Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/855

 PRIDE OF INDIA died in Norwich, Nov 1, 1724. He graduated B. A. at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1672 AD pointed by the university to edit the inscrip- tions of the Arundelian marbles, he published them in 1676, under the title Marmora Oxoni- ensia, ex Arundelianis, Seldenianis, aliisque conjlata, cum perpetuo Commentario ; a cor- rect edition by Michael Maittaire appeared in 1732. In 1679 he became rector of St. Clem ent s, Oxford, and was appointed Dr. Busby's Hebrew lecturer in Christ Church. In 1681 he was made a prebendary of Norwich, in 1688 archdeacon of Suffolk, in 1696 vicar of Trowse near Norwich, and in 1702 dean of Norwich' He was the author of u The Validity of the Orders of the Church of .England made out against the Objections of the Papists" (1688)- "Case of Clandestine Marriage " (1691) "Life of Mahomet" (1697); "Directions to Church Wardens " (1707) ; a work on " Tithes " (1710) and "The Connection of the History of the Old and New Testaments " ( 2 vols., 1715-'18 25th ed., 1858), his chief work. PRIDE OF IOT)IA, Pride of China, or Bead Tree (melia azedarach), an oriental tree, now natu- ralized in most warm countries. The genus melia (from the Greek name for the manna ash, which its foliage somewhat resembles) is the type of a somewhat large and important family (meUacece) of the warmer parts of Asia and America; it consists of deciduous trees and shrubs with pinnate leaves, their flowers with the stamens united into a tube, a free three- to five-celled ovary, with two ovules in each cell. The pride of India, a native of Asia, is a tree 20 to 40 ft. high, often with a trunk 3 ft. in diameter; its leaves are bi- pinnate, each division with five ovate-lanceo- late, acute, toothed leaflets. The flowers are in large axillary bunches, with a small calyx, five spreading lilac-colored petals, and ten sta- mens, which, united into a tube, form a con- spicuous part of the flower. The fruit is an ovoid fleshy berry, about the size of a cherry, containing an elongated, five-celled, five- seeded, bony nut. The tree is largely planted in the southern states, and has become thoroughly naturalized not only there, but in parts of the southwest so far from all settlements that some PRIEST 831 be destructive to swine, while some persons gather them to feed to their horses if seen T 1 ^! 6 l hat ex P erime *ts should be madeTo establish the real value of this very common sTd thVVT* f tbe S Uthern ^ates. K sa d that the leaves or the berries if packed with dried fruits will preserve them from in sects, and that they will also prevent moths from attacking clothing. The wood of the tree has a fine grain and a handsomely varie- gated surface; it is recommended for trunks and drawers, as insects do not attack it. The > nc ? hardy north of Virginia. Melia ica which is much planted in southern India, has been confounded with M. azedarach from which it differs in its simply pinnate leaves and one-celled and one-seeded fruit It Pride of India (Melia azedarach). botanists have thought it must be indigenous. Its chief claim as an ornamental tree is its rapid growth, it making an ample shade in a short time after planting. It is quite hand- some in flower, but the odor is somewhat un- pleasant ; it bears such an abundance of fruit that the branches are bent down by the weight. The bark of the root has long been used as a vermifuge; a strong decoction of it is made by boiling four ounces in a pint of water ; from half an ounce to an ounce of the liquid is given every two hours, and followed by a ca- thartic. Very conflicting accounts are given of the effects of the berries; three of them are said to have thrown a child into convul- sions, while other children eat them with im- punity ; they are said by some authorities to is known in India as margosa (Port, amargo- sa, bitter), and the bark is there used by both natives and Europeans as a tonic and antiperi- odic. Its fruit yields an oil used for burning. PRIESSMTZ, Vincenz, a German peasant, the founder of the water cure, born at Grafen- berg, Austrian Silesia, Oct. 4, 1799, died there, Nov. 28, 1851. He worked on his father's farm, and an accident which happened to him while he was thus engaged suggested the employment of water cure. He then studied medicine, and opened his establishment at Grafenberg in 1826. (See HYDEOPATHY.) PRIEST, a person set apart for the perform- ance of religious offices and ceremonies, and in particular for the performance of sacrifice. History shows the priestly office to be nearly coextensive with religion itself, and there is hardly a barbarous tribe without some sort of priests. There is but little information con- cerning the exercise of priestly functions before the time of Moses. We read in the Scriptures of Cain and Abel offering their own sacrifices, and of the exercise of the priestly office by the heads of families, as Abraham, or Job. The term priest occurs but once in the book