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286 BRIGHT BRIGHTON inches long, clustered in a head at the summit of the column or stem. The flowers, which are abundant and last for several months, are sweet-scented. The plant has heen cultivated in England, and makes a very ornamental ap- pearance in conservatories. The juice is not milky as in most of the arborescent lobeliacece, and is reputed a remedy for skin diseases ap- plied externally. BRIGHT, Jesse D., an American senator, born at Norwich, Chenango co., N. Y., Dec. 18, 1812. He settled in Indiana, where he practised law, and held several offices, among which were those of state senator and lieuten- ant governor. He was chosen United States senator in 1845, and reflected for two succes- sive terms. He was a strong adherent of the democratic party. Early in 1862 he was charged with disloyalty, the principal evidence being that on the 1st of March, 1861, after the organization of the confederate government, he wrote a letter addressed to " Jefferson Da- vis, president of the Confederate States," rec- ommending to him a person who was desi- rous of furnishing arms. For this he was, by a vote of 32 to 14, expelled the senate, Feb. 2, 1862. He afterward settled in Kentucky. BRIGHT, John, an English statesman, born at Greenbank, near Rochdale, Lancashire, Nov. 16, 1811. He is a member of the society of Friends, and head of a firm of cotton spinners and manufacturers in Rochdale. When the anti-corn-law association was formed in 1838, he entered heartily into its plans, cooperating with Mr. Gobden, and the two became the leading spirits in the league. In 1843 he was chosen member of parliament for Durham, took an active part in the measures for free trade, and had much to do with the bill of 1846 for the immediate modification of the corn laws, and their total repeal at the end of three years, or on Feb. 1, 1849. In 1847, and again in 1852, he was returned to parliament from Manchester. In 1854 he sanctioned the sending a deputation of Friends to dissuade the czar from entering upon hostilities with Turkey, and also deprecated the policy of England in taking part in the war. In 1857 his opposition to the war with China rendered him unpopular with his constituents, and he was defeated in Manchester by a large major- ity. He was, however, returned for Birming- ham, and vigorously urged the passage of a vote of censure against the Palmerston admin- istration for introducing the foreign conspiracy bill, in consequence of which the ministry re- signed, Feb. 20, 1858. Shortly afterward he made a speech in favor of the reduction of the British military establishment, and condemn- ing the policy of Asiatic conquest. In 1860 he took a leading part in bringing about the com- mercial treaty with France. During the Ame- rican civil war he was a firm friend of the Union, and supported its cause both in and out of parliament. In 1865 he entered upon the agitation in favor of the extension of the elec- tive franchise, which finally resulted in the passage of the reform bill of Aug. 15, 1867. He also urged tlie necessity of reform in Ire- land, and the disestablishment of the Irish church, a bijl for which was introduced into the house of commons March 1, and passed July 26, 1869. At the parliamentary election of 1868 a large majority of liberals were re- turned ; the Disraeli administration resigned Dec. 2, and in the Gladstone ministry which succeeded it Mr. Bright became president of the board of trade, being the first Quaker who ever held a seat in the British cabinet. In consequence of the failure of his health, he re- signed his seat in the cabinet Dec. 20, 1870. In 1872, having partially recovered, he resumed his place in parliament, but has not since been able to take any prominent part in public busi- ness. Mr. Bright's eloquence, energy, prob- ity, and uniform adherence to principle, have placed him at the head of the liberal party in England. A collection of his " Speeches on Questions of Public Interest" has been pub- lished (2 vols., London, 1868). BRIGHT, Milliard, an English physician, born at Bristol in 1789, died Dec. 15, 1858. He took his medical degree at the university of Edinburgh in 1812, and afterward settled in London, where he practised with great success, and became licentiate of the royal college of physicians, and physician to Guy's hospital. He sought especially to trace the connection between morbid symptoms and alterations in structure of the internal organs; and in this way he discovered that the dropsical effusions and albuminous condition of the urine, present in the disease which bears his name, were de- pendent on a peculiar degeneration of the sub- stance of the kidney. He wrote on morbid anatomy, on diseases of the brain, on abdominal tumors, and other similar subjects. His pub- lications illustrating disease of the kidney ap- peared in 1836, 1839, and 1840. BRIGHTON, a town of Middlesex co., Mass., on the Boston and Albany railroad, 4 m. W. of Boston; pop. in 1870, 4,957. It contains the principal cattle market of New England. There are 84 slaughter houses, employing 122 hands, and slaughtering annually 25,088 cattle, 170,- 517 swine, 23,781 sheep, and 1,200 calves. It also contains a planing mill, and manufactories of cordage, candles, oil, varnish, neatsfoot oil, bone, and glue stock. BRIGHTON (formerly BEIOHTIIELMSTONE), a watering place and parliamentary borough of England, in the county of Sussex, on the Eng- lish channel, 51 m. S. of London by the Lon- don, Brighton, and South Coast railway; pop. in 1871, 90,013. It extends for more than 3 m. along the coast front Kemptown on the east to Hove on the west. The eastern half of the town stands on the ridge of high chalk cliffs which stretch away to Beachy Head; the western half is seated on a low pebbly beach, and is sheltered by Selsea Bill. The founda- tion of its prosperity was chiefly laid in the