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 BRAUN

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BRAZIL

on 18 March, while the Roman Martyrology has it on the 26th.

Braulio is the author (1) of a hfe of St. Emihan (jErnilianus Cucullatus, or San Millan de la Cogolla), a priest of the Diocese of Turiasso, now Tarazona, and the writer of a hymn in honom- of the same saint. (2) A collection of forty-four letters, of which there is no mention in antiquity, wa.s tliscovered in the eighteenth century in the Spanish city of Leon. They form a valuable addition to our knowledge of the history of Spain vmder the Visigoths and were first published in the "Espafia Sagrada" of Florez (XXX, 1775). (3) The division and titles of the " Etymologiarum Libri 20" of St. Isidore and a eulogistic notice of the latter's life, together with an enumeration of his writings, are also Braulio's work. This notice and catalogue he added to the "De Viris Illustribus" of Isidore. It is found printed in Migne, P. L. (LXXXI, 1.5-17). (4) Braulio's author- ship of the "Acts of the Martyrs of Saragossa" is usually admitted. He may also have written the "Passio S. Leocadis". His works are accessible in P. L., LXXX, 639-720.

Gams. Kirchengesch. van Span (Ratisbon, 1862-79), I. 320- 329, 344; II, ii, 145-149. 224-227; Vf.nabi.es in Did. Chnsl. Bioij., 3. v.; Chevalier, Rep. bio-bib. (Paris, 1905), I, 692; Anal. Boll. (1905). XXIV. 153. j^ A. Weber.

Braun, Pl.\cidu.s, a Bavarian historian, b. at Pelting near Schongau in Upper Bavaria, 11 Febru- uary, 1756; d. at Augsburg, 23 October, 1829. At thirteen he went as a choir-boy of the Benedictine Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, and was a pupil for six years in the Jesuit gymnasium of the same city. He entered the Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra as a novice, 13 May, 1775, and was ordained prie-st, 18September, 1779. In 1785 he was made head librarian of the abbey. He arranged and catalogued the library and made known to scholars the rarities it contained through the fine descriptions he gave of its early printed books and manuscripts in two works which he published while librarian. These pubhca- tions were: "Notitia historico-litteraria de libris ab artis typographica; inventione usque ad annum 1479 impressis, in bibhotheca monasterii afl SS. Udalri- cum et Afram Augustte extantibus. Pars I: Augs. Vindel. 1788. Pars II: Notitia . . . libros complec- tens ab anno 1480 usque ad annum 1500 inclusive impressos. Ibidem, 1789" and " Notitia Historico-lit- teraria de codicibus manuscriptis in bibliotheca liberi ac imperialis monasterii O. S. Benedicti ad SS. Udalricum et Afram extantibus. Aug. VindeL, 6 partes, 1791-1796". After the abbey was dissolved, and its building converted into a barrack in 1806, Braun lived with a number of fellow-members of the order in a house near the church of St. Ulrich.

In these new surroundings he endeavoured to ob- serve the rules of the order as far as possible, gave assistance in pastoral work, and devoted himself to the study of the history of the Diocese of Augsburg and its suppressed monastic foundations. He was made a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Munich, 3 August, 1808, which honour he ac- cepted, but he declined to settle in Munich. Among his historical writings the following are still valu- able: "Gcschichte der Bischofe von Augsburg, chronologisch und diplomatisch verfasst" (4 vols., Augsburg, 1813-15); "Codex diplomaticus monas- terii S. Udalrici et Ahx notis illustratus", issued as volumes XXII and XXIII of the "Monumenta Boica", (Munich 1814—15); "Geschichte der Kirche unddesStiftcsder hll. Ulrich und Afra in Augsburg" (Augsburg, 1817); " Historisch-topographische Bc- schreibung der Di6ce.se Augsburg", 2 vols. (Augs- burg, 1823); "Die Domkirche zu Augsburg und der hbhcre und niedere Klerus an derselben" (.\ugsburg, 1829). Braun bequeathed his manuscripts, which were concerned chiefly with the history of the re-

ligious foundations and monastic houses of the Diocese of Augsburg, to the diocesan archives.

Lindner, Die Schriftsteller u.s.w. des Benediktiner-Ordens im heutigen Kunigreich Bayern., II, 124-131 (Ratisbon. ISSO); Berliere in the Revue Benedictine (1899).

Joseph Lins.

Bravo, FR.tNcisco, as far as known, author of the first book on medicine printed in America. His "Opera Medicinalia etc. (Authore Francisco Brauo Orsunensi doctore Mexicano medico)" was published at Mexico, 1570. Three years before. Dr. Pedrarias de Benavides had published his " Secretos de Chirur- gia", at Valladolid in Spain, and while the latter work is invaluable for the knowledge of Intiian medicinal practices, and is the earliest book on these topics known to have been published, the work of Dr. Bravo has the merit of being the first medical treatise printed in America. The first regular physi- cian who came to Mexico appears to have been a Dr. Olivarez, although surgeon-barbers and other "healers and curers" are mentioned as having already practised with Cortez. Strict medical regu- lations were established by the mimicipal council of the city of Mexico in 1527, and extended to the apothecaries in 1529. Although the faculty of medicine at the University of Mexico was not founded until 1578, two "Doctors in Medicine" were re- ceived at that institution as early as 1553. Dr. Benavides was a native of Toro in Spain and came to Honduras about the year 1550. Thence he went to Mexico and returned to Spain, after having di- rected for eight years the hospital "del Amor de Dios" in the city of Mexico. Of Dr. Bravo it is only known that he was a native of Ossuna, and began to practice at Sevilla in 1553. He came to Mexico between that year and 1570. The date and place of his death are not known.

Mendoza, Historia del gran Reynode China (Antwerp, 1596), Itinerario del NuevoMundo in; Gonzalez DXvila, Teatro ecle- aidstico, etc. (Mexico, 1649); Ycazbalceta, Bibliografia mexi- cana (Me.xico, 1886): Mendieta, Historia eelesidstica Indiana, (1599, and published at Mexico, 1870); Torquemada, Mo- narqula Indiana (.2d. ed., Madrid, 1723). The latter contains incidental references to the early physicians of Mexico.

Ad. F. Bandeliek.

Brazil, The United States of. — A vast republic of central South America covering an area larger than that of the United States of America (if Alaska and the Philippines are not included). It extends from 5° N. to 33° 41' S. latitude, and from 35° to 73° W. longitude. Its greatest length is 2,500 miles, its greatest breadth 2,0(J0 miles, and it has an area of 3,218,130 square miles. It borders every other country on the continent of South America except Chile, being bounded on the north by Venezuela, British, Dutch, and French Guiana, and the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Uruguay and the Argentine Republic, and on the west by Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.

Brazil lies entirely east of the Andean mountain system. The basin of the Amazon occupies the northern and western portion of the country, and nearly the whole of this section is a vast plain, called the Selvas, which is, for the most part, less than 500 feet above sea level, and never exceeds 1,000 feet. The southern and eastern parts are plateaux, rising to heights of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. Upon these plateaux are situated many mountain ranges. (This is said to be geologically the oldest part of the continent.) The mountain ranges of Brazil may be grouped into three systems, the most important of which is the Serra do Mar, which begins immediately north of the bay of Rio Janeiro, where the Organ mountains rise to 7,500 feet. This forms the south- eastern slope of the plateau to the narrow strip of co.ast along the Atlantic. In this system, to the west of Rio de Janeiro, is the highest peak in Brazil, Itatiaia, which has a height of nearly 10,000 feet.