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* PLATO OF TIVOLI. 103 PLATTDETJTSCH. likewise known for their trauslations of Arabic niatlieniatical manuscripts into Latin. PLATOON (Fi-. pcloton, platoon, tennis-ball, (liiiiinuUve of pclotc. OF. pelotc, pt-lotli; ball, from ilL. pilolu, diminutive of Lat. pila, ball). A term formerly used to designate a body of troops who fired together. In its modern sense, in the United States Army, it is practically half a company of infantry. The company is divided into two platoons, and each platoon into two sec- tions. Two or three squads constitute a section, the squad consisting of four files, a corporal and seven privates, the corporal being the squad leader. The first lieutenant is in command of the first platoon, and the second lieutenant of the second platoon. The term is obsolete in the British Army, that of half-company being sub- gtituted. PLATT, Charles Adams (1861 — ). An American landscape architect, painter, and etcher. He was born in New Yoi-k City, and studied at the schools of the National Academy of Design and the Art Students' League from 1878 to 1880. In 188-2 he went to Paris, where he worked for four years under Boulanger and Lefebvre, and exhibited at the Salon. His best paintings include "Clouds," which was awarded the Webb prize offered by the Society of Ameri- can Artists, and "Snow," awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition of 1900. He also received a medal at the Buffalo Exposition of 1901. As an etcher he produced some good work, selecting his subjects principally from the lives of Dutch fishermen and from scenes in Holland. PLATT,. Orville Hitcscock (1827—). An American legislator and political leader, born at Washington, Conn. He received an academic education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He practiced law at Meriden. was clerk of the State Senate in 1855-50, and the next year became Secretary of State of Con- necticut. He was elected as a Republican to the State Senate in 1801 and to the State House of Representatives in 180-4 and 1809. the latter year being chosen Speaker. He succeeded William H. Barmun, Democrat, in the L'nited States Senate on ilarch 18. 1879. and was reelected in 1885, 1891. 1897, and 1903. On February 25. 1901, he reported from the Committee on Relations with Cuba an amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill which required the new Republic to place itself under the protection of the United States. This amendment was accepted by Cuba and was made part of its organic law. PLATT, Thomas Collier (1833—). An American political leader. He was born at • twcgo, N. Y. ; studied at the Owego Academy, and was a member of the class of 1853 in Yale College, but withdrew in his junior year on ac- count of ill health. He then went into business, became president of the Tioga National Bank, and invested largely in lumbering in Michigan. He was clerk of Tioga County in 1S59-01, and a member of Congress from 1872 to 1870. In 1879 he was made secretary and director of the United States Express Company, and in 1880 became its president. He also acted as president of the South- ern Central and other railways. In 1880 he was appointed a quarantine commissioner at the port of New York. In 1881 he was elected United States Se»iator, but within a few months both he and Senator Roscoe Conkling, his colleague from New Y'ork, resigned because President Garfield did not defer sutficiently to their wishes in mak- ing appointments in New Y'tork. The immediate occasion of their resignation was the appointment by Garfield of W. H. Robertson as collector of tlie port of New York City. (See Conkling, Roscoe; and RonERTSON, V. H.) In an appeal to the Legislature for reelection they were both defeat- ed. Piatt eventually gained virtual control of the Republican Party in New York and was again elected to the Senate both in 1897 and in 1903. He has been a delegate to all Republican national conventions since 1870 as well as a mem- ber of the National Republican Committee. PLATTDEUTSCH, pUit'doich, or Low Sax- on. The language spoken in Northern Germany from the border of Holland to the frontier of Lithuania. It is distinguished on the one hand from Low Franconian, which includes the lan- guage of Holland, Dutch proper (see Dutch Language), and, on the other hand, from Jliddle and Upper German, which are grouped together under the name High German. In common with other Low German languages, Plattdeutsch is distinguished from High German by the fact that its surd mutes have not passed tlirough the second or High German sound-shifting. (See Grimm's Law.) There is, however, no definite line of demarcation, some of the Middle German dialects not having shifted p and f. The best criterion of distinction is the so-called ich-line which starts on the Belgian border south of Lini- burg and runs in a northeasterly direction, cross- ing the Rhine at Benrath (between Diisseldorf and Cologne), the Elbe south of Magdclnirg, the Oder just above Frankfort, and finally reaches the Slavic frontier in the Province of Posen near Birnbaum. To the north of this line the first personal pronoim has the form ik, to the south ich. Within its district Plattdeutsch is generally spoken by the lower classes, while High German is the language of the school and pulpit, and as .a rule of the educated classes. Plattdeutsch is not a homogeneous language, but consists of a number of different dialects which may be divided into two main groups: ( 1 ) Northeast Saxon, in Oldenburg, Bremen. Ham- burg, Hanover, Brunswick. Holstein, ilecklen- burg, Brandenburg, Poraerania, and East Prus- sia; (2) Westphalian, in Westphalia and the Principality of Waldeck. During the nineteenth century the dialect of Mecklenburg acquired espe- cial prominence through the writings of Fritz Renter. Historically Low Saxon is divided into ( 1 ) Ohl Saxon or Old Low German, extending from tlie ninth to the twelfth century; (2) Middle Low Saxon, from the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth century ; (3) Modern Low Saxon. Platt- deutsch, or Slodern Low German, from 1000 to the present time. In the Old Saxon period the principal literary monument is the Heliand (q.v.), a religious epic of nearly GOOO lines in alliterative verse, written about 830 at the request of Louis the Pious. Sev- eral fragments of a versification of the first chap- ters of the Book of Genesis, an interlinear ver- sion of the Psalms, and various other smaller fragments of a religious character have been preserved, besides a number of glosses and proper names. Old Saxon may also lay partial claim to the Hildebrand's Lay, the most famous of all