Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/405

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BRILLAT-SAVARIN
BRINTON
377

in concert and English opera. He was unrivalled in grace of execution and facility in phrasing. He supported Madame Patti on her hrst appearance in the United States, and afterward sang with La Grange, Parepa, Nilsson, Titiens, and many other celebrated artists. Brignoli made three trips to Europe ; but this country became his adopted home. Notwithstanding the large sums of money that he made bv his singing, he died in poverty.


BRILLAT-SAVARIN, Anthelme, French author, b. in Bellay, 1 April, 1755: d. in Paris, 2 Feb., 1826. He was a deputy in the states-general in 1789, judge of the court of cassation in 1792, and in 1793 mayor of Bellay, but fled to Switzerland, and thence to the United States in that year to escape the revolutionary tribunal. He resided three years in New York, where he taught French and played an -instrument in the orchestra of a theatre. After his return to France in 1796 he was a judge in the court of cassation. Besides anonymous writings on political economy and archæology, and a volume on duelling, he published a famous work entitled "Physiologic du gout " (1825), interspersed with anecdotes of his sojourn in the United States.


BRINDIS, Claudio J., Cuban negro violinist, b. in Havana in 1852. His first studies, begun under his father, were completed in the conservatory of Paris, where he won the first prize. He has played with great success in all the principal cities of Europe, and received many decorations from European monarchs.


BRINKERHOFF, Jacob, jurist, b. in New York in 1810; d. in Mansfield, Ohio, 19 July, 1880. He removed early to Plymouth, Ohio, and was elected to congress as a democrat, serving from 4 Dec., 1843 till 3 March, 1847. While in congress he was author of the original draft of the celebrated Wilmot proviso. From 1856 to 1871 he was a judge of the supreme court of Ohio.


BRINLEY, Francis, author, b. in Boston, Mass., 10 Nov.. 1800 : d. in Newport, R. L, 15 June, 1889. He was graduated at Harvard in 1818, studied law, and was admitted to the bar before he came of age. He was a member of the Boston common council for several years, and its president in 1850 and 1851. He was a member of the lower house of the legislature in 1832, 1850, and 1854, and in 1852, 1853, and 1863 of the state senate. In 1853 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1857 he removed to Tyngsborough, and afterward to Newport, R. I. Mr. Brinley took great interest in railways and other internal improvements, and advocated the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the maintenance of a well-regulated militia. He was three times captain of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company " of Boston, and for several years president of the Redwood library, Newport. He has contributed frequently to "Hunt's Merchant's Magazine" and to the "American Jurist," and his articles on dower are quoted by Chancellor Kent in his commentaries. He also wrote much for the newspapers, and was successful as a lecturer. He has published an "Address before the Franklin Debating Society of Boston" (1830), and a life of his brother-in-law, William T. Porter, founder of the "Spirit of the Times " (1860).


BRINLEY, George, book-collector, b. in Boston, 15 May, 1817 ; d^. in Bermuda, 14 May, 1875. He was educated at the best schools in Boston. For a short time he engaged in business ; but his health admonished him to adopt a different mode of life, and, having inherited a sufficient estate, he Was able to indulge his taste for rare and curious books. He employed agents and purchasers wherever books were to be bought, and made a collection of Americana that was only surpassed by those of John Carter Brown and James Lenox. It comprised more than 12,000 volumes, a large proportion of them very rare, and all of them valuable. Such of the books as required binding were placed in the hands of the most skilled workmen of modern times. In his will Mr. Brinley gave books to the value of $25,000 to the libraries of Yale and other colleges; representatives from each to attend the sale and bid with other intending buyers, but not being required to pay for their purchases unless the pro-rata amount was exceeded. During most of his life Mr. Brinley resided in Hartford,. Conn., where his collection was jealously guarded from the sight of all save the most appreciative and trusted of his book-loving acquaintances. The library was catalogued by Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, and its three parts comprise a nearly exhaustive bibliography of the rarest American books. In 1868 Mr. Brinley received the degree of M. A. from Yale.—His son, Charles Augustus, b. in Hartford, Conn., 23 Aug., 1847, was attached in 1864-5 to the field party of the California state geological survey, and was with the engineers employed by the U. S. government to survey a wagon-road to Colorado river. Returning to the east, he entered Sheffield scientific school, and was graduated in 1869, spending three years in a post-graduate course of chemistry and metallurgy. In these branches of science he became a recognized expert, and since 1872 has been superintendent of the Midvale steel works near Philadelphia, and of a sugar-refinery in that city.


BRINTON, Daniel Garrison, ethnologist, b. in Chester co.. Pa., 13 May, 1837; d. in Atlantic City, N. J., 31 July, 1899. He was graduated at Yale and at the Jefl'erson medical college, after which he spent a year in Europe. On his return he entered the army, in August, 1862, as acting assistant surgeon. In February of the following year he was commissioned surgeon, and served as surgeon-in-chief of the second division, 11th corps. He was present at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and other engagements, and was appointed medical director of his corps in October, 1863. In consequence of a sunstroke received soon after the battle of Gettysburg, he was disqualified for active service, and in the autumn of that year he became superintendent of hospitals at Quincy and Springfield, Ill., until August, 1865, when, the civil war having closed, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and discharged. He then settled in Philadelphia, where he became editor of "The Medical and Surgical Reporter," and also of the quarterly "Compendium of Medical Science." Dr. Brinton has likewise been a constant contributor to other medical journals, chiefly on questions of public medicine and hygiene, and has edited several volumes on therapeutics and diagnosis, especially the popular series known as "Napheys's Modern Therapeutics," which has passed through many editions. In the medical controversies of the day, he has always taken the position that medical science should be based on the results of clinical observation, rather than on physiological experiments. He has become prominent as a student and a writer on American ethnology, his work in this direction beginning while he was a student in college. The winter of 1856-'7, spent in Florida, supplied him with material for his first published book on the subject. In 1884 he was appointed professor of ethnology and archaeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.