BRA 



159 



BRA 



hand-brake. The essential part of such 

 machine consists in several deeply fluted 

 rollers of wood or iron, whose teeth work 

 into each other, and while they stretch 

 out the flaxen stalks between them, they 

 coinminate the woody parts, and effec- 

 tually loosen the harl. 



BRAIL, Fr. brayer, a trnss. In naviga- 

 tion, brails are ropes passing through 

 pulleys on the mizzen-mast and yard, and 

 fastened to the aftmost leech of the sail 

 in different places, to truss it up close. 

 Also, all ropes employed to haul up the 

 bottoms, lower corners, and skirts of the 

 other great sails, for the more ready 

 furling of them. To brail up is to haul 

 up into the brails, or to truss up with the 

 brails. 



BRAIN, from Sax. Dfieync, fervour. 

 The soft whitish mass or viscus inclosed 

 in the cranium. It is composed of a 

 cortical substance, which is external, and 

 a medullary substance, which is internal. 

 The first is reddish, the latter white. It 

 is divided below into six lobes, and above 

 into two hemispheres, whose volumes are 

 in proportion to the extent of the intelli- 

 gence. It is moreover divided by anato- 

 mists into two principal parts the cere- 

 brum, which occupies in man the higher 

 part of the head, and is seven or eight 

 times larger than the cerebellum, lying 

 behind and below it. 



BRAKE. 1. A machine used in dressing 



flax (See BRAIK.) 2. A name common 



to all the plants of the genus Pteris (q. v.) 



3. A baker's kneading-trough. 4. A 



sharp bit or snaffle. 5. A machine for 



confining refractory horses while the 



smith is shoeing them. 6. A heavy 



harrow, called also a drag, and used only 



on rough ground. 7. That part of the 



carriage of a moveable battery or engine 



which enables it to turn (Fairfax). 



8. The handle of a pump .- in this sense, 

 from Celtic, braic, the arm. 



BRA'MA, a genus of acanthopterygious 

 fishes, placed by Cuvier among the squam- 

 ipennes. There is only one species known, 

 the Spams rait, Bl., which inhabits the 

 Mediterranean. It attains a large size, is 

 of a burnished steel colour, and is excel- 

 lent food. 



BRA'MAR, the first person in the Trinity 

 (Trimurti) of the Hindus. Bramah, the 

 creator, Vishnu, the redeemer, and Siva, 

 the destroyer. Eramah means " know- 

 ledge of laws." 



BRA'MAH'S PRESS. See HYDROSTATIC 

 PRESS. 



BRAM'BLE,Sax. Dtlaembel, aname com- 

 mon to all the species of the genus Rubus. 

 There are 13 British species, of which the 

 blackberry or common bramble, raspberry, 

 dewberry, stone-bramble aiid cloud-berry, 

 are well known. 



BRANCH, from Celtic, braic, the arm, a 



shoot. 1. A shoot of a tree. 2. Any 



part extending from the main body of a 



tiling, as a branch of an artery. 3. The 



branches of a bridle are the two pieces ot 

 bent iron which bear the bit, the cross 



chains and the curb. 4. The branches oj 



ogives are the arches of Gothic vaults 

 traversing from one angle to another 

 diagonally, and forming a cross between 

 the other arches, which makes the sides 

 of the square of which these arches are 

 diagonals. 



BRANCH'ER, in falconry, a young hawk 

 when it begins to leave the nest and take 

 to the branches. 



BRANCH'IA, the gill of a fish (/S'ay^Oif). 

 The branchia; ot" fishes are filamentous 

 organs for breathing in water. The term, 

 is generally used in the plural, like lungs. 



BRANCHIOS'TEGI, an order of fishes in 

 some systems of ichthyology, the charac- 

 teristic of which is that the rays of the 

 fins are of a bony substance. Name from 

 /%y%"*> S ills > aud r-rvyu, to cover. The 

 pipe-fish and sucker are examples. 



BRANCHIOS'TEGI, gill-covered, belong- 

 ing to the order Branchiostegi. 



BRANCH'IPUS, the Cancer stagnalis, Lin., 

 an animal belonging to the crustaceans, 

 having the legs reduced to soft paddles, 

 which perform the double office of lungs 

 and feet ; hence the name, from 

 gills, and trov;, a foot. 



BRAN'DT, an ardent spirit distilled from, 

 wine and the husks of grapes, hence 

 called by the Germans brantewein, by 

 the French, brandevin, by the Dutch, 

 brandewyn, the root of which words is 

 Teut. branden, to boil, distil. Brandy is 

 prepared in most of the wine countries, 

 but the French brandy is the best. 



BRANKUK'SINE, the herb bear's breech. 

 The name is applicable to all the species 

 of the genus Acanthus. 



BRAN'LIN, a species of fish of the sal- 

 mon tribe, called in some places the 

 Jingry, from certain black marks on each 

 side resembling fingers. 



BRANT, a bird, the Anas bernicla, Gm., 

 distinguished from the common geese by 

 a shorter and slenderer bill, the edges of 

 which conceal the extremities of the la- 

 minae. It is thus named from the colour 

 of the mantle, which is brownish grey, as 

 if brant, brent, or brint (Sax. bfiennan, 

 to burn.) 



BRASS, an alloy of copper and zinc. 

 Fine brass is nearly two parts of copper 

 to one of zinc ; but the proportions are 

 variable. The varieties are Prince's or 

 Prince Rupert's metal, Mosaic gold, Bath* 

 metal, button metal (platin), red brass 

 (the Tombak of some), Dutch foil, pinch- 

 beck, siniilor, Manheim gold. The tens 



