BUG 



753 



U R O 



. Urotlcen. merit allowed a flee passage to the warp. In this, 

 ' like the former, there appears rather a rude and not 

 impracticable plan, than a maturely digested and 

 practically efficient improvement. 15 tli > i-in tore- 

 quire much farther amelioration ; and they are insert- 

 ed, rather to shew what has been done, than as com- 

 plete and effective models of mechanical efficiency. 

 (j. D.) 



BROCKEN, the name of the highest of the 

 Hartz mountains in Saxony. This mountain, which, 

 on account of its natural curiosities, is much resort- 

 ed to by travellers, may be ascended by two great 

 roads for carriages, or by five foot-paths. The best 

 method of ascending it on foot is to take the foot- 

 path on the side of Schiercke, and to descend by the 

 foot-path of Ilsenbourgh. Be' ween Sehirrcke and 

 Heinrichshoke there are immense blocks of granite, 

 like those of Mount St Gothard, and large tables of 

 granite, equal to those on Mount Grimsel. In or- 

 der to facilitate the ascent of the mountain, the reign- 

 ing Count of Stollberg Wtrnigerode has cut a new 

 road from Wernigerode, where he has erected a large 

 and well built inn, from a design of the architect 

 Barth, which is protected by conductors, and which 

 resisted the terrible storm of November 1800.- In 

 this delightful' inn, which, from the immense height 

 at which it is plnced, commands a most extensive 

 view, the traveller is astonished to find all the ac- 

 commodation and luxuries of the first hotels in Eu- 

 rope. 



At the summit of the mountain there are several 

 masses of fragments, and blocks of trranite, called the 

 altar and the sorcerer's chair. A clear spring of 

 water is called the magic fountain, and the anemone 

 of the Brocken is denominated the sorcerer's flower. 

 These names derive their origin from the festival of 

 the great idol Crotho, whom the Saxons worshipped 

 in secret, at this immense and solitary height, while 

 Christianity was extending her peaceful conquests 

 over the plains below. From the highest summit of 

 the Brocken is seen a plain about 70 leagues in ex- 

 tent, peopled with five millions of souls, and occupy- 

 ing nearly the two hundredth part of the whole of 

 Europe. The following are the heights of the moun- 

 tain, as taken by different observers : 



Old i'aris feet. 



The principal curiosities of the Brocken are the 

 insulated rock of Ilsenstein, rising to a height of 

 'J20 feet, and the rocks of Schnarcher, Rennecke, 

 and Hohneklippen, which are of inferior height; the 

 fall of the river Bode on the side of Rosstrapp; the 

 Rosstrapp, which is a wall of rocks cut perpendicu- 

 larly, and forming a precipice of from 500 to 800 



VOL, JV. PART II. 



feet ; and the Oderbrucke, which is a dilv 

 of immense blocks of granite, which btopj the C'l'-rvr- 

 Oder, and makes it form a luij;..- lake of 

 1 0, 1 3S square toise. In addition to ,tof 



curiosity, th- nictim sq'H- n.a.' .riK'ke. 



the can.il of K< 1> !",, and the 



man -huh- and lliil. hole, arc worthy of particular no- 

 tice. The latitude of the top of the Urockcn is ~>l* 

 48' >>'.>', ami its L,i, 



1'Vrro Isles. An account of the botany of this and the 

 neighbouring mountains may be found in Gaticrer** 

 Anleititii" den Ifarz zu licr<-/xi'.n ; and an account of 

 their minenlogical productions will be found in La- 

 sius' BeobachttMgen ii/jcr the llarzgcbirge. See 

 HAIITZ. ( ;) 



BROCKLESBY, RICHARD, an eminent physi- 

 cian, was descended of a wealthy and respectable Irish 

 family ; and was born at Minehead, in Somersetshire, 

 on the llth of August 1722, when his mother was 

 on a visit to her relations. His parents, who re- 

 sided at Cork, belonged to the society of Quakers, 

 and seem to have been more anxious to imbue the 

 mind of their son with the elements of a liberal edu- 

 cation, than with the peculiar tenets of their sect. 

 At the academy of Ballytore, where he went at an 

 early a^e, he contracted an acquaintance with the 

 celebrated Edmund Burke, which grew into the 

 warmest friendship, when both of them appeared 33 

 public characters in London. After finishing his 

 grammar education, Mr Brocklesby attended a courte 

 of medical lectures at the university of Edinburgh, 

 and afterwards went to Leyden, where he took his 

 degree of doctor of medicine in 174-5, and delivered 

 a thesis, entitled De Saliva Sana et Morbosa. Upon 

 his return to England in 174-6, he settled as a phy- 

 sician in London; but, like all young practitioneri, 

 his time was less occupied in the practice of his pro- 

 fession, than in accommodating his wants to the nar- 

 rowness of his income. His fame, however, began 

 to extend, after the publication of his Essay on the 

 mortality of the horned cattle. In the year 1751, 

 he was admitted a licentiate in the Royal College of 

 Physicians. The honorary degree of doctor in me- 

 dicine was conferred upon him by the university of 

 Dublin in 1754 ; and he received the same honour 

 from the university of Cambridge in 1755. In June 

 1756, he was elected a fellow of the Royal College 

 of Physicians. 



The practice of Dr Brocklesby now began to extend 

 with his reputation. The mildness of his disposition 

 endeared him to his professional brethren, while his 

 kind attention to the wants and diseases of the poor, 

 gained him the affections of a more extensive circle. 

 In the year 1758, he was appointed physician to the 

 army by Lord Barrington ; and, in this capacity, 

 he served in Germany during the greater part of the 

 seven years war. He was afterwards chosen physi- 

 cian to the hospitals for British forces ; and he re- 

 turned to London in 1763, a fi-w months before the 

 termination of the war. In 1764-, he published, ia 

 one volume, 8vo, Economical and Mi:/ical Observa- 

 tion* from 1738 ID 1763, tending to ///< improve- 

 ment of Medical Hospitals. This work, which con- 

 tains the valuable results of his experience on the 

 continent, abounds with excellent practical remark* 



