POPPY-HEAD 



PORCUPINE 



327 



France and elsewhere as an article of food. It is 

 believed that one-half of the oil used for cooking 

 and otherwise for alimentary purposes in France is 

 of this kind. The seeds yield about 40 per cent, of 

 oil, and the oil-cake is useful for manure or for 

 feeding cattle. The oil is sometimes used by 

 painters and by soap-boilers ; but it is not good 

 for burning. In the cultivation of the poppy for 

 oil the seed is often sown in autumn, where the 

 severity of winter-frosts is not to be feared ; in 

 more northern parts it is sown in spring, and some- 

 times the seed is scattered on the top of the snow 

 with which the. ground is covered. Being very 

 small it needs little or no harrowing. Early sowing 

 is favourable to the size of the plant and the 

 abundance of produce. Hoeing and thinning are 

 advantageous. An open but nch soil is best for 

 the poppy ; and a sheltered situation is necessary, 

 as in exposed situations much of the seed is scat- 

 tered by the wind. The poppy does not exhaust 

 the land so much as colza, rape, and gome other 

 oil-plant". Harvesting ought to begin when one- 

 fourth of the capsules of each plant are open. It 

 is accomplished by pulling the plants in such a 

 manner as not to shake the seed out of the cap- 

 sules, and tying them in sheafs, which are placed 

 together in an erect or slightly sloping position, 

 till the ripening of the capsules is completed, when 

 the seed is taken out by shaking the capsules into 

 a tub or on a cloth, great care being used to pre- 

 vent any earth from the roots from getting mixed 

 with them. Some farmers in Flanders sow poppies 

 in alternate rows with carrots. The variety of 

 poppy chiefly cultivated atr an oil-plant has (lowers 

 of a dull reddish colour, large oblong capsules, and 

 bnnnUl scrds; but the white-flowered variety, 

 with globular capsules and white seeds, is also 

 used. The Oriental Poppy (P. orientate), a native 

 of Armenia and the Caucasus, a perennial species, 

 is often planted in gardens on account of its very 

 large, fiery-red (lowers. Its unripe capsules have 

 an acrid, almost burning taste, hut are eaten by 

 the Turks, and opium is extracted from them, 

 'ral s|ecies are British, all uf them local, rare in 

 ."pine places, and troublesome weeds in cornfields in 

 other places apparently quite similar in climate. 

 Among them is the Cora Poppy or Common Red 

 l'ppy (P. rhoeas), with bright-red flowers, and 

 deeply pinnatifid leaves. The petals are mucilagin- 

 ous ami slightly bitter ; they have a slight narcotic 

 smell ; and a syrup made of them is sometimes used 

 as an anodyne in catarrhs and children's complaints ; 

 but they are more valued for the rich red colour 

 which they yield. A variety with double flowers 

 is cultivated in flower-gardens, under the name of 

 Carnation Poppy. Among the ancients the poppy 

 was sacred to Ceres. 



Poppy-head. See PEWS. 



Population. Information as to the population 

 of the various communities of the world will be 

 found in the paragraphs dealing with the subject in 

 the articles in this work on the various kingdoms 

 and countries, ancient and modern, and on the 

 several provinces of those countries, and on the 

 towns and cities of the world; at EUROPE, ASIA, 

 AMKRICA, will be found tables of the population 

 of the several countries in those great divisions of 

 the world, go far as ascertainable. The population 

 of the world (estimated by Behm and Wagner in 

 1882 at 1434 millions) will lie dealt with at WORLD. 

 Tin- so-called ' population question ' is discussed at 

 MALTHUS ; and other articles that deal more or 

 less directly with population, its enumeration and 

 Iliictuations, are CENSUS, REGISTRATION (of Births, 

 Deaths, and Marriages), and VITAL STATISTICS. 

 Fur mortality tables, see INSURANCE. And ques- 

 tions that emerge in connection with the increase 



and density of population will be found treated 

 at CORN LAWS, CROFTERS, EMIGRATION, FREE 

 TRADE, INFANTICIDE, LAND LAWS, POLITICAL 

 ECONOMY, POOR-LAWS, SOCIALISM, &c. And see 

 works by Farr (q.v.), Quetelet (q.v.), Behm (q.v.), 

 Bodio, Block. 



Porbeagle, sometimes called ' Beaumaris 

 Shark ' ( Lamna cornubica ), is a shark found on the 

 British coasts, in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, on 

 the American coast, and in Japanese waters. Its 

 usual length is 4 feet, but it sometimes attains a 

 length of 10 feet, and is sometimes caught in 

 mackerel and salmon nets, and even on haddock 

 lines. It lives on cuttle-fish, pilchards, herrings, 

 hake, and smaller cartilaginous fishes. In Mediter- 

 ranean countries it is eaten as human food. 



Porcelain. See POTTERY. 



Porrellilllite. a very hard, impure, jaspideons 

 rock, frequently met with in the immediate vicinity 

 of intrusive eruptive masses. In most cases \tor- 

 cellanite is simply a highly liaked and altered 

 argillaceous roclc shales l>eing frequently con- 

 verted into porcellanite along their line of junction 

 with an igneous rock. 



Porch, a building forming an enclosure or pro- 

 tection for a doorway. In mediaeval and Eliza- 

 bethan architecture the porch was very common in 

 domestic architecture. In churches it was almost 

 universal in England, most often on the south side 



Porch of Aldhaiu, Essex (1350). 



of the nave, of stone or flint- work (in East Anglia), 

 but sometimes also of wood. In France many 

 splendid porches or portals remain ; they are amongst 

 tne most beautiful specimens of mediaeval art. See 

 also GALILEE. 



Porcupine, a name given to all the members 

 of a family of Rodentia the Hystricidae. This 

 family contains a number of well-defined genera, 

 which include a good many species. The Common 

 Porcupine ( Hystrix cristata ) is found in southern 

 Europe, as well as in Asia and Africa, and is one of 

 the largest of rodents ; it has a heavy aspect and a 

 grunting voice, whence the name Porcupine (from 

 the French pore, 'a hog,' and tmn, 'a spine'). 

 The porcupines of the Ne\y World are sometimes 

 included in a separate family ; they comprise two 

 well-marked forms the Urson (Erethizon dorsatus) 

 of North America and the Prehensile-tailed Tree 

 Porcupines (Cercobates) of South America. The 

 most marked peculiarity of the porcupine is of 

 course the presence of the quills, which are simply 

 thickened hairs ; gradations between ordinary 

 hairs and the thickest and longest spines exist to 



