to the conclusion that he wrote
before that school became dominant at Bologna. Savigny, who traced the
history of the _Brachylogus_ with great care, is disposed to think that
it is the work of Irnerius himself (_Geschichte des rom. Rechts im
Mittelalter_). Its value is chiefly historical, as it furnishes evidence
that a knowledge of Justinian's legislation was always maintained in
northern Italy. The author of the work has adopted the _Institutes_ of
Justinian as the basis of it, and draws largely on the _Digest_, the
_Code_ and the _Novels_; while certain passages, evidently taken from
the _Sententiae Receptae_ of Julius Paulus, imply that the author was
also acquainted with the Visigothic code of Roman law compiled by order
of Alaric II.

An edition by E. Bocking was published at Berlin in 1829, under the
title of _Corpus Legum sive Brachylogus Juris Civilis_. See also H.
Fitting, _Uber die Heimath und das Alter des sogenannten Brachylogus_
(Berlin, 1880).

BRACKET, in architecture and carpentering, a projecting feature either
in wood or metal for holding things together or supporting a shelf. The
same feature in stone is called a "console" (q.v.). In furniture it is a
small ornamental shelf for a wall or a corner, to bear knick-knacks,
china or other bric-a-brac. The word has been referred to "brace,"
clamp, Lat. _bracchium_, arm, but the earliest form "bragget" (1580)
points to the true derivation from the Fr. _braguette_, or Span.
_bragueta_ (Lat. _bracae_, breeches), used both of the front part of a
pair of breeches and of the architectural feature. The sense development
is not clear, but it has no doubt been influenced by the supposed
connexion with "brace."

BRACKET-FUNGI. The term "bracket" has been given to those hard, woody
fungi that grow on trees or timber in the form of semicircular brackets.
They belong to the order _Polyporeae_, distinguished by the layer of
tubes or pores on the under surface within which the spores are borne.
The mycelium, or vegetable part of the fungus, burrows in the tissues of
the tree, and often destroys it; the "bracket" represents the fruiting
stage, and produces innumerable spores which gain entrance to other
trees by some wound or cut surface; hence the need of careful forestry.
Many of these woody fungi persist for several years, and a new layer of
pores is superposed on the previous season's growth.

BRACKLESHAM BEDS, in geology, a series of cla