PLATOON 



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PLAYER PIANO 



W. H. Thompson, 1868; Gorgias, 

 W. H. Thompson, 1871 ; Republic-. 

 B. Jowett and L. Campbell, 1894 : 

 Republic, J. Adam, 1902 : Plato and 

 the other Companions of Socrates, 

 G. Grote, 1865 ; Plato and the Older 

 Academy, E. Zeller, Eng. trans. S. 

 F. Alleyne and A. Goodwin, 1876 ; 

 Lectures on the Republic, R. L. 

 Xettleship, 1898 ; Greek Thinkers, 

 ii, iii. T. Goinperz, Eng. trans. L. 

 Mflgnus and G. G. Berry, 1901-12. 



Platoon (Fr. pelotdn, group of 

 people). In the British army, a 

 subdivision of an infantry com- 

 pany. The platoon was a tactical 

 unit in the 17th century, but was 

 superseded in the 19th by the 

 small company and half company. 

 It was, however, revived in 1914, 

 and each battalion is now divided 

 into sixteen platoons, four platoons 

 forming a company. Each pla- 

 toon is under the command of a 

 subaltern, and has a strength of 

 about 60 men. See Battalion ; 

 Company; Serjeant. 



Platte (Fr., low, shallow). River 

 of Nebraska, U.S.A. It is formed 

 by the union of the N. and S. Platte 

 rivers. The N. Platte rises among 

 the mountains of N. Colorado, and 

 flows 650 m. N. and S.E. through 

 Wyoming and Nebraska. The S. 

 Platte has its source in the centre 

 of Colorado, and flows 500 m. E. 

 by N. The main channel follows a 

 S.E. course through the Nebraska 

 plains and joins the Missouri about 

 10 ni. below Omaha. The main 

 river measures about 215 m. - 



Flatten See. German name for 

 the Hungarian lake Balaton (q.v. ). 



Plattner, KARL FRIEDRICH 

 (1800-58). German metallurgist. 

 Born at Kleinwaltersdorf, Saxony, 

 Jan. 2, 1800, he became inspector 

 of the royal mines in Saxony, and 

 while holding the post invented the 

 method of blow-pipe analysis for 

 metals with which his name is 

 associated. He died at Freiberg, 

 Jan. 22, 1858. See his Manual of 

 Qualitative and Quantitative Ana- 

 lysis with Blow-pipe, 8th ed. 1902. 



Plattner's Process. Method of 

 extracting gold from its ores. It 

 consists essentially in dissolving 

 out gold from an ore by means of 

 gaseous chloride, which combines 

 with it and converts it into chloride 

 of gold, which in turn is dissolved 

 in water and precipitated by 

 various agents. See Gold. 



Plattsburg. City of New York, 

 U.S.A., the co. seat of Clinton co. 

 It stands at the mouth of Saranac 

 river, on Lake Champlain, 165 m. 

 by rly. N.N.E. of Albany, and is 

 served by the Delaware and Hud- 

 son Rly. Plattsburg was settled 

 in 1784, incorporated in 1785, and 

 became a city in 1902. In the bay 

 the British fleet was defeated, Sept. 

 11, 1814. Pop. 10,900. 



Platyhelmia (Gr. platys, broad, 

 flat ; helmins, worm). Lowest group 

 or phylum of worms, in which the 

 soft body is more or less flattened, 

 not distinctly segmented. It is 

 divided into three orders : Turbel- 

 laria, including planarians (q.v.) ; 

 Trematoda or liver-flukes ; and Ces- 

 toda or tape -worms. See Worm. 



Platypus (Gr. platys, broad; 

 pous, foot). Name sometimes used 

 for the duckbill (Ornithorhynchus 

 anatinus), an extraordinary Aus- 

 tralian animal intermediate be- 

 tween the mammals and reptiles. 

 They have the muzzle shaped like a 

 flattened beak ; the four limbs have 

 webbed feet. The females lay eggs. 

 See DuckbiU ; Ornithorhynchus. 



Plauen. Town of Saxony, Ger- 

 many. It stands on a plateau on 

 the right bank of the White Elster, 

 60 m. from Leipzig, and is a rly. 

 junction. The chief buildings are 

 the old castle, now used for public 

 purposes, the town hall, and S. 

 John's Church, a fine Gothic edifice. 

 The principal industries are the 

 manufacture of lace, embroideries, 

 and textiles. Pop. 121,000. 



Plautus, TITTJS MACCIUS (c. 

 251-184 B.C.). Roman writer of 

 comedies. Born at Sarsina in 

 Umbria, he came to Rome when 

 young and obtained some employ- 

 ment on the stage. Having lost 

 his savings in unsuccessful specu- 

 lation, he was reduced to earning 

 his living in a flour-mill, writing 

 comedies in his spare time, which 

 proved so successful that he de- 

 voted the rest of his life to play- 

 writing. Of the 130 comedies with 

 which he was credited in antiquity 

 only 21 have been preserved ; they 

 are adaptations from Demophilus, 



Diphilus, Menander, and Philemon. 

 The pungent wit, although at times 

 coarse, the rapidity of the action, 

 the shrewd knowledge of human 

 nature displayed, have made the 

 comedies of Plautus popular down 

 to modern times. The best text 

 is that of J. L. Ussing, 1875-86, 

 with Latin notes., and most of the 

 plays have been separately edited. 

 There are complete English trans- 

 lations by Bonnell Thornton, 1767- 

 74, and by H. T. Riley, 1880, in 

 prose. See Amphitryon ; Comedy 

 of Errors ; Ralph Roister Doister. 



Player Piano. Strictly speak- 

 ing, a piano fitted with a player, 

 sometimes called a piano player. 

 This contrivance differs from a 

 mechanical piano, which by means 

 of a barrel reproduces only set 

 tunes, for by the player any music 

 can be rendered, provided it has 

 been transcribed on the necessary 

 rolls. There are numerous makes, 

 but the main principles are the 

 same in all. The " notation," or 

 music, consists of perforated paper 

 which passes over a tracker-bar in 

 which are 88 holes, each correspond- 

 ing to a particular note. The bel- 

 lows act on the suction principle, 

 the notes of the piano being actuated 

 by the air which is drawn in when 

 the holes in the perforated roll coin- 

 cide with those in the tracker-bar. 

 By means of levers, the speed and 

 the soft and the sustaining pedals 

 can be controlled, and expression 

 and special melodic effects secured. 



The latest development is to 

 switch on certain mechanism where- 

 by rolls can be manipulated, repro- 

 ducing with the utmost fidelity the 

 individual performances of great 

 artists. The piano is thus available 



Player Piano. Diagram showing mechanism oi an Angelus player piano 



liy courtesy of Sir Herbert, Marshall Jt Som, Lid. 



