R R O 



work ahoiindcJ mucli in fcnti'iiofS and proverbs, the appel- 

 lation biocaidiia liccame liciice extended to every thing. 



IIROCATKLL, cnlk-d by tin; Trench brocatU, an ordi- 

 nary kind of lliifl' niiide of cotton, or cnavfe lilk, in imi- 

 tation of brocade ; chiclly ufid for tiipcftry and other inr- 

 iiiture. That manufaiUiitd at Wnice is the moll cf- 

 teenicd. 



BROCATELLO, a name given by hipidarics to a cal- 

 careous (U>ne or marble, conipoUd of fra^jnients of tour co- 

 lours, white, grey, yelUnv, and red. 



liROCCO, in G-ogrnphy, a town of Naples, in the county 

 of I^avora ; 5 miles \V. of Cipna. 



LROCCOLI, in Boljuy and Cuir.hrjng. .See Bras- 

 SICA OL fRAe F A. 



BROCHOS, in Stir^frv, is a term of doubtful fignifi- 

 cation. It has been confidered by fonic as a Cireck name 

 for the !aque:is, or noo!"e ; and bv otltcrs, as denoting ban- 

 dages in general. Caltellus informs us, that this word re- 

 lates to certain chirurgical inllrumtnts ; and he refers to 

 the authority of Galen and Oribafius. It has aifo been 

 confidered as exprelFive of a privation of voice, or aphonia. 

 Pyfons having a very huge and prominent upper lip, have 

 been denominated Irocli : although Dr. Turton, in his 

 Medical GlofTary, fays that Ivochus fignifies one who has 

 " the chin and nether lip (licking out." 



BROCfiUS, in Ancient Gdograpljy , a town of Phoeni- 

 cia, feated near a marlli, between Libanus and Antilibanus. 

 Polybius- 



BROCK, among Spoiifmen, fomctimes denotes a badger, 

 olterwile called a grey brock. 



Brock, and Brocket, are alfo ufed to denote a hart of 

 the third year. 



BROCKDROP, in Geography, a town of Germany, in 

 the circle of Lower Sa.xony, and duchy of Holftciu ; 6 miles 

 W. of Krempe. 



BROCKEL, or Brakel, a town of Germany, in the 

 circle of Wellplialia, and county of Verden ; J miles E. of 

 Rotenburg. 



BROCKEN. See Hart/. 



BROCKLESBY, Richard, in Biography, who attained 

 to confiderable eminence, and acquired a fplendid fortune by 

 the praftice of mcdienie in London, was of a refpeftable 

 family of Cork, in Ireland, but was born at Minehead in 

 .Somerfetfliirc, where his mother was on a vifit to one of her 

 relations at the time of his birth. This happened on the 

 Ilth of Augull, 1723. His parents were qnakers ; but 

 it docs not appear that they were folicitous to initiate him 

 in the principles of that left. At an early age he was 

 fent to a famed academy at Ballytore, in the north of Ire- 

 land. There he formed an intimacy with Edmund Burke, 

 whichwas improved into the moft cordial fricndfliip when they 

 met together afterwards in London. Having completed his 

 fchool education, he went to Edinburgh, and after attend- 

 ing the leisures of the profeiTors in the different branches of 

 medicine there, he proceeded to I-eyden, and took his 

 degree of doftor, imder the celebrated Gaubius, in June, 

 ^ 74j' g'^''"g> f""" '"^ inaugviral thtlis, a diflertation " De 

 Saliva fana et morbofa." The following year he came to 

 London, and fettled in Broad-llreet ; and as the income 

 allowed him by his father was not large, and he found that 

 fnm not much increafcd, for the firft few years, by the profits 

 of his profefTion, he determined to regulate his expenccs in 

 fuch a manner, as to fecure him from the mifcry of de- 

 pendence. " Never fuflering himfclf, as he was ufed to 

 to have a want that was not accommodable to his fortune." 

 The fame year he piiblidied an EfTay concerning the Morta- 

 lity of the Horned Cattle, which contributed to extendjus 



Vol. V. 



B R O 



name and cl!ara(f\er. In 1751 he was ad nitttd a licentiate 

 in the Royal College of Pliylicians, in l^ondon. In i'jS'r 

 he received an honotaiy degree of doftoriii mcdiciiic, from 

 the univerlity of Dublin, and the following year ht was ad- 

 mitted by the univerlity of C.-orbridge, ad eirndrm. He 

 then became a candidate, and in June, I/J*!, "'as clcdled a 

 fellow of the College of Phylicians. As his prafiice waj 

 now much increafed, and by the prudence of his condncl, 

 and the luavity of his manners, he had conciliated to him- 

 felf the friendlliip of his profefTional brethren, he was, by 

 their recommendation, appointed phyfician to the army by 

 . Lord Barrington. In this capacity he went to Germany, 

 and continued there, until a few mrr.ths before the coiiclu- 

 fion of the war, in 176;. The following yeai he publilhed 

 the reliilt of hi.s obfervaiions ai:d pra'^ice, under the 

 titlfi ot " Economical and Medical Obfcrvations, from 

 173S to 175,), tending to the Improvement of Medical Hof. 

 pitals." 8vo. He now returned to London, and lettled in 

 Norfolk-ilreet, in the Strand. His fortune was by thij 

 time increafcd by an ellate of Coo', per annum, which de- 

 volved to him on the death of his father ; and the duke of 

 Richmond, and live other noble perfonages, agreed to give 

 him penfions of locl. per annum each, as a recompence for 

 attending their families. This, with his half pay from the 

 army, made up a handfome income ; and a^ he pofTeli'ed the 

 aldermanly virtue, as dean Swift calls it, diferetion, he was 

 enabled to keep a carriage, and to live with fome degree of 

 fplendour. Soon after he was made a fellow of the Royal 

 Society ; and not being incumbered with a fnuiily, he dedi- 

 cated what tim.e he could fpare from attending hi.s patient-,;, 

 &c. to reading, or to afTociating v/ith ])erfons eminent for 

 literature and fcience. On his fuggellion, a profeiTorlhip in 

 chemiftry was added to the eilablilhmei-t of the college at 

 Woolwich ; and on his re<ftmmendation the late Dr. Adair 

 Crawford, author of an ingenious philofophical trc;itifc on 

 heat, was appointed the firll proftflor. Though it has been 

 intimated, that the dodlor's habits were frugal and economical, 

 yet there are abundant proofs he was not delieient in libera- 

 lity. On being informed that Dr. Johnfou, with whom he 

 cultivated a llriit intimac)-, wi{l:ed, in the latter part of l:is 

 life, to vifit the continent lor the recovery of his health, but 

 was rellrained from going, by the narrownefs of liis circuni- 

 llances, he, in a handfome and delicati; manner, made him 

 anoflerof an annuity of icol. per annum for the rc^'ainder 

 of his life ; and on Dr. Johnfon's declining to accept the 

 olTer, he prelTcd him to relide in his lioufe, as more airy and 

 healthy than that in which he then lived. To his friend Ed- 

 mund Burke he fent loool., which he told him he had in- 

 tended leaving him at his death, but thinight it might then 

 come to him, at a time when it would be of little ufe. 

 The prefent was accepted, in a manner which (liewed 

 that the doflor was not wrong in his conjeftures. In the 

 year 1794, finding the infirmities of age incrtafe fall upon 

 him, he gave up his half pay in the army, and declined, ex- 

 cepting among his particular friends, vilitjng patients. A 

 little before this time, his patron and fiiend, the duke of 

 Richmond, had appointed him phyfician general to the roval 

 regiment of artillery, and corps of -cngmeers. Tliis lie 

 retained, as giving hun occsfiou of going to Woo'.vvicli, and 

 viliting the laboratoiy there, to which he was attached. In 

 the beginning of December, 1797, he went to Beaconsfield, 

 to tlie houfe of Mrs. Burke, the wiciow of his decenfed 

 friend, where he continued a few days, and returned on the 

 nth of the month, to dine with his two nephews, Mr. 

 Becby and Dr. V'oung, the charge of whofe education he 

 had taken principally upon himfelf. Tliough imich fati"-ue(l 

 with his journey, he appeared pkafcd with the intervie-.v, 

 Z z ar.d 



