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* PBOPORTION. 456 PROSECUTION. reality, or parts of a buiUing. in which case they are said to be 'out of proportion.' So in an ordinary liouse front, as on the street of a city, the proportion between the window opcninj^s and spaces between them, and between the window openings of one tier and those of other tiers, and between the cornice and the wall below and be- tween the stone-faced basement and the brick- faced wall between the basement and the cor- nice, may all be so judicious that the whole front becomes, h_v the combination of these different prnportions. a remarkable work of art. Certain architects of great fame have had no other im- portant claim to the consideration of posterity than a mastery of such proportions as these. There is no fixed rule for proportion, nor even any body of rules for the government of those who would produce effective proportions in their design. It is true, however, that many attempted analyses have been made of fine designs, both in painting and in architecture, with a view of ascertaining the supposed principles which gov- ern the designer in making admittedly beautiful compositions. For proportion in the fine arts, consult: Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionimire de V Archi- tecture, articles "Proportion" and "Symetrie;" Kobinson, Prhiciples of Architectural Coiiiposi- tion (Xew York. 1890) : Dow. Composition (ib., 1900) : Poore, Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judjiment of Pictures (ib., 1903) ; Van Pelt, .1 Discussion of Composition (ib. 1902). PROPOSITION (Lat. propositio, representa- tion, a setting l)efore. from proponcre, to place before, from pro. before for + poncrc, to place). The verbal expression of a jidgment (cpv. i ; but the word is used by many logicians as synony- mous with judgment. This usage is to be depre- cated as resulting in confusion and as giving rise to the idea that a judgment can be cut up into as many mutually independent parts as result from the breaking up of a proposition into its gram- matical elements. PRO'PYL.ffi'A(Lat.. from Gk. TrpoTriJXaia. propy- laia, neu. pi. of TpojriXoios, propi/laios, before a gate, from irp6. pro, before + tti/Xij, pi/lc, gate). In classical (Ireek. a structure erected outside the entrance gate or door of an important build- ing, or of an inclosurc containing several build- ings. The word expresses the idea of a building of some elaboration with many parts. Thus the buildings called by classical writers propyl^a are known to us as rather large roofed halls into which the visitor enters by several doorways or by the inter columniations of a portico, and from which he reaches the sacred inclosure of a sanctuary or the reserved space aroimd the build- ings of a palace. There are propylsea whose plan and arrangement can be made out at Eleusis, Epidauros, and other Grecian towns, but that of Athens is so far in good preservation that its roof is still partly in place, as well as the greater number of its columns; while the outer pediment and other parts which have been rebuilt have been so easily established by the use of their old materials and the like that there can be no doubt of the authenticity of the whole structure. For- tunately, this propyliea is also the most impor- tant of all Grecian buildings of the kind, so far as can be gathered from ancient authorities and from existing remains. In this case it was neces- sary to provide a stately entranceway into the sacred inclosure on the top of the Acropolis rock. A solid wall with five doorways, large in propor- tion to the piers between them, has two porticoes: a shallow one on the inner or eastern side and a much larger and deeper one toward the approach from the west. This larger portico is Hanked by two subsidiary buildings. The structure so planned provides two hexastyle Doric porticoes facing east and west, and two nmch smaller ones fronting the wings and facing one another, each of these with three Doric columns in antis. In addition to these Doric columns there are six Ionic columns Hanking the principal gangway of approach ; a carriage drive on the uncovered rock is carried right through the propyhea from the outer to the inner face, while the porticoes on either side have a raised level pavement with steps leading up to it. The whole propyla-a, then, is in its f)rincipal mass about seventy-five feet square, while the width across the wings is about one lumdred and fifty feet. PROSAXJ'RIA, PROSAURI ( Xeo Lat. noni. pi., from Gk. wp6. pro. before + o-aCpos, sauros, lizard). A subclass and order, respectively, of reptiles, extinct except the genus Sphenodon, with one living species, the tuatara (q.v.). They are mostly represented by Pennian and Carbonifer- ous fossils. The subclass contains two orders, llicrosauri and Prosauri; and the latter two suborders, Protorosauri and Rhynchocephali. These "seem to represent the central stem of the reptilian tree.'' and the latter has a surivor in Sphenodon. Consult Gadow, Amphibia and Rep- tiles (London. 1901). PROSECUTION (Lat. prosecutio, from pro- sequi, to follow, from pro. before, ior -- sequi, to follow). In its technical legal sense, the institu- tion and conduct of legal proceedings against one who is charged with a crime. In a more general sense it is sometimes used as applicable to civil as well as criminal proceedings. There are three methods of prosecution for crime. First, upon the unsworn complaint of an individual ; second, upon the complaint of an officer appointed to in- stitute prosecutions : and third, upon a sworn complaint. The first was the earliest method known to the common law. It was. in England, a permissible method of prosecution under the technical name of appeal as late as 1818. (See Appeal.) The second method obtains in some European countries, biit not in England or the United States, where the third method of prose- cution upon sworn complaint is now used ex- clusively. Prosecution by sworn complaint may be insti- tuted by the complaint of a private individual or bj- the complaint of the attorney -general or other prosecuting otficer. when the complaint is said to be on infonnation : or it may be instituted di- rectly by the grand jury- which makes its com- plaint in the form of indictment (q.v.) or pre- sentment (q.v.). When made by a private citizen the practice is to file the complaint in the court of a justice of the peace or magistrate, whose duty it then is to issue a warrant for the arrest of the person charged with the crime. A person having been arrested upon complaint or by a peace officer or other person having author- ity to arrest, the magistrate has authority, if he deems the prisoner probably guilty, to holil him for the action of the grand jury or for trial by the proper court upon information filed by the prosecuting officer. When, however, the accused is a fugitive from justice, the information may be filed without the preliminary examination,