FOR 



1 1 S 



FOR 



Port- 

 Baptiaia. 



The rest of Parson's works, which arc numerous, 



liiefly of criticisms on celebrated passages >(' 

 .indent authors. Sec Weston's Account of t/t<- liitr Mr. 

 litchurd Purson, Lond. 1808, 8vo.; and Kidd's Imper- 

 fect Out/in 



PORT-MAHON. See MIXMI. \. 



PORTA-BAPTISTA, or CMMIIAPTISTA, a cele. 

 brated Neapolitan philosopher, was born about the 

 year 1545. Attached to the study of nature from an 

 early period of his life, he evinced on uncommon zeal 

 for the advancement of knowledge. Having esta- 

 blished in his house a kind of academy, called De Sc- 

 ,-nti, he admitted only those who had made some use- 

 ful discovery, or communicated some new information. 

 By this means he was furnished with materials for his 

 Mugia Naturalis, the first edition of which was pub- 

 1 1 .shed, as he himself assures us, when he was scarcely 

 fifteen years old, that is, about the year 156'0. 



The assemblies which were held at the house of the 

 Neapolitan philosopher, excited the jealousy of the 

 church of Rome, by whom they were prohibited. 



On the first publication of the Magia Naturalis, it 

 was translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and 

 Arabic, and went through many editions in different 

 countries. In this wonderful collection of all the cu- 

 riosities in nature and art, which were known in that 

 time, we find an accurate description of the camera 

 obscuft, and various other contrivances of great inge- 

 nuity. 



Baptista Porta travelled through Italy, from which 

 he went into France and Spain, visiting all the public 

 libraries and learned men, and collecting all the in- 

 formation which he could obtain. When he was at 

 Rome he was admitted into the Academy de Lyncaei ; 

 and he became acquainted with the celebrated Francis 

 Paoli, from whom he obtained much curious informa- 

 tion. He died at Naples in 1615. 



Beside the Magia Naturalis, of which a second edi- 

 tion appeared in 1590, much enlarged, he published a 

 work, De Humana Physiognomia, to which he added a 

 Physiognomic, Celeslis. He published also a work, De 

 Alris TraHsmutalionibus. His principal mathematical 

 works were his Elementa Curvilinea, and his De Refrac- 

 tione Opliccs, an account of which, and of his other op- 



tical labours, will be found in our article OPTIC*, Vol. 

 XV. p. 4(>7. 



PORT-<;i, \M;< )\V, the name of a parish and town 

 of iScotland, in Renfrewshire, and so called from being 

 the port to the city of Glasgow. The citizens of Glas- 

 gow, feeling the want of a sufficient depth of water at 

 the J Jromielaw, resolved to have a port nearer the mouth 

 of the Clyde. They first proposed to make an exten* 

 sive harbour at Dumbarton, but being opposed by the 

 magistrates of that burgh, they purchased, in 1662, 

 thirteen acres of ground from Sir Robert Maxwell, near 

 the village of Newark, about 19 miles below Glasgow, 

 and having laid out the ground for a town, they built 

 harbours, and erected the first dry or graving dock in 

 Scotland. In 1714, Port-Glasgow was disjoined from 

 the parish of Kilmalcolm, and erected into a separate 

 parish ; and, on the 22d February, 1718, it was agreed 

 that a church should be built at Port- Glasgow, one half 

 of the expence to be defrayed by the city of Glasgow, 

 and the other by the feuars of Port-Glasgow. 



In 1775, with the consent of the city of Glasgow. 

 the town was erected into a burgh of barony, which ut 

 governed by two bailies and a council of eleven feuars, 

 who possess at least <L J 10 of annual income from heri- 

 table property. The city of Glasgow appoints the prin- 

 cipal bailie and the town clerk. 



The harbours of Port- Glasgow are capable of re- 

 ceiving the largest vessels without discharging any part 

 of their cargo. There are extensive warehouses on the 

 quay belonging to the Glasgow merchants. The ruins of 

 the ancient castle of Newark, belonging to Lord Belha- 

 ven, are situated a little to the east of the town, on the 

 banks of the river. It was once strongly fortified, and 

 was built in 1599* The arms of the Maxwell family 

 are placed over the main entrance. 



In the bed of the river, opposite to this castle, se- 

 veral pieces of wreck have at different times been dis- 

 covered, which are said to have been sunk in 1588, to 

 prevent the Spanish armada from attempting the castle 

 of Dumbarton. 



The following Tables will show the state of the trade 

 of Port-Glasgow, in the years ending 5th January 18.15, 

 and 5th January 1824-. 



> 



\nwbcr of Skips and Vessels belonging to Port-Glasgow, with their Tonnage and Number of 

 Men, that have loaded to and from this Porl, in the under-mentioned periods. 



N.B. Vessels to and from Ireland are included in the columns of foreign trade, and all Dumbarton ressels are included with 



those from Port-Glasgow. 



An Account of the Nunihcr of Ships, n-ith their Tonnage and Men, that hare reported inwards at Port-Glasgow 

 during the Year en ding ~>th January 1815, al*u an Account of the Maple Articles. 



