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POMBAL

1523

POMERANIA

mechanical engineering and metal trades, artistic crafts, electrical engineering and applied physics, technical optics, technical chemistry, horology, domestic economy and miscellaneous trades. This curriculum suggests what may be the most proper function of polytechnics: instruction in the more complex branches of modern industry. In America the oldest institution of the kind is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, founded in 1824. Franklin Institute, founded at Philadelphia in the same year, also partook in a measure of the nature of a polytechnic. But it was only after the Civil War that polytechnic schools really became an important factor in industrial progress both directly and through their influence upon collegiate education. In 1865 was opened the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1868 the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 1866 Lehigh University and in 1871 Stevens Institute of Technology. Moreover, since the land-grant act of 1862, about 60 colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts have received a generous endowment. Probably the best equipped polytechnic school at present in the United States, although it does not employ the name, is the New York Trade-School founded in 1881 by the late Colonel R. T. Auchmuty. It, perhaps, is an open question whether polytechnics which attempt to teach a great number of arts are as efficient as schools devoted to a single art or to few arts. In Germany a single specialty is taught in a Fachschnle. The textile schools illustrate the efficiency of this plan in America. With the best American polytechnics may perhaps be classed such institutions as the Williamson and the San Francisco Trade-School, Drexel and Pratt Institutes and the New York Institute for Artist-Artisans, in addition to others already mentioned.

Pombal (pom-bdl'), Sebastian Joseph de Carvalho e Mello, Marquis of, the greatest of Portuguese statesmen, was born on May 13, 1699, at the castle of Soure, near Coim-bra. In 1739 he was appointed ambassador to London, and six years later was sent to Vienna in a similar capacity. Just before Joseph I ascended the throne, Pombal was made secretary for foreign affairs, and after the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755 he displayed such wisdom and ability that in the next year the king appointed him prime minister. After subduing a revolt and conspiracy against the life of the king, he abolished slavery in Portugal (q. v.)t sought to establish good elementary schools and published a new code of laws. In addition to this he reorganized the army and established a Portuguese East India Company. The tyranny of the Inquisition was also broken, besides numerous other reforms. On the accession of Maria I in 1777, who was under clerical influence, Pombal was de-

prived of office and banished from cotirt/ while many of his institutions were abolished,' He died at his castle of Pombal, May 8, 1782. The peasantry always speak of hinl as The Great Marquis.

Pome (pom), a fruit, as the apple, pear, quince, in which the fleshy part is developed by a flower-structure outside of the pistils. This structure is commonly referred to as the calyx, but it really is the cup-like outgrowth from which sepals, petals and stamens arise. See FRUIT.

Pomegranate (p&m'gr&n'dt), the fruit of Punica granatum, a tree belonging to the

o r d e r of Ly-thracece. It is a native of Asia, and is very commonly cultivated throughout the tropics and semitropics. It rises 15 or 20 feet, and has numerous slender branches, some of which are armed with thorns. The fruit is globular, about as large as a small apple, but with a leathery rind, of a deep golden color tinged with red, and contains numerous seeds coated with juicy, edible pulp.

Pomerania (pom'e-rd'nl-a) or Pomm'ern, a province of Prussia, bounded on the north by the Baltic Sea, on the east by western Prussia, on the south by Brandenburg and on the west by Mecklenburg. It is one of the lowest regions in Germany, and contains but few hills of even moderate height, but numerous lakes and ponds. The Oder divides Hither Pomerania (next Mecklenburg) from Farther Pomerania, the shore of the latter being lined with dunes. The larger portion of Pomerania is under tillage, the agricultural products being varied and numerous. To-day its area is 11,631 square miles, with a population of 1,716,481 Pomerania formed part of the territory of the ancient Vandals. When they moved south in the 5th century, it was occupied by Slavic tribes, one of which was called Pomerani. Hence the name of the region. The native princes assumed the title of duke in 1170, and joined the Holy Roman empire. The duchy was overrun by the imperialists in the Thirty Years' War, and they were followed by the Swedes, who established themselves in Hither Pomerania and some towns of Farther Pomerania. Not until 1815 was the last Swedish possession surrendered to Prussia. The capital is Stettin, population 236,145.

POMEGRANATE