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 POTTSTOWN the fore paws to convey food to the mouth ; it is omnivorous, feeding on fruits, honey, in- sects, eggs, and small birds and mammals, like other plantigrades; it is fond of plundering the nests of wild bees, obtaining the honey by means of its long flexible tongue, whence it has received the name of honey bear ; it is a native of Guiana, Colombia, Peru, and some of the West India islands. Being gentle and playful, it is often tamed as a pet, and is not uncommon in menageries. Potto is also the native name of an African lemur. (See LORI.) POTTSTOW, a borough of Montgomery co., Pennsylvania, on the Schuylkill river, and on the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, at the junction of the Oolebrookdale railroad, 32 m. N. W. of Philadelphia; pop. in 1870, 4,125; in 1875, about 6,000. It contains three rolling mills, a blast furnace, a nail factory, an iron f oun- dery, a large car shop, two planing mills, steel wheel works, two metallic axle companies, two carriage manufactories, a soap factory, several cigar factories, &c. Another blast furnace is in course of erection (1875). The roadway and transportation departments of the Phila- delphia and Reading railroad give employment to a large number of men. There are two banks, a young ladies' seminary, a private school for young men, 16 public schools, a cir- culating library, a daily and two weekly news- papers, and 12 churches. Fair grounds with a mile track for races are being laid out. POTTSVILLE, a borough and the capital of Schuylkill co., Pennsylvania, on the Schuylkill river, at the mouth of Norwegian creek ; pop. in 1850, 7,515; in 1860, 9,444; in 1870, 12,384. It is the terminus of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, by which it is 93 m. N. "W. of the former city and 35 m. of the latter. It is picturesquely situated near Sharp mountain, on a very uneven surface, in the midst of an extensive coal region, which is the chief source of its prosperity. It is lighted with gas, and is well built, largely of brick. The chief pub- lic buildings are the court house, jail, town hall, union hall, opera house, and school houses. Immense quantities of coal are shipped from this point over the Philadelphia and Reading rail- road, being brought from the mines by branch railroads. There are several founderies and machine shops, rolling mills, a brass foundery, three furnaces, a carpet factory, a shoe factory, and sash and blind factories. There are ten banks, with an aggregate capital of $1,500,000, good public and private schools, two daily and five weekly (two German) newspapers, a month- ly periodical, an orphans' home, and 19 churches. POUCHED RAT. See GOPHER. POUCHET. I. Felix Archimede, a French natu- ralist, born in Rouen, Aug. 26, 1800, died there, Bee. 6, 1872. He was son of Louis Eze"chiel Pouchet (1748-1809), an eminent manufactu- rer and author. In 1827 he took his medical degree in Paris, and in 1828 became professor at the museum of natural history in Rouen and director of that institution, and in 1838 POUGHKEEPSIE 793 professor at the medical school in that city. He invented an aeroscope and other appara- tus, and propounded a theory of spontaneous ovulatipn, often designated as Pouchet's laws, which involved him in a controversy with Pas- teur. His works comprise more than 80 vol- umes, the principal being Theorie positive de Population spontanee et de la fecondation des mammiferes et de Vespecehumaine (Paris, 1847), for which he received an academical prize of 10,000 francs; Histoire des sciences naturelles au moyen age (1853); Heterogenie, ou traite de la generation spontanee (1859) ; and L 1 Uni- vers, les infiniment grands et les infiniment petits (1865; English translation, "The Uni- verse, or the Infinitely Great and the Infinitely Little," London, 1870). II. Georges, a French anthropologist, son of the preceding, born in Rouen in 1833. He took his degree in Paris in 1864, and was connected with the museum of natural history there from 1865 to 1869. In 1870 he was for a short time secretary gen- eral of the prefecture of police. His works include De la pluralite des races humaines (Paris, 1858; English translation by Beavan, London, 1864); Precis d^histologie humaine (1863) ; Memoir es sur le grand fourmilier (1868-'9) ; and Sur les asticots (1873). POUGHKEEPSIE, a city and the capital of Dutchess co., New York, on the E. bank of the Hudson river, and on the Poughkeepsie, Hartford, and Boston and the Hudson River' railroads, 75 m. N. of New York and 70 m. below Albany; pop. in 1860, 14,726; in 1870, 20,080, of whom 4,425 were foreigners. The greater portion of the town is on a table land from 150 to 200 ft. above the river. It is reg- ularly laid out, with pleasantly shaded streets, and has good public buildings and many ele- gant residences. It is lighted with gas, and has a line of street railroad. A cemetery of 54 acres has been laid out near the southern limits. About 2 m. E. of the city are the buildings and grounds (200 acres) of Vassar college for young ladies. (See VASSAR COL- LEGE.) About 2 m. N. of the city, on an eminence overlooking the Hudson, are the large and imposing buildings of the Hudson river state hospital for the insane, unfinished, though partly occupied, and destined to be one of the largest in the country. The grounds comprise 300 acres. Poughkeepsie is con- nected in summer with New York and Al- bany by lines of steamers, and there is a steam ferry across the river to New Paltz. An im- portant trade is carried on with the rural por- tions of Dutchess co., and the manufacturing interests are extensive. There are three iron founderies, two iron furnaces, a rolling mill, two ship yards and dry docks, several brew- eries, tanneries, and manufactories of agricul- tural implements, carpets, carriages, chairs, Cooperage, cordage, dyestuffs, files, edge tools, glazed paper, gloves, hardware, pins, shoes, soap and candles, spring beds, &c. The city has six national banks, with an aggregate cap-