Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/379

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BRYDOXE BUACHE 373 the poetical works of Milton, and his abilities as a genealogist, topographer, and bibliogra- pher are attested by his Censura Literaria (10 vols.), Restituta(^ vols.), Theatrwn Poetarum, Stemmata Illustria, Lex Terras, and " British Bibliographer." He also edited a "British Peerage," full of varied information. His " Autobiography, Times, and Opinions " was published in 2 vols. hi 1834. BRYDOSiE, Patrick, a Scottish traveller, born near Dumbarton in 1741, died near Coldstream, June 19, 1818. As a travelling tutor he visit- ed France and Italy in 1767-'8, and Sicily and Malta in 1770. In 1773 he published his " Tour through Sicily and Malta," which obtained ex- traordinary popularity. He was afterward appointed comptroller of the stamp office. He made curious observations on the condition of the atmosphere, giving special attention to elec- trical phenomena, and contributed papers on electricity to the " Philosophical Transactions." liltYOM t, or Bryonine, a poisonous extract of bitter taste, prepared from the roots of the l>ryonia alba and dioica, by the process for bitter extracts. It is of a yellowish brown Bryony (BryonU dioica). color, soluble in water and alcohol, but not in ether. The plant bryony (Gr. ppveiv, to grow rapidly) is a wild creeper, with twisting ten- drils and scarlet berries of a disagreeable odor. It is met with in different parts of Europe, where it is employed as a purgative medi- cine, and its berries in dyeing. Its root, when bruised and applied to the skin, is so highly ir- ritant as to produce blisters. Over-doses of the extract have proved fatal. BRYOZOA, or Moss Animals, a name proposed by Ehrenberg for so-called zoophytes having separate openings for the mouth and anus; they had previously been called polyzoa by Thompson. (See POLYZOA.) They have also been called molluscan zoophytes, ascidioid and tunicated polyps, ciliobranchiata, and anthoid mollusks. By modern systematists they have been generally regarded as an order of acepha- lous mollusks. They are of small size, growing in clusters and in delicate and beautiful ramifi- cations on stones, shells, algas, and other sub- marine bodies ; a few live only in fresh water. Though polyp-like in appearance, and some re- sembling corals in their moss-like aggregated cells, they present no radiated structure ; the cells are either branched, reticulated, or in- crusting ; they are found from tbe Silurian period to the present. Eschara, flustra, and retepora are characteristic genera. Prof. Morse has shown that the young brachiopod resembles the polyzoon in its ciliated appen- dages; and believes that both belong to the annelidan type of articulates, as Leuckart and Gegenbaur maintain, though having certain affinities to the mollusks, as Allmann has pointed out. BRZESC LITEWSRI. See BREST LITOVSKI. BRZEZAN (Pol. Brzezany), a town of Galicia, Austria, 51 m. S. E. of Lemberg ; pop. in 1869, 9,290. It has a gymnasium, a convent of the Bernardines, an old castle, which was formerly fortified and has interesting subterranean vaults, a hospital, a poorhouse, and extensive leather manufactories. BDA, a small island in the Adriatic, belong- ing to Austria, in the district of Spalato; area, 11 sq. m. ; pop. about 4,000. It is con- nected with the town of Trau by a bridge. It produces dates, wines, and olives, and has a remarkable well of asphaltum. It contains six villages, the principal of which is Santa Oroce, or Bua. During the later period of the Roman empire many political prisoners and heretics were confined in the island. 1:1 CIIK. I. Philippe, a French geographer, born in Paris, Feb. 7, 1700, died Jan. 27, 1773. In 1729 he became chief geographer to the king, and in the following year a member of the academy of sciences, in which he had been the means of instituting a professorship of geography. He contributed many important papers to the Memoiret of the academy. He had some peculiar ideas on the subject of geog- raphy, affirming that there was a vast conti- nent about the south pole, traversed by lofty mountains and gigantic rivers. The suggestion that at Behring strait a connection between Asia and America might be traced came from him. II. Jean Nicolas linaclic de la Vnvillo, a French geographer, nephew of the preced- ing, born at Neuville-en-Pont, Feb. 15, 1741, died Nov. 21, 1825. He instructed the royal princes, afterward Louis XVI. and XVIII., and Charles X., in geography. After the death of D'Anville he became first geographer to the king, and keeper of the marine charts and log-books, in which capacity he prepared the charts and plans with which La P6rouse was provided for his voyage of discovery. During the reign of terror he was deprived of his office, but was reinstated after the fall of Robespierre. He was the author of many geo- graphical memoirs and treatises.