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 PRUSSIAN BLUE PRYNNE under Prussian leadership. On Jan. 18, 1871, King William was crowned at Versailles as emperor of Germany, and on March 21 the first German Reichstag assembled at Berlin. From 1871 to 1874 Prussia had undertaken no important measures independently of the rest of Germany, and its most recent history is there- fore contained in the article on the empire. (See also WILLIAM I., of Prussia and Germany, and for fuller accounts on previous periods of Prussian history the notices on the principal monarchs under the head of FREDERICK.) PRUSSIAN BUT. See POTASSIUM. PRUSSIA PROPER, a great division of the Prussian kingdom, comprising East or Ducal Prussia, and West or Royal Prussia, now offi- cially united into one province ; area, 24,114 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 3,137,545. East Prussia is bounded N. E., E., and S. by Russia (Cour- land, Lithuania, and Poland), W. by West Prussia, and N. W. by the Baltic. Its surface is low and almost uniformly level, and there are numerous lakes formed by the rivers, the fall being insufficient to carry their waters to the ocean. The most important streams are the Memel or Niemen, which empties into a vast estuary or lagoon called the Kurisches Half, the Pregel, and the Passarge. The greater part of the soil is fertile, and the prin- cipal crop is potatoes. Nearly one third of the land is covered with forests. Fruit, flax, hemp, tobacco, grain, live stock, and fowls are largely produced, game is abundant, and amber is found in considerable quantities. East Prussia comprises the administrative dis- tricts of Konigsberg and Gumbinnen. Most of the inhabitants are Germans. West Prussia is bounded N. by the Baltic, E. by East Prussia, S. by Russian Poland and Posen, and W. by Brandenburg and Pomerania. The surface, soil, and productions are like those of East Prussia. The principal rivers are the Vistula, whose E. mouth, the Nogat, enters the Frisches Haff, the Drewenz, and the Brahe. There are numerous inland lakes, but they are not so large as those of East Prussia. This division comprises the administrative districts of Dant- zic and Marienwerder. About 67 per cent, of the inhabitants are Germans, and 33 per cent. Poles. Prussia proper was conquered and Christianized in the 13th century by the Teu- tonic knights. In 1466 they were forced by Casimir IV. to cede West Prussia to Poland, while keeping East Prussia as a fief of that kingdom. The latter division, when converted into a duchy by the last grand master of the order, Albert of Brandenburg (1511), was des- ignated as Ducal Prussia, and was united with Brandenburg by the elector John Sigismund (1618). Western or Royal Prussia was severed from Poland, in the first partition of that kingdom (1772), by Frederick the Great, with the exception of the cities of Dantzic and Thorn, which Frederick William II. received in the second partition (1793). PRUSSIC ACID. See HYDROCYANIC Aero. PRUTH (anc. Poras), a river of Europe, which rises in the N. E. Carpathians, on the boundary between the Hungarian county of Marmaros and Galicia, flows E. through the latter country and Bukowina, and S. S. E. along the boundary line of Roumania and Bes- sarabia, and joins the Danube at Reni, near the delta of the latter river. The length of its course is about 350 m. The Pruth figures con- spicuously in the history of every Turko-Rus- sian war since the times of Peter the Great, who in 1711 narrowly escaped being captured on its banks, with his army. PRIME, William, an English political writer, born at Swainswick, near Bath, in 1600, died in London, Oct. 24, 1669. He graduated at Oriel college, Oxford, in 1620, studied law, and was admitted a barrister of Lincoln's Inn. Having become a Puritan, he published pam- phlets against Arminianism ; and some passages in one entitled " Histriomastix, the Player's Scourge" (1632), appearing to reflect upon the king and queen, Bishop Laud brought him be- fore the star chamber, and by that court he was excluded from Lincoln's Inn, and condemned to pay a fine of 5,000, to have his ears cut off, to stand in the pillory at Westminster and Cheap- side, and to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure. His work was also ordered to be burned before his eyes by the common hang- man. This sentence was rigorously carried out, but from his prison he continued to issue tracts against the prelates. The publication of one of these, in 1637, entitled "News from Ipswich," stirred up anew the anger of Laud, and Prynne was again summoned before the star chamber, and fined 5,000. The remains of his ears were cut off, and the letters S. L. (seditious libeller) were branded on both cheeks. At the execution of this sentence in the palace yard, and afterward on his way to his prison, Carnarvon castle, a great crowd was present, which manifested its sympathy and respect for the sufferer. Such numbers also visited the castle, that after a residence of ten weeks he was removed by an illegal order to the castle of Mont Orgueil in the island of Jersey. On Nov. 7, 1640, he was released by an order of the house of commons, his sentence being reversed, and damages to the amount of 5,000 being awarded him against his judges. His entrance into London had the appearance of a triumphal procession. Soon after he be- came a member of parliament for Newport in Cornwall, and in 1 647 he was elected recorder of Bath. He took a prominent part in the proceedings of the long parliament, zealously espousing the cause of the Presbyterians and opposing the Independents. Just before the king's trial he was ordered into the custody of the sergeant at arms for " denying the suprem- acy of parliament," and on Dec. 6, 1648, he was arrested by the army and ejected from the house. He now became a bitter opponent of Cromwell, and published articles of so virulent a character that he was twice imprisoned. He