Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/239

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BBUNO 207 BRUNSWICK BRTTNO, GIORDANO, an Italian phi- losopher, one of the boldest and most original thinkers of his age, born in Nola, about 1550. He became a Dominican monk, but his religious doubts compelled him to quit his monastery and Italy. He embraced the doctrines of Calvin at Gen- eva, but doubt anu free discussion not be- ing in favor there, he went to Paris. He gave lectures on philosophy and, by his avowed opposition to the scholastic sys- tem, made himself many bitter enemies. He next spent two years in England, and became the friend of Sir Philip Sidney. In 1585, he went again to Paris, and re- newed his public lectures. After visiting and teaching in various towns in Ger- many, he returned, in 1592, to Padua, and went afterward to Venice, where he was, in 1598, arrested by the Inquisition and sent to Rome. He lay in prison two years, and, on Feb. 17, 1600, was burned as a heretic. His works in Latin and Italian are numerous, and abound in bold and noble thought and rich eloquence. Spi- noza was indebted to Bruno for some of his theories. Among the works of Bruno are the following: "Delia Causa," "Prin- cipio ed Uno," "Dell 'Infinitio Universo e Mondi," "La Cena delle Ceneri," "Specchia della Bestia Trionfante," etc. BRUNO, ST., the Apostle of the Prussians, born in Querfurt, in 970. He was of a noble Saxon family, converted the Emperor Henry II., and was assassi- nated by the pagans of Lithuania in 1008. BRUNO, ST., the founder of the Carthusian order of monks, born in Co- logne about 1040 ; died in Calabria in 1101. BRUNO THE GREAT, one of the most eminent men of his time, bom about 925, the third son of Henry the Fowler. He became archbishop of Cologne, and chan- cellor of the empire under his brother, Otto I., and afterward, as a reward for his services, Duke of Lorraine. He strove to reform the monasteries and advance the love of learning among the clergy. He died in Rheims, Oct. 11, 965. BRUNONIAN THEORY, a theory, or, rather, hypothesis, according to which the living system was regarded as an organ- ized machine endowed with excitability, kept up by a variety of external or in- ternal stimuli, that excitability constitut- ing life. Diseases were divided into sthenic or asthenic, the former from ac- cumulated and the latter from exhausted excitability. BRUNSWICK REPUBLIC, the former Duchy of Brunswick, in Germany, con- sists of five detached portions of terri- tory on the rivers Weser, Leine, Ocker, and AUer. It occupies part of the vast plain which stretches from the foot of the Hartz Mountains and their continuations (the Soiling) to the German Ocean and the Baltic, with a portion of the rise of those chains on the N. side. The largest portion contains the districts of Wolfen- biittel and Schoningen, in which the cities of Brunswick and Wolfenbiittel, and the towns of Kanigslutter and Helmstedt, are situated. Two small detached por- tions of territory, viz., the circles of Thedinghausen on the Weser, and that of Badenburg, are inclosed by the Han- overian territory, and form part, the for- mer of the Weser district, the latter of the Leine district. Finally, the detached circle of Kalvorde, inclosed within the Prussian province of Saxony, belongs to the district of Schoningen. The duchy has an area of 1,418 square miles. The inhabitants are mostly engaged in agri- cultural and mining pursuits. Iron is the chief product of the mines worked in the Hartz, Weser and Blankenburg dis- tricts. Pop. about 495,000. On Nov. 9, 1918, a popular uprising forced the abdication of the reigning Duke, and Brunswick was proclaimed an independ- ent state. Brunswick, the capital, is on the Ocker, in a level and fertile district, 143 miles W. S. W. of Berlin. It is supposed to have been founded in 861, by Bruno, Duke of Ostfalen. In the 13th century Brunswick became a member of the Hanseatic League, and soon attained con- siderable commercial prosperity, which declined with the decay of the League. The town is most irregfularly built, with narrow and crooked streets. The cathe- dral (1173-1469), and the churches of St. Martin, St. Catharine and St. Andrew, with its steeple 341 feet high, are among the principal buildings; the old Rathaus is a fine specimen of Gothic. In the mu- seum are some notable antiquities and works of art, by Jan Steen, Albert Diirer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Raphael, Guide Reni, Ruysdael, Michael Angelo and Ben- venuto Cellini. The industry of the town before the World War consisted chiefly in manufactures of jute, woolen and linen, leather, sewing machines, chicory, beet sugar, tobacco, papier mach^, and lacquered wares, and in publishing. A fine avenue of linden trees leads to the ducal palace, which, destroyed by fire in 1830 and 1865, was rebuilt in 1869. Pop. about 142,000. BRUNSWICK, city and county-seat of Glynn co., Ga.; on St. Simon's Sound, 8 miles from the Atlantic Ocean; on the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic, At- lantic Coast Line and the Southern rail- roads ; 80 miles S. by S. W. of Savannah. Its settlement dates back more than 100