BREMEN. 



BREWSTER, DAVID. 



election, and, in September, they were success- 

 ful, the result being an overwhelming majority 

 for the Conservatives. 



General Caxias, the commander of the Bra- 

 zilian troops in Paraguay, having refused to let 

 the American gunboat Wasp go up the Paraguay 

 River for Mr. Washburn, the American minis- 

 ter in Paraguay (see PARAGUAY), General Webb, 

 the American minister in Brazil, on July 7th, de- 

 manded, first, an ample apology ; second, a con- 

 demnation of the conduct of Caxias ; third, free 

 license for the Wasp to go up at once, threaten- 

 ing to close his diplomatic relations with Brazil 

 if a satisfactory reply were not given by August 

 4th. The Brazilian Government complied with 

 the demand, and friendly relations between the 

 two Governments were restored. The repeated 

 ofler of the United States to mediate in the war 

 against Paraguay was declined by the Brazilian 

 Government. 



The Conservative party, which has been in 

 power since July, being opposed to freeing 

 slaves and to taking any steps toward such an * 

 object, no further advance was made by the 

 cause of emancipation. The (Liberal) Zach- 

 arias ministry were in favor of declaring all the 

 births after a certain future date to be free, so 

 as to get rid of slavery entirely when the genera- 

 tion then existing should be extinct. This mat- 

 ter, however, it did not intend to take in hand 

 until the war was over and the army returned, 

 so that, in case of any troubles through the ex- 

 citement of the slaves or slave-owners, the 

 means might be ready to repress the turbulence. 



The war against Paraguay continued through- 

 out the year. The levying of fresh troops led 

 several times to riots, all of which were 

 promptly suppressed. (On the progress of the 

 war, see PARAGUAY.) 



BREMEN", a republic belonging to the North- 

 German Confederation. Burgomasters, Johann 

 Daniel Meyer (1867-1871); President .of the 

 Senate for the year 1868, Arnold Duckwitz 

 (1865-'69). Area, 74 square miles ; population 

 in 1867, 109,572 (in 1864, 104,091). Popula- 

 tion of the city of Bremen, in 1867, 74,945 (in 

 1864, 70,692). In the budget for 1868, the rev- 

 enue is estimated at 1,960,113 thalers, the ex- 

 penditure at 2,286,557 thalers ; deficit, 326,444 

 thalers. The public debt, in 1867, amounted 

 to 12,066,394 thalers. In virtue of a conven- 

 tion concluded with Prussia, on June 27, 1867, 

 the recruits of Bremen are incorporated with 

 the Prussian army. The value of imports and 

 exports of Bremen, in 1867 and 1866, as com- 

 pared with the annual average of former peri- 

 ods, was as follows (valiie expressed in million 

 thalers [gold]) : 



The merchant navy, at the close of the year 

 1867, consisted of 287 vessels, together of 

 115,587 lasts (one last ==4,000 Ibs.). 



The movement of emigration from the port 

 of Bremen, since 1854, has been as follows : 



Total since 1854. ' 528,595 



2,484 



BREWSTER, Sir DATID, K. H., F. R. S. L. 

 and E., LL. D., D. C. L., associate member of the 

 Imperial Institute of France, etc., a distinguished 

 British physicist and author, who had done 

 more than any other man of his time to popu- 

 larize science, born at Jedburgh, Scotland, De- 

 cember 11, 1781 ; died at Allerly, near Melrose, 

 February 10, 1868. His father, who was rector 

 of the Grammar School of Jedburgh, had des- 

 tined him as well as his three brothers for the 

 ministry, but his love for natural science was so 

 strong, that he chose to devote himself to it 

 rather than to theology, though all his broth- 

 ers had followed the paternal wishes. He 

 was educated at the University of Edinburgh, 

 where he enjoyed the society as well as the 

 instructions of Robinson, Playfair, and Dugald 

 Stewart. Early in his twentieth year he com- 

 menced those researches into the composition 

 and influence of light which were continued 

 for many years, and which were eventually to 

 make his name so famous. In 1807 his re- 

 markable researches had caused the University 

 of Aberdeen to confer upon him the degree of 

 LL. D., and in 1808 he was elected a fellow of 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In that year 

 also, at the age of twenty-seven, he projected 

 and commenced that great work, the Edin- 

 burgh Cyclopmdia, of which he continued the 

 editor till its completion in 1830, and in which 

 he first published the results of his researches 

 on light, and kindred topics. In 1813, he pub- 

 lished a "Treatise on New Philosophical In- 

 struments," in which, after describing various 

 optical instruments used in the arts and 

 sciences, he detailed some of his important ex- 

 periments in light and colors. He commenced 

 also about this time his contributions of im- 

 portant papers to the Royal Society of London, 

 two of which are particularly noticeable, that 

 " On some Properties of Light," and that on 

 "Polarization of Light by Reflection." The 

 latter gained him the Copley Medal, and led to 

 his election as a fellow of the Society. In 1816 

 he invented the popular scientific toy, the 

 "Kaleidoscope," which brought him fame but 

 no pecuniary reward. In 1818, he received 

 from the Royal Society of London the Rum- 

 ford Medal, for further " Discoveries relating 

 to the Polarization of Light," and soon after 

 twice received the Keith Medals from the Royal 



