Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/582

Rh 560 P S P S well-built modern quarter that has sprung up under the Prussian regime. On the other bank is the Wallischei, a poor district inhabited by Poles. Among the older build ings none calls for remark except the town-house, a quaint specimen of the Slavonic adaptation of Romanesque forms. The chief modern buildings are the various military and public offices, the law courts, the theatre, the real school, and the Raczynski library. The churches are devoid of architectural interest, but the cathedral contains numerous interesting objects of art, including two bronze-gilt statues Plan of Posen. of the first Christian kings of Poland, by Rauch. The manufactures of Posen are multifarious enough, including machinery, carriages, tobacco, copper boilers and vats, military requisites, chemicals, etc. ; but there is nothing that can be called a staple industry. A lively trade is carried on in the agricultural products of Russia and Poland, and several well-attended fairs and markets are held. In 1880 Posen contained 65,713 inhabitants, in cluding 35,725 Roman Catholics, 22,869 Protestants, and 7063 Jews. The German inhabitants are at present con siderably more numerous than the Poles, though it would seem that the latter have increased in a greater ratio since 1875. The Jewish element is stronger here (10 7 per cent.) than in any other town in Germany. The garrison consists of 7000 men. Posen, one of the oldest towns in Poland and the residence of some of the early Polish princes, became the seat of a Christian bishop towards the end of the 10th century. The original settle ment was on the east bank of the Warthe, but the new or German town, established on the west bank about the year 1250, soon be came the more important half of the double city. Posen was a royal free town, and was directly represented in the Polish diet down to 1733. In the Middle Ages it became a great depot of the trade between Germany and the west of Europe on the one hand and Poland and Russia on the other. Numerous foreign merchants took up their abode here, including a strong colony of Scotsmen, who exported raw produce to Edinburgh. The town attained the climax of its prosperity in the 16th century, when its population is variously estimated at from 30,000 to 80,000. The intolerance shown to the Protestants, the troubles of the Thirty Years War, the visitation of the plague, and other causes, however, soon conspired to change the state of affairs, and in the 18th century the town had only 5000 inhabitants. New life was infused into it on its annexation by Prussia at the second partition of Poland, and since then its progress has been limited only by its position as a fortress. The relations of the German and Polish elements of the population continue to be somewhat strained. POSIDONIUS, a distinguished Stoic philosopher, the most learned man of his time (e. 130-50 B.C.) and per haps of all the school ; by birth a Syrian from Apamea, a pupil of Panaetius, he spent after his teacher s death many years in travel and scientific researches in Spain (particu larly at Gades), Africa, Italy, Gaul, Liguria, Sicily, and on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. When he settled as a teacher at Rhodes his fame attracted numerous scholars ; next to Pansetius he did most, by writings and personal intercourse, to spread Stoicism in the Roman world ; he became well known to many of the leading men, as Marius, Rutilius Rufus, Pompey, and Cicero. The last-named studied under him (78-77 B.C.), and speaks as his warm admirer and personal friend. Strabo mentions him as a contemporary. The date of his birth has not been fixed ; it may have been 135, 130, or 125 B.C. ; accord ing to Lucian, he lived to be eighty-four. He visited Rome e.g. , in 86 B.C. on an embassy; but it is doubtful if he ever resided there as a teacher. His works, now lost, were written in an attract ive style and proved a mine of information to later writers. The titles and subjects of more than twenty of them are known. In common with other Stoics of the middle period, he displays eclectic tendencies. His admiration for Plato led him to write a comment ary on the Tim&us ; in another way it is shown by important modifications which he made in psychological doctrine. Unques tionably more of a polymath than a philosopher, he appears to us uncritical, or credulous even, and superficial. But at the time his spirit of inquiry provoked Strabo s criticism as something alien to the school (rb cuYtoXo yt/coj KCLI TO apiaTOTti.$ov, owep fKKlvovff(.v oi ijfjifTepot). In natural science he took a genuine interest, as his contributions to geography, natural history, mathematics, ami astronomy sufficiently attest. He sought to determine the distance and magnitude of the sun, to calculate the diameter of the earth and the iniluence of the moon on the tides. His history of the period from 146 to 88 B.C., in fifty-two books, must have been a valuable storehouse of facts. Cicero, who submitted to his criticism the memoirs which he had written in Greek of his consul ship, made use of writings of Posidonius in DC Natura Dcorum, b. ii., and De Divinaticmc, b. i., and the author of the pseudo- Aristotelian treatise De Mundo also borrowed from him. Zeller, PhilosopMe der Griechen, iii. 1, 570-584 (in Eng. trans., Eclecticism, 5*i- 70) ; C. Miiller, Fragmenta Historleonim Griecorum, iii. 2-J5-29(&amp;gt; ; J. Bake, Posidonii Rhodii Reliquim, Leyden, 1810 (a valuable monograph) ; R. Scheppig, De Posidonio rerum gentivm termrum scriptore, Berlin, 1869 ; It. Hirzel, Untersuchungen zu Clceros pltilosophischen Schriften, i. 191 s*/. ; ii. 257 sq., 325 sq., 477-535, 756-789 ; iii. 342-378 (Leipsic, 1877). See STOICISM. POSITIVISM, or POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY. See COMTE. POSSESSION is a legal term derived from Roman law. The Roman conception of possession has been generally adopted, but the Roman deductions from the conception have not been universally followed. The subject of pos session, in itself a difficult one, has become more difficult owing to the various senses in which the term has been interpreted. Thus it has been said to be either a right or a fact conferring a right, or both together. The latter is the view of Savigny, the leading authority upon the subject (Recht des Besitzes, translated by Sir Erskine Perry, 1848). Further, there is a want of agreement among legal writers as to the amount of right or rights that it confers. All that can be said with safety is that possession stands in a position intermediate between simple detention and absolute ownership, and that it implies two elements, a physical and a mental one, physical detention and mental intention to hold the thing possessed as one s own. In the words of the Digest, &quot; Apiscimur possessionem corpore et animo, neque per se animo aut per se corpore&quot; (xli. 2, 3, 1). The difficulties which have been stated being borne in mind, the definition of Professor Hunter may be accepted as being at least as good as any other that has been sug gested: &quot;Possession is the occupation of anything with the intention of exercising the rights of ownership in respect of it &quot; (Roman Law, p. 209). Possession is inchoate or incom plete ownership ; it is on its way to become ownership. In the case of the public domain of Rome (ager publicus) the possession was really the important matter, the dominium being practically of no value. Possession in Roman law was either natural or civil. The former was mere occupa tion, the latter such occupation as ripened by prescription into ownership. Possession exclusive against the world (including the true owner) was called &quot; adverse possession.&quot; A servitude, such as a right of way, could not be held in true possession, but was said to be in &quot; quasi-possession. The quasi -possessor had, however, possessory remedies.