BRA 
BRA 
BRANCBIONUS, in natural history, a 
genus of insects of the order Infusoria : the 
character is, body contractile, covered, with 
a shell, and furnished at the bead with cili- 
ate votatory organs. There are 12 species : 
the B- urceolaris is bell-shaped, with the 
shell many toothed at the tip, and rounded 
at tire base ; tail long, and bifid at the end. 
It is found frequently in stagnant water, ap- 
pearing to fue naked eye as a small white 
speck ; rotatory double organ, which it can 
protrude and conceal at pleasure. B. stria- 
tus, univalve, with an ovate striate shell, six- 
toothed at the tip, and entire at the base ; 
without tail. It is found in salt water ; pel- 
lucid, crystalline, truncate on tile fore part, 
■and rounded behind ; shell varying in form, 
with 12 longitudinal ribs. 
BRANCHIOSTEGOUS, in natural his- 
tory, according to the Lin naan system, it is 
the fifth order of fishes, having gills desti- 
tute of bony rays. There are ten genera ; 
viz. 
Balistes 
Gentriscus 
Cycloptcrus 
Diodon 
Lophius 
Mormyrus 
Ostracion 
Pegasus 
Syngnatkus 
Tetroden. 
Most of these are by Dr. Slyaw placed 
among the Cartelaginei. 
BRANDY, a spirituous liquor, pro- 
duced by the distillation of wines of all 
kinds, and, properly speaking, by no other 
fermented liquor ; though the purely spi- 
rituous part of all fermented vinous li- 
quors procured by disiilation is essentially 
the same, and therefore, an infinite variety 
of imitations of the intermediate products 
of distillation may be produced by adding 
flavouring and colouring matters to any kind 
of pure spirit. Brandy is prepared in many 
ef the wine countries of Europe, arifl, with 
particular excellence, in Languedoc, in An- 
jou, whence the weil-known Cogniac bran- 
dy, and other parts of the south of France. 
Though every wine will give a certain 
portion of brandy by distillation, it is not 
every kind that can be used with advan- 
tage. In general, the strong heavy wines 
are to be. preferred. Those that do not 
yield a sixth of their quantity of spirit, are 
not worth the expense of working. The 
apparatus is composed of three parts; the 
alembic, or boiler, the capital fitted on the 
top of the boiler to receive the spirituous 
vapour, and the serpentine, or worm, a con- 
voluted pipe, fitting to the beak of the 
alembic, and immersed in water, in which 
the vapour is condensed, and flows out at 
the bottom, in the form of distilled spirit. 
In distilling care should be taken not to urge 
the fire too much at first, otherwise the wine 
boils up into the capital, and comes over into 
the worm, mixing with and fouling the spirit. 
In general, the slower the process, and the 
smaller the stream of spirit from the worm- 
pipe, the finer and better is the brandy. 
The distillers make a distinction between 
the former and the latter runnings of the 
spirit. What first comes over has the 
strongest, richest, and highest flavour, and 
this is gradually lessened, and the spirit be- 
comes more and more watery to the end. 
Therefore, when the brandy becomes weak, 
the portion already distilled is set apart, 
and the remainder is collected in a sepa- 
rate vessel, and is called seconds or feints, 
in the term of British distillers, and is not 
immediately fit for use, but is re-distilled 
with fresh wine in the next process, being 
still too valuable" to be lost. Brandy is 
naturally clear and colourless as water ; 
for the different shades of colour which it 
has in commerce arise partly from the 
casks in which it is kept, but chiefly from 
the addition of burnt sugar, saunders wood, 
and other colouring matters, that are inten- 
tionally added by the manufacturer, and 
which appear to do neither good nor harm 
to the quality of the spirit. 
There are several w r ays of judging of, 
the strength of the spirit. The following 
is also much used by tiie dealers : a phial 
is filled three-quarters with the brandy, 
stopped with the thumb, and suddenly 
knocked with some force against the knee. 
This raises a froth on the surface, and 
by the size and durability of the bubbles, a 
good idea may be formed of the strength of 
the liquor, by those who are in the con- 
stant habit of examining samples. This is, 
however, as liable to error as the trial with 
gunpowder, burning, &c. : for it is well 
known, that certain additions may he made 
to brandy which will very much alter the 
frothing. After all that has been done, it is 
stiii a difficult problem to determine, with 
perfect accuracy, the strength of all kinds 
of made spirits, by any shorter method than 
that of distillation, though the improved 
hydrometers answer most of the purposes 
of trade and revenue. The strength of the 
spirit, of course, depends on the strength 
of the wine with which it made ; and 
this again deponds on the quantity of sac- 
charine mucilage contained in the must 
or grape-juice, and the perfection of the 
