PROPORTION 



4S43 



PROSERPINA 



In the second period of prophecy, extending 

 from Amos to Malachi, the prophet was a 

 preacher of righteousness who addressed the 

 people on public questions and tried to mold 

 society according to the standards of religion 

 and morality. In this period, prophecies began 

 to be written, and the last seventeen books of 

 the Old Testament, excepting Lamentations, 

 are prophecies of this period. 



PROPORTION, in mathematics, an equality 

 of ratios. Ratio is the relation of one quantity 

 to another and is found by comparison. It may 



2 



be expressed as a common fraction, as - or 



o 



; or in the form of 2 : 6; a : b. The quanti- 

 b 



compared are called the terms of the 

 ratio. The first term is the antecedent, and the 

 second the consequent. In the ratio a : b, a is 

 the antecedent and b the consequent. If both 

 terms of the ratio are multiplied or divided by 

 the same number the value of the ratio is not 

 changed. The ratio 2 : 4 is the same as 4 : 8 ; 



5 15 



A proportion is an expression of equality of 

 ratios, as 2 : 4=3 : 6 ; a : b=c : d. These ex- 

 pressions are read: 2 is to 4 as 3 is to 6; a is 

 to 6 as c is to d. Proportions may also be 



expressed in common fractions, as o=5 I ~? 



Z o o d 



The quantities compared in the two ratios 

 constitute the terms of the proportion. The 

 first and last terms are the extremes, the sec- 

 ond and third the means. The general law of 

 a proportion is: The product of the extremes 

 equals the product of the means. In the pro- 

 portion 2 : 4=3 : 6, 2X6=4X3. 



Any extreme of a proportion may be found 

 by dividing the product of the means by the 



o vy 1 A 



given extreme, as n : 4=3 : 6; r=2, the re- 



o 



quired extreme. Any mean of a proportion 



may be found by dividing the product of the 



mes by the given mean, as 3 : 9=n : 12; 



3X12 



g =4, the required mean. 



. .Mimetic, proportion is sometimes re- 

 ferred to as the rule of three, because three 

 quantities are given to find the fourth. 



PROSE, proze, as distinguished from poetry, 

 the ordinary written or spoken language of 

 man, lacking the rhyme and the regular metrical 

 form of poetry. As spoken language, of course, 

 isted long before poetry, but as literature it 

 dates from a later period. In the early days 

 of a nation, long before the invention of print- 



ing or before writing became common, poems 

 might easily be memorized and be handed 

 down by word of mouth, whereas a prose com- 

 position would not lend itself to such forms of 

 transmission. Prose had begun to fill an im- 

 portant place in the intellectual life of the 

 world long before the invention of the printing 

 press in the fifteenth century, but beginning 

 with that date its importance increased very 

 rapidly. Not everything that was published, 

 however, was literature, any more than all the 

 prose which to-day issues from the presses is 

 literature. A really artistic prose literature, in 

 fact, was a late development in the history of 

 every nation, and great prose- writers are no 

 more numerous than are great poets. 



The commonly accepted classification of 

 prose divides it into narration, description, ex- 

 position and argumentation, but few writings 

 fall wholly within any one of these classes. 

 Stories, in the main narrative, in character, 

 often include much description and more or 

 less exposition, while an oration, primarily ar- 

 gumentative, must usually contain a large pro- 

 portion of exposition. 



Related Subject*. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Essay Novel 



Fable Oration 



PROSERPINA, prosur'pina, in classical 

 mythology, was 

 the daughter of 

 Ceres, goddess of 

 agriculture. Her- 

 self the special 

 protector of flow- 

 e r s , Proserpina 

 spent much time 

 in the mead- 

 ows attending to 

 her favorites. 

 One day while she 

 was engaged i n 

 this pleasant task 

 the god Pluto 

 came by in his 

 chariot, drawn by 

 his coal-black 

 horses. Seeing 

 Proserpina, with 

 whom he had 

 long been in love, 

 thus unprotected. 

 Pluto soiled her 

 and bore her off 

 in his chariot down to his underground home. 



PROSERPINA 



