These associated symptoms in connexion with kidney disease were first described in 1827 by Dr Richard Bright (1789–1858). Since that period it has been established that the symptoms, instead of being, as was formerly supposed, the result of one form of disease of the kidneys, may be dependent on various morbid conditions of those organs (see Kidney Diseases). Hence the term Bright’s disease, which is retained in medical nomenclature in honour of Dr Bright, must be understood as having a generic application.
The symptoms are usually of a severe character. Pain in the back, vomiting and febrile disturbance commonly usher in the attack. Dropsy, varying in degree from slight puffiness of the face to an accumulation of fluid sufficient to distend the whole body, and to occasion serious embarrassment to respiration, is a very common accompaniment. The urine is reduced in quantity, is of dark, smoky or bloody colour, and exhibits to chemical reaction the presence of a large amount of albumen, while, under the microscope, blood corpuscles and casts, as above mentioned, are found in abundance.
This state of acute inflammation may by its severity destroy life, or, short of this, may by continuance result in the establishment of one of the chronic forms of Bright’s disease. On the other hand an arrest of the inflammatory action frequently occurs, and this is marked by the increased amount of the urine, and the gradual disappearance of its albumen and other abnormal constituents; as also by the subsidence of the dropsy and the rapid recovery of strength.
In the treatment of acute Bright’s disease, good results are often obtained from local depletion, from warm baths and from the careful employment of diuretics and purgatives. Chronic Bright’s disease is much less amenable to treatment, but by efforts to maintain the strength and improve the quality of the blood by strong nourishment, and at the same time by guarding against the risks of complications, life may often be prolonged in comparative comfort, and even a certain measure of improvement be experienced.
BRIGNOLES, a town in the department of Var in the S.E. of France, 36 m. by rail N. of Toulon. Pop. (1906) 3639. It is built at a height of 754 ft. above the sea-level, in a fertile valley, and on the right bank of the Carami river. It contains the old summer palace of the counts of Provence, and has an active trade, especially in prunes, known as prunes de Brignoles. Its old name was Villa Puerorum, as the children of the counts of Provence were often brought up here. It was sacked on several occasions during the religious wars in the 16th century. Twelve miles to the N.W. is St Maximin (with a fine medieval church), which is one of the best starting-points for the most famous pilgrimage resort in Provence, the Sainte Baume, wherein St Mary Magdalene is said to have taken refuge. This is 20 m. distant by road.
(W. A. B. C.)
BRIHASPATI, or Brahmanaspati (“god of strength”), a deity of importance in early Hindu mythology. In the Rigveda he is represented as the god of prayer, aiding Indra in his conquest of the cloud-demon, and at times appears to be identified with Agni, god of fire. He is the offspring of Heaven and Earth, the two worlds; is the inspirer of prayer and the guide and protector of the pious. He is pictured as having seven mouths, a hundred wings and horns and is armed with bow and arrows and an axe. He rides in a chariot drawn by red horses. In the later scriptures he is represented as a Rishi or seer.
See A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897).
BRIL, PAUL (1554–1626), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp. The success of his elder brother Matthew (1550–1584) in the Vatican induced him to go to Rome to live. On the death of Matthew, Paul, who far surpassed him as an artist, succeeded to his pensions and employments. He painted landscapes with a depth of chiaroscuro then little practised in Italy, and introduced into them figures well drawn and finely coloured. One of his best compositions is the “Martyrdom of St Clement,” in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican.
BRILL, the name given to a flat-fish (Psetta laevis, or Rhombus laevis) which is a species closely related to the turbot, differing from it in having very small scales, being smaller in size, having no bony tubercules in the skin, and being reddish in colour. It abounds on parts of the British coast, and is only less favoured for the table than the turbot itself.
BRILLAT-SAVARIN, ANTHELME (1755–1826), French gastronomist, was born at Belley, France, on the 1st of April 1755. In 1789 he was a deputy, in 1793 mayor of Belley. To escape proscription he fled from France to Switzerland, and went thence to the United States, where he played in the orchestra of a New York theatre. On the fall of Robespierre he returned to France, and in 1797 became a member of the court of cassation. He wrote various volumes on political economy and law, but his name is famous for his Physiologie du goût, a compendium of the art of dining. Many editions of this work have been published. Brillat-Savarin died in Paris on the 2nd of February 1826.
BRIMSTONE, the popular name of sulphur (q.v.), particularly of the commercial “roll sulphur.” The word means literally “burning stone”; the first part being formed from the stem of the Mid. Eng. brennen, to burn. Earlier forms of the word are brenstone, bernstone, brynstone, &c.
BRIN, BENEDETTO (1833–1898), Italian naval administrator, was born at Turin on the 17th of May 1833, and until the age of forty worked with distinction as a naval engineer. In 1873 Admiral Saint-Bon, minister of marine, appointed him under-secretary of state. The two men completed each other; Saint-Bon conceived a type of ship, Brin made the plans and directed its construction. On the advent of the Left to power in 1876, Brin was appointed minister of marine by Depretis, a capacity in which he continued the programme of Saint-Bon, while enlarging and completing it in such way as to form the first organic scheme for the development of the Italian fleet. The huge warships “Italia” and “Dandolo” were his work, though he afterwards abandoned their type in favour of smaller and faster vessels of the “Varese” and the “Garibaldi” class. By his initiative Italian naval industry, almost non-existent in 1873, made rapid progress. During his eleven years’ ministry (1876–1878 with Depretis, 1884–1891 with Depretis and Crispi, 1896–1898 with Rudini), he succeeded in creating large private shipyards, engine works and metallurgical works for the production of armour, steel plates and guns. In 1892 he entered the Giolitti cabinet as minister for foreign affairs, accompanying, in that capacity, the king and queen of Italy to Potsdam, but showed weakness towards France on the occasion of the massacre of Italian workmen at Aigues-Mortes. He died on the 24th of May 1898, while minister of marine in the Rudini cabinet. He, more than any other man, must be regarded as the practical creator of the Italian navy.
BRINDABAN, a town of British India, in the Muttra district of the United Provinces, on the right bank of the Jumna, 6 m. N. of Muttra. Pop. (1901) 22,717. Brindaban is one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in India, being associated with the cult of Krishna as a shepherd. It contains bathing-stairs, tanks and wells, and a great number of handsome temples, of which the finest is that of Govind Deva, a cruciform vaulted building of red sandstone, dating from 1590. The town was founded earlier in the same century.
BRINDISI (anc. Brundisium, q.v.), a seaport town and archiepiscopal see of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Lecce, 24 m. N.W. by rail from the town of Lecce, and 346 m. from Ancona. Pop. (1861) 8000; (1871) 13,755; (1901) 25,317. The chief importance of Brindisi is due to its position as a starting-point for the East. The inner harbour, admirably sheltered and 27 to 30 ft. in depth, allows ocean steamers to lie at the quays. Brindisi has, however, been abandoned by the large steamers of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which had called there since 1870, but since 1898 call at Marseilles instead; small express boats, carrying the mails, still leave every week, connecting with the larger steamers at Port Said; but the number of passengers leaving the port, which for the years 1893–1897 averaged 14,728, was only 7608 in 1905, and only 943 of these were carried by the P. & O. boats. The harbour railway station was not completed until 1905 (Consular
