Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/611

* BROMINE. 535 BRONCHUS. ing odor). An elementary chemical substance dis- covered by Balard in 1826. It does not occnr in the isohited state, but is found in combination with silver, as bromyrite and iodobromite: in combination with allcalies and alkaline earths, in sea and mineral waters, and in some saline springs ; also in many marine plants and animals. Bromine is prepared commercially from liquors containing bromides, by distilling them with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, and manganese dio.Kidc. The crude bromine thus isolated may be purified by repeated fractional distillations, and, finally, by distilling with potassium bromide, for the purpose of removing any chlorine that may be present. Bromine is thus manufactured from the mother liquors of salt-worlcs, especially at Stassfurt in Germany, and at S.yracuse, N. Y., Pomeroy, Ohio, the Kanawha region in West Virginia, and Michigan, in the United States. Bromine (symbol Br, atomic weight 7!'. 90) is a dark, brown-red volatile liquid with a most irritating odor. Its specific gravitv at 0° C. is 3.188828. It freezes at —7.3° C. to a reddish- brown crystalline solid with a semi-metallic lus- tre, and boils at 63° C. It is an irritant poison, and if dropped ujwn the skin produces a sore that heals with great difficulty. It is used as a bleaching agent and as a disinfectant ; also in medicine, in the manufacture of certain coal-tar dyes (e.g. eosiii), and in chemistry. Dur- ing 1809, 433.004 pounds of bromine were pro- duced in the United States, valued at $108,251. Among the inorganic compounds of bromine may be mentioned liydrobromic acid with the bromides, bromic acid with the bromates, and hypobromous acid with the hypobromites. Bromine also en- ters into the composition of a large number of organic compounds. BROMLEY, brum'le. A to^vn in Kent, Eng- land, 10 miles southeast of London, on the Rav- ensbourne River. Besides modern institutions there is a college founded in 1666 by Bishop Warner, for widows of clergymen. There is also a fine Gothic church and a palace built in 1777 fonnerly owned by the Bishops of Rochester. Saint Blaise's well in the palace gardens was famous for its reputed miraculous powers before the Reformation. Population, in 1891, 21,684; in 1901, 27.3.58. BBbHSEBRO, brem'sc-bro (the river Bromsa + Scand. bro, O. Icel. bri'i, bridge). A village of Swe<len, about 30 miles south of C'almar, cele- brated for treaties concluded there between Den- mark and Sweden in 1541, 1G41. and 1645. BRO'MUS. See Brojie Gba.ss. BROMVOGEL, brom'fo-gcl. The Dutch name in Soutli Africa of the ground hornbill. See HORNBILL. BRONCHITIS, bron-kl'tis (from Gk. ;3p6y- XOi, broiichds. trachea, windpipe, iipOYXt-"-, bron- chia. the broncliial tubes). A disease of the bronchial tubes. It includes: (1) an acute catarrhal process involving the larger bronchi- oles; (2) an acute catarrhal process involving the smaller and capillary tulx-s ; (3) a chronic eatarrlial process involving both larger and small- er tubes; (4) an acute fibrinous process; and (5) a chronic fibrinous process. It is caused by exposure to cold or wet : irritants such as dust, coal, etc. ; congestion dependent upon kid- ney-disease, gout, or rheumatism, and even con- Btipation, as well as heartdisjease. The symp- toms of bronchitis are pain in the chest, fever at the outset or continuing, cough generally with expectoration of mucus, at first scanty, later, perhaps, profuse and sometimes containing pU3, shortness of breath on e.xertion, and occasionally, in the fibrinous varieties, the coughing out of casts of the tubes, resembling branches, of mucoid material. Various jihysical signs are found in the chest; but examination by a com- petent person alone will determine whether the attack be one of pleurisy, tuberculosis, pneu- monia, or bronchitis. (See Auscultation.) The acute form, when of the smaller tubes, may result in death. Many patients sutler with the disease every winter, and emphysema (q.v.) re- sults in these cases. In young infants lobular pneumonia (q.v.) regularly accompanies capil- laiy bronchitis, which is also a frequent occur- rence in cases of epidemic influenza ( la firippe ). There are hereditary tendencies and individual predispositions which operate in some cases. On the approach of an attack the patient should take a hot bath, go to bed, take a purgative, and enter upon a milk diet till the phjsician arrives. In- halation of hot-water vapor, through the small end of a funnel inverted over a vessel containing very hot water, relieves the irritation which causes coughing. Twenty drops of compound tincture of benzoin added to a pint of hot water will aid in making the inhalations soothing. Preparations of opium taken imadvisedly may do much harm. The daily cold sponge bath is an efficient preventive of bronchitis; it is best taken wlien the skin is warm and relaxed, immediately after rising from the bed in the morning. Ven- tilation and the avoidance of overheating rooms in winter, the avoidance of wetting the shoes — either soles or uppers — and abstinence from over- loading heart and kidneys with alcoholic bever- ages, will do much to prevent acute bronchitis. See IxFLUEXZA. Consult Osier, Principles and Practice of Medicine (Xew York, 1901). BRONCHUS, bron'kus (Xeo-Lat. from Gk. ^p6yxoi, bronchos, windpipe). One of the sub- a. The brdtii'lii. h. Small bronchial tubes, c. The trachea, d. Thelnryux. divisions of the trachea, or windpipe. Opposite the fourth dorsal vertebra, the trachea divides into two branches, or bronchi, which are similar