BRO
B R O
EROOK-W, the fame with anagallis aauahca, or beccabunga.
See the article Akagallis. BROOM, a medicinal plant, growing plenteoufly on heathy grounds, and producing a yellow flower ; reputed to be ne- phritic, hepatic, and fplenetic, and, as fuch, ufed to bring away gravel, and agahift cachexies and dropfies Ray-, Synopf. Stirp. Brit p. 314. §>uinc. Difpenf. P. 2. feci:. 4. n. 309. Broom is the fame with what botanifts call genijla, or genejla. Cafp. Bzuh'wi, gcui/la anguhfa & fcoparia. Tournefort, cytife, genifta fcoparia, vulgaris, flore iuteo. There are other fpecies of it, as the Hifpanka jpinofa, he. unknown in medicine. Jlleyn, Difpenf. P. 2. feet. 2. c. 26. §. 1. Broom-ftowcrs make a principal ingredient in divers medicated ales. Their allies arc extolled for purging off waters in drop- fies ; in which refpect, however, Dr. Qiiincy allures us, they are no better than any other lixivious afties. See the article Ashes.
Some pickle the yellow buds with vinegar and fait, &c. after the manner of capers, from which they are then fcarce to be diftinguiihed.
Among hufbandmen, broom is confidercd as a weed very per- nicious to the culture of lands; and, on that account, to be grubbed up and deflroyed. Mortim. Art of Hufband. T. 1. p. 309.
It roots deep, and, fhedding no leaves, is continually fucking the moifture from the earth. The beft method of deflroying it, is the burning the land, then plowing it deep, and manur- ing it very well with dung and a flies ; the fpreading on the land chalk or marie, or the manuring it with urine. If the ground be defigned for pafturc-Iand, it is beft to cut it clofe to the ground in May, when the fap is ftrong in it. By this ar- tifice, the roots are deftroyed ; whereas, in the common way of pulling up the young plants, fome firings will be left, and the Icaft of thefe will grow. Foddering of cattle upon broemy land, is one very good way of deflroying the broom, their urine kill- ing the roots, and their treading the land making it Iefs proper for the roots of this plant ; for the broom is never obferved to grow in trodden places. This troublefome and pernicious plant is not, however, without its ufe to the farmer ; for, when Well laid, it will make an excellent and lafting kind of thatch for barns. Id ubi fup. Broom, in botany. See the article Genista. B&QOM-fiswcr, gives the denomination to an order of knights inftituted by St. Lewis of France, on occafion of his marriage. The motto was, Exaltat bundles, and the collar of the order made up of broom- flowers and husks, enamelled and intermixed with flower-de-luces of gold, fet in open lozenges, enamelled white, chained together, and at it hung a crofs florence of gold. This anfwers to what the French call Ordre ck la Genejle, from the name of a fpecies of broom fo called ; different from the common broom, as being lower, the ftalk fmaller, and leaf nar- row; the flower is yellow, and bears a long husk. Giujl. Iff. degli Ord. Mil P. 2. p. 592. Trcv, Di&. Univ. T. 3. p, 144. voc. Genefle. Cart. Anal, of Hon. p. 194. Coats, Diet. Her. p. 59.
Some alfo fpeak of another order of the Genefle, or broom, efta- bliflied by Charles Martel, or rather Charles VI. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 3. p. 145. voc. Genefle. BROOM alfo denotes a well known houfhold befom, or implement wherewith to fweep away dirt, duft, and the like. We fay, a birch-^nwrn, a hmv-broom, a ruth- broom, a heath- broom. The primitive kind of brooms, from whence the deno- mination is given to all the reft, was made of the genijla, or wild broom, growing on commons. Broom-^//, in natural hiftory, a name given by authors to a remarkable fpecies of galls found on the genijla vulgaris, or common broom. This is occafioned, like all other galls, by the puncture and eating of -an infect, and, when opened, is found to contain a fmall oblong worm, of a red colour, but whofc fi7,e requires the ufe of a glafs in order to lee itdiftinct- ly. This gall is of a very fingular kind; it is round and prick- ly : the ftalk of the broom always grows directly through it, as if" thruft through its middle ; and, when nicely examined, the whole gall appears to be formed of a congeries of leaves much larger than thofe of the broom naturally are, and twifted into a fort of horns or cornets, ending in a point ; thefe leaves are all hollowed in the middle, and are fo thick-fet and nicely fixed to one another, that they make up the fubftance of the gall, which is ncverthelefs a confiderably hard one, and their points make the appearance of fpines, or prickles, on the out- £de Sometimes there is a fort of flefhy or pulpy fubftance within it, which fupports the leaves, and the worms are fome 7 times found in this, fometimes in the hollows of the leaves, and fometimes between tham : they are fo numerous, that there are often fome hundreds of them in one gall. The ori- gin of this gall is not from the eggs of the parent animal lodged in the tree, but they are depofited on the furface of the branches, and the young worms, while very fmall, almoft as foon as hatched from them, go in company to fome bud on the fide of the branch ; they get into the folds of this bud, and wounding it in fevcral parts, caufe a wrong derivation of the juices into it, the confequence of which is, that, inftead of forming a branch {hooting out from the other, it only yields a eonieries of leaves, which every way furround it. Thefe galls are of various fizesj the largcft feldom exceeding that of
a nut ; and there are often three or four of them feen on one branch, placed at an inch or a little more diftance from one another. Reaumur, Hift. Infect. Vol. VI. p. 191, feq. BROSS^A, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- racters of which are thefe : The cup is an one-leaved perian- > thium, divided into five fegments, each of which terminates in a long point, of the fame length with the petals ; the flower is monopetalous, of the fhape of a truncated cone, and undi- vided at the edge; the germen is divided into five parts; the ftyle is pointed, not fo long as the flower, and its ftigma fimple. The fruit is a roundifli capfule, divided by fine deep furrows into five cells ; it is covered with a large cup, which clofes over its top; it is fucculent and flefhy ; and, fi- nally, opening at the fides, it difcharges a great number of mi- nute feeds. Linnai Gen. Plant, p. ^20. Plumier, p. j?. BROTHEL. See the article Stews, Cycl.
BROTHER Cycl.— By the civil law, brothers and fillers ftand in the fecond degree of confanguinity ; by the canon law, they are in the firft degree. Calv. Lex.Jur. p. 384 voc., Frater. By the Mofaic law, the brother of a man who died without iifue, was obliged to marry the widow of the de ceafed. Deuter. xxv. 7. Calm. Diet. Bibl. T. 1. p. 329. j See Le- virate. .^(T-Brothers, thofe which fucked the fame nurfe. The French call them freres du /ait, or brothers by milk ; which is moft properly ufed in refpect of a perfon who fucked a nurfe at the fame time with the uurfe's own child. Trev. Diet. Com. T. 2. p 2023. voc. Frere. Brother was alfo ufed, in middle age writers, for a comes, or governor of a province. Du Gauge, Gluff. Lat. T. 2, p 526, Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 8r8. Brother is applied in alefs proper feafe, to denote a perfon of the fame profeflion. In which fenfe, judges, bifhops, priefts, effr. call each other brothers. Conjcript Brothers, Fratres coufcripti, denote laymen and others entered in the catalogue of the brothers of a monaftery, or rather poffeffed of the fraternity thereof. Du Caj/ge, Gloff. Lat. T. 2. p. 527. Brother in Chrifl, Frater in Chrijlo, the fame with fpiritual brother, a perfon admitted into amonaftic fociety or fraternity. Id. ibid. p. 5 28. Outer Brother, Frater exterior, fometimes denotes a hy-bro-
ther. Id. ibid. Strange Brother, Frater admniens, a hoft or gueft belonging
to another monaftery. Id. ibid. p. 526. Foreign Brother, Frater extermis, either a monk, prieft, or canon of fome other monaftery, to whom the prayers of the fociety are granted. Id. ibid. p. 528. Mature Brother, Frater maturus, one diftinguiftied by his
age, gravity, or probity, above the reft. Spiritual Brothers, laymen admitted into a monaftic fraterni- ty. The name was alfo given to thofe otherwife called mature brothers, and fometimes alfo to a fort of adopted brothers, or perfons who commenced a kind of brotherhood, with the ceremony of breaking bread together in the church before the prieft. Id. ibid. p. 529. Z,<7>'-Brother, Frater laicus, or convcrfus, is a religious ap- pointed to ferve or attend on the reft, who, in refpe"et hereof, are called brothers of the choir.
The order of lay-brothers was inftituted for performance of the laborious and manual offices belonging to the convent. They are properly the fervants of the houfe, and the ufual method is only to admit perfons of fome trade, who have a defign to re- tire from the world. In fome orders they are only retained, by a civil contract, which however binds them for life : in other orders they are to pafs through four years of probation, as a- mong the Jacobins ; or feven, as among the Feuillants. The Capuchins admit none before nineteen years of age. The Je- fuits call them coadjutors. Given Brother, Frater donatus, among the Carthufians, de- notes a young perfon dreffed in minim cloth, and wearing a hat, whole office is to ferve in the houfe, anfwering to what in other orders is called an offered brother, frater oblatus. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 2. p. 2024. Brother is alfo an appellation more peculiarly given to certain
orders of religious : thus, the Brothers of St. Alexis, in the Low Countries, were an order of perfons who attended on thofe who lay dying, and took care of the burial of the dead. Id. ibid. Brothers of Ave Maria. Seethe article Servitfs, Cycl. Brothers of Charity, a fort of religious hofpitallers, founded about the year 1297, fince denominated Billetins. They took the third order of St. Francis, and theScapulary, making three ufual vows, but without begging. Brothers of Charity alfo denote an order of hofpitallers ftill fubfifting inRomifh countries, whofe bufinefs is to attend the fick, poor, and minifter to them both spiritual and temporal fuccour.
They are all laymen, except a few priefts for adminiftrino- the facraments to the fick in their hofpitals ; which priefts, by the rules of the fociety, are incapable of being elected to any dig- nity in the order, left the hofpitality, which is the chief end of their inftitution, fhould fuffer thereby. The brothers of charitv ufually cultivate botany, pharmacy, furgery, and chemiftry, which they practife with fuccefs. ' f n
