Triandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Gramina or Grasses. Essential character: calyx two-valved; spikelet oblong, columnar, distich; awn below the top. There are twenty-five species.

The several species of this genus of grasses are numerous, and have not yet been well distinguised. They have a loose panicle like the oat, hence they have been called the oat-grasses; the awn or beard proceeds from the back of the glume or chaff, or is an elongation of the keel or mid-rib, as in the genus Avena; but in that the awn is commonly twisted, whereas in this it is straight; modern writers, therefore, distinguish them by the name brome-grasses. The festuca is scarcely different from bromus as a natural genus; in that, however, the chaff is either very much pointed, or terminates in an awn; but that of bromus always comes to the tip. The genus triticum, or wheat, agrees with it in this respect; and, therefore, some have thought there is no mark of distinction between them; it is, however, distinct in the inflorescence or manner of flowering in a spike; whereas bromus, festuca, and avena, bear their flowers in a panicle.

BRONCHIA, in anatomy, the ramifications of the trachea. See ANATOMY.

BRONZE, in the arts, a compound metal, composed of from 8 to 12 parts of tin combined with 100 parts of copper. It is of a greyish yellow colour, harder than copper, less liable to rust, and more fusible, so as to run thin, and be easily cast in a mould. Hence its use in casting statues. The metal of which the artillery is cast is of a similar composition, containing rather less tin. An alloy similar to bronze was much in use among the ancients, as well for warlike weapons as for medals, coins, &c.

BROOM. See GENISTA.

BROSIMUM, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Monandria class and order. Essential character: male, ament globular, covered all round with orbiculate, peltate scales; corolla none; filament solitary, between the scales: female, ament as in the male; corolla none; style bifid; berry oneseeded. There are but two species. B. alicastrum is a tree frequent in the island of Jamaica. It is computed to make up about a third part of the woods in the parishes of St. Elizabeth and St. James. The timber is not much esteemed; but the leaves and young branches are more useful, being fattening fodder for all sorts of cattle. The fruit boiled with salt-fish, pork, beef, or

pickle, is frequently the support of the negroes and poorer sort of white people in times of scarcity, and is a wholesome and not unpleasant food: when roasted, it eats something like our chesnuts, and is called bread-nut. B. spunjum, is called milkwood, and is common in St. Mary's parish, Jamaica. It rises to a considerable height in the woods, is reckoned among the timber trees, and is sometimes used as such, though not much valued.

BROSSÆA, in botany, so named from Guy de la Brosse, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Bicornes. Ericæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx fleshy; corolla truncate; capsule five-celled, many-seeded. There is but one species: viz B. coccinea. An obscure plant, and the character doubtful, except what Plumier has said of it. In stature it is something like the codon. Branches alternate; leaves alternate, ovate, serrate, petiolate; flowers few, terminating the branches, alternate. It is a native of South America.

BROTERA, in botany, a genus of the Didynamia Gymnospermia. Calyx fiveawned; middle segment of the lower lip of the corolla hodded, involving the stamina and style, and protruding them with a jerk. One species, B. persica, found in Persia.

BROWALLIA, in botany, given by Linnæus in honour of Job. Browallius, Bishop of Aboa, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. Natural order of Lunida. Scrophulariæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five-toothed; corolla border five-cleft, equal, spreading, with the navel closed; anthers two larger; capsule one-celled. There are two species: B. demissa, spreading Browallia; and B. elata, upright Browallia. These are herbaceous annual plants, with alternate leaves. The flowers are either axillary or terminating. They have the habit of the solanaceous plants, and like them have the peduncle inserted either over against or at the side of the peticles. The former is a native of Panama, the latter of Peru. They both flower from July to September.

BROWNEA, in botany, from Dr. Patrick Browne, a genus of the Monadelphia Decandria. Natural order of Lomentaceæ. Leguminosa, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx unequally bifid: corolla double; outer five-cleft; inner five-petalled: legume two-celled. There are two species: B. coccinea is a small tree, growing to the height of eighteen feet. When in flower it

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has a beautiful appearance.

The flowers grow about ten together, and are pendulous. The calyx is ferruginous, the corolla scarlet, the stamens yellowish. This species grows in hilly and woody places in America. B. rosa is also an American shrub, or small tree, with an ash-coloured bark, opposite leaves, which are entire and smooth on both sides. The flowers are borne in a kind of aggregate manner, so as to form heads or bunches of the size of one's fist. They are red, and make a very beautiful appearance. The stamens are extremely long. It grows chiefly in hilly situations.

BROWNISTS, a sect of Christians, the name given for some time to those who were afterwards known in England and Holland under the denomination of Independents. It arose from a Mr. Robert Brown, whose parents resided in Rutlandshire, though he is said to have been born at Northampton; and who from about 1571 to 1590 was a teacher amongst them in England, and at Middleburgh, in Zealand. He was a man of family, of zeal, of some abilities, and had a university education. The separation, however, does not appear to have originated in him; for by several publications of those times, it is clear that these sentiments had, before his day, been embraced and professed in England, and churches gathered on the plan of them.

This denomination did not differ in point of doctrine from the church of England, or from the other Puritans; but they apprehended that, according to scripture, every church ought to be confined within the limits of a single congregation, and have the complete power of jurisdiction over its members, to be exercised by the elders within itself, without being subject to the authority of bishops, synods, presbyteries, or any ecclesiastical assembly, composed of the deputies from different churches. Under this name, though they always disowned it, were ranked the learned Henry Ainsworth, author of the "Annotations on the Pentateuch,' &c.; the famous John Robinson, a part of whose congregation from Leyden, in Holland, made the first permanent settlement in North America; and the laborious Canne, the author of the "Marginal References to the Bible."

BRUCEA, in botany, in honour of James Bruce, Esq. the famous traveller, a genus of the Dioecia Tetrandria class and order. Essential character: calyx four-parted; corolla four-petalled; female, pericarpium

four, one seeded. There is but one species. B. ferruginea is a shrub of a middling size, with an upright stem; the bark is ash-coloured, branches few, alternate, round, patulous, and thick. Leaves alternate, spreading unequally pinnate, consisting of six pairs of opposite lobes, one foot in length. Spikes of male flowers solitary; the flowers are crowded together, either sessile or on very short pedicles, of an herbaceous colour, tinged with red or russet. It is a native of Abyssinia, where it is known by the name of wooginoos. The root is a specific in the dysentery. It is a plain, simple, bitter,without any aromatic or resinous taste, leaving in the throat and palate a disagreeable roughness.

BRUCHUS, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera. Generic character: antennæ filiform; feelers equal, filiform; lip pointed. Gmelin enumerates 27 species. This genus consists in general of small insects. The B. granarius is found among beans, vetches, and other seeds, the lobes of which it devours. It is not the fourth part of an inch in length: black, with the wing-shells freckled by white specks: the two fore-legs are reddish; and the antennæ of a similar colour at the base: the thighs of the hind-legs are armed with a tooth or process. The exotic species are chiefly of America: one of the most remarkable is B. bactris, found in the nuts of the palm of that name.

BRUMALES, in botany, an epithet applied to plants which flower in our winter. These are common about the Cape.

BRUNFELSIA, in botany, so named in honour of Otho, or Otto Brunfelsus, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia, Natural order of Personatæ. Solapeæ, Jussieu. Essential character: five-toothed, narrow; corolla with a very long tube; capsule onecelled, many-seeded, with a very large fleshy conceptacle. There are two species, of which B. Americana is a tree growing from ten to fifteen feet in height. The trunk is smooth and even, and the branches loose. Leaves alternate, entire, smooth, and shining; corolla yellow, very sweet scented, having a tube four or five inches in length. It grows naturally in Jamaica, and most of the sugar islands in the West Indies, whence they call it trumpet flower. B. undulata is also a native of Jamaica.

BRUNIA, in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Aggregatæ. Rhamni,

Jussieu. Essential character: flowers aggregate; filaments inserted into the claws of the petals; stigma bifid; seeds solitary, two-celled. There are three species. B. lanaginosa, heath-leaved Brunia, resembles Levisanus abrotanoides, and has the nectareous chink, as in that. The stem is about a foot high, and shrubby. The leaves linear-filiform, smooth, short, with black tips. The flowers, which are white, are borne in heads. B. ciliata, ciliate-leaved brunia, has the germ superior, and the style bifid. B. verticillata, whorled brunia, has small heads. They are all shrubs, and in habitants of the Cape.

BRUNNICHIA, in botany, a genus of the Decandria Trigynia class and order. Calyx swelling, five-cleft; capsule threesided, one-celled, many seeded. One species, B. cirrhosa, a native of Bahama.

BRUSH, an instrument made of bristles, hair, wire, or small twigs, to clean cloaths, rooms, &c. and also to paint with. There are various sorts of them, distinguished by their shape or use. In the choice of painter's brushes, observe whether the bristles are fast bound in the stocks, and if the hair be strong and lie close together; for if they sprawl abroad, such will never work well; and if they are not fast bound in the stock, the bristles will come out when you are using them, and spoil your work, as may be seen where the loose hairs of the brush have lain up and down in the colours laid on, to the great detriment of the work. Brushes in which the hairs are fastened with silver wire are very superior to those in which iron wire is used, especially where they are used in or with water. Brushes are used for medical purposes, in rheumatic affections of the joints, paralysis, &c. Mr. Thomason, of Birmingham, has a patent for hearth brushes, so constructed as to conceal the hair, by means of rack-work, in a metal

case.

BRUSH, in electricity, denotes the luminous appearance of the electric matter issuing in a parcel of diverging rays from a point. Beccaria ascribes this appearance to the force with which the electric fluid, going out of a point, divides the contiguous air, and passes through it to that which is more remote.

BRUTA, in natural history, the second order of animals in the class Mammalia, the character of which consists in having no fore teeth in either jaw; feet with strong hooflike nails; motion slow; food mostly masticated vegetables. There are nine gene

BRUTE, or beast, a term generally ap plied to quadrupeds, and also to other animals, and implying inferiority of intellect.

Among brutes the monkey kind, both in the external shape and internal structure, bear the nearest resemblance to man. In the monkey kind, the highest and the most nearly approaching the likeness of man is the orang-outahg, or homo sylvestris. Philosophers are much divided about the essential characters of brutes. Some define brute as an animal not risible, or a living creature incapable of laughter; others, a mute animal, or a living thing destitute of speech; the Peripatetics, an animal endowed with a sensitive power, but without a rational one. The Platonists allow reason and understanding, as well as sense, to brutes, though in a degree less pure and refined than that of men. Indeed, the generality of the ancient philosophers thought that brutes reasoned: this among the heathens, was the opinion of Anaxagoras, Porphyry, Celsus, Galen, Plutarch, as well as Plato and others.

That brutes possess reflection and sentiment, and are susceptible of the kind as well as the irascible passions, independently of sexual attachment and natural affection, is evident from the numerous instances of affection and gratitude daily observable in different animals, particularly the dog.

Of these, and other sentiments, such as pride, and even a sense of glory, the elephant exhibits proofs equally surprising and unquestionable; for which we refer to the article ELEPHAS.

The brute creation manifests also a wonderful spirit of sociality, independent of sexual attachment. It is well-known that horses, which are perfectly quiet in company, cannot be kept by any fences in a field by themselves; oxen and cows will not fatten by themselves, but neglect the finest pasture that is not recommended by society: sheep constantly flock together. Nor is a propensity to associate restricted to animals of the same kind and size. Instances to this purpose are enumerated in "White's Natural History of Selborne," to which we refer the reader.

Mr. Locke maintains, that the souls of brutes are wholly material; that they do

not possess the power of abstraction; and that the having of general ideas is that which puts a perfect distinction between men and brutes. Accordingly, he supposes that they have no use of words, or any general signs, by which to express their ideas. It has, however, been a subject of dispute, whether brute animals have any language intelligible to one another. Some have pretended, that they have a kind of jargon, by which they can make a mutual communication of their sentiments. There is at least a similitude of speech in brutes; for they know each other by their voices, and have their signs whereby they express anger, joy, and other passions. Thus, a dog assaults in one strain, fawns in another, howls in another, and cries when beaten in another.

Dr. Hartley has investigated the intellectual faculties of brutes, and applied his theory of vibrations and association in accounting for the inferiority of brutes to mankind, with regard to intellectual capacities. He ascribes the difference subsisting between them to the following circumstances, which he has taken occasion to il lustrate on the principles of this theory. The first of these is the small proportionate size of their brains, whence brutes have a far less variety of ideas and intellectual affections than men. The second cause of this difference is the imperfection of the matter of their brains, whereby it is less fitted for retaining a large number of miniatures, and combining them by association, than man's. The third cause is their want of words, and such like symbols. Fourthly, the instinctive powers which they bring into the world with them, or which rise up from internal causes, as they advance towards adult age, is another cause of this difference; and, fifthly, it is partly owing to the difference between the external impressions made on the brute creation, and ou mankind. This ingenious writer supposes, with Des Cartes, that all the motions of brutes are conducted by mere mechanism; yet he does not suppose them to be destitute of perception; but that they have this in a manner analagous to that which takes place in us; and that it is subjected to the same mechanical laws as the motions. He adds, that it ought always to be remembered, in speaking on this subject, that brutes have more reason than they can show, from their want of words, from our inattention, and from our ignorance of the import of those symbols, which they do use in giving intimations to one another, and to us,

BRYONIA, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Syngenesia class and order. Natural order of Cucurbitaceæ. Essential character; calyx five-toothed; corolla fiveparted: male, filaments three: female, style quadritid. Berry subglobular, many seeded. There are nineteen species, of which B. alba, black berried white bryony, seems to differ from the red in little else besides the colour of the berries. Native of Sweden, Denmark, Cariola, and probably other parts of Europe, in hedges. B. dioica, red berried white bryony, is easily distinguished by its prodigious root, its stems climbing by tendrils, leaves resembling those of the vine in shape, not smooth as they are, but harsh and rugged, and of a paler colour, and by its bunches of small berries, which are red when ripe, and produced on a different plant from the male flowers. B. palmata, palmated bryony, has heart-shaped leaves, the side divisions shortest; the upper surface is marked with dots, very close, but scarcely visible: there are callous tubercles on the The berries are veins and peduncles. round and large. It is a native of the Island of Ceylon.

BRYUM, in botany, a genus of moss distinguished by a capsule covered with a lid, and over that a smooth veil. But these characters it has in common with Mnium and Hypnum, two other genera much resembling this. The peculiar mark of the bryum is, that the thread or little stem supporting the fructification, grows from a tubercle at the ends of the stem and branches. BUBALUS, the buffalo, in zoology. See Bos.

BUBBLE, in philosophy, small drops or vesicles of any fluid filled with air, and either formed on its surface, by an addition of more of the fluid, as in raining, &c. or in its substance, by an intestine motion of its component particles.

Bubbles are dilatable or compressible, i. e. they take up more or less room, as the included air is more or less heated, or more or less pressed from without, and are round, because the included aura acts equally from within, all round; their coat is formed of minute particles of the fluid, re. tained either by the velocity of the air, or by the brisk attraction between those minute parts and the air.

The little bubbles rising up from fluids, or hanging on their surface, form the white scum at top, and these same bubbles form the steam or vapour flying from liquors in boiling.

BUBBLE, in commerce, a cant term, given to a kind of projects for raising of money on imaginary grounds, much practised in France and England, in the years 1719, 1720, and

1721.

The pretence of those schemes was the raising a capital for retrieving, setting on foot, or carrying on some promising and useful branch of trade, manufacture, machinery, or the like: to this end proposals were made out, shewing the advantages to be derived from the undertaking, and inviting persons to be engaged in it. The sum necessary to manage the affair, together with the profits expected from it, were divided into shares or subscriptions, to be purchased by any disposed to adventure therein.

Bubbles, by which the public have been tricked, are of two kinds, viz. 1. Those which we may properly enough term trading bubbles; and, 2. Stock or fund-bubbles. The former have been of various kinds; and the latter at different times, the most remarkable one in this country was that in 1720.

BUBO, in ornithology, the name by which zoologists call the great horned-owl, with a reddish-brown body. See STRIX.

BUBO, in surgery, a tumour which arises with inflammation, only in certain or particular parts to which they are proper, as in the arm-pits and in the groins.

BUBON, in botany, a genus of the Pen

tandria Digynia. Natural order of Umbellateæ. Essential character: fruit ovate, striated, villose. There are five species, of which B. macedonicum, Macedonian parsley, it sends out many leaves from the root, the lower growing almost horizontally, spreading near the surface of the ground; the foot stalk of each leaf divides into several other smaller, garnished with smooth rhombshaped leaves, which are of a bright palegreen colour, indented on their edges. It is a native of Greece and Barbary. It flowers with us from June to August. In warm countries it is biennial, but in England the plants seldom flower till the third or fourth year from seed; but whenever they flower they always die. B. galbanum, lovage-leaved bubon, rises with an upright stalk to the height of eight or ten feet, having a purplish bark, covered with a whitish powder, which comes off when handled; the upper part of the stalk is covered with leaves at every joint, the foot stalks half embracing them at their base, branching out into several smaller, like those of the common parsley, and set with leaves like those of lovage, but smaller and of a grey colour. It flowers in August, but has not produced seeds in England. When any part of the plant is broken there issues out a little thin milk of a cream colour, which has a strong scent of galbanum. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.

C. WHITTINGHAM, Printer, 103, Goswell Street.