BRUSH 



962 



BRUSSELS 



Simons Island and Jekyl Island; the latter is 

 exclusively the home of American capitalists. 

 The Seminole Trail, the automobile highway 

 from New York to Florida, and many miles 

 of shell roads lead to points of historical inter- 

 est. Brunswick was founded by General Ogle- 

 thorpe in 1735, and named for the Duke of 

 Brunswick. The city charter was obtained in 

 1856 and revised in 1890. 



BRUSH, CHARLES FRANCIS (1849- ), an 

 American electrician, known especially as the 

 inventor of the Brush dynamo for arc lighting. 

 He also invented an electric lamp and a large 

 number of devices which have greatly devel- 

 oped the electric light. He was- born at Euclid, 

 Ohio, and was graduated at the University of 

 Michigan in 1869, with the degree of mining 

 engineer. For his achievements in electrical 

 science he has been awarded the Rumford 

 medal by the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, and has been honored by election to 

 membership in the French Legion of Honor. 

 See ELECTRIC LIGHT. 



BRUSSELS, brus'elz, the capital of Bel- 

 gium and one of the finest cities in Europe. 

 It is situated near the middle of the country, 

 twenty-seven miles by rail south of Antwerp. 

 On account of its wide boulevards, its beauti- 

 ful buildings, the animated appearance of its 

 streets and its artistic and intellectual life, 

 under normal conditions, Brussels has been 

 nicknamed a "miniature Paris." 



Special Features. The city consists of a 

 lower town and an upper town. The lower 

 town, containing the older parts and devoted 

 now almost entirely to commerce and industry, 

 is surrounded with a circle of wide boulevards 

 which have been built on the site of the old 

 walls of the city. The upper town, which is 

 partly inside and partly outside the boulevards, 

 is the finest part and contains the king's palace, 

 the government offices, wide streets, beautiful 

 parks and modern residential quarters. The 

 chief point of interest in the lower town is 

 the famous Grande Place, which is probably 

 the most splendid example of a medieval 

 market-square still left in Europe. 



On one side of this square is situated the 

 beautiful town hall (Hotel de Ville), dating 

 in part from the fifteenth century; it is an 

 imposing Gothic structure, with a spire 364 

 feet in height. Here also are situated the 

 corporation houses of various medieval guilds, 

 which lend a special charm to that square on 

 account of .their medieval architecture and 

 ornament. Another important ancient building 



is the Church of Sainte Gudule, begun in 

 1220, and considered one of the finest specimens 

 of pointed Gothic architecture. It is richly 

 adorned with sculpture, paintings and beautiful 

 stained-glass windows, and has a famous carved 

 pulpit. 



The Palace of Justice. One of the finest 

 buildings in Europe is undoubtedly the Palace 

 of Justice, built between 1866 and 1883, which 

 crowns the highest point in the city. It im- 

 presses one by its magnificent proportions, for 

 it occupies a larger area than that of Saint 

 Peter's Church in Rome. Its style reminds one 

 of the great massive buildings of ancient Egypt 

 or Nineveh, from which it differs by its dome 

 and by its columns in Greco-Roman style. 



Institutions. Among the numerous educa- 

 tional institutions are a university, a polytech- 

 nic school, an academy of science and fine 

 arts, one of the best conservatories of music 

 in Europe, a fine astronomical observatory and 

 a large public library. Brussels possesses a 

 celebrated picture gallery, which contains some 

 of the finest specimens of Flemish art, and also 

 a good museum of modern paintings. Many 

 of the most-valued pieces of art were hurriedly 

 removed from the city in 1914 upon the ap- 

 proach of the Germans (see below). 



Industries and Transportation. The indus- 

 tries of Brussels have for centuries been varied 

 and important. It is celebrated for its manu- 

 facture of lace, which is an old-established 

 industry. It has manufactories of cotton and 

 woolen goods, curtains, paper, carriages and 

 articles of bronze, as well as breweries, dis- 

 tilleries, sugar refineries and foundries. 



Brussels is the center of the well-developed 

 network of the railways of Belgium and is also 

 connected by canals with all parts of the 

 country. The town has now direct communica- 

 tion with the sea through the recently-con- 

 structed Willibroek Canal, which connects it 

 with the Rupel River not far from its con- 

 fluence with the Scheldt. The length of the 

 canal to the Rupel is twenty miles. 



History. Brussels appears to have been 

 founded in the sixth century. From the tenth 

 century onwards it began to develop its trade 

 and industry, and various trade guilds similar 

 to those of Ghent were formed here (see 

 GUILD). It became in 1477 the capital of the 

 Austrian Netherlands, and under the fostering 

 care of several of the Hapsburg governors was 

 for a long time one of the pleasantest capitals 

 in Europe. It suffered severely during the 

 bombardment by the French under Marshal 



