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BKOWN UNIVERSITY BRUCE 351 terms with two vacations, one of three weeks beginning about the last of January, and an- other of nine weeks commencing the last week in June. Besides these there are two recesses of a week each. The annual commencement exercises occur on the last Wednesday in June, during which week candidates for admission to the college are examined. The course of study comprises four years. All the studies of the first two years and the first term of the third are compulsory. For the second term of the junior and senior years, geology, political economy, Latin, and Greek are elective ; while Latin, Greek, and German are elective studies of the first term of the senior year. In addi- tion to the regular collegiate course, there are courses of study covering three years for the degree of bachelor of philosophy. The annual college expenses are : tuition, $75 ; room rent, $20 ; use of library, $3 ; register's salary, $4 ; total, $102. In the case of indigent students, $25 per annum on the tuition may be remitted to a number not exceeding two fifths of all the students in college. Scholarships, 57 in num- ber, each yielding about $60 per annum, have been established; and a fund of $50,000 has been placed by the state of Rhode Island in the custody of the corporation, the income of which sustains 30 scholarships. The state scholarships are open only to citizens of Rhode Island ; and appointments to them are made on the nomination of the general assembly of the state. This fund was realized by the state from the sale of land scrip given by congress for the founding of a college of agriculture, which has been organized in connection with the university. A fund of $8,000 has been given to the university by two of its friends, the income of which is applied either in the form of a gift or a loan to students. The fol- lowing departments of practical science have been established in the university : 1, chemis- try applied to the arts, in which particular attention is given to metallurgy, pharmacy, medical chemistry, and the application of chemistry to manufacturing processes ; and 2, civil engineering, in which the course is three years. The course is not confined to undergrad- uates in either department. The course in the agricultural and scientific department is three years. The college library contains more than 40,000 volumes, and is constantly increasing from the income of a permanent fund of $27,000. The museum of natural history con- tains a valuable collection of specimens. There is also a valuable collection of portraits. The invested funds of the university amount to $602,653, the greater part having been contrib- uted by private individuals, among whom are John Carter Brown, Nicholas Brown, Alex- ander Duncan, Rowland G. Hazard, William Sprague, William S. Slater, Earl P. Mason, William H. Reynolds, and H. N. Slater, all residents of Providence ; of whom the five last mentioned subscribed in October, 1865, $20,000 each. The sum of $50,000 was bequeathed by 126 VOL. in. 23 the late William Sanford Rogers of Boston, to found " the Newport-Rogers Professorship of Chemistry." According to the last triennial catalogue, issued in 1869, the whole number of alumni was 2,376, of whom 1,351 survived. BKICE, a N. W. county of Ontario, Canada, bounded W. by Lake Huron and N. and N. E. by Georgian bay, having a coast line of about 130 m. ; area, about 1,600 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 68,515. The chief river is the Sangeen, flow- ing N. W. into Lake Huron. The northern part is a rocky peninsula nearly cut off from the rest by Colpoy's bay on the west. The southern portion has a level surface and a good soil. Immense salt beds underlie part of the W. coast, and salt is exported to the United States. Capital, Walkerton. BRUCE, a noble family of Scotland, three members of which obtained royal dignity. It was descended from Robert de Bruis, a Nor- man knight, who came to England with Wil- liam the Conqueror, and whose grandson Robert received the lordship of Annandale from David I. of Scotland. I. Robert, fifth lord of Annan- dale, born in 1210, died at Lochmaben castle in 1295. He was one of the 15 regents of Scot- land during the minority of Alexander III. When in 1291, by the death of Margaret, the "maiden of Norway," the succession reverted to the posterity of David, earl of Huntingdon, and youngest brother of King William the Lion, Bruce disputed the succession with John Balliol, the great-grandson of David by his eldest daughter, Margaret, he being the grand- son of David by his second daughter, Isobel. The contest was referred to Edward I. of Eng- land, who decided "that in all indivisible heritages the more remote in degree of the first line of descent is preferable to the nearest in degree of the second," and thus gave the kingdom to Balliol, from whom he required homage and fealty. Bruce, in order to avoid swearing fealty to Balliol, resigned the lordship of Annandale to his son. II. Robert, son of the preceding, lord of Annandale and earl of Car- rick, died in 1304. In 1270 he accompanied Edward I. of England to Palestine, and on his return to Scotland married the countess of Carrick, in whose right he became in 1292 earl of Carrick. Following the example of his father, in order to avoid doing homage to Balliol, he resigned the lordship of Annandale to his eldest son Robert, then a minor. Re- tiring to England, he was in 1295 appointed constable of the castle of Carlisle, and in the following year, when Balliol broke his alle- giance to Edward, and, aided by Comyn, took up arms, Bruce fought on the side of the English. After the battle of Dunbar, April 27, 1296, when the Scotch were defeated, and Balliol renounced the sovereignty, Bruce, who was a favorite of Edward, applied to him for the crown of Scotland, but was refused. III. Robert, son of the preceding, earl of Carrick, afterward king of Scotland, born March 21, 1274, died June 7, 1329. He acted at first as