BROKER 



949 



BRONTE 



French-Canadian treaty of 1907. He accom- 

 panied Sir Wilfrid Laurier to England as a 

 delegate to the Colonial Conference of 1907 

 and was a delegate to the Imperial Defense 

 Conference in 1909. In 1910 he introduced the 

 first naval bill ever considered in the Canadian 

 Parliament, and in the following year, when 

 the naval service was organized, was appointed 

 Minister of the new department. Before the 

 end of 1911 he resigned from Parliament and 

 from the Cabinet to become a judge of the 

 Dominion Supreme Court. 



BROKER, one who acts as an agent for 

 another in a business transaction, and charges 

 a certain sum for his services. Such charge is 

 called commission, or brokerage, and is always 

 based on a definitely-arranged percentage of 

 the sum involved in the transaction. Brokers 

 usually confine themselves to one line of busi- 

 ness, being called accordingly stock brokers, 

 those who deal in stocks and bonds, bill 

 brokers, insurance brokers, ship brokers, etc. 



Although both conduct business in practi- 

 cally the same manner, there is a difference 

 between a commission merchant and a broker. 

 Both are paid by commission, but while the 

 commission merchant sells and makes delivery 

 of certain goods while acting as an agent, the 

 broker does not necessarily have possession of 

 the goods or stock bought and sold. The 

 broker forms the connection between two prin- 

 cipals and hands to each a written statement 

 of the bargain. 



BROMIDES, bro'midz, the name given com- 

 pounds of bromine with potassium, silver and 

 other metals. Bromide of potassium is ex- 

 tensively used in medicine and photography. 

 It is found in the form of white crystals, 

 shaped like those of common salt. As a med- 

 icine it sometimes produces a soothing effect 

 on the nerves, but it is dangerous to use ex- 

 cept on a physician's prescription. It is used 

 in photography in making silver bromide, 

 which is very sensitive to the light, and is 

 used in preparing sensitized plates and films 

 (see PHOTOGRAPHY). 



Bromine, bro' min, one of the two chemical 

 elements which is a liquid at room tempera- 

 ture, the other being mercury. Bromine takes 

 its name from its offensive odor (Greek bromos, 

 meaning a stench). It is a heavy, red-brown 

 liquid which produces painful burns when spilt 

 upon the skin. It resembles chlorine in its 

 chemical behavior towards other elements. It 

 is obtained as a by-product of the salt indus- 

 try. J.F.S. 



BRONCHITIS, bronki' tis, inflammation of 

 the mucous membrane lining the bronchial 

 tubes, a disease which is characterized by a 

 distressing cough and discharge of mucus from 

 the air passages. It occurs in two forms 

 acute and chronic bronchitis. The former may 

 be caused by exposure to cold and wet or by 

 the inhalation of dust or irritating gases, or it 

 may occur as a complication of certain other 

 diseases. 



Acute bronchitis frequently develops into 

 pneumonia. Besides coughing and expectorat- 

 ing mucus, the patient suffers from sore throat, 

 fever, pain in the chest and shortness of 

 breath on exertion. The sputum is scanty in 

 the beginning, but later becomes abundant, 

 and there is sometimes pus present in it. The 

 fever may rise to 103, but does not usually 

 last as long as the other symptoms. Poultices 

 to relieve the cough and steam inhalations are 

 helpful remedies. On the approach of an at- 

 tack the patient should take a hot bath, go to 

 bed and take a laxative. Cold sponge-baths 

 taken every morning and careful attention to 

 the ventilation of the sleeping room will help 

 ward off attacks. 



Chronic bronchitis, with symptoms similar to 

 those described above, but not so severe, is 

 a common affliction of the aged. Many cases 

 supposed to be this form of bronchitis are 

 really consumption, and their diagnosis and 

 treatment should be placed in the proper 

 hands. W.A.E. 



BRONTE, bron'te, CHARLOTTE (1816-1855), 

 an English novelist whose writings, even her 

 popular Jane Eyre, possess no more fascina- 

 tion and no greater appeal than does her life, 

 gloomy and almost eventless as it was. Her 

 clergyman father removed in 1820 from Thorn- 

 ton, where Charlotte was born, to Haworth, 

 and there in the dreary parsonage, with the 

 stern Yorkshire moors on every side, the re- 

 markable Bronte children grew up. Charlotte 

 was the eldest of four who survived childhood. 

 For a time in their childhood Charlotte and 

 her sister Emily attended a school to which 

 the former brought later an unenviable fame 

 by her descriptions in Jane Eyre, but their 

 education was continued elsewhere. After 

 teaching and serving as governess, Charlotte 

 went with Emily in 1842 to Brussels, with a 

 view to learning French and German. 



She taught for a year in the school she had 

 attended there, but returned to Haworth in 

 1844, convinced that whatever happened she 

 must remain home with her family. Her 



