Brushes are of two kinds, simple and compound. The former consist of but one tuft, as hair pencils and painters' tools. The latter have more than one tuft. Brushes with the tufts placed side by side on flat boards, as plasterers' brushes, are called stock-brushes. The single tuft brushes, or pencils for artists, are made of the hair of the camel, badger, goat and other animals for the smaller kind, and pig's bristles for the larger. The hairs for pencils are carefully arranged so as to form a point in the centre, and, when tied together, are passed into the wide end of the quill or metal tube and drawn out at the other end to the extent required. The small ends of the quills, having been previously moistened, contract as they dry and bind the hair. A similar effect is produced with metal tubes by compression. Compound brushes are—first, set or pan-work; second, drawn-work. Of the former, an example is the common house-broom, into the stock of which holes are drilled of the size wanted. The necessary quantity of bristles, hair, or fibre to fill each hole being collected together, the thick ends are dipped into molten cement chiefly composed of pitch, bound round with thread, dipped again, and then set into a hole of the stock with a peculiar twisting motion. In drawn-brushes, of which those for shoes, teeth, nails and clothes are examples, the holes are more neatly bored, and have smaller ones at the top communicating with the back of the brush, through which a bight or loop of wire passes from the back of the stock. Half the number of hairs of fibres needed for the tufts to fill the holes are passed into the bight of the wire, which is then pulled smartly so as to double the hairs and force them into the loop-hole as far as possible. With all brushes, when the holes have been properly filled, the ends of the fibres outside are cut with shears, either to an even length or such form as may be desired. The backs are then covered with veneer or other material to conceal the wire and other crudities of the work. In trepanned brushes the bristles are inserted in holes that do not pass right through the stock, and are secured by threads or wires running in drawholes which are drilled through the stock at right angles to them. The ends of these drawholes are plugged so as to be as inconspicuous as possible, and the method avoids the necessity of a veneer on the back. The Woodbury machine, one of the earliest mechanical devices for the manufacture of brushes, which was invented in America about 1870, produced brushes of this kind. One of the most important purposes to which brushes have been applied is that of sweeping chimneys, and so far back as 1789 John Elin patented an arrangement of brushes for this purpose. Revolving brushes for sweeping rooms were patented in 1811, and the first patent in which they were applied to hair-dressing appears in 1862. Many inventions for sweeping and cleaning roads by means of revolving brushes and other contrivances have been introduced, one of the first being that of Edmund Henning in 1699 for "a new engine for sweeping the streets of London, or any city or town."
Brushes with tufts formed of steel wire are used for cleaning tubes and flues of steam boilers, for the purpose of removing the scale formed by the products of combustion. Steel-wire brushes are also used for cleaning scale from the interior surfaces of a boiler, and for removing the sand from the surface of a casting. Occasionally such brushes are revolved in a machine, for more convenient use on the article to be cleaned or polished. Snyer's patent elastic clutch or coupling, used for such purposes as coupling up or disconnecting a steam-engine from a line of shafting or dynamo, consists essentially of two disks, the adjacent faces of which are provided, one with a ring of brushes made of flat steel wire, the other with a number of finely serrated teeth. One of the disks is movable longitudinally on its shaft, and with the brushes clear of the serrations the clutch is free. On bringing the disks together, which may be done with the engine running at speed, the elasticity of the brush permits the motion to be imparted gradually and without shock to the standing part, until both rotate and are locked together. These clutches are very powerful, and are capable of transmitting as much as 3000 horse-power.
In dynamo-electric machinery the device used to conduct current into or out of the rotating armature is termed a "brush." There are usually two brushes to each dynamo or motor, and they are placed diametrically opposite, lightly touching the commutator of the armature. It is important that there should be good metallic contact between the brushes and the commutator, and at the same time the frictional resistance resulting from the contact must be a minimum. To effect this result brushes are variously made. A kind of brush frequently used consists of a number of copper wires laid side by side and soldered together at one end, where the brush is held. Brushes are also made of strips of spongy copper cut like a comb, which give a number of bearing points on the commutator. Very good results are obtained from brushes made of copper gauze wound closely until it takes the exterior form of a rectangular block, which is held radially in a spring holder, and bears at the end on the commutator. In place of the gauze block "brushes" of hard carbon blocks are frequently used (see Dynamo).
BRUSSELS (Fr. Bruxelles, Flem. Brussel), the capital of the kingdom of Belgium, and of the province of Brabant, situated in 50° 51′ N., 4° 22′ E., about 70 m. from the sea at Ostend. It occupies the plain or valley of the Senne, and the sides and crest of the hill lying to the east and south-east of that valley. It is now extending over the hills west of the valley, and to the north is the town or commune of Laeken, which is practically part of the city. Brussels suffered severely in 1695 from the bombardment of the French under Villeroi, who fired into the town with red-hot shot. Sixteen churches and 4000 houses were burnt down, and the historic buildings on the Grand Place were seriously injured, the houses of the Nine Nations on the eastern side being completely destroyed. In 1731 the famous palace of the Netherlands was destroyed by fire, and the only remains of this edifice are some ruined arches and walls in a remote comer of the grounds of the king's palace. The Porte de Hal is the only one of the eight gates in the old wall left standing. It dates from 1381, and is well worth more careful examination than it receives. In the latter half of the 18th century it served as a kind of bastille for political prisoners, and is now used as a museum in which a rather nondescript collection of articles, some from Mexico, has been allowed to accumulate. With regard to the fine boulevards of the Upper Town, it may be mentioned that about 1765 they were planted with the double row of lime trees which still constitute their chief ornament by Prince Charles of Lorraine while governing the Netherlands for his sister-in-law, the empress Maria Theresa. The residence of this prince was the palace of William the Silent, before he declared against Spam, and it is now used partly for the royal library, which contains the famous librairie de Bourgogne, and partly for the museum
of modern pictures. The only other "hotel" or palace in Brussels is that of the duke d'Arenberg. In the 16th century this was the residence of Count Egmont, but very little of the building of his day remains. In the same street, the rue des Petits Carmes, was the Hôtel Culembourg in which the famous oath of the beggars was taken. It has long been demolished and the new barracks of the Grenadier regiment have been erected on the site.
The only other buildings of importance dating from medieval times are the three churches of Ste Gudule (often erroneously called the cathedral), Notre-Dame des Victoires or Church of the Sablon, and Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, or simply la Chapelle, and the hotel de ville and the Maison du Roi on the Grand Place. The church of Ste Gudule, also dedicated to St Michael, is built on the side of the hill originally called St Michael's Mount, and now covered by the fashionable quarters which are included under the comprehensive description, of the Upper Town. It was begun about the year 1220, and is considered one of the finest specimens left of pointed Gothic. It is said to have been completed in 1273, with the exception of the two towers which were added in the 14th or 15th century. Some of the stained glass is very rich, dating from the 13th to the 15th century. In many of the windows there are figures of leading members of the houses of Burgundy and Habsburg. The curious oak pulpit representing Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden came originally from the Jesuit church at Louvain, and is considered the masterpiece of Verbruggen. The church of the Sablon is said to have been founded in 1304 by the gild of Crossbowmen to celebrate the battle of Woeringen. In a side chapel is a fine monument to the princely family of Thurn and Taxis, which had the monopoly of the postal service in the old empire. La Chapelle is still older, dating nominally from 1210, the choir and transept being considered to date from about fifty years later. There are some fine monuments, especially one to the duke de Croy who died in 1624. The two churches last named have undergone much renovation both outside and inside.
The Grand Place is by its associations one of the most interesting public squares in Europe. On its flags were fought out many feuds between rival gilds; Egmont and Horn, and many other gallant men whose names have been forgotten, were executed here under the shadow of its ancient buildings, and in more recent times Dumouriez proclaimed the French Republic where the dukes of Brabant and Burgundy were wont to hold their jousts. Apart from its associations the Grand Place contains two of the finest and most ornate buildings not merely in the capital but in Belgium. Of these the hôtel de ville, which is far the larger of the two, occupies the greater part of the south side of the square. Its facade has the disadvantage of having had one half begun about half a century before the other. The older, which is the richer in design, forms the left side of the building and dates from 1410, while the right, less rich and shorter, was begun in 1443. The fine tower, 360 ft. in height, is crowned by the golden copper figure of St Michael, 16 ft. in height, erected here as early as 1454. This tower lies behind the extremity of the left wing of the building. Opposite the town-hall is the smaller but extremely ornate Maison du Roi. This was never a royal residence as the name would seem to imply, but its description appears to have been derived from the fact that it was usually in this building that the royal address was read to the states-general. As this building was almost destroyed by Villeroi's bombardment it possesses no claim to antiquity, indeed the existing building was only completed in 1877. Egmont and Horn were sentenced in the hôtel de ville, and passed their last night in the Maison du Roi.
Among the principal buildings erected in the city during the 18th century are the king's palace and the house of parliament or Palais de la Nation, which face the south and north sides of the park respectively. The palace occupies part of the site covered by the old palace burnt down in 1731, and it was built in the reign of the empress Maria Theresa. It originally consisted of two detached buildings, but in 1826-1827 King William I. of the Netherlands caused them to be connected. The palace contains two fine rooms used for court ceremonies, and a considerable number of pictures. In 1904 a bill was passed in the chambers for the enlargement and embellishment of the palace. The adjacent buildings, viz. the department of the civil list, formerly the residence of the marquis d'Assche, and the Hôtel de Bellevue, held under a kind of perpetual lease granted by the empress Maria Theresa, were absorbed in the palace, and a new façade was constructed which occupies the entire length of the Place du Palais. At the same time a piece was cut off the park to prevent the undue contraction of the Place by the necessary bringing forward of the palace, and the pits which played a certain part in the revolution of 1830 when the Dutch defended the park for a few days against the Belgians were filled up. The Palais de la Nation was constructed between 1779 and 1783, also during the Austrian period. It was intended for the states-general and government offices. During the French occupation the law courts sat there, and from 1817 to 1830 it was assigned for the sittings of the states-general. It is now divided between the senate and the chamber of representatives. In 1833 the part assigned to the latter was burnt out, and has since been reconstructed. The buildings flanking the chambers and nearer the park are government offices with residences for the ministers attached.
The improvements effected in Brussels during the 19th century were enormous, and completely transformed the city. The removal of the old wall was followed by the creation of the quartier Léopold, and at a later period of the quartier Louis in the Upper Town. In the lower, under the energetic direction of two burgomasters, De Brouckere and Anspach, not less sweeping changes were effected. The Senne was bricked in, and the fine boulevards du Nord, Anspach, Hainaut and Midi took the place of slums. The Bourse and the post-office are two fine modern buildings in this quarter of the city. The Column of the Congress—i.e. of the Belgian representatives who founded the kingdom of Belgium—surmounted by a statue of King Leopold I., was erected in 1859, and in 1866 the foundation-stone was laid of the Palais de Justice, which was not finished till 1883, at a cost of sixty million francs. This edifice, the design of the architect Poelaert, is in the style of Karnak and Nineveh, but surmounted with a dome, and impresses by its grandiose proportions (see Architecture, Plate XI. fig. 121). It is well placed on the brow of the hill at the southern extremity of the rue de la Régence (the prolongation of the rue Royale), and can be seen from great distances. In the rue de la Régence are the new picture gallery, a fine building with an exceedingly good collection of pictures, the palace of the count of Flanders, and the garden of the Petit Sablon, which contains statues of Egmont and Horn, and a large number of statuettes representing the various gilds and handicrafts. Immediately above this garden is the Palais d'Arenberg. Perhaps the memorial that attracts the greatest amount of public interest in Brussels is that to the Belgians who were killed during the fighting with the Dutch in September 1830. This has been erected in a little square called the Place des Martyrs, not far from the Monnaie theatre. Outside Brussels at Evere is the chief cemetery, with fine monuments to the British officers killed at Waterloo (removed from the church in that village), to the French soldiers who died on Belgian soil in 1870-71, and another to the Prussians.
Many as were the changes in Brussels during the 19th century, those in progress at its close and at the beginning of the 20th have effected a marked alteration in the town. These have been rendered possible only by the excellent system of electric tramways which have brought districts formerly classed as pure country within reach of the citizens. The construction of the fine Avenue de Louise (1½ m. long) from the Boulevard de Waterloo to the Bois de la Cambre was the first of these efforts to bring the remote suburbs within easy reach, at the same time furnishing an approach to the "bois" of Brussels that might in some degree be compared with the Champs Élysées in Paris. Another avenue of later construction (6½ m. in length) connects the park of the Cinquantenaire with Tervueren. This route is extremely