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BROKEN WIND BROMINE 307 latter, however, deeming his appearance a chal- lenge, had ordered the Chesapeake to lift her anchors before the letter reached its destination. The Chesapeake was hadly manned, equipped, and officered, the crew heing to a large extent foreign mercenaries murmuring about their prize money, the ship being one of the worst in the navy, the first lieutenant being sick on shore, and the posts of two others being filled by midshipmen. The action began June 1, 1813, at 5 h. 45 m. P. M., in sight of the shore lined with spectators ; and within 15 minutes Law- rence was mortally wounded and his ship in the possession of the enemy. For this victory Capt. Broke was made a baronet and knight commander of the bath. BROKEN WIND, a disease of the lungs of the horse, incapacitating him from all violent and rapid exertion. It is immediately recognizable by the manner of breathing. The inspiration is performed in somewhat less than the natural time, but with an increased degree of labor; the expiration is accomplished by a double effort, in the first of which the usual set of muscles operate, and in the other the auxiliary muscles, particularly the abdominal, are put on the stretch, to complete the expulsion more perfectly ; and that being done, the flank falls, or the abdominal muscles relax with a kind of jerk or spasm. Broken wind is preceded or accompanied by a characteristic cough, seemingly cut short, grunting, and followed by wheezing. The disease is believed to be hered- itary, and in some degree consequent on mal- formation, on a narrow chest, a fragile mem- brane, and a predisposition to inflammatory diseases. Horses which are greedy feeders, and distend the stomach with large quantities of innutritions food, of which they do not readily get rid, are peculiarly liable to broken wind; which may also be produced by giving a horse a severe gallop on a full stomach, even where there may have been no previous chronic affections. When a horse is once thoroughly broken-winded, there is no cure, the structure of the lungs being permanently injured. The food should be the most nutritious, and that which will lie in the smallest compass good oats, little hay, no chaff. Green food is particularly beneficial, and carrots appear to have a direct effect on the respiratory organs. BROMBERG (Pol. Bydgoszcz), a city of Prus- sia, capital of an administrative district of the same name in the province of Posen, on the river Brahe, 6 m. from its confluence with the Vistula, and 69 m. N. E. of Posen; pop. in 1871, 27,734. It has a gymnasium and normal schools, several manufactories of linen and woollen stuffs, leather, sugar, chiccory, Prus- sian blue, &c. There are a Protestant and two Roman Catholic churches, two convents, and a synagogue. It is connected by railroad with Berlin, Posen, and other cities. The Bromberg canal unites the rivers Brahe and Netze, and opens water communication be- tween the Vistula and the Oder and Elbe. BROME, a S. W. county of Quebec, Canada, bounded 8. by Vermont and E. by Lake Mem- phremagog ; area about 350 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 13,757. It is traversed from north to south by spurs of the Green mountains. Lake Brome, one of the sources of the Yamaska river, is situated near its northern border. Capital, Knowlton. BROME, Richard, an English dramatist, died in 1652. He was originally a servant to Ben Jonson. The "Northern Lass," the first of 15 comedies which he wrote, obtained Jonson's commendation. Brome joined with Thomas Hey wood in writing the " Lancashire Witches" and two other plays. Soon after his death his plays were collected and published by ALEXAN- DER BEOMB (born 1620, died 1666), who, though a namesake, was no relation, and wrote satirical songs and epigrams on the loyalist side during the protectorate, as well as a comedy and a translation of Horace. BROMIDES, salts of bromine with various radicals, of which the most important are those found with potassium, sodium, ammonium, lith- ium, iron, and mercury. The alkaline bromides crystallize in cubes or rectangular prisms, and are very soluble in water. These are consid- erably used in medicine. Bromide of potassium in large doses (20 to 60 grains) produces sleep, as has been supposed, by giving rise to anfemia of the brain. The reflex excitability of the nervous centres in general, and the spinal cord in particular, is much diminished, and in frogs may be destroyed before the power of volun- tary motion is lost. They are used to relieve sleeplessness and nervous excitability, and in various diseases characterized by increased re- flex activity, of which epilepsy is the most im- portant. This disease is often controlled, and seems sometimes to be cured, by the continued use of bromides. They have also a sedative effect on the genital organs. The bromides have been used as alteratives. BROMINE (Gr. ppo/noe, a stench), a chemical element discovered by Balard in 1826 in the bittern or mother liquor of the salt works of Montpellier, France, and so named in conse- quence of its disagreeable odor. The fact that chlorine water, when added to the lye from fucus ashes, after the addition of starch paste, gave besides the usual blue color an orange- yellow zone at the top of the liquid, was the immediate occasion of Balard's discovery. Since the announcement of the discovery, many chemists have occupied themselves with inves- tigating the occurrence, properties, and uses of bromine, and it has now attained a position of the first importance in medicine and the arts. Bromine has been found in the mineral king- dom in combination with silver and zinc, and in the salt deposits of Stassfurt; it has also been detected in urine, coal beds, Chili saltpetre, and fucus ashes. According to Von Bibra, the amount of bromine in the Atlantic ocean is 24 grains per gallon ; in the Dead sea, examined by Herapath, 121 -5 grains ; in the dried residue