the cortex is not clear as to either their nature or their seat. The question seems for the present to allow no clearer answer. It is certain, however, that the frontal area of eye movements has corticofugal paths descending from it to the lower motor centres of the eyeballs quite independent of those descending from the occipital (visual) area of eye-movements. Further, it seems clear that in many animals there is another cortical region, a third region, the region which we saw above might be considered auditory, where movements of the eyeball similar to those elicitable in the occipital and frontal cortex can be provoked. A. Tschermak is inclined to give the eyeball movements of the frontal region the significance of reflex movements which carry the visual field in various directions in answer to demands made by sensory data derived from touch, &c., as for instance from the hand. The movements of the eyeballs elicitable from the occipital region of the cortex he regards as probably concerned with directing the gaze toward something seen, for instance, in the peripheral field of vision. The occipital movement would, therefore, be excited through the retina, and would result in bringing the yellow spot region of the retinae of both eyes to bear upon the object. This view has much to justify it. The movements of the eyeballs excited from the cortex of the auditory region would in a similar way be explicable as bringing the gaze to bear upon a direction in which a sound had been located, auditory initiation replacing the visual and tactual of the occipital and the frontal regions respectively.

Turning from these still speculative matters to others less suggestive but of actual ascertainment, we find that the motor nature of the precentral cortex as ascertained by electric stimuli is further certified by the occurrence of disturbance and impairment of motor power and adjustment following destruction of that region of the cortex. The movements which such a part as a limb executes are of course manifold in purpose. The hind limb of a dog is used for standing, for stepping, for scratching, for squatting, and, where a dog, for instance, has been trained to stand or walk on its hind legs alone, for skilled acts requiring a special training for their acquisition. It is found that when the motor area of the brain has been destroyed, the limb is at first paralysed for all these movements, but after a time the limb recovers the ability to execute some of them, though not all. The scratching movement suffers little, and rapid improvement after cerebral injury soon effaces the impairment, at first somewhat pronounced, in the use of the limb for walking, running, &c., and ordinary movements of progression. Even when both hemispheres have been destroyed the dog can still stand and walk and run. Destruction of the motor region of the cortex renders the fore limbs of the dog unable to execute such skilled movements as the steadying of a bone for gnawing or the trained act of offering the paw in answer to the command of the master. Skilled acts of the limb, apart from conjoined movements in which it, together with all the other limbs, takes part, assume of course a larger share of the office of the limb in the Primates than in the dog; and this is especially true for the fore limb. It is when the fore-foot becomes a hand that opportunity is given for its more skilled individual use and for its training in movements as a tool, or for the handling of tools and weapons. It is these movements which suffer most heavily and for the longest period after injury of the motor region of the cortex. Hence the disablement ensuing upon injury to the cortex would be expected to be most apparent in the Primates; and it is so, and most of all in Man. Further, in Man there ensues a condition called “contracture,” which is not so apparent or frequent a result in other animals,—indeed, does not occur at all in other animals except the monkey. In contracture the muscles of the paretic limb are not flaccid, as they are usually in paralysis, but they are tense and the limb is more or less rigidly fixed by them in a certain position, usually one of flexion at elbow and wrist. This condition does not occur at first, but gradually supervenes in the course of a number of weeks. In Man the destruction of the motor area of the cortex cripples the limb even for the part it should play in the combined limb movements of walking, &c., and cripples it to an extent markedly contrasting with the slight disturbances seen in the lower mammals, e.g. the dog.

As regards the recovery of motor power after lesions of the motor cortex, two processes seem at work which are termed respectively restitution and compensation. By the former is understood the recovery obtained when a part of a “centre” is destroyed, and the rest of the centre, although thrown out of function at first, recovers and supplements the deficiency later. An example of restitution would be the recovery from temporary hemianopia caused by a small injury in one occipital lobe. By compensation is understood the improvement of an impaired nervous function, traceable to other centres different from those destroyed supplying means to compass the reaction originally dependent on the centres subsequently destroyed. Instances of such compensation are the recovery of taxis for equilibrium subsequent to destruction of the labyrinth of the ear, where the recovery is traceable to assistance obtained through the eye. It will be noted that these instances of recovery by restitution and by compensation respectively are taken, from cases of injury inflicted on receptive rather than on motor centres. It is doubtful how far they really apply to the undoubted improvement that does within certain limits progress and succeed in partially effacing the paresis immediately consequent on lesions of the motor area. It has to be remembered that in all cases of traumatic injury to the nervous system, especially where the trauma implicates the central nervous organ, the first effects and impairment of function resulting are due to a mixed cause, namely on the one hand the mechanical rupture of conducting paths actually broken by solution of their continuity, and on the other hand the temporary interruption of conducting paths by “shock.” Shock effects are not permanent: they pass off. They are supposed to be due to a change at the synapses connecting neurone with neurone in the grey matter. They amount in effect to a long-lasting and gradually subsiding inhibition.

For diseases of the brain see Neuropathology, Insanity, Skull (Surgery), &c.

(C. S. S.)

The literature of the pineal region is enormous. Studnicka (in Oppels Vergleichende mikrosk. Anat. Teile 4-5, 1904, 1905) gives 285 references. The present conception of the generalized arrangement is: (α) A single glandular median organ from the fore-brain called the paraphysis. (β) A pouch of the ependymal roof of the ventricle called the dorsal sac. (γ) A right and left epiphysis, one of which may be wholly or partially suppressed. These may change their position to anterior and posterior in some animals.

BRAINERD, DAVID (1718-1747), American missionary among the Indians, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, on the 20th of April 1718. He was orphaned at fourteen, and studied for nearly three years (1739-1742) at Yale. He then prepared for the ministry, being licensed to preach in 1742, and early in 1743 decided to devote himself to missionary work among the Indians. Supported by the Scottish “Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,” he worked first at Kaunaumeek, an Indian settlement about 20 m. from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and subsequently, until his death, among the Delaware Indians in Pennsylvania (near Easton) and New Jersey (near Cranbury). His heroic and self-denying labours, both for the spiritual and for the temporal welfare of the Indians, wore out a naturally feeble constitution, and on the 19th of October 1747 he died at the house of his friend, Jonathan Edwards, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

His Journal was published in two parts in 1746 by the Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and in 1749, at Boston, Jonathan Edwards published An Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd, chiefly taken from his own Diary and other Private Writings, which has become a missionary classic. A new edition, with the Journal and Brainerd’s letters embodied, was published by Sereno E. Dwight at New Haven in 1822; and in 1884 was published what is substantially another edition, The Memoirs of David Brainerd, edited by James M. Sherwood.

BRAINERD, a city and the county-seat of Crow Wing county, Minnesota, U.S.A., on the E. bank of the Mississippi river, about 127 m. N.W. of Minneapolis. Pop. (1890) 5703; (1900) 7524, of whom 2193 were foreign-born; (1905) 8133; (1910) 8526. It is served by the Minnesota & International and the Northern Pacific railways. The latter maintains here large car and repair shops, and a sanatorium for its employees. There are also the Sisters of St Joseph hospital, a county court house, a public library and a Y.M.C.A. building. A dam across the Mississippi provides water power (about 60,000 H.P.) which is utilized extensively for manufacturing purposes. Lumbering is an important industry, and there are saw mills and planing mills, and an extensive creosote plant for treating railway ties and timber. There are also flour mills, paper and pulp mills, cigar factories, a brewery, a large foundry and a grain elevator. In 1906 large quantities of iron ore were discovered in the vicinity, the new range, the Cuyuna, running through the city from north-east to south-west. Brainerd, named in honour of David Brainerd, was settled in 1870, and chartered as a city in 1883.

BRAINTREE, a market town in the Maldon parliamentary division of Essex, England; 45 m. N.E. of London by a branch line from Witham of the Great Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district, 5330. The parish church of St Michael is a fine edifice of Early English work with later additions. A corn exchange, mechanics’ institute and public hall may also be mentioned. The bishops of London had formerly a palace in the town, but there are no remains of the building. The manufactures of silk and crape have superseded that of woollen cloth, which was introduced by the Flemings who fled to England to escape the persecution of the duke of Alva. Matting and brushes are also made. On the north lies the large village of BOCKING, with the Perpendicular parish church of St Mary, similar industries, and a population of 3347.

BRAINTREE, a township of Norfolk county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the Monatiquot river about 10 m. S. of Boston. Pop. (1890) 4848; (1900) 598l, including 1250 foreign-born; (1905, state census) 6879; (1910) 8066. The New York, New Haven & Hartford railway crosses the town and has stations at its villages of Braintree, South Braintree and East Braintree, which are also served by suburban electric railways. In South Braintree are the Thayer Academy (co-educational; opened 1877) and the Thayer public library, both founded by and named in honour of General Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), a well-known military engineer born in Braintree, who was superintendent of the United States Military Academy in 1817-1833 and has been called the “father of West Point.” There are large shoe factories and other manufactories. Bog iron was early found in Braintree, and iron-works, among the first in America, were established here in 1644. Braintree was first incorporated in 1640 from land belonging to Boston and called Mount Wollaston, and was named from the town in England. At Merry Mount, in that part of Braintree which is now Quincy, a settlement was established by Thomas Morton in 1625, but the gay life of the settlers and their selling rum and firearms to the Indians greatly offended the Pilgrims of Plymouth, who in 1627 arrested Morton; soon afterward Governor John Endecott of Massachusetts Bay visited Merry Mount, rebuked the inhabitants and cut down their Maypole. Later the place was abandoned, and in 1634 a Puritan settlement was made here. In 1708 the town was divided into the North Precinct and the South Precinct, and it was in the former, now Quincy, that John Adams, John Hancock and John Quincy Adams were born. Quincy was separated from Braintree in 1792 (there were further additions to Quincy from Braintree in 1856), and Randolph in 1793.

See D.M. Wilson, Quincy, Old Braintree and Merry Mount (Boston, 1906); C.F. Adams, Jr., Three Episodes of Massachusetts History (Boston, 1892 and 1896); W.S. Pattee, History of Old Braintree and Quincy (Quincy, 1878).

BRAKE, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, on the left bank of the Weser, about halfway between Bremen and the mouth of the river. Pop. 5000. It was for centuries the port of Bremen; and though, since the founding of Bremerhaven, it no longer possesses a monopoly of the river traffic as before, it still continues to flourish. Large docks have been constructed, and the place has a considerable import trade in English coal. Shipbuilding and weaving are carried on to some extent.

Brake in Oldenburg must be distinguished from the village of the same name in the principality of Lippe, known as Brake bei Limgo, which gave its name to the cadet line of the counts of Lippe-Brake (1621-1709).

BRAKE. (1) A term for rough-tangled undergrowth, connected, according to the New English Dictionary, with “break,” to separate. The “brake-fern” (Pteris aquilina) is the common “bracken,” and is a shortened form of that northern Eng. word, derived from a Scand. word for “fern” (cf. Swed. bräken), though often confused with “brake,” undergrowth. (2) A term applied to many implements and mechanical and other appliances, often spelled “break.” Here there are probably several words, difficult to separate in origin, connected either with “break,” to separate, and its derived meanings, or with the Fr. braquer (appearing in such expressions as braquer un canon, to turn or point a gun), from O. Fr. brac, modern bras, an arm, Lat. bracchium. The word is thus used of a toothed instrument for separating the fibre of flax and hemp; of the “break-rolls” employed in flour manufacture; of a heavy wheeled vehicle used for “breaking in” horses, and hence of a large carriage of the wagonette type; of an arm or lever, and so of the winch of a crossbow and of a pump handle, cf. “brake-pump”; of a curb or bridle for a horse; and of a mechanical appliance for checking the speed of moving vehicles, &c. It is noteworthy that the two last meanings are also possessed by the Fr. frein and the Ger. Bremse.

Brakes, in engineering, are instruments by means of which mechanical energy may be expended in overcoming friction. They are used for two main classes of purpose: (1) to limit or decrease the velocity of a moving body, or to bring it completely to rest; and (2) to measure directly the amount of frictional resistance between two bodies, or indirectly the amount of energy given out by a body or bodies in motion. Machines in which brakes are employed for purposes of the second class are commonly known as dynamometers (q.v.). The other class is exemplified in the brakes used on wheeled vehicles and on cranes, lifts, &c. Here a body, or system of bodies, originally at rest, has been set in motion and has received acceleration up to a certain velocity, the work which has been done in that acceleration being stored up as “actual energy” in the body itself. Before the body can be brought to rest it must part with this energy, expending it in overcoming some external resistance. If the energy be great in proportion to the usual resistance tending to stop the body, the motion will continue for a long time, or through a long distance, before the energy has been completely expended and the body brought to rest. But in certain cases considerations of safety or convenience require that this time or distance be greatly shortened, and this is done by artificially increasing the external resistance for the time being, by means of a brake.

A simple method of obtaining this increased resistance is by pressing a block or shoe of metal or wood against the rim of a moving wheel, or by tightening a flexible strap or band on a rotating pulley or drum. In wheeled road vehicles, a wheel may be prevented from rotating by a chain passed through its spokes and attached to the body of the vehicle, when the resistance is increased by the substitution of a rubbing for a rolling action; or the same effect may be produced by fixing a slipper or skid under the wheel. Other forms of brake depend, not on the friction between two solid bodies, but on the frictional resistance of a fluid, as in “fan” and “pump” brakes. Thus the motion of revolving blades may be opposed by the resistance of the air or of a liquid in which they are made to work, or the motion of a plunger fitting tightly in a cylinder filled with a fluid may be checked by the fluid being prevented from escape except through a narrow orifice. The fly used to regulate the speed of the striking train in a clock is an example of a fan brake, while a pump brake is utilized for controlling the recoil of guns and in the hydraulic buffers sometimes fitted at terminal railway stations to stop trains that enter at excessive speed. On electric tramcars a braking effect is sometimes obtained by arranging the connexions of the motors so that they act as generators driven by the moving car. In this way a counter-torque is exerted on the axles. The current produced is expended by some means, as by being made to operate some frictional braking device, or to magnetize iron shoes carried on the car just over, but clear of, the running rails, to which they are then magnetically attracted (see Traction).

The simplest way of applying a brake is by muscular force, exerted through a hand or foot lever or through a screw, by which the brake block is pressed against the rim of the wheel or the band brake tightened on its drum. This method is sufficient in the case of most road vehicles, and is largely used on railway vehicles. But the power thus available is limited, and becomes inadequate for heavy vehicles moving at high speeds. Moreover, on a train consisting of a number of vehicles, the hand brakes on each of which are independent of all others, either a brakesman must be carried on each, or a number of the brakes must be left unused, with consequent loss of stopping power; while even if there is a brakesman on every vehicle it is impossible to secure that all the brakes throughout the train are applied with the promptness that is necessary in case of emergency.

Considerations of this sort led to the development of power brakes for railway trains. Of these there are five main classes:—

(1) Mechanical brakes, worked by springs, friction wheels on the axle, chains wound on drums, or other mechanical devices, or by the force produced when, by reason of a sudden checking of the speed of the locomotive, the momentum of the cars causes pressure on the draw-bars or buffing devices. (2) Hydraulic brakes, worked by means of water forced through pipes into proper mechanism for transmitting its force to the brake-shoes. (3) Electric brakes. (4) Air and vacuum brakes, worked by compressed air or by air at atmospheric pressure operating on a vacuum. (5) Brakes worked by steam or water from the boiler of the engine, operating by means of a cylinder; the use of these is generally limited to the locomotive. Of this kind is the counter-pressure or water brake of L. le Chatelier. If the valve gear of a locomotive in motion be reversed and the steam regulator be left open, the cylinders act as compressors, pumping air from the exhaust pipe into the boiler against the steam pressure. A retarding effect is thus exercised, but at the cost of certain inconveniences due to the passage of hot air and cinders from the smoke box through the cylinders. To remedy these, le Chatelier arranged that a jet of hot water from the boiler should be delivered into the exhaust pipe, so that steam and not the hot flue gases should be pumped back.

Power brakes may be either continuous or independent—continuous if connected throughout the train and with the locomotive by pipes, wires, &c., as the compressed air, vacuum and electric brakes; independent if not so connected, as the buffer-brakes and hand-brakes. Continuous brakes may be divided into two other great classes—automatic and non-automatic. The former are so arranged that they are applied automatically on all the coaches of the train if any important part of the apparatus is broken, or the couplings between cars are ruptured; in an emergency they can be put on by the guard, or (in some cases) by a passenger. Non-automatic brakes can be applied only by the person (usually the engine-driver) to whom the management of them is given; they may become inoperative on all the coaches, and always on those which have become detached, if a coupling or other important and generally essential part is broken. Many mechanical and several hydraulic and electrical continuous brakes have been invented and tried; but experience has shown them so inadequate in practice that they have all practically disappeared, leaving the field to the air and the vacuum brakes. At first these were non-automatic, but in 1872 the automatic air-brake was invented by George Westinghouse, and the automatic vacuum-brake was developed a few years later.

Those respects in which non-automatic brakes are inadequate will be understood from the following summary of the requirements most important in a train-braking apparatus: (1) It must be capable of application to every wheel throughout the train. (2) It must be so prompt in action that the shortest possible time shall elapse between its first application and the moment when the full power can be exerted throughout the train. (3) It must be capable of being applied by the engine-driver or by any of the officials in charge of the train, either in concert or independently. (4) The motion of the train must be arrested in the shortest possible distance. (5) The failure of a vital part must declare itself by causing the brake to be applied and to remain applied until the cause of failure is removed. (6) The breaking of the train in two or more parts must cause immediate automatic application of the brakes on all the coaches. (7) When used in ordinary service stops it must be capable of gradual and uniform application (followed, if necessary, by a full emergency application at any part of the service application) and of prompt release under all conditions of application. (8) It must be simple in operation and construction, not liable to derangement, and inexpensive in maintenance.

The Westinghouse non-automatic or “straight” air-brake, patented in 1869, consists in its simplest form of a direct-acting, steam-driven air-pump, carried on the locomotive, which forces compressed air into a reservoir, usually placed under the foot-plate of the locomotive. From this reservoir a pipe is led through the engine cab, where it is fitted with a three-way cock, to the rear of the locomotive tender, where it terminates in a flexible hose, on the end of which is a coupling. The coaches are furnished with a similar pipe, having hose and coupling at each end, which communicates with one end of a cylinder containing a piston, to the rod of which the brake-rods and levers are connected. The application of the brakes is effected by the engine-driver turning the three-way cock, so that compressed air flows through the pipe and, acting against one side of the brake-cylinder piston, applies the brake-shoes to the wheels by the movement of this piston and the rods and levers connected to it. To release the brakes the three-way cock is turned to cut off communication between the main reservoir and the train-pipe, and to open a port permitting the escape of the compressed air in the train-pipe and brake-cylinders. This brake was soon found defective and inadequate in many ways. An appreciable time was required for the air to flow through the pipes from the locomotive to the car-cylinders, and this time increased quickly with the length of the trains. Still more objectionable, however, was the fact that on detached coaches the air-brakes could not be applied, the result being sometimes serious collisions between the front and rear portions of the train.

In the Westinghouse “ordinary” automatic air-brake a main air reservoir on the engine is kept charged with compressed air at 80 ℔ per sq. in. by means of the steam-pump, which may be controlled by an automatic governor. On electric railways a pump, driven by an electric motor, is generally employed; but occasionally, on trains which run short distances, no pump is carried, the main reservoir being charged at the terminal points with sufficient compressed air for the journey. Conveniently placed to the driver’s hand is the driver’s valve, by means of which he controls the flow of air from the main reservoir to the train-pipe, or from the train-pipe to the atmosphere. A reducing-valve is attached to the driver’s valve, and in the normal or running position of the latter reduces the pressure of the air flowing from the main reservoir to the train-pipe by 10 or 15 ℔ per sq. in. From the engine a train-pipe runs the whole length of the train, being rendered continuous between each vehicle and between the engine and the rest of the train by flexible hose couplings. Each vehicle is provided with a brake-cylinder H (fig. 1), containing a piston, the movement of which applies the brake blocks to the wheels, an “auxiliary air-reservoir” G, and an automatic “triple-valve” F. The auxiliary reservoir receives compressed air from the train-pipe and stores it for use in the brake-cylinder of its own vehicle, and both the auxiliary reservoir and the triple-valve are connected directly or indirectly with the train-pipe through the pipe E. The automatic action of the brake is due to the construction of the triple-valve, the principal parts of which are a piston and slide-valve, so arranged that the air in the auxiliary reservoir acts at all times on the side of the piston to which the slide-valve is attached, while the air in the train-pipe exerts its pressure on the opposite side. So long as the brakes are not in operation, the pressures in the train-pipe, triple-valve and auxiliary reservoir are all equal, and there is no compressed air in the brake-cylinder. But when, in order to apply the brake, the driver discharges air from the train-pipe, this equilibrium is destroyed, and the greater pressure in the auxiliary reservoir forces the triple-valve to a position which allows air from the auxiliary reservoir to pass directly into the brake-cylinder. This air forces out the piston of the brake-cylinder and applies the brakes, connexion being made with the brake-rigging at R. The purpose of the small groove n which establishes communication between the two sides of the piston when the brakes are off, is to prevent their unintended application through slight leakage from the train-pipe. To release the brakes, the driver, by moving the handle of his valve to the release position, admits air from the main reservoir to the train-pipe, the pressure in which thus becomes greater than that in the auxiliary reservoir; the piston and slide-valve of the triple-valve are thereby forced back to their normal position, the compressed air in the brake-cylinder is discharged, and the piston is brought back by the coiled spring, thus releasing the brakes. At the same time the auxiliary reservoir is recharged.

With this “ordinary” brake, since an appreciable time is required for the reduction of pressure to travel along the train-pipe from the engine, the brakes are applied sensibly sooner at the front than at the end of the train, and with long trains this difference in the time of application becomes a matter of importance. The “quick-acting” brake was introduced to remedy this defect. For it the triple valve is provided with a supplementary mechanism, which, when the air pressure in the train-pipe is suddenly or violently reduced, opens a passage whereby air from the train-pipe is permitted to enter the brake-cylinder directly. The result is twofold: not only is the pressure from the auxiliary reservoir acting in the brake-cylinder reinforced by the pressure in the train-pipe, but the pressure in the train-pipe is reduced locally in every vehicle in extremely rapid succession instead of at the engine only, and in consequence all the brakes are applied almost simultaneously throughout the train. The same effect is produced should the train break in two, or a hose or any part of the train-pipe burst; but during ordinary or “service” stops the triple-valve acts exactly as in the ordinary brake, the quick-acting portion, that is, the vertical piston and valve seen in fig. 1, not coming into operation. When the handle Z is turned to the position X the quick-acting mechanism is rendered inoperative, and when it is at Y the brake on the vehicle concerned is wholly cut out of action.

A further improvement introduced in the Westinghouse brake in 1906 was designed to give quick action for service as well as emergency stops. In this the triple-valve is substantially the same as in the ordinary brake. The additional mechanism of the quick-acting portion is dispensed with, but instead, a small chamber, normally containing air at atmospheric pressure, is provided on each vehicle, and is so arranged that it is put into communication with the train-pipe by the first movement of the triple-valve. As soon, therefore, as the driver, by lowering the pressure in the train-pipe, causes the triple-valve in the foremost vehicle of the train to operate, a certain quantity of air rushes out of the train-pipe into the small chamber; a further local reduction in the pressure of the train-pipe in that vehicle is thereby effected, and this almost instantaneously actuates the triple-valve of the succeeding vehicle, and so on throughout the train. In this way, on a train 1800 ft. long, consisting of sixty 30-ft. vehicles, the brake-blocks may be applied, with equal force, on the last vehicle about 2½ seconds later than on the first.

Brake-blocks can be applied, without skidding the wheels, with greater pressure at high speeds than at low. Advantage is taken of this fact in the design of the Westinghouse “high-speed” brake, invented in 1894, which consists of attachments enabling the pressure in the train-pipe and reservoirs to be increased at the will of the driver. The increased pressure acting in the brake-cylinder increases in the same proportion the pressure of the brake-shoes against the wheels. Attached to the brake cylinder is a valve for automatically reducing the pressure therein proportionately to the reduction in speed, until the maximum pressure under which the brakes are operated in making ordinary stops is reached, when this valve closes and the maximum safe pressure for operating the brakes at ordinary speeds is retained until a stop is made.

In the automatic vacuum-brake, the exhausting apparatus generally consists of a combined large and small ejector (a form of jet-pump) worked by steam and under the control of the driver, though sometimes a mechanical air-pump, driven from the crosshead of the locomotive, is substituted for the small ejector. These ejectors, of which the small one is at work continuously while the large one is only employed when it is necessary to create vacuum quickly, e.g. to take off the brakes after a short stop, produce in the train-pipe a vacuum equal to about 20 in. of mercury, or in other words reduce the pressure within it to about one-third of an atmosphere. The train-pipe extends the whole length of the train and communicates under each vehicle with a cylinder, to the piston of which, by suitable rods and levers, the brake-shoes are connected. The communication between the train-pipe and the cylinder is controlled by a ball-valve, one form of which is shown in fig. 2. The release-valve is for the purpose of withdrawing the ball from its seat when it is necessary to take off the brakes by hand; it is made air-tight by a small diaphragm, the pressure of which, when there is vacuum in the pipe, pulls in the spindle and allows the ball to fall freely into its seat. When air is exhausted through the train-pipe it travels out from below the piston direct, and from above it past the ball, which is thus forced off its seat, to roll back again when the exhaustion is complete. In this state of affairs the piston is held in equilibrium and the brake-blocks are free of the wheels. To apply them, air is admitted to the train-pipe, either purposely by the guard or driver, or accidentally by the rupture of the train-pipe or coupling-hose between the vehicles. The air passes to the lower side of the piston, but is prevented from gaining access to the upper side by the ball-valve which blocks the passage; hence the pressure becomes different on the two sides of the piston, which in consequence is forced upwards and thus applies the brakes. They are released by the re-establishment of equilibrium (by the use of the large ejector if necessary); when this is done the piston falls and the brakes drop off. The general arrangement of the apparatus is shown in fig. 2. To render the application of the brakes nearly simultaneous throughout a long train, the valve in the guard’s van is arranged to open automatically when the driver suddenly lets in air to the train-pipe. This valve has a small hole through its stem, and is secured at the top by a diaphragm to a small dome-like chamber, which is exhausted when a vacuum is created in the train-pipe. A gradual application destroys the vacuum in the chamber as quickly as in the pipe and the diaphragm remains unmoved; but with a sudden one the vacuum below the valve is destroyed more quickly, and with the difference of pressure the diaphragm lifts the valve and admits air. A rapid-acting valve (fig. 3) is sometimes interposed between the train-pipe and the cylinder on each vehicle. In the normal or running position, a vacuum is maintained below the valve A and above the diaphragm B, while the chamber below B and above A is at atmospheric pressure. For an emergency application of the brake, air is suddenly admitted to the train-pipe and thus to the lower side of A, and the pressure acting on the under side of B is sufficient to cause it to lift the valve A, and to admit air from the atmosphere, both to the brake-cylinder and the train-pipe, through the clappet-valve D, which also rises because of the difference of pressure on its two sides. In a graduated application, neither D nor A rises from its seat, but air from the train-pipe finds access to the brake-cylinder by passing around the peg C, which is so proportioned as to allow the necessary amount of air to enter the brake-cylinder, and so obtain simultaneous action of the brake throughout the train. When the handle E is turned so as to prevent the clappet D from rising, the rapid action is cut out and the brake acts as an ordinary vacuum automatic brake. A modification of the device for obtaining accelerated action, described above in connexion with the Westinghouse brake, is also applicable. Accelerating chambers, again containing air at atmospheric pressure, are provided on each vehicle and are connected with the train-pipe by valves which open as the vacuum in the latter begins to decrease with the operation of the driver’s valve. The air thus admitted into the train-pipe effects a still further local reduction of the vacuum, which is sufficient to actuate the accelerating valve of each next succeeding vehicle and is thus rapidly propagated throughout the train.

Famous tests of railway brakes were those made by Sir Douglas Galton and Mr George Westinghouse on the London, Brighton and South Coast railway, in England, in 1878, and by a committee of the Master Car Builders’ Association, near Burlington, Iowa, in 1886 and 1887. The object of the former series (for accounts of which see Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., 1878, 1879) was to determine the co-efficient of friction between the brake-shoe and the wheel, and between the wheel and rail at different velocities when the wheels were revolving and when skidded, i.e. stopped in their rotation and caused to slide. These experiments were the first of their kind ever undertaken, and for many years their results furnished most of the trustworthy data obtainable on the friction of motion. It was found that the co-efficient of friction between cast-iron shoes and steel-tired wheels increased as the speed of the train decreased, varying from 0.111 at 55 m. an hour to 0.33 when the train was just moving. It also decreased with the time during which the brakes were applied; thus at 20 m. an hour the co-efficient was at the beginning 0.182, after ten seconds 0.133, after twenty seconds 0.099. Generally speaking, especially at moderate speeds, the decrease in the co-efficient of friction due to time is less than the increase due to decrease of speed, although when the time is long the reverse may be true. When the wheels are skidded the retardation of the train is always reduced; therefore, for the greatest braking effect, the pressures on the brake-shoes should never be sufficient to cause the wheels to slide on the rails. The Burlington brake tests were undertaken to determine the practicability of using power brakes on long and heavy freight trains. In the 1886 tests there were five competitors—three buffer-brakes, one compressed-air brake, and one vacuum-brake. The tests comprised stops with trains of twenty-five and fifty vehicles, at 20 and 40 m. an hour, on the level and on gradients of 1 in 100. They demonstrated that the buffer-brakes were inadequate for long trains, and that considerable improvements in the continuous brakes, both compressed-air and vacuum, would be needed to make them act quickly enough to avoid excessive shocks in the rear vehicles. In 1887 the trials of the year before were repeated by the same committee, and at the same place. Trains of fifty vehicles, about 2000 ft. long and fitted with each brake, were again provided, and there were again five competitors, but they all entered continuous brakes—three compressed-air brakes, one vacuum and one electric. The results of the first day’s test of the train equipped with Westinghouse brakes are shown in Table I., the distances in which are the feet run by the train after the brakes were set, and the times the seconds that elapsed from the application of the brakes to full stop.

Table I.—Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars, 1887— Automatic Air-Brakes.

Speed in
Miles per
Hour. Distance in
Feet. Time in
Seconds. Equivalent Distance
at 20 m. and 40.

19½ 186 9¾ 196 · ·

19¼ 215 11 233 · ·

36½ 588 17 · · 693

The remarkable shortness of these stops is the more evident when they are compared with the best results obtained in 1886, as shown in Table II.

Table II.—Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars, 1886— Automatic Air-Brakes.

Speed in
Miles. Distance in
Feet. Time in
Seconds. Equivalent Distance
at 20 m. and 40.

23.5 424 17½ 307 · ·

20.3 354 16 340 · ·

40 922 22½ · · 922

40 927 22¾ · · 927

The time that elapsed between the application of the brakes on the engine and on the fiftieth vehicle was almost twice as great in 1886 as in 1887, being in the latter tests only five to six seconds, and in 1887 the stops were made in less than two-thirds the distance required in 1886. Still, violent shocks were caused by the rear vehicles running against those in front, before the brakes on the former were applied with sufficient force to hold them, and these shocks were so severe as to make the use of the brakes in practice impossible on long trains. When the triple-valves were actuated electrically, however, the stops were still further improved, as shown in Table III.

Table III.—Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars— Electric Application of Air-Brakes.

Speed in
Miles. Distance in
Feet. Time in
Seconds. Equivalent Distance
at 20 m. and 40.

21½ 160 7 139 · ·

23 183 8 138 · ·

38 475 14½ · · 519

36½ 460 14 · · 545

Although the same levers, shoes, rods and other connexions were used, there were no shocks in the fiftieth car of the train on any stop, whether on the level or on a gradient. The committee in charge reported that the best type of brake for long freight trains was one operated by air, in which the valves were actuated by electricity, but they expressed doubt of the practicability of using electricity on freight trains. The Westinghouse Company then proceeded to quicken the action of the triple-valve, operated by air only, so that stops with fifty-car trains could be made without shock, and without electrically operated valves; and they were so successful in this respect that, towards the end of the same year, 1887, with a train of fifty vehicles, stops were made without shock, fully equalling in quickness and shortness of distance run any that had been made at the trials by the electrically operated brakes.

In 1889 some further tests were made by Sir Douglas Galton with the automatic vacuum-brake, on a practically level portion of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire railway (now the Great Central). The train was composed of an engine, tender and forty carriages, the total length over buffers being 1464 ft., and the total weight 574 tons, of which 423 tons were braked. At a speed of about 32 m. an hour this train was brought to a standstill in twelve seconds after the application of the brakes, in a distance of 342 ft.

BRAKELOND, JOCELYN DE (fl. 1200), English monk, and author of a chronicle narrating the fortunes of the monastery of Bury St Edmunds between 1173 and 1202. He is only known to us through his own work. He was a native of Bury St Edmunds; he served his novitiate under Samson of Tottington, who was at that time master of the novices, but afterwards sub-sacrist, and, from 1182, abbot of the house. Jocelyn took the habit of religion in 1173, during the time of Abbot Hugo (1157-1180), through whose improvidence and laxity the abbey had become impoverished and the inmates dead to all respect for discipline. The fortunes of the abbey changed for the better with the election of Samson as Hugo’s successor. Jocelyn, who became abbot’s chaplain within four months of the election, describes the administration of Samson at considerable length. He tells us that he was with Samson night and day for six years; the picture which he gives of his master, although coloured by enthusiastic admiration, is singularly frank and intimate. It is all the more convincing since Jocelyn is no stylist. His Latin is familiar and easy, but the reverse of classical. He thinks and writes as one whose interests are wrapped up in his house; and the unique interest of his work lies in the minuteness with which it describes the policy of a monastic administrator who was in his own day considered as a model.

Jocelyn has also been credited with an extant but unprinted tract on the election of Abbot Hugo (Harleian MS. 1005, fo. 165); from internal evidence this appears to be an error. He mentions a (non-extant) work which he wrote, before the Cronica, on the miracles of St Robert, a boy whom the Jews of Bury St Edmunds were alleged to have murdered (1181).

See the editions of the Cronica Jocelini de Brakelonda by T. Arnold (in Memorials of St Edmund’s Abbey, vol. i. Rolls series, 1890), and by J.G. Rokewood (Camden Society, 1840); also Carlyle’s Past and Present, book ii. A translation and notes are given in T.E. Tomlin’s Monastic and Social Life in the Twelfth Century in the Chronicle of Jocelyn de Brakelond (1844). There is also a translation of Jocelyn by Sir E. Clarke (1907).

BRAMAH, JOSEPH (1748-1814), English engineer and inventor, was the son of a farmer, and was born at Stainborough, Yorkshire, on the 13th of April 1748. Incapacitated for agricultural labour by an accident to his ankle, on the expiry of his indentures he worked as a cabinet-maker in London, where he subsequently started business on his own account. His first patent for some improvements in the mechanism of water-closets was taken out in 1778. In 1784 he patented the lock known by his name, and in 1795 he invented the hydraulic press. For an important part of this, the collar which secured water-tightness between the plunger and the cylinder in which it worked, he was indebted to Henry Maudslay, one of his workmen, who also helped him in designing machines for the manufacture of his locks. In 1806 he devised for the Bank of England a numerical printing machine, specially adapted for bank-notes. Other inventions of his included the beer-engine for drawing beer, machinery for making aerated waters, planing machines, and improvements in steam-engines and boilers and in paper-making machinery. In 1785 he suggested the possibility of screw propulsion for ships, and in 1802 the hydraulic transmission of power; and he constructed waterworks at Norwich in 1790 and 1793. He died in London on the 9th of December 1814.

BRAMANTE, or Bramante Lazzari (c. 1444-1514), Italian architect and painter, whose real name was Donate d’Augnolo, was born at Monte-Asdrualdo in Urbino, in July 1444. He showed a great taste for drawing, and was at an early age placed under Fra Bartolommeo, called Fra Carnavale. But though he afterwards gained some fame as a painter, his attention was soon absorbed by architecture. He appears to have studied under Scirro Scirri, an architect in his native place, and perhaps under other masters. He then set out from Urbino, and proceeded through several of the towns of Lombardy, executing works of various magnitudes, and examining patiently all remains of ancient art. At last, attracted by the fame of the great Duomo, he reached Milan, where he remained from 1476 to 1499. He seems to have left Milan for Rome about 1500. He painted some frescoes at Rome, and devoted himself to the study of the ancient buildings, both in the city and as far south as Naples. About this time the Cardinal Caraffa commissioned him to rebuild the cloister of the Convent della Pace. Owing to the celerity and skill with which Bramante did this, the cardinal introduced him to Pope Alexander VI. He began to be consulted on nearly all the great architectural operations in Rome, and executed for the pope the palace of the Cancelleria or chancery. Under Julius II., Alexander’s successor, Bramante’s talents began to obtain adequate sphere of exercise. His first large work was to unite the straggling buildings of the palace and the Belvedere. This he accomplished by means of two long galleries or corridors enclosing a court. The design was only in part completed before the death of Julius and of the architect. So impatient was the pope and so eager was Bramante, that the foundations were not sufficiently well attended to; great part of it had, therefore, soon to be rebuilt, and the whole is now so much altered that it is hardly possible to decipher the original design.

Besides executing numerous smaller works at Rome and Bologna, among which is specially mentioned by older writers a round temple in the cloister of San Pietro-a-Montorio, Bramante was called upon by Pope Julius to take the first part in one of the greatest architectural enterprises ever attempted—the rebuilding of St Peter’s. Bramante’s designs were complete, and he pushed on the work so fast that before his death he had erected the four great piers and their arches, and completed the cornice and the vaulting in of this portion. He also vaulted in the principal chapel. After his death on the 11th of March 1514, his design was much altered, in particular by Michelangelo.

See Pungileoni, Memoire intorno alla vita ed alle opere di Bramante (Rome, 1836); H. Semper, Donato Bramante (Leipzig, 1879).

BRAMPTON, HENRY HAWKINS, Baron (1817-1907), English judge, was born at Hitchin, on the 14th of September 1817. He received his education at Bedford school. The son of a solicitor, he was early familiarized with legal principles. Called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1843, he at once joined the old home circuit, and after enjoying a lucrative practice as a junior, took silk in 1859. His name is identified with many of the famous trials of the reign of Queen Victoria. He was engaged in the Simon Bernard case (of the Orsini plot celebrity), in that of Roupell v. Waite, and in the Overend-Gurney prosecutions. The two causes célèbres, however, in which Hawkins attained his highest legal distinction were the Tichborne trials and the great will case of Sugden v. Lord St Leonards. In both of these he was victorious. In the first his masterly cross-examination of the witness Baigent was one of the great features of the trial. He did a lucrative business in references and arbitrations, and acted for the royal commissioners in the purchase of the site for the new law courts. Election petitions also formed another branch of his extensive practice. Hawkins was raised to the bench in 1876, and was assigned to the then exchequer division of the High Court, not as baron (an appellation which was being abolished by the Judicature Act), but with the title of Sir Henry Hawkins. He was a great advocate rather than a great lawyer. His searching voice, his manner, and the variety of his facial expression, gave him an enormous influence with juries, and as a cross-examiner he was seldom, if ever, surpassed. He was an excellent judge in chambers, where he displayed a clear and vigorous grasp of details and questions of fact. His knowledge of the criminal law was extensive and intimate, the reputation he gained as a “hanging” judge making him a terror to evil-doers; and the court for crown cases reserved was never considered complete without his assistance. In 1898 he retired from the bench, and was raised to the peerage under the title of Baron Brampton. He frequently took part in determining House of Lords appeals, and his judgments were distinguished by their lucidity and grasp. He held for many years the office of counsel to the Jockey Club, and as an active member of that body found relaxation from his legal and judicial duties at the leading race meetings, and was considered a capable judge of horses. In 1898 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1903 he presented, in conjunction with Lady Brampton (his second wife), the chapel of SS. Augustine and Gregory to the Roman Catholic cathedral of Westminster, which was consecrated in that year. In 1904 he published his Reminiscences. He died in London on the 6th of October 1907, and Lady Brampton in the following year.

BRAMPTON, a market town in the Eskdale parliamentary division of Cumberland, England, 9 m. E.N.E. of Carlisle, on a branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 2494. It is picturesquely situated in a narrow valley opening upon that of the Irthing. The town has an agricultural trade, breweries, and manufactures of cotton and tweeds. The neighbourhood is rich in historical associations. Two miles N.E. of Brampton is the castle of Naworth, a fine example of a Border fortress. It was built in the reign of Edward III., by a member of the family of Dacre, who for many generations had had their stronghold here. Overlooking a deep wooded ravine, with streams to the east and west, the great quadrangular castle was naturally defended except on the south, where it was rendered secure by a double moat and drawbridge. By marriage in 1577 with Lady Elizabeth Dacre it passed into the hands of William Howard, afterwards lord warden of the Marches, the “Belted Will” of Sir Walter Scott and the Border ballads, who acquired great fame by his victories over the Scottish moss-troopers. The castle, the walls of which have many secret passages and hiding-places, is inhabited, and in its hall are numerous fine pictures, including a portrait of Charles I. by Van Dyck. Not far distant is Lanercost Priory, where in 1169 an Augustinian monastery was established. In 1311 Robert Bruce and his army were quartered here, and the priory was pillaged in 1346 by David, king of Scotland. From this time its prosperity declined, and at its dissolution under Henry VIII. it consisted only of a prior and seven canons. The Early English church has a restored nave, but retains much fine carving. The chancel is ruined, but the interesting crypt is preserved.

BRAMWELL, GEORGE WILLIAM WILSHERE BRAMWELL, Baron (1808-1892), English judge, was born in London on the 12th of June 1808, being the eldest son of George Bramwell, of the banking firm of Dorrien, Magens, Dorrien & Mello. He was educated privately, and at the age of sixteen he entered Dorriens’ bank. In 1830 he gave up this business for the law, being admitted as a student at Lincoln’s Inn in 1830, and at the Inner Temple in 1836. At first he practised as a special pleader, but was eventually called to the bar at both Inns in 1838. He soon worked his way into a good practice both in London and the home circuit, his knowledge of law and procedure being so well recognized that in 1850 he was appointed a member of the Common Law Procedure Commission, which resulted in the Common Law Procedure Act of 1852. This act he drafted jointly with his friend Mr (afterwards Mr Justice) Willes, and thus began the abolition of the system of special pleading. In 1851 Lord Cranworth made Bramwell a queen’s counsel, and the Inner Temple elected him a bencher—he had ceased to be a member of Lincoln’s Inn in 1841. In 1853 he served on the royal commission to inquire into the assimilation of the mercantile laws of Scotland and England and the law of partnership, which had as its result the Companies Act of 1862. It was he who, during the sitting of this commission, suggested the addition of the word “limited” to the title of companies that sought to limit their liability, in order to prevent the obvious danger to persons trading with them in ignorance of their limitation of liability. As a queen’s counsel Bramwell enjoyed a large and steadily increasing practice, and in 1856 he was raised to the bench as a baron of the court of exchequer. In 1867, with Mr Justice Blackburn and Sir John Coleridge, he was made a member of the judicature commission. In 1871 he was one of the three judges who refused the seat on the judicial committee of the privy council to which Sir Robert Collier, in evasion of the spirit of the act creating the appointment, was appointed; and in 1876 he was raised to the court of appeal, where he sat till the autumn of 1881. As a puisne judge he had been conspicuous as a sound lawyer, with a strong logical mind unfettered by technicalities, but endowed with considerable respect for the common law. His rulings were always clear and decisive, while the same quality marked his dealings with fact, and, coupled with a straightforward, unpretentious manner, gave him great influence with juries. In the court of appeal he was perhaps not so entirely in his element as at nisi prius, but the same combination of sound law, strong common sense and clear expression characterized his judgments. His decisions during the three stages of his practical career are too numerous to be referred to particularly, although Ryder v. Wombwell (L. R. 3 Ex. 95); R. v. Bradshaw (14 Cox C. C. 84); Household Fire Insurance Company v. Grant (4 Ex. Div. 216); Stonor v. Fowle (13 App. Cas. 20), The Bank of England v. Vagliano Brothers (App. Cas. 1891) are good examples. Upon his retirement, announced in the long vacation of 1881, twenty-six judges and a huge gathering of the bar entertained him at a banquet in the Inner Temple hall. In December of the same year he was raised to the peerage, taking the title Baron Bramwell of Hever, from his home in Kent. In private life Bramwell had simple tastes and enjoyed simple pleasures. He was musical and fond of sports. He was twice married: in 1830 to Jane (d. 1836), daughter of Bruno Silva, by whom he had one daughter, and in 1861 to Martha Sinden. He died on the 9th of May 1892.

His younger brother, Sir Frederick Bramwell (1818-1903), was a well-known consulting engineer and “expert witness.”

At all times Lord Bramwell had been fond of controversy and controversial writing, and he wrote constant letters to The Times over the signature B. (he also signed himself at different times Bramwell, G.B. and L.L.). He joined in 1882 the Liberty and Property Defence League, and some of his writings after that date took the form of pamphlets published by that society.

BRAN, in Celtic legend, the name of (1) the hero of the Welsh Mabinogi of Branwen, who dies in the attempt to avenge his sister’s wrongs; he is the son of Llyr (= the Irish sea-god Ler), identified with the Irish Bran mac Allait, Allait being a synonym of Ler; (2) the son of Febal, known only through the 8th-century Irish epic, The Voyage of Bran (to the world below); (3) the dog of Ossian’s Fingal. Bran also appears as a historical name, Latinized as Brennus. See Kuno Meyer and D. Nutt, The Voyage of Bran (London, 1895).

BRAN, the ground husk of wheat, oats, barley or other cereals, used for feeding cattle, packing and other purposes (see Flour). The word occurs in French bren or bran, in the dialects of other Romanic languages, and also in Celtic, cf. Breton brenn, Gaelic bran. The New English Dictionary considers these Celtic forms to be borrowed from French or English. In modern French bren means filth, refuse, and this points to some connexion with Celtic words, e.g. Irish brean, manure. If so, the original meaning would be refuse. “Bran-new,” i.e. quite new, is now the common form of “brand-new,” that which is fresh from the “brand,” the branding-iron used for marking objects, &c.

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal’s paw), a limb of a tree; hence any offshoot, e.g. of a river, railway, &c., of a deer’s antlers, of a family or genealogical tree, and generally a subdivision or department, as in “a branch of learning.” The phrase, to destroy “root and branch,” meaning to destroy utterly, taken originally from Malachi iv. 1, was made famous in 1641 by the so-called “Root and Branch” Bill and Petition for the abolition of episcopal government, in which petition occurred the sentence, “That the said government, with all its dependencies, roots and branches, be destroyed.” Among technical senses of the word “branch” are: the certificate of proficiency given to pilots by Trinity House; and in siege-craft a length of trench forming part of a zigzag approach.

BRANCO, or Parima, a river of northern Brazil and tributary of the Rio Negro, formed by the confluence of the Takutú, or “Upper Rio Branco,” and Uraricoera, about 3° N. lat. and 60° 28′ W. long., and flowing south by west to a junction with the Negro. It has rapids in its upper course, but the greater part of its length of 348 m. is navigable for steamers of light draught. The Takutú rises in the Roraima and Coïrrit ranges on the Guiana frontier, while the Uraricoera rises in the Serra de Parima, on the Venezuelan frontier, and has a length of 360 m. before reaching the Branco. These are white water rivers, from which the Branco (white) derives its name, and at its junction with the Negro the two differently-coloured streams flow side by side for some distance before mingling.

BRANCOVAN, or Brancoveanu, the name of a family which has played an important part in the history of Rumania. It was of Servian origin and was connected with the family of Branko or Brankovich. Constantine Brancovan, the most eminent member of the family, was born in 1654, and became prince of Walachia in 1689. In consequence of his anti-Turkish policy of forming an alliance first with Austria and then with Russia, he was denounced to the Porte, deposed from his throne, brought under arrest to Constantinople and imprisoned (1710) in the fortress of Yedi Kuleh (Seven Towers). Here he was tortured by the Turks, who hoped thus to discover the fortune of £3,000,000, which Constantine was alleged to have amassed. He was beheaded with his four sons on the 26th of August 1714. His faithful friend Enake Vacarescu shared his fate. Constantine Brancovan became, through his tragic death, the hero of Rumanian popular ballads. His family founded and endowed the largest hospital in Walachia, the so-called Spital Brancovanescu.

See O.G. Lecca, Familiile Boereşti Române (Bucharest, 1899), p. 90, sqq.

(M. G.)

BRAND, JOHN (1744-1806), English antiquary, was born on the 19th of August 1744 at Washington, Durham, where his father was parish clerk. His early years were spent at Newcastle-on-Tyne with his uncle, a cordwainer, to whom he was apprentice in his fourteenth year. Showing promise, however, at Newcastle grammar school, friends interested themselves in him and assisted him to go to Oxford. It was not, however, until his twenty-eighth year that he matriculated at Lincoln College, but before this he had been ordained, holding in succession the curacies of Bolam, Northumberland, of St Andrew’s, Newcastle, and of Cramlington, 8 m. from the county town. He graduated in 1775 and two years later was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Having for a short time been under-usher at the Newcastle grammar school, the duke of Northumberland, a former patron, gave him in 1784 the rectory of the combined parishes of St Mary-at-Hill and St Mary Hubbard, London. Appointed secretary to the Society of Antiquaries in the same year, he was annually re-elected until his death in 1806. He was buried in the chancel of his church. His most important work is Observations on Popular Antiquities: including the whole of Mr Bourne’s “Antiquitates Vulgares,” with addenda to every chapter of that work. This was published in London in 1777, and after Brand’s death, a new edition embodying the MSS. left by him, was published by Sir Henry Ellis in 1813. Brand also published a poem entitled: On Illicit Love, written among the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, near Oxford (1775, Newcastle); The History and Antiquities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (2 vols., London, 1789), and many papers in the Archaeologia.

BRAND, SIR JOHN HENRY (1823-1888), president of the Orange Free State, was the son of Sir Christoffel Brand, speaker of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony. He was born at Cape Town on the 6th of December 1823, and was educated at the South African College in that city. Continuing his studies at Leiden, he took the degree of D.C.L. in 1845. He was called to the English bar from the Inner Temple in 1849, and practised as an advocate in the supreme court of the Cape of Good Hope from that year until 1863. In 1858 he was appointed professor of law in the South African College. He was elected president of the Orange Free State in 1863, and subsequently re-elected for five years in 1869, 1874, 1879 and 1884. In 1864 he resisted the pressure of the Basuto on the Free State boundary, and after vainly endeavouring to induce Moshesh, the Basuto chief, to keep his people within bounds, he took up arms against them in 1865. This first war ended in the treaty of Thaba Bosigo, signed on the 3rd of April 1866; and a second war, caused by the treachery of the Basuto, ended in the treaty of Aliwal North, concluded on the 12th of February 1869. In 1871 Brand was solicited by a large party to become president of the Transvaal, and thus unite the two Dutch republics of South Africa; but as the project was hostile to Great Britain he declined to do so, and maintained his constant policy of friendship towards England, where his merits were recognized in 1882 by the honour of the G.C.M.G. He died on the 14th of July 1888. (See Orange Free State: History.)

BRANDE, WILLIAM THOMAS (1788-1866), English chemist, was born in London on the 11th of January 1788. After leaving Westminster school, he was apprenticed, in 1802, to his brother, an apothecary, with the view of adopting the profession of medicine, but his bent was towards chemistry, a sound knowledge of which he acquired in his spare time. In 1812 he was appointed professor of chemistry to the Apothecaries’ Society, and delivered a course of lectures before the Board of Agriculture in place of Sir Humphry Davy, whom in the following year he succeeded in the chair of chemistry at the Royal Institution, London. His Manual of Chemistry, first published in 1819, enjoyed wide popularity, and among other works he brought out a Dictionary of Science, Literature and Art in 1842, on a new edition of which he was engaged when he died at Tunbridge Wells on the 11th of February 1866.

BRANDENBURG, the name of a margraviate and electorate which played an important part in German history, and afterwards grew into the kingdom of Prussia. During the early years of the Christian era, the district was inhabited by the Semnones, and afterwards by various Slavonic tribes, who were partially subdued by Charlemagne, but soon regained their independence. The history of Brandenburg begins when the German king, Henry the Fowler, defeated the Havelli, or Hevelli, and took their capital, Brennibor, from which the name Brandenburg is derived. It soon came under the rule of Gero, margrave of the Saxon east mark, who pressed the campaign against the Slavs with vigour, while Otto the Great founded bishoprics at Havelberg and Brandenburg. When Gero died in 965, his mark was divided into two parts, the northern portion, lying along both banks of the middle Elbe, being called the north or old mark, and forming the nucleus of the later margraviate of Brandenburg. After Otto the Great died, the Slavs regained much of their territory, Brandenburg fell again into their hands, and a succession of feeble margraves ruled only the district west of the Elbe, together with a small district east of that river.

A new era began in 1106 when Lothair, count of Supplinburg, became duke of Saxony. Aided by Albert the Bear, count of Ballenstädt, he renewed the attack on the Slavs, and in 1134 appointed Albert margrave of the north mark. The new margrave continued the work of Lothair, and about 1140 made a treaty with Pribislaus, the childless duke of Brandenburg, by which he was recognized as the duke’s heir. He took at once the title margrave of Brandenburg, but when Pribislaus died in 1150, a stubborn contest followed with Jazko, a relation of the late duke, which was terminated in 1157 in Albert’s favour. Albert was the real founder of Brandenburg. Under his rule Christianity and civilization were extended, bishoprics were restored and monasteries founded. The country was colonized with settlers from the lower Rhineland, land was brought under cultivation, forts were built, German laws and customs introduced, and gradually the woods and marshes were converted into lands of comparative fertility.

When Albert died in 1170, Brandenburg fell to his eldest son, Otto I. (c. 1130-1184), who compelled the duke of Pomerania to own his supremacy, and slightly increased by conquest the area of the mark. Otto’s son, Otto II., was the succeeding margrave, and having quarrelled with his powerful neighbour, Ludolf, archbishop of Magdeburg, was forced to own the archbishop’s supremacy over his allodial lands. He died in 1205, and was followed by his step-brother, Albert II. (c. 1174-1220), who assisted the emperor Otto IV. in various campaigns, but later transferred his allegiance to Otto’s rival, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, afterwards the emperor Frederick II. His sons, John I. and Otto III., ruled Brandenburg in common until the death of John in 1266, and their reign was a period of growth and prosperity. Districts were conquered or purchased from the surrounding dukes; the marriage of Otto with Beatrice, daughter of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, in 1253, added upper Lusatia to Brandenburg; and the authority of the margraves was extended beyond the Oder. Many monasteries and towns were founded, among them Berlin; the work of Albert the Bear was continued, and the prosperity of Brandenburg formed a marked contrast to the disorder which prevailed elsewhere in Germany. Brandenburg appears about this time to have fallen into three divisions—the old mark lying west of the Elbe, the middle mark between the Elbe and the Oder, and the new mark, as the newly conquered lands beyond the Oder began to be called. When Otto died in 1267, the area of the mark had been almost doubled, and the margraves had attained to an influential position in the Empire. The Sachsenspiegel, written before 1235, mentions the margrave as one of the electors, by virtue of the office of chamberlain, which had probably been conferred on Albert the Bear by the German king Conrad III.

In 1258 John and Otto had agreed upon a division of their lands, but the arrangement only took effect on Otto’s death in 1267, when John’s son, John II., received the electoral dignity, together with the southern part of the margraviate, which centred around Stendal, and Otto’s son, John III., the northern or Saltzwedel portion. John II.’s brother, Otto IV., who became elector in 1281, had passed his early years in struggles with the archbishop of Magdeburg, whose lands stretched like a wedge into the heart of Brandenburg. In 1280 he was wounded in the head with a dart, and as he retained there a part of the weapon for a year, he was called “Otto with the dart.” He secured the appointment of his brother Eric as archbishop of Magdeburg in 1283, and was afterwards engaged in various feuds. Songs attributed to him are found in F.H. von der Hagen’s Minnesinger. Otto was succeeded in 1309 by his nephew, Valdemar, who, assisted by other members of his family, conquered Pomerellen, which he shared with the Teutonic order in 1310, and held his own in a struggle with the kings of Poland, Sweden and Denmark and others, over the possession of Stralsund.

In order to pay for these wars, and to meet the expenses of a splendid court, the later margraves had sold various rights to the towns and provinces of Brandenburg, and so aided the development of local government. John III. of Saltzwedel had shared his possessions with his brothers, but in 1303 they were reunited by his nephew Hermann, who purchased lower Lusatia in the same year. Hermann’s daughter Agnes married the elector Valdemar, and on the death of her only brother, John VI., in 1317, the possessions of the Saltzwedel branch of the family passed to Valdemar, together with Landsberg and the Saxon Palatinate, which had been purchased from Albert the Degenerate, landgrave of Thuringia. Valdemar thus gathered the whole of the mark under his rule, together with upper and lower Lusatia, and various outlying districts. He died childless in 1319, and was succeeded by his nephew Henry II., who died in 1320, when the Ascanian family, as the descendants of Albert the Bear were called, from the Latinized form of the name of their ancestral castle of Aschersleben, became extinct.

Brandenburg now fell into a deplorable condition, portions were seized by neighbouring princes, and the mark itself was disputed for by various claimants. In 1323 King Louis IV. took advantage of this condition to bestow the mark upon his young son, Louis, and thus Brandenburg was added to the possessions of the Wittelsbach family, although Louis did not receive the extensive lands of the Ascanian margraves. Upper and lower Lusatia, Landsberg, and the Saxon Palatinate had been inherited by female members of the family, and passed into the hands of other princes, the old mark was retained by Agnes, the widow of Valdemar, who was married again to Otto II., duke of Brunswick, and the king was forced to acknowledge these claims, and to cede districts to Mecklenburg and Bohemia. During the early years of the reign of Louis, who was called the margrave Louis IV. or V., Brandenburg was administered by Bertold, count of Henneberg, who established the authority of the Wittelsbachs in the middle mark, which, centring round Berlin, was the most important part of the margraviate. The quarrel between King Louis and Pope John XXII. was inimical to the interests of Brandenburg, which was ravaged by the Poles, torn by the strife of contending clerical factions, and alternately neglected and oppressed by the margrave. Trade and commerce were at a standstill, agriculture was neglected, the privileges and estates of the margrave passed into private hands, the nobles were virtually independent, and the towns sought to defend themselves by means of alliances. During the struggle between the families of Wittelsbach and Luxemburg, which began in 1342, there appeared in Brandenburg an old man who claimed to be the margrave Valdemar. He was gladly received by the king of Poland, and other neighbouring princes, welcomed by a large number of the people, and in 1348 invested with the margraviate by King Charles IV., who eagerly seized this opportunity to deal a blow at his enemy. This step compelled Louis to make peace with Charles, who abandoned the false Valdemar, invested Louis and his step-brothers with Brandenburg, and in return was recognized as king. Louis recovered the old mark in 1348, drove his opponent from the land, and in 1350 made a treaty with his step-brothers, Louis the younger and Otto, at Frankfort-on-Oder, by which Brandenburg was handed over to Louis the younger and Otto. Louis, who then undertook the government, made peace with his neighbours, finally defeated the false Valdemar, and was recognized by the Golden Bull of 1356 as one of the seven electors. The emperor Charles IV. took advantage of a family quarrel over the possessions of Louis the elder, who died in 1361, to obtain a promise from Louis the younger and Otto, that the margraviate should come to his own son, Wenceslaus, in case the electors died childless. Louis the younger died in 1365, and when his brother Otto, who had married a daughter of Charles IV., wished to leave Brandenburg to his own family Charles began hostilities; but in 1373 an arrangement was made, and Otto, by the treaty of Fürstenwalde, abandoned the margraviate for a sum of 500,000 gold gulden.

Under the Wittelsbach rule, the estates of the various provinces of Brandenburg had obtained the right to coin money, to build fortresses, to execute justice, and to form alliances with foreign states. Charles invested Wenceslaus with the margraviate in 1373, but undertook its administration himself, and passed much of his time at a castle which he built at Tangermünde. He diminished the burden of taxation, suppressed the violence of the nobles, improved navigation on the Elbe and Oder, and encouraged commerce by alliances with the Hanse towns, and in other ways. He caused a Landbook to be drawn up in 1375, in which are recorded all the castles, towns and villages of the land with their estates and incomes. When Charles died in 1378, and Wenceslaus became German and Bohemian king, Brandenburg passed to the new king’s half-brother Sigismund, then a minor, and a period of disorder ensued. Soon after Sigismund came of age, he pledged a part of Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia, to whom in 1388 he handed over the remainder of the electorate in return for a large sum of money, and as the money was not repaid, Jobst obtained the investiture in 1397 from King Wenceslaus. Sigismund had also obtained the new mark on the death of his brother John in 1396, but sold this in 1402 to the Teutonic order. Jobst paid very little attention to Brandenburg, and the period was used by many of the noble families to enrich themselves at the expense of the poorer and weaker towns, to plunder traders, and to carry on feuds with neighbouring princes. When in 1410 Sigismund and Jobst were rivals for the German throne, Sigismund, anxious to obtain another vote in the electoral college, declared the bargain with Jobst void, and empowered Frederick VI. of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuremberg, to exercise the Brandenburg vote at the election. (See Frederick I., Elector of Brandenburg.) In 1411 Jobst died and Brandenburg reverted to Sigismund, who appointed Frederick as his representative to govern the margraviate, and a further step was taken when, on the 30th of April 1415, the king invested Frederick of Hohenzollern and his heirs with Brandenburg, together with the electoral privilege and the office of chamberlain, in return for a payment of 400,000 gold gulden, but the formal ceremony of investiture was delayed until the 18th of April 1417, when it took place at Constance.

During the century which preceded the advent of the Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg its internal condition had become gradually worse and worse, and had been accompanied by a considerable loss of territory. The central power had become weakened and the central organization relaxed, while the electorate had lost most of the advantages which formerly distinguished it from other German fiefs. Under the rule of the earliest margraves, it was the official side of their position that was prominent, and it was not forgotten that they were technically only the representatives of the emperor. But in the 13th century this feeling began to disappear, and Brandenburg enjoyed an independence and carried out an independent policy in a way that was not paralleled by any other German state. The emperor was still suzerain indeed, but his relations with the mark were so insignificant that they exercised practically no influence on its development; and so the power of the Ascanian margraves was virtually unlimited. This independence was enhanced by the fact that few great nobles had followed Albert the Bear in his work of conquest, and that consequently there were few large lordships with their crowd of dependents. The towns, the village communities and the knights held their lands and derived their rights directly from the margraves. The towns and villages had generally been laid out by contractors or locatores, men not necessarily of noble birth, who were installed as hereditary chief magistrates of the communities, and received numerous encouragements to reclaim waste lands. This mode of colonization was especially favourable to the peasantry, who seem in Brandenburg to have retained the disposal of their persons and property at a time when villenage or serfdom was the ordinary status of their class elsewhere. The dues paid by these contractors in return for the concessions formed the main source of the revenue of the margraves. Gradually, however, the expenses of warfare, liberal donations to the clergy, and the maintenance of numerous and expensive households, compelled them to pledge these dues for sums of ready money. This proceeding gave the barons and knights an opportunity to buy out the village magistrates and to replace them with nominees of their own. Thus the condition of the peasants grew worse, and their freedom was practically destroyed when the emperor Louis IV. recognized the jurisdiction of the nobles over their estates. Henceforth the power of the nobles steadily increased at the expense of the peasants, who soon sank into servitude. Instead of communicating directly with the margrave through his burgraves and bailiffs, or vogts, the village communities came to be represented by the nobles who had obtained possession of their lands. Many of the towns were forced into the same position. Others were able to maintain their independence, and to make use of the pecuniary needs of the margraves to become practically municipal republics. Their strength, however, was perhaps more usefully shown in their ability to resist the nobles, a proceeding which saved industry and commerce from extinction at a time of unbridled lawlessness. In the pecuniary embarrassments of the margraves also originated the power of the Stände, or estates, consisting of the nobles, the clergy and the towns. The first recorded instance of the Stände co-operating with the rulers occurred in 1170; but it was not till 1280 that the margrave solemnly bound himself not to raise a bede or special voluntary contribution without the consent of the estates. In 1355 the Stände secured the appointment of a permanent councillor, without whose concurrence the decrees of the margraves were invalid. In the century which followed the extinction of the Ascanian house, liberty degenerated into licence, and the country was given over to anarchy. Only the most powerful towns were able to maintain their independence; others, together with the clergy, regularly paid blackmail to the neighbouring nobles. Under these conditions it is no wonder that the electorate not only completely lost its political importance, but also suffered a considerable diminution of territory. Upper and lower Lusatia, the new mark of Brandenburg, and other outlying districts had been shorn away, and the electorate now consisted of the old mark, the middle mark with Priegnitz, Uckermark and Sternberg, a total area of not more than 10,000 sq.m.

Such was the condition and extent of Brandenburg in 1411 when Frederick of Hohenzollern became the representative of King Sigismund therein. Entering the electorate with a strong force in June 1412, his authority was quickly recognized in the middle mark, but the nobles of the old mark and of Priegnitz refused to follow this example. The two succeeding years were skilfully used by Frederick to make peace with the neighbouring princes, and having thus isolated his domestic enemies, he turned his arms against them early in 1414. Their strongholds were stormed, and in a few weeks their leaders were either prisoners or fugitives. A general peace was then declared at Tangermünde which enabled Frederick to leave the mark to the rule of his wife, Elizabeth, and to turn his attention elsewhere. Returning to Brandenburg as elector in 1416, the last flickers of the insurrection were extinguished; and when Frederick was invested at Constance in April 1417 his authority over the mark was undisputed. His next difficulty was with Pomerania, which had been nominally under the suzerainty of Brandenburg since 1181. The revival of this claim by the elector provoked an invasion of the mark by an army of Pomeranians with their allies in 1420, when Frederick inflicted a severe defeat upon them at Angermünde; but in 1424 a temporary coolness between the elector and the emperor Sigismund led to a renewal of the attack which Frederick was unable to repulse. This reverse, together with the pressure of other business, induced him to leave Brandenburg in January 1426, after handing over its government to his eldest son, John. John, called the “Alchemist,” who was born in 1403, had been disappointed in his hope of obtaining the vacant electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg in 1423. Lacking the diplomatic and military qualities of his father, his difficulties were augmented by the poverty of the country, and the evils which Frederick had suppressed quickly returned. The feeling of security vanished, the towns banded themselves together for defensive purposes, the rights of the margrave were again pledged to provide money, and in 1432 the land was ravaged by the Hussites. John never attained to the electoral dignity; for, in 1437, his father in arranging a division of his territories decided that Brandenburg should pass to his second and fourth sons, both of whom were named Frederick. The elder of the two took up the government at once, whereupon John left the mark for South Germany, where he remained until his death in 1464.

Frederick II., who became elector on his father’s death in September 1440, was born on the 19th of November 1413, and earned the surname of “Iron” through his sternness to his country’s enemies. He had little difficulty in repressing the turbulence of the nobles which had been quickened into life during the regency of his brother, but found it less easy to deal with the towns. Three strong leagues had been formed among them about 1431, and the spirit of municipal independence was most prominently represented by the neighbouring and allied towns of Berlin and Cöln. In his conflict with the towns over his refusal to ratify all their privileges the elector’s task was lightened by a quarrel between the magistrates and the burghers of Berlin, which he was called in to decide in 1442. He deposed the governing oligarchy, changed the constitution of the town, forbade all alliances and laid the foundations of a castle. The inhabitants soon chafed under these restrictions. A revolt broke out in 1447, but the power of the elector overawed the people, who submitted their case to the estates, with the result that the arrangement of 1442 was re-established. In 1447 Frederick was compelled to cede the old mark and Priegnitz to his younger brother, Frederick, under whose feeble rule they quickly fell into disorder. In 1463, however, when the younger Frederick died childless, the elector united them again with his own possessions and took measures to suppress the prevailing anarchy. In his dealings with neighbouring rulers Frederick pursued a peaceful and conciliatory policy. In 1442 he obtained some small additions to his territory, and the right of succession to the duchy of Mecklenburg in case the ducal family should die out. In 1445 an old feud with the archbishop of Magdeburg was settled, and in 1457 a treaty of mutual succession was made with the houses of Saxony and Hesse. Cottbus and Peitz in Lusatia were acquired, and retained after a quarrel with George Podiebrad, king of Bohemia, and the new mark of Brandenburg was purchased from the Teutonic order in 1454. An attempt, however, to secure the duchy of Pomerania-Stettin failed, and the concluding years of this reign were troubled by warfare with the Pomeranians.

The general success of Frederick’s rule was secured by the sedulous care with which he confined himself to the work of government. He is said to have refused the thrones of Poland and Bohemia; and although he made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Rome, his interest in ecclesiastical questions was mainly directed towards quickening the religious life of his people. He obtained important concessions from Pope Nicholas V. with regard to the appointment of bishops and other ecclesiastical matters in 1447, and in general maintained cordial relations with the papacy. About 1467 his only son, John, died, and increasing infirmity led him to contemplate abdication. An arrangement was made with his brother, Albert Achilles, to whom early in 1470 the mark was handed over, and Frederick retired to Plassenburg where he died on the 10th of February 1471.

Albert appeared in Brandenburg early in the same year, and after receiving the homage of his people took up the struggle with the Pomeranians, which he soon brought to a satisfactory conclusion; for in May 1472 he not only obtained the cession of several districts, but was recognized as the suzerain of Pomerania and as its future ruler. The expenses of this war led to a quarrel with the estates. A subsidy was granted which the elector did not regard as adequate, and by a dexterous use of his power he established his right to take an excise on beer. Albert’s most important contribution to the history of Brandenburg was the issue on the 24th of February 1473 of the Dispositio Achillea. By this instrument the elector decreed that the electoral mark should pass in its entirety to his eldest son, an establishment of primogeniture which had considerable influence on the future development of the country. He then entrusted the government to his eldest son, John, and left Brandenburg. Handicapped by poverty, John had to face attacks from two quarters. The Pomeranians, inspired by the declaration of the emperor Frederick III. that their land was a direct fief of the Empire, and aided by Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, took up arms; and a quarrel broke out with John, duke of Sagan, over the possessions of John’s brother-in-law, Henry XI., duke of Glogau. To deal with these difficulties Albert returned to Brandenburg in 1478, and during his stay drove back the Pomeranians, and added Crossen and other parts of duke Henry’s possessions to the electorate. Again left in charge of the country, John beat back a fresh attack made by John of Sagan in 1482; and he became elector on his father’s death in March 1486. He added the county of Zossen to his possessions in 1490, and in 1493 made a fresh treaty with the duke of Pomerania. Although he brought a certain degree of order into the finances, his poverty and the constant inroads of external enemies prevented him from seriously improving the condition of the country. John, who was called “Cicero,” either on account of his eloquence, or of his knowledge of Latin, was interested in learning, welcomed Italian scholars to the electorate, and strove to improve the education of his people. He died at Arneburg on the 9th of January 1499, and was succeeded by his son Joachim I.

When Joachim undertook the government of Brandenburg he had to deal with an amount of disorder almost as great as that which had taxed the energies of Frederick I. a century before. Highway robbery was general, the lives and property of traders were in continual jeopardy, and the machinery for the enforcement of the laws was almost at a standstill. About 1504 an attack of unusual ferocity on some Frankfort traders aroused the elector’s wrath, and during the next few years the execution of many lawbreakers and other stern measures restored some degree of order. In this and in other ways Joachim proved himself a sincere friend to the towns and a protector of industry. Following the economic tendencies of the time he issued sumptuary laws and encouraged manufactures; while to suppress the rivalry among the towns he established an order of precedence for them. Equally important was his work in improving the administration of justice, and in this direction he was aided by scholars from the university which he had founded at Frankfort-on-Oder in 1506. He gave a new organization to the highest court of justice, the Kammergericht, secured for himself an important voice in the choice of its members, and ordered that the local law should be supplemented by the law of Rome. He did not largely increase the area of Brandenburg, but in 1524 he acquired the county of Ruppin, and in 1529 he made a treaty at Grimnitz with George and Barnim XI., dukes of Pomerania, by which he surrendered the vexatious claim to suzerainty in return for a fresh promise of the succession in case the ducal family should become extinct. Joachim’s attitude towards the teaching of Martin Luther which had already won many adherents in the electorate, was one of unrelenting hostility. The Jews also felt the weight of his displeasure, and were banished in 1510.

Ignoring the Dispositio Achillea, the elector bequeathed Brandenburg to his two sons. When he died in July 1535 the elder, Joachim II., became elector, and obtained the old and middle marks, while the younger, John, received the new mark. John went definitely over to the side of the Lutherans in 1538, while Joachim allowed the reformed doctrines free entrance into his dominions in 1539. The elector, however, unlike his brother, did not break with the forms of the Church of Rome, but established an ecclesiastical organization independent of the pope, and took up a position similar to that of King Henry VIII. in England. Many of the monasteries were suppressed, a consistory was set up to take over the functions of the bishops and to act as the highest ecclesiastical court of the country. In 1541 the new ecclesiastical system was confirmed by the emperor Charles V. With regard to this policy the elector was probably influenced by considerations of greed. The bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelberg and Lebus were secularized; their administration was entrusted to members of the elector’s family; and their revenues formed a welcome addition to his impoverished exchequer. Nor did Joachim neglect other opportunities for adding to his wealth and possessions. In 1537 he had concluded a treaty with Frederick III., duke of Liegnitz, which guaranteed to the Hohenzollerns the succession to the Silesian duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau in the event of the ducal family becoming extinct; this arrangement is important as the basis of the claim made by Frederick the Great on Silesia in 1740. The treaty was declared invalid by the German king, Ferdinand I.; but the elector insisted on its legality, and in 1545 strengthened his position by arranging a double marriage between members of his own family and that of Duke Frederick. Of more immediate consequence was an arrangement made in 1569 with the representatives of Joachim’s kinsman, Albert Frederick, duke of Prussia, after which the elector obtained the joint investiture of the duchy of Prussia from Sigismund II., king of Poland, and was assured of the succession if the duke’s family became extinct. Joachim’s luxurious habits, his partiality for adventurers, and his delight in building, led him to incur such a heavy expenditure that after pledging many of his lands and rights he was compelled in 1540 to appeal for help to the estates. Taking advantage of his difficulties, the estates voted him a sum of money as the price of valuable concessions, the most important of which was that the elector should make no alliance without their consent. Fresh liabilities were soon incurred, and in spite of frequent contributions from the estates Joachim left at his death in January 1571 a heavy burden of debt to his son and successor, John George.

The elector’s death was followed ten days later by that of his brother, John, and as John left no sons the whole of Brandenburg, together with the districts of Beeskow and Storkow which had been added by purchase to the new mark, were united under the rule of his nephew, John George. Born on the 11th of September 1525 this prince had served in the field under Charles V., and, disliking his father’s policy and associates, had absented himself from Berlin, and mainly confined his attention to administering the secularized bishopric of Brandenburg which he had obtained in 1560. When he became elector he hastened to put his ideas into practice. His father’s favourites were exiled; foreigners were ousted from public positions and their places taken by natives; and important economies were effected, which earned for John George the surname of Oekonom, or steward. To lighten the heavy burden of debt left by Joachim the elector proposed a tax on wheat and other cereals. Some opposition was shown, but eventually the estates of both divisions of the mark assented; only, however at the price of concessions to the nobles, predominant in the diet, which thrust the peasantry into servitude. Thus the rule of John George was popular with the nobles, and to some extent with the towns. Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands were encouraged to settle in Brandenburg, and a period of peace was beneficial to a land, the condition of which was still much inferior to that of other parts of Germany. In religion the elector was a follower of Luther, whose doctrines were prevalent among his people. He had accepted the Formula Concordiae, a Lutheran document promulgated in June 1580, and sought to prevent any departure from its tenets. His dislike of Calvinism, or his antipathy to external complications, however, prevented him from taking any serious steps to defend Protestantism from the attacks of the counter-reformation. He did indeed join the league of Torgau, which voted assistance to Henry IV. of France in 1591; but he refused to aid the United Provinces, or even to give assistance to his eldest son, Joachim Frederick, administrator of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, whose claim to sit and vote in the imperial diet was contested, or to his grandson, John George, whose election to the bishopric of Strassburg was opposed by a Roman Catholic minority in the chapter. This indifference to the welfare of the Protestants added to the estrangement between the elector and his eldest son, which was further accentuated when John George, ignoring the Dispositio Achillea, bequeathed the new mark to one of his younger sons. He died on the 8th of January 1598.

Joachim Frederick, who now became elector, was born on the 27th of January 1546. Since 1553 he had held the bishopric of Havelberg, since 1555 that of Lebus; he had been administrator of Magdeburg since 1566, and of Brandenburg since 1571. Resigning these dignities in 1598, he contested his father’s will, and was successful in preventing a division of the electorate. An agreement with George Frederick, the childless margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth, paved the way for an arrangement with the elector’s younger brothers, who after the margrave’s death in April 1603, shared his lands in Franconia, and were compensated in other ways for surrendering all claims on Brandenburg. This agreement, known as the Gera Bond, ratified the Dispositio Achillea. By George Frederick’s death, Joachim became administrator of the duchy of Prussia, ruled nominally by the weak-minded Albert Frederick, but he had some difficulty in asserting his position. In Brandenburg he made concessions to the nobles at the expense of the peasantry, and admitted the right of the estates to control taxation. In religious matters he was convinced of the necessity of a union between Lutherans and Calvinists, and took steps to bring this about. Public opinion, however, in Brandenburg was too strong for him, and he was compelled to fall back upon the Lutheran Formula and the religious policy of his father. Joachim seems to have been a wise ruler, who improved in various ways the condition of the mark. He married Catherine, daughter of John, margrave of Brandenburg-Cüstrin, and when he died, on the 18th of July 1608, was succeeded by his eldest son John Sigismund.

The new elector, born on the 8th of November 1572, had married in 1594 Anna, daughter of Albert Frederick of Prussia, a union which not only strengthened the pretensions of the electors of Brandenburg to the succession in that duchy, but gave to John Sigismund a claim on the duchies of Cleves, Jülich and Berg, and other Rhenish lands should the ruling family become extinct. In March 1609 the death of Duke John William left these duchies without a ruler, and by arrangement they were occupied jointly by the elector and by his principal rival, Wolfgang, son of Philip Louis, count palatine of Neuburg. This proceeding aroused some opposition, and, complicated by religious considerations and by the excited state of European politics, almost precipitated a general war. However, in November 1614 the dispute was temporarily settled by the treaty of Xanten. Brandenburg obtained the duchy of Cleves with the counties of Mark and Ravensberg, but as the Dutch and Spanish garrisons were not withdrawn, these lands were only nominally under the elector’s rule. In 1609, John Sigismund had joined the Evangelical Union, probably to win support in the Rhineland, and the same consideration was doubtless one reason why, in 1613, he forsook the Lutheran doctrines of his family, and became an adherent of the reformed, or Calvinist, faith. This step aroused grave discontent in the electorate, and, quickly abandoning his attempts to proselytize, the elector practically conceded religious liberty to his subjects. Over the Cleves-Jülich succession, John Sigismund had incurred heavy expenses, and the public debt had again mounted up. He was thus obliged to seek aid from the estates, and in return for grants to make concessions to the nobles. The elector spent much of his time in Prussia striving to assert his authority in that duchy, and in August 1618, according to the arrangement of 1569, became duke by the death of Albert Frederick. He only enjoyed this dignity for a short time, as he died on the 23rd of December 1619. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George William.

The new elector, born on the 3rd of November 1597, proved a weak and incapable ruler. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick IV., elector palatine of the Rhine, and sister of the elector Frederick V., afterwards king of Bohemia, and before his accession had acted as his father’s representative in Cleves. Although a Protestant he was under the influence of Adam, count of Schwarzenberg, who was a Roman Catholic of imperialist sympathies. As a result the elector remained neutral during the early years of the Thirty Years’ War in spite of his relationship with Frederick of the Palatinate, and the obvious danger to his Rhenish lands. This attitude was not successful. Brandenburg was ravaged impartially by both parties, and in 1627 George William attacked his brother-in-law, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who was using Prussia as a base of operations for his war against Poland. This campaign was short and inglorious for Brandenburg, and the elector was soon compelled to make peace. Although alarmed by the edict of restitution of 1629, George William took no steps to help the Protestants. In 1631, however, Gustavus Adolphus marched on Berlin, compelled the elector to cede the fortress of Spandau, and to aid him with men and money. The Brandenburg troops then assisted the Swedes until after the death of Gustavus in 1632, and the Swedish defeat at Nördlingen in 1634, when the elector assented to the treaty of Prague, which was made in May 1635 between the emperor Ferdinand II. and John George I., elector of Saxony. The imperialists did nothing, however, to drive the Swedes from Brandenburg, and the unfortunate land was entirely at the mercy of the enemy. This was the principal reason why the elector was unable to annex Pomerania when its last duke, Bogislaus XIV., died in 1637. In 1638 George William transferred his residence to Königsberg, leaving Schwarzenberg to administer the electorate. Although his harsh measures aroused some irritation, the count did something to rid the land of the Swedes and to mitigate its many evils; but its condition was still very deplorable when George William died at Königsberg on the 1st of December 1640, leaving an only son, Frederick William. The most important facts in the internal history of Brandenburg during the 16th century were the increase in the power of the estates, owing chiefly to the continuous pecuniary needs of the electors; the gradual decline in the political importance of the towns, due mainly to intestine feuds; and the lapse of the peasantry into servitude. These events gave a preponderance of power to the nobles, but concurrently a number of circumstances were silently preparing the way for a great increase of authority on the part of the ruler. The substitution of the elector for the pope as head of the church; the introduction of Roman law with its emphasis on a central authority and a central administration; the determined and successful efforts to avoid any partition of the electorate; and the increasing tendency of the separate sections of the diet to act independently; all tended in this direction. This new order was heralded in 1604 by the establishment of a council of state, devoted to the interests of the elector, which strengthened his authority, and paved the way for a bureaucratic government.

When Frederick William, the “Great Elector,” became ruler of Brandenburg in 1640 he found the country in a very deplorable condition. Trade and agriculture were almost destroyed, and the inhabitants, compelled to support the Swedish army of occupation, suffered also from the disorderly conduct of the native soldiers. Although the young elector spent the two first years of his reign mainly in Prussia, he was by no means forgetful of Brandenburg, and began resolutely to root out the many evils which had sprung up during the feeble rule of his father. The powers of Schwarzenberg were curtailed; the state council was restored; and the licence of the soldiers was restrained, while their numbers were reduced. Then turning his attention to the Swedes a truce was arranged, and soon afterwards, in return for an indemnity, they agreed to evacuate the electorate. Having returned to Brandenburg in 1643, Frederick William remained neutral during the concluding years of the Thirty Years’ War, and set to work to organize an army and to effect financial reforms. About the same time diplomatic methods freed Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg from foreign troops, but the estates of these lands gained a temporary victory when the elector attacked their privileges. However, in 1647 his title was formally admitted by Wolfgang, count palatine of Neuburg.

The terms of the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 are the best commentary on the general success of the elector’s policy. Although he was obliged to give up his claim to the western part of Pomerania in favour of Sweden, he secured the eastern part of that duchy, together with the secularized bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden and Kammin, and other lands, the whole forming a welcome addition to the area of Brandenburg. He was also promised the archbishopric of Magdeburg when its administrator, Augustus, duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, should die. This event happened in 1680 when he secured the lands of the archbishopric. The elector did not, however, take possession of the newly-acquired territories at once. Fresh difficulties arose with Sweden, and it was not until 1653 that eastern Pomerania was freed from her soldiers. Meanwhile a new quarrel had broken out with Wolfgang of Neuburg. In 1650 Frederick William attacked his rival, but a variety of circumstances, among others a change of government in the Netherlands, and the resistance of the estates of Cleves, thwarted his plans, and he was compelled to listen to the mediating powers, and to acquiesce in the status quo.

Profiting by these reverses the elector then undertook a series of internal reforms, tending to strengthen the central authority, and to mitigate the constant lack of money, which was perhaps his chief obstacle to success; a work in which he was aided by George, count of Waldeck (1620-1692), who became his chief adviser about this time. In 1651 the powers of the state council were extended to include all the lands under the elector’s rule; and a special committee was appointed to effect financial economies, and so to augment the electoral resources. In imperial politics Frederick William supported the election of Ferdinand, son of the emperor Ferdinand III., as king of the Romans in 1653; but when the emperor failed to fulfil his promises, influenced by Waldeck, he acted in opposition to the imperial interests, and even formed a plan for a great alliance against the Habsburgs. These projects were disturbed by the war which broke out in 1655 between Sweden and Poland. In this struggle the elector fought first on one side and then on the other; but the important consequences of his conduct belong rather to the history of the duchy of Prussia (q.v.). The transfer of the elector’s support from Sweden to Poland in 1656 was followed by the fall from power of Waldeck, who was succeeded by Otto von Schwerin (1616-1679), under whose influence the elector’s relations with the emperor became more cordial.

The increase in the prestige of Brandenburg was due chiefly to his army, which was gradually brought to a high state of efficiency. A proper organization was established to superintend the pay and maintenance of the soldiers, and they were commanded by experienced officers, among others by Georg Derfflingen (1606-1695), and Otto von Sparr (1605-1668). The general poverty, however, made the estates reluctant to support a standing army, and after the peace of Oliva in 1660, it was reduced to about 3500 men. The continual difficulties with the estates of his different dominions had harassed and hampered the elector, and the general peace which followed the treaty of Oliva offered a favourable opportunity to curtail their powers. Undaunted by two previous rebuffs he attacked the estates of Cleves, and by a display of force gained a substantial victory. Some important privileges were annulled, and he obtained a considerable sum of money. The Landtag of Brandenburg was not cowed so easily into submission, but an increase of revenue was obtained, and the stubborn struggle which ensued in Prussia ended in a victory for the ruler. This increased income enabled the elector to take a more considerable part in European politics. In 1663 he assisted the imperialists in their struggle with the Turks; in 1666 the dispute over Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg was finally settled, and Brandenburg were confirmed in the possession of these lands; and in the same year a reconciliation was effected with Sweden. Several disputes which threatened to disturb the peace of the Empire were settled through his mediation, and he compelled the citizens of Magdeburg to do homage to him. In religious matters he interceded with the emperor and the diet for the Protestants, and sought, but without success, to bring about a reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists in Brandenburg.

The elector’s relations with Louis XIV. of France are full of interest. After the conclusion of the war of devolution in 1667, he allied himself with Louis, and together they agreed to support the candidature of Wolfgang of Neuburg for the vacant Polish throne. In 1668, moreover, he refused to join the triple alliance against France, but soon afterwards became aware of the danger to his country from the aggressive policy of Louis. The United Provinces were bound to him by religious interests, political considerations, and family ties alike, and he could not be indifferent when their position was threatened by France. In spite of tempting offers from Louis, he was the first to join the Dutch when they were attacked by Louis in 1672, and conducted an ineffectual campaign on the Rhine until June 1673, when he was forced to make peace. In July 1674, however, he joined the Empire, the United Provinces and Spain, and in return for a subsidy, fought against France in Alsace. Meanwhile Louis had instigated the Swedes to invade Brandenburg, which had been left to the care of John George II., prince of Anhalt-Dessau. Hastening from Franconia to defend the electorate, Frederick William gained a complete victory over a superior number of the enemy at Fehrbellin on the 28th of June 1675, a great and glorious day for the arms of Brandenburg. Aided by the imperialists and the Danes, he followed up this success, and cleared Brandenburg and Pomerania of the Swedes, capturing Stettin in 1677 and Stralsund in 1678, while an attack made by Sweden on Prussia was successfully repelled. The general peace of Nijmwegen was followed by the treaty of St Germain-en-Laye in June 1679 between Sweden and Brandenburg. Owing, however, to the insistence of Louis XIV. and the indifference, or weakness, of the emperor Leopold I., the elector was forced to restore western Pomerania to Sweden, in return for the payment of 300,000 crowns by France. This feebleness on the part of his ally induced Frederick William to listen more readily to the overtures of Louis, and in 1679, and again in 1681, he bound himself to support the interests of France. He had, moreover, a further grievance against the emperor as Leopold refused to recognize his right to the Silesian duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau, which had been left without a ruler in 1675. About 1684, however, the foreign policy of Brandenburg underwent another change. Disliking the harshness shown by Louis to the Protestants, the elector concluded an alliance with William, prince of Orange, in August 1685; and entered into more friendly relations with the emperor. Further incensed against France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, he made an alliance with Leopold in January 1686, agreeing in return for a subsidy to send troops against the Turks. Soon afterwards he received Schwiebus to compensate him for abandoning his claim on the Silesian duchies, and in a secret treaty made promises of support to Leopold. The great elector died in May 1688, leaving his territories to his eldest son, Frederick.

The remarkable services of Frederick William to his country can best be judged by comparing its condition in 1640 with that in 1688. At his accession the greater part of his territory was occupied by strangers and devastated by war, and in European politics Brandenburg was merely an appendage of the empire. Its army was useless; its soil was poor; its revenue was insignificant. At his death the state of Brandenburg-Prussia was a power to be reckoned with in all European combinations. Inferior to Austria alone among the states of the Empire, it was regarded as the head of the German Protestantism; while the fact that one-third of its territory lay outside the Empire added to its importance. Its area had been increased to over 40,000 sq. m.; its revenue had multiplied sevenfold; and its small army was unsurpassed for efficiency. The elector had overthrown Sweden and inherited her position on the Baltic, and had offered a steady and not ineffectual resistance to the ambition of France.

While thus winning for himself a position in the councils of Europe, Frederick William was not less active in strengthening the central authority within his own dominions. He found Brandenburg a constitutional state, in which the legislative power was shared between the elector and the diet; he left it to his successor substantially an absolute monarchy. Many circumstances assisted to bring about this change, among the chief of which were the want of harmonious action on the part of the estates, and the decline in the political power of the towns. The substitution of a permanent excise for the subsidies granted from time to time by the estates also tended to increase his independence, and the officials or Steuerräthe, appointed by him to collect this tax in the towns, gradually absorbed many of the administrative functions of the local authorities. The nobles and prelates generally preferred to raise their share of the revenue by the old method of a bede, or contribution, thus weakening the remaining bond between them and the burghers.

In matters of general administration Frederick William showed himself a prudent and careful ruler, and laid the foundation of the future greatness of Prussia in almost every department. The wounds inflicted by the Thirty Years’ War were in a great measure healed, and the finances and credit of the state were established on a firm basis. Agriculture and commerce were improved and encouraged by a variety of useful measures, and in this connexion the settlement of a large number of Flemings, and the welcome extended to French Protestants, both before and after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, were of incalculable service. A small but efficient navy was founded, and strict economy, together with increasing resources, enabled a disciplined army to be maintained. Education was not neglected, a trading company was established, and colonies were founded on the west coast of Africa. In religious matters Calvinists and Lutherans were placed upon an equality, but the elector was unable to impress his own spirit of tolerance upon the clergy, who were occupied with ecclesiastical squabbles while the state of education and of public morals left much to be desired. The condition of the peasantry, however, during this reign reached its lowest point, and the “recess,” or charter, of 1653 practically recognizes the existence of villenage. While the nobles had been losing power with regard to the ruler they had been increasing it at the expense of the peasants. The Thirty Years’ War afforded them frequent opportunities of replacing the village Schulzen, or magistrates, with officials of their own; and the fact that their share of taxation was wholly wrung from the peasants made the burden of the latter much heavier than that of the townsmen.

The new elector, Frederick III., followed in general the policy of his father. Having persuaded his step-brothers to surrender the principalities bequeathed to them by the great elector, he assisted William of Orange to make his descent on England; then in 1688 allied himself with other German princes against Louis XIV., and afterwards fought for the Empire against both France and Turkey. Before he became elector Frederick had promised the emperor that he would restore Schwiebus, and he was now called upon to fulfil this engagement, which after some murmuring he did in 1695. This fact, however, together with some slights put upon him at the peace of 1697, led him to look with less favour upon imperial interests. Frederick’s chief adviser about this time was Eberhard Danckelmann (1643-1722), whose services in continuing the reforming work of the great elector were very valuable; but having made many enemies, the electress Sophia among them, he fell from power in 1697, and was imprisoned for several years. The most important work of the elector was to crown the labours of his father by securing the kingly title for himself and his descendants. Broached in 1692 this matter was brought up again in 1698 when the emperor and his ministers, faced with the prospect of a fight over the Spanish succession, were anxious to conciliate Brandenburg. It was at length decided that the title should be taken from Prussia rather than from Brandenburg as the former country lay outside the Empire, and in return Frederick promised to assist Leopold with 8000 men. The coronation ceremony took place at Königsberg on the 18th of January 1701. The territorial additions to Brandenburg during this reign were few and unimportant, but the comparative wealth and prosperity enabled the elector to do a good deal for education, and to spend some money on buildings. In 1694 the university of Halle was founded; academies for arts and sciences were established, and Berlin was greatly improved. The subsequent history of Brandenburg is merged in that of Prussia (q.v.).

Bibliography.—H. Brosien, Geschichte der Mark Brandenburg in Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1887); G.G. Küster, Bibliotheca historica Brandenburgensis (Breslau, 1743); and Accessiones (Breslau, 1768), and Collectio opusculorum historiam marchicam illustrantium (Breslau, 1731-1733); A. Voss and G. Stimming, Vorgeschichtliche Alterthümer aus der Mark Brandenburg (Berlin, 1886-1890); F. Voigt, Geschichte des brandenburgisch-preussischen Staats (Berlin, 1878); E. Berner, Geschichte des preussischen Staats (Berlin, 1890-1891); A.F. Riedel, Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis (Berlin, 1838-1865); J. Heidemann, Die Reformation in der Mark Brandenburg (Berlin, 1889); Forschungen zur brandenburgischen und preussischen Geschichte, edited by R. Koser (Leipzig, 1888 fol.); T. Carlyle, History of Frederick the Great, vol. i. (London, 1858); J.G. Droysen, Geschichte der preussischen Politik (Berlin, 1855-1886); E. Lavisse, Étude sur une des origines de la monarchie prussienne (Paris, 1875); B. Gebhardt, Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, Band ii. (Leipzig, 1901).

(A. W. H.*)

BRANDENBURG, the central and one of the largest provinces of Prussia, consisting of a part of the former electorate of Brandenburg from which it derives its name. With the other territories of the elector of Brandenburg, it was merged in 1701 in the kingdom of Prussia, and when the administration of Prussia was reformed in 1815, Brandenburg became one of the provinces of Prussia. The boundaries of the new province, however, differed considerably from those of the old district. The old mark, the district on the left bank of the Elbe, was added to the province of Saxony, and in return a district to the south, taken from the kingdom of Saxony, was added to the province of Brandenburg. It has an area of 15,382 sq. m., and is divided into the two governments of Potsdam and Frankfort-on-Oder; the capital, Berlin, forming a separate jurisdiction. The province is a sandy plain interspersed with numerous fertile districts and considerable stretches of woodland, mostly pine and fir. Its barrenness was formerly much exaggerated, when it was popularly described as the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire.” It is generally well watered by tributaries of its two principal rivers, the Elbe and the Oder, and is besides remarkable for the number of its lakes, of which it contains between 600 and 700. The mineral products comprise lignite, limestone, gypsum, alum and potter’s earth; barley and rye are the usual cereals; fruits and vegetables are abundant; and considerable quantities of hemp, flax, hops and tobacco are raised. The breeding of sheep receives much attention, and the province exports wool in considerable quantity. Bees are largely kept, and there is an abundance of game. The rivers and lakes also furnish fish, particularly carp, of excellent quality. The climate is cold and raw in winter, excessively hot in summer, and there are frequently violent storms of wind. The manufacturing industry of the province is both varied and extensive, but is for the most part concentrated in the principal towns. The most important branches are the spinning and weaving of wool and cotton, the manufacturing of paper, and the distillation of brandy. Pop. (1895) 2,821,695; (1905) 3,529,839.

BRANDENBURG, a town of Germany, capital of the district and province of same name, on the river Havel, 36 m. S.W. from Berlin, on the main line to Magdeburg and the west. Pop. (1905) 51,251, including 3643 military. The town is enclosed by walls, and is divided into three parts by the river—the old town on the right and the new town on the left bank, while on an island between them is the “cathedral town,”—and is also called, from its position, “Venice.” Many of the houses are built on piles in the river. There are five old churches (Protestant), all more or less noteworthy. These are the Katharinenkirche (nave 1381-1401, choir c. 1410, western tower 1583-1585), a Gothic brick church with a fine carved wooden altar and several interesting medieval tombs; the Petrikirche (14th century Gothic); the cathedral (Domkirche), originally a Romanesque basilica (1170), but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th century, with a good altar-piece (1465), &c., and noted for its remarkable collection of medieval vestments; the Gothardskirche, partly Romanesque (1160), partly Gothic (1348); the Nikolaikirche (12th and 13th centuries), now no longer used. There is also a Roman Catholic church. Of other buildings may be mentioned the former town hall of the “old town” (Altstadt Rathaus), built in the 13th and 14th centuries, now used as government offices; the new Real-gymnasium; and the town hall in the Neustadt, before which, in the market-place, stands a Rolandssäule, a colossal figure 18 ft. in height, hewn out of a single block of stone. A little north of the town is the Marienberg, or Harlungerberg, on which the heathen temple of Triglaff and afterwards the church and convent of St Mary were built. On the top stands a lofty monument to the soldiers from the Mark who fell in the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870-71. The town has a considerable trade, with manufactures of woollens, silks, linens, hosiery and paper, as well as breweries, tanneries, boat-building and bicycle factories.

Brandenburg, originally Brennaburg (Brennabor) or Brendanburg, was originally a town of the Slavic tribe of the Hevelli, from whom it was captured (927-928) by the German king Henry I. In 948 Otto I. founded a bishopric here, which was subordinated first to the archdiocese of Mainz, but from 968 onwards to the newly created archbishopric of Magdeburg. It was, however, destroyed by the heathen Wends in 983, and was only restored when Albert the Bear recaptured the town from them in 1153. In 1539 the bishop of Brandenburg, Matthias von Jagow, embraced the Lutheran faith, and five years later the Protestant worship was established in the cathedral. The see was administered by the elector of Brandenburg until 1598 and then abolished, its territories being for the most part incorporated in the electoral domains. The cathedral chapter, however, survived, and though suppressed in 1810, it was restored in 1824. It consists of twelve canons, of whom three only are spiritual, the other nine prebends being held by noblemen; all are in the gift of the king of Prussia.

The “old” and “new” towns of Brandenburg were for centuries separate towns, having been united under a single municipality so late as 1717.

See Schillmann, Geschichte der Stadt Brandenburg (Brandenburg, 1874-1882).

BRANDER, GUSTAVUS (1720-1787), English naturalist, who came of a Swedish family, was born in London in 1720, and was brought up as a merchant, in which capacity he achieved success and became a director of the Bank of England. His leisure time was occupied in scientific pursuits, and at his country residence at Christchurch in Hampshire he became interested in the fossils so abundant in the clays of Hordwell and Barton. A set of these was presented by him to the British Museum, and they were described by D.C. Solander in the beautifully illustrated work entitled Fossilia Hantoniensia collecta, et in Musaeo Britannico deposita a Gustavo Brander (London, 1766). Brander was elected F.R.S. in 1754, and he was also a trustee of the British Museum. He died on the 21st of January 1787.

BRANDES, GEORG MORRIS COHEN (1842- ), Danish critic and literary historian, was born in Copenhagen on the 4th of February 1842. He became a student in the university in 1859, and first studied jurisprudence. From this, however, his maturer taste soon turned to philosophy and aesthetics. In 1862 he won the gold medal of the university for an essay on The Nemesis Idea among the Ancients. Before this, indeed since 1858, he had shown a remarkable gift for verse-writing, the results of which, however, were not abundant enough to justify separate publication. Brandes, indeed, did not collect his poems till so late as 1898. At the university, which he left in 1864, Brandes was much under the influence of the writings of Heiberg in criticism and Sören Kierkegaard in philosophy, influences which have continued to leave traces on his work. In 1866 he took part in the controversy raised by the works of Rasmus Nielsen in a treatise on “Dualism in our Recent Philosophy.” From 1865 to 1871 he travelled much in Europe, acquainting himself with the condition of literature in the principal centres of learning. His first important contribution to letters was his Aesthetic Studies (1868), in which, in several brief monographs on Danish poets, his maturer method is already foreshadowed. In 1870 he published several important volumes, The French Aesthetics of Our Days, dealing chiefly with Taine, Criticisms and Portraits, and a translation of The Subjection of Women of John Stuart Mill, whom he had met that year during a visit to England. Brandes now took his place as the leading critic of the north of Europe, applying to local conditions and habits of thought the methods of Taine. He became docent or reader in Belles Lettres at the university of Copenhagen, where his lectures were the sensation of the hour. On the professorship of Aesthetics becoming vacant in 1872, it was taken as a matter of course that Brandes would be appointed. But the young critic had offended many susceptibilities by his ardent advocacy of modern ideas; he was known to be a Jew, he was convicted of being a Radical, he was suspected of being an atheist. The authorities refused to elect him, but his fitness for the post was so obvious that the chair of Aesthetics in the university of Copenhagen remained vacant, no one else daring to place himself in comparison with Brandes. In the midst of these polemics the critic began to issue the most ambitious of his works, Main Streams in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century, of which four volumes appeared between 1872 and 1875 (English translation, 1901-1905). The brilliant novelty of this criticism of the literature of the chief countries of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, and his description of the general revolt against the pseudo-classicism of the 18th century, at once attracted attention outside Denmark. The tumult which gathered round the person of the critic increased the success of the work, and the reputation of Brandes grew apace, especially in Germany and Russia. Among his later writings must be mentioned the monographs on Sören Kierkegaard (1877), on Esaias Tegnér (1878), on Benjamin Disraeli (1878), Ferdinand Lassalle (in German, 1877), Ludvig Holberg (1884), on Henrik Ibsen (1899) and on Anatole France (1905). Brandes has written with great fulness on the main contemporary poets and novelists of his own country and of Norway, and he and his disciples have long been the arbiters of literary fame in the north. His Danish Poets (1877), containing studies of Carsten Hauch, Ludwig Bödtcher, Christian Winther, and Paludan-Müller, his Men of the Modern Transition (1883), and his Essays (1889), are volumes essential to the proper study of modern Scandinavian literature. He wrote an excellent book on Poland (1888; English translation, 1903), and was one of the editors of the German version of Ibsen. In 1877 Brandes left Copenhagen and settled in Berlin, taking a considerable part in the aesthetic life of that city. His political views, however, made Prussia uncomfortable for him, and he returned in 1883 to Copenhagen, where he found a whole new school of writers and thinkers eager to receive him as their leader. The most important of his recent works has been his study of Shakespeare (1897-1898), which was translated into English by William Archer, and at once took a high position. It was, perhaps, the most authoritative work on Shakespeare, not principally intended for an English-speaking audience, which had been published in any country. He was afterwards engaged on a history of modern Scandinavian literature. In his critical work, which extends over a wider field than that of any other living writer, Brandes has been aided by a singularly charming style, lucid and reasonable, enthusiastic without extravagance, brilliant and coloured without affectation. His influence on the Scandinavian writers of the ’eighties was very great, but a reaction, headed by Holger Drachmann, against his “realistic” doctrines, began in 1885 (see Denmark: Literature). In 1900 he collected his works for the first time in a complete and popular edition, and began to superintend a German complete edition in 1902.

His brother Edvard Brandes (b. 1847), also a well-known critic, was the author of a number of plays, and of two psychological novels: A Politician (1889), and Young Blood (1899).

BRANDING (from Teutonic brinnan, to burn), in criminal law a mode of punishment; also a method of marking goods or animals; in either case by stamping with a hot iron. The Greeks branded their slaves with a Delta, Δ, for Δοῦλος. Robbers and runaway slaves were marked by the Romans with the letter F (fur, fugitivus); and the toilers in the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were branded on the forehead for identification. Under Constantine the face was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand, arm or calf. The canon law sanctioned the punishment, and in France galley-slaves could be branded “TF” (travaux forcés) until 1832. In Germany, however, branding was illegal. The punishment was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, and the ancient law of England authorized the penalty. By the Statute of Vagabonds (1547) under Edward VI. vagabonds, gipsies and brawlers were ordered to be branded, the first two with a large V on the breast, the last with F for “fraymaker.” Slaves, too, who ran away were branded with S on cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in 1636. From the time of Henry VII. branding was inflicted for all offences which received benefit of clergy (q.v.), but it was abolished for such in 1822. In 1698 it was enacted that those convicted of petty theft or larceny, who were entitled to benefit of clergy, should be “burnt in the most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose.” This special ordinance was repealed in 1707. James Nayler, the mad Quaker, who in the year 1655 claimed to be the Messiah, had his tongue bored through and his forehead branded B for blasphemer.

In the Lancaster criminal court a branding-iron is still preserved in the dock. It is a long bolt with a wooden handle at one end and an M (malefactor) at the other. Close by are two iron loops for firmly securing the hands during the operation. The brander, after examination, would turn to the judge and exclaim, “A fair mark, my lord.” Criminals were formerly ordered to hold up their hands before sentence to show if they had been previously convicted.

Cold branding or branding with cold irons became in the 18th century the mode of nominally inflicting the punishment on prisoners of higher rank. “When Charles Moritz, a young German, visited England in 1782 he was much surprised at this custom, and in his diary mentioned the case of a clergyman who had fought a duel and killed his man in Hyde Park. Found guilty of manslaughter he was burnt in the hand, if that could be called burning which was done with a cold iron” (Markham’s Ancient Punishments of Northants, 1886). Such cases led to branding becoming obsolete, and it was abolished in 1829 except in the case of deserters from the army. These were marked with the letter D, not with hot irons but by tattooing with ink or gunpowder. Notoriously bad soldiers were also branded with BC (bad character). By the British Mutiny Act of 1858 it was enacted that the court-martial, in addition to any other penalty, may order deserters to be marked on the left side, 2 in. below the armpit, with the letter D, such letter to be not less than 1 in. long. In 1879 this was abolished.

See W. Andrews, Old Time Punishments (Hull, 1890); A.M. Earle, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (London, 1896).

BRANDIS, CHRISTIAN AUGUST (1790-1867), German philologist and historian of philosophy, was born at Hildesheim and educated at Kiel University. In 1812 he graduated at Copenhagen, with a thesis Commentationes Eleaticae (a collection of fragments from Xenophanes, Parmenides and Melissus). For a time he studied at Göttingen, and in 1815 presented as his inaugural dissertation at Berlin his essay Von dem Begriff der Geschichte der Philosophie. In 1816 he refused an extraordinary professorship at Heidelberg in order to accompany B.G. Niebuhr to Italy as secretary to the Prussian embassy. Subsequently he assisted I. Bekker in the preparation of his edition of Aristotle. In 1821 he became professor of philosophy in the newly founded university of Bonn, and in 1823 published his Aristotelius et Theophrasti Metaphysica. With Boeckh and Niebuhr he edited the Rheinisches Museum, to which he contributed important articles on Socrates (1827, 1829). In 1836-1839 he was tutor to the young king Otho of Greece. His great work, the Handbuch der Geschichte der griechisch-röm. Philos. (1835-1866; republished in a smaller and more systematic form, Gesch. d. Entwickelungen d. griech. Philos., 1862-1866), is characterized by sound criticism. Brandis died on the 21st of July 1867.

See Trendelenburg, Zur Erinnerung an C. A. B. (Berlin, 1868).

BRANDON, a city and port of entry of Manitoba, Canada, on the Assiniboine river, and the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern railways, situated 132 m. W. of Winnipeg, 1184 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1891) 3778; (1907) 12,519. It is in one of the finest agricultural sections and contains a government experimental farm, grain elevators, saw and grist mills. It was first settled in 1881, and incorporated as a city in 1882.

BRANDON, a market town in the Stowmarket parliamentary division of Suffolk, England, on the Little Ouse or Brandon river, 86½ m. N.N.E. from London by the Ely-Norwich line of the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 2327. The church of St Peter is Early English with earlier portions; there is a free grammar school founded in 1646; and the town has some carrying trade by the Little Ouse in corn, coal and timber. Rabbit skins of fine texture are dressed and exported. Extensive deposits of flint are worked in the neighbourhood, and the work of the “flint-knappers” has had its counterpart here from the earliest eras of man. Close to Brandon, but in Norfolk across the river, at the village of Weeting, are the so-called Grimes’ Graves, which, long supposed to show the foundations of a British village, and probably so occupied, were proved by excavation to have been actually neolithic flint workings. The pits, though almost completely filled up (probably as they became exhausted), were sunk through the overlying chalk to the depth of 20 to 60 ft., and numbered 254 in all. Passages branched out from them, and among other remains picks of deer-horn were discovered, one actually bearing in the chalk which coated it the print of the workman’s hand.

BRANDY, an alcoholic, potable spirit, obtained by the distillation of grape wine. The frequently occurring statement that the word “brandy” is derived from the High German Branntwein is incorrect, inasmuch as the English word (as Fairley has pointed out) is quite as old as any of its continental equivalents. It is simply an abbreviation of the Old English brandewine, brand-wine or brandy wine, the word “brand” being common to all the Teutonic languages of northern Europe, meaning a thing burning or that has been burnt. John Fletcher’s Beggar’s Bush (1622) contains the passage, “Buy brand wine”; and from the Roxburgh Ballads (1650) we have “It is more fine than brandewine.” The word “brandy” came into familiar use about the middle of the 17th century, but the expression “brandywine” was retained in legal documents until 1702 (Fairley). Thus in 1697 (View Penal Laws, 173) there occurs the sentence, “No aqua vitae or brandywine shall be imported into England.” The British Pharmacopoeia formerly defined French brandy, which was the only variety mentioned (officially spiritus vini gallici), as “Spirit distilled from French wine; it has a characteristic flavour, and a light sherry colour derived from the cask in which it has been kept.” In the latest edition the Latin title spiritus vini gallici is retained, but the word French is dropped from the text, which now reads as follows: “A spirituous liquid distilled from wine and matured by age, and containing not less than 36½% by weight or 43½% by volume of ethyl hydroxide.” The United States Pharmacopoeia (1905), retains the Latin expression spiritus vini gallici (English title Brandy), defined as “an alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes.”

Very little of the brandy of commerce corresponds exactly to the former definition of the British Pharmacopoeia as regards colouring matter, inasmuch as trade requirements necessitate the addition of a small quantity of caramel (burnt sugar) colouring to the spirit in the majority of cases. The object of this is, as a rule, not that of deceiving the consumer as to the apparent age of the brandy, but that of keeping a standard article of commerce at a standard level of colour. It is practically impossible to do this without having recourse to caramel colouring, as, practically speaking, the contents of any cask will always differ slightly, and often very appreciably, in colour intensity from the contents of another cask, even though the age and quality of the spirits are identical.

The finest brandies are produced in a district covering an area of rather less than three million acres, situated in the departments of Charente and Charente Inférieure, of which the centre is the town of Cognac. It is generally held that only brandies produced within this district have a right to the name “cognac.” The Cognac district is separated into district zones of production, according to the quality of the spirit which each yields. In the centre of the district, on the left bank of the Charente, is the Grande Champagne, and radiating beyond it are (in order of merit of the spirit produced) the Petite Champagne, the Borderies (or Premiers Bois), the Fins Bois, the Bons Bois, the Bois Ordinaires, and finally the Bois communs dits à terroir. Many hold that the brandy produced in the two latter districts is not entitled to the name of “cognac,” but this is a matter of controversy, as is also the question as to whether another district called the Grande Fine Champagne, namely, that in the immediate neighbourhood of the little village of Juillac-le-Coq, should be added to the list. The pre-eminent quality of the Cognac brandies is largely due to the character of the soil, the climate, and the scientific and systematic cultivation of the vines. For a period—from the middle ’seventies to the ’nineties of the 19th century—the cognac industry was, owing to the inroads of the phylloxera, threatened with almost total extinction, but after a lengthy series of experiments, a system of replanting and hybridizing, based on the characteristics of the soils of the various districts, was evolved, which effectually put a stop to the further progress of the disease. In 1907 the area actually planted with the vine in the Cognac district proper was about 200,000 acres, and the production of cognac brandy, which, however, varies widely in different years, may be put down at about five million gallons per annum. The latter figure is based on the amount of wine produced in the two Charentes (about forty-five million gallons in 1905).

Brandy is also manufactured in numerous other districts in France, and in general order of commercial merit may be mentioned the brandies of Armagnac, Marmande, Nantes and Anjou. The brandies commanding the lowest prices are broadly known as the Trois-Six de Monlpellier. In a class by themselves are the Eaux-de-vie de Marc, made from the wine pressings or from the solid residues of the stills. Some of these, particularly those made in Burgundy, have characteristic qualities, and are considered by many to be very fine. The consumption is chiefly local. Brandy of fair quality is also made in other wine-producing countries, particularly in Spain, and of late years colonial (Australian and Cape) brandies have attracted some attention. The comsumption of brandy in the United Kingdom amounts to about two million gallons.

Brandy, in common with other potable spirits, owes its flavour and aroma to the presence of small quantities of substances termed secondary or by-products (sometimes “impurities”). These are dissolved in the ethyl alcohol and water which form over 99% of the spirit. The nature and quantity of all of these by-products have not yet been fully ascertained, but the knowledge in this direction is rapidly progressing. Ch. Ordonneau fractionally distilled 100 litres of 25-year-old cognac brandy, and obtained the following substances and quantities thereof:—

Grammes in
100 Litres.

Normal propyl alcohol 40.0

Normal butyl alcohol 218.6

Amyl alcohol 83.8

Hexyl alcohol 0.6

Heptyl alcohol 1.5

Ethyl acetate 35.0

Ethyl propionate, butyrate and caproate 3.0

Oenanthic ether (about) 4.0

Aldehyde 3.0

Acetal traces

Amines traces

Most of the above substances, in fact probably all of them, excepting the oenanthic ether, are contained in other spirits, such as whisky and rum. The oenanthic ether (ethyl pelargonate) is one of the main characteristics which enable us chemically to differentiate between brandy and other distilled liquors. Brandy also contains a certain quantity of free acid, which increases with age, furfural, which decreases, and small quantities of other matters of which we have as yet little knowledge.

The table gives analyses, by the present author (excepting No. 3, which is by F. Lusson), of undoubtedly genuine commercial cognac brandies of various ages.

Genuine Cognac Brandies.

(Excepting the alcohol, results are expressed in grammes per 100 litres of absolute alcohol.)

Age, &c. Alcohol
% by vol. Total
Acid. Non-
volatile
Acid. Esters. “Higher
Alcohols.” Aldehyde. Furfural.

1. New 1904 61.7 45 5 82 125 8 2.3

2. New, still heated by steam coil 56.3 22 4 61 100 3 1.2

3. New 67.7 51 · · 158 152 6 1.3

4. Five years old, 1900 vintage 57.7 92 37 125 · · · · · ·

5. 1875 vintage, pale 46.7 144 37 177 261 55 1.0

6. 1848 vintage, brown 38.5 254 109 190 488 32 2.1

Note.—In the above table the acid is expressed in terms of acetic acid, the esters are expressed as ethyl acetate, and the aldehyde as acetaldehyde. The “Higher Alcohol” figures do not actually represent these substances, but indicate the relative coloration obtained with sulphuric acid when compared with an iso-butyl standard under certain conditions.

Storage and Maturation.—Brandy is stored in specially selected oak casks, from which it extracts a certain quantity of colouring matter and tannin, &c. Commercial cognac brandies are generally blends of different growths and vintages, the blending being accomplished in large vats some little time prior to bottling. The necessary colouring and sweetening matter is added in the vat. In the case of pale brandies very little colouring and sweetening are added, the usual quantity being in the neighbourhood of ½ to 1%. Old “brown brandies,” which are nowadays not in great demand, require more caramel and sugar than do the pale varieties. The preparation of the “liqueur,” as the mixed caramel and sugar syrup is termed, is an operation requiring much experience, and the methods employed are kept strictly secret. Fine “liqueur” is prepared with high-class brandy, and is stored a number of years prior to use. Brandy, as is well known, improves very much with age (for chemical aspects of maturation see Spirits), but this only holds good when the spirit is in wood, for there is no material appreciation in quality after bottling. It is a mistake to believe, however, that brandy improves indefinitely, even when kept in wood, for, as a matter of fact, after a certain time—which varies considerably according to the type of brandy, the vintage, &c.—there is so much evaporation of alcohol that a number of undesirable changes come about. The brandy begins to “go back,” and becomes, as it is called, “worn” or “tired.” It is necessary, therefore, that the bottling should not be deferred too long. Sometimes, for trade reasons, it is necessary to keep brandy in cask for a long period, and under these conditions the practice is to keep a series of casks, which are treated as follows:—The last cask is kept filled by occasionally adding some spirit from the cask next in order, the latter is filled up by spirit taken from the third cask from the end, and so on, until the first cask in the row is reached. The latter is filled up or “topped” with some relatively fresh spirit.

Brandy is much employed medicinally as a food capable of supplying energy in a particularly labile form to the body, as a stimulant, carminative, and as a hypnotic.

Adulteration.—A good deal has been written about the preparation of artificial brandy by means of the addition of essential oils to potato or beetroot spirit, but it is more than doubtful whether this practice was really carried on on a large scale formerly. What undoubtedly did occur was that much beet, potato or grain spirit was used for blending with genuine grape spirit. Prosecutions under the Food and Drugs Act, by certain English local authorities in the year 1904, resulted in the practical fixation of certain chemical standards which, in the opinion of the present writer, have, owing to their arbitrary and unscientific nature, resulted in much adulteration of a type previously non-existent. There is no doubt that at the present time artificial esters and higher alcohols, &c., are being used on an extensive scale for the preparation of cheap brandies, and the position, in this respect, therefore, has not been inproved. Where formerly fraud was practically confined to the blending of genuine brandy with spirit other than that derived from the grape, it is now enhanced by the addition of artificial essences to the blend of the two spirits.

(P. S.)

BRANDYWINE, the name of a stream in Pennsylvania and Delaware, U.S.A., which runs into the Delaware river a few miles east of Wilmington, Delaware. It is famous as the scene of the battle of Brandywine in the American War of Independence, fought on the 11th of September 1777 about 10 m. north-west of Wilmington, and a few miles inside the Pennsylvania border. Sir William Howe, the British commander-in-chief, while opposed to Washington’s army in New Jersey, had formed the plan of capturing Philadelphia from the south side by a movement by sea to the head of Delaware Bay. But contrary winds and accidents delayed the British transports so long that Washington, who was at first puzzled, was able to divine his opponents’ intentions in time; and rapidly moving to the threatened point he occupied a strong entrenched position at the fords over the Brandywine, 25 m. south-west of Philadelphia. Here on the 11th of September the British attacked him. Howe’s plan, which was carefully worked out and exactly executed, was to deliver an energetic feint attack against the American front, to take a strong column 12 m. up the stream, and crossing beyond Washington’s right to attack his entrenchments in rear. Washington was successfully held in play during the movement, and General Sullivan, the commander of the American right wing, misled by the conflicting intelligence which reached him from up-stream, was surprised about noon by definite information as to the approach of Cornwallis on his right rear. Changing front “right back” in the dense country, he yet managed to oppose a stubborn resistance to the flanking attack, and with other troops that were hurried to the scene his division held its ground for a time near Birmingham meeting-house. But Howe pressed his attack sharply and drove back the Americans for 2 m.; the holding attack of the British right was converted into a real one, and by nightfall Washington was in full retreat northward toward Chester, protected by General Greene and a steady rear-guard, which held off Howe’s column for the necessary time. The British were too exhausted to pursue, and part of Howe’s force was inextricably mixed up with the advancing troops of the frontal attack. The American loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was about 1000; that of the British less than 600. Howe followed up his victory, and on the 27th of September entered Philadelphia.

BRANFORD, a township, including a borough of the same name, in New Haven county, Connecticut, U.S.A., at the mouth of the Branford river and at the head of a short arm of Long Island Sound, about 7 m. E.S.E. of New Haven. Pop. of the township (1890) 4460; (1900) 5706 (1968 foreign-born);(1910) 6047; of the borough (1910) 2560. The borough is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, and by an electric line connecting with New Haven. A range of rocky hills commands fine views of the Sound, the shore is deeply indented, the harbour and bays are dotted with islands, and the harbour is deep enough for small craft, and these natural features attract many visitors during the summer season. In Branford is the James Blackstone Memorial library (1896), designed by Solon Spencer Beman (b. 1853) in the Ionic style (the details being taken from the Erechtheum at Athens). On the interior of the dome which covers the rotunda are a series of paintings by Oliver Dennett Grover (b. 1861) illustrating the evolution of book-making, and between the arches are medallion portraits, by the same artist, of New England authors—Longfellow, Emerson, Hawthorne, Lowell, Bryant, Whittier, Holmes and Mrs Stowe. The library was erected by Timothy B. Blackstone (1829-1900), a native of Branford, and president of the Chicago & Alton railway from 1864 to 1899—as a memorial to his father, a descendant of William Blackstone (d. 1675), the New England pioneer. The principal industries of Branford are the manufacture of malleable iron fittings, locks and general hardware, the quarrying of granite, and oyster culture.

The territory of Totoket (now the township of Branford) was purchased from the Indians by the New Haven Plantation, in December 1638, for eleven coats of trucking cloth and one coat of English cloth, but with the reservation for a few Indians of what is still known as Indian Neck. In 1640 the general court of New Haven granted it to the Rev. Samuel Eaton (1596?-1665), a brother of Theophilus Eaton, on condition that he brought friends from England to settle it. As Eaton went to England and did not return, Totoket was granted in 1644 to settlers mostly from Wethersfield, Conn., on condition that they should organize a church state after the New Haven model and join the New Haven Jurisdiction. The settlement was made in the same year, and about two years later several new families came from Southampton, Long Island, under the leadership of the Rev. Abraham Pierson (c. 1608-1678), an ardent advocate of the church state, who was chosen pastor at Totoket. The present name of the township, derived from Brentford, England, was adopted about 1645. After the members of the New Haven Jurisdiction had submitted to Connecticut, Pierson, in 1666-1667, led the most prominent citizens of Branford to New Jersey, where they were leaders in founding Newark. The borough of Branford was incorporated in 1893.

See E.C. Baldwin, Branford Annals, in Papers of New Haven Colony Historical Society (New Haven, 1882 and 1888).

BRANGWYN, FRANK (1867- ), English painter, was born at Bruges, and received his first instruction from his father, the owner of an establishment for church embroideries and kindred objects, who took a leading part in the Gothic revival under Pugin. When the family moved to England, Brangwyn attracted the attention of William Morris by a drawing on which he was engaged at South Kensington museum. He worked for some time in Morris’s studio, and then travelled more than once to the East, whereby his sense of colour and the whole further development of his art became deeply influenced. Indeed, the impressions he then received, and his love of Oriental decorative art—tiles and carpets—exercised a greater influence on him than any early training or the works of any European master. His whole tendency is essentially decorative: a colour-sense of sumptuous richness is wedded to an equally strong sense of well-balanced, harmonious design. These qualities, together with a summary suppression of the details which tie a subject to time and place, give his compositions a nobly impressive and universal character, such as may be seen in his decorative panel “Modern Commerce” in the ambulatory of the Royal Exchange, London. Among other decorative schemes executed by him are those for “L’Art nouveau” in the rue de Provence, Paris; for the hall of the Skinners’ Company, London; and for the British room at the Venice International Exhibition, 1905. The Luxembourg museum has his “Trade on the Beach”; the Venice municipal museum, the “St Simon Stylites”; the Stuttgart gallery, the “St John the Baptist”; the Munich Pinakothek, the “Assisi”; the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburg, his “Sweetmeat Seller”; the Prague gallery, his “Turkish Boatmen”; and the National Gallery of New South Wales, “The Scoffers.” Brangwyn embarked successfully in many fields of applied art, and made admirable designs for book decoration, stained glass, furniture, tapestry, metal-work and pottery. He devoted himself extensively to etching, and executed many plates of astonishing vigour and dramatic intensity. He was elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1904.

BRANKS, (probably akin to Irish brancas, a halter; Ger. Pranger, fetter, pillory), or Scolding-Bridle, a contrivance formerly in use throughout England and Scotland for the punishment of scolding women. It is said to have originated in the latter country. It seems to have never been a legalized form of punishment; but corporations and lords of manors in England, town councils, kirk-sessions and barony courts in Scotland assumed a right to inflict it. While specially known as the “Gossip’s or Scold’s Bridle” the branks was also used for women convicted of petty offences, breaches of the peace, street-brawling and abusive language. It was the equivalent of the male punishments of the stocks and pillory. In its earliest form it consisted of a hoop head-piece of iron, opening by hinges at the side so as to enclose the head, with a flat piece of iron projecting inwards so as to fit into the mouth and press the tongue down. Later it was made, by a multiplication of hoops, more like a cage, the front forming a mask of iron with holes for mouth, nose and eyes. Sometimes the mouth-plate was armed with a short spike. With this on her head the offending woman was marched through the streets by the beadle or chained to the market-cross to be gibed at by passers. The date of origin is doubtful. It was used at Edinburgh in 1567, at Glasgow in 1574, but not before the 17th century in any English town. A brank in the church of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, bears date 1633; while another in a private collection has the crowned cipher of William III. The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, the Scottish National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh, the towns of Lichfield, Shrewsbury, Leicester and Chester have examples of the brank. As late as 1856 it was in use at Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire.

See W. Andrews, Old Time Punishments (Hull, 1890); A.M. Earle, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (Chicago, 1896).

BRANT, JOSEPH (1742-1807), American Indian chief of the Mohawk tribe, known also by his Indian name, Thayendanegea, was born on the banks of the Ohio river in 1742. In early youth he attracted the attention of Sir William Johnson, who sent him to be educated by Dr Eleazar Wheelock at Lebanon, Conn., in Moor’s Indian charity school, in which Dartmouth College had its origin. He took part, on the side of the English, in the French and Indian War, and in 1763 fought with the Iroquois against Pontiac. Subsequently he settled at Canajoharie, or Upper Mohawk Castle (in what is now Montgomery county, New York), where, being a devout churchman, he devoted himself to missionary work, and translated the Prayer Book and St Mark’s Gospel into the Mohawk tongue (1787). When Guy Johnson (1740-1788) succeeded his uncle, Sir William, as superintendent of Indian affairs in 1774, Brant became his secretary. At the outbreak of the War of Independence, he remained loyal, was commissioned colonel, and organized and led the Mohawks and other Indians allied to the British against the settlements on the New York frontier. He took part in the Cherry Valley Massacre, in the attack on Minisink and the expedition of General St Leger which resulted in the battle of Oriskany on the 6th of August 1777. After the war he discouraged the continuance of Indian warfare on the frontier, and aided the commissioners of the United States in securing treaties of peace with the Miamis and other western tribes. Settling in Upper Canada, he again devoted himself to missionary work and in 1786 visited England, where he raised funds with which was erected the first Episcopal church in Upper Canada. His character was a peculiar compound of the traits of an Indian warrior—with few rivals for daring leadership—and of a civilized politician and diplomat of the more conservative type. He died on an estate granted him by the British government on the banks of Lake Ontario on the 24th of November 1807. A monument was erected to his memory at Brantford, Ontario, Canada (named in his honour) in 1886.

See W.L. Stone, Life of Joseph Brant (2 vols., New York, 1838; new ed., Albany, 1865); Edward Eggleston and Elizabeth E. Seelye, Brant and Red Jacket in “Famous American Indians” (New York, 1879); and a Memoir (Brantford, 1872).

BRANT, SEBASTIAN (1457-1521), German humanist and satirist, was born at Strassburg about the year 1457. He studied at Basel, took the degree of doctor of laws in 1489, and for some time held a professorship of jurisprudence there. Returning to Strassburg, he was made syndic of the town, and died on the 10th of May 1521. He first attracted attention in humanistic circles by his Latin poetry, and edited many ecclesiastical and legal works; but he is now only known by his famous satire, Das Narrenschiff(1494), a work the popularity and influence of which were not limited to Germany. Under the form of an allegory—a ship laden with fools and steered by fools to the fools’ paradise of Narragenia—Brant here lashes with unsparing vigour the weaknesses and vices of his time. Although, like most of the German humanists, essentially conservative in his religious views, Brant’s eyes were open to the abuses in the church, and the Narrenschiff was a most effective preparation for the Protestant Reformalion. Alexander Barclay’s Ship of Fools (1509) is a free imitation of the German poem, and a Latin version by Jacobus Locher (1497) was hardly less popular than the German original. There is also a large quantity of other “fool literature.” Nigel, called Wireker (fl. 1190), a monk of Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, wrote a satirical Speculum stultorum, in which the ambitious and discontented monk figured as the ass Brunellus, who wanted a longer tail. Brunellus, who has been educated at Paris, decides to found an order of fools, which shall combine the good points of all the existing monastic orders. Cock Lovell’s Bote (printed by Wynkyn de Worde, c. 1510) is another imitation of the Narrenschiff. Cock Lovell is a fraudulent currier who gathers round him a rascally collection of tradesmen. They sail off in a riotous fashion up hill and down dale throughout England. Brant’s other works, of which the chief was a version of Freidank’s Bescheidenheit (1508), are of inferior interest and importance.

Brant’s Narrenschiff has been edited by F. Zarncke (1854); by K. Goedeke (1872); and by F. Bobertag (Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol. xvi., 1889). A modern German translation was published by K. Simrock in 1872. On the influence of Brant in England see especially C.H. Herford, The Literary Relations of England and Germany in the 16th Century (1886).

BRANTFORD, a city and port of entry of Ontario, Canada, on the Grand river, and on the Grand Trunk, and Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo railways. The river is navigable to within 2½ m. of the town; for the remaining distance a canal has been constructed. Agricultural implements, plough, engine, bicycle and stove works, potteries and large railway shops constitute the important industrial establishments. It contains an institute for the education of the blind, maintained by the provincial government, and a women’s college. The city is named in honour of the Mohawk Indian chief, Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), who settled in the neighbourhood after the American War of Independence, in which he had led the Six Nations (Iroquois) on the British side. The amalgamated tribes of the Six Nations still make it their headquarters, and a monument to Brant has been erected in Victoria Square. Brantford is one of the most flourishing industrial towns of the province, and its population rose from 9616 in 1881 to 20,713 in 1907.

BRANTINGHAM, THOMAS DE (d. 1394), English lord treasurer and bishop of Exeter, came of a Durham family. An older relative, Ralph de Brantingham, had served Edward II. and Edward III., and Thomas was made a clerk in the treasury. Edward III. obtained preferment for him in the church, and from 1361 to 1368 he was employed in France in responsible positions. He was closely associated with William of Wykeham, and while the latter was in power as chancellor, Brantingham was lord treasurer (1369-1371, and 1377-1381), being made bishop of Exeter in 1370. He continued to play a prominent part in public affairs under Richard II., and in 1389 was again lord treasurer for a few months. He died in 1394 and was buried in Exeter cathedral.

BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, Seigneur and Abbé de (c. 1540-1614), French historian and biographer, was born in Périgord about 1540. He was the third son of the baron de Bourdeille. His mother and his maternal grandmother were both attached to the court of Marguerite of Valois, and at her death in 1549 he went to Paris, and later (1555) to Poitiers, to finish his education. He was given several benefices, the most important of which was the abbey of Brantôme (see below), but he had no inclination for an ecclesiastical career. At an early age he entered the profession of arms. He showed himself a brave soldier, and was brought into contact with most of the great leaders who were seeking fame or fortune in the wars that distracted the continent. He travelled much in Italy; in Scotland, where he accompanied Mary Stuart (then the widow of Francis I.); in England, where he saw Queen Elizabeth (1561, 1579); in Morocco (1564); and in Spain and Portugal. He fought on the galleys of the order of Malta, and accompanied his great friend, the French commander Philippe Strozzi (grandson of Filippo Strozzi, the Italian general, and nephew of Piero), in his expedition against Terceira, in which Strozzi was killed (1582). During the wars of religion under Charles IX. he fought in the ranks of the Catholics, but he allowed himself to be won over temporarily by the ideas of the reformers, and though he publicly separated himself from Protestantism it had a marked effect on his mind. A fall from his horse compelled him to retire into private life about 1589, and he spent his last years in writing his Memoirs of the illustrious men and women whom he had known. He died on the 15th of July 1614.

Brantôme left distinct orders that his manuscript should be printed; a first edition appeared, however, late (1665-1666) and not very complete. Of the later editions the most valuable are: one in 15 volumes (1740); another by Louis Jean Nicolas Monmerqué (1780-1860) in 8 volumes (1821-1824), reproduced in Buchan’s Panthéon littéraire; that of the Bibliothèque elzévirienne, begun (1858) by P. Mérimée and L. Lacour, and finished, with vol. xiii., only in 1893; and Lalanne’s edition for the Société de l’Histoire de France (12 vols., 1864-1896). Brantôme can hardly be regarded as a historian proper, and his Memoirs cannot be accepted as a very trustworthy source of information. But he writes in a quaint conversational way, pouring forth his thoughts, observations or facts without order or system, and with the greatest frankness and naïveté. His works certainly gave an admirable picture of the general court-life of the time, with its unblushing and undisguised profligacy. There is not a homme illustre or a dame galante in all his gallery of portraits who is not stained with vice; and yet the whole is narrated with the most complete unconsciousness that there is anything objectionable in their conduct.

The edition of L. Lalanne has great merit, being the first to indicate the Spanish, Italian and French sources on which Brantôme drew, but it did not utilize all the existing MSS. It was only after Lalanne’s death that the earliest were obtained for the Bibliothèque Nationale. At Paris and at Chantilly (Musée Condé) all Brantôme’s original MSS., as revised by him several times, are now collected (see the Bibliothèque de l’école des Chartes, 1904), and a new and definitive edition has therefore become possible. Brantôme’s poems (which amount to more than 2200 verses) were first published in 1881; see Lalanne’s edition.

BRANTÔME, a town of south-western France, in the department of Dordogne, 20 m. N. by W. of Périgueux by steam-tramway. Pop. (1906) 1230. The town is built, in great part, on an island in the river Dronne. It is well known for the remains of an abbey founded by Charlemagne about 770 and afterwards destroyed by the Normans. The oldest existing portion is a square tower dating from the 11th century, built upon a rock beside the church which it overlooks. It communicates by a staircase with the church, a rectangular building partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, to the west of which are the remains of a cloister. The abbey buildings date from the 18th century, and now serve as hôtel-de-ville, magistrature and schools. Caves in the neighbouring rocks were inhabited by the monks before the building of the abbey; one of them, used as an oratory, contains curious carvings, representing the Last Judgment and the Crucifixion. In the middle of the 16th century Pierre de Bourdeille came into possession of the abbey, from which he took the name of Brantôme.

Brantôme has some old houses and a church of the 15th century, which was once fortified and is now used as a market. Truffles are the chief article of commerce; and there are quarries of freestone in the neighbourhood. The dolmen which is known as Pierre-Levée, to the east of the town, is the most remarkable in Périgord.

BRANXHOLM, or Branksome, a feudal castle, now modernized, and an ancient seat of the Buccleuchs, on the Teviot, 3 m. S.W. of Hawick, Roxburgh, Scotland. It was at Branksome Hall that Sir Walter Scott laid the scene of The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

BRANXTON, or Brankston, a village of Northumberland, England, 10½ m. E. by N. of Kelso, and 2 m. E.S.E. of Coldstream, and 10 m. N.W. of Wooler. It was on Branxton Hill, immediately south of the village, that the battle of Flodden (q.v.) was fought between the English and the Scots on the 9th of September 1513. During the fight the Scots centre pushed as far as Branxton church, but “the King’s Stone,” which lies N.W. of the church and is popularly supposed to mark the spot where James IV. fell, is some three-quarters of a mile from the scene of the battle; it is believed in reality to mark the sepulchre of a chieftain, whose name had already perished in the 16th century. Branxton church, dedicated to St Paul, was rebuilt in 1849 in Norman style. Of the older building nothing remains save the chancel arch.

BRAOSE, WILLIAM DE (d. 1211), lord of Brecknock, Radnor and Limerick, spent the early part of his life fighting the Welsh in Radnorshire. He was high in King John’s favour, received a large number of honours, and was even given the custody of Prince Arthur. But John and he quarrelled, probably over money (1207). In 1208 John began to suspect the fidelity of the whole family, and William had to fly to Ireland. After a number of attempted reconciliations, he was outlawed (1210) and died at Corbeil (1211). It is said that his wife and son were starved to death by John.

See Foedera, i. 107; Histoire des ducs (ed. Michel), Wendover; Kate Norgate’s John Lackland.

A descendant, William de Braose (d. 1326), lord of Gower, was a devoted follower of Edward I., and in 1299 was summoned to parliament as baron de Braose; and his nephew Thomas de Braose (d. 1361) also distinguished himself in the wars and was summoned as baron de Braose in 1342. This latter barony became extinct in 1399; but a claim to the barony of William de Braose, which, as he had no son, fell into abeyance between his two daughters and co-heirs, Alina (wife of Lord Mowbray) and Joan (wife of John de Bohun), or their descendants, may still be traced by careful genealogists in various noble English families.

BRASCASSAT, JACQUES RAYMOND (1804-1867), French painter, was born at Bordeaux, and studied art in Paris, where in 1825 he won a prix de Rome with a picture (“Chasse de Méléagre”) now in the Bordeaux gallery. He went to Italy and painted a number of landscapes which were exhibited between 1827 and 1835; but subsequently he devoted himself mainly to animal-painting, in which his reputation as an artist was made. His “Lutte de taureaux” (1837), in the musée at Nantes, and his “Vache attaquée par des loups” (1845), in the Leipzig museum, were perhaps the best of his pictures; but he was remarkable for his accuracy of observation and correct drawing. He was elected a member of the Institute in 1846. He died at Paris on the 28th of February 1867.

BRAS D’OR, a landlocked and tideless gulf or lake of high irregular outline, 50 m. long by 20 m. broad, almost separating Cape Breton Island (province of Nova Scotia, Canada) into two parts. A ship canal across the isthmus (about 1 m. wide) completes the severance of the island. The entrance to the gulf is on the N.E. coast of the island, and it is connected with the Atlantic by the Great and Little Bras d’Or channels, which are divided by Boulardeire Island. One channel is 25 m. long and from ¼ m. to 3 m. broad, but is of little depth, the other (used by shipping) is 22 m. long, 1 to 1½ m. wide, and has a depth of 60 fathoms. The gulf or lake is itself divided into two basins, the inner waters being known as the Great Bras d’Or Lake. The waters are generally from 12 to 60 fathoms deep, but in the outer basin (known as the Little Bras d’Or Lake) are soundings said to reach nearly 700 ft. The shores of the gulf are very picturesque and well wooded and have attracted many tourists. Sea fishing (cod, mackerel, &c.) is the chief industry. The name is said to be a corruption of an Indian word, but it assumed its present form during the French occupation of Cape Breton Island.

BRASDOR, PIERRE (1721-1799), French surgeon, was born in the province of Maine. He took his degree in Paris as master of surgery in 1752, and was appointed regius professor of anatomy and director of the Academy of Surgery. He was a skilful operator, whose name was long attached to a ligature of his invention; and he was an ardent advocate of inoculation. He died in Paris on the 28th of September 1799.

BRASIDAS (d. 422 B.C.), a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athenians (431 B.C.). During the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor (Xen. Hell. ii. 3, 10), and in 429 he was sent out as one of the three commissioners (σύμβουλοι) to advise the admiral Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in the assault on the Athenian position at Pylos, during which he was severely wounded (Thuc. iv. n. 12).

In the next year, while Brasidas mustered a force at Corinth for a campaign in Thrace, he frustrated an Athenian attack on Megara (Thuc. iv. 70-73), and immediately afterwards marched through Thessaly at the head of 700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian king Perdiccas. Refusing to be made a tool for the furtherance of Perdiccas’s ambitions, Brasidas set about the accomplishment of his main object, and, partly by the rapidity and boldness of his movements, partly by his personal charm and the moderation of his demands, succeeded during the course of the winter in winning over the important cities of Acanthus, Stagirus, Amphipolis and Torone as well as a number of minor towns. An attack on Eion was foiled by the arrival of Thucydides, the historian, at the head of an Athenian squadron. In the spring of 423 a truce was concluded between Athens and Sparta, but its operation was at once imperilled by Brasidas’s refusal to give up Scione, which, the Athenian partisans declared, revolted two days after the truce began, and by his occupation of Mende shortly afterwards. An Athenian fleet under Nicias and Nicostratus recovered Mende and blockaded Scione, which fell two years later (421 B.C.). Meanwhile Brasidas joined Perdiccas in a campaign against Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncesti, who was severely defeated. On the approach of a body of Illyrians, who, though summoned by Perdiccas, unexpectedly declared for Arrhabaeus, the Macedonians fled, and Brasidas’s force was rescued from a critical position only by his coolness and ability. This brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and Perdiccas, who promptly concluded a treaty with Athens, of which some fragments have survived (I.G. i. 42).

In April 422 the truce with Sparta expired, and in the same summer Cleon was despatched to Thrace, where he stormed Torone and Galepsus and prepared for an attack on Amphipolis. But a carelessly conducted reconnaissance gave Brasidas the opportunity for a vigorous and successful sally. The Athenian army was routed with a loss of 600 men and Cleon was slain. On the Spartan side only seven men are said to have fallen, but amongst them was Brasidas. He was buried at Amphipolis with impressive pomp, and for the future was regarded as the founder (οἰκιστής) of the city and honoured with yearly games and sacrifices (Thuc. iv. 78-v. 11). At Sparta a cenotaph was erected in his memory near the tombs of Pausanias and Leonidas, and yearly speeches were made and games celebrated in their honour, in which only Spartiates could compete (Paus. in. 14).

Brasidas united in himself the personal courage characteristic of Sparta with those virtues in which the typical Spartan was most signally lacking. He was quick in forming his plans and carried them out without delay or hesitation. With an oratorical power rare amongst the Lacedaemonians he combined a conciliatory manner which everywhere won friends for himself and for Sparta (Thuc. iv. 81).

See in particular Thucydides, ii.-v.; what Diodorus xii. adds is mainly oratorical elaboration or pure invention. A fuller account will be found in the histories of Greece (e.g. those of Grote, Beloch, Busolt, Meyer) and in G. Schimmelpfeng, De Brasidae Spartani rebus gestis atque ingenio (Marburg, 1857).

BRASS, a river, town and district of southern Nigeria, British West Africa. The Brass river is one of the deltaic branches of the Niger, lying east of the Rio Nun or main channel of the river. From the point of divergence from the main stream to the sea the Brass has a course of about 100 m., its mouth being in 6° 20′ E., 4° 35′ N. Brass town is a flourishing trading settlement at the mouth of the river. It is the headquarters of a district commissioner and the seat of a native court. Its most conspicuous building is a fine church, the gift of a native chief. The capital of the Brass tribes is Nimbé, 30 m. up river.

The Brass river, called by its Portuguese discoverers the Rio Bento, is said to have received its English name from the brass rods and other brass utensils imported by the early traders in exchange for palm-oil and slaves. The Brass natives, of the pure negro type, were noted for their savage character. In 1856 their chiefs concluded a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to give up the slave-trade in exchange for a duty on the palm-oil exported. Finding their profitable business as middlemen between the up-river producer and the exporter threatened by the appearance of European traders, they made ineffective complaints to the British authorities. The establishment of the Royal Niger Company led to further loss of trade, and on the 29th of January 1895 the natives attacked and sacked the company’s station at Akassa on the Rio Nun, over forty prisoners being killed and eaten as a sacrifice to the fetish gods. In the following month a punitive expedition partially destroyed Nimbé, and a heavy fine was paid by the Brass chiefs. Since then the country has settled down under British administration. The trade regulations of which complaint had been made were removed in 1900 on the establishment of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria (see Nigeria).

Valuable information concerning the country and people will be found in the Report by Sir John Kirk on the Disturbances at Brass (Africa, No. 3, 1896).

BRASS (O. Eng. braes), an alloy consisting mainly if not exclusively of copper and zinc; in its older use the term was applied rather to alloys of copper and tin, now known as bronze (q.v.)Thus the brass of the Bible was probably bronze, and so also was much of the brass of later times, until the distinction between zinc and tin became clearly recognized. The Latin word aes signifies either pure copper or bronze, not brass, but the Romans comprehended a brass compound of copper and zinc under the term orichalcum or aurichalcum, into which Pliny states that copper was converted by the aid of cadmia (a mineral of zinc).

In England there is good evidence of the manufacture of brass with zinc at the end of the 16th century, for Queen Elizabeth by patent granted to William Humfrey and Christopher Schutz the exclusive right of working calamine and making brass. This right subsequently devolved upon a body called the “Governors, Assistants and Societies of the City of London of and for the Mineral and Battery Works,” which continued to exercise its functions down to the year 1710.

When a small percentage of zinc is present, the colour of brass is reddish, as in tombac or red brass, which contains about 10%. With about 20% the colour becomes more yellow, and a series of metals is obtained which simulate gold more or less closely; such are Dutch metal, Mannheim gold, similar and pinchbeck, the last deriving its name from a London clockmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck, who invented it in 1732. Ordinary brass contains about 30% of zinc, and when 40% is present, as in Muntz, yellow or patent metal (invented by G.F. Muntz in 1832), the colour becomes a full yellow. When the proportion of zinc is largely increased the colour becomes silver-white and finally grey. The limit of elasticity increases with the percentage of zinc, as also does the amount of elongation before fracture, the maximum occurring with 30%. The tenacity increases with the proportion of zinc up to a maximum with 45%; then it decreases rapidly, and with 50% the metals are fragile. By varying the proportion between 30 and 43% a series of alloys may be prepared presenting very varied properties. The most malleable of the series has an elongation of about 60%, with a tensile strength of 17.5 tons per sq. in. Increase in the proportion of zinc gives higher tensile strength, accompanied, however, by a smaller percentage of elongation and a materially increased tendency to produce unsound castings. The quality of copper-zinc alloys is improved by the addition of a small quantity of iron, a fact of which advantage is taken in the production of Aich’s metal and delta metal. Of the latter there are several varieties, modified in composition to suit different purposes. Some of them possess high tensile strength and ductility. They are remarkably resistant to corrosion by sea-water, and are well suited for screw-propellers as well as for pump-plungers, pistons and glands. Heated to a dull red delta metal becomes malleable and can be worked under the hammer, press or stamps. By such treatment an ultimate tensile strength of 30 tons per sq. in. may be obtained, with an elongation of 32% in 2 in. and a contraction of area of 30%.

In the arts brass is a most important and widely used alloy. As compared with copper its superior hardness makes it wear better, while being more fusible it can be cast with greater facility. It is readily drawn into fine wire, and formed into rolled sheets and rods which are machined into a huge number of useful and ornamental articles. It is susceptible of a fine polish, but tarnishes with exposure to the air; the brilliancy of the surface can, however, be preserved if the metal is thoroughly cleansed by “dipping” in nitric acid and “lacquered” with a coating of varnish consisting of seed-lac dissolved in spirit.

BRASSES, MONUMENTAL, a species of engraved sepulchral memorials which in the early part of the 13th century began to take the place of tombs and effigies carved in stone. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavement, and thus forming no obstruction in the space required for the services of the church, they speedily came into general use, and continued to be a favourite style of sepulchral memorial for three centuries. Besides their great value as historical monuments, they are interesting as authentic contemporary evidence of the varieties of armour and costume, or the peculiarities of palaeography and heraldic designs, and they are often the only authoritative records of the intricate details of family history. Although the intrinsic value of the metal has unfortunately contributed to the wholesale spoliation of these interesting monuments, they are still found in remarkable profusion in England, and they were at one time equally common in France, Germany and the Low Countries. In France, however, those that survived the troubles of the 16th century were totally swept away during the reign of terror, and almost the only evidence of their existence is now supplied by the collection of drawings bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian library. The fine memorials of the royal house of Saxony in the cathedrals of Meissen and Freiberg are the most artistic and striking brasses in Germany. Among the 13th-century examples existing in German churches are the full-length memorials of Yso von Welpe, bishop of Verden (1231), and of Bernard, bishop of Paderborn (1340). Many fine Flemish specimens exist in Belgium, especially at Bruges. Only two or three examples, and these of late date, are known in Scotland, among which are the memorials of Alexander Cockburn (1564) at Ormiston; of the regent Murray (1569) in the collegiate church of St Giles, Edinburgh; and of the Minto family (1605) in the south aisle of the nave of Glasgow cathedral. England is the only country which now possesses an extensive series of these interesting memorials, of which it is calculated that there may be about 4000 still remaining in the various churches. They are most abundant in the eastern counties, and this fact has been frequently adduced in support of the opinion that they were of Flemish manufacture. But in the days when sepulchral brasses were most in fashion the eastern counties of England were full of commercial activity and wealth, and nowhere do the engraved memorials of civilians and prosperous merchants more abound than in the churches of Ipswich, Norwich, Lynn and Lincoln. Flemish brasses do occur in England, but they were never numerous, and they are readily distinguished from those of native workmanship. The Flemish examples have the figures engraved in the centre of a large plate, the background filled in with diapered or scroll work, and the inscription placed round the edge of the plate. The English examples have the figures cut out to the outline and inserted in corresponding cavities in the slab, the darker colour of the stone serving as a background. This is not an invariable distinction, however, as “figure-brasses” of Flemish origin are found both at Bruges and in England. But the character of the engraving is constant, the Flemish work being more florid in design, the lines shallower, and the broad lines cut with a chisel-pointed tool instead of the lozenge-shaped burin. The brass of Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, the envoy of Henry V. to the council of Constance, who died and was interred there in 1416, precisely resembles the brasses of England in the peculiarities which distinguish them from continental specimens. Scarcely any of the brasses which now exist in England can be confidently referred to the first half of the 13th century, though several undoubted examples of this period are on record. The full-sized brass of Sir John d’Aubernon at Stoke d’Abernon in Surrey (c. 1277) has the decorations of the shield filled in with a species of enamel. Other examples of this occur, and the probability is, that, in most cases, the lines of the engraving were filled with colouring-matter, though brass would scarcely bear the heat requisite to fuse the ordinary enamels. A well-known 13th-century example is that of Sir Roger de Trumpington (c. 1290), who accompanied Prince Edward in his expedition to Palestine and is represented cross-legged. About half a dozen instances of this peculiarity are known. The 14th-century brasses are much more numerous, and present a remarkable variety in their details. The finest specimen is that of Nicholas Lord Burnell (1315) in the church of Acton Burnell, Shropshire. In the 15th century the design and execution of monumental brasses had attained their highest excellence. The beautiful brass of Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (d. 1401), and his wife Margaret, which formerly covered the tomb in St Mary’s church, Warwick, is a striking example. One of the best specimens of plate armour is that of Sir Robert Stantoun (1458) in Castle Donnington church, Leicestershire, and one of the finest existing brasses of ecclesiastics is that of Abbot de la Mare of St Albans. It is only in the 16th century that the engraved representations become portraits. Previous to that period the features were invariably represented conventionally, though sometimes personal peculiarities were given. A large number of brasses in England are palimpsests, the back of an ancient brass having been engraved for the more recent memorial. Thus a brass commemorative of Margaret Bulstrode (1540) at Hedgerley, on being removed from its position, was discovered to have been previously the memorial of Thomas Totyngton, abbot of St Edmunds, Bury (1312). The abbey was only surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, so that before the year was out the work of spoliation had begun, and the abbot’s brass had been removed and re-engraved to Margaret Bulstrode. In explanation of the frequency with which ancient brasses have thus been stolen and re-erected after being engraved on the reverse, as at Berkhampstead, it may be remarked that all the sheet brass used in England previous to the establishment of a manufactory at Esher by a German in 1649, had to be imported from the continent.

Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 6 from Waller’s Monumental Brasses. Figs. 4 and 5 by permission of the Monumental Brass Society.

Authorities.—(1) General: Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses (Oxford, 1848); Boutell’s Monumental Brasses of England, engravings on wood, folio (London, 1849); Manual of Monumental Brasses, by H. Haines (2 vols. 8vo, 1861); Waller’s Series of Monumental Brasses in England (London and Oxford, Parkers, 1863); Monumental Brasses, by H.W. Macklin (8vo, 1890); The Brasses of England, by H.W. Macklin (8vo, London, 1907). (2) English Counties: Cotman’s Engravings of the most Remarkable of the Sepulchral Brasses of Norfolk (4to, London, 1813-1816); and second edition, with plates and notes by Meyrick, Albert Way and Sir Harris Nicholas (2 vols. folio, London, 1839); Illustrations of Monumental Brasses in Cambridge (4to, Camden Society, 1846); Monumental Brasses of Northamptonshire, by F. Hudson (folio, 1853); The Monumental Brasses of Wiltshire, by G. Kite (8vo, London, 1860); Architectural and Historical Notes of the Churches of Cambridgeshire, by A.C. Hill (8vo, 1880); Monumental Brasses of Cornwall, by E.H.W. Dunken (4to, London, 1882); Monumental Brasses of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, ed. by C.T. Davis (1884); Kentish Brasses, by W.D. Belcher (4to, London, 1888); List of Monumental Brasses in the County of Norfolk, by the Rev. E. Farrer (Norwich, 1890); The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire, by James Thornby (8vo, Hull, 1893); Monumental Brasses in the Bedfordshire Churches, by Grace Isherwood (8vo, London, 1906), a large collection of rubbings of special interest and value. (3) Foreign: Monumental Brasses and Incised Slabs in Belgium (8vo, 1849); Books of Facsimiles of Monumental Brasses of the Continent of Europe, folio (1884), by the Rev. W.F. Greeny.

BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG, CHARLES ÉTIENNE (1814-1874), Belgian ethnographer, was born at Bourbourg, near Dunkirk, on the 8th of September 1814. He entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, was professor of ecclesiastical history in the Quebec seminary in 1845, vicar-general at Boston in 1846, and from 1848 to 1863 travelled as a missionary, chiefly in Mexico and Central America. He gave great attention to Mexican antiquities, published in 1857-1859 a history of Aztec civilization, and from 1861 to 1864 edited a collection of documents in the indigenous languages. In 1863 he announced the discovery of a key to Mexican hieroglyphic writing, but its value is very questionable. In 1864 he was archaeologist to the French military expedition in Mexico, and his Monuments anciens du Mexique was published by the French Government in 1866. Perhaps his greatest service was the publication in 1861 of a French translation of the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the Quiché Indians, together with a Quiché grammar, and an essay on Central American mythology. In 1871 he brought out his Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatemalienne, and in 1869-1870 gave the principles of his decipherment of Indian picture-writing in his Manuscrit Troano, études sur le système graphique et la langue des Mayas. He died at Nice on the 8th of January 1874. His chief merit is his diligent collection of materials; his interpretations are generally fanciful.

BRASSEY, THOMAS (1805-1870), English railway contractor, was born at Buerton, near Chester, on the 7th of November 1805. His father, besides cultivating land of his own, held a large farm of the marquess of Westminster; his ancestors, according to family tradition, having been settled for several centuries at Bulkeley, near Malpas, Cheshire, before they went to Buerton in 1663. Thomas Brassey received an ordinary commercial education at a Chester school. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a surveyor, and on the completion of his term became the partner of his master, eventually assuming the sole management of the business. In the local surveys to which he devoted his attention during his early years he acquired the knowledge and practical experience which were the necessary foundation of his great reputation. His first engagement as railway contractor was entered upon in 1835, when he undertook the execution of a portion of the Grand Junction railway, on the invitation of the distinguished engineer Joseph Locke, who soon afterwards entrusted him with the completion of the London and Southampton railway, a task which involved contracts to the amount of £4,000,000 sterling and the employment of a body of 3000 men. At the same time he was engaged on portions of several other lines in the north of England and in Scotland. In conjunction with his partner, W. Mackenzie, Brassey undertook, in 1840, the construction of the railway from Paris to Rouen, of which Locke was engineer. He subsequently carried out the extension of the same line. A few years later he was engaged with his partner on five other French lines, and on his own account on the same number of lines in England, Wales and Scotland. Brassey was now in control of an industrial army of 75,000 men, and the capital involved in his various contracts amounted to some £36,000,000. But his energy and capacity were equal to still larger tasks. He undertook in 1851 other works in England and Scotland; and in the following year he engaged in the construction of railways in Holland, Prussia, Spain and Italy. One of his largest undertakings was the Grand Trunk railway of Canada, 1100 m. in length, with its fine bridge over the St Lawrence. In this work he was associated with Sir M. Peto and E.L. Betts. In the following years divisions of his industrial army were found in almost every country in Europe, in India, in Australia and in South America. Besides actual railway works, he originated and maintained a great number of subordinate assistant establishments, coal and iron works, dockyards, &c., the direction of which alone would be sufficient to strain the energies of an ordinary mind. His profits were, of course, enormous, but prosperity did not intoxicate him; and when heavy losses came, as sometimes they did, he took them bravely and quietly. Among the greatest of his pecuniary disasters were those caused by the fall of the great Barentin viaduct on the Rouen and Havre railway, and by the failure of Peto and Betts. Brassey was one of the first to aim at improving the relations between engineers and contractors, by setting himself against the corrupt practices which were common. He resolutely resisted the “scamping” of work and the bribery of inspectors, and what he called the “smothering of the engineer”; and he did much in this way to bring about a better state of things. Large-hearted and generous to a rare degree, modest and simple in his taste and manners, he was conscious of his power as a leader in his calling, and knew how to use it wisely and for noble ends. Honours came to him unsought. The cross of the Legion of Honour was conferred on him. From Victor Emmanuel he received the cross of the Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus; and from the emperor of Austria the decoration of the Iron Crown, which it is said had not before been given to a foreigner. He died at St Leonards on the 8th of December 1870. His life and labours are commemorated in a volume by Sir Arthur Helps (1872).

He left three sons, of whom the eldest, Thomas (b. 1836), was knighted and afterwards (1886) created Baron Brassey. Lord Brassey, who was educated at Rugby and Oxford, entered parliament as a liberal in 1865, and devoted himself largely to naval affairs. He was civil lord of the admiralty (1880-1883), and secretary to the admiralty (1883-1885); and both before and after his elevation to the peerage did important work on naval and statistical inquiries for the government. In 1893-1805 he was president of the Institution of Naval Architects. In 1894 he was a lord-in-waiting, and from 1895 to 1900 was governor of Victoria. In 1908 he was appointed lord warden of the Cinque Ports. His voyages in his yacht “Sunbeam” from 1876 onwards, with his first wife (d. 1887), who published an interesting book on the subject, took him all over the world. Lord Brassey married a second time in 1890. Among other publications, his inauguration of the Naval Annual (1886 onwards), and his volumes on The British Navy, are the most important. His eldest son Thomas, who edited the Naval Annual (1890-1904), and unsuccessfully contested several parliamentary constituencies, was born in 1862.

BRASSÓ (Ger. Kronstadt; Rumanian, Braşov), a town of Hungary, in Transylvania, 206 m. S.E. of Kolozsvár by rail. Pop. (1900) 34,511. It is the capital of the comitat (county) of the same name, also known as Burzenland, a fertile country inhabited by an industrious population of Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. Brassó is beautifully situated on the slopes of the Transylvanian Alps, in a narrow valley, shut in by mountains, and presenting only one opening on the north-west towards the Burzen plain. The town is entirely dominated by the Zinne of Kapellenberg, a mountain rising 1276 ft. above the town (total altitude 3153 ft.), from which a beautiful view is obtained of the lofty mountains around and of the carefully cultivated plain of the Burzenland, dotted with tastefully built and well-kept villages. On the summit of the mountain is one of the numerous monuments erected in 1896 in different parts of the country to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian state. It is known as Árpád’s Monument, and consists of a Doric column erected on a circular pedestal, which supports the bronze figure of a warrior from the time of Árpád.

Brassó consists of the inner town, which is the commercial centre, and the suburbs of Blumenau, Altstadt and Obere Vorstadt or Bolgárszeg, inhabited respectively by Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. To the east of the inner town rises the Schlossberg, crowned by the citadel, which was erected in 1553, and constitutes the principal remaining fragment of the old fortifications with which Brassó was encircled. The most interesting building in the town is the Protestant church, popularly called the Black Church, owing to its smoke-stained walls, caused by the great fire of 1689. This church, the finest in Transylvania, is a Gothic edifice with traces of Romanesque influence, and was built in 1385-1425. In the square in front of it is the statue of Johannes Honterus (1498-1549), “the apostle of Transylvania,” who was born in Brassó, and established here the first printing-press in Transylvania. In the principal square of the inner town stands the town hall, built in 1420 and restored in the 18th century, with a tower 190 ft. high. Brassó is the most important commercial and manufacturing town of Transylvania. Lying near the frontier of Rumania, with easy access through the Tömös pass, it developed from the earliest time an active trade with that country and with the whole of the Balkan states. Its chief industries are iron and copper works, wool-spinning, turkey-red dyeing, leather goods, paper, cement and petroleum refineries. The timber industry in all its branches, with a speciality for the manufacture of the wooden bottles largely used by the peasantry in Hungary and in the Balkan states, as well as the dairy industry, and ham-curing are also fully developed. A peculiarity of Brassó, which constitutes a survival of the old methods of trade with the Balkan states, is the number of money-changers who ply their trade at small movable tables in the market-place and in the open street. Brassó is the most populous town of Transylvania, and its population is composed in about equal numbers of Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. The town, especially on market days, presents an animated and picturesque aspect. Here are seen Germans, Szeklers, Magyars, Rumanians, Armenians and Gipsies, each of them wearing their distinctive national costume, and talking and bargaining in their own special idiom.

Amongst the places of interest round Brassó is the watering-place Zaizon, 15 m. to the east, with ferruginous and iodine waters; while about 17 m. to the south-west lies the pretty Rumanian village of Zernest, where in 1690 the Austrian general Heussler was defeated and taken prisoner by Imre (Emerich) Tököly, the usurper of the Transylvanian throne.

Brassó was founded by the Teutonic Order in 1211, and soon became a flourishing town. Through the activity of Honterus it played a leading part in the introduction of the Reformation in Transylvania in the 16th century. The town was almost completely destroyed by the big fire of 1689. During the revolution of 1848-1849 it was besieged by the Hungarians under General Bern from March to July 1849, and several engagements between the Austrian and the Hungarian troops took place in its neighbourhood.

BRATHWAIT, RICHARD (1588-1673), English poet, son of Thomas Brathwait, was born in 1588 at his father’s manor of Burneshead, near Kendal, Westmorland. He entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1604, and remained there for some years, pursuing the study of poetry and Roman history. He removed to Cambridge to study law and afterwards to London to the Inns of Court. Thomas Brathwait died in 1610, and the son went down to live on the estate he inherited from his father. In 1617 he married Frances Lawson of Nesham, near Darlington. On the death of his elder brother, Sir Thomas Brathwait, in 1618, Richard became the head of the family, and an important personage in the county, being deputy-lieutenant and justice of the peace. In 1633 his wife died, and in 1639 he married again. His only son by this second marriage, Sir Stafford Brathwait, was killed in a sea-fight against the Algerian pirates. Richard Brathwait’s most famous work is Barnabae Itinerarium or Barnabees Journall [1638], by “Corymbaeus,” written in English and Latin rhyme. The title-page says it is written for the “travellers’ solace” and is to be chanted to the old tune of “Barnabe.” The story of “drunken Barnabee’s” four journeys to the north of England contains much amusing topographical information, and its gaiety is unflagging. Barnabee rarely visits a town or village without some notice of an excellent inn or a charming hostess, but he hardly deserves the epithet “drunken.” At Banbury he saw the Puritan who has become proverbial,

“Hanging of his cat on Monday

For killing of a Mouse on Sunday.”

Brathwait’s identity with “Corymbaeus” was first established by Joseph Haslewood. In his later years he removed to Catterick, where he died on the 4th of May 1673. Among his other works are: The Golden Fleece (1611), with a second title-page announcing “sonnets and madrigals,” and a treatise on the Art of Poesy, which is not preserved; The Poets Willow; or the Passionate Shepheard (1614); The Prodigals Teares (1614); The Schollers Medley, or an intermixt Discourse upon Historicall and Poeticall relations (1614), known in later editions as a Survey of History (1638, &c.); a collection of epigrams and satires entitled A Strappado for the Divell (1615), with which was published incongruously Loves Labyrinth (edited, 1878, by J.W. Ebsworth); Natures Embassie; or, the wildemans measures; danced naked by twelve satyres (1621), thirty satires finding antique parallels for modern vices; with these are bound up The Shepheards Tales (1621), a collection of pastorals, one section of which was reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydges in 1815; two treatises on manners, The English Gentleman (1630) and The English Gentlewoman (1631); Anniversaries upon his Panarete (1634), a poem in memory of his wife; Essaies upon the Five Senses (1620); The Psalmes of David ... and other holy Prophets, paraphras’d in English (1638); A Comment upon Two Tales of ... Jeffray Chaucer (1665; edited for the Chaucer Soc. by C. Spurgeon, 1901). Thomas Hearne, on whose testimony (MS. collections for the year 1713, vol. 47, p. 127) the authorship of the Itinerarium chiefly rests, not inappropriately called him “the scribler of those times,” and the list just given of his works, published under various pseudonyms, is by no means complete.

A full bibliography is given in Joseph Haslewood’s edition of Barnabee’s Journall (ed. W.C. Hazlitt, 1876). See also J. Corser, Collectanea (Chetham Soc., 1860, &c.).

BRATIANU (or Bratiano), ION C. (1821-1891), Rumanian statesman, was born at Pitesci in Walachia on the 2nd of June 1821. He entered the Walachian army in 1838, and visited Paris in 1841 for purposes of study. Returning to Walachia, he took part, with his friend C.A. Rosetti and other prominent politicians, in the Rumanian rebellion of 1848, and acted as prefect of police in the provisional government formed in that year. The restoration of Russian and Turkish authority shortly afterwards drove him into exile. He took refuge in Paris, and endeavoured to influence French opinion in favour of the proposed union and autonomy of the Danubian principalities. In 1854, however, he was sentenced to a fine of £120 and three months’ imprisonment for sedition, and later confined in a lunatic asylum; but in 1856 he returned home with his brother, Dimitrie Bratianu, afterwards one of his foremost political opponents. During the reign of Prince Cuza (1859-1866), Bratianu figured prominently as one of the Liberal leaders. He assisted in 1866 in the deposition of Cuza and the election of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, under whom he held several ministerial appointments during the next four years. He was arrested for complicity in the revolution of 1870, but soon released. In 1876, aided by C.A. Rosetti, he formed a Liberal cabinet, which remained in power until 1888. For an account of his work in connexion with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, the Berlin congress, the establishment of the Rumanian kingdom, the revision of the constitution, and other reforms, see Rumania. After 1883 Bratianu acted as sole leader of the Liberals, owing to a quarrel with C.A. Rosetti, his friend and political ally for nearly forty years. His long tenure of office, without parallel in Rumanian history, rendered Bratianu extremely unpopular, and at its close his impeachment appeared inevitable. But any proceedings taken against the minister would have involved charges against the king, who was largely responsible for his policy; and the impeachment was averted by a vote of parliament in February 1890. Bratianu died on the 16th of May 1891. Besides being the leading statesman of Rumania during the critical years 1876-1888, he attained some eminence as a writer. His French political pamphlets, Mémoire sur l’empire d’Autriche dans la question d’Orient (1855), Réflexions sur la situation (1856), Mémoire sur la situation de la Moldavie depuis le traité de Paris (1857), and La Question religieuse en Roumanie (1866), were all published in Paris.

For his other writings and speeches see Din Scrierile şi cuvîntarile lui I.C. Bratianu, 1821-1891 (Bucharest, 1903, &c.), edited with a biographical introduction by D.A. Sturza. A brief anonymous biography, Ion C. Bratianu, appeared at Bucharest in 1893.

BRATLANDSDAL (i.e. Bratland valley), a gorge of southern Norway in Stavanger amt (county), formed by the Bratland river, a powerful torrent issuing into Lake Suldal. A remarkable road traverses the gorge by means of cuttings and a tunnel, and the scenery is among the most magnificent in Norway. It is usually approached from Stavanger by way of Sand and Lake Suldal, and the road divides above the gorge, branches running north to Odde and south-east through Telemarken. The junction of the roads is near Breifond, 13 m. above Naes at the mouth of the river, on the west shore of Lake Roldal, which is fed by the snowfield to the west, north and east, and is drained by the Bratland river.

BRATTISHING, or Brandishing (from the Fr. bretèche), in architecture, a sort of crest or ridge on a parapet, or species of embattlement. The term, however, is generally employed to describe the ranges of flowers which form the crests of so many parapets in the Tudor period.

BRATTLEBORO, a village of Windham county, Vermont, U.S.A., in a township (pop. 1910, 7541) of the same name, in the south-east part of the state, 60 m. N. of Springfield, Massachusetts, on the Connecticut river. Pop. (1890) 5467; (1900) 5297 (686 foreign-born); (1910) 6517. It is served by the Central Vermont and the Boston & Maine railways. Situated in a hilly, heavily wooded country, it is an attractive place, with a few houses dating from the 18th century. Among the manufactures are toys, furniture, overalls and organs, the Estey and the Carpenter organs being made there. First settled about 1753, Brattleboro took its name from one of the original patentees, William Brattle (1702-1776), a Massachusetts loyalist. It was incorporated ten years later.

See H. Burnham, Brattleboro (Brattleboro, 1880), and H.M. Burt, The Attractions of Brattleboro, Glimpses of Past and Present (Brattleboro, 1866).

BRAUNAU (Czech Broumov), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 139 m. E.N.E. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 7622, chiefly German. The town is built on a rocky eminence on the right bank of the Steine. It has an imposing Benedictine abbey, once a castle, but converted into a religious house in 1322, when Ottakar I. gave the district to the Benedictines. Noteworthy also is the great church of Saints Wenceslaus and Adalbert, built between 1683 and 1733. This stands on the site where, in 1618, the Protestants attempted to build a church, the forcible prevention of which by Abbot Wolfgang Solander was the immediate cause of the protest of the Bohemian estates and the “defenestration” of the ministers Martinic and Slavata, which opened the Thirty Years’ War. After the battle of the White Hill, near Prague (1620), the town was deprived of all its privileges, which were, however, in great part restored nine years later. It is now a manufacturing centre (cloth, woollen and cotton stuffs, &c.) and has a considerable trade.

BRAUNSBERG, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, 38 m. by rail S.W. of Königsberg, on the Passarge, 4 m. from its mouth in the Frisches Haff. Pop. (1900) 12,497. It possesses numerous Roman Catholic institutions, of which the most important is the Lyceum Hosianum (enjoying university rank), founded in 1564 by the cardinal bishop Stanislaus Hosius. Brewing, tanning, and the manufactures of soap, yeast, carriages and bricks are the most important industries of the town, which also carries on a certain amount of trade in corn, ship timber and yarn. The river is navigable for small vessels. The castle of Braunsberg was built by the Teutonic knights in 1241, and the town was founded ten years later. Destroyed by the Prussians in 1262, it was restored in 1279. The town, which was the seat of the bishops of Ermeland from 1255 to 1298, was granted the “law of Lübeck” by its bishop in 1284, and admitted to the Hanseatic League. After numerous vicissitudes it fell into the hands of the Poles in 1520, and in 1626 it was captured by Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedes kept possession till 1635. It fell to Prussia by the first partition of Poland in 1772.

BRAVO (Ital. for “brave”), the name for hired assassins such as were formerly common in Italy. The word had at first no evil meaning, but was applied to the retainers of the great noble houses, or to the cavalier-type of swashbucklers familiar in fiction. In later Italian history, especially in that of Venice, the bravi were desperate ruffians who for payment were ready to commit any crime, however foul.

BRAWLING (probably connected with Ger. brallen, to roar, shout), in law, the offence of quarrelling, or creating a disturbance in a church or churchyard. During the early stages of the Reformation in England religious controversy too often became converted into actual disturbance, and the ritual lawlessness of the parochial clergy very frequently provoked popular violence. To repress these disturbances an act was passed in 1551, by which it was enacted “that if any person shall, by words only, quarrel, chide or brawl in any church or churchyard, it shall be lawful for the ordinary of the place where the same shall be done and proved by two lawful witnesses, to suspend any person so offending, if he be a layman, from the entrance of the church, and if he be a clerk, from the ministration of his office, for so long as the said ordinary shall think meet, according to the fault.” An act of 1553 added the punishment of imprisonment until the party should repent. The act of 1551 was partly repealed in 1828 and wholly repealed as regards laymen by the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860. Under that act, which applies to Ireland as well as to England, persons guilty of riotous, violent or indecent behaviour, in churches and chapels of the Church of England or Ireland, or in any chapel of any religious denomination, or in England in any place of religious worship duly certified, or in churchyards or burial-grounds, are liable on conviction before two justices to a penalty of not more than £5, or imprisonment for any term not exceeding two months. This enactment applies to clergy as well as to laity, and a clergyman of the Church of England convicted under it may also be dealt with under the Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 (Girt v. Fillingham, 1901, L.R. Prob. 176). When Mr J. Kensit during an ordination service in St Paul’s cathedral “objected” to one of the candidates for ordination, on grounds which did not constitute an impediment or notable crime within the meaning of the ordination service, he was held to have unlawfully disturbed the bishop of London in the conduct of the service, and to be liable to conviction under the act of 1860 (Kensit v. Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s, 1905, L.R. 2 K.B. 249). The public worship of Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholics and Jews in England had before 1860 been protected by a series of statutes beginning with the Toleration Act of 1689, and ending with the Liberty of Religious Worship Act 1855. These enactments, though not repealed, are for practical purposes superseded by the summary remedy given by the act of 1860. In Scotland disturbance of public worship is punishable as a breach of the peace (Dougall v. Dykes, 1861, 4 Irvine 101).

In British possessions abroad interference with religious worship is usually dealt with by legislation, and not as a common-law offence. In India it is an offence voluntarily to cause disturbance to any assembly lawfully engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies (Penal Code, s. 296). Under the Queensland Criminal Code of 1899 (s. 207) penalties are imposed on persons who wilfully and without lawful justification or excuse (the proof of which lies on them) disquiet or disturb any meeting of persons lawfully assembled for religious worship, or assault any forces lawfully officiating at such meeting, or any of the persons there assembled.

In the United States disturbance of religious worship is treated as an offence under the common law, which is in many states supplemented by legislation (see Bishop, Amer. Crim. Law, 8th ed. 1892, vol. i. s. 542, vol. ii. ss. 303-305; California Penal Code, s. 302; Revised Laws of Massachusetts, 1902, chap. 212, s. 30.).

BRAY, SIR REGINALD (d. 1503), British statesman and architect, was the second son of Sir Richard Bray, one of the privy council of Henry VI. Reginald was born in the parish of St John Bedwardine, near Worcester, but the date of his birth is uncertain. He was receiver-general and steward of the household to Sir Henry Stafford, second husband of Margaret, countess of Richmond, whose son afterwards became King Henry VII. The accession of the king Henry VII. favoured the fortunes of Reginald Bray, who was created a knight of the Bath at the coronation and afterwards a knight of the Garter. In the first year of Henry VII.’s reign he was given a grant of the constableship of Oakham Castle in Rutland, and was appointed joint chief justice with Lord Fitz Walter of all the forest south of Trent and chosen of the privy council. Subsequently he was made high treasurer and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. In October 1494 he became high steward of the university of Oxford, and he was a member of the parliament summoned in the 11th year of Henry VII’s reign. In June 1497 he was at the battle of Blackheath, and his services in repressing the Cornish rebels were rewarded with a gift of estates and the title of knight banneret. His taste and skill in architecture are attested by Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster and St George’s chapel at Windsor. He directed the building of the former, and the finishing and decoration of the latter, to which, moreover, he was a liberal contributor, building at his own expense a chapel still called by his name and ornamented with his crest, the initial letters of his name, and a device representing the hemp-bray, an instrument used by hemp manufacturers. He died in 1503, before the Westminster chapel was completed, and was interred in St George’s chapel.

BRAY, THOMAS (1656-1730), English divine, was born at Marton, Shropshire, in 1656, and educated at All Souls’ College, Oxford. After leaving the university he was appointed vicar of Over-Whitacre, and rector of Sheldon in Warwickshire, where he wrote his famous Catechetical Lectures. Henry Compton, bishop of London, appointed him in 1696 as his commissary to organize the Anglican church in Maryland, and he was in that colony in 1699-1700. He took a great interest in colonial missions, especially among the American Indians, and it is to his exertions that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel owes its existence. He also projected a successful scheme for establishing parish libraries in England and America, out of which grew the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. From 1706 till his death in February 1730 he was rector of St Botolph-Without, Aldgate, London, being unceasingly engaged in philanthropic and literary pursuits.

BRAY, a village in the Wokingham parliamentary division of Berkshire, England, beautifully situated on the west (right) bank of the Thames, 1 m. S. of Maidenhead Bridge. Pop. (1901) 2978. There are numerous riverside residences in the locality. The church of St Michael has portions of various dates from the Early English period onward, and is much restored. It contains a number of brasses of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. A well-known ballad, “The Vicar of Bray,” tells how a vicar held his position by easy conversions of faith according to necessity, from the days of Charles II. until the accession of George I. and the foundation of “the illustrious house of Hanover” (1714). One Francis Carswell, who is buried in the church, was vicar for forty-two years, approximately during this period, dying in 1709; but the legend is earlier, and the name of the vicar who gave rise to it is not certainly known. That of Simon Aleyn, who held the office from c. 1540 to 1588, is generally accepted, as, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth, he is said to have been successively Papist, Protestant, Papist and Protestant. The name of Simon Simonds is also given on the authority of the vicar of the parish in 1745; Simonds died a canon of Windsor in 1551, but had been vicar of Bray. Tradition ascribes the song to a soldier in Colonel Fuller’s troop of dragoons in the reign of George I.

BRAY, a seaport and watering-place of Co. Wicklow, Ireland, 12 m. S.S.E. of Dublin on the Dublin & South-Eastern railway, situated on both sides of the river Bray. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7424. For parliamentary purposes it is divided between the eastern division of county Wicklow and the southern of county Dublin. A harbour was constructed by the urban district council (the harbour authority) which accommodates ships of 400 tons. There is some industry in brewing, milling and fishing, but the town, which is known as the “Irish Brighton,” is almost wholly dependent for its prosperity on visitors from Dublin and elsewhere. It therefore possesses all the equipments of a modern seaside resort; there is a fine sea-wall with esplanade upwards of a mile in length; the bathing is good, and race meetings are held. The town is rapidly increasing in size. The coast, especially towards the promontory of Bray Head, offers beautiful sea-views, and some of the best inland scenery in the county is readily accessible, such as the Glens of the Dargle and the Downs, the demesne of Powerscourt, the Bray river, with its loughs, and the pass of the Scalp. The demesne of Kilruddery, the seat of the earls of Meath, is specially beautiful. About 1170 Bray was bestowed by Richard de Clare or Strongbow, earl of Pembroke and Strigul, on Walter de Reddesford, who took the title of baron of Bray, and built a castle.

BRAYLEY, EDWARD WEDLAKE (1773-1854), English antiquary and topographer, was born at Lambeth, London, in 1773. He was apprenticed to the enamelling trade, but early developed literary tastes. He formed a close friendship with John Britton, which lasted for sixty-five years. They entered into a literary partnership, and after some small successes at song and play writing they became joint editors of The Beauties of England and Wales, themselves writing many of the volumes. Long after he had become famous as a topographer, Brayley continued his enamel work. In 1823 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He died in London on the 23rd of September 1854. His other works include Sir Reginalde or the Black Tower (1803); Views in Suffolk, Norfolk and Northamptonshire, illustrative of works of Robt. Bloowifield (1806); Lambeth Palace (1806); The History of the Abbey Church of Westminster (2 vols., 1818); Topographical Sketches of Brighthelmstone (1825); Historical and Descriptive Accounts of Theatres of London (1826); Londiniana (1829); History of Surrey (5 vols., 1841-1848).

BRAZIER (from the Fr. brasier, which comes from braise, hot charcoal), a metal receptacle for holding burning coals or charcoal, much used in southern Europe and the East for warming rooms. Braziers are often elegant in form, and highly artistic in ornamentation, with chased or embossed feet and decorated exteriors.

BRAZIL, or Brasil, a legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean. The name connects itself with the red dye-woods so called in the middle ages, possibly also applied to other vegetable dyes, and so descending from the Insulae Purpurariae of Pliny. It first appears as the I. de Brazi in the Venetian map of Andrea Bianco (1436), where it is found attached to one of the larger islands of the Azores. When this group became better known and was colonized, the island in question was renamed Terceira. It is probable that the familiar existence of “Brazil” as a geographical name led to its bestowal upon the vast region of South America, which was found to supply dye-woods kindred to those which the name properly denoted. The older memory survived also, and the Island of Brazil retained its place in mid-ocean, some hundred miles to the west of Ireland, both in the traditions of the forecastle and in charts. In J. Purdy’s General Chart of the Atlantic, “corrected to 1830,” the “Brazil Rock (high)” is marked with no indication of doubt, in 51° 10′ N. and 15° 50′ W. In a chart of currents by A.G. Findlay, dated 1853, these names appear again. But in his 12th edition of Purdy’s Memoir Descriptive and Explanatory of the N. Atlantic Ocean (1865), the existence of Brazil and some other legendary islands is briefly discussed and rejected. (See also Atlantis.)