BRA 



found in the ftomach and inteftinal canal, impenetrably hard, 

 and about lo or 12 pounds in weight. However, bran, 

 though an improper food for horfes in Us dry Hate, is an ufe- 

 ful ingredient in malhts with meal, and ferves to prevent the 

 fatiating richnefsof that article alone ; and alfo in common 

 naalhes with oats, when a horfe is under a conrfe of ohyhc; 

 and with a proper h.pregnationot honey >n the malhes for 

 colds, during the feverlty of the wmter feafon. Taplm. 



Dyers rank bran in the number of non-colouruig drugs ; 

 becanfe it yields no colour of itfelf. It ferves for the makmg 

 o " eir four waters, ufed in preparing ftufls to take the dye 

 This water is made by boihng wheaten bran, and into the 

 decoftion putting a little leaven. r o • 



BRANA, in y/«nV«/ Geosraphy, a town of Spain, in 



^'bR ANAW," in Geoi^raphy, a town of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Konigingratz; in which is a manufafture ot coknir- 

 ed cloth ; II miles N. W. of Glatz, and 2y N. E. of Ko- 



"'°BRANC A Ursina, J. Bauh. in Botany. Bear's breech. 



^%tLT.Urf:.a Ger,nanka, J. Bauh. See He^ACKUM 



^^B^ttcT in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, 

 being one of the C^pei-'verde iiles, near the coaft of Benin, 



'" bIan'ca, in Middle Age Writers, the paw or extreme 

 pait of the foot of a wild beaft, or bird of prey. Du- 



^"b^Inca, or Branchia, alfo denotes a right of lopping 

 or cutting off branches of trees in th, foreft forhrmg. Du- 



*^^B^RANCALE0, John Francs, in Blosraphy, a Nea- 

 Bolitfn phyfician, pubUlhed, in 1534. " De balneis, quam 

 falSa fint, turn ad fanitatem tuendam, tum ad morbos 

 Srandos D alogus adverfus neotericos," Rome, 8vo. 

 Hldefends bathing againft the objeaions of his cotempo- 

 Set on the authority of Galen, and from his own expe- 

 rie" ce recommends the^raftice in intermitting fevers, and a 

 In affiftant in the cure of the lues venerea. He reprove, his 

 breXen or their too frequent ufe of P-f ^ -^t"fe? 

 Ae common refource, at that time, againft -g f '^-f"; 

 The work has been feveral times reprinted. Haller l.ib. 



^BkANCALEONE, in G-.-^^.^. /^o^ of Italy in 

 thekindom of Naples, and province of Calabria Ukra ; 9 



"'bRANcIs: S;. a town of F«nce, in the department 

 of the Indre and Loire ; 4 leagues b. ot 1 ours. 



BRANCH, in Bota„y. Branches are the divif.ons of a 

 ftem or trunk, which are found on many herbaceous plants, 

 bTare chiefly noticed on (hrubs and trees. Fhe primary 

 branches fpring immediately from the trunk ; the fecondary 

 'o^erSm^he^ primary ; ^1^^^^^^^^^::^^:, 

 ^i^SrW^^o^i^l^ts':^^ trunk! and with 

 ^he ex?ep on of a root, are in fadt little trees, ^vhlch if 



under favouiable ^';'-r''''"TheY proceed from buds formed 

 SiX'rfS^f thl-trinf^hich interrupt the p.af^ 



P'T^hSwIrSnclis^are often nearly parallel to the hori- 

 zon at rrghrangles with the trunk : thofe above them make 



7 



BRA 



angles more and more acnte, as they are placed nearer the 

 funimit ; bnt tlicfe angles diifcr in diflcrent fpecies, aiid m 

 every individual tree are fuhjcA to numerous vanetics, from 

 the influence of external caufcs. Some branches produce 

 only leaf, and new branch bnds : others produce only flower 

 buds The former are fmooth in their Inrface, pliable and 

 tough, with clofe ibaight fibres, eafily feparabh. from e-ach 

 other • the latter are wrinkled at tlieir bale, have their l.bres 

 lefs compaft, and break fhorl wlicn ftruck. There are alfo 

 branches which pierce the bark without a bud, and form 

 what is commonly called falfe wood. Thefe, as they- are 

 often luxuriant in their growth, and rob the more ufelul 

 branches of their due nourifliment, arc carefully pruned 

 away bv the Ikilful planter and lunlicultill. They have a 



rough bark, and produce only a few blackilh buds. 



BRANCH, in Veoctahk Anatomy. Almoft every plant 

 or tree, when arrived at a certain period of its growth, ex- 

 hibits at its fuperior part, more or lefs of a divided or rami- 

 fied appearance. The mode of increafe by means ot 

 branches has been obferved fo generally ainongil vegetables, 

 that it was formerly confidered the exchilive dillinction ot 

 that clafs of beings ; but it is now well known that a nu- 

 merous tribe of animals multiply themfelves by branches, 

 and therefore this mode of propagation is not quite pecuhur 

 to the vegetable kingdom. • 



Ona fuperficial infpedion, the branches appear as fo many 

 divifions and iub-divUions of the tree, in the formation ot 

 which the main trunk is difpofed of or expended ; but a 

 more accurate examination proves, that the trunk lofes none 

 of its fubftance in the production of the branches ; that both 

 trunk and branches take their origin, and continue to in- 

 creafe precifely in the fame manner; that, in faft, every 

 branch^fliould be confidered as a lefTer trunk, differmg on ly 

 from the parent ftem, in the circumftance of not deriving its 

 furteiiance immediately from the earth. _ i-,.u,l.v 



The branches are the produd of the buds in w ich they 

 enjoy, for a certain period, a ipecies of fatal ^j^'ltence, as 

 the enibrio of the trunk did originally in the feed. See the 

 articles Seed, Fruit, Trunk, Bud, and Bulb. 



The kind of attachment which continues to iublilt be- 

 tween the trunk and the branches affords additional proo ot 

 he ndividuahty of the exiftence of the latter : alt ongh he 

 external form of a tree would lead to the iuppofiton, t lut 

 hTbranehes were formed by differeiit -^T^^ ^ 

 fafcicuh compofing the original trunk, in the fame ..,anne> 

 asone fepa.ates into feveral portions the hbres of a rope 



et, to exhibit the contrary, it is only -"'^7 \° "'^^'^^l^ 

 feme feft.ons of the branches where they are implanted 1 to 

 he trunk. Thus, fuppofe a tree whicn divides mo to 

 primary branches, be cut tranfverfely about a foot <'bo e the 

 bifurcation, the feftion will be found to ^P- -V;^ ^ ° 

 two diftina trunks, each compofed of concent ic circles ot 

 woody fibres. (See Plate \l. m Vesetalh Anatomy, /?. ... 

 Tf a t^-anfverfe feaion be then made of the fame brunch s, 

 at the place where they firft appear to /^parate f om the 

 trunk, the concentric layers correfpondmg to "-' b'-anc h 

 wdl be perceived as before, but they will be found fui- 

 ™unded 'by feveral circles of the .;oody ayers belonguig to 

 the trunk. (See Plate II. m Vesetalne Anatomy, M- ^-l 

 la tranfverf feaion be again made fimilar to the laft, but 

 a few inches lower down, the circles of woody layers which 

 coZofe tl branches will be feeu diminilhed in number and 

 fiZ'lile the concentric layers of the t-nk ha- become 

 in the fame proportion more numerous. (See ■< /"''■. ^t- '" 



thefe defcribed be repeated at (hort diftances fi om each othe , 

 St wlu be found, thLhe number of -o^ly -cles^wh.h 



