Brahmanism, Brah

'MINISM, n. The religion of Brahma; the doctrinal system of the Brahmans. Brahmapootra, Brahmaputra, (bra'ma-pootra.) ("Son of Brahma") sometimes erroneously written BURR AM POOTER, one of the largest rivers of Asia, forming the proper E. boundary of Hindostan. It has 3 separate sources, viz., the Dihong, Dibong, and Lohit rivers, which unite in Upper A am; the first has been traced through the Himalaya chain to Lat. 30° 30′ N., and Lon. 82° E., and is, in all probability, a continuation of the great San-po of Thibet. (See SAN-PO.) The Dihong is but partially known, but it however, carries twice as much water as the Lohit into the B. The Dibong is the central and smallest of the three headstreams; it rises N. of the Him a lay as, near Lat 28° 10'; and Lon. 97°, and pa es through the mountains into A am, near Lat. 28° 15′, and Lon. 90°. - The Lohit, called by the A amese "holy stream," and considered by the Brahmins as more especially the origin of the B. is formed by the union of two smaller streams in the high mountain region of Thibet, between Lat. 28° and 290 N., and Lon. 970 and 98° E.; which having joined, the river thence resulting takes a S.W. course, and pa es through a remarkable basin of rocky hills, a place of pilgrimage often frequented by Brahmins, in which it is augmented by the waters of the Brahmakund, a holy pool of those religionists. At its exit from this basin the river takes the name of B., flows S.W. through A am (where it receives about 60 affluents), enters Bengal in the Rungpore dist., and, finally empties into the Bay of Bengal by an estuary 20 m. wide, in Lat. 22° 50 N., Lon. 90° 40 E., in conjunction with the largest branch of the Ganges. The B.'s banks are mostly covered with jungle or marshes, and its current is very strong. Entire length estimated at 1,500 m. Brahmo Somaj. See SECTION II. Brahms, JOHANNES, born at Hamburg, May 7, 1833, one of the greatest of musical composers. His German Requiem (1878), commemorative of the Franco-German war, established his fame, and was followed by many subsequent compositions, chiefly of the choral, symphonic, and chamber styles, which are the admiration of all true musicians. Resided in Vienna after 1861, and died there April 3, 1897. Braid, v . a. [A. S. bred an ; probably of the same origin as broider.] To weave, knit, or wreath; to intertwine; to ornament with braid; as, to braid a coat. -To mingle, by rubbing in some fluid, or soft substance. -n. A texture formed by weaving together different strands; something braided; a knot. Braid'wood, in Illinois , a thriving city of Will co. Coal is largely mined near by. Pop . (1897) abt. 5,000. Brail, n. [O. Fr. bra ye , a tru , from brayes , breeches.] ( Naut .) Brails are small ropes employed in gathering up on a yard the bottom and skirts of its sail, preparatory to furling. They le en the trouble and danger of furling sails, and allow of sail being rapidly reduced by hauling the brails either from the deck or top. When the brails are hauled taut, the sail is said to be brailed up. Brain, n. [A.S. bragen , brægen; Frisian, brein , brin; Du. brein, from Goth. brik an ; Sansk. vrkna , to break. Probably allied to Gr. bregma , the upper part of the head, from brecho , to wet, because in infants the fore part of the head is wet or moist.] - See below, Anat . The seat of sensation and of the intellect; hence, the understanding. (Often used in the plural.) "O that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains. -Shaks. imagination; sensibility. (R.) My son Edgar! had he a hand to write this, a heart and brain to breed it in?"- Shaks . (Anat.) The name given to a soft pulpy substance, which in man and the higher orders of animals constitutes one of the great central ma es of the nervous system. This important organ, the seat of sensation, thought, and intelligence, and contained in the cavity formed by the bones comprising the case of the skull, has been described by modern phrenologists as being a large flat cake, which, if carefully unfolded and spread out, would cover a circular area of several feet in diameter. The B. so expanded, is folded and doubled up in the most admirable and wonderful manner, to enable it to adapt itself to the narrow, oval cavity of the cranium that receives it these doublings or folds being the convolutions, as they are called, which impart those inequalities to the vault of the skull-cap from which the science of phrenology has derived its external symbols. Anatomically, the B consists of two parts, the exter nal and internal. The external or outer portion is termed the bark, or cineritious part, from its ashy gray color; it is also called the glandular , or secretory, because it was supposed to po e some of the secreting properties of a gland. This portion is composed of a fine cellular membrane, through which a congeries of extremely minute blood-ve els circulate freely. The internal portion, the largest and most consistent part of the B. , is called the medullary portion, so named from its white marrowy appearance, and consists of bundles of minute fibres interlaced together. Both these portions are intimately united in the centre of the ma , or, as it is called, in the meisual line, the fibres of the right side pa ing to the left, and vice vers a : thus each side of the brain is a reduplication of the other. The B. is divided into three parts - the cerebrum , or brain proper; the cerebellum, or le er brain; and the medulla oblon gat a , or commencement of the spinal marrow. The cerebrum, or B. proper, is situated at the upper and anterior part of the skull, and is much the largest portion of the whole ma . It is divided into two halves, called hemispheres , each hemisphere being sub-divided by deep fi ures called solci , into three lobes , named, from their situation, the anterior, middle, and posterior lobes. The cerebellum, or smaller B. , is simply divided into two parts-the right and left hemispheres. This portion is situated at the back of the head, or occiput , and differs materially in structure from the larger B. , being composed of flattened layers, or lamina . The medulla oblong at a is somewhat of a funnel shape, and seems like a continuous proce of the latter part of the B. , and pa es out of the skull to descend along the tube of the spinal column. Besides the external case of the skull, the B. is enclosed in three internal in vestures or membranes, two of them called by the ancients, who believed that they gave birth to and supported all the nervous ma within the head, the mothers Thus the first. a strong fibrous texture. is named dura mater . or hard mother, because firm and resistent, lining the inside of IMG:content-0728.png:[merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed] A.-A section of the brain and spinal column. 1. The cere brum. 2 The cerebellum. 3. The medulla oblong at a. 4, 4. The spinal cord in its canal. B. Anterior view of the brain and spinal cord. 1. 1. The two hemispheres of the cerebrum. 2. Longitudinal fi ure separating the two hemispheres. 3, 3. The cerebellum. 4. The olfac tory nerve. 5. The optic nerve. 7. The third pair of nerves. 8. The pons varolii. 9. The fourth pair of nerves. 10. The lower portion of the medulla oblong at a. 11. The spinal cord. 12, 12. Spinal nerves. 13, 13. The brachial plexus. 14, 14. The lumbar and sacral plexus. the skull and top of the brain. and sending down long proce es between the two hemispheres and convolutions in an analogous manner to the tough membrane found lining the inner shell of a walnut, to which fruit the brain bears a strong general resemblance. The second is termed the pia mater , or kind mother, because it dips into every fold and convolution of the brain, and is a fine delicate membrane, covered in every part with a network of blood-ve els, and is the medium by which nourishment is carried to the substance of the brain. The third coat is named the arachnoid membrane, from its resemblance to a spider's web. The proper uses and order of these investments will be given elsewhere. Between the folds and doublings of the convolutions of the B. there are several cavities, or open spaces and elevations, which have received from different anatomists names, according to their shape or size, such as the Ventricles, Fornix, Hippocampi , ., q. v.-In males, the average weight of the full-grown human B. is about 49 or 50 oz.; in females, 44. It varies, however, considerably in different individuals. In a series of 278 cases, the maximum weight of the adult male B. was found to be 65 oz., and the minimum 34; in 191 cases, the maximum weight of the adult female B. was 56, and the minimum 31 oz. The B. of the naturalist Cuvier is said to have weighed upwards of 64 oz. Anatomists differ as to the size or weight of the B. at different periods of life. Sæmmering believed that the B. reached its full size as early as the third year; the Wenzels and Sir William Hamilton fixed the period about the seventh; and Tiedemann, between the seventh and eighth year. Gall and Spurzheim were of opinion that the B. continued to grow until the fortieth year. From a series of observations, however, it appears that in general the weight of the B. increases rapidly up to the seventh year, then more slowly to between sixteen and twenty, B. generally used in the U. S. is known as the air-brake. See AIR-BRAKE, in SECTION II. ( Naut .) [From Lat. brachium , an arm.] The handle of a ship's pump. or other mental emotion: as well as le directly from diseases of the digestive or other organs of the body. It is characterized by more or le violent pain of the head, with suffusion or prominence of the eyes, the countenance generally tumid or flushed, and delirium or stupor. Frequently, in children, inflammation leads to a form of disease known as water in the head, or hydro --A kind of cro -bow or ballista. cephalus, q. v. Softening of the B. is caused by the Brake'man, n.; pl . BRAKESMEN. One whose duty it want of a proper supply of nourishment to the cerebral is to tend to the brakes on a railroad-car. substance, and may arise from various causes. It is characterized by lowne of spirits, headaches, giddi- ne , the lo of memory, and at length, imbecility and paralysis. Unfortunately, this is a disease which little can be done to remedy, especially when it results from a disordered state of the nutritient organs themselves, as from disease or obstruction in the arteries which convey the blood to the cerebral substance. Frequently it is occasioned by over-anxiety or exce ive study; in which case everything is to be done to get rid of the predisposing cause. Every thought, every mental effort destroys a certain portion of the cerebral matter; and hence, if destruction takes place more rapidly than re- newal, a wasting or softening of the B. is the result. The blood-ve els, particularly in the aged, are also liable to be ruptured.-See APOPLEXY, CONVULSIONS, IN- SANITY, DELIRIUM TREMENS, PARALYSIS. See the Brain , by Luys, 1882. Brain, v. a. To dash out the brains of. Brained, a. Furnished with brains. Brain'erd, in New York , a post-village of Ren elaer co., on Kinder hook Creek, 16 m. S.E. of Albany.