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ably successful in the treatment of difficult and obscure diseases of the spinal column and the nervous system. In his numerous visits to Eng- land and America he had delivered short courses of lectures and instructed private classes of physi- cians iu his discoveries, illustrating them by vivi- section. He was elected in 1868 a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Besides special memoirs, he published " Lectures on the Physiol- ogy and Pathology of the Nervous System " (Phila- delphia, 1800) : "Lectures on Paralysis of the Lower Extremities" (1860); and "Lectures on Nervous Affections " (1873).

BROWNSON, Nathan, statesman, d. in Liberty CO., Ga., 6 Nov., 1796. He was graduated at Yale in 1761, studied medicine, and practised in Liberty CO., Ga. He was an early supporter of the patriot cause, was a member of the provincial congress of 1775, and was for some time surgeon in the revolu- tionarv army. He was a delegate to the conti- nental' congress in 1776 and 1778, and in 1781, when speaker of the Georgia legislature, was chosen by that body governor of the state. He was again speaker in 1788, and president of the state senate in 1789-91. In 1789 he was a member of the conven- tion that framed the state constitution.

BROWNSON, Orestes Augustus, author, b. in Stockbridge, Vt., 16 Sept., 1803: d. in Detroit, Mich., 17 April, 1876. His father died, leaving the family in poverty, and from his seventh till his fourteenth year he lived with elderly relatives at Royalton, who reared him in the simple, rigorous discipline of puritanism. After this he removed to Saratoga, and there earned enough money to enter an academy at Ballston ; whiletherehe united with the Presbyte- rian church in 1822; but he afterward changed his views, and be- came in 1825 aUniversalist minister. He preached in Vermont and New York, conductedthe

" Gospel Advocate," the leading Universalist organ, was afterward editor of the " Philanthropist," and wrote tor religious

periodicals in support of his new belief. Making the acquaintance of Robert Owen, he was fascinated by schemes of social reform, and in 1828 was promi- nent in the formation of the working-men's party in New York, the design of which was to relieve the poorer classes by political organization ; but he presently despaired of the effectiveness of this move- ment. Afterward the writings of Dr. Channing drew his attention to the Unitarians, and in 1832 he became pastor of a congregation of that denomina- tion. In 1836 he organized in Boston the Society for Christian Union and Progress, of which he re- tained the pastorate till he ceased preaching in 1843. Mr. Brownson became a popular leader in the democratic party, a vigorous and acrimonious opponent of the whigs, whom he regarded as an aristocratic party, and a favorite stump-speaker, especially in Massachusetts. He was one of the founders of the original loco-foco party in New York, and in his review he warmly supported Van Bur en, who, when president, gave him the appoint- ment of steward of Chelsea hospital. He was in- dependent in his political views, and troublesome to party leaders. When the democrats and free- soilers of Massachusetts agreed on a new constitu- tion, he, with other independents, secured its re- jection and helped to secure the triumph of the whigs. Immediately after removing to Boston he published his " New Views of Christian Society and the Church " (Boston, 1836), remarkable for its protest against Protestantism. Articles on the eclectic philosophy, published in the " Christian Examiner," in 1837, gave him a reputation as a philosopher. In 1838 he established the " Boston Quarterly Review," of which he was proprietor, and almost sole writer, during the five years of its separate existence, and to which he contributed largely during the first year after it was merged in the " Democratic Review," of New York. It was designed not to support any definite doctrine, but to awaken thought on great subjects and lead the way to radical changes. Mr. O'SuUivan, pro- prietor of the " Review " when he purchased the subscription-list of the " Quarterly," entered into a contract to allow Dr. Brownson to print what he pleased. His articles were often opposed to the policy of the party, and cost the " Democratic Re- view" many subscribers. He published in 1840 " Charles Elwood, or the Infidel Converted," an autobiographic philosophical novel, which passed through several editions ; but, because the author changed his religious views, he refused to have more than one edition issued in the United States. In 1844 he entered the Roman Catholic commun- ion, to which he afterward remained attached. The method adopted in his philosophical system is the distinction between intuition and indirect or reflex knowledge. His review was continued un- der the title of " Brownson's Quarterly Review," but was afterward transferred to New York. He came into collision with the authorities of his church on certain questions, which he treated from the stand-point of what was called liberal Catho- licity. The writings of Cousin, Leroux, and Gio- berti had always had much influence over him, and certain theories of those philosophers were so much insisted on in the pages of the " Review " that the question of Dr. Brownson's orthodoxy was referred to Rome, and Cardinal Franzelin was deputed by the pope to examine the matter. This great theo- logian found nothing worthy of censure in the opinions of Dr. Brownson, but recommended him to be more moderate in his language. However, the indignation that his views on certain points aroused among the clergy, combined with domestic trials, impaired health, and his anxiety for the safety of the union, to whose cause he had given two sons, had such a depressing effect on him that he discontinued the " Review " in 1864. When the syllabus was published in the following year he wrote strongly in its defence in the " Catholic World " and " Tablet," and was accused of being too rigorous on some points of Catholic doctrine, while he was lax on others. He was offered a chair in the new university in Dublin, but preferred to continue his labors in his native country. He revived his " Review " in 1873, but after two years discontinued it again, partly because he wished to live in Detroit with his son, and partly because he disliked the contests that certain newspapers tried to force upon him. "Brownson's Review " was the first American periodical reprinted