pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
POLYPHEMUS, a celebrated Cyclops, and king of all the Cyclops in Sicily, was the son of Neptune and Thoosa, the daughter of Phorcys. He is said to have been a monster of great strength, very tall, and with only one eye in the middle of the forehead. He ate human flesh, and kept his flocks on the coasts of Sicily, when Ulysses, on his return from the Trojan war, was driven thither. Ulysses, together with twelve of his companions, visited the coast, and along with them was seized by the Cyclops, who confined them in his cave, and daily devoured two of them. Ulysses would have shared the fate of the rest, had he not intoxicated the Cyclops, and put out his eye with a firebrand when he was asleep. Polyphemus was awakened by the sudden pain, and stopped the entrance of his cave; but Ulysses escaped by creeping between the legs of the rams of the Cyclops, as they were led out to feed on the mountains. Polyphemus became enamoured of Galatea; but his addresses were disregarded, and the nymph shunned his presence. The Cyclops became still more earnest; and when he saw Galatea surrender herself to the pleasures of Acis, he crushed his rival with a piece of a broken rock.
POLYPLECTRON, from the Greek πoλυ, much, and πλ5jr rga ’, a musical instrument invented by Dietz about ten years ago, and played upon in the manner of a piano-forte. Its sounds are produced by the friction of numerous narrow slips of leather made to revolve upon a cylinder and over pullies, and brought into contact with the strings by pressing down the finger-keys. The powers of this instrument were highly commended by Prony, Savart, Cherubini, Paer, and others, after they had made trial of it on the 11th of July 1828. According to the touch, firm and legato, or light and staccato, the quality of the tone varied. The lower sounds and medium ones closely resembled those of the double bass, violoncello, and viola. Dietz had not succeeded in imitating the sounds of a violin. The orchestrinο of Poulleau, and some other instruments on the same principle, preceded Dietz’s polyplectron.
POLYPUS, a species of fresh-water insects. The name of hydra was given to them by Linnaeus, on account of the property they have of reproducing themselves when cut in pieces, every part soon becoming a perfect animal. Dr Hill called them biota, on account of the strong principle of life with which every part of them is endowed. These animals were first discovered by Lecuwenhoeck, who gave some account of them in the Philosophical Transactions for 1703; but their wonderful properties were not thoroughly known till the year 1740, when Mr Trembley began to investigate them. Previously to his discoveries, indeed, Leibnitz and Boerhaave, by' reasonings a priori, had concluded that animals[7:18:330] might be found which would propagate by slips like plants. Their conjectures have been verified.

Marine Polypus is different in form from the fresh-water polypus already described, but is nourished, increases, and may be propagated after the same manner; Mr Ellis having often found, in his inquiries, that small pieces cut off from the living parent, in order to view the several parts more accurately, soon gave indications that they contained not only the principles of life, but likewise the faculty of increasing and multiplying into a numerous issue. It has been proved by Peyssonel, Ellis, Jussieu, Reaumur, Donati, and others, that many of those substances which had formerly been considered by naturalists as marine vegetables or seaplants, are in reality animal productions; and that they are formed by polypuses of different shapes and sizes, for their habitation, defence, and propagation. To this class may be referred the corals, corallines, keratophyta, eschara, sponges, and alcyonium; nor is it improbable that the more compact bodies, known by the common appellations of star-stones, brain-stones, petrified fungi, and the like, brought from various parts of the East and West Indies, are of the same origin. To this purpose Mr Ellis observes, that, in all the warmer latitudes, the ocean, near the shore, and wherever it is possible to observe, abounds so much with animal life, that no inanimate body can long remain in it unoccupied by some species. In these regions ships’ bottoms are soon covered with the habitations of thousands of animals; rocks, stones, and everything lifeless are instantly covered with them; even the branches of living vegetables which hang into the water are immediately loaded with the spawn of different animals, shell-fish of various kinds; and shell-fish themselves, when they become impotent and old, are the basis of new colonies of animals, from whose attacks they can no longer defend themselves.
POLYSEMASIA, from the Greek πoλu and σημασια, a term applied to such intervals and chords in harmony, as produce upon the ear the same effect, although they may differ from each other in notation; for example, b B G ♯ A G; BDFbA, BD ft E ♯ G, &c. Also such chords as, although expressed by the same notes, are yet referrible to different harmonic foundations.
POLYSPERMOUS, from τrοKυ,much, and σπεζμα,seed, in Eotany, is applied to such plants as have more than four seeds succeeding each flower, without any certain order or number.
POLYSYLLABLE, in Grammars a word consisting of more than three syllables. When a word consists of one, two, or three syllables, it is called a monosyllable, a dissyllable, or a trisyllable.
POMBAL, a city of Portugal, in the province of Estremadura, and the corregimiento of Leiria. It stands on a hill, near to which are the striking ruins of an ancient castle. It contains but one church, which is much frequented by pilgrims as well as by inhabitants, on account of a supposed holy image to which miraculous virtue is ascribed. Pombal has 860 houses, with about 4000 inhabitants, some of whom are employed in making hats. The most celebrated, or, according to some, the most profligate, statesman of Portugal, long at the head of the ministry, took his title of marquis from this place.
POMERANIA, a province of Prussia, extending along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, from long. 12. 29. to 17. 51. It is bounded on the east by West Prussia, on the south by Brandenburg, and on the west by the duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It extends over 12,450 square miles, but in it are included several lakes and extensive estuaries, called Haffs, which occupy more than one tenth of the whole surface. Pomerania was an independent duchy until 1637, when, by the death of the reigning prince, it descended to the elector of Brandenburg; but as, during the life of that prince, in the course of the thirty years’ war, Sweden had possessed itself of the eastern part of Pomerania, including the island of Rugen and the city of Stralsund, it retained that portion till, by the treaty of 1815, the Swedish territories in Germany were ceded to Prussia, in consideration of that state having guaranteed the cession of Norway to Sweden. It was formerly divided into East and West Pomerania, the river Oder being the line of division between them; but since the whole has been under the Prussian king, it has been formed into three provincial governments, namely, Stettin, Stralsund, and Köslin. By the census of 1817 the population amounted to 689,486, and by that of 1826 it had increased to 846,722. Of these, 16,700 were military, 6700 Catholics, and 4170 Jews; the remainder were Protestants.

The whole province is a continued plain, mostly a sandy soil, covered with heaths, and occasionally with pines, and intermixed with numerous lakes of different dimensions. There are but few elevations of one hundred feet, and only one, near Koslin, which exceeds two hundred feet. The greater portion of the soil is far from fruitful, and barely produces sufficient grain and potatoes for the subsistence of the inhabitants. The chief corn is rye; very little wheat is raised; and the quantity of barley is much less than of oats. There are, however, on the banks of the Oder, and on those of some of its tributary streams, strips of land of such natural fertility as to afford good grass, both for fodder to cattle, and also for making butter and cheese. The manufactures are of the domestic kind, and mostly upon a contracted scale. The chief occupation is spinning flax, in which all females and many males are employed during the long winter evenings. Some coarse woollen cloths are made; and the breweries and distilleries are numerous. On the coast there are several of the town’s establishments for building vessels of various descriptions. The climate in winter, though occasionally very cold, may be more properly described as variable, having severe frosts alternating with sudden thaws; but the unexampled increase of the population seems to show that it cannot be an insalubrious district.
POMFRET, John, an English poet, son of the rector of Luton, in Bedfordshire, was born in 1667, and educated at Cambridge; after which he took orders, and was presented to the living of Malden, in Bedfordshire. About 1703 he went to London for institution to a larger and more considerable living; but he was stopped for some time by Compton, then bishop of London, on account of four lines of his poem entitled the Choice.

And as I near approach’d the verge of life, Some kind relation (for l’d have no wife) Should take upon him all my worldly care, While I did for a better state prepare.

The parenthesis in these lines were so maliciously represented, that the good bishop was made to believe that Pomfret preferred a mistress to a wife. But he was soon convinced that this representation was the mere effect of malice, as Pomfret at that time was actually married. The opposition which his slanderers had made to him, however, produced its effect; for, being thereby obliged to stay in London longer than he intended, he caught the small-pox, and died of this disease at the age of thirty-five.

He published, in 1699, a volume of his poems with a very modest and sensible preface. Two pieces of his were published after his death by his friend Philalethes; one entitled Reason, and written in 1700, when the disputes about the Trinity ran high; and the other Dies Novissima, or the Last Epiphany, a Pindaric ode. His versification is not unmusical, but his writings want that force which is necessary to constitute a poet. A dissenting teacher of his name, and who published some rhymes upon spiritual subjects, subjected him to the imputation of fanaticism; but his friend Philalethes has vindicated him from that charge. Pomfret had a very strong tincture of devotion, but no fanaticism, in his composition.

“The Choice,” says Dr Johnson, “exhibits a system of life adapted to common notions, and equal to common expectations; such a state as affords plenty and tranquillity, without exclusion of intellectual pleasures. Perhaps no comjκ)sition in our language has been oftener perused than Pomfret’s Choice. In his other poems there is an easy volubility; the pleasure of smooth metre is afforded to the ear, and the mind is not oppressed with ponderous or entangled with intricate sentiment. He pleases many; and he who pleases many must have merit.”
POMME, or Pommette, in Heraldry, is a cross having one or more balls or knobs at each of the ends.
POMMEL, or Pummel, in the Manège, a piece of brass or other matter at the top and in the middle of the saddlebow.
POMOERIUM, in Roman antiquity, was, according to Livy, that space of ground, both within and without the walls, which the augurs, at the first building of cities, solemnly consecrated, and on which no edifices were allowed to be raised. Plutarch gives this account of the ceremony of drawing the pomoerium: “They dug a trench, and threw into it the first-fruits of all things, either good by custom, [7:18:343]or necessary by nature; and every man taking a small turf of earth of the country from whence he came, they cast them in promiscuously. Then making this trench their centre, they described the city in a circle round it. After this, the founder, yoking a bull and a cow together, ploughed a deep furrow, with a brazen ploughshare, round the bounds. The attendants took care that all the clods fell inwards, that is, toward the city. This fiirrow they called Pomoerium, and built the wall upon it.” In this account Plutarch is to be understood as speaking of Rome.
POMPEY the Great, Cneius Pompeius Magnus, the renowned rival of Julius Caesar. Being defeated at the battle of Pharsalia, owing to the defection of his cavalry, Pompey fled by sea to Egypt, where he was basely assassinated by order of Theodotus, prime minister to Ptolemy the younger, then a minor, 48 b. c. See Rome. Pompey's Pillar, vulgarly so called, a celebrated column near Alexandria, in Egypt, 114 feet in height, and of which the shaft, composed of a single piece of granite, is ninety feet.
POMPONATIUS, Peter, an eminent Italian philosopher, was born at Mantua in 1462. He was of so small a stature that he was little better than a dwarf; yet he possessed an exalted genius, and was considered as one of the greatest philosophers of the age in which he lived. He taught philosophy with the highest reputation, first at Padua, and afterwards at Bologna. He had frequent disputations with the celebrated Achillini, whose puzzling objections would have confounded him, had it not been for his skill in parrying them by some joke. His book De Immortalitate Anima, published in 1516, made a great noise. He maintained, that the immortality of the soul could not be proved by philosophical reasons; but solemnly declared his belief of it as an article of faith. This scrimp precaution did not, however, save him. Many adversaries rose up against him, who did not scruple to treat him as an atheist; and the monks caused his book, although he wrote several apologies for it, to be burned at Venice. His work upon Incantations was also thought very dangerous. In it he shows that he believed nothing of magic and sorcery; and he lays a prodigious stress on occult virtues in certain men, by which they produced miraculous effects. Of this he gives a great many examples, but his adversaries do not admit them to be true, or free from magic. Paul Jovius says, that he died in 1525, in his grand climacteric. He was three times married, and had but one daughter, to whom he left a large sum of money. He used to apply himself so very intensely to the solution of difficulties, that he frequently forgot to eat, drink, sleep, and perform the ordinary functions of nature.
PONARUM, a town of the south of India, in the Carnatic, fifty-five miles south-west from Pondicherry. Long. 79. 20. E. Lat. 11. 26. N.
PONDAH, a town and celebrated fortress of Hindustan, in the province of Bejapore, which stands at the foot of the Western Ghauts, and commands the most frequented pass into the interior from Goa and Soondah. It was taken by the Mahrattas under Sevajec in 1673; and being afterwards, in 1683, besieged by the Portuguese, it was relieved by Sambajee, who, observing that they had made greater progress in battering the fortifications in ten days, than his father had done in three months, ordered them to be razed. Long. 73. 56. E. Lat. 15. 23′ N.
PONDI, a small island in the Eastern Seas, separated from Madura by a channel a mile in width, with a small bay which affords a safe anchorage for shipping. It is well cultivated, and has a pleasant appearance. Long. 114. 23. E. Lat. 6. 57. S.
PONDIMARKA, a seaport of Hindustan, in the Northern Circars, and district of Cicacole, which contains a small bay, only capable of receiving small boats. Long 83. 0. E. Lat. 17. 37. N.
PONDONG, a small island in the Eastern Seas, near the south-east coast of Siao. Long. 125.10. E. Lat. 2.40. N.
PONIARD, a little pointed sharp-edged dagger, borne in the hand or at the girdle, or hidden in the pocket. The word is formed from the French poignard, and that from poignée, handful. The poniard was anciently in constant use; but it is now laid aside, except amongst assassins. Sword and poniard were the ancient arms of duellists, and are said to continue so still amongst the Spaniards. The practice of sword and poniard forms part of the exercise taught by the masters of defence.
PONS, St, an arrondissement of the department of Hérault, in France, extending over 488 square miles. It comprises five cantons, and is divided into forty-four communes, containing 40,160 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, usually distinguished as Saint Pons de Thomiers. It is situated in a valley surrounded by lofty mountains, watered by the river St Jean, and contains 5340 inhabitants, who are occupied partly in cotton-spinning and tanning. Long. 2. 53. E. Lat. 43. 32. N.
PONT-A-MOUSSON, a city of France, in the department of the Meurthe, and the arrondissement of Nancy. It is a neat place, situated in a charming valley, through which flows the river Moselle. It is fortified, and contains four churches, 925 houses, and 6680 inhabitants, who carry on the trades of spinning cotton by machinery, and of tanning leather. Long. 5. 57. 1. E. Lat. 48. 54. 19. N.
PONTARLIER, an arrondissement of the department of the Doubs, in France, extending over 531 square miles. It is divided into five cantons, and these into ninety communes, containing 43,100 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated in a mountainous district on the banks of the river Doubs. It contains 640 houses, and 4100 inhabitants.
PONT AUDEMER, an arrondissement of the department of the Eure, in France. It is 390 square miles in extent, and comprehends eight cantons, divided into 143 communes, and has a population of 94,650 persons. The capital is a city of the same name, situated on the river Nille. It is surrounded with walls, stands in a fertile spot, and contains 1450 houses, with 5800 inhabitants, who are employed chiefly in making cotton goods. Long. 0. 31. E. Lat. 49. 22. N.
PONT DE BAUX, a city of France, in the department of the Ain, and arrondissement of Bourg. It is situated on the river Reyssouse, is well built, and contains a hospital, a fine corn-hall, 320 houses, and 3050 inhabitants, who carry on a brisk trade in hemp, flax, corn, and wine, by means of the canal, which leads to the Soane. Long. 4. 47. E. Lat. 46. 25. N.
PONTE-CORVO, a city of Italy, in the papal territory, and province of Frosinone, the see of a bishop, and situated on the banks of the river Garigliano. It contains six churches, and, including a small district, 5600 inhabitants. Bonaparte created Bernadotte prince of Ponte-Corvo.
PONTEFRACT, a market and borough town of the west riding of Yorkshire, in the wapentake of Osgoldeross, and 178 miles from London. It is a corporate town, now governed by a mayor, a recorder, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, and it returns two members to the House of Commons. The soil around it is remarkably fertile, and produces abundance of liquorice-roots, from the juice of which the medicine called pomfret-cakes is made. There are still to be seen ruins of an ancient castle, which is remarkable for the bloody tragedies exhibited within its walls. There Thomas earl of Lancaster was beheaded by Edward II. after the battle of Borough Bridge; Richard II. was long confined in it as a prisoner, and is said to have been murdered there; and the Earl of Rivers and Sir Richard Grey were executed there by order of King Richard III. During the civil wars it was held and ably defended by the party of Charles I., but ultimately taken, and soon afterwards demolished. It is now a well-built town, with a fine marketplace and elegant market-cross. The church is a large building. The population of the town amounted in 1801 to 3097, in 1811 to 3605, in 1821 to 4447, and in 1831 to 4832; but the parish, containing five other townships, contained at the last census 9254 inhabitants.
PONTEVICO, a city of Austrian Italy, in the delegation of Brescia, and province of Milan. It is situated on the river Oglio, at the place where the Strone falls into it. It is fortified, and has a castle near it. The inhabitants amount to 5268,
PONTIANA, a Dutch settlement, on a river of the same name, on the western coast of the island of Borneo. It carries on a considerable trade. The imports are piece-goods and opium; the exports diamonds, gold-dust, pepper, and birds’ nests. It is situated upon a fine navigable river, nearly under the equator. Long. 109. 30. E. Lat. 3. S.
PONTIFEX, Pontiff, or High Priest, a person who has the superintendence and direction of divine worship, as the offering of sacrifices and the celebration of other religious solemnities. The Romans had a college of pontiffs, over which was a sovereign pontiff, or pontifex maximus, instituted by Numa, whose function it was to prescribe the ceremonies with which each god was to be worshipped, compose the rituals, direct the vestals, and perform the business of augury, until, on some superstitious occasion, he was prohibited intermeddling therewith. The office of the college of pontiffs was to assist the high priest in giving judgment in all causes relating to religion, inquiring into the lives and manners of the inferior priests, and punishing them if they saw occasion to do so. The Jews, too, had their pontiffs; and amongst the Catholics the pope is styled the sovereign pontiff.
PONTIFICATE is used to signify the state or dignity of a pontiff or high priest; but by modern writers it is chiefly applied to the reign of a pope.
PONTIVY, an arrondissement of the department of Morbihan, in France, extending over 632 square miles. It is divided into seven cantons and forty-six communes, and has a population of 90,600 persons. The capital is the city of the same name, situated on the river Blavet, and contains 5100 inhabitants, whose chief trade consists in corn.
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PONT L’EVEQUE, an arrondissement of the department of Calvados, in France, extending over 301 square miles, containing five cantons and 135 communes, with 64,350 inhabitants. The capital, a city of the same name, is situated on the river Touques, has a good trade, and contains 510 houses, with 2520 inhabitants. Long. 0. 3. E. Lat. 49. 17. N.
PONTOISE, an arrondissement of the department of the Seine and Oise, in France, extending over 478 square miles, divided into seven cantons and 175 communes, with 87,500 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated at the junction of the river Biorne with the Oise. It contains 800 houses, and 5400 inhabitants. The church of St Martin’s, a fine Gothic structure, forms its most distinguished ornament. It is celebrated for its veal, which is sent to Paris. Long. 12. 1. E. Lat. 49. 3. N.
PONTOON, in War, a kind of flat-bottomed boat, the body of which is composed of wood lined without and within with tin. Pontoons serve for the construction of bridges over rivers, to facilitate military operations. The French pontoons, and those of most other powers, are made of copper on the outside; and though these cost more at first, yet they last much longer than those of tin, and, when worn out, the copper sells nearly for as much as it originally cost; whereas when ours are rendered useless, they sell for nothing. Our pontoons are twenty-one feet in length, five feet in breadth, and in depth within two feet 1∙5 inches.

Pontoon- Carriage is made with two wheels only, and two long side pieces, the fore ends of which are supported by a limber; and it serves to carry the pontoon, boards, cross-timbers, anchors, and every other thing necessary for making a bridge.

Pontoon -Bridge consists of pontoons slipped into the water, and placed about five or six feet asunder, each fastened with an anchor when the river has a strong current; or to a strong rope that goes across the river, running through the rings of the pontoons. Each boat has an anchor, cable-baulks, and chests. The baulks are about five or six inches square, and twenty-one feet in length. The chests are boards joined together by wooden bars, about three feet in breadth and twelve feet in length. The baulks are laid across the pontoons at some distance from one another, and the chests upon them are joined close; which in a very short time makes a bridge capable of supporting any weight.