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BRAIN ARD BRAKE 205 is a subject of much importance, to which only this simple reference is here appropriate. BRAIN ARD, Daniel, an American surgeon, horn at Whitesboro, Oneida co., N. Y., May 15, 1812, died in Chicago, Oct. 10, 1866. He took the degree of M. D. at the Jefferson medical col- lege, Philadelphia, in 1834. In the spring of 1836 he delivered a course of lectures on anat- tomy and physiology at the Oneida institute, and in the latter part of the same year remov- ed to Chicago. In 1839-'41 he visited Europe for professional improvement, and was soon afterward appointed professor of anatomy in the university of St. Louis. In 1843 he took part in the organization of the Rush medical college at Chicago, in which he was professor of surgery during the remainder of his life. His reputation, otherwise than as a surgical practitioner, in which respect he held perhaps the most prominent position in the northwest, rests upon his advocacy of subcutaneous per- foration of ununited bones for the cure of false joint, and the treatment of serpent bites and other poisoned wounds or unhealthy inflamma- tions by means of alterative injections. Be- sides numerous papers in the " American Jour- nal of the Medical Sciences," and other peri- odicals, he published an essay " On the Treat- ment of Ununited Fractures and Deformities," the prize essay of the American medical associ- ation for 1854. For some years he was en- gaged upon an extensive surgical work, which was unfinished at his death. BRAINARD, John Gardiner Calkins, an American poet, born at If ew London, Conn., Oct. 21, 1796, died there, Sept. 26, 1828. He graduated at Yale college in 1815, and began the study of law, but soon abandoned it to become editor of the " Connecticut Mirror," at Hartford. He published many poetical compositions in this journal, usually in the form of ballads. A vol- ume of his poems was published in New York in 1825, and after his death an enlarged edition appeared in 1832, with the title "Literary Re- mains." A third edition was published in 1842 at Hartford, with a memoir by John G. Whit- tier, the Quaker poet. BRAIXE-L'ALLEl D, or Bralne-la-Lende, a town of Belgium, in the district of Nivelles, province of South Brabant, 10 m. S. of Brussels ; pop. about 5,000. Agriculture is the principal occu- pation, but there are manufactures of cotton goods, leather, glass, and starch. A mound surmounted by a colossal lion commemorates the battle of Waterloo, which was partly fought in this commune. BRAINE-LE-COMTE, a town of Belgium, prov- ince of Hainaut, on the Senne, 13 m. N. N. E. of Mons ; pop. in 1869, 6,464. It contains a fine chateau, and the handsome church of St. Gery, with a richly carved altarpiece. It is famous for the cultivation of flax and the man- ufacture of Brussels lace. There are also other branches of industry. Count Baldwin in the 12th century bought the ground from the monks of Mons. ItRAI.VERl), David, an American missionary, born at Haddam, Conn., April 20, 1718, died at Northampton, Mass., Oct. 9, 1747. In 1739 he entered Yale college to prepare himself for the ministry, but was expelled in 1742, for having said of one of the tutors that he had no more of the grace of God than a chair. He was licensed the same year as a preacher, and re- ceived an appointment from the society for the propagation of Christian knowledge, as mis- sionary among the Indians near Stockbridge, Mass. He was ordained in 1744, and went on a mission to the Indians at the forks of the Delaware in Pennsylvania, making two visits to the Indians of the Susquehanna. He met with little success until, after a year, he went to reside among those at Crossweeksung near Newark, N. J. Here he is said to have produced a great change among the savages, and to have baptized 78, of whom 38 were adults. In 1747 he went to Northampton, Mass., where he died after a short stay in the family of Jonathan Edwards, by whom his biography was soon afterward written. A new edition of this work, together with his journals, Mirdbilia Dei apud Indices, and " Grace Displayed," was published in 1822. BRAINTREE, a town of Norfolk county, Mas- sachusetts, on the Old Colony and Newport, and South Shore railroads, 10 m. 8. of Boston ; pop. in 1870, 3,948. The manufacture of boots and shoes is extensively carried on ; there are also manufactories of linen, woollens, paper, machinery, carriages, &c. John Adams and John Quincy Adams, presidents of the United States, were born in Braintree, in the part which in 1792 was set off as the town of Quincy, where the Adams family now have their summer residence. John Hancock was also born in the same town. BRAKE, or Braake, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, on the left bank of the Weser, 20 m. N. W. of Bremen ; pop. 4,077. It carries on considerable trade and ship building, having been a free port since 1834. Until the foundation of Bremerhafen in 1827, Brake was the actual port of Bremen, as vessels of considerable size could ascend the Weser to this point. About 500 vessels a year still arrive at Brake. BRAKE, or Break, an instrument for retard- ing or arresting by friction the motion of wheels. When applied to a hoisting reel, it con- sists of a flexible band of iron bent around a wheel ; one end of the band is made fast to the frame of the reel, and the other end is attached to the small arm of a lever, the whole being so arranged that a slight pull on a rope attached to the long arm of the lever tightens the iron band on the rim of the wheel, which is arrested by the consequent friction. A carriage brake in its primitive form consists of a beam placed crosswise under the frame of the vehicle, and supporting two curved blocks of wood, one at each end, which may be firmly pressed against the periphery of the wheels. The brake was