BRA 
to Bishop Crew’s benefaction of 30 1. a year 
to the lecture reader in experimental philo- 
sophy at Oxford. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin in 
1747; of that at Paris in 1748; of that at 
Petersburgh in 1754; and of that at Bo- 
logna in 1757. He was married in the year 
1744; but never had more than one child, 
a daughter. 
By too close application to study and ob- 
servations, Dr. Bradley became afflicted 
for near two years before his death with a 
grievous oppression on his spirits ; which 
interrupted his useful labours. This dis- 
tress arose chiefly from an apprehension 
that he should outlive his rational faculties : 
but this so much dreaded evil never came 
upon him. In June, 1762, he was seized 
with a suppression of urine, occasioned by 
an inflammation in the reins, which termi- 
nated his existence the 13th of July follow- 
ing. His death happened at Chalfont, in 
Gloucestershire, in the 70th year of his age, 
and he was interred at Minchinhampton, in 
the same county. 
As to his character, Dr. Bradley was re- 
markable for a placid and gentle modesty, 
very uncommon in persons of an active 
temper and robust constitution. Although 
he was a good speaker, and possessed the 
rare but happy art of expressing his ideas 
with the utmost precision and clearness, yet 
no man was a greater lover of silence, for 
be never spoke but when he thought it ab- 
solutely necessary. Nor was he more in- 
clined to write than to speak, as he has pub- 
lished very little: he had a natural diffi- 
dence which made him always afraid that 
his works might injure his character; so 
that he suppressed many which might have 
been worthy of publication. Many of his 
papers have been inserted in the Philoso- 
phical Transactions. 
The public character of Dr. Bradley, as 
a man of science and observation, is fully 
established by his various work s. His pri- 
vate character was in every respect esti- 
mable. That he published so little may be 
ascribed to a large share of diffidence, which 
prevented him from soliciting that attention 
which at all times he could command. His 
observations made at the Royal Observatory 
during 20 years were comprized in 13 vols, 
folio and two 4to. ; these were transferred in 
the year 1776 to the University of Oxford, 
on condition they should be printed and 
published by that learned body. In June, 
1791, the Board of Longitude seeing no 
prospect of their publication, passed some 
BRA 
resolutions respecting the public right 
to these observations, which being trans- 
mitted to the vice chancellor, the Board 
was in consequence informed, that the de- 
legates of the press in the university were 
proceeding with the work. The first volume 
was published in 1798, in a very splendid 
form, under the title of “ Astronomical ob- 
servations at Greenwich, from the year 1750 
to the year 1762.” 
BRADS, among artificers, a kind of nails 
used in building, which have no spreading 
head as other nails have, 
BRADYPUS, the sloth, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of Mammalia, of the order 
Bruta. Generic character : cutting teeth, 
none in either jaw ; canine teeth obtuse, 
single, longer than the grinders, placed op- 
posite ; grinders five on each side, obtuse ; 
fore-legs much longer than the hind ; claws 
very long. See Plate II. Mammalia, fig. 6, 
There are three species, of which we shall 
give a brief account. B. tridactylus, or 
three-toed sloth : the general appearance 
of the sloth is extremely uncouth ; the body 
is of a thick shape ; the fore-legs short, the 
hinder ones far longer ; the feet on all the 
legs are very small, but are armed each 
with three most excessively strong and 
large claws, of a slightly curved form, and 
sharp-pointed : the head is small ; the face 
short, with a rounded or blunt snout, which 
is naked and of a blackish colour ; the eyes 
are small, black, and round; the ears rather 
small, flat, rounded, lying close to the head, 
and not unlike those of monkeys : the hair 
on the top of the head is so disposed as to 
project somewhat over the forehead and 
sides of the face, giving a very peculiar and 
grotesque physiognomy to the animal. The 
general colour of the hair on all parts is a 
greyish brown ; and the hair is extremely 
coarse, moderately long, and very thickly 
covers the body, more especially about the 
back and thighs. A remarkable character 
as to colour in this species, is a wide patch 
or space on the upper part of the back, of a 
bright ferruginous, or rather pale orange 
colour, spotted on each side with black, 
and marked down the middle with a very 
conspicuous black stripe, wide at its origin, 
and gradually tapering to its extremity- ; it 
reaches more than half w ay dow n the back, 
and terminates in a sort of trifid mark. The 
tail is nearly imperceptible, being so ex- 
tremely short as to be concealed from view 
by the fur. 
The sloth feeds entirely on vegetables, 
and particularly on leaves and fruit. Its 
