Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/683

Rh P R A P R A 659 focus in Prague, the chief seats of the former being the large manufacturing suburbs of Smichow (21,000 inhabit ants) and Carolinenthal (20,000 inhabitants), the one to the south of the Kleinseite and the other to the north east of the Neustadt. The most prominent items in a very miscellaneous list of industrial products are linen, cotton, calico, and leather goods, gloves, machinery, con fectionery, beer, and chemicals. Garnet wares also form a specialty. Trade is facilitated by an extensive system of roads and railways, but the river navigation is unim portant owing to the numerous weirs and the insufficient depth. In 1880 Prague proper contained 162,323 in habitants, or including the suburban districts about 250,000; and at the beginning of 1885 the total popula tion was officially stated at 272,333. Nearly five-sevenths of these are of Slavonic race, while all are Roman Catholics with the exception of 20,000 Jews and 5000 Protestants. The Germans, however, though diminishing in relative numbers, still claim to represent the bulk of the capital and culture of the city. The garrison consists of from 8000 to 10,000 men. The foundation of Prague is ascribed to the princess Libussa, who appears at the beginning of the 8th century of our era as ruling the Bohemians from her stronghold of Wyscherad on the right bank of the Moldau. It is at least certain that the town made rapid progress under the fostering care of the early Bohemian sovereigns, and in the 13th century it was able to bid defiance to the Tatar hordes that then overran the country. Its chief period of prosperity was the reign of Charles IV. (1346-1378), who by found ing the university, establishing fairs, and investing the town with valuable privileges attracted to it numerous strangers. At this time Prague was perhaps the most important town in Germany, and could even boast of an independent school of art. Afterwards, however, Prague became the centre of the agitation that culmi nated in the Hussite wars, and thus brought upon itself a long train of misfortunes. The Hussites took possession of the city soon after defeating the emperor Sigismund, and allowed their re ligious zeal to carry them so far as to destroy many of the most interesting old churches in the city a fact that accounts for the want of venerable ecclesiastical edifices in Prague. The town was, however, afterwards rebuilt by the imperialists upon an improved scale. Under Rudolf II. (1576-1612) a second season of prosperity was enjoyed ; Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and other men eminent in science, art, or letters flocked to the court of this enlightened monarch and contributed to the importance of his capital. Prague suffered its full share of the evils of the Thirty Years War, which may be said to have begun here with the precipitation of the councillors from the window of the Hradschin (1618), and to have ended here with the occupation of the Kleinseite by the Swedes in 1648. The town was occupied by the imperialists after the defeat of the Protestants at the White Hill in 1C20, and its Protestant sympathies caused it to find scant grace in the eyes of the victors. It was taken by the Swedes in 1631, by Wallenstein in 1632, by the French and Bavarians in 1741, and by Frederick the Great in 1744. In 1757 it narrowly escaped a second capture by Frederick, who held it closely invested after defeating the Austrians at the battle of Prague, but was compelled to raise the siege by the disaster of Kolin. This was the last time Prague underwent a siege, though it was occupied by the Prussians in 1866. During the present century its material advance has been unbroken, but its harmonious social development has been hampered by the disunion between the Czechish and German elements of its population. The revolu tionary ideas of 1848 found a warm response in the nationalist party of Bohemia, and a Pan-Slavonic congress was opened at Prague in May of that year. Unfortunately, however, a collision took place between the military and the populace, and Prince Windischgra tz forcibly dissolved the congress and bombarded the town for two days. In 1862 a new impetus was given to the Slavonic agitation by the formation of a Bohemian diet, and since then the fissure between the warring races has grown wider rather than diminished. The Slavs seem to be steadily gaining ground at the expense of the Germans both in numbers and influence. Among the celebrated natives of Prague the most eminent in public interest are John Huss (1369-1415) and Jerome of Prague (c. 1365-1416). A fragment of the house of the former is still shown in the Altstadt. (J. F. M. ) PRAHRAN, a city of Victoria, Australia, is situated about 3| miles south-east of Melbourne, with which it is connected by the Melbourne and Brighton Railway, and by road over a fine iron girder bridge which crosses the Yarra. It is a well-built city, with handsome shops and numerous villas. Among the public buildings are the town-hall, with a lofty tower, containing the rooms of the free library, and the mechanics institute. There are a number of charitable institutions. Prahran was created a municipality in 1856, a borough in 1863, and a city in 1879. The area of the city is 2320 acres, with a popula tion in 1881 of 21,169. PRAIRIE DOG. See MARMOT, vol. xv. p. 560. PRAKRIT (prdkrta, &quot;common,&quot; as contrasted with samskrta, &quot; perfect &quot;) is the term applied to the vernacular languages of India derived from Sanskrit. In the San skrit drama all except the highest male characters speak Prakrit. Prakrit grammar was written in the Hindu scientific style on the lines of Panini by Vararuci, one of the &quot;nine gems&quot; of Vikramaditya s court, 1 and by Hemacandra ; these grammarians distinguish at least four different kinds of Prakrit, the relations and localization of which are by no means clear. The word Prakrit is some times used of all the still spoken Aryan vernaculars of India. See SANSKRIT. PRAM, CHRISTEN HENRIKSEN (1756-1821), Scandi navian poet, was born in Gudbrandsdal, Norway, in 1756, and educated in Copenhagen, where in 1781 he received an appointment in the chamber of commerce, which gave him considerable leisure for literature. In 1785 he pub- slished Stxrkodder, a romantic epic based on some of the old Scandinavian legends, in fifteen cantos, and in the same year he began to edit Minerva, a journal of some influence in Danish literature. He also wrote two trage dies (Damon and Pythias and Frode and Finyal), several comedies, and a number of tales characterized by bright ness and humour. In 1819 he removed to the West- Indian island of St Thomas, where he died on 25th November 1821. His select poetical works were after wards edited, with a biography, by his friend K. L. Rahbek (6 vols., 1824-29). Compare DENMARK, vol. vii. p. 91. PRATINCOLE, a word apparently invented by Latham (Syno})sis, v. p. 222), being the English rendering of Pratincola, applied in 1756 by Kramer (Elenchus, p. 381) to a bird which had hitherto received no definite name, though it had long before been described and even re cognizably figured by Aldrovandus (Ornithologia, xvii. 9) under the vague designation of &quot; hirundo marina.&quot; It is the Glareola pratincola of modern ornithologists, forming the type of a genus Glareola, founded by Brisson 2 in 1760, and unquestionably belonging (as is now generally ad mitted) to the group Limicolse,, being either placed in the Family Charadriidx or regarded as constituting a separate Family Glareolidx. The Pratincoles, of which some eight or nine species have been described, are all small birds, slenderly built and mostly delicately coloured, with a short stout bill, a wide gape, long pointed wings, and a tail more or less forked. In some of their habits they are thoroughly Plover-like, running very swiftly and breeding on the ground, but on the Aving they have much the appearance of Swallows, and like them feed, at least partly, while flying. 3 The ordinary Pratincole of Europe, 1 The era of Vikramfulitya is reckoned from 56 B.C., but many authorities place him 550 A.D. 2 Not by Gmelin as inadvertently misstated (ORNITHOLOGY, vol. xviii. p. 19, note 1). 3 This combination of characters for many years led systematizers astray, though some of them were from the first correct in their notions as to the Pratincole s position. Linnaeus, even in his latest publication, placed it in the genus Hirundo ; but the interleaved and annotated copies of his Sysiema daturas in the Linuean Society s library shew the species marked for separation and insertion in the Order Grallse Pratincola trachella being the name by which he had mennt to designate it in any future edition. He seems to have been induced to this change of view mainly through a specimen of the bird sent to him by John the brother of Gilbert White ; but the opinion