659 



BRAGA BHA1NERD. 



which he was walously devoted. When the trial of 

 the king was determined upon, the reM>lute character 

 of B. pointed him out for president, which office, 

 after a slight hesitation, he accepted. Hb deport- 

 ment on die trial was lofty and unending, in con- 

 formity to the theory which rendered the unhappy 

 sovereign a criminal, and amenable ; and every tiling 

 was done, both for and by him. to give weight and 

 dignity to this extraordinary tribunal He rendered 

 himself obnoxious to Cromwell, when the latter seized 

 the protectorate, and was deprived of the chief jus- 

 ticeship of Chester. < )n t tie death of Cromwell, and 

 the rcstor.it ion of the long parliament, he obtained a 

 seat in the council, ami was elected president. He 

 died in 1659, anil, on his death-bed, asserted that, if 

 the king were to be tried and condemned again, he 

 would be the first to agree to it. He was magni- 

 ficently buried in Westminster abbey, whence his 

 body was ejected, and hanged on a gibbet at Tyburn, 

 with those of Oliver and Ireton, at the restoration. 



BRAGA. See Mythology, northern, . 



BRAGANZA ; one of the oldest towns of Portugal. 

 It was made a duchy in 1442, and from its dukes the 

 present reigning family of Portugal are descended. 

 The town and surrounding district still belong to the 

 king of Portugal as duke of Braganza. Lat. 41 44' 

 N. ; Ion. 6 2S 7 W. See Portugal. 



BRAKE, TVCHO DK. See Tycho. 



BRAHILOW, BRAILOW, or BKAILA, a strongly-fortified 

 Turkish town in Walachia, on the northern bank of 

 the Danube, with 30,000 inhabitants, governed by a 

 pacha of three tails, lies in a Turkish military district, 

 which is similarly organized to the adjacent frontier 

 districts of Austria. The town is situated at the con- 

 fluence of the Sereth and the Danube, which divides 

 itself there into three arms, embracing a piece of 

 neutral territory between the dominions of the Turks 

 and the Russians. From this place much grain, 

 raised in Walachia, is sent to Constantinople. The 

 fishery of sturgeon in the Black sea carried on from 

 B. is considerable. Lon. 28 1 C' E. ; lat. 45 16' N. 



BRAHMA, BRAHMIN. See Brama, Bramin. 



BRAILOW. See Brahilow. 



BRAILS ; certain ropes passing through pulleys on 

 the mizzen-mast (q. v.), and afterwards fastened, in 

 different places, on the hinder edge of the sail, in 

 order to draw it up to the mast, as occasion requires. 

 Brails is likewise a name given to all the ropes em- 

 ployed to haul up the bottoms, lower corners, and 

 skirts of the great sails in general. The operation of 

 drawing them together is called brailing them up, or 

 hauling them up to the brails, 



BRAIN. The brain is a soft substance, partly red- 

 dish-grey and partly whitish, situated in the skull, 

 penetrated by numerous veins, and invested by several 

 membranes. Democritus and Anaxagoras dissected 

 this organ almost three thousand years ago. Haller, 

 Vicq d'Azir, and other anatomists in modern times, 

 have also dissected and investigated it without ex- 

 hausting the subject. Between the skull and the 

 substance of the brain three membranes are found. 

 The outer one is called the dura mater. .This is 

 strong, dense, and elastic. It invests and supports 

 the brain. The next which occurs is the tunica arach- 

 noidea. This is of a pale white colour, yet in some 

 degree transparent, very thin, and, in a healthy state, 

 exhibits no appearance of vessels. The membrane 

 below this is called the pia mater. It covers the 

 whole surface of the brain. It is very vascular, 

 and a great portion of the blood which the brain 

 receives is spread out upon its surface in minute 

 vessels. The brain consists of two principal parts, 

 connected by delicate veins and fibres. The larger 

 portion, the cerebrum, occupies, in men, the upper 

 part of the head, and is seven or eight times larger 



than the other, the cerebellum, lying behind and be- 

 low it. It rests on the bones which form the cavities 

 of the eyes, the bottom of the skull and the tentortum^ 

 and projects behind over the cerebellum. On the 

 whole exterior of the cerebrum there are convolutions, 

 resembling the windings of the small intestines. 

 The external reddish substance of the brain is soft 

 and vascular, and is called the MrfiacfnbjtU)OG ; the 

 internal is white, and is called the medullary suhsUmce 

 of the brain. This medulla consists of fibres, which 

 are very different in different parts. The cerebellum 

 lies below the cerebrum, in a peculiar cavity of I lie 

 skull. By examining the surface, it is seen to be di- 

 vided into a right and left lobe, by the spinal marrow 

 lying between, but connected at the top and bottom. 

 Like the cerebrum, it is surrounded by a vascular 

 membrane, reddish -grey on the outside, and composed 

 of a medullary substance within. In proportion to 

 its size, also, it has a more extensive surface, and 

 more of the vascular membrane, than the cerebrum. 

 In a horizontal section of it, we find parallel curved 

 portions of the cortical and the medullary substances 

 alternating with each other. Between the cortical 

 and the medullary substance, there is always found, 

 in the cerebellum, a third intermediate yellow sub- 

 stance. All the medulla of the cerebellum is also 

 united in the middle by a thick cord. Experience 

 teaches that, in the structure of the brain, irregulari- 

 ties are far more uncommon than in other parts of 

 the human body. It is worthy of observation, that 

 every part of the brain is exactly symmetrical with 

 the part opposite. Even those which lie in the 

 middle, and are apparently single, (the spinal marrow, 

 for instance) consist, in fact, of two symmetrical por- 

 tions. The total weight of the human brain is esti- 

 mated at two or three pounds. It is larger and 

 heavier in proportion to the youth of the subject ; 

 and in old age it becomes specifically lighter. In 

 delirious affections, it is sometimes harder and some- 

 times less solid and softer. The brain is the organ 

 of sensation, and, consequently, the material repre- 

 sentative of the soul, and the noblest organ of the 

 body. See Serres's Anatomie coniparee du Ceneau 

 dans les quatre Classes des Animaux Vertebres, &c., 

 (Comparative Anatomy of the Brain in the four 

 Classes of vertebral Animals, &c.) ; Paris, 1824, with 

 engravings. It received the prize of the French 

 Institute. 



BRAINERD ; a missionary station among the Chero- 

 kee Indians, in the district of Chickamaugah, within 

 the chartered limits of Tennessee, near the boundary 

 line of Georgia, on Chickamaugah creek, a few miles 

 above its entrance into the river Tennessee; 15O 

 miles S. E. of Nashville, 250 N. W. Augusta. This 

 missionary station was commenced in 1817, and it is 

 the oldest establishment formed by the American 

 board of missions among the Cherokees. The pro- 

 perty belonging to the mission, in 1822, was estimated 

 at about four thousand pounds, and there are between 

 thirty and forty buildings of various descriptions, 

 mostly of logs. The labours of the missionaries here 

 have been remarkably successful in imparting to the 

 Cherokees a knowledge of the rudiments of learning, 

 and of the arts of civilized life, as well as of the 

 principles and duties of religion. 



BRAINERD, David, the celebrated missionary, was 

 born in April, 1718, at Haddam, Connecticut. From 

 an early period, he was remarkable for the serious 

 and religious turn of his mind, devotional exercises 

 occupying a considerable portion of his time, though, 

 as he says, his piety was originally prompted by the 

 fear of punishment, and not by the love of God. In 

 1739, he became a member of Vale college, where 

 he was distinguished for application and general 

 correctness of conduct ; but was expelled, in 174^, 



