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 colossal monolith, part of some ancient monument, to add it to other architectural pieces; then the busy scene of a pottery; and finally artists painting in the open air. Puvis, as a rule, adhered to the presentment of the nude or of the lightest drapery; here, however, in response to some critical remarks, he has clad his figures exclusively in modern dress. After prolonged negotiations, begun so early as in 1891, with the trustees of the Boston Library, U.S.A., Puvis de Chavannes accepted a commission to paint nine large panels for that building, to be inserted in separate compartments, three facing the door, three to the right and three to the left. These pictures, begun in 1895, were finished in 1898. In these works of his latest period Puvis de Chavannes soars boldly above realistic vision. In the figures which people the walls with poetic images he endeavours to achieve originality of the embodying forms, and at the same time a plastic expression of ideas born of a mind whose conceptions grew ever loftier, while yet the artist would not abandon the severe study of nature. Such works as the great paintings at Amiens, Rouen, Marseilles, the Panthéon, the Sorbonne, and the Hôtel de Ville are among the most important productions of French art in the 19th century. Puvis de Chavannes was president of the National Society of Fine Arts (the New Salon). His principal pupils and followers are Ary Renan (d. 1900), Baudouin, J. F. Auburtin and Cottet.

See A. Michel, “Exposition de M. Puvis de Chavannes,” Gazette des beaux-arts (1888); Marius Vachon, Puvis de Chavannes (1900); J. Buisson, “Puvis de Chavannes, Souvenirs Intimes,” Gazette des beaux-arts (1899).

PUY, a geological term used locally in Auvergne for a volcanic hill. Most of the puys of central France are small cinder-cones, with or without associated lava, whilst others are domes of trachytic rock, like the domite of the Puy-de-Dôme. The puys may be scattered as isolated hills, or, as is more usual, clustered together, sometimes in lines. The chain of puys in central France probably became extinct in late prehistoric time. Other volcanic hills more or less like those of Auvergne are also known to geologists as puys; examples may be found in the Eifel and in the small cones on the Bay of Naples, whilst the relics of denuded puys are numerous in the Swabian Alps of Württemberg, as pointed out by W. Branco. Sir A. Geikie has shown that the puy type of eruption was common in the British area in Carboniferous and Permian times, as abundantly attested in central Scotland by remains of the old volcanoes, now generally reduced by denudation to the mere neck, or volcanic vent, filled with tuff and agglomerate, or plugged with lava.

 PUY-DE-DÔME, a department of central France, four-fifths of which belonged to Basse-Auvergne, one sixth to Bourbonnais, and the remainder to Forez (Lyonnais). Area, 3094 sq. m. Pop. (1906), 535,419. It is bounded N. by Allier, E. by Loire, S. by Haute-Loire and Cantal, and W. by Corrèze and Creuse. The highest point of the department, the Puy de Sancy (6188 ft.), is also the most elevated peak of central France; it commands the group of the volcanic Monts Dore, so remarkable for their rocky corries, their erosion valleys, their trap dykes and orgues of basalt, their lakes sleeping in the depths of ancient craters or confined in the valleys by streams of lava, and their wide plains of pasture-land. The Puy de Sancy, forming part of the watershed, gives rise on its northern slope to the Dordogne, and on the east to the Couze, a sub-tributary of the Loire, through the Allier. The Monts Dore are joined to the mountains of Cantal by the non-volcanic group of the Cézallier, of which the highest peak, the Luguet (5102 ft.), rises on the confines of Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal. On the north the Monts Dore are continued by a plateau of a mean height of from 3000 to 3500 ft., upon which are seen sixty cones raised by volcanic outbursts in former times. These are the Monts Dôme, which extend from south to north as far as Riom, the most remarkable being the Puy-de-Dôme (4800 ft.), from which the department takes its name, and the Puy-de-Pariou, the latter having a crater more than 300 ft. in depth. A meteorological observatory occupies the summit of the Puy-de-Dôme, which was once crowned by a Roman temple, the ruins of which still exist. To the east of the department, along the confines of Loire, are the Monts du Forez, rising to 5380 ft. and continued north by the Bois Noirs. Between these mountains and the Dôme extends the fertile plain of Limagne. The drainage of Puy-de-Dôme is divided between the Loire, by its affluents the Allier and the Cher, and the Gironde, by the Dordogne. The Allier traverses the department from south to north, receiving on its right the Dore, which falls into the Allier at the northern boundary and lowest level of the department (879 ft.); on its left are the Alagnon from the Cantal, the two Couzes from the Luguet and the Monts Dore, and the Sioule, the most important of all, which drains the north-west slopes of the Monts Dore and Dôme, and joins the Allier beyond the limits of the department. The Cher forms for a short space the boundary between the departments of Puy-de-Dôme and Creuse, close to that of Allier. The Dordogne, while still scarcely formed, flows past Mont-Dore-les-Bains and La Bourboule and is lost in a deep valley which divides this department from that of Corrèze. None of these streams is navigable, but boats can be used on the Allier during floods. The climate of Puy-de-Dôme is usually very severe, owing to its high level and its distance from the sea; the mildest air is found in the northern valleys, where the elevation is least. During summer the hills about Clermont-Ferrand, exposed to the sun, become all the hotter because their black volcanic soil absorbs its rays. On the average 25 or 26 in. of rain fall in the year; in the Limagne around which the mountains arrest the clouds rainfall is less. Nevertheless the soil of this plain, consisting of alluvial deposits of volcanic origin, and watered by torrents and streams from the mountains, makes it one of the richest regions of France. In the highest altitudes the rainfall attains 64 in.

About two-thirds of the inhabitants of Puy-de-Dôme are engaged in agriculture. The Limagne yields a variety of products and the vine flourishes on its hill-sides. The high mountains provide pasture for large flocks of cows and sheep, and cheese-making is an industry of much importance. The intermediate region is cultivated chiefly for cereals, the chief of which are rye, wheat, oats and barley. Potatoes are largely grown, and, to a less extent, peas, beans, beetroot and colza. The Limagne produces fruits of all kinds—apricots, cherries, pears, walnuts and apples, from which considerable quantities of cider are made. The department possesses considerable mineral wealth. There are important coal-mines at Brassac on the Allier, on the borders of Haute-Loire, at St Éloy near the department of Allier, and at Bourg-Lastic on the borders of Corrèze. Peat, asphalt, bituminous schists, antimony, mispickel and argentiferous lead are also worked. Of the last named there are mines and foundries at Pontgibaud on the Sioule. Amethysts and other rare minerals are found and there are numerous stone-quarries. The watering-places of, and  receive separate notice. The springs of St Nectaire, containing sodium and iron chlorides and bicarbonates, are efficacious in liver complaints, rheumatism and gravel. The waters of Châteauneuf (on the Sioule), also known to the Romans, contain iron bicarbonates and are resorted to for skin diseases. Those of Châtelguyon, like the waters of Carlsbad and Marienbad, are used for disorders of the digestive organs, congestions of the liver, rheumatism, &c. There are many other mineral springs of varied character. Manufactures are for the most part grouped around Thiers, which produces a large amount of cheap cutlery, paper and leather, and Clermont-Ferrand, the capital. The department contains factories for lace and braid (in the mountains), for buntings and camlets and wool, cotton and hemp mills. There are wool-carding works and factories for linens, cloths and counterpanes, also silk-mills, tanneries, manufactories for chamois and other leathers, for caoutchouc (Clermont-Ferrand), sugar-works, manufactures of edible pastes with a reputation as high as those of Italy, and manufactures of fruit-preserves. The department exports grain, fruits, cattle, wines, cheese, wood, mineral waters, cutlery, &c. It is served by the Orléans and Paris-Lyon railway companies. Many thousands of the inhabitants, belonging chiefly to the district of Ambert, leave it during winter and find work elsewhere as navvies, chimney-sweeps, pit-sawyers, &c. The department comprises 5 arrondissements—Clermont-Ferrand, Ambert, Issoire, Riom, Thiers —50 cantons and 471 communes. It is included in the bishopric and académie (educational division) of Clermont-Ferrand and the region of the XIII. army corps, of which the headquarters are in the same town; the appeal court is at Riom.

The more noteworthy places in the department are, , , , , , and  (all separately noticed). Near Clermont-Ferrand is Mont Gergovie (see ) the scene of the victory of Vercingetorix over Julius Caesar. Other places of