POSSE COMITATUS 



POSTGLACIAL SYSTEM 345 



two essays, one on The Genesis of Science and the other 

 on The Classification of the Sciences, he opposes Comte's 

 views on these subjects; and he has even thought 

 it necessary to publish an article entitled Reaions 

 for dissenting from the Philosophy of M. C&aite. Mr 

 Spencer's exposition of the theory of evolution is regarded 

 by 1'ositivists as a valuable contribution to that scientific 

 philosophy the inauguration of which they claim for their 

 master. G. H. Lewes, in the chapter on (Joint* in his 

 History of Philosophy, calls him the greatest thinker of 

 modern tunes, and declares himself an ardent adherent 

 of the positive philosophy. For the religious aspects of 

 Positivism, however, Lewes' feeling is one of partial 

 sympathy only. In George Eliot's works the influence 

 of Comte's doctrines is evident, and she has devoted one 

 of her poems to the interpretation of the Positivist con- 

 ception of immortality. In addition to the works of 

 these writers, the following are the most important 

 criticisms of Positivism, representing various degrees of 

 sympathy and antagonism : John Morley, article ' Comte ' 

 in Ency. Brit. ; Professor Edward Caird, Social Philo- 

 sophy and Religion of Comte ; Dr J. M'Cosh, Christian- 

 ity and Positivism ; Dr Martincan, in Types of Ethical 

 Theory; Professor Huxley, 'Scientific Aspects of Posi- 

 tivism,' in Lay Sermons ; and Mr A. J. Balfour, Relit/ion 

 of Humanity. 



Among critics wholly antagonistic to Positivism are 

 naturally to be found the theologians and so-called meta- 

 physicians Le. all whose explanations of phenomena 

 either assume the action of supernatural beings or are 

 expressed in terms of abstractions such as vital principle, 

 inherent tendency, nature. Such thinkers, Positivists 

 contend, generally profess little knowledge of scientific 

 fact; but with these may be included many scientific 

 specialists whose contracted view of the phenomenal 

 world unfits them for general conceptions, and leaves 

 them open to theological and metaphysical influences 

 beyond the immediate sphere of their own 8]>ecialty. 

 The opposition of these classes follows from the refusal 

 of Positivism to recognise the claims of such modes of 

 thought to other than an historical importance. 



Posse <'omi till IIS ('the posse of tlie county' 

 tin- infinitive 'to be able' being used in late Latin 

 as a noun, and meaning power or force), the 

 whole force of the county, consisting of knights 

 and men above the age of fifteen, with constables, 

 who attend the orders of the sheriff to assist in 

 enforcing process or quelling riots. Justices of the 

 peace can also, if apprehensive of an organised 

 resistance, command the services of the posse 

 comitatns, and it is the sheriffs duty to raise 

 the necessary number of men. But practically, in 

 modern times, constables and sjiecial constables are 

 all the assistance given or required. See SHERIFF. 



Possession is the relation which subsists be- 

 tween a person and a thing, when the person has 

 control over the thing, ami maintains nis control 

 with the intention of exercising rights over the 

 thing. A man may be in possession of what is 

 not his own ; a thief enters into unlawful posses- 

 sion of another's goods ; a farmer has lawful pos- 

 session of his landlord's property. Again, a man 

 may own a thing without possessing it, and the 

 law prescribes the forms of action, &c. whereby 

 an owner may recover possession of his property. 

 In a reasonably well-governed community posses- 

 sion is evidence of right to possess; the person in 

 possession is therefore protected against all the 

 world, unless there is some other person who can 

 show that he has a better title : this is what is 

 meant by saying 'possession is nine points of 

 the law. We speak sometimes of an interest in 

 possession, as distinguished from an interest in 

 reversion or remainder : thus, the person who is 

 entitled to receive the rent of land has an in- 

 terest or estate in possession, though he does not 

 possess the land. In common speech possession is 

 frequently used as synonymous with property ; but 

 for legal purposes the two ideas must be carefully 

 dbttagnUiea. See Hunter's Roman Law; and 

 Pollock and Wright's Essay on Possession in the 



Common Law (1888). There may be joint-owner- 

 ship in either personal or real property, one of the 

 characteristics of this kind of ownership being 

 'benefit of survivorship' i.e. if one of the joint- 

 owners dies his interest accrues to the other, and 

 does not go to the deceased co-owner's heirs and 

 representatives. In partnership, when one partner 

 dies his share belongs to his own personal repre- 

 sentatives. 



Possession, DEMONIAC. See DEMONOLOGY, 

 EXORCISM. 



Posset, a dietetic preparation, made by curd- 

 ling milk with some acidulous liquor, such as wine, 

 ale, or vinegar. White wine or sherry is usually 

 preferred, but sometimes old ale is used. The milk 

 is boiled, and whilst it is still on the fire the acid- 

 ulous matter is added ; if sherry, about a wine- 

 glassful and a half to the pint of new milk is the 

 proportion, or twice the quantity if ale. A tea- 

 spoonful of vinegar or of lemon-juice is sometimes 

 used instead ; one or two tablespoonfuls of treacle 

 may lie added, to sweeten. Taken at bedtime, it 

 is used for colds and coughs. 



Post-captain. See CAPTAIN (NAVAL). 



Postglacial and Recent System. The 

 deposits belonging to this system contain the 

 remains of plants and animals, few of which are 

 not still existing species. The beds consist of more 

 or less incoherent and unconsolidated materials, 

 which have been formed under very diverse condi- 

 tions. They are represented by the low-lying 

 alluvial flats that occupy the sites of silted-up 

 lakes, and the bottoms of valleys at moderate 

 elevations above the streams and rivers. Most of 

 the bogs of northern and central Europe belong to 

 the same system, but some had commenced to form 

 towards the close of the glacial period. Many bogs 

 overlie the remains of old forests, and not infre- 

 quently trees, occupying the place of growth, occur 

 in the peat at various levels. Two such ' buried 

 forests' have leen met with in the bogs over a 

 wide region in north-western Europe. At many 

 places on the coasts of the British Islands and the 

 opposite shores of the Continent peat with buried 

 trees passes out to sea, and has been dredged up 

 from the sea-bottom at considerable distances from 

 the land. The only other formations that need be 

 mentioned are the raised Beaches (q.v. ) which are 

 met with at various heights above the present sea- 

 level, and the local moraines and nuvio-glacial 

 gravels of the higher valleys of the Scottish High- 

 lands. Some of these moraines come down to the 

 level of the 45 to 50 feet beach. 



The flora and fauna of the period are essentially 

 the same as at present. In the earlier stages of 

 the period, however, the flora of north Germany, 

 Denmark, southern Sweden, &c. was arctic-alpine, 

 and that flora was accompanied by the northern 

 mammals, including the reindeer, &c. Later in 

 the period, as the climate became more genial, the 

 northern flora and fauna disappeared from the low 

 grounds of temperate Europe, and the present plants 

 and animals took their place. Of the more notable 

 mammals of the period in Britain were Megaceros 

 (Irish deer), Bos primigenius, and Bos lonqifrons. 

 The oldest traces of man met with at this stage 

 belong to the Neolithic phase. 



Several geographical and climatic changes appear 

 to have supervened in postglacial and recent times. 

 After the Scandinavian flora and fauna had been 

 succeeded in our area by the present assemblage of 

 plants and animals, the climate appears to have 

 become even more genial than it is in our day. 

 Great forests spread far north into regions where 

 trees do not now grow, and reached elevations on 

 the mountains which they cannot now attain. At 

 the same time many southern types of molluscs 



