342 



PORT WINE 



POSILIPO 



they n.re much diffused over the world, and are 

 ahrubhy or herbaceous, generally succulent, mostly 

 growing in dry places. The flower* are often large 

 and beautiful, but ephemeral. The foliage is bland 

 and insipid. Some H|Mvic8 are used as salads and 

 pot-herbs, of which tin- lieit known is Purslane 

 (q.v.). Tbe tuberous root* of Claylmnn tn/>- 

 a Siberian plant, are used for food. The genera 

 Calandrinia and Portulaca furnish some beautiful 

 annuals. 



Port Wine (Le, Porto or Oporto Wine), a 

 species of red wine, hot and heady, which U pro- 

 duced chiefly in a mountainous district of Portugal, 

 called Cinia de Douro, and exported from Oporto 

 and LUbon. The vine from which this wine is 

 produced is generally planted on craggy slopes 

 with a southern exposure. The wine, when pure 

 and unadulterated (which is very seldom the case), 

 does not acquire it- full strength and flavour till it 

 has stood for MIMIC years, to allow for the disturb- 

 ance of the spirit to subside, and the antagonistic 

 ingredients of the mixture t<i harmonise ; but care 

 must likewise be taken that it is not allowed 

 to become too old. The colour of new port wine 

 varies from pale rose to deep red, ana changes 

 with age, becoming a deep tawny brown, which 

 is permanent. By far the greater portion of 

 the wine made is mixvd with spirit even during 

 the time of fermentation, in order to give the 

 new wine the ripeness mid strength which ex- 

 porters require, and which the wine does not 

 naturally attain till it has stood for some time; 

 the proper colour is also given by a mixture known 

 njtrufriga, which is a preparation of elder-berries, 

 molaasea, raisin-juice, and spirit. It is an excess 

 of this jeropiga in the inferior sorts of port which 

 communicates to them the medicated odour so fre- 

 quently noticed. The extreme ' headiness' of port 

 is chiefly due to the liberal admixture, with spirit, 

 and this is the case with nil the MM is generally ex- 

 ported, which average 3,1 per con;, of proof spirit. 

 From the time when iKirt came into demand (about 

 1700, though it was known in Knglnnd for H con- 

 siderable time liei'ore this) down i Is-Jii its export 

 was a monopoly in the hands of the Knglish mer- 

 chants ; and the amount of wine produced increased, 

 with tolerable steadiness, year after year, till the 

 three years ending 1840, when it reached 34,790 

 pipes of 128 gallons. The ultimate effect of this 

 monopoly of the Oporto Wine Company was to 

 increase the price of iiort wine in Kngland, and at 

 the same time so to deteriorate its quality that in 

 course of time it liecame of less demand, and was 

 largely supplanted by southern French and other 

 wine*. Since that period it has fluctuated, lieing 

 sometime* more and sometimes less than this figure; 

 in IS.K) tin- exportation reached 37,4*7 pipes. 

 Between 1880 and I806 the export* to Great Britain 

 ranged from :i.000,000 to 4,000,000 gallons (not all 

 for consumption in that country), and the value 

 from il'.HIO.OOO to 1, 340,000. The ,,,,l,ir,il port 

 wine, with lex* than 26 per cent, of proof spirit, 

 is very wholesome and invigorating. The exports 

 of port wine from ( Iporto in 1SSO were .1.1,700 pipes, 

 wilucd ,,t Cl.l7l.ixpo, |,,,t j,, the years 1880-97 de- 

 creased < iiiisidcnihlv on the wholi'. 



PortlH. See Al.l.XAMlKR THE GREAT. 



Powrharevatz. see PX-, \I I(|WI TZ. 



I'osHllnil. See NKPTUNK. 



Powil (Polish I',,:HHH), a province of Pnissia, 



bounded N. l,v West Prussia, E. by Poland, S. by 

 Silesia, and \\ . by Brandenburg. Area, 11,17- 

 m Tin- \Vurthe traverses it from east to west, and 

 is navigable throughout the greater part of iU 

 course, as is also the smaller Netze. The Vistula 

 ton. !,.- I 1 ,,-.-!! .m the north-east. The province 

 belongs to the great plain of north Germany ; there 



are several lakes in the east. Like Pomerania, it 

 u essentially an agricultural province, nearly 62 

 per cent, of the area lieing arable land, 1.1 per cent. 

 meadows, ami ifii under wood. More than . r >.~> p.-r 

 cent, of the total is in the hands of large landed pro- 

 prietors (we also Mi:i KI.KMH 'im I. (; rain, potatoes, 

 and bops are the principal products. The industry 

 is not much developed, being limited chiefly to 

 machinery, cloth, bricks, sugar, and beer. Fan 

 (IKfloi I.7.M.H-C-', of whom HSO.OOO are Poles, mostly 

 in the rural districts. 725,000 Germans,i>rincipally 

 in the towns, and .11.000 Jews. There is a 

 Human Catholic archbishop of Gnesen and Post n. 

 The chief towns are Posen (the capital), Gnesen, 

 Bromberg, Liwa, and Rnwitsch. Poseu formed 

 an integral part of Poland till 1772, when, at the 

 first partition, the districts north of the Netze wo.- 

 given to Prussia; to these were added in 17!t3 Great 

 Poland, except Masovia, the whole being incm 

 porated under the name of South Pnissia. In 

 1807 Posen was included in the duchy of Warsaw ; 

 but by the Congress of Vienna it was re-assigned 

 to Prussia under the title of. the Grand-duchy of 

 Posen. In 1848 the Poles gave the I'ru.-sian 

 government considerable trouble. See History by 

 Chr. Meyer (1881). 



POSEN, the chief town of the province, and a for- 

 tress of the first rank ( 1827-53), is situated on the 

 \\ "arthe, I, is miles by rail K. of Berlin. One of the 

 most ancient cities of Poland, it liecame the seat of 

 a Christian bishop in 968, and it was the capital of 

 the early Polish dukes. In the 16th century it 

 was an important trading mart, but by the end of 

 the same century had begun to decline. Recent 

 improvements have rendered it one of the pleas, 

 antesi towns in Prussia; it has regularly built 

 streets and squares and handsome .siihnrlis. The 

 fortifications have Ix-en strengthened by detached 

 forts built in 1876-84. The cathedral, a Gothic 

 pile dating from 1775, has attached to it the 

 Golden Chapel' of Count Raczynski, which is 

 adorned with valuable treasures and works of art. 

 The principal secular buildings are the town-house 

 ( 1508), containing valuable archives; the Rac/yn- 

 ski Palace, with a library ; the Dzialynski Palace. 

 with archives ; and the archiepiscopal palace. There 

 i- a provincial museum of antiquities. The chief 

 manufactures are artificial manures, agricultural 

 implements, furniture, carriages. ,Vc. ; and there 

 are likewise several breweries, distilleries, and 

 Hour-mills. Pop. (1875) 60,998; (ls!n ti!i.ii-.'7, 

 about one-half lieing Poles, the other half Germans, 

 though the Jews n IHT nearly 7000. See His- 

 tories by Lukaszewicz (1881) and Ohlschlager 

 (1886). 



Posidonia. See r r- 1 1 M. 



PosidonillM, a Stoic philosopher, born at 

 Apameti, in Syria, about 135 B.C., who studied at 

 Athens, and settled at Rhodes, whence in 86 he 

 was sent as envoy to Rome. Here he became 

 intimate with Cicero, Pompey, and other conspicu- 

 ous Romans. He died at the age of eighty-four, 

 leaving works on philosophy, astronomy, and his- 

 tory, of which only fragments have been preserved. 



Posllipo (from a villa here called Pavtilyjioii, 

 'Sans-souci,' which at one time belonged to the 

 Emperor Augustus), a mountain on the north-west 

 of Naples, close by the city, from of old a noble 

 site for the villas of wealthy citizens. It is 

 remarkable for the tunnel known as the Grotto 

 of l'osili|M), through which the road from Naples 

 to PoMOoli (niie. I'lilrnli) passes. The grotto 

 varies in height from 20 feet to 80 or more, is 

 20 t<i _:) feet wide, and 755 yards long. It is 

 traditionally said to have been made in the reign 

 of Augustus, but is probably earlier. Above the 

 eastern archway of the grotto is the so-called 



