Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/457

* PKIME. 395 PRIMITIVE CONNECTION. PRIME, Samuel Ikex.els (1812-85). An American clergyman, traveler, and writer. He was born at Ballston, X. Y., and graduated from Williams College in 1829. Three years later he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, but a severe illness compelled him to abandon "his theo- logical course in the first year. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Bedford in 1833, and in 1835 was installed pastorof the Presbyterian Church at Ballston Spa. X. Y., but again illness compelled a change of occupation and he became principal of the academy at Xewburgh, X. Y. He resumed preaching in 1837, being located at ilat- teawan, X. Y., but three years later entered upon the chief work of his life as editor of the yew York Observer, a paper of which he afterwards came to be the principal owner. He was for a time one of the secretaries of the American Bible Society, a corresponding secretary of the Evan- gelical Alliance, the founder and president of the Xew York Association for the Advancement of Science and Art, president and trustee of Vells College, and a trustee of Williams College. He died at Manchester. Vt. Besides a large number of books of religious character he published: Life in Xew York (1846) ; Travels in Europe and the East (1855); Letters from Switzerland (1860); The Power of Prayer (1858) ; American Wit and Bumor (1859) ; The Alhamhra and the Kremlin (1873); Life of Samuel F. B. Morse (1875); IiriifTus Letters (1880, 1885). For his life, consult the autobiography in Ire- lueus Letters, series ii. (Xew Y'ork. 1885), and the sketch with bibliography in Xotes Genealo- gical, Biographical, and Bibliofirnphical of the Prime Family, by E. D. G. Prime (privately printed. Xew" York, 1888). PRIME, William Cowpeb (182.5-1905). An American journalist, born at Cambridge. X. Y. He graduated at Princeton in 1843, was admitted to the bar three years later, and practiced law in Xew York City until 1861, when he became part owner and editor-in-chief of the Xew York Journal of Commerce. In 1869 he gave up his editorial work and revisited Egypt and Palestine, where he had spent some time in 1855-56. He was a lover of art and in 1884 induced the author- ities at Princeton to establish a cbair of the his- tory- of art, of which he became the first incum- bent. His interest in this subject brought him into close connection with the iletropolitan Mu- seum in Xew York, of which he was first vice- president after 1874. He wrote. Boat Life in Egypt and Suhia (1857) : Tent Life in the Holy Land (1857) ; Coins. Medals, and Seals, Ancient end Modern (1861): The Owl Creek Letters (1848) : Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Xations (1877) : and the hymn '"0 Mother. Dear Jerusalem" (1865). He also edited McClellan's Own Story ( 18S6I. PRIME MERIDIAN CONFERENCE. The terrestrial longitude of any place ( see L.TnT"DE AXD LoxGiTiDE) is the angle lietween two great circles on the earth's surface, both passing through the terrestrial poles, and touching respectively the place in question and some other place selected as the origin of longitudes. The great circle passing through the place thus select- ed as origin is called the prime longitude merid- ian. As early as 1030 an international conference was called to meet in Paris to fix a common prime meridian. The meridian of the island of Ferro. one of the Canaries, was selected, but the position Vol. XVI.— 26. of the island with reference to points on the continent was not known, and was never authori- tatively determined, so that practically this ef- fort failed. In 1882 the United States" Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the Presi- dent "to call an international conference to fix and recommend for universal adoption a common prime meridian to be used in reckoning longitude, and in the regulation of time throughout the world." The conference assembled in Washington, Oc- tober 1, 1884. Delegates representing twenty-six countries were present, but they were not able to agree unanimously upon a prime meridian. How- ever, most of them favored the adoption of Green- wich, England, as the origin of longitudes. The French delegates represented the only important nation that would not agree; and at present French authorities and navigators still reckon from Paris. The other important maritime na- tions now count from Greenwich, and in this number the United States is included. PRIMER. A device for igniting the pro- pelling change in firearms or artillery. Cannon ere first ignited by red hot irons or port fires applied to loose powder on the vent (touch- hole). These were replaced by slow match and later the powder was put into tuljes or quills for insertion into the vent. In 1782 flint locks were used upon naval cannon. Friction composition was invented in 1807. and a few years afterwards percussion caps were introduced for cannon. Later, and to a certain extent at present, friction primers were used. A copper tube extending into the vent holds an explosive charge which is ignited by pulling a roughened wire through the friction composition in a housing in the outer end of the tube. This has been largely displaced by fulminate caps set in the bases of metallic fixed- ammunition cases and exploded by percussion or electricity. In percussion primers, a firing-pin strikes the fulminate of mercury which rests on an anvil. In electric primers the current heats a fine platinum wire set in guncotton. See Grxs, Xaval; CARTRIDGE; SMALL ARMS; and Ord- XAXCE. PRIMES (from Lat. primus, first). One of the two classes into which integers are divided according to divisibility. Integers that are not exactly divisible by any integer except them- selves and one are called primes, all others being called composite niuubers. Thus, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. 11. 13, 17. 19. 23. 29, are primes. Two integers are said to be prime to each other, or relatively prime, when they have no common factor except tmity. Thus, 11 and 21, 15 and 32, 15, 32, and 48 are relatively prime. One of the earliest and best known methods of selecting primes is the sieve of Eratosthenes (B.C. 200). This consists in Avriting down all the odd numbers from 3 on and then striking out all the multiples of 3, 5. 7 Tchebitcheff (q.v.) (18.50) was the first to reach any valuable conclusions in the way of ascertaining the number of primes l)e- tween two given limits. Kieniann (1859) also gave a well-known fornuila for the limit of the number of primes not exceeding a given number. See XuMBER. PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS. See Baptists, heading f)ld School, or Primitive. PRIMITIVE METHODIST CONNEC- TION. See Methodism.