Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/405

PRAGUE. former, which is the oldest of German universities. It was founded by Charles IV. in 1348 on the basis of an older school dating back to the middle of the thirteenth century, and was organized on the model of Paris, with the four faculties of theology, law, medicine, and arts, and all rights and privileges of a Studium Generale. It had also one college, founded by Charles and endowed by Wenceslas IV. The Hussite movement interrupted the remarkable prosperity of the foundation, as Huss was one of the leading spirits of the institution, and rector in 1403. Owing to an order of Wenceslas IV., growing out of the Hussite disturbances, that the Bohemian ‘nation’ should have three votes to the German one in the university convocation, the Germans seceded and founded the (q.v.). Others joined Heidelberg and Cologne. The Hussite movement had been joined to a national Bohemian movement, and had developed into a political as much as a religious agitation, and the university from the time of the secession lost its cosmopolitan character, and became more identified with Bohemian interests and development. In 1419 Catholics were expelled from the university, and in the troublous times that followed it lost most of its students and nearly all its property. In the latter part of the fifteenth century, however, the foundation of many colleges in great part repaired this loss. In the seventeenth century its religious complexion was changed, and in 1654 it was united with the Jesuit college, coming under the influence of that Order. The Czech movement of the nineteenth century found expression at the University of Prague, first in the increase of lectures in the Czech language, and eventually in the foundation of the Czech University of Prague, in 1882-83, with the three faculties of law, medicine, and arts, to which theology was added in 1891-92. The Czech university has since that time much outgrown its German rival. The number of students in the German university in 1901 was 1179; in the Czech university, 3184.  PRAIRIAL,. The ninth month in the French Republican calendar, extending from May 20th to June 18th in the years I.-VII., and from May 21st to June 19th in the years VIII.-XIII.  PRAIRIE (Fr. prairie, It. prateria, from ML. prataria, meadowland, from Lat. pratum, meadow). In general, an undulating, grass-covered plain, as distinguished from a forested plain on the one hand and a semi-arid region or steppe on the other. The name is applied more specifically to the extensive plain which stretches from southern Michigan and western Ohio across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, thus including almost the entire area between the Ohio and the Missouri-Mississippi rivers. West of the Missouri River this level expanse is continued by the Great Plains to the base of the Rocky Mountains, while on the east it merges imperceptibly into the Alleghany Plateau. Its surface is unbroken by marked elevations, but the monotony is relieved by the broad undulations and by the channels of the streams tributary to the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri, which have been worn down in places so as to expose vertical walls or bluffs 100 feet or more in height. The elevation above sea-level ranges from 300 to 1500 feet. The prairies are underlaid by Paleozoic sandstones and limestones in

nearly horizontal position; but the surface formation is largely of glacial origin and consists of boulder clay and sand more or less rearranged and decomposed by weathering and erosion. A fine sandy deposit resembling the loess of China occurs over wide areas in the Mississippi Valley. The prairies are characterized by a heavy rich soil admirably adapted for the growth of cereals, and while formerly covered only with grass and supporting herds of buffalo and deer, they have been brought under a high state of cultivation. As to the characteristics of their vegetation, prairies may be divided into two general groups: climatic, which include typical portions of the western part of the Mississippi Valley; and edaphic, which are smaller and are developed almost without exception from swamps. Among the theories commonly held to account for the treelessness of the great Western prairies are: (1) the lack of sufficient rainfall; (2) the grazing of animals and the action of fire; and (3) the excessive transpiration, due to wind—all of which prevent the growth of trees. In apparent proof of the first theory, trees gradually disappear as the distance from the seaboard increases, and this change is paralleled by a gradual reduction in the rainfall; of the second, trees have appeared in some parts of Kansas and Nebraska, where cattle-grazing and prairie fires have been stopped; of the third, transpiration is so great, especially during winter, that certain trees cannot be successfully grown unless in situations sheltered from the winds. Perhaps all of these theories are more or less tenable. See ; ;  PRAIRIE,. A novel by J. Fenimore Cooper (1827). It is the last of the Leatherstocking series, showing Natty Bumppo in the far West after the Louisiana Purchase opened the country to settlers, and giving a touching account of his old age and death.  PRAIRIE CHICKEN. See.  PRAIRIE DOG. A Western American ground-squirrel, two species of which (Cynomys Columbianus, west of the Rockies, and Cynomys Ludovicianus, east of these mountains) are locally common from the Canadian to beyond the Mexican boundary of the United States. The prairie dog is about a foot long and of robust form, with strong limbs and claws, well calculated for digging. Its home is the dry upland plains, where it dwells in colonies, whose permanent ‘towns’ or burrows, each marked by a hillock of earth about the entrance, spread densely over many acres under the natural prehistoric conditions, but now sometimes cover hundreds of square miles. The burrows are deep and extensive, and at first go down at a very steep slope to a depth of 12 to 15 feet, when they suddenly turn and run in a horizontal direction, and here and there branch into chambers, some of which are elevated and form family rooms, while in others fodder is stored, or refuse and dung are deposited. The mound about the hole is packed hard, not only by the tramping of the animals, but by crowding it down with their noses; this hillock prevents water from running into the burrows when the plain is flooded by heavy rains, and also serves as a tower of observation. The prairie dogs feed upon grass and herbage, which is soon exhausted near the burrows, compelling the animals to go 
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