ERE 



reous, magnesian, silicious, and argillace- 

 ous, taking care to discriminate it from 

 Joid or pondingere, (from the 

 En^'ish pudding-stone) by restricting the 

 meaning of this latter to stony masses, 

 formed of rounded pebbles, imbedded in 

 a cement. 



BREDEMEYERA, in botany, a genus 

 of the Diadeiphia Octandria : calyx three- 

 leaved; corolla papilionaceous; banner 

 two-leaved ; drupe with a two-celled nut. 

 One species, viz, B. foribunda. 



BREECH, of a gun, the distance from 

 the hind part of the base ring to the be- 

 ginning of the bore, and is always equal 

 to the thickness of the metal at the vent. 



BREECHINGS, in the sea language, 

 the ropes with which the great guns are 

 lashed or fastened to the ship's side. 

 They are thus called, because made to 

 pass round the breech of the gun. 



BREEZE, a shifting wind, that blows 

 from sea or land for some certain hours 

 of the day or night ; common in Africa, 

 and some parts of the East and West In- 

 dies. The sea breeze is only sensible 

 near the coasts ; it commonly rises in the 

 morning about nine, proceeding slowly, 

 in a fine small black curl on the water, 

 towards the shore ; it increases gradually 

 till twelve, and dies about five. Upon its 

 ceasing, the land breeze commences, 

 which increases till twelve at night, and 

 is succeeded in the morning 1 by the sea 

 breeze again. 



BREEZE, in brick-making, small ashes 

 and cinders, sometimes made use of in- 

 stead of coals, for the burning of bricks. 



BRENTUS, in natural history, a genus 

 of insects of the order Coleoptera. Ge- 

 neric character : antennae moniliform, in- 

 serted beyond the middle of the snout ; 

 head projecting into a very long, straight, 

 cylindrical snout. There are eleven spe- 

 cies, in two divisions; A. thighs simple ; 

 B. thighs toothed. B. bispar is linear and 

 black: shells striate, with two obsolete 

 rufous spots, and an abbreviated line at the 

 base of each : thorax ovate, with an ob- 

 solete rufous band. In one sex the snout 

 is cylindrical, black; in the other sex the 

 snout is projected, cylindrical, dilated at 

 the tip, with incurved jaws. 



BREVE, in music, a note or character 

 of time, in the form of a diamond or 

 square, without any tail, and equivalent 

 to two measures, or minims. 



BREVE, or BREVIS, in grammar : syl- 

 lables are distinguished into longs and 

 breves, according as they are pronounced 

 quicker or more slow. 



BREVET rank, is a rank in the army 



higher than that for which a person re- 

 ceives pay. It gives precedence, when 

 corps are brigaded, according to the date 

 of the brevet commission. 



BREVIARY, a daily office, or book of 

 divine service in the Romish Church. It 

 is composed of matins, lauds, first, third, 

 sixth, and ninth vespers, and the compline 

 or post communio. 



The breviary of Rome is general, and 

 may be used in all places ; but on the 

 model of this, various others have been 

 built, appropriated to each diocese, and 

 each order of religious. 



BREWER, a person who professes the 

 art of brewing. There are companies 

 of brewers in most capital cities ; that of 

 London was incorporated in 1427, by 

 Henry VI. and that of Paris is still older. 



BREWING, the art of brewing, or of 

 preparing a vinous fermented liquor from 

 the farinaceous seeds, is of very high an- 

 tiquity. The ancient Egyptians, from the 

 soil and climate of their country not 

 being favourable to the culture of the 

 vine, were induced to seek a substitute in 

 barley, from which, in all probability, by 

 the process of malting, they knew how to 

 procure a fermented liquor. All the an- 

 cient malt liquors, however, seem to have 

 been made entirely of barley, or some 

 other farinaceous grain, and therefore 

 were not generally calculated for long 

 keeping, as this quality depends consi- 

 derably, though not entirely, on the bit- 

 ter extract of hops, or other vegetables, 

 with which the liquor is mingled. Mo- 

 dern malt liquor is essentially composed 

 of water, of the soluble parts of malt and 

 hops, and of yeast. 



Three or four different kinds of malt 

 are distinguished by the brewer by their 

 colours, which depend on the degree 

 of heat that is used in the drying. Malt 

 that has been dried by a very gentle heat 

 scarcely differs in its colour from barley ; 

 if exposed to a somewhat higher tempe- 

 rature, it acquires a light amber-yellow 

 hue ; and by successive increments of 

 heat, the colour becomes deeper and 

 deeper, till, at length, it is black. The 

 change of colour is owing to the grain 

 being partially charred or decomposed ; 

 and in proportion to the extent to which 

 this alteration is allowed to proceed will 

 the produce of sugar, that is, of ferment- 

 able matter, be diminished. The princi- 

 pal advantage of high-dried malt over the 

 paler kind is, the deep yellowish-brown 

 tinge which it gives to the liquor ; but 

 this colour may be communicated much 

 more economically by burnt sugar. The 



