Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/354

* POSSEVINO. 300 POSTAGE STAMPS. communion. Though King John III. gave assur- iime of obedience to the Pope, an ecclesiastical commission at Kome failed to accede to many of tlic King's propositions, and the monarch dis- continued negotiations. In 1581 Possevino re- ceived credentials as Papal ambassador to Poland and Russia, the Pope having been appealed to by Ivan IV.. the Terrible, to serve as arbiter. He auled in accomplishing peace (1582), but failed in his attempt to obtain the consolidation of the Greek and Roman Churches. He did, however, secure religious freedom for Roman Catholic merchants, and safe conduct for Papal nuncios and missionaries. Subsequently he was active as ambassador and missionary, and in 1587-91 lectured at the I'niversity of Padua. In addi- tion to numerous controversial writings, he pub- lished Moscni-ia, sive de Rebus Muscoviticis (158G). containing a narrative of his own em- bassy: Bibliothcca Sclecta de Rntinne Stiidiorum (159.3) ; and Apparatus Sacer (1603-06), an ex- tensive and painstaking, though not uniformly critical presentation of the sources of general theology. POSSNECK, pes'nek. A to-n of Saxe-^NIein- ingen, Germany, situated 54 miles southwest of Lt^ipzig (Map:' Germany, D 3). It has a Gothic churcli of the fourteenth century, and a Gothic town hall. The chief manufactures are woolen and leather goods, porcelain, and dyes. Popula- tion, in 1900, 12,266. POST, Alfred Charles (1806-86). An emi- nent American surgeon. Born in New York City, where he passed all of his life with the exception of a few years. Dr. Post graduated at Co- lumbia College in 1822, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons. New York City, in 1827: studied in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Lon- don, 1827-29: was demonstrator of anatomy in College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, 1831-35;' professor in the Castleton ^Medical College. Vermont, of ophthalmic surgery, 1842-44, and of surgery 1844-51 : professor of surgery in New York University. 1851-75. and emeritus professor of same, 1875-86: president of medical faculty of same. 1873-86; attending surgeon to New York Hospital, 1836-52 ; consulting surgeon to same 1852-86; consulting surgeon to Saint Luke's Hospital and attending surgeon to the Presbyterian Hospital, and president of the med- ical board of the Women's Hospital, in New York City. He was a Fellow of the Academy of Medi- cine, of which he was vice-president 1861-66. and president 1867-68. He was also vice-president of the American Medical Association. Dr. Post pub- lished several orations delivered before medical bodies, and also Observations on the Cure of litammcrinci ( 1841 ). He was also the inventor of several surgical instruments and appliances. His son, George E. (1838 — ), a physician and bota- nist, was born in New York City. He studied art, medicine, and theology, and became professor of surgery in the Protestant Syrian College at Beirut. There he became distinguished both as a physician and as a botanist. He wrote and translated many books, one of the most important being Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai. POST, Wright (1766-1828). Born on Long Island, N. Y. ; studied medicine for six years in New York and London, and commenced to prac- tice medicine in New York in 1786. In 1792 he became professor of surgery, and afterwards of anatomy and physiology, in Columbia college. He visited the celebrated schools of Europe, and returned in 1793 with a splendid anatomical cabi- net. In 1813 he became professor of anatomy in the College of Phj'sicians and Surgeons, and was its president 1821-20. He was for 30 years con- sulting physician of the New York Hospital, and a member of the prominent literary societies of the city. POSTAGE STAMPS (from post, from Fr. paste, from ML. posta, station, fixed place on a road, from Lat. postus, positus, p.p. of ponere, to place). Printed labels is.sued by individuals, cor- porations, or governments, acting as carriers of letters or packages, to signify that the charges demanded by them for forwarding this mail mat- ter have been prepaid. The postage due or un- paid letter stamp is not a postage stamp, but is merely a convenient means of indicating that a certain iimount is due for a carrier's service which has been rendered. An individual or cor- poration may, in countries where the law allows it, establish a carrier service between difl'erent points and issue stamps for the prepayment of charges. This was the origin and use of United States local stamps, which the laws at one period allowed, but now forbid. The suspension of the United States mail service in the neigh- borhood of San Francisco in 1894, on account of a railway strike, produced a brief evasion of the law in the establishment of a bicycle mail route between Fresno and San Francisco. The postage on mail by tliis route was prepaid by a. twenty-five-cent stamp. Such a local arrange- ment has but little au- thority and is accorded scant recognition. A high- er grade is reached in the semi-official issues whose originators were, in such cases as those of the Balti- more carriers, authorized by the United States CJovernment to charge one cent for the delivery of letters at the post-office. Postmasters' stamps have even more of authority. The United States Govern- ment, being unwilling to un- dertake the risk and expense of a general issue of postage stamps, allowed, in 1845, the postmasters of certain towns and cities to issue stamps at their own expense and for their own convenience to test the feasibility of their use. The postmasters of Alexandria, Va. ; Brattleboro, Vt.; Lockport, N. Y. : Millbury. Mass.; Balti- more. Md. ; New Haven. Conn. : New York. N. Y. ; Providence, R. I.; and Saint Louis, Mo., adopted