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The symptoms are usually of a severe character. Pain in the back, vomiting and febrile disturbance commonly usher in the attack. Dropsy, varying in degree from slight puffiness of the face to an accumulation of fluid sufficient to distend the whole body, and to occasion serious embarrassment to respiration, is a very common accompaniment. The urine is reduced in quantity, is of dark, smoky or bloody colour, and exhibits to chemical reaction the presence of a large amount of albumen, while, under the microscope, blood corpuscles and casts, as above mentioned, are found in abundance.
This state of acute inflammation may by its severity destroy life, or, short of this, may by continuance result in the establishment of one of the chronic forms of Bright's disease. On the other hand an arrest of the inflammatory action frequently occurs, and this is marked by the increased amount of the urine, and the gradual disappearance of its albumen and other abnormal constituents; as also by the subsidence of the dropsy and the rapid recovery of strength.
In the treatment of acute Bright's disease, good results are often obtained from local depletion, from warm baths and from the careful employment of diuretics and purgatives. Chronic Bright's disease is much less amenable to treatment, but by efforts to maintain the strength and improve the quality of the blood by strong nourishment, and at the same time by guarding against the risks of complications, life may often be prolonged in comparative comfort, and even a certain measure of improvement be experienced.
BRIGNOLES, a town in the department of Var in the S.E. of France, 36 m. by rail N. of Toulon. Pop. (1906) 3639. It is built at a height of 754 ft. above the sea-level, in a fertile valley, and on the right bank of the Carami river. It contains the old summer palace of the counts of Provence, and has an active trade, especially in prunes, known as prunes de Brignoles. Its old name was Villa Puerorum, as the children of the counts of Provence were often brought up here. It was sacked on several occasions during the religious wars in the 16th century. Twelve miles to the N.W. is St Maximin (with a fine medieval church), which is one of the best starting-points for the most famous pilgrimage resort in Provence, the Sainte Baume, wherein St Mary Magdalene is said to have taken refuge. This is 20 m. distant by road.
(W. A. B. C.)
BRIHASPATI, or Brahmanaspati ("god of strength"), a deity of importance in early Hindu mythology. In the Rigveda he is represented as the god of prayer, aiding Indra in his conquest of the cloud-demon, and at times appears to be identified with Agni, god of fire. He is the offspring of Heaven and Earth, the two worlds; is the inspirer of prayer and the guide and protector of the pious. He is pictured as having seven mouths, a hundred wings and horns and is armed with bow and arrows and an axe. He rides in a chariot drawn by red horses. In the later scriptures he is represented as a Rishi or seer.
See A.A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897).
BRIL, PAUL (1554-1626), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp. The success of his elder brother Matthew (1550-1584) in the Vatican induced him to go to Rome to live. On the death of Matthew, Paul, who far surpassed him as an artist, succeeded to his pensions and employments. He painted landscapes with a depth of chiaroscuro then little practised in Italy, and introduced into them figures well drawn and finely coloured. One of his best compositions is the "Martyrdom of St Clement," in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican.
BRILL, the name given to a flat-fish (Psetta laevis, or Rhombus laevis) which is a species closely related to the turbot, differing from it in having very small scales, being smaller in size, having no bony tubercules in the skin, and being reddish in colour. It abounds on parts of the British coast, and is only less favoured for the table than the turbot itself.
BRILLAT-SAVARIN, ANTHELME (1755-1826), French gastronomist, was born at Belley, France, on the 1st of April 1755. In 1789 he was a deputy, in 1793 mayor of Belley. To escape proscription he fled from France to Switzerland, and went thence to the United States, where he played in the orchestra of a New York theatre. On the fall of Robespierre he returned to France, and in 1797 became a member of the court of cassation. He wrote various volumes on political economy and law, but his name is famous for his Physiologie du goût, a compendium of the art of dining. Many editions of this work have been published. Brillat-Savarin died in Paris on the 2nd of February 1826.
BRIMSTONE, the popular name of sulphur (q.v.), particularly of the commercial "roll
