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BRIGHT - 6 reference results

bright-line spectrum: see spectrum.

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Bright, Richard, 1789-1858, English physician. In London he was the leading consultant of his time, and he contributed many important clinical observations. He was the author of the significant Reports of Medical Cases (Vol. I, 1827). This contained his description of certain forms of nephritis, or kidney disease, known generally as Bright's disease, and of dropsy resulting from kidney disease, as distinct from cardiac dropsy. Bright was a physician at Guy's Hospital.

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Bright, John

Bright, John, 1811-89, British statesman and orator. He was the son of a Quaker cotton manufacturer in Lancashire. A founder (1839) of the Anti-Corn Law League, he rose to prominence on the strength of his formidable oratory against the corn laws. A staunch laissez-faire capitalist, and, with Richard Cobden, a bastion of the Manchester school of economics, he resented the protection given to landholders by these laws at the expense of manufacturing interests. After the repeal (1846) of the corn laws, Bright's principal concern was parliamentary reform, which he pursued relentlessly until passage of the third Reform Bill in 1884. A member of Parliament for Manchester (1847-57), he lost his seat because of his opposition to British involvement in the Crimean War, which he considered un-Christian and against Britain's economic interests. He represented Birmingham (1858-89) and served in William Gladstone's cabinets as president of the Board of Trade (1868-70) and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (1873-74, 1880-82). He supported Gladstone on the issues of disestablishment of the Church of Ireland (1869) and Irish land reforms, but he opposed Home Rule for Ireland. His laissez-faire views also made him oppose direct government intervention to improve the conditions of the poor. He resigned (1882) in protest against intervention in Egypt for the same reasons that had led him to oppose the Crimean War.

See his speeches (ed. by J. E. T. Rogers, 1868) and public addresses (also ed. by J. E. T. Rogers, 1879); D. Read, Cobden and Bright (1967); J. R. Vincent, The Formation of the British Liberal Party (1967).

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

Bright, John

(born Nov. 16, 1811, Rochdale, Lancashire, Eng.—died March 27, 1889, Rochdale) British reform politician and orator. He entered Parliament in 1843 and served three times as a member of William E. Gladstone's cabinet. He was active in campaigns for free trade, lower grain prices, and parliamentary reform. His Quaker beliefs shaped his politics, which consisted mainly of demands for an end to inequalities between individuals and between peoples. He denounced the Crimean War, supported the Reform Bill of 1867, and was a cofounder (with Richard Cobden) of the Anti-Corn Law League.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Bright disease

Type of nephritis without pus formation or edema. It may or may not recur. The acute stage involves severe inflammation and back pain, deficient kidney function, swelling, and hypertension. In the subacute stage the kidney enlarges, blood does not reach its surface and red blood cells are damaged (leading to anemia), and its tissue breaks down, releasing excess blood protein into urine. In the chronic stage a small, shriveled, scarred kidney cannot filter nitrogen compounds from the blood, causing uremia. Treatment focuses on symptom relief.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.