of Government" (New York, 1867), and "Pieces of a Broken-down Critic" (New York, 1874).
BRISTOL, Augusta Cooper, educator, b. in Croydon, N. H., 17 April, 1835. She was the youngest of ten children, and early developed a fondness for poetry, music, and mathematics. At nine years of age she began writing poetry, and at fourteen studied from the same mathematical text-books used by her brothers at Dartmouth. Her education was acquired at Kimball Union Academy, and in 1850 she became a teacher. In 1866 she married Louis Bristol, and meanwhile she had gained some reputation as a writer of poetry. Later her articles and lectures on moral and social topics attracted attention, and during the summer of 1880 she was sent to study the Equitable Association of Labor and Capital at Guise, in France. For three months she resided in the "Social Palace," and very thoroughly investigated the subject. In September, 1880, she was delegated to represent the constructive liberal thought of America at an International Convention of Freethinkers held in Brussels. On her return to the United States she was elected state lecturer by the order of the Patrons of Husbandry in New Jersey. This office she filled until 1884, when, the work having become national, she was sent by a bureau to visit Illinois. Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Ohio. Besides a volume of "Poems" (Boston, 1868), she has published "The Relation of the Maternal Function to the Woman's Intellect" (Washington, 1876); "The Philosophy of Art" (New York, 1878); "Science and its Relations to Human Character" (1878; translated into French, Antwerp, 1881); and "The Present Phase of Woman's Advancement" (1880); and also edited and assisted in the translation of the "Laws and Regulations of the Mutual Assurance of the Institution at Guise" (1881).
BRISTOL, John Bunyan, landscape-painter, b. in Hillsdale, N. Y., 14 March, 1836. His early life was a struggle without aid, instruction, or sympathy. At the beginning of his career he painted figures and portraits, but afterward turned his attention exclusively to landscapes. His studies were from nature. The season of 1859 was devoted to tropical pictures, which attracted much attention. He was elected an associate of the national academy, and also a member of the artists' fund society in 1861, and an academician in 1875, exhibiting regularly in the gallery. Among his works are "Autumn Afternoon, Bolton, Lake George"; "Sunrise, Mount Mansfield"; "Adirondacks, from Lake Champlain"; "On the St. John's River, Florida" (1862); "Ascutney Mountain"; "In the Housatonic Valley" (1875): "Monument Mountain, Berkshire Co." (1875); "Mount Equinox, Vermont" (1878); "Evening by the Housatonic" (1878); "Lake Memphremagog" (1878); "Lake Dunmore, Vt." (1888); and "Haying-Time near Middlebury, Vt." (1886).
BRISTOW, Benjamin Helm, statesman, b. in Elkton, Ky., 20 June, 1832; d. in New York city, 22 June, 1896. He was graduated in 1851, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Kentucky in 1853. He began practice at Elkton, whence he removed to Ilopkinsville in 1858. At the beginning of the civil war, at a time when the state was wavering between loyalty and secession, he entered the union army as lieutenant colonel of the 25th Kentucky infantry, and was engaged at the capture of Fort Donelson and at the battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He afterward became colonel of the 8th Kentucky cavalry, and served throughout the war with distinction. While still in the field he was elected to the state senate for four years, but resigned at the end of two years, serving only from 1863 until 1865. He was U. S. district attorney for the Louisville district from 1865 until 1870. The ability with which he filled these offices led to his appointment as solicitor-general of the United States on the organization of the department of justice in October, 1870. In 1872 he resigned to become attorney of the Texas Pacific railroad, but soon returned to the practice of law at Louisville. He was nominated attorney-general of the United States in December, 1873, but not confirmed. President Grant appointed him secretary of the treasury on 3 June, 1874, and this office he filled acceptably until the end of June, 1876, when he resigned, owing to the demands of his private business. At the republican national convention of that year, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was a leading candidate for the presidential nomination, receiving 118 votes on the first ballot. Since 1876 he has practised his profession in New York city.
BRISTOW, George, Frederick, musician, b. in Brooklyn, 19 Dec, 1825; d. there, 13 Dec, 1898. He was a violinist, and one of the earliest members of the New York philharmonic society. He has composed a number of works, among which is the opera of "Rip Van Winkle," represented at Niblo's Garden, New York, in 1853, re-written to a new libretto in 1880. For many years he was director of music in the New York public schools, and is the author of various services for church use.
BRITTAN, Nathan, inventor, b. in Spencer,. Mass., 2 Sept., 1808; d. in Adrian, Mich., 3 Jan., 1872. He received his early education at the academy in Hawley, Mass., and was graduated at Brown in 1837. He was associated as a teacher with Dr. Chester Dewey, at Rochester, N. Y., in 1837-'45, removed to Lyons, N. Y., and taught with success for five years, and then established himself in Adrian, Mich. In 1851 his attention was directed to the inadequacy of the lightning-rods in use in that part of the country, and he immediately devoted himself to the study of the laws of atmospheric electricity, and invented a new conductor, known as the "continuous copperstrip," which was patented and received with general favor. He spent the remaining years of his life in the business arising from his invention, residing at different periods in Lockport and Rochester, in Detroit and Chicago, and returning in 1868 to Adrian, in each of which places he was actively engaged in religious efforts and in enterprises for social improvement.
BRITTON, Nathaniel Lord, botanist, b. on Staten Island, N. Y., 15 Jan., 1858. He was graduated at the Columbia College School of Mines m 1879 with the degree of E. M., and in 1881 received the degree of Ph.D. in course. In 1879 he became assistant in the department of geology and paleontology, and now lectures on botany in the school of mines. For some years he has been botanist and assistant geologist to the New Jersey geological survey, spending his summers in field-work. The "Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club "is under his editorial supervision, and, besides scattered papers on technicalities in scientific journals, he has published "Catalogue of the Flora of Richmond County (Staten Island), N. Y." (1879); "The Geology of Staten Island" (1880); and "Catalogue of the Flora of New Jersey" (1882).
BROADDUS, Andrew, clergyman, b. in Caroline CO., Va., 4 Nov., 1770; d. in Salem, Va., 1 Dec., 1848. At the age of eighteen he united with a Baptist church, and began exhortations and preaching.
