POUNCE 



POWAN 



373 



high prices. To secure the best returns all eggs 

 and poultry should be sent to market clean, well 

 packed, and in the best possible condition. The 

 supply of the commoner varieties of poultry pro- 

 duce is very large, and the prices obtained are 

 consequently small, but there is no limit to the 

 demand for high-class qualities at remunerative 

 figures. 



See L. Wright, The Illustrated Rook of Poultry (new 

 ed. 1885) ; Tegetmeier, Poultry Book (newed. 1872), and 

 Poultry for the Table and Market 1 1892 ) ; Poultry ( Dean 

 and Son); S. Beale, Profitable Poultry-keeping (1883); 

 L K. Felch, Poultry Culture ( Chicago, 1886 ) ; Poultry- 

 keeping for Farmers and Cottagers, by the present writer 

 (1893); also the articles DOCK, GOOSE, GUINEA FOWL, 

 TUBKEY, EGO, FOOD, INCUBATION, &c. 



Pounce, powdered rosin, or some gum-resin 

 such as mastic, sandarach, or copal, and also the 

 powder of cuttle-fish bones, formerly used for sprink- 

 ling over freshly-written writing to prevent blot- 

 ting ; fine sand was often substituted for pounce. 



Ponnd (Sax. vund, Ger. pfund, Lat. pondus, 

 'weight'), long the unit of weight in the western 

 and central states of Europe, differing, however, in 

 value in all of them. The symbol Mb." for it is 

 equally general, and is derived from the Latin 

 word libra. The old English pound, which is said 

 to have been the standard of weight from the time 

 of William the Conqueror till that of Henry VII., 

 was derived from the weight of 7680 grains of 

 wheat, all taken from the middle of the ear, and 

 well dried. For the difference between the present 

 avoirdupois and troy pound, see AVOIRDUPOIS, 

 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. In the British Phar- 

 macopoeia of 1864 the troy ounce was given up, 

 and the pound avoirdupois and the ounce avoir- 

 dupois were adopted. See also LlVRE, MARK. 



The pound weight of silver, a common money 

 standard among the ancient Romans, was intro- 

 duced by them into the countries they conquered, 

 and thus the term ' pound ' l>ecame a designation 

 of a certain amount of coined money. Thus, 

 nowadays, the English pound is considered as 

 something (a coin or otherwise) equivalent to 20 

 shillings, but originally it denoted the pound of 

 silver which was coined into 20 shillings. From 

 Edward II. 's time the coins were more and more 

 diminished in size, that monarch coining25 shillings 

 from a pound of silver ; while from the same weight 

 of bullion his various successors coined 30, 45, 48, 

 96, 144, 288, in the time of Elizabeth 60, and under 

 George I. 66 shillings to the pound of silver, and 

 this rate still continues, the term ' pound ' being 

 severed from its original meaning, and signifying 

 20 shillings of the present coinage. The sovereign 

 of gold was first struck under Henry VII. ; its 

 value rose to as much as 30 shillings ; under Charles 

 II. it was fixed at 21 shillings, and the sovereign 

 was superseded by the Guinea (q.v.) till 1817 (see 

 MONKY, MINT). The pound Scots, originally of 

 the same value as the English one, sank in value 

 after 1355 till in 1600 it was but one-twelfth of the 

 value of the English pound, and was accordingly 

 worth Is. 8d. ; it was divided into twenty shillings, 

 each worth an English penny. The Treaty of 

 Union provided that the money thereafter used 

 should !> of the same standard and fineness through- 

 out the United Kingdom. 



Pound, in English law, means an enclosure, 

 of which there was generally one in every parish 

 or manor, in which stray cattle were put and de- 

 tained until the damage done by them was paid 

 for. Whenever a stranger's or neighbour's cattle 

 trespass on another's lands the latter can seize 

 them, and take them to the pound, or impound 

 them, as it is called, damage feasnnt, and can 

 keep them there till the expenses are repaid. There 



was a distinction between pound overt, or common 

 pound, and pound covert, or close pound ; in the 

 former case the owner of the beasts could go and 

 feed and water his cattle while impounded, and it 

 was his duty to do so ; but not in the latter case. 

 Now it is compulsory for the impounder in all 

 cases to supply the cattle with food, otherwise he 

 incurs a penalty ; and if impounded cattle are not 

 sufficiently fed a stranger who feeds them may not 

 only trespass on lands to do so, but can recover the 

 costs from the owner of the beasts. Goods dis- 

 trained, if liable to be stolen or damaged, should 

 l>e deposited in pound covert. At Madresfield, near 

 Malvern, a public pound was repaired so recently 

 as 1888 ; but practically they are quite obsolete, 

 since the law now permits a person distraining for 

 rent to secure the distress on the premises (see 

 DISTRESS ). In the United States estray s are gener- 

 ally liable to be sold for the benefit of the poor of 

 the place where they are found, or for some other 

 public use. 



Poll lid al, a name sometimes used for the 

 absolute foot pound second unit of force, which 

 will produce in one pound a velocity of one foot 

 per second, after acting for one second. 



Pounds, JOHN. See RAGGED SCHOOLS. 

 Pouslikin. See PUSHKIN. 



Poiissill, NICOLAS, a painter of great celebrity, 

 was born at Les Andelys in Normandy in June 1594, 

 went at the age of eighteen to Paris, and studied 

 under Ferdinand Elle, the Fleming, Lallemand, 

 and others, but chiefly improved himself by draw- 

 ing from casts, and drawings and prints after 

 Raphael and Giulio Romano, in the collection of 

 M. Courtois, who accorded him access to them. 

 After a long and hard struggle he attained the 

 object of his desire the means of visiting Rome. 

 He was thirty years of age when he arrived there, 

 and a considerable period elapsed after that before 

 he obtained much employment. At length, how- 

 ever, he received several important commissions 

 from the Cardinal Barberini, which he executed so 

 successfully that he afterwards rapidly acquired 

 fame and "fortune. After an absence of sixteen 

 years he returned to Paris with M. de Chanteloup, 

 and wan introduced by Cardinal Richelieu to Louis 

 XIII., who appointed him his painter in ordinary, 

 with apartments in the Tuileries and a small 

 salary. But in 1643, annoyed by intrigues against 

 him, he returned to Rome ; and there, after pro- 

 during a large quantity of admirable work, he died 

 on 19th November 1665. His style is a combination 

 of classical ideals and Renaissance tendencies ; his 

 colours have changed so as to interfere with the 

 harmony of his pictures, whose noble designs may 

 be admirably studied in the numerous engravings 

 of them. The finest collection of his works is in 

 the Louvre ; but some of the best are in the 

 National Gallery, at Dulwich, and in English 

 private collections. His nephew, Caspar Dughet 

 (1613-1675), assumed his uncle's name, and as 

 GASPAR POUSSIN became famous as a landscapist, 

 his renderings of the Roman Campagna being espe- 

 cially noted. He worked also in tempera and 

 fresco. The National Gallery possesses his 

 ' Sacrifice of Abraham. ' 



See works on Nicolas Poussin by St Germain, Bouchitt6 

 (1858), and Poillon (2d ed. 1875), with an article by 

 Lady Dilke (E. F. S. Pattison) in L'Art (1882). 



Pont. See BIB. The name Horned Pout and 

 Bullpout are given in America to the siluroid 

 Amiurut, also called Catfish (q.v.). 



Poverty Bay. See GISBORNE. 

 I 'own 11. another name for the Gwyniad (q.v.). 

 See COREGONUS. 



