BREAST 162 BBEDA fins, light colored, tinged, the ventral one with red and others with brown. It is found in deep waters and lakes. It is sought after by anglers, who however, consider the flesh insipid. Also the Eng- lish name of the several fishes belonging to the family cyprinidx and the genus abramis. The best known species are: (1) The bream or carp bream (A. brama), already described; (2) the white bream, or breamflat (A. blicca) ; and, (3) the Pomeranian bream {A. buggenliagii). The species are found in this country and in Europe, but are of little value as food. BREAST, FEMALE, or mammary gland, consists of a series of tubes radi- ating from a common center, the nipple of which is situated in an areola or dark colored patch. On the surface of the latter are several (from 4 to 10) sebace- ous glands, which secrete an unctuous fluid to protect the skin of the nipple, which is very thin, from the saliva of the sucking infant. The milk tubes (15 or 18 in number) enlarge into sinuses, and pass each to a separate lobe or sub- division of the breast, where they divide into twigs and branches (the lactiferous ducts), which end in minute vesicles. The lobes are held together by fibrous tissue, and are well packed in fat, which increases sometimes to an enormous ex- tent the apparent size of the organ. BREASTWORK, in fortification, a hastily constructed parapet made of material at hand, such as earth, logs, rails, timber, and designed to protect troops from the fire of an enemy. In architecture, the parapet of a building. In shipbuilding, a railing or balustrade standing athwartships across a deck, as on the forward end of the quarter-deck or roundhouse. The beam supporting it is a breastbeam. BREATH, the air which issues from the lungs through the mouth and nostrils. For details regarding the organic ma- chine on the action of which breathing depends, see Lung. For the process of breathing itself see Respiration. From 350 to 400 cubic feet of air are drawn into the lungs in 24 hours. The air ex- pired is different, both in volume and com- position, from that which was inspired. Each hour an adult man takes in 450 to 550 grains of oxygen, and emits in the same period about 632 grains of carbonic acid, about 45 to 50 grains of nitrogen, and 9,720 grains of watery vapor. Hence a continued supply of fresh ai,r, laden with oxygen, is needful to maintain life. BRECX3IA (bretch'ya), a kind of marble composed of a mass of angu- lar fragments, closely cemented together in such a manner that when broken they form breches or notches. In geology, the word has now a more extended significa- tion. It signifies a rock composed of an- gular as distinguished from rounded fragments united by a cement of lime, oxide of iron, etc. There are quartzite breccias, ferruginous breccias, volcanic breccias, bone breccias, etc. BRECHE DE ROLAND (brash' de ro- lan), that is, "the breach of Roland," a mountain pass in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain, which, according to a well known legend, was opened up by Ro- land, one of the paladins of Charlemagne, with one blow of his sword Durandal, in order to afford a passage to his army. It is an immense gap in the rocky moun- tain barrier 43 miles to the N. of Huesca. BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN CABELL, Vice-President of the United States, bom near Lexington, Ky., Jan. 21, 1821; prac- ticed law in Lexington until 1847, when he was chosen major of a volunteer regi- ment for the Mexican War. He sat in Congress in 1851-1855, and in 1856 was elected Vice-President, with James Buchanan as President. In 1860 he was the pro-slavery candidate for the presi- dency, but was defeated by Abraham Lin- coln. A United States Senator from March to December, 1861, he then en- tered the Confederate army, was ap- pointed a Major-General, in 1862, and held some important commands during the Civil War. He was Secretary of War, in Jefferson Davis' cabinet, at the close of the struggle, and escaped to Europe, whence he returned in 1868. He died in Lexington, May 17, 1875. BRECKINRIDGE, JOSEPH CABELL, an American military officer, born in Baltimore, Md., Jan. 14, 1842; a nephew of Gen. John C. Breckinridge of the Con- federate army. He practiced law in Dan- ville, Ky., till the beginning of the Civil War, when he joined the Union army. He was made a First Lieutenant in the Reg- ular army Aug. 1, 1863, a Captain in 1874, Brigadier in 1889, and Major-Gen- eral U. S. A., Feb. 18, 1898. He served in the Santiago campaign, Inspector- General U. S. A., 1899-1903. He was re- tired in 1903, after 40 years of service. BREDA (bra'da), a town in Holland, province of North Brabant, at the con- fluence of the Merk and the Aa. Breda was once a strong fortress and of great military importance as a strategical posi- tion. From the 16th to the end of the 18th century Breda has an interesting military history of sieges, assaults and captures, with which the names of the
