We have this day.............. to/from you .............. lb American
Cotton, net weight, to be contained in .............. American Bales,
more or less, to be delivered in Liverpool, during .............. on
the basis of .......... per lb for ............ on the terms of the
rules, bye-laws, and Clearing House regulations of the Liverpool Cotton
Association, Limited, whether endorsed hereon or not.
The contract, of which this is a note, is made between ourselves and
yourselves, and not by or with any person, whether disclosed or not, on
whose instructions or for whose benefit the same may have been entered
into. Yours faithfully,
...................
The contract, of which the above is a note, was made on the date
specified, within the business hours fixed by the Liverpool Cotton
Association, Limited.
......... per cent to us.
Please confirm by signing and returning the contract attached.
The above form of contract note illustrates the tendency of exchanges to
alter the relations between the broker and his principal. The object of
inserting in the printed form the provision that the contract is made
subject to the rules of the [v.04 p.0631] Liverpool Cotton Association is
to make those rules binding upon the principal, and if he employs his
broker upon the basis of the printed form, he does bind himself to any
modification of the relations between himself and his broker which those
rules may effect. The object of the principal clause in the above and
similar printed forms is apparently to entitle the broker to sell to or buy
from his principal on his own account and not as agent at all, thus
disregarding the duty incumbent upon him as broker of making for his
principal a contract with a third party.
It is not possible, except very generally, to state how far exchanges have
succeeded in imposing their own rules and usages on non-members, but it is
probably correct to say that in most cases if the question came before the
courts, the outside client would be held to have accepted the rules of the
exchange so far as they did not alter the fundamental duties to him of his
broker. On the other hand, provisions purporting to entitle the broker in
disregard of his duties as broker himself to act as principal, would be
rejected by the courts as radically inconsistent with the primary object of
the contract of brokerage and, therefore, meaningless. But it is
undoubtedly too often the practice of brokers who are members of exchanges
to consider themselves entitled to act as principals and sell on their own
account to their own clients, particularly in futures. The causes of this
opinion, erroneously, though quite honestly held, are probably to be looked
for partly in the habit of acting as principal on the market in accordance
with the rules, partly in the forms of contract notes containing "principal
clauses" which they send to their clients, and perhaps, also, in the
occasional difficulty of effecting actual contracts on the market at the
time when they are instructed so to do.
A _stockbroker_ is a broker who contracts for the sale of stocks and
shares. Stockbrokers differ from brokers proper chiefly in that stocks and
shares are not "goods," and the requirement of a memorandum in writing,
enacted by the Sale of Goods Act 1893, does not apply. Hence actions may be
brought by the principals to a contract for the sale of stocks and shares
although no memorandum in writing exists. For instance, the jobber, on
failing to recover from the buyer's broker the price of shares sold, by
reason of the broker having failed and been declared a defaulter, may sue
the buyer whose "name was passed" by the broker. The employment of a
stockbroker is subject to the rules and customs of the Stock Exchange, in
accordance with the principles discussed above, which apply to the
employment of brokers proper. A custom which is illegal, such as the Stock
Exchange practice of disregarding Leeman's Act (1867), which enacts that
contracts for the sale of joint-stock bank shares shall be void unless the
registered numbers of the shares are stated therein, is not binding on the
client to the extent of making the contract of sale valid. But if a client
choose to instruct his broker to buy bank shares in accordance with that
practice, the broker is entitled to be indemnified by his client for money
which he pays on his behalf, even though the contract of sale so made is
unenforceable. For further information the reader is referred to the
article STOCK EXCHANGE and to the treatises on stock exchange law.
An _insurance broker_ is an agent whose business is to effect policies of
marine insurance. He is employed by the person who has an interest to
insure, pays the premiums to the underwriter, takes up the policy, and
receives from the underwriter payment in the event of a loss under the
policy. By the custom of the trade the underwriter looks solely to the
broker for payment of premiums, and has no right of action against the
assured; and, on the other hand, the broker is paid his commission by the
underwriter, although he is employed by the assured. Usually the broker
keeps a current account with the underwriter, and premiums and losses are
dealt with in account. It is only in the event of the underwriter refusing
to pay on a loss, that the broker drops out and the assured sues the
underwriter direct. Agents who effect life, fire or other policies, are not
known as insurance brokers.
_Ship-brokers_ are, firstly, "commission agents," and, secondly, very often
also ships' managers. Their office is to act as agents for owners of ships
to procure purchasers for ships, or ships for intending purchasers, in
precisely the same manner as house-agents act in respect of houses. They
also act as agents for ship-owners in finding charterers for their ships,
or for charterers in finding ships available for charter, and in either
case they effect the charter-party (see AFFREIGHTMENT).
Chartering brokers are customarily paid by the ship-owner, when the
charter-party is effected, whether originally employed by him or by the
charterer. Charter-parties effected through brokers often contain a
provision--"_2½% on estimated amount of freight to be paid to A B, broker,
on the signing of this charter-party, and the ship to be consigned to him
for ship's business at the port of X_ [inserting the name of the port where
A B carries on business]." The broker cannot sue on the charter-party
contract because he is not a party to it, but the insertion of the clause
practically prevents his right from being disputed by the ship-owner. When
the broker does the ship's business in port, it is his duty to clear her at
the customs and generally to act as "ship's husband."
A _bill-broker_ was originally an agent who, for a commission, procured for
country bankers the discounting of their bills in London. But the practice
arose of the broker guaranteeing the London banker or financier; and
finally the brokers ceased to deposit with the London bankers the bills
they received, and at the present day a bill-broker, as a rule, buys bills
on his own account at a discount, borrows money on his own account and upon
his own security at interest, and makes his profit out of the difference
between the discount and the interest. When acting thus the bill-broker is
not a broker at all, as he deals as principal and does not act as agent.
AUTHORITIES.--Story, _Commentaries on the Law of Agency_ (Boston, 1882);
Brodhurst, _Law and Practice of the Stock Exchange_ (London, 1897); Gow,
_Handbook of Marine Insurance_ (London, 1900); Arnould, _On Marine
Insurance_, edited by Messrs Hart & Simey (1901); J.R. Dos Passos, _Law of
Stock-Brokers and Stock Exchanges_ (New York, 1905).
(L. F. S.)
BROMBERG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Posen, 32 m. by
rail W.N.W. from the fortress of Thorn, 7 m. W. from the bank of the
Vistula, and at the centre of an important network of railways, connecting
it with the strategical points on the Prusso-Russian frontier. Pop. (1900)
52,082; (1905) 54,229. Its public buildings comprise two Roman Catholic and
three Protestant churches, a Jewish synagogue, a seminary, high grade
schools and a theatre. The town also possesses a bronze statue of the
emperor William I., a monument of the war of 1870-71, and a statue of
Benkenhoff, the constructor of the Bromberg Canal. This engineering work,
constructed in 1773-1774, by command of Frederick II., connects the Brahe
with the Netze, and thus establishes communication between the Vistula, the
Oder and the Elbe. The principal industrial works are iron foundries and
machine shops, paper factories and flour mills; the town has, moreover, an
active trade in agricultural and other products. In view of its strategical
position, a large garrison is concentrated in and about the town. Bromberg
is mentioned as early as 1252. It fell soon afterwards into the hands of
the Poles, from whom it was taken in 1327 by the Teutonic Order, which held
it till 1343, when the Poles recaptured it. Destroyed in the course of
these struggles, it was restored by Casimir of Poland in 1346, and down to
the close of the 16th century it continued to be a flourishing commercial
city. It afterwards suffered so much from war and pestilence that about
1772, when the Prussians took possession, it contained only from five to
six hundred inhabitants. By the treaty of Tilsit it was transferred to the
duchy of Warsaw; in 1813 it was occupied by the Russians, and in 1815 was
restored to Prussia.
BROME, ALEXANDER (1620-1666), English poet, was by profession an attorney,
and was the author of many drinking songs and of satirical verses in favour
of the Royalists and against the Rump. He published in 1661 _Songs and
other Poems_, containing songs on various subjects, followed by a series of
political songs; ballads, epistles, elegies and epitaphs; epigrams and
translations. Izaak Walton wrote an introductory eclogue for this volume in
praise of the writer, and his gaiety and wit won for him the title of the
"English Anacreon" in Edward Phillips's _Theatrum Poetarum_. Brome
published in 1666 a translation of Horace by himself and others, and was
the author of a comedy entitled _The Cunning Lovers_ (1654). He also edited
two volumes of Richard Brome's plays.
BROME, RICHARD (d. 1652), English dramatist, was originally a servant of
Ben Jonson, and owed much to his master. The development of his plots, the
strongly marked characters and the amount of curious information to be
found in his work, all show Jonson's influence. The relation of master and
servant developed into friendship, and our knowledge of Brome's personal
character is chiefly drawn from Ben Jonson's lines to him, prefixed to _The
Northern Lasse_ (1632), the play which made Brome's reputation. Brome's
genius lay entirely in comedy. He has left fifteen pieces. _Five New
Playes_ (ed. by Alex. Brome, 1652?) contained _Madd Couple Well Matcht_
(acted 1639?); [v.04 p.0632] _Novella_ (acted 1632); _Court Begger_ (acted
1632); _City Witt; The Damoiselle or the New Ordinary. Five New Playes_
(1659) included _The English Moor, or The Mock Marriage; The Love-Sick
Court, or The Ambitious Politique; Covent Garden Weeded; The New Academy,
or The New Exchange_; and _The Queen and Concubine_. _The Antipodes_ (acted
1638, pr. 1640); _The Sparagus Garden_ (acted 1635, pr. 1640); _A Joviall
Crew, or the Merry Beggars_ (acted 1641, pr. 1652, revised in 1731 as an
"opera"), and _The Queenes Exchange_ (pr. 1657), were published separately.
He collaborated with Thomas Heywood in _The late Lancashire Witches_ (pr.
1634).
See A.W. Ward, _History of English Dramatic Literature_, vol. iii. pp.
125-131 (1899). _The Dramatic Works of Richard Brome ..._ were published in
1873.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Fruit of the pine-apple (_Ananas sativa_),
consisting of numerous flowers and bracts united together so as to form a
collective or anthocarpous fruit. The crown of the pine-apple, c, consists
of a series of empty bracts prolonged beyond the fruit.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Tillandsia usneoides_, Spanish moss, slightly
reduced. 1, Small branch with flower; 2, flower cut vertically; 3, section
of seed of _Bromelia_.
(From _The Botanical Magazine_, by permission of Lovell, Reeve & Co)]
BROMELIACEAE, in botany, a natural order of Monocotyledons, confined to
tropical and sub-tropical America. It includes the pine-apple (fig. 1) and
the so-called Spanish moss (fig. 2), a rootless plant, which hangs in long
grey lichen-like festoons from the branches of trees, a native of Mexico
and the southern United States; the water required for food is absorbed
from the moisture in the air by peculiar hairs which cover the surface of
the shoots. The plants are generally herbs with a much shortened stem
bearing a rosette of leaves and a spike or panicle of flowers. They are
eminently dry-country plants (xerophytes); the narrow leaves are protected
from loss of water by a thick cuticle, and have a well-developed sheath
which embraces the stem and forms, with the sheaths of the other leaves of
the rosette, a basin in which water collects, with fragments of rotting
leaves and the like. Peculiar hairs are developed on the inner surface of
the sheath by which the water and dissolved substances are absorbed, thus
helping to feed the plant. The leaf-margins are often spiny, and the
leaf-spines of _Puya chilensis_ are used by the natives as fish-hooks.
Several species are grown as hot-house plants for the bright colour of
their flowers or flower-bracts, e.g. species of _Tillandsia_, _Billbergia_,
_Aechmea_ and others.
BROMINE (symbol Br, atomic weight 79.96), a chemical element of the halogen
group, which takes its name from its pungent unpleasant smell ([Greek:
brômos], a stench). It was first isolated by A.J. Balard in 1826 from the
salts in the waters of the Mediterranean. He established its elementary
character, and his researches were amplified by K.J. Löwig (1803-1890) in
_Das Brom und seine chemischen Verhaltnisse_ (1829). Bromine does not occur
in nature in the uncombined condition, but in combination with various
metals is very widely but sparingly distributed. Potassium, sodium and
magnesium bromides are found in mineral waters, in river and sea-water, and
occasionally in marine plants and animals. Its chief commercial sources are
the salt deposits at Stassfurt in Prussian Saxony, in which magnesium
bromide is found associated with various chlorides, and the brines of
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, U.S.A.; small quantities
are obtained from the mother liquors of Chile saltpetre and kelp. In
combination with silver it is found as the mineral bromargyrite (bromite).
_Manufacture._--The chief centres of the bromine industry are Stassfurt and
the central district of Michigan. It is manufactured from the magnesium
bromide contained in "bittern" (the mother liquor of the salt industry), by
two processes, the continuous and the periodic. The continuous process
depends upon the decomposition of the bromide by chlorine, which is
generated in special stills. A regular current of chlorine mixed with steam
is led in at the bottom of a tall tower filled with broken bricks, and
there meets a descending stream of hot bittern: bromine is liberated and is
swept out of the tower together with some chlorine, by the current of
steam, and then condensed in a worm. Any uncondensed bromine vapour is
absorbed by moist iron borings, and the resulting iron bromide is used for
the manufacture of potassium bromide. The periodic process depends on the
interaction between manganese dioxide (pyrolusite), sulphuric acid, and a
bromide, and the operation is carried out in sandstone stills heated to 60°
C., the product being condensed as in the continuous process. The
substitution of potassium chlorate for pyrolusite is recommended when
calcium chloride is present in the bittern. The crude bromine is purified
by repeated shaking with potassium, sodium or ferrous bromide and
subsequent redistillation. Commercial bromine is rarely pure, the chief
impurities present in it being chlorine, hydrobromic acid, and bromoform
(M. Hermann, _Annalen_, 1855, 95, p. 211). E. Gessner (_Berichte_, 1876, 9,
p. 1507) removes chlorine by repeated shaking with water, followed by
distillation over sulphuric acid; hydrobromic acid is removed by
distillation with pure manganese dioxide, or mercuric oxide, and the
product dried over sulphuric acid. J.S. Stas, in his stoichiometric
researches, prepared chemically pure bromine from potassium bromide, by
converting it into the bromate which was purified by repeated
crystallization. By heating the bromate it was partially converted into the
bromide, and the resulting mixture was distilled with sulphuric acid. The
distillate was further purified by digestion with milk of lime,
precipitation with water, and further digestion with calcium bromide and
barium oxide, and was finally redistilled.
_Characters._--Bromine at ordinary temperatures is a mobile liquid of fine
red colour, which appears almost black in thick layers. It boils at 59° C.
According to Sir W. Ramsay and S. Young, bromine, when dried over sulphuric
acid, boils at 57.65° C., and when dried over phosphorus pentoxide, boils
at 58.85° C. (under a pressure of 755.8 mm.), forming a deep red vapour,
which exerts an irritating and directly poisonous action on the respiratory
organs. It solidifies at -21° C. (Quincke) to a dark brown solid. Its
specific gravity is 3.18828 (0/4°), latent heat of fusion 16.185 calories,
latent heat of vaporization 45.6 calories, specific heat 0.1071. The
specific heat of bromine vapour, at constant pressure, is 0.05504 and at
constant volume is 0.04251 (K. Strecker). Bromine is soluble in water, to
the extent of 3.226 grammes of bromine per 100 grammes of solution at 15°
C., the solubility being slightly increased by the presence of potassium
bromide. The solution is of an orange-red colour, and is quite permanent in
the dark, but on exposure to light, gradually becomes colourless, owing to
decomposition into hydrobromic acid and oxygen. By cooling the aqueous
solution, hyacinth-red octahedra of a crystalline hydrate of composition
Br·4H_2O or Br_2·8H_2O are obtained (Bakhuis Roozeboom, _Zeits. phys.
Chem._, 1888, 2. p. 449). Bromine is readily soluble in chloroform, alcohol
and ether.
Its chemical properties are in general intermediate between those of
chlorine and iodine; thus it requires the presence of a catalytic agent, or
a fairly high temperature, to bring about its union with hydrogen. It does
not combine directly with oxygen, nitrogen or carbon. With the other
elements it unites to form bromides, often with explosive violence;
phosphorus detonates in liquid bromine and inflames in the vapour; iron is
occasionally used to absorb bromine vapour, potassium reacts energetically,
but sodium requires to be heated to 200° C. The chief use of bromine in
analytical chemistry is based upon the oxidizing action of bromine water.
Bromine and bromine water both bleach organic colouring matters. [v.04
p.0633] The use of bromine in the extraction of gold (_q.v._) was proposed
by R. Wagner (_Dingler's Journal_, 218, p. 253) and others, but its cost
has restricted its general application. Bromine is used extensively in
organic chemistry as a substituting and oxidizing agent and also for the
preparation of addition compounds. Reactions in which it is used in the
liquid form, in vapour, in solution, and in the presence of the so-called
"bromine carriers," have been studied. Sunlight affects the action of
bromine vapour on organic compounds in various ways, sometimes retarding or
accelerating the reaction, while in some cases the products are different
(J. Schramm, _Monatshefte fur Chemie_, 1887, 8, p. 101). Some reactions,
which are only possible by the aid of nascent bromine, are carried out by
using solutions of sodium bromide and bromate, with the amount of sulphuric
acid calculated according to the equation 5NaBr + NaBrO_3 + 6H_2SO_4 =
6NaHSO_4 + 3H_2O + 6Br. (German Patent, 26642.) The diluents in which
bromine is employed are usually ether, chloroform, acetic acid,
hydrochloric acid, carbon bisulphide and water, and, less commonly,
alcohol, potassium bromide and hydrobromic acid; the excess of bromine
being removed by heating, by sulphurous acid or by shaking with mercury.
The choice of solvent is important, for the velocity of the reaction and
the nature of the product may vary according to the solvent used, thus A.
Baeyer and F. Blom found that on brominating orthoacetamido-acetophenone in
presence of water or acetic acid, the bromine goes into the benzene
nucleus, whilst in chloroform or sulphuric acid or by use of bromine vapour
it goes into the side chain as well. The action of bromine is sometimes
accelerated by the use of compounds which behave catalytically, the more
important of these substances being iodine, iron, ferric chloride, ferric
bromide, aluminium bromide and phosphorus. For oxidizing purposes bromine
is generally employed in aqueous and in alkaline solutions, one of its most
important applications being by Emil Fischer (_Berichte_, 1889, 22, p. 362)
in his researches on the sugars. The atomic weight of bromine has been
determined by J.S. Stas and C. Marignac from the analysis of potassium
bromide, and of silver bromide. G.P. Baxter (_Zeit. anorg. Chem._ 1906, 50,
p. 389) determined the ratios Ag: AgBr, and AgCl: Ag Br.
_Hydrobromic Acid._--This acid, HBr, the only compound of hydrogen and
bromine, is in many respects similar to hydrochloric acid, but is rather
less stable. It may be prepared by passing hydrogen gas and bromine vapour
through a tube containing a heated platinum spiral. It cannot be prepared
with any degree of purity by the action of concentrated sulphuric acid on
bromides, since secondary reactions take place, leading to the liberation
of free bromine and formation of sulphur dioxide. The usual method employed
for the preparation of the gas consists in dropping bromine on to a mixture
of amorphous phosphorus and water, when a violent reaction takes place and
the gas is rapidly liberated. It can be obtained also, although in a
somewhat impure condition, by the direct action of bromine on various
saturated hydrocarbons (e.g. paraffin-wax), while an aqueous solution may
be obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through bromine water.
Alexander Scott (_Journal of Chem. Soc._, 1900, 77, p. 648) prepares pure
hydrobromic acid by covering bromine, which is contained in a large flask,
with a layer of water, and passing sulphur dioxide into the water above the
surface of the bromine, until the whole is of a pale yellow colour; the
resulting solution is then distilled in a slow current of air and finally
purified by distillation over barium bromide. At ordinary temperatures
hydrobromic acid is a colourless gas which fumes strongly in moist air, and
has an acid taste and reaction. It can be condensed to a liquid, which
boils at -64.9° C. (under a pressure of 738.2 mm.), and, by still further
cooling, gives colourless crystals which melt at -88.5° C. It is readily
soluble in water, forming the aqueous acid, which when saturated at 0° C.
has a specific gravity of 1.78. When boiled, the aqueous acid loses either
acid or water until a solution of constant boiling point is obtained,
containing 48% of the acid and boiling at 126° C. under atmospheric
pressure; should the pressure, however, vary, the strength of the solution
boiling at a constant temperature varies also. Hydrobromic acid is one of
the "strong" acids, being ionized to a very large extent even in
concentrated solution, as shown by the molecular conductivity increasing by
only a small amount over a wide range of dilution.
_Bromides._--Hydrobromic acid reacts with metallic oxides, hydroxides and
carbonates to form bromides, which can in many cases be obtained also by
the direct union of the metals with bromine. As a class, the metallic
bromides are solids at ordinary temperatures, which fuse readily and
volatilize on heating. The majority are soluble in water, the chief
exceptions being silver bromide, mercurous bromide, palladious bromide and
lead bromide; the last is, however, soluble in hot water. They are
decomposed by chlorine, with liberation of bromine and formation of
metallic chlorides; concentrated sulphuric acid also decomposes them, with
formation of a metallic sulphate and liberation of bromine and sulphur
dioxide. The non-metallic bromides are usually liquids, which are readily
decomposed by water. Hydrobromic acid and its salts can be readily detected
by the addition of chlorine water to their aqueous solutions, when bromine
is liberated; or by warming with concentrated sulphuric acid and manganese
dioxide, the same result being obtained. Silver nitrate in the presence of
nitric acid gives with bromides a pale yellow precipitate of silver
bromide, AgBr, which is sparingly soluble in ammonia. For their
quantitative determination they are precipitated in nitric acid solution by
means of silver nitrate, and the silver bromide well washed, dried and
weighed.
No oxides of bromine have as yet been isolated, but three oxy-acids are
known, namely hypobromous acid, HBrO, bromous acid, HBrO_2, and bromic
acid, HBrO_3. Hypobromous acid is obtained by shaking together bromine
water and precipitated mercuric oxide, followed by distillation of the
dilute solution _in vacuo_ at low temperature (about 40° C.). It is a very
unstable compound, breaking up, on heating, into bromine and oxygen. The
aqueous solution is light yellow in colour, and possesses strong bleaching
properties. Bromous acid is formed by adding bromine to a saturated
solution of silver nitrate (A. H. Richards, _J. Soc Chem. Ind._, 1906, 25,
p. 4). Bromic acid is obtained by the addition of the calculated amount of
sulphuric acid (previously diluted with water) to the barium salt; by the
action of bromine on the silver salt, in the presence of water, 5AgBrO_3 +
3Br_2 + 3H_2O = 5AgBr + 6HBrO_3, or by passing chlorine through a solution
of bromine in water. The acid is only known in the form of its aqueous
solution; this is, however, very unstable, decomposing on being heated to
100° C. into water, oxygen and bromine. By reducing agents such, for
example, as sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphur-dioxide, it is rapidly
converted into hydrobromic acid. Hydrobromic acid decomposes it according
to the equation HBrO_3 + 5HBr = 3H_2O + 3Br_2. Its salts are known as
bromates, and are as a general rule difficultly soluble in water, and
decomposed by heat, with evolution of oxygen.
_Applications._--The salts of bromine are widely used in photography,
especially bromide of silver. For antiseptic purposes it has been prepared
as "bromum solidificatum," which consists of kieselguhr or similar
substance impregnated with about 75% of its weight of bromine. In medicine
it is largely employed in the form of bromides of potassium, sodium and
ammonium, as well as in combination with alkaloids and other substances.
_Medicinal Use._--Bromide of potassium is the safest and most generally
applicable sedative of the nervous system. Whilst very weak, its action is
perfectly balanced throughout all nervous tissue, so much so that Sir
Thomas Lauder Brunton has suggested its action to be due to its replacement
of sodium chloride (common salt) in the fluids of the nervous system. Hence
bromide of potassium--or bromide of sodium, which is possibly somewhat
safer still though not quite so certain in its action--is used as a
hypnotic, as the standard anaphrodisiac, as a sedative in mania and all
forms of morbid mental excitement, and in hyperaesthesia of all kinds. Its
most striking success is in epilepsy, for which it is the specific remedy.
It may be given in doses of from ten to fifty grains or more, and may be
continued without ill effect for long periods in grave cases of epilepsy
(_grand mal_). Of the three bromides in common use the potassium salt is
the most rapid and certain in its action, but may depress the heart in
morbid states of that organ; in such cases the sodium salt--of which the
base is inert--may be employed. In whooping-cough, when a sedative is
required but a stimulant is also indicated, ammonium bromide is often
invaluable. The conditions in which bromides are most frequently used are
insomnia, epilepsy, whooping-cough, delirium tremens, asthma, migraine,
laryngismus stridulus, the symptoms often attendant upon the climacteric in
women, hysteria, neuralgia, certain nervous disorders of the heart,
strychnine poisoning, nymphomania and spermatorrhoea. Hydrobromic acid is
often used to relieve or prevent the headache and singing in the ears that
may follow the administration of quinine and of salicylic acid or
salicylates.
BROMLEY, SIR THOMAS (1530-1587), English lord chancellor, was born in
Staffordshire in 1530. He was educated at Oxford University and called to
the bar at the Middle Temple. Through family influence as well as the
patronage of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the lord keeper, he quickly made progress
in his profession. In 1566 he was appointed recorder of London, and in 1569
he became solicitor-general. He sat in parliament successively for
Bridgnorth, Wigan and Guildford. On the death of Sir Nicholas Bacon in 1579
he was appointed lord chancellor. As an equity judge he showed great and
profound knowledge, and his judgment in Shelley's case (_q.v._) is a
landmark in the history of English real property law. He presided over the
commission which tried Mary, queen of Scots, in 1586, but the strain of the
trial, coupled with the responsibility which her execution involved upon
him, proved too much for his strength, and he died on the 12th of April
1587. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
See Foss, _Lives of the Judges_; Campbell, _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_.
BROMLEY, a municipal borough in the Sevenoaks parliamentary division of
Kent, England, 10½ m. S.E. by S. of London by the South Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. (1901) 27,354. It lies on high ground north of the small
river Ravensbourne, in a well-wooded district, and has become a favourite
residential locality for those whose business lies in London. The former
palace of the bishops of Rochester was erected in 1777 in room [v.04
p.0634] of an older structure. The manor belonged to this see as early as
the reign of Ethelbert. In the gardens is a chalybeate spring known as St
Blaize's Well, which was in high repute before the Reformation. The church
of St Peter and St Paul, mainly Perpendicular, retains a Norman font and
other remains of an earlier building. Here is the gravestone of the wife of
Dr Johnson. Bromley College, founded by Bishop Warner in 1666 for "twenty
poor widows of loyal and orthodox clergymen," has been much enlarged, and
forty widows are in receipt of support. Sheppard College (1840) is an
affiliated foundation for unmarried daughters of these widows. In the
vicinity of Bromley, Bickley is a similar residential township, Hayes
Common is a favourite place of excursion, and at Holwood Hill near Keston
are remains of a large encampment known as Caesar's Camp. Bromley was
incorporated in 1903, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18
councillors. Area, 4703 acres.
[Illustration]
BROMLITE, a member of the aragonite group of minerals. It consists of an
isomorphous mixture of calcium and barium carbonates in various
proportions, (Ca, Ba) CO_3, and thus differs chemically from barytocalcite
(_q.v._) which is a double salt of these carbonates in equal molecular
proportions. Being isomorphous with aragonite, it crystallizes in the
orthorhombic system, but simple crystals are not known. The crystals are
invariably complex twins, and have the form of doubly terminated
pseudo-hexagonal pyramids, like those of witherite but more acute; the
faces are horizontally striated and are divided down their centre by a
twin-suture, as represented in the adjoining figure. The examination in
polarized light of a transverse section shows that each compound crystal is
built up of six differently orientated individuals arranged in twelve
segments. The crystals are translucent and white, sometimes with a shade of
pink. Sp. gr. 3.706; hardness 4-4½. The mineral has been found at only two
localities, both of which are in the north of England. At the Fallowfield
lead mine, near Hexham in Northumberland, it is associated with witherite;
and at Bromley Hill, near Alston in Cumberland, it occurs in veins with
galena. The species was named bromlite by T. Thomson in 1837, and alstonite
by A. Breithaupt in 1841, both of which names, derived from the locality,
have been in common use.
(L. J. S.)
BROMPTON, a western district of London, England, in the south-east of the
metropolitan borough of Kensington. Brompton Road, leading south-west from
Knightsbridge, is continued as Old Brompton Road and Richmond Road, to join
Lillie Road, at which point are the District and West London railway
stations of West Brompton. The Oratory of St Philip Neri, commonly called
Brompton Oratory, close by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Brompton
consumption hospital and the West London or Brompton cemetery are included
in this district, which is mainly occupied by residences of the better
class. (See KENSINGTON.)
BROMSGROVE, a market town in the Eastern parliamentary division of
Worcestershire, England, 12 m. N.N.E. of Worcester, with a station 1 m.
from the town on the Bristol-Birmingham line of the Midland railway. Pop.
of urban district (1901) 8418. It lies in a pleasant undulating district
near the foot of the Lickey Hills, to surmount which the railway towards
Birmingham here ascends for 2 m. one of the steepest gradients in England
over such a distance. There remain several picturesque half-timbered
houses, dating from 1572 and later. The church of St John is a fine
building, Perpendicular and earlier in date, picturesquely placed on an
elevation above the town, with a lofty tower and spire. There are a
well-known grammar-school, founded by Edward VI., with university
scholarships; a college school, a literary institute, and a school of art.
Birmingham Sanatorium stands in the parish. Cloth was formerly a staple of
trade, but manufactures of nails and buttons are now pre-eminent, while the
river Salwarpe works a number of mills in the neighbourhood, and near the
town are carriage works belonging to the Midland railway.
BRONCHIECTASIS (Gr. [Greek: bronchia], bronchial tubes, and [Greek:
ektasis], extension), dilatation of the bronchi, a condition occurring in
connexion with many diseases of the lungs. Bronchitis both acute and
chronic, chronic pneumonia and phthisis, acute pneumonia and
broncho-pneumonia, may all leave after them a bronchiectasis whose position
is determined by the primary lesion. Other causes, acting mechanically, are
tracheal and bronchial obstruction, as from the pressure of an aneurism,
new growth, &c. It used to be considered a disease of middle age, but of
late years Dr Walter Carr has shown that the condition is a fairly common
one among debilitated children after measles, whooping cough, &c. The
dilatation is commonly cylindrical, more rarely saccular, and it is the
medium and smaller sized tubes that are generally affected, except where
the cause is mechanical. The affection is usually of one lung only.
Emphysema is a very common accompaniment. Though at first the symptoms
somewhat resemble those of bronchitis, later they are quite distinctive.
Cough is very markedly paroxysmal in character, and though severe is
intermittent, the patient being entirely free for many hours at the time.
The effect of posture is very marked. If the patient lie on the affected
side, he may be free from cough the whole night, but if he turn to the
sound side, or if he rises and bends forward, he brings up large quantities
of bronchial secretion. The expectoration is characterized by its abundance
and manner of expulsion. Where the dilatation is of the saccular variety,
it may come up in such quantities and with so much suddenness as to gush
from the mouth. It is very commonly foetid, as it is retained and
decomposed _in situ_. Dyspnoea and haemoptysis occasionally occur, but are
by no means the rule. If pyrexia is present, it is a serious symptom, as it
is a sign of septic absorption in the bronchi, and may be the forerunner of
gangrene. If gangrene does set in, it will be accompanied by severe attacks
of shivering and sweating. Where the disease has lasted long, clubbing of
fingers and toes is very common. The diagnosis from putrid bronchitis is
usually fairly easily made, but at times it may be a matter of extreme
difficulty to distinguish between this condition and a tuberculous cavity
in the lung. Nothing can be done directly to cure this disease, but the
patient's condition can be greatly alleviated. Creosote vapour baths are
eminently satisfactory. A mechanical treatment much recommended by some of
the German physicians is that of forced expiration.
BRONCHITIS, the name given to inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
bronchial tubes (see RESPIRATORY SYSTEM: _Pathology_). Two main varieties
are described, specific and non-specific bronchitis. The bronchitis which
occurs in infectious or specific disorders, as diphtheria, influenza,
measles, pneumonia, &c., due to the micro-organisms observed in these
diseases, is known as specific; whereas that which results from extension
from above, or from chemical or mechanical irritation, is known as
non-specific. It is convenient to describe it, however, under the chemical
divisions of _acute_ and _chronic_ bronchitis.
_Acute bronchitis_, like other inflammatory affections of the chest,
generally arises as the result of exposure to cold, particularly if
accompanied with damp, or of sudden change from a heated to a cool
atmosphere. The symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack, and
more especially according to the extent to which the inflammatory action
spreads in the bronchial tubes. The disease usually manifests itself at
first in the form of a catarrh, or common cold; but the accompanying
feverishness and general constitutional disturbance proclaim the attack to
be something more severe, and symptoms denoting the onset of bronchitis
soon present themselves. A short, painful, dry cough, accompanied with
rapid and wheezing respiration, a feeling of rawness and pain in the throat
and behind the breast bone, and of oppression or tightness throughout the
chest, mark the early stages of the disease. In some cases, from the first,
symptoms of the form of asthma (_q.v._) known as the _bronchitic_ are
superadded, and greatly aggravate the patient's suffering.
[v.04 p.0635] After a few days expectoration begins to come with the cough,
at first scanty and viscid or frothy, but soon becoming copious and of
purulent character. In general, after free expectoration has been
established the more urgent and painful symptoms abate; and while the cough
may persist for a length of time, often extending to three or four weeks,
in the majority of instances convalescence advances, and the patient is
ultimately restored to health, although there is not unfrequently left a
tendency to a recurrence of the disease on exposure to its exciting causes.
When the ear or the stethoscope is applied to the chest of a person
suffering from such an attack as that now described, there are heard in the
earlier stages snoring or cooing sounds, mixed up with others of wheezing
or fine whistling quality, accompanying respiration. These are denominated
dry sounds, and they are occasionally so abundant and distinct, as to
convey their vibrations to the hand applied to the chest, as well as to be
audible to a bystander at some distance. As the disease progresses these
sounds become to a large extent replaced by others of crackling or bubbling
character, which are termed moist sounds or râles. Both these kinds of
abnormal sounds are readily explained by a reference to the pathological
condition of the parts. One of the first effects of inflammation upon the
bronchial mucous membrane is to cause some degree of swelling, which,
together with the presence of a tough secretion closely adhering to it,
tends to diminish the calibre of the tubes. The respired air as it passes
over this surface gives rise to the dry or sonorous breath sounds, the
coarser being generated in the large, and the finer or wheezing sounds in
the small divisions of the bronchi. Before long, however, the discharge
from the bronchial mucous membrane becomes more abundant and less
glutinous, and accumulates in the tubes till dislodged by coughing. The
respired air, as it passes through this fluid, causes the moist râles above
described. In most instances both moist and dry sounds are heard abundantly
in the same case, since different portions of the bronchial tubes are
affected at different times in the course of the disease.
Such are briefly the main characteristics presented by an ordinary attack
of acute bronchitis running a favourable course. The case is, however, very
different when the inflammation spreads into, or when it primarily affects,
the minute ramifications of the bronchial tubes which are in immediate
relation to the air-cells of the lungs, giving rise to that form of the
disease known as _capillary bronchitis_ or _broncho-pneumonia_ (see
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM: _Pathology_; and PNEUMONIA). When this takes place all
the symptoms already detailed become greatly intensified, and the patient's
life is placed in imminent peril in consequence of the interruption to the
entrance of air into the lungs, and thus to the due aeration of the blood.
The feverishness and restlessness increase, the cough becomes incessant,
the respiration extremely rapid and laboured, the nostrils dilating with
each effort, and evidence of impending suffocation appears. The surface of
the body is pale or dusky, the lips are livid, while breathing becomes
increasingly difficult, and is attended with suffocative paroxysms which
render the recumbent posture impossible. Unless speedy relief is obtained
by successful efforts to clear the chest by coughing and expectoration, the
patient's strength gives way, somnolence and delirium set in and death
ensues. All this may be brought about in the space of a few days, and such
cases, particularly among the very young, sometimes prove fatal within
forty-eight hours.
Acute bronchitis must at all times be looked upon as a severe and even
serious ailment, but there are certain circumstances under which its
occurrence is a matter of special anxiety to the physician. It is
pre-eminently dangerous at the extremes of life, and mortality statistics
show it to be one of the most fatal of the diseases of those periods. This
is to be explained not only by the well-recognized fact that all acute
diseases tell with great severity on the feeble frames alike of infants and
aged people, but more particularly by the tendency which bronchitis
undoubtedly has in attacking them to assume the capillary form, and when it
does so to prove quickly fatal. The importance, therefore, of early
attention to the slightest evidence of bronchitis among the very young or
the aged can scarcely be overrated.
Bronchitis is also apt to be very severe when it occurs in persons who are
addicted to intemperance. Again, in those who suffer from any disease
affecting directly or indirectly the respiratory functions, such as
consumption or heart disease, the supervention of an attack of acute
bronchitis is an alarming complication, increasing, as it necessarily does,
the embarrassment of breathing. The same remark is applicable to those
numerous instances of its occurrence in children who are or have been
suffering from such diseases as have always associated with them a certain
degree of bronchial irritation, such as measles and whooping-cough.
One other source of danger of a special character in bronchitis remains to
be mentioned, viz. collapse of the lung. Occasionally a branch of a
bronchial tube becomes plugged up with secretion, so that the area of the
lung to which this branch conducts ceases to be inflated on inspiration.
The small quantity of air imprisoned in the portion of lung gradually
escapes, but no fresh air enters, and the part collapses and becomes of
solid consistence. Increased difficulty of breathing is the result, and
where a large portion of lung is affected by the plugging up of a large
bronchus, a fatal result may rapidly follow, the danger being specially
great in the case of children. Fortunately, the obstruction may sometimes
be removed by vigorous coughing, and relief is then obtained.
With respect to the treatment of acute bronchitis, in those mild cases
which are more of the nature of a simple catarrh, little else will be found
necessary than confinement in a warm room, or in bed, for a few days, and
the use of light diet, together with warm diluent drinks. Additional
measures are however called for when the disease is more markedly
developed. Medicines to allay fever and promote perspiration are highly
serviceable in the earlier stages. Later, with the view of soothing the
pain of the cough, and favouring expectoration, mixtures of tolu, with the
addition of some opiate, such as the ordinary paregorics, may be
advantageously employed. The use of opium, however, in any form should not
be resorted to in the case of young children without medical advice, since
its action on them is much more potent and less under control than it is in
adults. Not a few of the so-called "soothing mixtures" have been found to
contain opium in quantity sufficient to prove dangerous when administered
to children, and caution is necessary in using them.
From the outset of the attack the employment of fomentations, or especially
a turpentine stupe, gives great relief, and occasionally in the
non-specific form this treatment, combined with a good dose of calomel and
salts, may render the attack abortive. Some relief is always obtained by
inhalations, and theoretically, an acute specific bronchitis should be
successfully treated by inhalation of antiseptic and soothing remedies. In
practice, however, it is found that the strength cannot be sufficiently
strong to destroy the bacteria in the bronchial tubes. However, much relief
is obtained from the use of steam atomizers filled with an aqueous solution
of compound tincture of benzoin, creosote or guaiacol. A still more
practicable means of introducing volatile antiseptic oils is the globe
nebulizer, which throws oleaginous solutions in the form of a fine fog,
that can be deeply inhaled. Menthol, eucalyptol and white pine extract are
some of the remedies that may be tried dissolved in benzoinol, to which
cocaine or opium may be added if the cough is troublesome.
When the bronchitis is of the capillary form, the great object is to
maintain the patient's strength, and to endeavour to secure the expulsion
of the morbid secretion from the fine bronchi. In addition to the remedies
already alluded to, stimulants are called for from the first; and should
the cough be ineffectual in relieving the bronchial tubes, the
administration of an emetic dose of sulphate of zinc may produce a good
effect.
During the whole course of any attack of bronchitis attention must be paid
to the due nourishment of the patient; and during the subsequent
convalescence, which, particularly in elderly persons, is apt to be slow,
tonics and stimulants may have to be prescribed.
[v.04 p.0636] _Chronic bronchitis_ may arise as the result of repeated
attacks of the acute form, or it may exist altogether independently. It
occurs more frequently among persons advanced in life than among the young,
although no age is exempt from it. The usual history of this form of
bronchitis is that of a cough recurring during the colder seasons of the
year, and in its earlier stages, departing entirely in summer, so that it
is frequently called "winter cough." In many persons subject to it,
however, attacks are apt to be excited at any time by very slight causes,
such as changes in the weather; and in advanced cases of the disease the
cough is seldom altogether absent. The symptoms and auscultatory signs of
chronic bronchitis are on the whole similar to those pertaining to the
acute form, except that the febrile disturbance and pain are much less
marked. The cough is usually more troublesome in the morning than during
the day. There is usually free and copious expectoration, and occasionally
this is so abundant as to constitute what is termed _bronchorrhoea_.
Chronic bronchitis leads to alterations of structure in the affected
bronchial tubes, their mucous membrane becoming thickened or even
ulcerated, while occasionally permanent dilatation of the bronchi takes
place, often accompanied with profuse foetid expectoration. In
long-standing cases of chronic bronchitis the nutrition of the lungs
becomes impaired, and dilatation of the air-tubes (_emphysema_) and other
complications result, giving rise to more or less constant breathlessness.
Chronic bronchitis may arise secondarily to some other ailment. This is
especially the case in Bright's disease of the kidneys and in heart
disease, of both of which maladies it often proves a serious complication,
also in gout and syphilis. The influence of occupation is seen in the
frequency in which persons following certain employments suffer from
chronic bronchitis. Hirt has shown that the inhalation of vegetable dust is
very liable to produce bronchitis through the irritation produced by the
dust particles and the growth of organisms carried in with the dust.
Consequently, millers and grain-shovellers are especially liable to it,
while next in order come weavers and workers in cotton factories.
The treatment to be adopted in chronic bronchitis depends upon the severity
of the case, the age of the patient and the presence or absence of
complications. Attention to the general health is a matter of prime
importance in all cases of the disease, more particularly among persons
whose avocations entail exposure, and tonics with cod-liver oil will be
found highly advantageous. The use of a respirator in very cold or damp
weather is a valuable means of protection. In those aggravated forms of
chronic bronchitis, where the slightest exposure to cold air brings on
fresh attacks, it may become necessary, where circumstances permit, to
enjoin confinement to a warm room or removal to a more genial climate
during the winter months.
BRONCHOTOMY (Gr. [Greek: bronchos], wind-pipe, and [Greek: temnein], to
cut), a medical term used to describe a surgical incision into the throat;
now largely superseded by the terms laryngotomy, thyrotomy and tracheotomy,
which indicate more accurately the place of incision.
BRONCO, usually incorrectly spelt BRONCHO (a Spanish word meaning rough,
rude), an unbroken or untamed horse, especially in the United States, a
mustang; the word entered America by way of Mexico.
BRÖNDSTED, PETER OLUF (1780-1842), Danish archaeologist and traveller, was
born at Fruering in Jutland on the 17th of November 1780. After studying at
the university of Copenhagen he visited Paris in 1806 with his friend Georg
Koes. After remaining there two years, they went together to Italy. Both
were zealously attached to the study of antiquities; and congeniality of
tastes and pursuits induced them, in 1810, to join an expedition to Greece,
where they excavated the temples of Zeus in Aegina and of Apollo at Bassae
in Arcadia. After three years of active researches in Greece, Bröndsted
returned to Copenhagen, where, as a reward for his labours, he was
appointed professor of Greek in the university. He then began to arrange
and prepare for publication the vast materials he had collected during his
travels; but finding that Copenhagen did not afford him the desired
facilities, he exchanged his professorship for the office of Danish envoy
at the papal court in 1818, and took up his abode at Rome. In 1820 and 1821
he visited Sicily and the Ionian Isles to collect additional materials for
his great work. In 1826 he went to London, chiefly with a view of studying
the Elgin marbles and other remains of antiquity in the British Museum, and
became acquainted with the principal archaeologists of England. From
1828-1832 he resided in Paris, to superintend the publication of his
_Travels_, and then returned to Copenhagen on being appointed director of
the museum of antiquities and the collection of coins and medals. In 1842
he became rector of the university; but a fall from his horse caused his
death on the 26th of June. His principal work was the _Travels and
Archaeological Researches in Greece_ (in German and French, 1826-1830), of
which only two volumes were published, dealing with the island of Ceos and
the metopes of the Parthenon.
BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE THÉODORE (1801-1876), French botanist, son of the
geologist Alexandre Brongniart, was born in Paris on the 14th of January
1801. He soon showed an inclination towards the study of natural science,
devoting himself at first more particularly to geology, and later to
botany, thus equipping himself for what was to be the main occupation of
his life--the investigation of fossil plants. In 1826 he graduated as
doctor of medicine with a dissertation on the Rhamnaceae; but the career
which he adopted was botanical, not medical. In 1831 he became assistant to
R.L. Desfontaines at the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, and two years later
succeeded him as professor, a position which he continued to hold until his
death in Paris on the 18th of February 1876.
Brongniart was an indefatigable investigator and a prolific writer, so that
he left behind him, as the fruit of his labours, a large number of books
and memoirs. As early as 1822 he published a paper on the classification
and distribution of fossil plants (_Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat._ viii.). This was
followed by several papers chiefly bearing upon the relation between
extinct and existing forms--a line of research which culminated in the
publication of the _Histoire des végétaux fossiles_, which has earned for
him the title of "father of palaeobotany." This great work was heralded by
a small but most important "Prodrome" (contributed to the _Grand
Dictionnaire d'Hist. Nat._, 1828, t. lvii.) which brought order into chaos
by a classification in which the fossil plants were arranged, with
remarkably correct insight, along with their nearest living allies, and
which forms the basis of all subsequent progress in this direction. It is
of especial botanical interest, because, in accordance with Robert Brown's
discoveries, the Cycadeae and Coniferae were placed in the new group
_Phanérogames gymnospermes_. In this book attention was also directed to
the succession of forms in the various geological periods, with the
important result (stated in modern terms) that in the Palaeozoic period the
Pteridophyta are found to predominate; in the Mesozoic, the Gymnosperms; in
the Cainozoic, the Angiosperms, a result subsequently more fully stated in
his "Tableau des genres de végétaux fossiles" (D'Orbigny, _Dict. Univ.
d'Hist. Nat._, 1849). But the great _Histoire_ itself was not destined to
be more than a colossal fragment; the publication of successive parts
proceeded regularly from 1828 to 1837, when the first volume was completed,
but after that only three parts of the second volume appeared. Brongniart,
no doubt, was overwhelmed with the continually increasing magnitude of the
task that he had undertaken. Apart from his more comprehensive works, his
most important palaeontological contributions are perhaps his observations
on the structure of _Sigillaria_ (_Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat._ i., 1839) and his
researches (almost the last he undertook) on fossil seeds, of which a full
account was published posthumously in 1880. His activity was by no means
confined to palaeobotany, but extended into all branches of botany, more
particularly anatomy and phanerogamic taxonomy. Among his achievements in
these directions the most notable is the memoir "Sur la génération et le
développement de l'embryon des Phanérogames" (_Ann. Sci. Nat._ xii., 1827).
This is remarkable in that it contains the [v.04 p.0637] first account of
any value of the development of the pollen; as also a description of the
structure of the pollen-grain, the confirmation of G. B. Amici's (1823)
discovery of the pollen-tube, the confirmation of R. Brown's views as to
the structure of the unimpregnated ovule (with the introduction of the term
"sac embryonnaire"); and in that it shows how nearly Brongniart anticipated
Amici's subsequent (1846) discovery of the entrance of the pollen-tube into
the micropyle, fertilizing the female cell which then develops into the
embryo. Of his anatomical works, those of the greatest value are probably
the "_Recherches sur la structure et les fonctions des feuilles_" (_Ann.
Sci. Nat._ xxi., 1830), and the "Nouvelles Recherches sur l'Épiderme"
(_Ann. Sci. Nat._ i., 1834), in which, among other important observations,
the discovery of the cuticle is recorded; and, further, the "Recherches sur
l'organisation des tiges des Cycadées" (_Ann. Sci. Nat._ xvi., 1829),
giving the results of the first investigation of the anatomy of those
plants. His systematic work is represented by a large number of papers and
monographs, many of which relate to the flora of New Caledonia; and by his
_Énumération des genres de plantes cultivées au Musée d'Histoire Naturelle
de Paris_ (1843), which is an interesting landmark in the history of
classification in that it forms the starting-point of the system, modified
successively by A. Braun, A.W. Eichler and A. Engler, which is now adopted
in Germany. In addition to his scientific and professorial labours,
Brongniart held various important official posts in connexion with the
department of education, and interested himself greatly in agricultural and
horticultural matters. With J.V. Audouin and J.B.A. Dumas, his future
brothers-in-law, he established the _Annales des Sciences Naturelles_ in
1824; he also founded the Société Botanique de France in 1854, and was its
first president.
For accounts of his life and work see _Bull. de la Soc. Géol. de France_,
1876, and _La Nature_, 1876; the _Bulletin de la Soc. Bot. de France_ for
1876, vol. xxiii., contains a list of his works and the orations pronounced
at his funeral.
(S. H. V.*)
BRONGNIART, ALEXANDRE (1770-1847), French mineralogist and geologist, son
of the eminent architect who designed the Bourse and other public buildings
of Paris, was born in that city on the 5th of February 1770. At an early
age he studied chemistry, under Lavoisier, and after passing through the
École des Mines he took honours at the École de Médecine; subsequently he
joined the army of the Pyrenees as _pharmacien_; but having committed some
slight political offence, he was thrown into prison and detained there for
some time. Soon after his release he was appointed professor of natural
history in the Collège des Quatre Nations. In 1800 he was made director of
the Sèvres porcelain factory, a post which he retained to his death, and in
which he achieved his greatest work. In his hands Sèvres became the leading
porcelain factory in Europe, and the researches of an able band of
assistants enabled him to lay the foundations of ceramic chemistry. In
addition to his work at Sèvres, quite enough to engross the entire energy
of any ordinary man, he continued his more purely scientific work. He
succeeded Haüy as professor of mineralogy in the Museum of Natural History;
but he did not confine himself to mineralogy, for it is to him that we owe
the division of Reptiles into the four orders of Saurians, Batrachians,
Chelonians and Ophidians. Fossil as well as living animals engaged his
attention, and in his studies of the strata around Paris he was
instrumental in establishing the Tertiary formations. In 1816 he was
elected to the Academy; and in the following year he visited the Alps of
Switzerland and Italy, and afterwards Sweden and Norway. The result of his
observations was published from time to time in the _Journal des Mines_ and
other scientific journals. Wide as was the range of his interests his most
famous work was accomplished at Sèvres, and his most enduring monument is
his classic _Traité des arts céramiques_ (1844). He died in Paris on the
7th of October 1847.
His other principal works are :--_Traité élémentaire de minéralogie, avec
des applications aux arts_ (2 vols., Paris, 1807); _Histoire naturelle des
crustacés fossiles_ (Paris, 1822); _Classification et caractères
minéralogiques des roches homogènes et hétérogènes_ (Paris, 1827); the
_Tableau des terrains qui composent l'écorce du globe, ou Essai sur la
structure de la partie connue de la terre_ (Paris, 1829); and the _Traité
des arts céramiques_ (1844). Brongniart was also the coadjutor of Cuvier in
the admirable _Essai sur la géographie minéralogique des environs de Paris_
(Paris, 1811); originally published in _Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat._ (Paris, xi.
1808).
BRONN, HEINRICH GEORG (1800-1862), German geologist, was born on the 3rd of
March 1800 at Ziegelhausen near Heidelberg. Studying at the university at
Heidelberg he took his doctor's degree in the faculty of medicine in 1821,
and in the following year was appointed professor of natural history. He
now devoted himself to palaeontological studies, and to fieldwork in
various parts of Germany, Italy and France. From its commencement in 1830
to 1862 he assisted in editing the _Jahrbuch für Mineralogie_, &c.,
continued as _Neues Jahrbuch._ His principal work, _Lethaea Geognostica_ (2
vols., Stuttgart, 1834-1838; 3rd ed. with F. Römer, 3 vols., 1851-1856),
has been regarded as one of the foundations of German stratigraphical
geology. His _Handbuch einer Geschichte der Natur_, of which the first part
was issued in 1841, gave a general account of the physical history of the
earth, while the second part dealt with the life-history, species being
regarded as direct acts of creation. The third part included his famous
_Index Palaeontologicus_, and was issued in 3 vols., 1848-1849, with the
assistance of H. von Meyer and H. R. Göppert. This record of fossils has
proved of inestimable value to all palaeontologists. An important work on
recent and fossil zoology, _Die Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs_,
was commenced by Bronn. He wrote the volumes dealing with Amorphozoa,
Actinozoa, and Malacozoa, published 1859-1862; the work was continued by
other naturalists. In 1861 Bronn was awarded the Wollaston medal by the
Geological Society of London. He died at Heidelberg on the 5th of July
1862.
BRONSART VON SCHELLENDORF, PAUL (1832-1891), Prussian general, was born at
Danzig in 1832. He entered the Prussian Guards in 1849, and was appointed
to the general staff in 1861 as a captain; after three years of staff
service he returned to regimental duty, but was soon reappointed to the
staff, and lectured at the war academy, becoming major in 1865 and
lieut.-colonel in 1869. During the war of 1870 he was chief of a section on
the Great General Staff, and conducted the preliminary negotiations for the
surrender of the French at Sedan. After the war Bronsart was made a colonel
and chief of staff of the Guard army corps, becoming major-general in 1876
and lieut.-general (with a division command) in 1881. Two years later he
became war minister, and during his tenure of the post (1883-1889) many
important reforms were carried out in the Prussian army, in particular the
introduction of the magazine rifle. He was appointed in 1889 to command the
I. army corps at Königsberg. He died on the 23rd of June 1891 at his estate
near Braunsberg. Bronsart's military writings include two works of great
importance--_Ein Rückblick auf die taktischen Ruckblicke_ (2nd ed., Berlin,
1870), a pamphlet written in reply to Captain May's _Tactical Retrospect of
1866_; and _Der Dienst des Generalstabes_ (1st ed., Berlin, 1876; 3rd ed.
revised by General Meckel, 1893; new ed. by the author's son, Major
Bronsart von Schellendorf, Berlin, 1904), a comprehensive treatise on the
duties of the general staff. The third edition of this work was soon after
its publication translated into English and issued officially to the
British army as _The Duties of the General Staff_. Major Bronsart's new
edition of 1904 was reissued in English by the General Staff, under the
same title, in 1905.
BRONTË, CHARLOTTE (1816-1855), EMILY (1818-1848), and ANNE (1820-1849),
English novelists, were three of the six children of Patrick Brontë, a
clergyman of the Church of England, who for the last forty-one years of his
life was perpetual incumbent of the parish of Haworth in the West Riding of
Yorkshire. Patrick Brontë was born at Emsdale, Co. Down, Ireland, on the
17th of March 1777. His parents were of the peasant class, their original
name of Brunty apparently having been changed by their son on his entry at
St John's College, Cambridge, in 1802. In the intervening years he had been
successively a weaver and schoolmaster in his native country. From
Cambridge [v.04 p.0638] he became a curate, first at Wethersfield in Essex,
in 1806, then for a few months at Wellington, Salop, in 1809. At the end of
1809 he accepted a curacy at Dewsbury, Yorkshire, following up this by one
at Hartshead-cum-Clifton in the same county. At Hartshead Patrick Brontë
married in 1812 Maria Branwell, a Cornishwoman, and there two children were
born to him, Maria (1813-1825) and Elizabeth (1814-1825). Thence Patrick
Brontë removed to Thornton, some 3 m. from Bradford, and here his wife gave
birth to four children, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell (1817-1848), Emily
Jane, and Anne, three of whom were to attain literary distinction.
In April 1820, three months after the birth of Anne Brontë, her father
accepted the living of Haworth, a village near Keighley in Yorkshire, which
will always be associated with the romantic story of the Brontës. In
September of the following year his wife died. Maria Brontë lives for us in
her daughter's biography only as the writer of certain letters to her "dear
saucy Pat," as she calls her lover, and as the author of a recently
published manuscript, an essay entitled _The Advantages of Poverty in
Religious Concerns_, full of a sententiousness much affected at the time.