BRA 
by declare, that my invention of making brafs is perform¬ 
ed thus : I take fpelter or zinc in ingots, and melt them 
down in an iron boiler ; I then run the melted fpelter thro’ 
a ladle with holes in it, fixed over a tub of cold water, 
by which means the fpelter is granulated or (holed, and 
is then fit for making brafs on my plan. I then mix about 
fifty-four pounds of copper (hot, about ten pounds of cal¬ 
cined calamine, and about one bufiiel of charcoal ground 
fine, together; I then put into a caftjng-pot a handful of 
this mixture, and upon it I put about three pounds of the 
ffioled fpelter; I then fill up the pot with the mixture of 
copper-diot, calcined calamine, and ground charcoal. In 
the fame manner I fill eight other pots; fo that fifty-four 
pounds of copper (hot, twenty-feven pounds of fiioled 
fpelter, about ten pounds of calcined calamine, and about 
one bulhel of ground charcoal, make a charge for one 
furnace, containing nin'e pots, for making brafs on my 
plan. My chief reafon for ufing this fmall quantity of 
calamine in the procefs, is more for confining the fpelter 
by its weight, than for the fake of the increafe arifing 
from it, and I have frequently omitted the calamine in the 
procefs. The pots, being fo filled, are refpedlively put 
into a furnace, and about twelve hours complete the pro¬ 
cefs; and from this charge I have, on an average, eighty- 
two pounds of pure fine brafs, fit for making ingots, or 
calling plates for making brafs battery wire, or brafs lat- 
ten ; and my brafs fo made is of fuperior quality to any 
brafs made from copper and calamine.” The patent bears 
date July 13, 1781, and is confequently expired. 
Brafs is fomewhat lighter, harder, and more fonorous, 
than pure copper. It melts more eafily, and does not 
fcorify fo foon in a moderate red heat. It is ductile only 
whilft cold ; heated a little, it cracks; and ignited, it falls 
in pieces under the hammer. This imperfection it derives 
from the zinc or calamine ; pure copper being malleable 
when hot, as well as when cold. The beautiful colour 
of brafs, its hardnefs, its fufibility, and its quality of be¬ 
ing iefs fubjeCl to rud or verdigris than copper, render it 
fit for the fabrication of many utenfils. Brafs is tinged 
of a gold colour, firft, by burning, then difTblving it in 
aqua fortis, and ladly, reducing it to its metalline (fate. 
It may be whitened by heating it red-hot, and quenching 
it in water difiilled from fal ammoniac and egg-(hells. It 
is filvered, or coloured fuperficially white, by rubbing it 
with balls made of (ilver difiolved in aqua fortis, with 
powder of white tartar fufficient to abforb the moidure. 
The exiftirig laws relating to brafs direct, that it (hall 
be fold in open fairs and markets, or in the owners’ hou- 
fes, on pain of iol. and to be worked according to the 
goodnefs of metal wrought in London; or (hall be forfeit¬ 
ed. Alfo fearchers of brafs and pewter are to be appoint¬ 
ed in every city and borough by head officers, and in coun¬ 
ties by juftices of peace, &c. and in default thereof, any 
other perfon fkilful in that mydery, by overfight of the 
head officer, may take upon him the fearch of defective 
brafs, to be forfeited. Stat. 19 Ken. VII. c. 6. Brafs and 
pewter, bell-metal, &c. Ihall not be fent out of the king¬ 
dom, on pain of forfeiting double the value. Stat. 33 
Hen. VIII. c. 7. 2 Sc 3 Ed\y. VI. c. 37. 
Corinthian BRASS, in antiquity, was an accidental mix¬ 
ture of gold, (ilver, and copper. L. Mummius having 
facked and burnt the city of Corinth, 146 years before 
Chrift, it is faid this metal was formed from the immenfe 
quantities of gold, filver, and copper, wherewith that city 
abounded, thus melted and run together by the violence 
of the conflagration. 
BRASS COLOUR, one prepared to imitate brafs. See 
Chemistry and Colours. 
BRASS LEAF, in imitation of gold leaf, is made of 
copper, beaten out into very thin plates, and afterwards 
rendered yellow, by (imply expofing them to the fumes of 
zinc, without any real mixture of it with that metal. 
Thefe plates are cut into little pieces, and then beaten out 
like leaves of gold; after which they are put into books, 
and fold at a low price for the coarfer kinds of mldiim. 
Vol. III. No. 135. 6 0 
BRA 
BRASS LUMPS, a common name given by miners to 
the globular pyrites. See Pyrites. 
BRASSAC', a town of France, in the department of 
Puy de Dome, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict 
of flfoire, fituated on the Allier : three leagues •louth of 
Ilfoire. 
BRASSAC' Dig BELFOURTAS', a town of France, 
in the department of the Tarn, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the didrict of La Caume : four leagues E. Cadres, 
BRASSAU', fee Cronstadt. 
BRAS'SI, a town of France, in the department of the 
Nievre, and chief place of a canton, in the didriCt of 
Corbigny : ten miles eaft of Corbigny. 
BRAS'SICA,y. [from to boil up, or rr^cccny-Yi, 
a garden herb.] Cabbage, Turnip, &c. In botany, a 
genus of the clafs tetradynamia, order (iliquofa, natural 
order of filiquofae or cruciformes. The generic charac¬ 
ters are—Calyx: perianthium four-leaved, erect; leaflets 
lanceolate-linear, concave-channelled, gibbous at the bale, 
ere£t, parallel, deciduous. Gorolla : tetrapetalous, cru¬ 
ciform ; petals fubovate, flat, expanding, entire, gradu¬ 
ally lelfening into claws nearly the length of the calyx ; 
neitareous glands four, ovate, of which one on each fide 
between the ffiorter flamen and the piflil, and one on each 
fide between the longer fiamens and the calyx. Stamina : 
filaments fix, fubulate, erect, of thefe two oppolites ones 
are of the length of the calyx, and four longer; anthera; 
eredt, acuminate. Pi (till u in : germ columnar, the length 
of thedamens; dyle ffiort, the thicknefs of the germ; 
digma capitate, entire. Pericarpiutn: dlique long, 
fomewhat like the (haft of a column, but flatted on both 
(ides; partition with a prominent columnar top, two-cell¬ 
ed, two-valved ; valves (horter than the partition. Seeds ; 
many, globular.— EJfential CharaSier. Caljx ere£f, con¬ 
verging; feeds globular ; a gland between the (horter da- 
mens and the piftil, and between the longer and the calyx. 
Species. 1 . Style bluntidi. 1. Brallica orientalis, or per¬ 
foliate cabbage : leaves cordate, dem-clafping, fmooth ; 
root-leaves (cabrous, quite entire; filiques four-cornered. 
Petals white; all the leaves fmooth; dem leaves ovate, 
blunt at the end, heart-fhaped at the bafe, fmooth, glau¬ 
cous, perfectly entire. Petals white, with a tinge of draw- 
colour. Native of corn-fields and cliffs, in the Levant, 
about Montpellier ; in Germany, Switzerland, Audria, 
Carniola, Piedmont, &c. In England near Harwich; 
Bard fey near Orford, Suffolk; Goddone, and Marsfield, 
Suffex. Annual ; flowering in June. 
2. Braffica Audriaca, or Andrian cabbage : leaves cor¬ 
date, dem-clafping, fmooth, all quite entire ; filiques four- 
cornered, driated, eredt. Native of Audria; a biennial. 
Root white, rather woody, fonietimes branched, about 
half a foot long, very thin, with an acrid fmell. Stem in 
the wild plant commonly (ingle; in the cultivated or gar¬ 
den ones generally more: about two feet high. Leaves 
entire, rounded at the ends, thick, glaucous, embracing 
the dalk, very fmooth. The radical ones are obverfely 
ovate, the dein ones ovate with round bafes. The flow¬ 
ers are yellow, and open in fmall numbers at once. It is 
a plant which naturally grows in rough uncultivated pla¬ 
ces and in fields. 
3. Braffica campeflris, or yellow field cabbagq : root and 
dem (lender; dem-leaves uniform cordate feffile. Root 
annual. Root-leaves lyrate, dightly liilpid ; dem-leaves 
fmooth and even. Corolla yellow, never white. It grows 
among Cummer corn, in the north of Europe ; and in lome 
parts of Sweden it is a common weed. 
4. Bradica arvenfis, or purple field cabbage : leaves dem- 
clafping, fpatulate, repand ; the upper cordate, quite en¬ 
tire. Stem a foot high, fmooth and even, flexuofe, branch¬ 
ed, perennial at bottom ; leaves fmooth, quite blunt, ra¬ 
ther flefiiy. Native of the fouth of Europe, in mo id 
fields. 
5. Braffica Alpina, offAlpir.e cabbage : dem-leaves cor- 
date-fagittate, dem-clafping ; radical leaves ovate ; petals 
erect. This differs from tiie foregoing fort in having a 
4 X narrower 
