Brachiopoda
animals with armlike feet; one of the great classes into which the molluscous sub-kingdom of the animal kingdom is divided. The brachiopoda are bivalves, with one shell on the back of the animal, and the other in front; these are called dorsal and ventral valves. The two valves are never equal in size. They differ from the conchifera (called also lamelli branchiata), or ordinary bivalves, in uniformly having one side of the same valve symmetrical with the other. The organization of the brachiopoda is inferior to that of the true bivalves. They are attached to bodies by a pedicle which passes as the wick does in an antique lamp, whence the older naturalists called them lamp shells. The shell is lined by an expansion of the integument or mantle. They are all marine, BRACHYTERÆ occurring chiefly in the deep sea. The families are: (1) Terebratulidæ, (2) spiriferidæ, (3) rhynconellidæ, (4) or thidæ, (5) productidæ, (6) craniadæ, (7) discinidæ, and (8) lingulidæ. BRACHYTERÆ (short winged), a name given to a family of web-footed birds, penguins, auks, divers, guillemots, etc., in which the wings are short and the legs placed far back in the body. They are all strong divers and swimmers.
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Brachyura
a suborder of decapodous crustaceans, containing those families in which the abdomen is converted into a short-jointed tail folding closely under the breast. The common edible crab (cancer pagurus) is a familiar example of this structure. The suborder contains four families: (1) Oxystomata, (2) oxyrhyncha or maiadæ, (3) cyclometopa or canceridæ, and (4) catometopa or ocypodidæ.
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Bracken
or BRAKE, a species of fern very common in the United States and Europe. It has a black creeping rhizome, with branched pinnate fronds growing to the height often of several feet, and it forms an excellent covert for game. When burned it yields a good deal of alkali. The rhizome of pteris esculenta, a native of New Zealand, was formerly a staple article of food among the Maoris.
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Bracket
an ornamental projection from a wall, used for the purpose of supporting a statue, bust, or the like. The term bracket is also employed in joinery, etc., to designate supports, in the form of a bent knee, of shelves, galleries, etc. Bracket is also generally applied to such gaslights as project from the wall.
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Bract
a leaf growing upon the flower stalk. Those which occupy this situation have, as a rule a different size, form, and appearance from the ordinary leaves. The involucre in composite plants, the great spathe in araceæ, the paleæ of grasses, the scales of catkins, etc., are all bracts.
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Bracton
HENRY DE, an English ecclesiastic and jurist, of whom but little certain is known save that he was a "justice itinerant," in 1264 became Archdeacon of Barnstaple and Chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, and died in 1268. He is memorable as one of the earliest writers on English law.
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Braddock (Borough of Pennsylvania)
a borough of Pennsylvania, in Allegheny co. It is on the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroads, and on the Monongahela river. The city is an important industrial community. It has manufactures of steel, pig iron, steel rails, etc. It has a Carnegie library which is the first established in America, a hospital, Federal building, a park. town is the site of Braddock's defeat in 1755. Pop. (1910) 19,257; (1920) 20,879.
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Braddock (EDWARD a British soldier born)
EDWARD, a British soldier, born in Perthshire, Scotland, about 1695, entered the Coldstream Guards in 1710, and was appointed Major-General in 1754. Nine months later he sailed as commander against GEN. EDWARD BRADDOCK the French in America, and, with a force of nearly 2,000 British and provincial troops, reached the Monongahela, a branch of the Ohio, on July 8, 1755. Leaving the baggage behind, on the 9th he pushed forward with a chosen force to invest Fort Duquesne, on the present site of Pittsburgh, Pa. On the right bank of the river his advance guard was attacked by a party of about 900 French and Indians from the fort. After two hours' fighting, in which Braddock, whose bravery was never called in question, had four horses shot under him, and was mortally wounded while vainly trying to rally his men, the survivors made a hasty retreat under Washington, Braddock's aide-de-camp, the only one of who escaped unhurt. No less than 63 out of 86 officers, and 914 out of 1,373 men engaged, were either killed or wounded. The French loss was trifling. Braddock was carried from the field, and died July 13, 1755, at Great Meadows.
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Braddon
MARY ELIZABETH, an English novelist, born in London in 1837. She very early showed a turn for literature, which she indulged by sending verses and other trifles to the magazines and newspapers. In 1860 she essayed a more sustained effort in a comedietta called "The Loves of Arcadia," which was brought out at the Strand Theater. Her first great success came with the publication, in 1862, of "Lady Audley's Secret," which instantly attained a great popularity, which has since been extended by the production of numerous works of the same order, such as "Aurora Floyd," "Eleanor's Victory," "Lovels of Arden," "Dead Sea Fruit,, "Weavers and Weft," "Cloven Foot," "Mount ," " Royal," When "W the World Was Younger" (1897), "The Green Curtain" (1911), "Miranda" (1913). She died in 1915.
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Braddon, Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth (1837-), an English novelist. She was the daughter of a London solicitor and became the wife of John Maxwell, a publisher. She was the author of many popular novels. Among them Lady Audley's Secret, Eleanor's Victory, Dead Sea Fruit, and The Fatal Three may be mentioned. She conducted Belgravia, a London magazine, in which many of her stories were first published. She wrote over sixty novels. They are read little at present, being of the sensational type no longer popular. Miss Braddon's work in England corresponds to that of Mrs. Southworth in the United States . 2026 Editor's Note: The entry buries her too soon. Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret was the runaway hit of the "sensation novel" — the scandalous genre of bigamy, madness and hidden crime that is now recognized as the direct ancestor of detective fiction and the thriller, and has been enthusiastically reclaimed by modern critics. (Ed: BR 2026-07-18)
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