Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/310

 PRO

PRO

As to an offender's being Jut Juris, it is to be obfervedj that neither a Ton, nor a fervant, nor any other pcrfon, except a feme covert, is excufed on the account of acling by com- mand or coercion of another. Hawk. P. C. B. j. c. i. Sea the article Feme ccoveti. PROSERPINA, in botany, a name given by fomc authors to

chamemiie Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. PROSEUCHF, in antiquity, properly fignifies prayer; but it is taken for the places of prayer of the Jews, and was pretty near the fame as their fynagogues. But the fynagogues were originally in the cities, and were covered places ; whereas, for the moil: part, the profeucbes were out of the cities, and upon the banks of rivers, having no covering, except, perhaps, the made of fome trees, or fome covered galleries. Calmet. Diction. Bibl.

The word is Greek, n?oinv%», petitio, precatio, oratio. Vid. Hederic. Lex. Man. Grsec. in voc. Juv. Sat. 3 v. 296. In qua te quasro p rofeucba. PROSLAMBANOMENOS, in the ancient Greek muilc, was the firft note of their fcale, whether afcending or defcending. Phil. Tranf. N°. 48;. p. ?6 9.

It was ufual among the Greeks to confidcr a defcending as well as an afcending fcale ; the former proceeding from acute to grave precifely by the fame intervals as the latter did from grave to acute. The not diftinguifhing thefe two fcales has led feveral learned moderns to fuppofe, that the Greeks, in fome centuries took the proflambanomeno* to be the loweft note in their fyftem ; and in other centuries to be the higheft. But the truth of the matter is, that the projZambaiwmenos.vrzs the loweft or higheft note, according as they confidered the af- cending or defcending fcale a. The learned author of this re- mark b, thinks this distinction of the afcending or defcending fcales conducive to the variety and perfection of melody ; but he fays, he never met with above one piece of mullc, where the compoier appeared to have any intelligence cf that kind: and this piece wa- above 150 years old. [*PhU, Tranf. ibid. »Dr. Pepufh, ibid.] The proflambanomenos was one of thofe founds which the an- cients called Jlabtles, from their remaining fixed throughout all the genera and fpecies. Phil. Tranf. N°. 481. p. 270. PROSODIA, IlfOFoJia. in antiquity, a facred fong, or hymn, fung in honour of the gods. Jt differed from the projodia with an omega, wfo<™»&«, which was a fong fung in concert With fome mufical inftrument. Mem. Acad. Infcript Vol. 1 4

P- r^-

PROSTATES, n g ar«ta. among the Athenians, was ufed to fig- nify any patron to whofc protection fojpurners in that city committed themfelves.

He was allowed to demand feveral fervicei of them, in which. if they failed, or neglected to choofe a patron, an action was commenced againft them before the polemarchus, and their goods were confifcatcd. Potter, Archceol. Grac. 1. 1. c. ic. T. 1. p. 56. See Sojourners.

PROS PyPA, n^wlvva, in the fculpture of the anticnts, images carved in fuch a manner as to bz only half raifed abo\ e the ground, or plain, on which they were formed. They feem to adhere to it, and have only one fide expo fed to view. To projhpcs is oppofed eclypa, H'jfm. Lex. in voc. See Ectvpa.

PRO! EA, in the Linnaean fyftcm of botany, a genus of plants which takes in thelepidocarpodcndron, and the hypophyllo- carpodendron of Boerhaave.

i'he characters of this are. that the calyx is a common perian- ■thium, containing feveral flowers ; it is made up of feveral Jittle leaves laid in a loofe manner over one another, and the inner ones very long, expanded, coloured, and remaining when the flowers are fallen. The flower is monopetaloAs, or made of one leaf, in form of a fimplc tube, divided at its fummit into four fegments, each as long as the tubular part, and all ftrait, obtufe, and bent backward. The ifamina are four extremely fhort filaments, inferted on the fegments of the flower, near its fummit ; the anther* are laid clofely on thefe. The germen of the piftil is below the proper receptacle of the flower. The ilyle is (lender and very long, and -the fHgma'hmple. The fruit is one common large teceptacle, which is flat and divided by hairy fcales. The feeds are Angle. Linnee'i G< n. Plant, p. 22.

PROTELARTJ, among the Romans, were the poorer fort of citizens, whofe eftate did not exceed fifteen hundred pieces of filver. They were diftinguifhoi from thofe who were worth little or nothing; thefe laft being called capite cenft. Pittfc. in voc. ' See Capite cenfi.

PROTHESIS, neofleffi?, among the Greeks, the ceremony of laying the dead near the door till the time of their interment, , with their feet outwards; on which account the Romans called them poftt't. fiofm. Lex. in voc. See Posii 1. The word is derived from sr^ri-fafu, I expofe to view.

PROTIPULA, in natural hiftory, a name given to a fpecies of fly refembliog the tipula, or long-legs, in many refpects ; but differing in regard to the effential character, which, in the tipula. is the having two beards growing on the anterior part of the head, and occafionally falling over the mouth, and clofing its aperture; thefe the pretipula wants. See the article TjPf&A.

PROTOGALA, the term ufed by the antients for what we call beejrings, the firft milk of a cow or other animal after her having brought forth young.

PROTOMEuIA, in botany, a name given by fomc authors to the pimpinella or burnet. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

PRO TOPASCHI VJE, n^w^m., in church hiftory, Here- ties, who after the manner of the Jews, celebrated the feaft of Eafter with unleavened bread. They were likewife called 'Sabot 1 am, ffoffm.hcx. unir. in voc. See Sabatiani.

PROTRUSORlS o'd-. exterior., in anatomy, a name given by Santorini to certain fafcicuii of the great zygomatic mufclc, running under the fiefhy part of the lower lip. See the articles Zvgomaticus maj-.r, and Labiorum. atto.'lens.

ProtrusORIS interior trio, in anatomy, a name given by San- torini to a mufcle of the face, called by Albinus orbicularis oris; and by Covvper and Do'uglafe cimfttiBcn labiorum and JpbinBtr labiorum.

PROTRYGIA, npbyiut, in antiquity, a fcftival in honour of Neptune, and of Bacchus, furnamed \lj>o}fpyvu or Xlffiuyat ?,- airl Tiis Tyryhf, i. e. from n-.w wine. Potter, Archseol. Grsec. I ?. c. 20. T. 1. p. 427.

PROVER, (Cycl ) amongjewellers, an inflrument by which they examine the fize and depth of diamonds. It is a fpring in ftiapc not unlike a pair of caliber com panes, kept at the proper diftance by means of a fpring. Jeffreys on diamonds, p. 18, and plate 6.

PROX, in natural hiftory, a name given by Ariflotle to the cervus flatyceros, or broad-horned flag The modern Greeks have called it platwia, and the interpreters of the oldeit writers have rendered the word by dama\ but this we are to under- stand as meant of the dima of our times, for the dam a of the antients was our ifarus, or farrius, a kind of goat, whole fkin affords us the true.chamoy leather. This has no title to the name platonia, or the platycercs ; nor is the creature that Ariflotle defcribes under the name /.r«, nor of the ftao- kind, as that certainly was.

PRUNE], LA, or Brunella, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flowers con- fift of one leaf, which is of the labiated kind. The upper ]ip is galeated, and the lower is divided into three fegments, the middle one being hollowed like a fpoon. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower, and furrounded by four embryos, which afterwards become four feed-, ripening in an open cap- fule which was the cup of the flower.

To thefe characters it may be added, that the ftamina have not that refemblance of the os hyoides that thofe of fao-e, clary, and the reft have ; and that the flowers are always ar- ranged in clofe fpikes. See Tab. 1 . of Botany, Clafs 4. The .fpecies of prunella, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, arc thefe: 1. The broad-leaved Italian brunella, with fleih-co- loured flowers. 2. The common b!ue-flowercd brunella, with undivided leaves. 3. The common brunella, with undivided leaves and purple flowers. 4. The common brunella, with undivided leaves and white flowers. 5. The great flowered brunella, with blue flowers. 6 The great flowered brunela, with flefli coloured flowers. 7. The great flowered brunella, with white flowers. 8. The greateft Pyrenean brunella, with very large flowers. 9 The Portugal prunella, with a larger flower and fpike. 10. The narrow-leaved, or hyftop-Ieavcd brunella. 11. I'he brunella with diflectcd leaves. 12. The cut-leaved brunella, with white flowers. 1 3. The leaft white- flowered cut-leaved brunella. 14. The cut-leaved brunella, , with rofe-coloured flowers. Ttun. Inft. p. 182.

PRUNUS, the plum, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe ; the flower is of the rofa- ceous kind, being compofed of feveral petals, arranged in a circular form. From the cup of the flower there arifes a piftil, which finally becomes a fruit of a roundiih or oval figure. This is foft and fiefhy, and includes a ftone pointed at each end, within which is the kernel. Town. Inft. p. 622.

The fpecies of plum enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The double-flowered plum-tree. 1. The plum with large, fweet, bluifh black fruit. 3. The plum with fmall fwcet, bluifh black fruit. 4. The plum with large flefliy and fowerifli fruit. 5. The plum with oblong blue fruit. 6. The plum with hard black fruit. 7. The plum with very large bluifh-red, fweet, and fugar-like fruit. 8. .The plum with the large, bluifh red, late ripening fruit, called by the French the imperatrice. 9. The plum with large, oval, red fruit, called the red Imperial plum. 1 0. The plum with a large, oval, yellow fruit, called Amply the imperial plum 11. The plum with a very large, oval, yellow fruit, i 2. The wax -coloured plum. 13. The plum with large, round, red fruit. 14. The plum with a large, round, yellow, fweet-taftcd fruit. 15. 'I he almond plum, ]6. The plum with oblong, white, acid fruit. 17. The fweet-taftcd Brignole plum. 1 S. The plum with a remarkably red and fweet fruit. 19 The plum with large, round, blackifh, and very fweet fruit. 20. Tie plum with fmall, round, blackifh, and very fweet fruit. 21. The plum with a fmall auftere fruit. 22. The plum with fmall and early ripe fruit. 23. The plum with fmall, vellowifh green fruit. 24. The common wild plum. 25. The tall,

early