BRAINE-LE-COMTE-BRAINSTONE CORAL. Diseases of the Brain.-Inflammation (acute) of the B. (phrenitis, or popularly, B.-fever) rarely occurs separately, and can scarcely be distinguished from inflammation of its membranes (meningitis). According to Dr Watson of London, when the disease begins in the latter, the first remarkable symptom is a convulsion fit; when in the B. substance itself, nausea and vomiting generally usher in the attack. In the first stage, there is rapid pulse, severe headache, the eyes suffused, and their pupils contracted to a small point, very intolerant of light. The patient is constantly watchful, and much annoyed by even ordinary sounds. Then furious delirium sets in, and lasts for a period, varying with the case, generally from twelve to forty-eight hours; when it is succeeded by collapse, in which the patient lies-his face devoid of colour, and covered with cold sweat-in a state of stupor. If roused, he now speaks with slow, indistinct utterance; his pupils are now dilated, and indifferent to the brightest light; and the loudest speaking ceases to annoy him. The stupor increases with the general prostration, and continues till death. After death, we find serous fluid upon and in the B., deposits of lymph, thickening of the membranes, and softening of the B. substance itself. General and local bleeding, with antimony and digitalis, to subdue the pulse; mercury, to prevent the deposit of lymph; blisters, as counter-irritants, to the back of the head and neck, are the usual remedies for this rare, but terrible disease. The younger school of practitioners, however, as Dr Tanner expresses it, prefer waiting to see if nature unaided, or only gently guided, will not carry the patient through a disease where the efforts of art are notoriously futile, and are rather content to watch the symptoms, to calm excitement by sedatives, to lessen increased heat of body by diluents and tepid sponging, to prevent accumulations in the intestines by purgatives, and to diminish maniacal delirium by the application of cold to the head. BRAINE-LE-COMTE, a busy town of the province of Hainault, Belgium, about 13 miles north-north-east of Mons. It is an ancient place, and formerly belonged to the monks of St Waudru at Mons, from whom it was bought by Count Baldwin in 1158. It has an old church of the 13th C.; and cotton and corn mills, dye-works, breweries, &c. Some of the finest flax that can be produced is grown in the district. Pop. 4500. Fig. 5.-Human adult Brain: a, anterior lobe of cerebrum; b, middle lobe; c, posterior lobe of cerebrum, appearing behind; d, cerebellar hemisphere; e, medulla-oblongata; f, fissure of Sylvius; g, longitudinal fissure; h, h, olfactory bulbs; i, optic commissure-the optic nerves are seen interchanging fibres; 1, three roots of olfactory process; m, white round bodies (corpora albicantia), the terminations of the anterior portions of fornix; n, where the vessels perforate the brain substance, hence called posterior perforated space; o, third pair of nerves coming to supply muscles of the eyeball, from p, the crus-cerebri; q, fourth nerve, turning round from the valve of Vieussens; r, fifth pair; s, pons varolii; t, sixth pair of nerves; u, seventh pair, portio dura for muscles of face, and portio mollis for hearing; v, posterior pyramids of cerebellum, seen to interchange fibres; w, and two below, are eighth pair-forming the much more restricted genus Meandrina. viz., glosso-pharyngeal, vagus pneumo-gastric, and spinal accessory nerve; between w and v is the small prominence called olivary body; x, y, two roots of ninth pair of nerves, motor nerve of tongue. Softening of the Brain (ramollissement) is a frequent result of chronic inflammation of the brain. The patient has been for some time in low health, troubled with headaches, loss of appetite, depression of spirits, and a gradual loss of memory, and acute perception of things in general. Then a spasm may occur, followed by paralysis, or the legs and arms may be bent up, and remain in that position. This condition of B. may be caused by want of proper nourishment to the cerebral substance, owing to plugging up, or from disease of its arteries. When the softening is caused by inflammation, we frequently find pus forming an abscess of the brain. Induration may also occur as the result of inflammation. The other diseases, as hydrocephalus, will be treated under their own names. BRAINSTONE CORAL, the popular name of certain kinds of Coral (q. v.) or Madrepore (q. v.), included in the Linnæan genus Madrepora, but now They derive their name from the general resemblance to the brain of man or of a quadruped exhibited in their large rounded mass, and numerous winding depressions. Perhaps the true B. C. is Meandrina cerebriformis, a species always nearly hemispherical. When the hemispherical mass is broken, the ridges which bound its furrows may be traced inwards through its substance, even to the central nucleus from which they commenced. The mouths of the polypes, in all the species of this genus, are in the furrows or elongated hollows, in which they are ranged side by side, in sinuous series. The brainstone corals are very common in collections, and are much admired for their beauty. They are found chiefly in the seas of warm climates, particularly in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans. They sometimes attain a large size. Ehrenberg noticed single masses (polypidoms) in the Red Sea, from six to nine feet in diameter. Their rate of growth, however, appears to be slow. The fossil BRAINTREE-BRAMANTE. species are few, and chiefly belong to the oolitic formation. BRAINTREE, a market-town of Essex, about 40 miles north-east from London. It is an old place, having been constituted a market-town by King John. Its streets are narrow, and many of its houses are of wood. It has manufactures of silk and crape, and also of straw-plait. It is the polling place for North Essex, and has obtained some notoriety in connection with political and ecclesiastical proceedings. Pop. of town about 3000. BRAKE, a genus of Ferns of the division Polypodea, distinguished by spore-cases in marginal lines covered by the reflexed margin of the frond. The COMMON B. or BRACKEN (P. aquilina) is very abundant in Britain and in most parts of the continent of Europe, growing in heaths, parks, &c., often covering considerable tracts. It is a widely distributed plant, and is found in many parts of Asia, and in some parts of Africa. It has a long, creeping, black rhizome, or root-stock, from which grow up naked stalks of 8-18 inches in height; each stalk divides at top into three branches; Common Brake: young shoots as they appear. The annual growth of B. is killed by the first frosts of autumn, but remains rigid and brown, still affording shelter to game, and almost as characteristic a feature in the landscape of winter as in that of summer, perhaps adding to its general desolateness.-Pteris caudata, a large species of B. very similar to that of Europe, is one of the worst pests which the farmer has to contend with in the south of Brazil.-Pteris esculenta, a native of New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, &c., has a more nutritious rhizome than the common brake. See TARA FERN.-Rock B. (Cryptogamma crispa or Allosorus crispus, formerly Pteris crispa) is a pretty little fern, common on stony hills in the northern parts of Britain. BRAMA, a genus of fishes of the family Chatodontidae (q. v.). B. Raii is common in the Mediterranean, and occasionally found on the British shores. It is one of the fishes to which the name Bream (q. v.) or Sea-bream has been given; and it has also been described as a Gilt-head (q. v.); but these names belong to fishes of other families, with some similarity of general appearance. The genus B. has the body very deep and compressed, the head rather obtusely terminated, a single elongated dorsal fin, and the anal fin with a very lengthened base. The tail is forked, its points extremely divergent. This fish is sometimes more than two feet in length. is of exquisite flavour. Its flesh BRAMAH, JOSEPH, an eminent practical machinist, the son of a farmer, was born at Stainborough, Yorkshire, April 13, 1749, and early exhibited an unusual talent for mechanics. Incapacitated in his 16th year from agricultural labours by an accidental lameness, he was apprenticed to a carpenter and joiner, and afterwards obtained employment with a cabinet-maker in London. Subsequently, he established himself in business in the metropolis, and became distinguished for the number, value, and ingenuity of his mechanical inventions, such as safety-locks, improvements in pumps and fire-engines, in the construction of boilers for steam-engines, in the processes of making paper, in the construction of main-pipes, wheel-carriages, the beer-machine used at the bar of public-houses, and many others. About 1800, he constructed the hydrostatic press a, end of a branch, much reduced; b, end of a pinnule, the known by his name. See HYDROSTATIC PRESS. In lower side, shewing fructification. the branches are bipinnate, the inferior pinnules pinnatifid. The root-stock, when cut across, exhibits an appearance which has been supposed to resemble a spread eagle, whence the specific name aquilina (Lat. aquila, an eagle). The root-stock is bitter, and has been used as a substitute for hops; it has also been ground, mixed with barley, and made into a wretched bread in times of distress. The plant is astringent and anthelmintic; and as such, it had at one time a high reputation, although it is now little used, at least by medical practitioners. It is employed in dressing kid and chamois leather. The ashes, containing a large quantity of alkali, were formerly used in the manufacture of soap and of glass, so that the collecting of them for sale was a considerable resource of the poor in some parts of the Hebrides. B. is also employed for thatching, for littering cattle, &c., and occasionally chopped up with straw or hay, for feeding cattle. It is a favourite covert of deer and of other game. The abundance of this plant is sometimes regarded as a sign of poor land, although, probably, its absence from the richer soils is very much a result of cultivation. To extirpate it, nothing more is necessary than a few successive mowings of the all, he took out about twenty patents. He died 9th December 1814. BRAMA'NTÉ, DONATO LAZZARI, one of the most celebrated Italian architects, and also distinguished as a painter, was born at Monte-Asdroaldo, in the duchy of Urbino, 1444. From 1476 to 1499, he resided in Milan, where he studied geometry and perspective, neither of which sciences was well understood by artists in his day. He was noted as one of the best painters in Lombardy; but his success in architecture eclipsed his fame as a painter. In Milan, he built the choir of Santa-Maria delle Grazie, and the church of Santa-Maria presso SanSatiro. After the fall of Ludovico Sforza, B. went to Rome, where he was first employed by the pope Alexander VI., and afterwards by Julius II. The first great work which he undertook for the latter was to connect the Vatican palace with the two pavilions of the Belvedere by a series of immense galleries; the second was the rebuilding of St Peter's Church, of which he laid the new foundation in 1506. When only a small portion of his plans had been realised, B. died at Rome, 1514, and succeeding architects departed widely from the original design of a grand cupola over a Greek cross. Among other works of B. in Rome may be mentioned the palaces BRAMBANAN-BRAMPTON. Cancellaria and Giraud (now Torlonia), in which he adhered more strictly than in other works to antique forms, but not without a characteristic grace in his application of these. BRAMBANA'N, a district of the province of Soorakarta, Java, rich in remains of Brahmanical temples, which are superior in magnificence to any in India. The edifices are composed entirely of hewn stone, and no mortar has been used in their construction. In all, there are 296 temples, disposed in five parallelograms one within the other. The outer one consists of 84 temples; the second, of 76; the third, of 64; the fourth, of 44; and the inner one, of 28. In the centre stands the largest and most imposing structure of all. It is 90 feet high, and profusely decorated with mythological figures, which are executed in a very fair style of art. On the south face of the outside parallelogram, there are two monstrous figures, with uplifted clubs, kneeling in a threatening attitude. The great temple is pretty entire, as are also about a third of the others, but the rest lie strewn upon the ground. BRA'MBLE (Rubus fruticosus), a plant common in Britain and most parts of Europe, having prickly stems, which somewhat resemble those of the Raspberry (q. v.). The flowers do not appear till the summer is considerably advanced, and the fruit ripens towards the end of it, continuing to be produced till the frosts of winter set in. The fruit (brambleberry or blackberry) is too well known to need description. Besides affording much enjoyment to children, who collect it from hedges and thickets, it is sometimes offered for sale in towns, and jelly and jam are prepared from it of very delicate flavour, besides a wine, which, both in strength and flavour, is held by many to excel all products of similar native fruits of Britain. The B. is rarely cultivated, perhaps because it is in most districts so abundant in a wild state; but it seems to deserve attention at least as much as the raspberry, and might probably be as much improved by cultivation. A slight rail on each side of a row of brambles, to restrain the straggling stems, affords the necessary security for neatness and order, and the care bestowed is repaid by abundance of fruit, nately given, and which may almost all be regarded as belonging to the Linnæan Rubus fruticosus. From this was separated R. corylifolius of Smith, a common British plant, and from these some German and British botanists have separated many other alleged species. R. suberectus has more the habit of the raspberry than most of the other kinds, but even its claims to be received as a species are not admitted without doubt by some of the most eminent botanists. A variety of B. with white fruit is occasionally met with.-Species of Rubus very similar to the common B., or varieties of it, abound in the northern parts of Asia, the Himalaya Mountains, and North America. See RUBUS. BRAMBLING, BRAMBLE FINCH, or MOUNTAIN FINCH (Fringilla Montifringilla; see FINCH and FRINGILLIDE), a bird nearly allied to the Chaf finch (q. v.). It is a little larger than the chaffinch, which it much resembles in its general appearance, its bill, and even the disposal of its colours. The tail is more forked. In the males, the crown of the head, the cheeks, the back and sides of the neck, and the upper part of the back, are mottled in winter with brown and black; but in spring, the whole of these parts become of a rich velvety black; the throat and breast are of a rich fawn colour, which is also the prevailing colour of the wings, but they are crossed, when closed, by an oblique band of jet-black, and by another oblique band of white. The quill-feathers are also black, edged with yellow on their outer webs; the tail-feathers black, edged with reddish white; the rump and the belly are white; a small tuft of feathers under each wing and some of the lower wing-coverts are bright yellow. The B. is a mere winter visitant in Britain, Bramble. very acceptable where wild-brambles are not plentiful, and at a season when there is no other small fruit in the garden. There are many different species of B., according to some-varieties according to other botanists-to which the name is indiscrimi Brambling, or Mountain Finch. and the period of its arrival appears to vary according to the severity or mildness of the weather in the more northerly regions. The B. has never been known to breed in any part of the British islands, and even in the south of Sweden it is a mere winter visitant. It breeds in the more northerly parts of Scandinavia. It has no song, its call-note is a single monotonous chirp. It is a very widely distributed species, being found as far east as Japan, and, in its winter migrations, visiting Italy, Sicily, Malta, Smyrna, &c. BRAMPTON, a very ancient town in the county of Cumberland, near the Arthing, 8 miles east-northeast of Carlisle. It is surrounded by hills; and the Castle-hill commands a very extensive view. Pop. 3074. The chief manufacture is the weaving of checks and ginghams; and there are coal-mines in the vicinity. On a rock, two miles to the south, is a Roman inscription, supposed to have been cut by one of Agricola's legions in 207 A.D. Two miles to the east stands Lanercost Abbey, founded in 1116. BRAN-BRANDENBURG. BRAN is the material obtained from the outer corn-plants, which are also called BLIGHT, BUNT, covering or husk of grain during the process of grinding, and which is separated from the finer flour before the latter is made into bread (q. v.). It is generally met with in commerce in thin scaly yellowish-brown particles, with sharp edges, and its composition in 100 parts is as follows: Water, Albumen (coagulated), Oil, Husk, with a little Starch, Ash or Saline matter, 13.1 4.7 55.6 100.0 Bread made of flour, containing B., is known as MILDEW, RUST, and SMUT.-See these heads.-It is the German name for the disease generally known in Britain as BUNT, and sometimes as Pepperbrand. Both as a German and an English word, it appears to be derived from the verb brennen to burn, and to refer to the burnt appearance which characterises the diseases to which it is applied.Its most common application in Britain, however, is not to any of the diseases already mentioned, but to a peculiar spotted and burnt appearance often seen on the leaves, and sometimes also on the bark of plants, which does not seem to be in any way but which sometimes becomes so extensive as to connected with the presence of parasitic fungi, B. is put are in the feeding of horses and cattle, disease is still somewhat obscure. Occurring most cause the death of the plant. The nature of this and poultry, and in clearing and brightening goods frequently when warm sunshine succeeds to moist during the processes of Dyeing (q. v.) and Calico- weather or to hoar-frost, and frequently affecting printing (q. v.). In the practice of medicine, B. is employed as a warm poultice in abdominal inflam-moisture fall from the frame, it has been ascribed plants in hotbeds upon which drops of condensed mation, spasms, &c., and an infusion is used as an to the concentration of the sun's rays by the drops emollient footbath. It is also used internally in of water on the leaf or bark-a theory utterly untencatarrhal affections. able, as no concentration can take place in such circumstances. The probability appears to be, that the action of the moisture unequally distributed, and particularly when sudden changes of temperature take place, deranges the vegetable functions, and destroys the fine tissues.--BRAND, a mark made on a cask for trade or Excise purposes. See FISHERIES, and TRADE MARKS. BRANCH, in Botany, is a part of a tree or other plant not taking its rise immediately from the root, but rather forming a sort of division of the stem, and which is often divided into secondary branches, again, perhaps, to be further much ramified into branchlets and twigs, the ultimate ramifications producing leaves, flowers, and fruit. Branches originate in leaf-buds, which are produced at the nodes of the stem, or of the already existing branches. See BUD, PLANT, and STEM. The buds being formed in the axils of leaves, the arrangement of the branches, as alternate, opposite, whorled, &c., varies like that of the leaves, but buds often remain dormant, according to a regular law of alternation. The angles of ramification are very different in different plants, producing great variety of appearance, and giving marked characteristics to different kinds of trees. The great difference between the ramification of the Conifera in general (Pines and Firs) and that of other trees must have attracted the attention of every one. In many herbaceous plants whose axis is scarcely developed into a stem, instead of branches there proceed from the lateral buds runners, which lie close to the ground, send down roots, and produce new plants, as in the strawberry. BRA'NCHIÆ. See GILLS. BRANCHIO'PODA (Gr. gill-footed), an order of Crustacea (q. v.) of the division Entomostraca (q. v.) deriving this name from the distinctive peculiarity of having the branchia, or gills, which are numerous, attached to the feet. They are all small creatures, many of them almost microscopic, and chiefly abound in stagnant fresh waters. Some are popularly known by the name of Water-fleas (q. v.); the Brine-shrimp (q. v.) is another example; and the genera Cyclops and Cypris may be mentioned, the former on account of its great frequency in stagnant fresh waters, the latter because its hard shells resist decomposition, and are therefore abundant in a fossil state. BRANCO, RIO, a river of that portion of Brazil which, originally comprised within the understood limits of Guiana, lies to the north of the Amazon. It rises in the Parime Mountains, on the very borders of Venezuela; and after a southerly course of about 400 miles, it joins, near lat. 1° 20′ S., and long. 62 W., the Rio Negro, of which it is the principal tributary, on its way to the Amazon. BRA'NCURSINE. See ACANTHUS. BRAND, a name given in some parts of Britain to some of those diseases of plants, especially of BRANDENBURG, a province of Prussia, in the centre of the kingdom, in lat. 51° 30'-53° 45′ N., and long. 11° 13-16° 8' E. B. has an area of 15,416 square miles, and a population of 2,329,996. It formed the nucleus of the Prussian monarchy, but the modern province does not quite correspond with the old Mark of B., which included also a part of the province of Saxony and of Pomerania, while it lacked certain small portions of territory now contained in the province of Brandenburg. Almost the whole province is a plain, so low that at Potsdam the surface of the river Havel is only 146 Prussian or about 15 English feet above the level of the sea. In general, the soil is sandy and naturally unfruitful. The ground becomes slightly hilly towards Silesia. Without its numerous rivers and canals, B. would be one of the most barren tracts on the continent. The inhabitants are mostly Germans, mixed with French and Dutch colonists, who, however, are almost completely Germanised; and in the south of the province, with people of Wend extraction. With the exception of 37,962 Roman Catholics, and 24,196 Jews, they belong to the Protestant Church. Agriculture and the rearing of cattle afford occupation for a considerable number of the inhabitants. The manufactures are silk, cotton, wool, linen, sugar, leather, paper, metals, &c. There are also numerous distilleries throughout the province. B. is divided into the governments of Potsdam and Frankfurt, which are subdivided into 34 circles. Berlin is the chief town. In the beginning of the Christian era, B. was inhabited by the Suevi, and afterwards by Slavonic tribes. It was subjugated by Charlemagne in 789, but it again acquired independence under his weak successors, and remained free until 928, when Henry I. possessed himself of it. After with the general history of the German empirepassing through numerous changes in connection of which we need here mention only the facts that Albert the Bear (q. v.) became the first Markgraf of B. in 1142, and Frederick of Nürnberg the first elector in 1417-it became associated with the rise of the Prussian state into a monarchy under Frederick L., Elector of Brandenburg, in 1701. See PRUSSIA. BRANDENBURG-BRANDY. BRANDENBURG (the ancient Brennaborch or Brennabor), the town from which the province Brandenburg is named, is situated on the line of the Berlin and Magdeburg Railway, about 37 miles west-south west of Berlin. The river Havel divides it into two parts, Old and New B., which are both surrounded with walls. On an island in the river there is a third quarter, containing the castle, cathedral, equestrian college, &c. The cathedral has a fine old crypt, and several interesting antiquities. The inhabitants, amounting to about 19,000, inclusive of the garrison, are engaged in the manufacture of woollen, linen, hosiery, paper, leather, beer, &c. Boat-building is also carried on to a considerable extent. BRANDENBURG, NEW, a walled town in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, North Germany, is situated near the north end of Lake Tollen, about 50 miles west-north-west of Stettin. It is a beautiful town, with regular, broad, and well-built streets. The grand duke has a palace in the marketplace. It has manufactures of woollen, cotton, damasks, leather, paper, tobacco, &c., besides cornmills, oil-works, and a trade in hides and horses, and is altogether a very thriving place. Pop. about 6000. (Berlin, 1831-1836); and with this object, spent several years, along with Immanuel Bekker (q. v.), in exploring the chief libraries of Europe. In 1821, he resumed his academic career in the university of Bonn, where he edited Aristotle's Metaphysics (vol. i., Berl. 1823), Scholia in Aristotelem (Berl. 1836), and Scholia Græca in A. Metaphysicum (Berl. 1837). He accepted, in 1837, a call from the young king of Greece, and spent several years in that country as cabinet counsellor. As a result, we have his Mittheilungen über Griechenland, Commu nications on Greece (3 vols., Leip. 1842). In his Handbuch der Geschichte der Griech.-Rom. Philosophie (History of Greek and Roman Philosophy, vols. i. and ii., 1835-1844), he has, by establishing what are the facts of the case, laid the historical basis for a knowledge of Greek thought. BRANDLING. See PAR, and SALMON. BRA'NDON, a town on both sides of the Little Ouse or Brandon river, where it separates Norfolk from Suffolk, 78 miles north-north-east from London by road. Pop. 2022. It has a considerable corntrade. Great rabbit-warrens occur near Brandon. There was formerly an extensive manufactory of gun-flints here, the army being exclusively supplied with these articles from B. before the introduction of percussion-caps. occasionally took his texts from it. It was translated into Latin by Locher (1497); and into English by Henry Watson, The Grete Shoppe of Fooles of the Worlde (1517); partly translated and partly imitated by Alexander Barclay, The Shyp of Folys of the Worlde (1508); and imitated by W. H. Ireland in the Modern Ship of Fools (1807). It has also appeared in French, and indeed in almost all European languages. BRANDING was a mode of punishment prac tised in England for various offences. It was effected BRANDT, SEBASTIAN, the author of a very by the application of a hot iron, the end of which popular German book, the Narrenschiff, or Ship of had the form which it was desired should be left Fools, was born at Strasburg, 1458; studied law and imprinted on the skin. But B. by such means has the classics with zeal at Basel, where he received long ceased, and now it is practically confined to the permission to teach; and soon became one of the case of desertion from the army-the B. or marking most influential lecturers in that city. The Emperor being not done by a hot iron, but with ink, or other Maximilian shewed his regard for B. by appointing similar preparation. By the Mutiny Act of 1858, him an imperial councillor. He died at Strasburg 21 Vict. c. 9, it is enacted by section 35 as follows: in 1521. His Ship of Fools, a satire on the follies 'On the first, and on every subsequent conviction and vices of his times, which was published at for desertion, the court-martial, in addition to any Basel, 1494, is not very poetical, but is full of sound other punishment, may order the offender to be sense and good moral teaching, and was so much marked on the left side, two inches below the arm-esteemed that the German popular preacher Geiler pit, with the letter D, such letter not to be less than an inch long, and to be marked upon the skin with some ink or gunpowder, or other preparation, so as to be visible and conspicuous, and not liable to be obliterated.' Formerly, B. was employed in the case of all clergiable offences by burning on the hand (see BENEFIT OF CLERGY); and with a view still further to repress theft and petty larceny, the 10 and 11 Will. III. c. 23, s. 6, provided that such offenders as had the benefit of clergy allowed them should be burnt in the most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose.' This additional severity, however, not having the desired deterrent effect, but the reverse, was repealed by the 5 Anne c. 6, which nevertheless provided for offenders being burnt on the hand as formerly. The latter punishment, however, was entirely abolished by an act passed in 1822, the 3 Geo. IV. c. 38. Brawling in church (q. v.) was, by the 5 and 6 Edw. IV. c. 4, made an offence punishable by having one of the ears cut off, or, the offender having no ears, by B. with the letter F on the cheek. This punishment was repealed by the 9 Geo. IV. c. 31. B., therefore, in the case of felonies, has been entirely abolished. BRANDIS, CHRISTIAN AUG., professor of philosophy in Bonn, was born at Hildesheim, 13th February 1790, his father being J. D. Brandis, one of the most distinguished physicians of his time. Having studied philology and philosophy at Kiel and Göttingen, he began lecturing in the university of Copenhagen, from which he removed to Berlin (1816). Here he was soon called upon to take part in the preparations for the great critical edition of the works of Aristotle, contemplated by the Berlin Academy of Science, 4 vols. BRANDY (Ger. Branntwein, Fr. eau de vie) is a term sometimes applied generically to all kinds of ardent spirits, but usually restricted to the liquid obtained by distilling the fermented juice of the grape. See DISTILLATION. The fermented liquors or wines which are employed for that purpose are various, and contain a proportion of alcohol (q. v.), which runs from 10 to 25 per cent. of their weight. The red wines generally are preferred, as containing most alcohol; but though they yield a larger amount of B. than the white wines, yet the latter afford a spirit which possesses a finer flavour and distillation from 100 to 150 gallons of B., which more agreeable taste. 1000 gallons of wine give by varies in strength, but is commercially judged of according to the quantity of eau de vie or B. à preuve de Holland which it contains, and is gener ally diluted with water till it contains from 50 to 54 per cent. by weight of absolute alcohol. When originally distilled, B. is clear and colourless, and if wished to remain so, is received and kept in glass vessels; but when placed in wooden casks, the spirit dissolves out the colouring-matter of the wood, and acquires a light sherry tint, which is deepened by burnt sugar and other colouring-matter, intentionally added by the dealers. The pleasant aroma of |