kia, Illinois, by a drunken Indian in the year 1769.

Pontifex, the title borne by the members of one of the great religious colleges among the ancient Romans, the other being the college of Augurs. Although it is customary to speak of the college of pontiffs as a “priesthood," it was not such, strictly speaking; that is, the members were not charged with the worship of any particular divinity, nor did they conduct sacrifices. The duties of the pontiffs embraced the regulation of all the religious rites and ceremonies of the state-how the gods should be worshiped, how burials should be conducted, how the manes of the dead should be appeased. In matters of religion their authority was supreme; there was no appeal from their decisions; and they themselves were responsible neither to the senate nor to the people. Their president was termed pontifex maximus. Their number, including the pontifex maximus, was originally five, all of whom were taken from the patricians. In the year 300 B. c. the Ogulnian law raised the number to nine, four of whom were to be plebians. The first plebian, however, who attained the dignity of pontifex maximus was Tib. Coruncanius in 254 B. C. Sulla, in 81 B. C., increased the number of pontiffs to 15, and Julius Cæsar to 16, he himself filling the position of pontifex maximus. During the empire the emperors generally discharged the functions of the position, but after the establishment of Christianity the title was assumed by the bishops of Rome, and the term pontiff is now one of the designations of the pope.

Pontifical, one of the service books of the church of Rome, in which are contained the several services in which the bishop or a priest delegated by the bishop officiates. The pontifical now in use throughout the western world is the Roman pontifical first printed in 1485, revised under Clement VIII. in 1596, and repeatedly republished since that time. It contains the services for ordinations, for religious processions and receptions of monks and nuns, consecrations, benedictions, as well as of the solemn administration of those sacraments by a bishop which are ordinarily administered by priests. Besides the prayers to be recited, the pontifical also lays down the ceremonial to be observed.

Pontine (pon'-teen) Marshes, a low marshy district forming the south

POOLE

| ern part of the Campagna of Rome, and extending from Velletri southeast to the sea at Terracina. The length of the plain is about 28 miles, the breadth varying from 4 to 12 miles. The formation of these marshes is due to the fact that the streams flowing down the Volscian mountains cannot find their way to the Mediterranean on account of the accumulations of sand along the coast. The Appian way was projected through this district in the year 312 B. C., and various plans were tried by the ancient Romans for draining the marshes, but with very poor success. Popes Boniface VIII., Martin V. and Sixtus V. made earnest efforts to redeem the tract from waste, but the results were far from satisfactory. By the expenditure of some $2,000,000, Pope Pius VI. during the years 1777-'96 brought the Pontine Marshes to their present state, in which a portion of the land is brought under cultivation and other portions furnish pasture for horses, cattle and other animals.

Pontoon (Latin pons," a bridge "), a number of boats connected together and stretched across a pond or stream of water so as to furnish a temporary bridge for the passage of an army. From the earliest times pontoon bridges have been used in crossing streams; and a pontoon train has become a necessity for every army maneuvering in a country where there are rivers too deep to be forded, many important campaigns having proved failures from lack of pontoons.

Pontus, the name given by the ancient Greeks to a country in the northeast of Asia Minor, bordering on the Pontus Euxinus (whence its name), and extending from the River Halys in the west to the frontiers of Colchis and Armenia in the east. The name seems to have come into use after the time of Alexander the Great. Previous to that Pontus was governed by a satrap of Persia. One of these satraps, Ariobarzanes by name, early in the 4th century B. C. laid the foundations of an independent sovereignty. He was succeeded by a line of princes mostly called Mithridates, the greatest of whom, Mithridates VI., proved one of the most formidable enemies that Rome ever encountered. After he was overthrown by Pompey in the year 65 B. C. Pontus was annexed to Bithynia.

Poole, WILLIAM FREDERICK, American bibliographer and librarian, compiler of the Index to Periodical Literature,

was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Dec. 24, 1821, and graduated at Yale College in 1849. While in college he was librarian of a literary society and prepared the first edition of his Index, subsequent editions appearing in 1853 and 1882. A supplement by Poole and W. J. Fletcher was issued in 1888, and a similar one is promised every five years. He was for many years librarian of the Chicago City Library, and is now librarian of the great Newberry Library in that city. Died Mar. 1, 1894. Poona or Puna, a town in British India, 120 miles southeast of Bombay. Although the place abounds in beautiful gardens, the streets are mostly crooked and narrow, and the houses poor. The city was the capital of the Mahratta princes, but was occupied and annexed by the British in the year 1818. Here have been built the Decca College and the College of Science, a normal school, a high school and other educational establishments. Population, 160,000.

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Poor Laws. The obligation of providing for the poor has been recognized by all civilized nations. Among the primitive peoples of the earth the giving of alms to those who were in need was inculcated as a religious observance, and the ancient European nations regarded a provision for the poor as a matter of state policy. In early times Athens could boast of having no citizen in want, nor did any disgrace the nation by begging." But war at length brought poverty in its train, and the state decreed the maintenance of those who were wounded in battle, and afterwards of the widows and children of those who fell. There were also societies for the relief of distress among some of the Grecian states. Among the Romans the distribution of grain was introduced by Caius Gracchus, and continued till the fall of the empire. In the time of Augustus 200,000 people were thus fed. Cicero mentions this provision of the Roman law as one in high favor with the people, since it furnished them abundant subsistence without labor; other Roman writers describe its results as very injurious, creating a nation of idlers and mendicants and leaving the soil uncultivated.

In the middle ages the great body of the laboring classes were in a condition of serfdom, and looked to their feudal lords for support. But the Church of Rome constituted herself the great re

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ceiver and dispenser of alms. The rich monasteries and abbeys distributed doles to the poor, as is still done at the mosques under the Mohammedan system. In most states of continental Europe the church remains to a greater or less extent the source of relief to the poor, the state only stepping in when the contributions of the church and of private charity are insufficient. In England the statute of 1388 is the first one that makes provision for the impotent poor. Various statutes were passed after that time culminating in the statute of 1601, which has formed the basis of the poor-law system of England up to the present time. It taxed every inhabitant of every parish for the relief of the poor, and directed the justices in every county to appoint three or four substantial householders in each parish to be overseers of the poor in connection with the church wardens.

Various efforts were made to remedy abuses which arose under this system, of which the workhouse system was one of the earliest. All who refused to be lodged in the workhouse were refused relief. But the act of 1796 repealed the workhouse test and allowed relief to be given in aid of wages, so that the poor-laws were practically turned into a mode of paying wages. Various changes were made from time to time, and finally in 1871 the poor-law board was abolished and its powers were transferred to the local government board. The fundamental rule in England and Wales is that each parish is bound to maintain its own poor, and this is done by a poor-rate which church wardens and overseers may levy on all persons occupying land in the parish.

"Poor

In the United States a system of relief very similar to that of England prevails in most of the states. houses" are established by the county authorities, to which persons unable to support themselves are transferred and cared for, such work as they are able to do being provided for them. In some states provision has been made for "children's homes," where all children under a certain age, whose parents are dead or unable to provide for them, are fed, clothed and educated. Happily thus far the number of dependent persons in America is so small that the tax for their support is not seriously felt.

Pope, a title first given to all bishops of the Christian church, but now exclusively applied to the bishop of Rome, or head of the Catholic church.

Tradition confirmed by the faith of the church represents St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome. Whether he were such or not, it was certainly very natural that the early bishops residing in the imperial city should acquire a large measure of influence and importance, and that after the empire became Christian, they should obtain a greater or less degree of temporal power. The temporal power of the pope was not fully established, however, until the year 754, under Pepin, king of the Franks. From that time forward, the history of the papacy has been a contest of greater or less intensity with the princes and rulers of Europe, in which now one and now the other of the contending parties prevailed. At the present time the pope is stripped of all temporal power, but his authority over the church in all matters spiritual and ecclesiastical is supreme and unquestioned, the Vatican council which assembled at Rome in the year 1870, having proclaimed his infallibility on all questions of faith and morals. Whenever a vacancy occurs in the papal chair, it is filled by the cardinals choosing one of their number to occupy the place. A history of the more important popes will be found under their titles.

Pope, ALEXANDER, English poet, was born in London, May 21, 1688, his father being a Roman Catholic and a man of considerable means. Although Pope's early education was rather irregular and unsystematic, his father retiring from business and removing to Binfield, near Wokingham, soon after his birth, his application to study must have been very close, for even in his juvenile poems there are many traces of profound thought. In 1711 Pope published his Essay on Criticism, which placed him at once in the front rank of the literary men_of his day; and in 1714 appeared the Rape of the Lock, which may be considered the most imaginative of all his poems. Soon after this appeared his translation of Homer's Iliad, which brought him a fortune of some $30,000. A translation of the Odyssey followed a few years later, and in 1728 he issued the third volume of the Dunciad. The Essay on Man, published in 1734, is a didactic poem, and although almost wholly deficient in the imaginative quality, is a masterpiece of wit and versification. Pope's command of terse and smooth expression is here seen at

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its highest; and it has been well said that this poem contains more familiar quotations than any other poem of equal length in the English language. Pope died May 30, 1744, leaving behind him a literary fame that has suffered no eclipse in a century and a half.

Pope, JOHN, an American general, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, March 16, 1822, and graduated at West Point in 1842, after which he entered the engineer corps of the United States army. He served in the Florida war of 1842-'44, and afterwards in the Mexican war, winning the rank of captain for his conduct at the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. At the outbreak of the civil war he was appointed brigadiergeneral of volunteers, and in the spring of 1862 highly distinguished himself by the capture of New Madrid, Missouri, and "Island No. 10" in the Mississippi river. On account of these signal successes he was transferred to the east and placed in command of the forces formerly under Generals Fremont, McDowell and Banks, each of whom had been outgeneraled and beaten by 'Stonewall" Jackson. He conducted a very active and vigorous campaign against Lee and Jackson, but was defeated at the second battle of Bull Rur, Aug. 29-30, 1862. He then requested to be relieved, and was transferred to the department of the northwest. Pope attributed his defeat to the failure of Gen. Fitz John Porter to attack Jackson's forces as ordered on the 29th of August. Porter was court-martialed for this offense and dismissed from the army, but in 1886 was restored.

In the year 1882 Pope was made a major-general in the regular army, and was retired on half pay in 1886. He died while on a visit to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Sandusky, Ohio, Sept. 23, 1892, and was buried at St. Louis, Missouri, three days later.

Poplar, a soft-wood tree of large size and rapid growth, a native of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Few of the poplars are counted valuable for their timber,which is generally white, soft and light; but from their rapid growth they are useful in yielding firewood where the scarcity of other wood makes it necessary to plant trees for that purpose. They are also often planted as ornamental trees for the same reason. Among the various kinds of poplars are the tremulous poplar, the white poplar, the gray poplar, the black poplar, the

POPLIN

POROSITY

POPLAR LEAF AND CATKIN.

Poplin, a fabric of dry goods produced by weaving a weft of worsted yarn into a warp of silk. On account of worsted yarns being thicker than the silk, poplins always have a corded appearance. They may be either plain or figured, and are used for dress goods and for fine upholstery. The manufacture of poplin goods is of French origin, and was introduced into England and Ireland by Protestant refugees during the 17th century.

Popocatapetl (po-po-cat'-a-petl), a volcano about 40 miles southeast of the City of Mexico. It rises in the form of a cone about 1,700 feet above the level of the sea. Although smoke still issues from the mountain, no eruption has taken place since 1540. It is frequently scaled, and in its crater, which is nearly a mile in diameter and nearly 1,000 feet deep, much sulphur is found.

Poppy, a plant extensively cultivated in France, Belgium and Germany for the oil it produces. The oil expressed from the poppy seed is perfectly healthy, and is much used in France as an article of food. The seed yields about forty per cent. of oil, and the oilcake is useful for manure and for feeding cattle. It is believed that fully one-half of the oil used for cooking in France is of this kind. Among the ancients the poppy was sacred to the god