POLES 



POLICE 



283 



or chestnut meal is used. It is made into a thick 

 paste, cut into finger-like strips, and baked, gener- 

 ally with an addition of cheese. It is eaten either 

 by itself or with roast liver or steamed meat and 

 sauce. A similar dish, called Mamaliga, is eaten 

 in Transylvania and Lower Hungary. 



Poles (Gr. polos, a ' turning-- point '), in Geo- 

 graphy, are the two extremities of the axis round 

 which the earth revolves ; they are therefore situ- 

 ated the one on the north, and the other on the 

 south side of the equator, and equidistant from all 

 parts of it, or in 90 N. lat. and 90 S. lat. They 

 are called the north and south poles of the Earth 

 (q.v. ). In Astronomy the poles, which, for dis- 

 tinction's sake, are frequently denominated ' celes- 

 tial poles,' are those points in the heavens to 

 which the earth's axis is directed, and round 

 which the heavens seem to revolve. The celestial 

 poles are valuable points of reference to astron- 

 omers and geographers, so that the determination 

 of their position in the heavens is a matter of 

 the utmost importance. Unfortunately, no stars 

 mark their exact situation (see POLE-STAR) 

 though there is a minute telescopic star only a few 

 seconds from the north pole, which may be employed 

 instead of it in rough otservations and therefore it 

 is necessary to adopt some means for discovering its 

 precise position. This is effected in the following 

 manner: A bright star (generally the pole-star) is 

 selected, and its position in its upper and its lower 

 Culminations (q.v.) is accurately noted; the point 

 midway between these two positions of the star is 

 the pole of the heavens. The observation of the 

 star's two positions must be corrected for refraction, 

 and it is for this reason that the pole-star is selected, 

 since the effect of refraction is much the same in 

 both positions of the star. The term ' poles ' lias, 

 however, a wider application, as denoting the 

 extremities of a line passing through the centre of 

 a great circle perpendicular to its plane ; thus, we 

 have the poles of the horizon ( viz. the zenith and 

 nadir), tlie poles of the ecliptic, the poles of a 

 meridian ; and, in the same sense, the terrestrial 

 and celestial poles are spoken of as the poles of the 

 equator and equinoctial respectively. Pole, in 

 Physics, denotes those points of a body at which 

 its attractive or repulsive energy is concentrated ; 

 ee POLARITV, and MAGNETISM. 



Pole-Star, or POLARIS, the nearest conspicuous 

 star to the north pole of the celestial equator. The 

 star which at the present time goes under the name 

 of the ' pole-star' is the star a in the constellation 

 of Ursa Minor. By examining attentively the 

 general movement of the stars throughout a clear 

 winter's night, we observe that they describe circles 

 which are largest at the equator, and become smaller 

 and smaller as we approach a certain point (the 

 north pole of the celestial equator), close to which 

 is the star above mentioned. This 'pole-star' is, 

 however, a little less than 1J| from the pole, and 

 has a small but sensible motion round it. Owing 

 to the motion of the pole of the celestial equator 

 round that of the ecliptic (see PRECESSION), this 

 star will in course of time (about 2100 A. D. ) approach 

 to within 28' from the north pole, and will then 

 recede from it. At the time of Hipparchus ( 156 B.C. ) 

 it was 12, and in 1785 2 2' from the north pole. 

 Its place can easily be found in the heavens, for a 

 line drawn between the stars a and /S ( called the 

 two pointers, from this peculiarity ) of the constella- 

 tion Ursa Major, or the (Ireat Bear, and produced 

 northwards for about 4J times its own length, will 

 almost touch the pole-star. Two thousand years 

 ago the tar /3 of Ursa Minor was the pole-star; 

 and about 2300 years before the Christian era the 

 star a in the constellation of the Dragon was not 

 more than 10' from the north pole ; while 12,000 



years after the present time the bright star Vega 

 in Lyra will be within 5 of it. See star-map at 

 URSA MAJOR. 



The south pole of the celestial equator is not 

 similarly marked by the near neighbourhood of a 

 bright star, the only star deserving the name of the 

 south pole-star being of the sixth or least visible 

 magnitude. 



Polianthes. See TUBEROSE. 



Police ( Gr.politeia ) is in modern times held to be 

 synonymous with the whole body of men employed 

 as constables, or with the system under which such 

 constables perform their duties in connection with 

 the maintenance of law and order and the pre- 

 vention and detection of crime. Originally, how- 

 ever, the poiiteia of the Greeks had a much wider 

 signification, and what we now term police formed 

 but a part of the regulation of the affairs of a state 

 or country, which was the meaning of the original 

 word. The Greeks, by the adoption of this term, 

 says an old writer on police administration, 

 apparently intended to indicate that the ' execu- 

 tion of those laws which make up public rights, 

 the maintenance of that civil society which is 

 the essence of every city, were tvo things in- 

 separable from each other.' The strictly executive 

 character of police duties, however, as performed in 

 Great Britain of the 19th century, was not always 

 recognised in ancient times, and whether at Athens, 

 under officers called archon or nomophylax, or at 

 Rome, under consuls, pnptors, quoestors, censors, or 

 a-diles, the judicial functions of a police-magistrate, 

 or the responsibilities of a public prosecutor, 

 devolved to a greater or less extent upon those 

 officials who were entrusted with police administra- 

 tion. It is difficult to refer to any country in 

 which the separation of executive from judicial or 

 magisterial functions has so strictly been carried 

 out as would appear to be required under our 

 modern interpretation of police duties in England. 

 The French system of police, which is based on the 

 old Koman administration, unites to a very con- 

 siderable extent executive with judicial functions. 

 The same remark applies to continental police 

 administration generally ; and even in the great 

 dependency of British India, which is governed 

 by English law, the district magistrate, who is ex 

 officio head of the police within the limits of his 

 jurisdiction, is also a judicial officer with extensive 

 powers. In the capital of England itself, where 

 the distinction between executive and magisterial 

 functions is specially marked, the chief of the 

 police is still, by virtue of his office, a justice of the 

 peace, although the exercise of his powers in that 

 capacity is restricted by certain conditions. 



The existing system of police administration in 

 the United Kingdom is of very recent origin ; it 

 arose within the 19th century, and in many 

 instances was developed within the reign of 

 Queen Victoria. In tlie early period of English 

 history there was no such institution as a separate 

 body of police. The responsibility for maintenance 

 of the peace was imposed on each hundred or 

 tithing, and the members of these divisions were 

 held jointly liable for the consequences of any 

 infractions of the laws which took place within 

 their limits. Self-interest made every member of 

 the association a constable ; and although the 

 collective responsibility of the tithing or hundred 

 was for executive purposes represented by the head- 

 man of each, such transfer of liability was not 

 recognised by the law when any penalty for breach 

 of tlie peace was incurred. As time went on the 

 place of the headman of the local division was 

 taken by a constable or constables in the various 

 villages or parishes of the country. In the larger 

 towns the members of the various wards at first 



