Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/288

 P o u

P o u

the flower has no calyx or cup ; but is compofed of four ob- tufe, roundifh, hollow, and open petals, which fall off before the ripening of the feeds. The flamina are four plane, ob- tufe, and very fhort filaments ; the anthers are double and fhort ; the piftillum has four germina, which are all oval and pointed : thefe have no ftyle, but obtufe ftigmata. There is no other fruit than four feeds fucceeding each flower; thefe are of a roundifh, but flatted figure, gibbofe, and pointed. Linnati Gen. Plant, p. 55.

The characters of this genus, according to Tournefort, are thefe : the flower confifts of four leaves, difpofed in form of

-■ acrofs, and having no cup j the piftil becomes at length a congeries of four feeds, of an oblong figure, collected into a fort of head.

The fpecies of potamogeiton, enumerated by Mr, Tournefort, arethefe: 1. The roundifh- leaved potamogeiton. 2.Thelong- leaved ferrated potamogeiton. 3. The plantain-leaved alpine- potamoge'iUn. 4. The broad fhining-leaved potamogeiton. 5. The curled-leaved potamogeiton, called frog's lettuce. 6. The narrow undulated -leaved potamogeiton. 7. The letter potamo- geiton, with denfe lharp-pointed, and not ferrated leaves. 8. The narrow-leaved branched potamogeiton. 9. The grafly- leaved potamogeiton, with flatted ftalks. 1 o. The fmall graffy- Jeaved potamogeiton, with round ftalks. n. The potamogeiton with flowers at the knots of the ftalks, called water-milfoil. 12. The pennated-leaved water-milfoil^ called by fome fea- thered water-milfoil. Tourn. Inft. p. 233.

POTAMOPITYS, in botany, a name given by Buxbaum to a new genus of plants, fomewhat refembling the limnopeuce in its general external appearance ; but greatly differing from that plant in its flower and fruit.

The ftalk is about four inches high, and is made up of feveral joints, fixed in the manner of fo many cups one into another. The leaves ftand in form of a ftar, eight, or thereabout, at every joint: thefe are narrow at the lower part of the plant; but toward the top, they are broader, and ftand fewer at a joint, fometimes only two. The flowers grow out of the alas of the leaves, and are white and compofed of four petals, difpofed in form of a crofs : they ftand in a four-leaved cup, and have no pedicle. The piftU occupies the center of the flower, and is furrounded by four ftamina. The feed veflel is round, divided into four cells, and filled with {lender and lunated feeds. It flowers in May, and is common in the mar/by grounds in Thrace, near the Bofphorus, A&. Petrop. Vol. 1. p. 243.

POTATOE. The moft advantageous way of propagating po- tatoes is, the planting them at large diftances, and digging or horfehoeing the ground feveral times between them. Mr. Tull gives an example of this, in which the hoeing fuc- ceeded much better than dung, and without the expence of it. A piece of ground was planted with potatoes, the greater part of it in the common way; but in one part, worfe than the reft, they had been fet at a yard diftance every way. The reft of the ground was dunged ; this poor part had no dung, but was ploughed deep at feveral times four different ways, fo that the ground was ftirred and broken thoroughly every where about the potatoes. The confequence was, that tho' no dung was ufed here, and tho' the plants appeared much weaker than in the dung part, yet the crop was greatly better than that of the other part of the field. The roots here were all large, and in the other parts of the field, where the dung had been ufed without ploughing, they were fo fmall, that the crop was fcarce worth taking up. This is one of many inftances of the no great ufe of dunging land, without properly ftining it up ; and ferves to prove, what the crops of corn and every thing elfe confirm upon trial, that the ftirring the earth fufficiently, without any farther trouble, will anfwer better without any other manure, than all the manure in the world without it. Tull's Horfenoeini Hufbandry. POTENTILLA, in botany, a name given by many authors to the argentina, or filver weed ; and by fome with the addition of the epithet major, or the greater potentilla, to the ulmeria, or meadow-fweet. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. POTERIUM, a word ufed by many for the prickly pimpernell

See PlMPINELLA.

FOTHOS, in botany, a name ufed by Theophraftus, and fome other of the old writers, for the aquilegia or columbine. Ger Emac. Ind. 2.

POTINCOBA, in botany, a name by which fome authors call water-pepper, or the fharp arfmart. Pifo, 221.

POTIRONE, in botany, a name given by the people of Bi gundy to a ftinking kind of fungus, found about the roots of trees. They have alfo extended the name much farther, and ufe it for a fort of touchwood, or rotten wood of the oak, and other trees common in the forefts of thofe countries.. which mines in the night, and has the fame fmell with that fungus.

POTRiMPOS, the name of an antient Pruflian idol, worfhip ed under oaks, and to which human facrifices of enemies were offered. Mem. del'Acad. de Berlin, Tom. 2. p. 35 Peicunos and Picolos were idols of the fame kind.

POTTERN-wv, a kind of lead ore. See Lead-o/v.

POUCH, In the military art. A grenadier's pouch is a fquars cafe or bag of leather, with a flap over it, hanging in a ftrap of about two inches broad over the left fhoulder, in which he carries his granadocs. POUDRE des Chart reux. See Kermes mineral. POUNCE (Cycl.)— Pounce, among writing-matters, a pow- der made of gum-fandarac, which being rubbed on the pa- per, makes it lefs apt to imbibe the ink : it is therefore ufed in this manner by thofe who are curious in the art of the pen, by which means the writing appears more precile, fharp, and determinate.

The varnifh-makers alfo ufe to diflblve it in oil of turpentine, or in linfeed oil, or in fpirit of wine ; from which mixture is produced a kind of liquid varnifti. POUND (Cycl.) — In Scotland the pound is divided into two marks, or fixteen ounces, the ounce into fix teen drops, and a drop into thirty- fix grains. Tr. Fradt. Geom. p. 153. Pound averdupois. The Englifh averdupois pound, taken from the reputed ftandard, is about 7000 Troy grains, and the ounce about 437 and an half fuch grains. But it is to he ob- ferved, that the flandards kept at the Exchequer differ a little from each other.

The Scotch, Paris, or Am&erdzm pound, h to the pound aver- dupois as thirty-eight is to thirty-five. Tr.Prac"t..Geom.p.i53.

Pound breach, in law. If a diftrefs be taken, and impounded, though without juft caufe, the owner cannot break the pound, and take away the diftrefs ; if he doth, the party diffraining may have his action, and retake the diftrefs wherever he finds it: and for pound 'breaches, &c. action of the cafe lies, where- on treble damages may be recovered. 1 Inft. 161. 2 W. & M. c. 5.

Alfo it is faid, that all pound breaches may be enquired of in the fheriff's turn, as they are common grievances, in contempt of the authority of the law. 2 Hawk. P. C. 67. Blount.

Pound land, of old extent. This is alfo called iibrata terra, and is ufed in Scotland to denote a certain portion of arable land, containing four oxengate, or fifty-two acres. Tr. Praft. Geom. p. S7. See Ox-gang.

Pound Troy, in Scotland, which by ftatute is to be the fame as the French pound, is commonly fuppofed equal to fifteen ounces and three quarters Troy Englifti weight, or 7560 grains. But by a mean of the ftandards kept by the dean of gild of Edinburgh, it weighs 7S993V' or 7^00 grains.

POUR fair proclaimer, que null irijeit jines oy ordures en fojjes oit rivers pres cities, &c. in law, an antient writ, directed to the mayor or bailiff of a city or town, requiring them to make proclamation, that none caft filth into the ditches or places near fuch ciiy or town, to the nufance thereof; and if any be caft there already, to remove the fame. It is founded on the ftatute 12 Rich. II. c. 13. F. N. B. 176. Blount, Cowel

Pour feifer terres la femme quetient en dotver^ in law, an antient writ, whereby the king (eized the land which the wife of his tenant in capite had for her dowry, after his difeafe. if fhe married without the king's leave ; by virtue of the ftatute of the king's prerogative c. 3. F. N. B. 174. Blount. Cowel.

POUSSE-^/W, in natural hiftory, the French name for a genus of fhell-fifh, called by writers of other nations the pohdpes. See Policifes.

Rondeletius has very improperly confounded this genus of fhells with the balani marini ; but the two genera are extreme- ly different, as well in their general figure as in this, that the poujje-ped always has a pedicle to which it is affixed, and the balanus never has any. Every poujfe-pied is compofed of feve- ral pointed fliells or valves ; the bafes of the larger of thefe are affixed to the pedicles. The outer furface of the fliell is of a moufe colour, and is rough like chagrin ; but the infide is filled with a white flefh, which, when boiled, becomes very red, and is of a fine tafte and good nourifnment, being ia nothing inferior to the flefh of cray-fifhes. The poujjepied differs from the concha anatifera in this, that the anatifera is only compofed of five pieces ; and the pedicle is longer and flenderer, and rarely adheres to that of any other fliell of the fame kind ; and the fhell is only filled with a mucous fluid, and a few plumofe fubftances. On the contrary, the pouffepied is never found fingle ; it is always feen in clufters, the pedicles joining and adhering to rocks under water, fo that it is bare only at the time of the tide being out. The union of the bafes of the pedicles of thefe fhells forms a fort of tree, of which the loofe part of each pedicle makes a fort of branch ; and the tops of thefe are furnifhed with feveral triangular pieces, each of which has its plume belonging to it. This pedicle is fhorter and thicker than that of the concha anatifera, and is eatable; and, indeed, is the only part of the animal that is fo. The fifli contained in the fhell, is nearly the fame with the fifli in the concha anatifera, excepting the difference in the length and thicknefi of the arms, or branches of feathers. Kift. Nat. Eclairc. p. 359.

-POUST, an Indian name for a very poor and coarfe kind of opium, made by boiling the ftalks and leaves of the opium poppy in water, and then evaporating the clear liquor to the conliffence of a folid extract.

POUTING, or wbiti?ig-l y o\JT, In ichthyology, a name given to a fpecies of bearded gudus. See Gad us.

POWCHES,