Brobdingnag
or Brobdignag, a country which Gulliver visits in Swift's Gulliver's Travels . Brobdignag was famous for the enormous size of its inhabitants and of all objects in it. See Gulliver'S Travels ; Lilliput 2026 Editor's Note: Swift coined a lasting pair of opposites: as Lilliputian means tiny, "Brobdingnagian" means colossal, and both walked out of the satire into ordinary English. The giants' country served Swift's sharper purpose — seen close up and enormous, human skin and human politics both look repulsive. (Ed: BR 2026-06-19)
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Broca
PAUL (brō-kä), a French anthropologist, born in Gironde, Jan. 28, 1824; studied medicine and became Professor of Pathology at Paris, and famous as a surgeon; was founder of the Anthropological Society of Paris; founder of the Anthropological Institute or School, and founder and editor of the "Anthropological Review"; wrote several monographs on strangulation and hernia, aneurisms, anesthesia, abscesses, hybrids, and various anthropological subjects; was leader of the Evolutionist School in France, and became a life Senator. He died in Paris, July 9, 1880.
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Broccoli
late variety of in the flower and leaves. The part used is the succulent flower stalks.
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Broceliande
A magic forest in Brittany, which figures in the Arthurian legend. It was in this place that Merlin was enchanted by Nimue or Viviana, Lady of the Lake, and imprisoned beneath a huge stone. The name Broceliande is often employed as symbolic of the dim unreality of legendary scenery.
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Broche
bro-sha. See Cashmere Shawl
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Brock
SIR ISAAC, a British military commander, born in Guernsey, Oct. 6, 1769; suppressed a threatened mutiny in Canada in 1802; made Lieutenant-Governor of upper Canada in 1810; took Detroit from the Americans under General Hull in 1812; and was killed at the battle of Queenstown. Oct. 13, 1812. A monument to his memory stands on the W. bank of the Niagara river.
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Brockhaus
FRIEDRICH AR- NOLD (brok'-hous), a German publisher, born in Dortmund, May 4, 1772. In 1811 he settled at Altenberg, where the first edition of the "Conversations- Lexikon" was completed, 1810-1811. The business rapidly extended, and he removed to Leipsic in 1817. There are now chief branches in Berlin and Vi- He died Aug. 20, 1823. enna.
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Brockton
a city in Plymouth co., cauliflower, hardier and with more color Mass.; on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad; 20 miles S. of Boston. It is one of the largest boot and shoe manufacturing places in the country, and beside these articles has extensive manufactories of rubber goods, shoe machinery and supplies, tools and bicycles. It contains the villages of Campello, Montello, Marshall's Corner, Brockton Heights, Clifton Heights, and Salisbury Square; was settled in 1700; was incorporated as a town in 1821, and chartered as a city in 1881. There are 2 National and 2 savings banks, a public library and excellent public schools. Pop. (1910) 56,878; (1920) 66,254.
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Brockville
town, port of entry, and county-seat of Leeds co., Ontario, Canada; on the St. Lawrence river, below the Thousand Islands, and the Grand Trunk, the Canadian Pacific, and the Brockville and Sault Ste. Marie rail roads; 125 miles S. W. of Montreal. It is a port of call for the St. Lawrence steamers. There are manufactories of agricultural implements, gloves, cigars, leather, sulphuric acid, and foundry and machine shop products. It is named for Gen. Sir Isaac Brock (1769-1812), an English officer killed in the battle of Queenstown. Pop. about 10,000.
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Brocot Suspension
The method of suspending a pendulum which is in use on nearly all mantel clocks of modern make, by means of which they may be regulated from the front of the dial by means of a key.
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Brogue
a brogan; a stout, heavy leather shoe, resembling in form the French sabot. Applied generally to the pedal coverings of the Scottish Highlanders and the Irish peasantry. It is also applied to a corrupt dialect, or mode of pronunciation; as, spoken with the Irish brogue.
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Brohou, Jean
A physician of Coutarces, in the seventeenth century. He was the author of an Almanack or Journal of Astrology , with prognostications for the year 1572, Buer (Rouen, 1571), and a Description d'une Merveilleuse et Prodiigeuse Comète, with a treatise on comets, and the events they prognosticate (Paris, 1568).
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Broker
an agent employed to make bargains and contracts between other persons, in matters of commerce, for a compensation commonly called brokerage. The broker is strictly a middleman, or intermediate negotiator between the parties, finding buyers or sellers as required. He does not act in his own name, nor has he generally the custody of the goods in which he deals, thus differing from a factor, and he cannot sell publicly like an auctioneer. Besides ordinary commercial brokers, there are several other sorts, such as stockbrokers, share-brokers, ship-brokers, insurance-brokers, bill-brokers, etc.
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Bromberg
a town in the Polish province of Posen, on the Brahe, 6 miles from its influx to the Vistula, and 99 miles S. S. W. of Danzig by rail. Before the World War it had iron foundries, machine shops, and manufactures of cloth and paper, distilleries, breweries and corn mills. There was a considerable provincial trade both by shipping and railway. The Bromberg canal, 17 miles long, by uniting the rivers Netze and Brahe, connects the Oder and Elbe with the Vistula. Pop. about 58,000.
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Brome Grass
the English book name for the genus BROMUS (q. v.). BROMELIA (named after BROMELIUS, who published a Gothic flora), a genus of plants, the typical one of the order bromeliaceӕ. :
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Bromeliacee
bromelworts, an order of endogenous plants, placed by Dr. Lindley under his narcessal alliance. The calyx is sometimes herbaceous looking, but sometimes colored. Petals, three, colored; stamina, six or more; ovary, ary, three celled, many-seeded, as is the fruit, which is capsular or succulent. The stem is wanting or, if present, very short. Lindley estimated the known species at 170, all American. They have been introduced into Africa, the East Indies, and elsewhere. The well known pineapple is the bromelia ananas. Ropes are made in Brazil from another species of the same genus. All the species of bromeliaceæ can exist without contact with the earth.
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Bromide
a combination of bromine with a metal or a radical. Bromides are soluble in water, except silver and mercurous bromides; lead bromide is very slightly soluble. They are detected in analysis by the following reactions: Argentic nitrate gives a yellowish precipitate of AgBr, insoluble in dilute nitric acid, and soluble in strong ammonia. Chlorine liberates bromine, and, if the liquid is shaken up with ether, a yellow ethereal solution floats on the liquid. Heated with sulphuric acid and MnO2, bromides yield vapors of Br, which turns starch yellow.
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