Chapter 7

[1] They were classified at 28 lb in 1896, but since 1897 the standard has been at the rate of 32 lb to the bushel.

[2] Inclusive of rice and maize.

[3] Exclusive of rice and maize.

[4] As a rule there is no separate "collecting vessel," duty being assessed in the fermenting vessels.

BREWSTER, SIR DAVID (1781-1868), Scottish natural philosopher, was born on the 11th of December 1781 at Jedburgh, where his father, a teacher of high reputation, was rector of the grammar school. At the early age of twelve he was sent to the university of Edinburgh, being intended for the clerical profession. Even before this, however, he had shown a strong inclination for natural science, and this had been fostered by his intimacy with a "self-taught philosopher, astronomer and mathematician," as Sir Walter Scott called him, of great local fame--James Veitch of Inchbonny, who was particularly skilful in making telescopes. Though he duly finished his theological course and was licensed to preach, Brewster's preference for other pursuits prevented him from engaging in the active duties of his profession. In 1799 he was induced by his fellow-student, Henry Brougham, to study the diffraction of light. The results of his investigations were communicated from time to time in papers to the _Philosophical Transactions_ of London and other scientific journals, and were admirably and impartially summarized by James D. Forbes in his preliminary dissertation to the eighth edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. The fact that other philosophers, notably Etienne Louis Malus and Augustin Fresnel, were pursuing the same investigations contemporaneously in France does not invalidate Brewster's claim to independent discovery, even though in one or two cases the priority must be assigned to others.

The most important subjects of his inquiries are enumerated by Forbes under the following five heads:--(1) The laws of polarization by reflection and refraction, and other quantitative laws of phenomena; (2) The discovery of the polarizing structure induced by heat and pressure; (3) The discovery of crystals with two axes of double refraction, and many of the laws of their phenomena, including the connexion of optical structure and crystalline forms; (4) The laws of metallic reflection; (5) Experiments on the absorption of light. In this line of investigation the prime importance belongs to the discovery (1) of the connexion between the refractive index and the polarizing angle, (2) of biaxial crystals, and (3) of the production of double refraction by irregular heating. These discoveries were promptly recognized. So early as the year 1807 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Brewster by Marischal College, Aberdeen; in 1815 he was made a member of the Royal Society of London, and received the Copley medal; in 1818 he received the Rumford medal of the society; and in 1816 the French Institute awarded him one-half of the prize of three thousand francs for the two most important discoveries in physical science made in Europe during the two preceding years. Among the non-scientific public his fame was spread more effectually by his rediscovery about 1815 of the kaleidoscope, for which there was a great demand in both England and America. An instrument of higher interest, the stereoscope, which, though of much later date (1849-1850), may be mentioned here, since along with the kaleidoscope it did more than anything else to popularize his name, was not, as has often been asserted, the invention of Brewster. Sir Charles Wheatstone discovered its principle and applied it as early as 1838 to the construction of a cumbrous but effective instrument, in which the binocular pictures were made to combine by means of mirrors. To Brewster is due the merit of suggesting the use of lenses for the purpose of uniting the dissimilar pictures; and accordingly the lenticular stereoscope may fairly be said to be his invention. A much more valuable practical result of Brewster's optical researches was the improvement of the British lighthouse system. It is true that the dioptric apparatus was perfected independently by Fresnel, who had also the satisfaction of being the first to put it into operation. But it is indisputable that Brewster was earlier in the field than Fresnel; that he described the dioptric apparatus in 1812; that he pressed its adoption on those in authority at least as early as 1820, two years before Fresnel suggested it; and that it was finally introduced into British lighthouses mainly by his persistent efforts.

Brewster's own discoveries, important though they were, were not his only, perhaps not even his chief, service to science. He began literary work in 1799 as a regular contributor to the _Edinburgh Magazine_, of which he acted as editor at the age of twenty. In 1807 he undertook the editorship of the newly projected _Edinburgh Encyclopaedia_, of which the first part appeared in 1808, and the last not until 1830. The work was strongest in the scientific department, and many of its most valuable articles were from the pen of the editor. At a later period he was one of the leading contributors to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (seventh and eighth editions), the articles on Electricity, Hydrodynamics, Magnetism, Microscope, Optics, Stereoscope, Voltaic Electricity, &c., being from his pen. In 1819 Brewster undertook further editorial work by establishing, in conjunction with Robert Jameson (1774-1854), the _Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, which took the place of the _Edinburgh Magazine_. The first ten volumes (1819-1824) were published under the joint editorship of Brewster and Jameson, the remaining four volumes (1825-1826) being edited by Jameson alone. After parting company with Jameson, Brewster started the _Edinburgh Journal of Science_ in 1824, sixteen volumes of which appeared under his editorship during the years 1824-1832, with very many articles from his own pen. To the transactions of various learned societies he contributed from first to last between three and four hundred papers, and few of his contemporaries wrote so much for the various reviews. In the _North British Review_ alone seventy-five articles of his appeared. A list of his larger separate works will be found below. Special mention, however, must be made of the most important of them all--his biography of Sir Isaac Newton. In 1831 he published a short popular account of the philosopher's life in Murray's _Family Library_; but it was not until 1855 that he was able to issue the much fuller _Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton_, a work which embodied the results of more than twenty years' patient investigation of original manuscripts and all other available sources.

Brewster's relations as editor brought him into frequent communication with the most eminent scientific men, and he was naturally among the first to recognize the benefit that would accrue from regular intercourse among workers in the field of science. In an article in the _Quarterly Review_ he threw out a suggestion for "an association of our nobility, clergy, gentry and philosophers," which was taken up by others and found speedy realization in the British Association for the Advancement of [v.04 p.0514] Science. Its first meeting was held at York in 1831; and Brewster, along with Charles Babbage and Sir John F. W. Herschel, had the chief part in shaping its constitution. In the same year in which the British Association held its first meeting, Brewster received the honour of knighthood and the decoration of the Guelphic order of Hanover. In 1838 he was appointed principal of the united colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard, St Andrews. In 1849 he acted as president of the British Association and was elected one of the eight foreign associates of the Institute of France in succession to J.J. Berzelius; and ten years later he accepted the office of principal of the university of Edinburgh, the duties of which he discharged until within a few months of his death, which took place at Allerly, Melrose, on the 10th of February 1868.

In estimating Brewster's place among scientific discoverers the chief thing to be borne in mind is that the bent of his genius was not characteristically mathematical. His method was empirical, and the laws which he established were generally the result of repeated experiment. To the ultimate explanation of the phenomena with which he dealt he contributed nothing, and it is noteworthy in this connexion that if he did not maintain to the end of his life the corpuscular theory he never explicitly adopted the undulatory theory of light. Few will be inclined to dispute the verdict of Forbes:--"His scientific glory is different in kind from that of Young and Fresnel; but the discoverer of the law of polarization of biaxial crystals, of optical mineralogy, and of double refraction by compression, will always occupy a foremost rank in the intellectual history of the age." In addition to the various works of Brewster already noticed, the following may be mentioned:--Notes and Introduction to Carlyle's translation of Legendre's _Elements of Geometry_ (1824); _Treatise on Optics_ (1831); _Letters on Natural Magic,_ addressed to Sir Walter Scott (1831); _The Martyrs of Science, or the Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler_ (1841); _More Worlds than One_ (1854).

See _The Home Life of Sir David Brewster,_ by his daughter Mrs Gordon.

BREWSTER, WILLIAM (c. 1566-1644), American colonist, one of the leaders of the "Pilgrims," was born at Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, England, about 1566. After studying for a short time at Cambridge, he was from 1584 to 1587 in the service of William Davison (? 1541-1608), who in 1585 went to the Low Countries to negotiate an alliance with the states-general and in 1586 became assistant to Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's secretary of state. Upon the disgrace of Davison, Brewster removed to Scrooby, where from 1590 until September 1607 he held the position of "Post," or postmaster responsible for the relays of horses on the post road, having previously, for a short time, assisted his father in that office. About 1602 his neighbours began to assemble for worship at his home, the Scrooby manor house, and in 1606 he joined them in organizing the Separatist church of Scrooby. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1607 (for which he was imprisoned for a short time), he, with other Separatists, removed to Holland in 1608 to obtain greater freedom of worship. At Leiden in 1609 he was chosen ruling elder of the Congregation. In Holland he supported himself first by teaching English and afterwards in 1616-1619, as the partner of one Thomas Brewer, by secretly printing, for sale in England, books proscribed by the English government, thus, says Bradford, having "imploymente inough." In 1619 their types were seized and Brewer was arrested by the authorities of the university of Leiden, acting on the instance of the British ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton. Brewster, however, escaped, and in the same year, with Robert Cushman (c. 1580-1625), obtained in London, on behalf of his associates, a land patent from the Virginia Company. In 1620 he emigrated to America on the "Mayflower," and was one of the founders of the Plymouth Colony. Here besides continuing until his death to act as ruling elder, he was also--regularly until the arrival of the first pastor, Ralph Smith (d. 1661), in 1629 and irregularly afterward--a "teacher," preaching "both powerfully and profitably to ye great contentment of ye hearers and their comfortable edification." By many he is regarded as pre-eminently the leader of the "Pilgrims." He died, probably on the 10th of April 1644.

See Ashbel Steele's _Chief of the Pilgrims; or the Life and Time of William Brewster_ (Philadelphia, 1857); and a sketch in William Bradford's _History of the Plimouth Plantation_ (new ed., Boston, 1898).

BRÉZÉ the name of a noble Angevin family, the most famous member of which was PIERRE DE BRÉZÉ (c. 1410-1465), one of the trusted soldiers and statesmen of Charles VII. He had made his name as a soldier in the English wars when in 1433 he joined with Yolande, queen of Sicily, the constable Richmond and others, in chasing from power Charles VII.'s minister La Trémoille. He was knighted by Charles of Anjou in 1434, and presently entered the royal council. In 1437 he became seneschal of Anjou, and in 1440 of Poitou. During the Praguerie he rendered great service to the royal cause against the dauphin Louis and the revolted nobles, a service which was remembered against him after Louis's accession to the throne. He fought against the English in Normandy in 1440-1441, and in Guienne in 1442. In the next year he became chamberlain to Charles VII., and gained the chief power in the state through the influence of Agnes Sorel, superseding his early allies Richmond and Charles of Anjou. The six years (1444-1450) of his ascendancy were the most prosperous period of the reign of Charles VII. His most dangerous opponent was the dauphin Louis, who in 1448 brought against him accusations which led to a formal trial resulting in a complete exoneration of Brézé and his restoration to favour. He fought in Normandy in 1450-1451, and became seneschal of the province after the death of Agnes Sorel and the consequent decline of his influence at court. He made an ineffective descent on the English coast at Sandwich in 1457, and was preparing an expedition in favour of Margaret of Anjou when the accession of Louis XI. brought him disgrace and a short imprisonment. In 1462, however, his son Jacques married Louis's half-sister, Charlotte de Valois, daughter of Agnes Sorel. In 1462 he accompanied Margaret to Scotland with a force of 2000 men, and after the battle of Hexham he brought her back to Flanders. On his return he was reappointed seneschal of Normandy, and fell in the battle of Montlhéry on the 16th of July 1465. He was succeeded as seneschal of Normandy by his eldest son Jacques de Brézé (c. 1440-1490), count of Maulevrier; and by his grandson, husband of the famous Diane de Poitiers, Louis de Brézé (d. 1531), whose tomb in Rouen cathedral, attributed to Jean Goujon and Jean Cousin, is a splendid example of French Renaissance work.

The lordship of Brézé passed eventually to Claire Clémence de Maillé, princess of Condé, by whom it was sold to Thomas Dreux, who took the name of Dreux Brézé, when it was erected into a marquisate. HENRI EVRARD, marquis de Dreux-Brézé (1762-1829), succeeded his father as master of the ceremonies to Louis XVI. in 1781. On the meeting of the states-general in 1789 it fell to him to regulate the questions of etiquette and precedence between the three estates. That as the immediate representative of the crown he should wound the susceptibilities of the deputies was perhaps inevitable, but little attempt was made to adapt traditional etiquette to changed circumstances. Brézé did not formally intimate to President Bailly the proclamation of the royal séance until the 20th of June, when the carpenters were about to enter the hall to prepare for the event, thus provoking the session in the tennis court. After the royal séance Brézé was sent to reiterate Louis's orders that the estates should meet separately, when Mirabeau replied that the hall could not be cleared except by force. After the fall of the Tuileries Brézé emigrated for a short time, but though he returned to France he was spared during the Terror. At the Restoration he was made a peer of France, and resumed his functions as guardian of an antiquated ceremonial. He died on the 27th of January 1829, when he was succeeded in the peerage and at court by his son Scipion (1793-1845).

The best contemporary account of Pierre de Brézé is given in the _Chroniques_ of the Burgundian chronicler, Georges Chastellain, who had been his secretary. Chastellain addressed a _Déprécation_ to Louis XI. on his behalf at the time of his disgrace.

[v.04 p.0515] BRIALMONT, HENRI ALEXIS (1821-1903), Belgian general and military engineer, son of General Laurent Mathieu Brialmont (d. 1885), was born at Venlo in Limburg on the 25th of May 1821. Educated at the Brussels military school, he entered the army as sub-lieutenant of engineers in 1843, and became lieutenant in 1847. From 1847 to 1850 he was private secretary to the war minister, General Baron Chazal. In 1855 he entered the staff corps, became major in 1861, lieutenant-colonel 1864, colonel in 1868 and major-general 1874. In this rank he held at first the position of director of fortifications in the Antwerp district (December 1874), and nine months later he became inspector-general of fortifications and of the corps of engineers. In 1877 he became lieutenant-general. His far-reaching schemes for the fortification of the Belgian places met with no little opposition, and Brialmont seems to have felt much disappointment in this; at any rate he went in 1883 to Rumania to advise as to the fortification works required for the defence of the country, and presided over the elaboration of the scheme by which Bucharest was to be made a first-class fortress. He was thereupon placed _en disponibilité_ in his own service, as having undertaken the Bucharest works without the authorization of his sovereign. This was due in part to the suggestion of Austria, which power regarded the Bucharest works as a menace to herself. His services were, however, too valuable to be lost, and on his return to Belgium in 1884 he resumed his command of the Antwerp military district. He had, further, while in eastern Europe, prepared at the request of the Hellenic government, a scheme for the defence of Greece. He retired in 1886, but continued to supervise the Rumanian defences. He died on the 21st of September 1903.

In the first stage of his career as an engineer Brialmont's plans followed with but slight modification the ideas of Vauban; and his original scheme for fortifying Antwerp provided for both enceinte and forts being on a bastioned trace. But in 1859, when the great entrenched camp at Antwerp was finally taken in hand, he had already gone over to the school of polygonal fortification and the ideas of Montalembert. About twenty years later Brialmont's own types and plans began to stand out amidst the general confusion of ideas on fortification which naturally resulted from the introduction of long-range guns, and from the events of 1870-71. The extreme detached forts of the Antwerp region and the fortifications on the Meuse at Liége and Namur were constructed in accordance with Brialmont's final principles, viz. the lavish use of armour to protect the artillery inside the forts, the suppression of all artillery positions open to overhead fire, and the multiplication of intermediate batteries (see FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT). In his capacity of inspector-general Brialmont drafted and carried out the whole scheme for the defences of Belgium. He was an indefatigable writer, and produced, besides essays, reviews and other papers in the journals, twenty-three important works and forty-nine pamphlets. In 1850 he originated the _Journal de l'armée Belge_. His most important publications were _La Fortification du temps présent_ (Brussels, 1885); _Influence du tir plongeant et des obus-torpilles sur la fortification_ (Brussels, 1888); _Les Régions fortifiées_ (Brussels, 1890); _La Défense des états et la fortification à la fin du XIX^e siècle_ (Brussels, 1895); _Progrès de la défense des états et de la fortification permanente depuis Vauban_ (Brussels, 1898).

BRIAN (926-1014), king of Ireland, known as BRIAN BORU, BOROMA, or BOROIMHE (from _boroma_, an Irish word for tribute), was a son of a certain Kennedy or Cenneide (d. 951). He passed his youth in fighting against the Danes, who were constantly ravaging Munster, the northern part of which district was the home of Brian's tribe, and won much fame in these encounters. In 976 his brother, Mathgamhain or Mahon, who had become king of Thomond about 951 and afterwards king of Munster, was murdered; Brian avenged this deed, became himself king of Munster in 978, and set out upon his career of conquest. He forced the tribes of Munster and then those of Leinster to own his sovereignty, defeated the Danes, who were established around Dublin, in Wicklow, and marched into Dublin, and after several reverses compelled Malachy (Maelsechlainn), the chief king of Ireland, who ruled in Meath, to bow before him in 1002. Connaught was his next objective. Here and also in Ulster he was successful, everywhere he received hostages and tribute, and he was generally recognized as the _ardri_, or chief king of Ireland. After a period of comparative quiet Brian was again at war with the Danes of Dublin, and on the 23rd of April 1014 his forces gained a great victory over them at Clontarf. After this battle, however, the old king was slain in his tent, and was buried at Armagh. Brian has enjoyed a great and not undeserved reputation. One of his charters is still preserved in Trinity College, Dublin.

See E.A. D'Alton, _History of Ireland_, vol. i. (1903).

BRIANÇON, a strongly fortified town in the department of Hautes-Alpes in S.E. France. It is built at a height of 4334 ft. on a plateau which dominates the junction of the Durance with the Guisane. The town itself is formed of very steep and narrow, though picturesque streets. As it lies at the foot of the descent from the Mont Genèvre Pass, giving access to Turin, a great number of fortifications have been constructed on the heights around Briançon, especially towards the east. The Fort Janus is no less than 4000 ft. above the town. The parish church, with its two towers, was built 1703-1726, and occupies a very conspicuous position. The Pont d'Asfeld, E. of the town, was built in 1734, and forms an arch of 131 ft. span, thrown at a height of 184 ft. across the Durance. The modern town extends in the plain at the S.W. foot of the plateau on which the old town is built and forms the suburb of Ste Catherine, with the railway station, and an important silk-weaving factory. Briançon is 51½ m. by rail from Gap. The commune had a civil population in 1906 of 4883 (urban population 3130), while the permanent garrison was 2641--in all 7524 inhabitants.

Briançon was the _Brigantium_ of the Romans and formed part of the kingdom of King Cottius. About 1040 it came into the hands of the counts of Albon (later dauphins of the Viennois) and thenceforth shared the fate of the Dauphiné. The Briançonnais included not merely the upper valley of the Durance (with those of its affluents, the Gyronde and the Guil), but also the valley of the Dora Riparia (Césanne, Oulx, Bardonnèche and Exilles), and that of the Chisone (Fénestrelles, Pérouse, Pragelas)--these glens all lying on the eastern slope of the chain of the Alps. But by the treaty of Utrecht (1713) all these valleys were handed over to Savoy in exchange for that of Barcelonnette, on the west slope of the Alps. In 1815 Briançon successfully withstood a siege of three months at the hands of the Allies, a feat which is commemorated by an inscription on one of its gates, _Le passé répond de l'avenir_.

(W. A. B. C.)