ck), a form of fuel, known also
as "patent fuel," consisting of small coal compressed into solid blocks by
the aid of some binding material. For making briquettes the small coal, if
previously washed, is dried to reduce the moisture to at most 4%, and if
necessary crushed in a disintegrator. It is then incorporated in a pug mill
with from 8 to 10% of gas pitch, and softened by heating to between 70 deg. and
90 deg. C. to a plastic mass, which is moulded into blocks and compacted by a
pressure of 1/2 to 2 tons per sq. in. in a machine with a rotating die-plate
somewhat like that used in making semi-plastic clay bricks. When cold, the
briquettes, which usually weigh from 7 to 20 lb each, although smaller
sizes are made for domestic use, become quite hard, and can be handled with
less breakage than the original coal. Their principal use is as fuel for
marine and locomotive boilers, the evaporative value being about the same
as, or somewhat greater than, that of coal. The principal seat of the
manufacture in Great Britain is in South Wales, where the dust and smalls
resulting from the handling of the best steam coals (which are very
brittle) are obtainable in large quantities and find no other use. Some
varieties of lignite, when crushed and pressed at a steam heat, soften
sufficiently to furnish compact briquettes without requiring any cementing
material. Briquettes of this kind are made to a large extent from the
tertiary lignites in the vicinity of Cologne; they are used mainly for
house fuel on the lower Rhine and in Holland, and occasionally come to
London.

BRISBANE, SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL (1773-1860), Scottish soldier and
astronomer, was born on the 23rd of July 1773 at Brisbane House, near
Largs, in Ayrshire. He entered the army in 1789, and served in Flanders,
the West Indies and the Peninsula. In 1814 he was sent to North America; on
the return of Napoleon from Elba he was recalled, but did not arrive in
time to take part in the battle of Waterloo. In 1821 he was appointed
governor of New South Wales. During the four years for which he held that
office, although he allowed the finances of the colony to get into
confusion, he endeavoured to improve its condition by introducing the vine,
sugar-cane and tobacco plant, and by encouraging the breeding of horses and
the reclamation of land. At his instigation exploring parties were sent
out, and one of these discovered the Brisbane river which was named after
him. He esta