Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/236

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BBUCE 204 BRUGES was speedily broken. Not until March 4, 1328, was the treaty concluded by which the independence of Scotland was fully recognized. Bruce did not long survive the completion of his work, dying at Cardross Castle on June 7, 1329. He was twice married; first to a daughter of the Earl of Mar, Isabella, by whom he had a daughter, Marjory, mother of Robert II., and then to a daughter of Aymer de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, Eliza- beth, by whom he had a son, David, who succeeded him. BRUCE, THOMAS, Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, an English diplomatist and antiquary, born July 27, 1766. He was successively Envoy at Brussels, Berlin, and Constantinople, and made a valuable collection of ancient sculptures at Athens, which was purchased by Parliament for the British Museum in 1816, and is known as the Elgin Marbles. He died in Paris, Nov. 14, 1841. BRUCEA, a genus of plants belong- ing to the order xanthoxylacex (xantho- xyls). The green parts of B. sumatrana are intensely bitter. B. antidysenterica contains a poisonous principle called brucia. The bark of another species is bitter, and has qualities like those of quassia simarouha. B. ferruginea is from Abyssinia. BRUCHSAIi (broch'sal), a town of Baden, 25 miles S. of Heidelberg. It was the residence of the prince-bishops of Spires from the 11th century, but lost its importance until it became a considerable railway center. The Grand- Duke of Baden has a fine palace here. Pop. about 15,000. BRUCHUS, a genus of beetles belong- ing to the section tetramera, and the family rhyncophora or curculionidse. The antennae are 14-jointed, and are filiform, serrate or pectinated, not geniculated as in the more normal curcidi(mid3e. It con- tains small beetles which deposit their larvae in the germs of leguminous plants, and, when hatched, devour their seed. B. pisi is destructive to the garden pea. BRUCINE, or BRUCIA (named from the plant B. antidysenterica, from which it is derived), an alkaloid found along with strychnine in nux vomica; also in false Angostura bark. BRUGES, a city of Belgium, capital of West Flanders, at the junction of the canals from Ghent, Ostend, and L'Ecluse, 7 miles from the North Sea, and 60 miles N. W. of Brussels; lat. 51° 12' 30" N., long. 3° 13' 44" E. The city has a cir- cumference of nearly 4V2 miles, and is entered by six gates. Many large and noble ancient mansions and spacious pub- lic edifices present their pointed gables to the streets, and afford interesting specimens of the ornamental Gothic ar- chitecture of the Middle Ages. Among the most remarkable public edifices are the Cathedral of Notre Dame (Onser Vrouw), the old Gothic Hospital of St. John, and the elegant church of St. Saviour. In the great square is a lofty Gothic tower or belfry, the most beautiful in Europe, and its chimes are harmoni- ous. In this tower there are 48 bells, some liiMii; 1| •• !« -' ^[ THE BELFRY OF BRUGES weighing six tons; they are played upon every quarter of an hour by means of an immense copper cylinder communi- cating with the clock, and weighing about nine tons. Its surface is pierced by 30,500 square holes, so that an infinite variety of airs may be set upon it, by merely shifting the iron pegs that lift the hammers. The Ostend canal presents an expanse of surface that resembles a stately river. There are many bridges across the numerous canals, by which the streets are intersected; hence, the Flem- ish name of the place — Brugge, that is, bridges; in French, Bruges. The chief manufactures before the World War were woolens, linens, cottons, lace, dye works, sugar refineries and ship building yards. The lace manufacture is the most important. From the 7th century Bruges was rapidly acquiring importance. Dur- injE the government of the rich and