Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/451

LEFT PT0LEM2EUS 375 PTOLEMY ton; dorsal vertebrae proccelous, anterior trunk-ribs double-beaded; broad ster- num, with median keel, and ossified ster- nal ribs. Jaws generally armed with teeth, implanted in distinct sockets. The fore-limb consists of a humerus, ulna, and radius, carpus, and hand of four fingers, the inner three unguiculate, the outer clawless and enormously elon- gated. Supported by this finger, the gest" that the earth was a fixed body, remaining constantly at rest in the cen- ter of the universe, with the sun and moon revolving round it as attendant satellites. To account for the more com- plicated movements of the planets, a con- trivance was devised by which each planet revolved m a circle, while the cen- ter of that circle described another circle round the earth. The Ptolemaic system PTERODACTYLS side of the body, and the comparatively short hind limb, was a patagium, or fly- ing membrane. The bones were pneu- matic. PTOLEM^TJS, the dynastic name of 13 kings of Egypt, who reigned from 323 to 43 B. c. The most famous was Ptole- mjeus Soter, who reigned from 323 to 285 B. c. See Ptolei^iy I. PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM, the hypothe- sis maintained by Ptolemy in his "Alma- prevailed till Copernicus propounded what is now accepted as the true sys- tem of the universe. See CoPERNiGUS; Ptolemy, Claudius. PTOLEMY, the name of various an- cient rulers, as follows: Ptolemy I., surnamed Soter, founder of the Graeco-Egyptian dynasty of the Lagides, was a Macedonian, and became a favorite general of Alexander the Great. On the death of his master, in