Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/462

Rh 442 p M _ p M enclosing a quantity of pulp derived from the coats of the numerous seeds. This pulp, filled as it is with refreshing acid juice, constitutes the chief value of the tree. The more highly cultivated forms contain more of it than the wild or half-wild varieties. The great structural peculiar ity consists in the presence of the two rows of carpels one above another (a state of things which occurs exceptionally in apples and oranges), and in the fact that, while in the lower series (fig. 1) H the seeds are attached to the inner border or lower angle of the cavity, they occupy the outer side in Figl. the upper series (fig. 2), Transverse sections of the lower and as if, during growth, the upper parts of the berried fruit of upper whorl had become completely bent over. By Bentham and Hooker the genus lmica is included under Lythrncese ; others consider it more nearly allied to the myrtles ; while its peculiarities are so great as, in the opinion of many botanists, to justify its inclusion in a separate order. Xot only is the fruit valuable in hot countries for the sake of its pulp, but the rind and the bark and the outer part of the root are valuable as astringents owing to the large quantity of tannin that they contain. The bark of the root is likewise valued in cases of tape-worm. The tree is without doubt wild in Afghanistan, north-western India, and the districts south and south-west of the Caspian, but it has been so long cultivated that it is difficult to say whether it is really native in Palestine and the Mediterranean region. It has been cited as wild in northern Africa, but this appears to be a mistake. Recently, however, Prof. Bayley Balfour met with a wild sp.-cies, heretofore unknown, in the island of Socotra, the flowers of which have only a single row of carpels, which suggests the inference that it may have been the source of the cultivated varieties. But, on the other hand, in Afghanistan, where Aitchison met with the tree truly wild, a double row of carpels was present as usual. The antiquity of the tree as a cultivated plant is evidenced by the Sanskrit name Dailimba, and by the references to the fruit in the Old Testament, anil in the Odyssey, where it is spoken of as cultivated in the gardens of the kings of Phrcacia and Phrvgia. The fruit is frequently represented on ancient Assyrian and Egyptian sculptures, and had a religious significance in con nexion with several Oriental cults, especially the Phrygian cult of Cybele (Arnob., v. 5 sq. ; see also Baudissin, Stitdien, ii. 207 sq.). It was well known to the Greeks and Romans, who were acquainted with its medicinal properties and its use as a tanning material. The name given by the Romans, malum pnnicum, indicates that they received it from Carthago, as indeed is expressly stated by Pliny ; and this circumstance has given rise to the notion that the tree was indigenous in northern Africa. On a review of the whole evidence, botanical, literary, and linguistic-, Alphonse de Candolle (Orlijine dcs Plantcs Cult ictus) pronounces against its African origin, and decides in favour of its source in Persia and the neigh bouring countries. According to Saporta the pomegranate existed in a fossil state in b.-ds of the Pliocene epoch near Meximieux in Burgundy. The pomegranate is sometimes met with in cultiva tion against a wall in England, but it is too tender to withstand a severe winter. The double-flowered varieties a -e specially desirable for the beauty and long duration of their flowers. POMERANIA (Germ. Pommern) is a maritime pro vince of Prussia, bounded on the N. by the Baltic, on the &quot;VV. by Mecklenburg, on the S. by Brandenburg, and on the E. by West Prussia. Its area is 11,620 square miles. The province is officially divided into the three districts of StraUund, Stettin, and Coslin ; but more historical interest attaches to the names of Vorpommern and Hinter- pomrnern, or Hither and Farther Pomerania, applied to the territory to the west and to the east of the Oder respectively. As a whole Pomerania is one of the lowest and flattest parts of Germany, but to the east of the Oder it is traversed by a range of low hills, and there are also a few isolated eminences to the west. Off the west coast, which is very irregular, lie the islands of Rugen, Usedom, and Wollin ; the coast of Farther Pomerania is smooth in outline and bordered with dunes or sandbanks. Be sides the Oder and its affluents, there are several small rivers flowing into the Baltic, none of which, however, are navigable except for rafts. Many of these end in small littoral lakes, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land, through which the water escapes by one or more outlets. The interior of the province is also thickly sprinkled with lakes, the combined area of which is equal to about one-twentieth of its entire surface. The soil of Pomerania is for the most part thin and sandy, especially to the east of the Oder ; but patches of good soil occur here and there. About 55 per cent, of the surface is under tillage, while 19 per cent, consists of meadow and pasture and 20 per cent, is covered by forests. The principal crops are potatoes, rye, and oats, but wheat and barley are grown in the more fertile districts ; tobacco and beetroot for sugar are also cultivated. Agriculture is still in many respects carried on in a somewhat primitive fashion, and the live stock is as a rule of an inferior quality. Large flocks of sheep are kept both for their flesh and wool, and geese and goose-feathers form lucrative articles of export. (A tabular view of the agricultural products of Pomerania will be found under PKUSSIA.) Owing to the long coast-line and the numerous lakes, fishing forms a not unimportant industry, and large quantities of herring, eels, lampreys, etc., are sent from Pomerania to other parts of Germany. With the excep tions of its inexhaustible layers of peat or soft coal, the mineral wealth of Pomerania is insignificant. Its indus trial activity is also of no great importance, though there are a few manufactories of machinery, chemicals, tobacco ; sugar, and other articles, chiefly in or near the larger towns, and linen-weaving is practised as a domestic industry. Shipbuilding is carried on at Stettin and other places on the coast. Commerce, however, is relatively much more flourishing. Stettin is one of the chief sea ports of Prussia, and Stralsund, Greifswald, and Colberg also possess a foreign trade, the exports consisting mainly of grain, timber, and fish. In 1880 Pomerania contained 1,540,034 inhabitants, all of whom were Protestants except 23,877 Roman Catholics and 1-3,886 Jews. The Slavonic element in the population is now represented only by a few thousand Poles and a handful of the ancient Cassubians on the east border. Pomerania is the most sparsely populated province in Prussia, the ratio being 132 inhabitants per square mile. About 67 per cent, of the population belong to the rural districts, while the remainder live in communities of 2000 and upwards. There are only nine towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants, at the head of which stands Stettin with 91,000. The Pomeranians belong mainly to the old Saxon stock, and are, as a rule, tall, strong, and well-built. They somewhat resemble the Scots in their cautious and persevering character, their strong theological bias (which perpetuates the existence of numerous small Protestant sects), and their turn for dry humour ; but they are by no means so enterprising or so open to new ideas. In 18813 only 32 per cent, of the Pomeranian recruits were illiterate, a fact which speaks well for the educational system of the province. There is a univeisity at Greifswald. The province sends 16 members to the reiclistag and 26 to the Prussian house of representatives. The heir-presumptive of the Prussian crown bears the title of governor of Pomerania. History. In prehistoric times the southern coast of the Baltic seems to have been occupied by Celts, who afterwards made way for tribes of Teutonic stock. These in their turn migrated to other settlements and were replaced, about the beginning of the 6th century of our era, by Slavonians. The name of Pomore or Pommern, meaning &quot;on the sea,&quot; was attached to the district by the last of these immigrant races, and has often changed its political and geographical significance. Originally it seems to have denoted the coast district between the Oder and the Vistula, a territory which was at first more or less dependent on Poland, but which appears towards the end of the 12th century as divided between two native, dukes owning the supremacy of the German emperor. Afterwards Pomerania spread much farther to the west, while correspondingly curtailed on the east, and a distinction was made between Slavinia. or modern Pomerania, and Pomerellen. The latter, corresponding substantially to the present province of West