Chapter IV: Part 4

For about 250 m. below Kyi-chu to a point about 20 m. below the great southerly bend (in 94 deg. E. long.) the course of the Brahmaputra has been traced by native surveyors. Then it is lost amidst the jungle-covered hills of the wild Mishmi and Abor tribes to the east of Bhutan for another 100 m., until it is again found as the Dihong emerging into the plains of Assam. About the intervening reaches of the river very little is known except that it drops through 7000 ft. of altitude, and that in one place, at least, there exist some very remarkable falls. These are placed in 29 deg. 40' N. lat., between Kongbu and Pema-Koi. Here the river runs in a narrow precipitous defile along which no path is practicable. The falls can only be approached from below, where a monastery has been erected, the resort of countless pilgrims. Their height is estimated at 70 ft., and by Tibetan report the hills around are enveloped in perpetual mist, and the Sangdong (the "lion's face"), over which the waters rush, is demon-haunted and full of mystic import. Up to comparatively recent years it was matter for controversy whether the Tsanpo formed the upper reaches of the Dihong or of the Irrawaddy. From the north-eastern extremity of Assam where, near Sadya, the Lohit, the Dibong and the Dihong unite to form the wide placid Brahmaputra of the plains--one of the grandest rivers of the world--its south-westerly course to the Bay of Bengal is sufficiently well known. It still retains the proud distinction of being unbridged, and still the River Flotilla Company appoints its steamers at regular intervals to visit all the chief ports on its banks as far as Dibrugarh. Here, however, a new feature has been introduced in the local railway, which extends for some 80 m. to Sadya, with a branch to the Buri Dihing river at the foot of the Patkoi range. The Patkoi border the plains of Upper Assam to the south-east, and across these hills lies the most reasonable probability of railway extension to Burma.

The following are the "lowest level" discharges of the principal affluents of the Brahmaputra in Upper Assam, estimated in cubic feet per second:--

Lohit river, 9 m. above Sadya 38,800
Dibong, 1 m. above junction with Dihong 27,200
Dihong " " Dibong 55,400
Subansiri 16,900

The basins of the Dibong and Subansiri are as yet very imperfectly known. That of the Lohit has been fairly well explored. Near Goalpara the discharge of the river in January 1828 was computed to be 140,000 cub. ft., or nearly double that of the Ganges. The length of the river is 700 m. to the Dihong junction, and about 1000 in Tibet and eastern Bhutan, above the Dihong. The Brahmaputra, therefore, exceeds the Ganges in length by about 400 m. The bed of the great river maintains a fairly constant position between its extreme banks, but the channels within that bed are so constantly shifting as to require close supervision on the part of the navigation authorities; so much detritus is carried down as to form a perpetually changing series of obstructions to steamer traffic.

An enormous development of agricultural resources has taken place within the Brahmaputra basin of late years, chiefly in the direction of tea cultivation, as well as in the production of jute and silk. Gold is found in the sands of all its upper tributaries, and coal and petroleum are amongst the chief mineral products which have been brought into economic prominence. During the rains the Brahmaputra floods hundreds of square miles of country, reaching a height of 30 to 40 ft. above its usual level. This supersedes artificial irrigation, and the plains so watered yield abundantly in rice, jute and mustard.

See _Reports_ of the native explorers of the Indian Survey, edited by
Montgomery and Harman; _Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (1908); Sir T.H.
Holdich, _India_ ("Regions of the World" series, 1903); Ryder,
_Geographical Journal_, 1905; Rawlings, _The Great Plateau_ (1906).
(T. H. H.*)

BRAHMA SAMAJ, a religious association in India which owes its origin to (Raja) Ram Mohan Roy, who began teaching and writing in Calcutta soon after 1800. The name means literally the "Church of the One God," and the word _Samaj_, like the word Church, bears both a local and a universal, or an individual and a collective meaning. Impressed with the perversions and corruptions of popular Hinduism, Ram Mohan Roy investigated the Hindu Shastras, the Koran and the Bible, repudiated the polytheistic worship of the Shastras as false, and inculcated the reformed principles of monotheism as found in the ancient Upanishads of the Vedas. In 1816 he established a society, consisting only of Hindus, in which texts from the Vedas were recited and theistic hymns chanted. This, however, soon died out through the opposition it received from the Hindu community. In 1830 he organized the society known as the Brahma Samaj.

The following extract from the trust-deed of the building dedicated to it will show the religious belief and the purposes of its founder. The building was intended to be "a place of public meeting for all sorts and descriptions of people, without distinction, who shall behave and conduct themselves in an orderly, sober, religious and devout manner, for the worship and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable and immutable Being, who is the author and preserver of the universe, but not under and by any other name, designation or title, peculiarly used for and applied to any particular being or beings by any man or set of men whatsoever; and that no graven image, statue or sculpture, carving, painting, picture, portrait or the likeness of anything shall be admitted within the said messuage, building, land, tenements, hereditament and premises; and that no sacrifice, offering or oblation of any kind or thing shall ever be permitted therein; and that no animal or living creature shall within or on the said messuage, &c., be deprived of life either for religious purposes or food, and that no eating or drinking (except such as shall be necessary by any accident for the preservation of life), feasting or rioting be permitted therein or thereon; and that in conducting the said worship or adoration, no object, animate or inanimate, that has been or is or shall hereafter become or be recognized as an object of worship by any man or set of men, shall be reviled or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of or alluded to, either in preaching or in the hymns or other mode of worship that may be delivered or used in the said messuage or building; and that no sermon, preaching, discourse, prayer or hymns be delivered, made or used in such worship, but such as have a tendency to the contemplation of the Author and Preserver of the universe or to the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue and the strengthening of the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds."

The new faith at this period held to the Vedas as its basis. Ram Mohan Roy soon after left India for England, and took up his residence in Bristol, where he died in 1835. The Brahma Samaj maintained a bare existence till 1841, when Babu Debendra Nath Tagore, a member of a famous and wealthy Calcutta family, devoted himself to it. He gave a printing-press to the Samaj, and established a monthly journal called the _Tattwabodhini Patrika_, to which the Bengali language now owes much for its strength and elegance. About 1850 some of the followers of the new religion discovered that the greater part of the Vedas is polytheistic, and a schism took place,--the advanced party holding that nature and intuition form the basis of faith. Between 1847 and 1858 branch societies were formed in different parts of India, especially in Bengal, and the new society made rapid progress, for which it was largely indebted to the spread of English education and the work of Christian missionaries. In fact the whole Samaj movement is as distinct a product of the contest of Hinduism with Christianity in the 19th century, as the _Panth_ movement was of its contest with Islam 300 years earlier.

The Brahma creed was definitively formulated as follows:--(1) The book of nature and intuition supplies the basis of religious faith. (2) Although the Brahmas do not consider any book written by man the basis of their religion, yet they do accept with respect and pleasure any religious _truth_ contained in any book. (3) The Brahmas believe that the religious condition of man is progressive, like the other departments of his condition in this world. (4) They believe that the fundamental doctrines of their religion are also the basis of every true religion. (5) They believe in the existence of one Supreme God--a God endowed with a distinct personality, moral attributes worthy of His nature and an intelligence befitting the Governor of the universe, and they worship Him alone. They do not believe in any of His incarnations. (6) They believe in the immortality and progressive state of the soul, and declare that there is a state of conscious existence succeeding life in this world and supplementary to it as respects the action of the universal moral government. (7) They believe that repentance is the only way to salvation. They do not recognize any other mode of reconcilement to the offended but loving Father. (8) They pray for _spiritual_ welfare and believe in the _efficacy_ of such prayers. (9) They believe in the providential care of the divine Father. (10) They avow that love towards Him and the performances of the works which He loves, constitute His worship. (11) They recognize the necessity of public worship, but do not believe that communion with the Father depends upon meeting in any fixed place at any fixed time. They maintain that they can adore Him at any time and at any place, provided that the time and the place are calculated to compose and direct the mind towards Him. (12) They do not believe in pilgrimages and declare that holiness can only be attained by elevating and purifying the mind. (13) They put no faith in rites or ceremonies, nor do they believe in penances as instrumental in obtaining the grace of God. They declare that moral righteousness, the gaining of wisdom, divine contemplation, charity and the cultivation of devotional feelings are their rites and ceremonies. They further say, govern and regulate your feelings, discharge your duties to God and to man, and you will gain everlasting blessedness; purify your heart, cultivate devotional feelings and you will see Him who is unseen. (14) Theoretically there is no distinction of caste among the Brahmas. They declare that we are all the children of God, and therefore must consider ourselves as brothers and sisters.

For long the Brahmas did not attempt any social reforms. But about 1865 the younger section, headed by Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, who joined the Samaj in 1857, tried to carry their religious theories into practice by demanding the abandonment of the external signs of caste distinction. This, however, the older members opposed, declaring such innovations to be premature. A schism resulted, Keshub Chunder Sen and his followers founding the Progressive Samaj, while the conservative stock remained as the Adi (i.e. original) Samaj, their aim being to "fulfil" rather than to abrogate the old religion. The vitality of the movement, however, had left it, and its inconsistencies, combined with the lack of strong leadership, landed it in a position scarcely distinguishable from orthodox Hinduism. Debendra Nath Tagore sought refuge from the difficulty by becoming an ascetic. The "Brahma Samaj of India," as Chunder Sen's party styled itself, made considerable progress extensively and intensively until 1878, when a number of the most prominent adherents, led by Anand Mohan Bose, took umbrage at Chunder Sen's despotic rule and at his disregard of the society's regulations concerning child marriage. This led to the formation of the Sadharana (Universal) Brahma Samaj, now the most popular and progressive of the three sections of the movement and conspicuous for its work in the cause of literary culture, social reform and female education in India. But even when we add all sections of the Brahma Samaj together, the total number of adherents is only about 4000, mostly found in Calcutta and its neighbourhood. A small community (about 130) in Bombay, known as the Prarthna (Prayer) Samaj, was founded in 1867 through Keshub Chunder's influence; they have a similar creed to that of the Brahma Samaj, but have broken less decisively with orthodox and ceremonial Hinduism.

See the articles on ARYA, SAMAJ, KESHUB CHUNDER SEN, RAM MOHAN ROY.
Also John Robson, _Hinduism and Christianity_; and the _Theistic
Quarterly Review_ (the organ of the Society since 1880).

BRAHMS, JOHANNES (1833-1897), German composer, was born in Hamburg on the 7th of May 1833. He was the son of a double-bass player in the Hamburg city theatre and received his first musical instruction from his father. After some lessons from O. Cossel, he went to Cossel's master, Eduard Marxsen of Altona, whose experience and artistic taste directed the young man's genius into the highest paths. A couple of public appearances as a pianist were hardly an interruption to the course of his musical studies, and these were continued nearly up to the time when Brahms accepted an engagement as accompanist to the Hungarian violinist, Remenyi, for a concert tour in 1853. At Gottingen there occurred a famous _contretemps_ which had a most important though indirect influence on the whole after-life of the young player. A piano on which he was to play the "Kreutzer" sonata of Beethoven with Remenyi turned out to be a semitone below the required pitch; and Brahms played the part by heart, transposing it from A to B flat, in such a way that the great violinist, Joachim, who was present and discerned what the feat implied, introduced himself to Brahms, and laid the foundation of a life-long friendship. Joachim gave him introductions to Liszt at Weimar and to Schumann at Dusseldorf; the former hailed him for a time as a member of the advanced party in music, on the strength of his E flat minor scherzo, but the misapprehension was not of long continuance. The introduction to Schumann impelled that master, now drawing near the tragic close of his career, to write the famous article "Neue Bahnen," in which the young Brahms was proclaimed to be the great composer of the future, "he who was to come." The critical insight in Schumann's article is all the more surprising when it is remembered how small was the list of Brahms's works at the time. A string quartet, the first pianoforte sonata, the scherzo already mentioned, and the earliest group of songs, containing the dramatic "Liebestreu," are the works which drew forth the warm commendations of Schumann. In December 1853 Brahms gave a concert at Leipzig, as a result of which the firms of Breitkopf & Haertel and of Senff undertook to publish his compositions. In 1854 he was given the post of choir-director and music-master to the prince of Lippe-Detmold, but he resigned it after a few years, going first to Hamburg, and then to Zurich, where he enjoyed the friendship and artistic counsel of Theodor Kirchner. The unfavourable verdict of the Leipzig Gewandhaus audience upon his pianoforte concerto in D minor op. 15, and several remarkably successful appearances in Vienna, where he was appointed director of Ihe Singakademie in 1863, were the most important external events of Brahms's life, but again he gave up the conductorship after a few months of valuable work, and for about three years had no fixed place of abode. Concert tours with Joachim or Stockhausen were undertaken, and it was not until 1867 that he returned to Vienna, or till 1872 that he chose it definitely as his home, his longest absence from the Austrian capital being between 1874 and 1878, when he lived near Heidelberg. From 1871 to 1874 he conducted the concerts of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde," but after the later date he occupied no official position of any kind. With the exception of journeys to Italy in the spring, or to Switzerland in the summer, he rarely left Vienna. He refused to come to England to take the honorary degree of Mus.D. offered by the university of Cambridge; the university of Breslau made him Ph.D. in 1881; in 1886 he was created a knight of the Prussian order _Pour le merite_, and in 1889 was presented with the freedom of his native city. He died in Vienna on the 3rd of April 1897.

The works of Brahms may be summarized as follows:--Various _sacred compositions for chorus_, op. 12, 13, 22, 27, 29, 30, 37, leading up to op. 45, the "German Requiem" first performed at Bremen in 1868, and subsequently completed by a soprano solo with chorus; the "Triumphlied" in commemoration of the German victories of 1870-71; and some choral songs and motets, op. 74, 109 and 110. _Secular choral works_, op. 17, 41, 42, 44, 50 ("Rinaldo" for tenor solo and male choir), 53 ("Rhapsodie," alto solo and male choir), 54 ("Schicksalslied"), 62, 82 (Schiller's Nanie), 89 ("Gesang der Parzen"), 93, 104, 113. _Concerted vocal-works_, op. 20, 28, 31, 52 ("Liebeslieder-Walzer"), 61, 64, 65 ("Neue Liebeslieder"), 75, 92, 103, 112. _Solo songs_, nearly 300. _Orchestral works_: four symphonies, op. 68, 73, 90 and 98; two serenades, op. 11 and 16; two pianoforte concertos, op. 15 and 83, one violin concerto, op. 77; concerto for violin and violoncello, op. 102; variations on a theme by Haydn, op. 56; two overtures, "Academische Festouverture," op. 80, and "Tragic Overture," op. 81. _Chamber music_: two sextets, op. 18 and 36; quintet, piano and strings, op. 34, strings, op. 88 and 111, clarinet and strings, op. 115; three string quartets, op. 51 and 67, three quartets for piano and strings, op. 25, 26 and 60. Three trios for piano and strings, op. 8, 87 and 101; trio for piano, violin and horn, op. 40; piano, clarinet and violoncello, op. 114. Duet sonatas, three for piano and violin, op. 78, 100 and 108; two for piano and violoncello, op. 38 and 99; two for piano and clarinet, op. 120. _Pianoforte solos_: three sonatas, op. 1, 2 and 5; scherzo, op. 4; variations, op. 9, 21, 23, 24, 35; 4 ballads, op. 10; waltzes, op. 39; two rhapsodies, op. 79; caprices and intermezzi, op. 76, 116, 117, 118 and 119. 5 _studies_ and 51 _Uebungen_ without opus-number, and a _chorale-prelude and fugue_ for organ, besides four books of _Hungarian Dances_ arranged for pianoforte duet.

Brahms has often been called the last of the great classical masters, in a sense wider than that of his place in the long line of the great composers of Germany. Though only the most superficial observers could deny him the possession of qualities which distinguish the masters of the romantic school, it is as a classicist that he must be ranked among modern musicians. From the beginning of his career until its close, his ideas were clothed by preference in the forms which had sufficed for Beethoven, and the instances in which he departed from structural precedent are so rare that they might be disregarded, were they not of such high value that they must be considered as the signs of a logical development of musical form, and not as indicating a spirit of rebellion against existing modes of structure. His practice, more frequent in later than in earlier life, of welding together the "working-out" and the "recapitulation" sections of his movements in a closer union than any of his predecessors had attempted, is an innovation which cannot fail to have important results in the future; and if the skill of younger writers is not adequate to such a display of ingenuity as occurs in the finale of the fourth symphony, where the "passacaglia" form has been used with an effect that is almost bewildering to the ordinary listener, that at least stands as a monument of inventiveness finely subordinated to the emotional and intellectual purport of the thoughts expressed. His themes are always noble, and even from the point of view of emotional appeal their deep intensity of expression is of a kind which grows upon all who have once been awakened to their beauty, or have been at the pains to grasp the composer's characteristics of utterance. His vocal music, whether for one voice or many, is remarkable for its fidelity to natural inflection and accentuation of the words, and for its perfect reflection of the poet's mood. His songs, vocal quartets and choral works abound in passages that prove him a master of effects of sound; and throughout his chamber music, in his treatment of the piano, of the strings, or of the solo wind instruments he employs, there are numberless examples which sufficiently show the irrelevance of a charge sometimes brought against his music, that it is deficient in a sense of what is called "tone-colour." It is perfectly true that the mere acoustic effect of a passage was of far less importance to him than its inherent beauty, poetic import, or logical fitness in a definite scheme of development; and that often in his orchestral music the casual hearer receives an impression of complexity rather than of clearness, and is apt to imagine that the "thickness" of instrumentation is the result of clumsiness or carelessness. Such instances as the introduction to the finale of the first symphony, the close of the first movement of the second, what may be called the epilogue of the third, or the whole of the variations on a theme of Haydn, are not only marvels of delicate workmanship in regard to structure, but are instinct with the sense of the peculiar beauty and characteristics of each instrument. The "Academic Festival" overture proves Brahms a master of musical humour, in his treatment of the student songs which serve as its themes; and the companion piece, the "Tragic" overture, reaches a height of sublimity which is in no way lessened because no particular tragedy has ever been named in conjunction with the work.

As with all creative artists of supreme rank, the work of Brahms took a considerable time before it was very generally appreciated. The change in public opinion is strikingly illustrated in regard to the songs, which, once voted ineffective and unvocal, have now taken a place in every eminent singer's repertory. The outline in his greater works must be grasped with some definiteness before the separate ideas can be properly understood in their true relation to each other; and while it is his wonderful power of handling the recognized classical forms, so as to make them seem absolutely new, which stamps him as the greatest musical architect since Beethoven, the necessity for realizing in some degree what musical form signifies has undoubtedly been a bar to the rapid acceptance of his greater works by the uneducated lovers of music. These are of course far more easily moved by effects of colour than by the subtler beauties of organic structure, and Brahms's attitude towards tone-colour was scarcely such as would endear him to the large number of musicians in whose view tone-colour is pre-eminent. His mastery of form, again, has been attacked as formalism by superficial critics, blind to the real inspiration and distinction of his ideas, and to their perfection in regard to style and the appropriateness of every theme to the exact emotional state to be expressed. In his larger vocal works there are some which treat of emotional conditions far removed from the usual stock of subjects taken by the average composer; to compare the ideas in the "German Requiem" with those of the "Schicksalslied" or "Nanie" is to learn a lesson in artistic style which can never be forgotten. In the songs, too, it is scarcely too much to say that the whole range of human emotion finds expression in noble lyrics that yield to none in actual musical beauty. The four "Ernste Gesange," Brahms's last composition, must be considered as his supreme achievement in dignified utterance of noble thoughts in a style that perfectly fits them. The choice of words for these as well as for the "Requiem" and others of his serious works reveals a strong sense of the vanity and emptiness of human life, but at least as strong a confidence in the divine consolations.

It has been the misfortune of the musical world in Germany that every prominent musician is ranged by critics and amateurs in one of two hostile camps, and it was probably due in the main to the misrepresentations of the followers of Wagner that the idea was so generally held that Brahms was a man of narrow sympathies and hard, not to say brutal manners. The latter impression was fostered, no doubt, by the master's natural detestation of the methods by which the average lionizer seeks to gain his object, and both alike are disproved in the _Recollections_ of J.V. Widmann, an intimate friend for many years, which throw a new light on the master, revealing him as a man of the widest artistic sympathies, neither intolerant of excellence in a line opposed to his own, nor weakly enthusiastic over mediocre productions by composers whose views were in complete sympathy with him. His admiration for Verdi and Wagner is enough to show that the absence of any operatic work from his list of compositions was simply due to the difficulty of finding a libretto which appealed to him, not to any antagonism to the lyric stage in its modern developments. How far he stood from the prejudices of the typical pedant may be seen in the passionate love he showed throughout his life for national music, especially that of Hungary. Not only were his arrangements of Hungarian dances the first work by which his name was known outside his native land, but his first pianoforte quartet, op. 25 in G minor, incurred the wrath of the critics of the time by its introduction of some characteristics of Hungarian music into the finale. His arrangement of a number of children's traditional songs was published without his name, and dedicated to the children of Robert and Clara Schumann in the earliest years of his creative life; and among the last of his publications was a collection of forty-nine German Volkslieder, arranged with the utmost skill, taste and simplicity. He had a great admiration for the waltzes of Strauss, and in many passages of his own works the _entrain_ that is characteristic of the Viennese dance-writers is present in a striking degree.

See also W.H. Hadow, _Studies in Modern Music_ (2nd series, 1908); and
the articles MUSIC, SONG. (J. A. F. M.)

BRAHUI, a people of Baluchistan, inhabiting the Brahui mountains, which extend continuously from near the Bolan Pass to Cape Monze on the Arabian Sea. The khan of Kalat, the native ruler of Baluchistan, is himself a Brahui, and a lineal descendant of Kumbar, former chief of the Kumbarini, a Brahui tribe. The origin of the Brahuis is an ethnological mystery. Bishop Robert Caldwell and other authorities declare them Dravidians, and regard them as the western borderers of Dravidian India. Others believe them to be Scythians,[1] and others again connect them with Tatar mountaineers who early settled in southern parts of Asia. The origin of the word itself is in doubt. It is variously derived as a corruption of the Persian _Ba Rohi_ (literally "of the hills"); as an eponym from Braho, otherwise Brahin or Ibrahim, a legendary hero of alleged Arab descent who led his people "out of the west," while Dr Gustav Oppert believes that the name is in some way related to, if not identical with, that of the Baluchis. He recognizes in the name of the Paratas and Paradas, who dwelt in north-eastern Baluchistan, the origin of the modern Brahui. He gives reasons for regarding the _Bra_ as a contraction of Bara and obtains "thus in Barahui a name whose resemblance to that of the ancient Barrhai (the modern Bhars), as well as to that of the Paratas and Paravar and their kindred the Maratha Paravari and Dravidian Parheyas of Palaman, is striking." The Brahuis declare themselves to be the aborigines of the country they now occupy, their ancestors coming from Aleppo. For this there seems little foundation, and their language, which has no affinities with Persian, Pushtu or Baluchi, must be, according to the most eminent scholars, classed among the Dravidian tongues of southern India. Probably the Brahuis are of Dravidian stock, a branch long isolated from their kindred and much Arabized, and thus exhibiting a marked hybridism.

Whatever their origin, the Brahuis are found in a position of considerable power in Baluchistan from earliest times. Their authentic history begins with Mir Ahmad, who was their chief in the 17th century. The title of "khan" was assumed by Nasir the Great in the middle of the 18th century. The Brahuis are a confederacy of tribes possessing common lands and uniting from time to time for purposes of offence or defence. At their head is the khan, who formerly seems to have been regarded as semi-divine, it being customary for the tribesmen on visiting Kalat to make offerings at the Ahmadzai gate before entering. The Brahuis are a nomadic race, who dwell in tents made of goats' hair, black or striped, and live chiefly on the products of their herds. They are Sunnite Mahommedans, but are not fanatical. In physique they are very easily distinguished from their neighbours, the Baluchis and Pathans, being a smaller, sturdier people with rounder faces characterized by the flat, blunt and coarse features of the Dravidian races. They are of a dark brown colour, their hair and beards being often brown not black. They are an active, hardy race, and though as avaricious as the Pathans, are more trustworthy and less turbulent. Their ordinary dress is a tunic or shirt, trousers gathered in at the ankles and a cloak usually of brown felt. A few wear turbans, but generally their headgear is a round skullcap with tassel or button. Their women are not strictly veiled. Sandals of deer or goat skin are worn by all classes. Their weapons are rifles, swords and shields. They do not use the Afghan knife or any spears. Some few Brahuis are enlisted in the Bombay Native Infantry.

See Dr Bellew, _Indus to Euphrates_ (London, 1874); Gustav Oppert,
_The Original Inhabitants of India_ (1893); Dr Theodore Duka, _Essay
on the Brahui Grammar_ (after the German of Dr Trumpp of Munich
University).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Compare Mountstuart Elphinstone's (_History of India_, 9th ed.,
1905, p. 249) description of Scythians with physique of Brahuis. A
relationship between the Jats (q.v.) and the Brahuis has been
suggested, and it is generally held that the former were of Scythic
stock. The Mengals, Bizanjos and Zehris, the three largest Brahui
tribes, are called Jadgal or Jagdal, i.e. Jats, by some of their
neighbours. The Zaghar Mengal, a superior division of the Mengal
tribe, believe they themselves came from a district called Zughd,
somewhere near Samarkand in central Asia. _Gal_ appears to be a
collective suffix in Baluchi, and _Men_ or _Min_ occurs on the lists
of the Behistun inscriptions as the name of one of the Scythian
tribes deported by Darius, the Achaemenian, for their turbulence (see
_Kalat, A Memoir on the County and Family of the Ahmadzai Khans of
Kalat_, by G.P. Tate). Sajdi, another Brahui tribal name, is
Scythian, the principal clan of which tribe is the Saga, both names
being identifiable with the Sagetae and Saki of ancient writers. Thus
there seems some reason for believing that the former occupants of at
least some portions of the Brahui domain were of Scythian blood.

BRAID (from the O. Eng. _bregdan_, to move quickly to and fro, hence to weave), a plait, especially a plait of hair, also a plaited tape woven of wool, silk, gold thread, &c., used for trimming or binding. A particular use is for the narrow bands, bordered with open work, used in making point lace.

BRAIDWOOD, THOMAS (1715-1806), British teacher of the deaf and dumb, was born in Scotland in 1715, and educated at Edinburgh University. He became a school teacher, and in 1760 opened in Edinburgh, with one pupil, the first school in Great Britain for the deaf and dumb, following the system of Dr John Wallis, described in _Philosophical Transactions_ nearly a hundred years before. This school was the model for all of the early English institutions of the kind. Dr Johnson visited it in 1773, and describes it as "a subject of philosophical curiosity ... which no other city has to show," and Braidwood's dozen pupils as able "to hear with the eye." In 1783 Braidwood moved to Hackney, where he died on the 24th of October 1806.

BRAILA (in Rumanian _Braila_, formerly IBRAILA), the capital of the department of Braila, Rumania; situated amid flat and dreary country on the left bank of the river Danube, about 100 m. from its mouth at Sulina. Pop. (1900) 58,392, including 10,811 Jews. Southward, the Danube encircles a vast fen, tenanted only by waterfowl and herds of half-wild swine, while the plain which extends to the north-east and east only grows fertile at some distance inland. Braila itself is plainly built on a bank rising about 50 ft. above sea-level; but partly on a narrow strip of ground which separates this bank from the water's edge. Along the crest of the bank a public park is laid out, commanding a view of the desolate Dobrudja hills, across the river.

On the landward side, Braila has the shape of a crescent, the curve of its outer streets following the line of the old fortifications, dismantled in 1829. Few houses, among the older quarters, exceed two storeys in height, but the main streets are paved, and there is a regular supply of filtered water. A wide avenue, the _Strada Bulivardului_, divides the town proper from the suburbs. The principal church, among many, is the cathedral of St Michael, a large, ungainly building of grey sandstone. Electric tramways intersect the town, and are continued for 3 m. to Lacul Sarat (Salt Lake), where there are mineral springs and mud-baths, owned by the state. The waters, which contain over 45% of salt, iodine and sulphur, are among the strongest of their kind in Europe; and are of high repute, being annually visited by more than a thousand patients. Braila is the seat of a chamber of commerce. It is the chief port of entry for Walachia, and the headquarters of the grain trade; for, besides its advantageous position on the river, it is connected with the central Walachian railways by a line to Buzeu, and with the Russian and Moldavian systems by a line to Galatz. Quays, where ships drawing 15 ft. of water can discharge, line the river front; and there are large docks, grain elevators and warehouses, besides paper mills, roperies, and soap and candle works. Over 20 steamers, maintained by the state, ply between Braila and Rotterdam. Among the vessels of all nations, the British are first in numbers and tonnage, the Greek second. Grain and timber form the chief articles of export; textiles, machinery, iron goods and coal being most largely imported.

Many events connected with the history of Walachia took place in the neighbourhood of Braila. In 1475 Stephen the Great, having dethroned the voivode Radu, burned the town. In 1573 another Moldavian prince took the city by storm, and massacred the Turkish garrison. In 1659 it was again burned by the Walachian prince Mircea, and for the time the Turks were expelled, but afterwards returned. In the latter part of the 18th century Braila was several times captured by the Russians, and in 1770 it was burned. By the peace of Bucharest (1812) the Turks retained the right of garrisoning Braila. In 1828 it was gallantly defended by Soliman Pasha, who, after holding out from the middle of May until the end of June, was allowed to march out with the honours of war. At the peace of Adrianople (1829) the place was definitely assigned to Walachia; but before giving it up, the grand-duke Michael of Russia razed the citadel, and in this ruinous condition it was handed over to the Walachians. Braila was the spot chosen by the Russian general Gorchakov for crossing the Danube with his division in 1854. On the banks of the Danube, a little above the city, are some remains of the piles of a bridge said by a very doubtful tradition to have been built by Darius (c. 500 B.C.).

BRAIN (A.S. _braegen_), that part of the central nervous system which in vertebrate animals is contained within the cranium or skull; it is divided into the great brain or cerebrum, the hind brain or cerebellum, and the medulla oblongata, which is the transitional part between the spinal cord and the other two parts already named. Except where stated, we deal here primarily with the brain in man.

1. ANATOMY

_Membranes of the Human Brain._

1. Falx cerebri.
2. Tentorium.
3,3. Superior longitudinal sinus.
4. Lateral sinus.
5. Internal jugular vein.
6. Occipital sinus.
6'. Torcular Herophili.
7. Inferior longitudinal sinus.
8. Veins of Galen.
9 and 10. Superior and inferior petrosal sinus.
11. Cavernous sinus.
12. Circular sinus which connects the two cavernous sinuses together.
13. Ophthalmic vein, from 15, the eyeball.
14. Crista galli of ethmoid bone.]

Three membranes named the _dura mater, arachnoid_ and _pia mater_
cover the brain and lie between it and the cranial cavity. The most
external of the three is the _dura mater_, which consists of a cranial
and a spinal portion. The cranial part is in contact with the inner
table of the skull, and is adherent along the lines of the sutures and
to the margins of the foramina, which transmit the nerves, more
especially to the foramen magnum. It forms, therefore, for these bones
an internal periosteum, and the meningeal arteries which ramify in it
are the nutrient arteries of the inner table. As the growth of bone is
more active in infancy and youth than in the adult, the adhesion
between the dura mater and the cranial bones is greater in early life
than at maturity. From the inner surface of the dura mater strong
bands pass into the cranial cavity, and form partitions between
certain of the subdivisions of the brain. A vertical longitudinal
mesial band, named, from its sickle shape, _falx cerebri_, dips
between the two hemispheres of the cerebrum. A smaller sickle-shaped
vertical mesial band, the _falx cerebelli_, attached to the internal
occipital crest, passes between the two hemispheres of the cerebellum.
A large band arches forward in the horizontal plane of the cavity,
from the transverse groove in the occipital bone to the clinoid
processes of the sphenoid, and is attached laterally to the upper
border of the petrous part of each temporal bone. It separates the
cerebrum from the cerebellum, and, as it forms a tent-like covering
for the latter, is named _tentorium cerebelli_. Along certain lines
the cranial dura mater splits into two layers to form tubular passages
for the transmission of venous blood. These passages are named the
_venous blood sinuses_ of the dura mater, and they are lodged in the
grooves on the inner surface of the skull referred to in the
description of the cranial bones. Opening into these sinuses are
numerous veins which convey from the brain the blood that has been
circulating through it; and two of these sinuses, called _cavernous_,
which lie at the sides of the body of the sphenoid bone, receive the
ophthalmic veins from the eyeballs situated in the orbital cavities.
These blood sinuses pass usually from before backwards: a _superior
longitudinal_ along the upper border of the falx cerebri as far as the
internal occipital protuberance; an _inferior longitudinal_ along its
lower border as far as the tentorium, where it joins the _straight
sinus_, which passes back as far as the same protuberance. One or two
small _occipital sinuses_, which lie in the falx cerebelli, also pass
to join the straight and longitudinal sinuses opposite this
protuberance; several currents of blood meet, therefore, at this spot,
and as Herophilus supposed that a sort of whirlpool was formed in the
blood, the name _torcular Herophili_ has been used to express the
meeting of these sinuses. From the torcular the blood is drained away
by two large sinuses, named _lateral_, which curve forward and
downward to the jugular foramina to terminate in the internal jugular
veins. In its course each lateral sinus receives two _petrosal_
sinuses, which pass from the cavernous sinus backwards along the upper
and lower borders of the petrous part of the temporal bone. The dura
mater consists of a tough, fibrous membrane, somewhat flocculent
externally, but smooth, glistening, and free on its inner surface. The
inner surface has the appearance of a serous membrane, and when
examined microscopically is seen to consist of a layer of squamous
endothelial cells. Hence the dura mater is sometimes called a
fibro-serous membrane. The dura mater is well provided with lymph
vessels, which in all probability open by stomata on the free inner
surface. Between the dura mater and the subjacent arachnoid membrane
is a fine space containing a minute quantity of limpid serum, which
moistens the smooth inner surface of the dura and the corresponding
smooth outer surface of the arachnoid. It is regarded as equivalent to
the cavity of a serous membrane, and is named the _sub-dural space_.

_Arachnoid Mater._--The arachnoid is a membrane of great delicacy and
transparency, which loosely envelops both the brain and spinal cord.
It is separated from these organs by the pia mater; but between it and
the latter membrane is a distinct space, called _sub-arachnoid_. The
sub-arachnoid space is more distinctly marked beneath the spinal than
beneath the cerebral parts of the membrane, which forms a looser
investment for the cord than for the brain. At the base of the brain,
and opposite the fissures between the convolutions of the cerebrum,
the interval between the arachnoid and the pia mater can, however,
always be seen, for the arachnoid does not, like the pia mater, clothe
the sides of the fissures, but passes directly across between the
summits of adjacent convolutions. The sub-arachnoid space is
subdivided into numerous freely-communicating loculi by bundles of
delicate areolar tissue, which bundles are invested, as Key and
Retzius have shown, by a layer of squamous endothelium. The space
contains a limpid cerebro-spinal fluid, which varies in quantity from
2 drachms to 2 oz., and is most plentiful in the dilatations at the
base of the brain known as _cisternae_. It should be clearly
understood that there is no communication between the subdural and
sub-arachnoid spaces, but that the latter communicates with the
ventricles through openings in the roof of the fourth, and in the
descending cornua of the lateral ventricles.

When the skull cap is removed, clusters of granular bodies are usually
to be seen imbedded in the dura mater on each side of the superior
longitudinal sinus; these are named the _Pacchionian bodies_. When
traced through the dura mater they are found to spring from the
arachnoid. The observations of Luschka and Cleland have proved that
villous processes invariably grow from the free surface of that
membrane, and that when these villi greatly increase in size they form
the bodies in question. Sometimes the Pacchionian bodies greatly
hypertrophy, occasioning absorption of the bones of the cranial vault
and depressions on the upper surface of the brain.

FIG. 2.--Front View of the Medulla, Pons and Mesencephalon of a
full-time Human Foetus.]

_Pia Mater._--This membrane closely invests the whole outer surface of
the brain. It dips into the fissures between the convolutions, and a
wide prolongation, named _velum interpositum_, lies in the interior of
the cerebrum. With a little care it can be stripped off the brain
without causing injury to its substance. At the base of the brain the
pia mater is prolonged on to the roots of the cranial nerves. This
membrane consists of a delicate connective tissue, in which the
arteries of the brain and spinal cord ramify and subdivide into small
branches before they penetrate the nervous substance, and in which the
veins conveying the blood from the nerve centres lie before they open
into the blood sinuses of the cranial dura mater and the extradural
venus plexus of the spinal canal.

_Medulla Oblongata._

The _Medulla Oblongata_ rests upon the basi-occipital. It is somewhat
pyramidal in form, about 1-1/4 in. long, and 1 in. broad in its widest
part. It is a bilateral organ, and is divided into a right and a left
half by shallow anterior and posterior median fissures, continuous
with the corresponding fissures in the spinal cord; the posterior
fissure ends above in the fourth ventricle. Each half is subdivided
into elongated tracts of nervous matter. Next to, and parallel with
the anterior fissure is the _anterior pyramid_ (see fig. 2). This
pyramid is continuous below with the cord, and the place of continuity
is marked by the passage across the fissure of three or four bundles
of nerve fibres, from each half of the cord to the opposite anterior
pyramid; this crossing is called the _decussation of the pyramids_. To
the side of the pyramid, and separated from it by a faint fissure, is
the _olivary fasciculus_, which at its upper end is elevated into the
projecting oval-shaped _olivary body_. Behind the olivary body in the
lower half of the medulla are three tracts named from before backward
the _funiculus of Rolando_, the _funiculus cuneatus_ and the
_funiculus gracilis_ (see fig. 3). The two _funiculi graciles_ of
opposite sides are in contact in the mid dorsal line and have between
them the _postero median_ fissure. When the fourth ventricle is
reached they diverge to form the lower limit of that diamond-shaped
space and are slightly swollen to form the _clavae_. All these three
bundles appear to be continued up into the cerebellum as the restiform
bodies or inferior cerebellar peduncles, but really the continuity is
very slight, as the restiform bodies are formed from the direct
cerebellar tracts of the spinal cord joining with the superficial
arcuate fibres which curve back just below the olivary bodies. The
upper part of the fourth ventricle is bounded by the superior
cerebellar peduncles which meet just before the inferior quadrigeminal
bodies are reached. Stretching across between them is the superior
medullary velum or valve of Vieussens, forming the upper part of the
roof, while the inferior velum forms the lower part, and has an
opening called the _foramen_ of Majendie, through which the
sub-arachnoid space communicates with the ventricle. The floor (see
fig. 3) has two triangular depressions on each side of a median
furrow; these are the superior and inferior _fovea_, the significance
of which will be noticed in the development of the rhombencephalon.
Running horizontally across the middle of the floor are the _striae
acusticae_ which are continued into the auditory nerve. The floor of
the fourth ventricle is of special interest because a little way from
the surface are the deep origins of all the cranial nerves from the
fifth to the twelfth. (See NERVE, _cranial_). If a section is made
transversely through the medulla about the apex of the fourth
ventricle three important bundles of fibres are cut close to the mid
line on each side (see fig. 4). The most anterior is the pyramid or
motor tract, the decussation of which has been seen. Behind this is
the mesial fillet or sensory tract, which has also decussated a little
below the point of section, while farther back still is the posterior
longitudinal bundle which is coming up from the anterior basis bundle
of the cord. External to and behind the pyramid is the crenated
section of the olivary nucleus, the surface bulging of which forms the
olivary body.

FIG. 3.--Back View of the Medulla, Pons and Mesencephalon of a
full-time Human Foetus.]

FIG. 4.--Transverse Section through the Human Medulla in the Lower
Olivary Region.]

The grey matter of the medulla oblongata, which contains numerous
multipolar nerve cells, is in part continuous with the grey matter of
the spinal cord, and in part consists of independent masses. As the
grey matter of the cord enters the medulla it loses its crescentic
arrangement. The posterior cornua are thrown outwards towards the
surface, lose their pointed form, and dilate into rounded masses named
the grey tubercles of Rolando. The grey matter of the anterior cornua
is cut off from the rest by the decussating pyramids and finally
disappears. The _formatio reticularis_ which is feebly developed in
the cord becomes well developed in the medulla. In the lower part of
the medulla a central canal continuous with that of the cord exists,
but when the clavae on the opposite sides of the medulla diverge from
each other, the central canal loses its posterior boundary, and
dilates into the cavity of the fourth ventricle. The grey matter in
the interior of the medulla appears, therefore, on the floor of the
ventricle and is continuous with the grey matter near the central
canal of the cord. This grey matter forms collections of nerve cells,
which are the centres of origin of several cranial nerves. Crossing
the anterior surface of the medulla oblongata, immediately below the
pons, in the majority of mammals is a transverse arrangement of fibres
forming the _trapezium_, which contains a grey nucleus, named by van
der Kolk the _superior olive_. In the human brain the trapezium is
concealed by the lower transverse fibres of the pons, but when
sections are made through it, as L. Clarke pointed out, the grey
matter of the superior olive can be seen. These fibres of the
_trapezium_ come from the cochlear nucleus of the auditory nerve, and
run up as the lateral fillet.

The _Pons Varolii_ or BRIDGE is cuboidal in form (see fig. 2): its
anterior surface rests upon the dorsum sellae of the sphenoid, and is
marked by a median longitudinal groove; its inferior surface receives
the pyramidal and olivary tracts of the medulla oblongata; at its
superior surface are the two crura cerebri; each lateral surface is in
relation to a hemisphere of the cerebellum, and a peduncle passes from
the pons into the interior of each hemisphere; the posterior surface
forms in part the upper portion of the floor of the fourth ventricle,
and in part is in contact with the corpora quadrigemina.

The pons consists of white and grey matter: the nerve fibres of the
white matter pass through the substance of the pons, in either a
transverse or a longitudinal direction. The transverse fibres go from
one hemisphere of the cerebellum to that of the opposite side; some
are situated on the anterior surface of the pons, and form its
superficial transverse fibres, whilst others pass through its
substance and form the deep transverse fibres. The longitudinal fibres
ascend from the medulla oblongata and leave the pons by emerging from
its upper surface as fibres of the two crura cerebri. The pons
possesses a median raphe continuous with that of the medulla
oblongata, and formed like it by a decussation of fibres in the mesial
plane. In a horizontal section through the pons and upper part of the
fourth ventricle the superficial transverse fibres are seen most
anteriorly; then come the anterior pyramidal fibres, then the deep
transverse pontine fibres, then the fillet, while most posteriorly and
close to the floor of the fourth ventricle the posterior longitudinal
bundle is seen (see fig. 5).

FIG. 5.--Section through the Lower Part of the Human Pons Varolli
immediately above the Medulla.]

The grey matter of the pons is scattered irregularly through its
substance, and appears on its posterior surface; but not on the
anterior surface, composed exclusively of the superficial transverse
fibres.

FIG. 6.--Mesial section through the Corpus Callosum, the
Mesencephalon, the Pons, Medulla and Cerebellum. Showing the third and
fourth ventricles joined by the aqueduct of Sylvius.]

_The Cerebellum._