POLTERGEIST 



Russians, who outnumbered the 

 Swedes by four to one. At first the 

 Swedes were victorious on both 

 wings, but Peter counter-attacked 

 and enveloped them. With the help 

 of a new gun he annihilated the 

 Swedish infantry. See Charles XII. 



Poltergeist (Ger., noisy ghost). 

 In spiritualism, name given to the 

 supposed agent of inexplicable 

 occurrences in a house, e.g. the 

 rattling of crockery, moving of 

 furniture, etc. The phenomena 

 referred to have been common 

 since ancient times in most parts 

 of the world. In a number of 

 cases e.g. at Woodstock in 1649, 

 described in H. More's Continua- 

 tion of Glanvil's Collection of Rela- 

 tions in Proof of Witchcraft ; at 

 Tedworth, dealt with in Joseph 

 Glanvil's Sadducismus Triumpha- 

 tus ; and the Cock Lane Ghost, 

 successfully laid by Dr. Johnson 

 and his friends the apparent 

 mystery has been proved to be the 

 result of human agency, a cleverly 

 managed trick. But, as the in- 

 quiries of the Psychical Research 

 Society seem to show, some occur- 

 rences permit, if they do not com- 

 pel, even the frankly sceptical to 

 keep an open mind on the subject 

 of the doings of the poltergeist. 

 See Cock Lane ; Demonology ; 

 Haunted Houses ; Witchcraft ; 

 consult also Proceedings of the 

 Psychical Research Society. 



Polwarth, BARON. Scottish 

 title borne since 1690 by the fami- 

 lies of Hume, or Home, and Scott. 

 Sir Patrick Hume (1641-1724), a 

 member of the family to which the 

 earl of Home belongs, was lord 

 chancellor of Scotland. His father, 

 Sir Patrick, had been made a 

 baronet, and he himself was 

 created baron hi 1690 and earl of 

 Marchmont in 1697. His son Alex- 

 ander became the 2nd earl, but in 

 1793 the earldom became extinct. 

 The barony of Polwarth passed 

 to a daughter and then to an 

 aunt of the late earl. The daughter, 

 Diana, married Walter Scott of 

 Harden, and their son, Hugh Hep- 

 burne-Scott, was allowed to take 

 the barony in 1835. He ranked as 

 the 4th baron, and from him the 

 present baron is descended. Wal- 

 ter Hugh, the 6th baron, became 

 chairman of the prison commission 

 of Scotland in 1909. The family 

 seat is Harden, Roxburghshire. 

 Polwarth itself is a village in Ber- 

 wickshire, 4 m. from Duns. See 

 Home, Earl of ; Marchmont, Earl of. 



Polyaenus (2nd century A.D.). 

 Greek rhetorician and advocate. A 

 native of Macedonia, he settled at 

 Rome during the reign of Marcus 

 Aurelius, for whose benefit he com- 

 piled a work called Strategemata 

 (military stratagems) at the be- 



6235 



ginning of the campaign against 

 the Parthians( 162-1 65). Originally 

 consisting of eight books, six of 

 which are extant in a complete 

 state, it contains not only examples 

 of military strategy, but of astute- 

 ness displayed in other branches 

 of life. He also wrote on Thebes 

 and Macedonia. 



Polyandry (Gr. polys, many ; 

 andres, males). Plurality of hus- 

 bands. Usually deemed to arise 

 from a paucity of women, especi- 

 ally in mountainous, insular, or 

 sterile regions, it is often associated 

 with food-scarcity and girl-infan- 

 ticide. Its antithesis is polygyny. 

 In the fraternal form, a man's 

 brothers share his marital rights, 

 as among the agricultural Tibetans 

 and Todas. The non-fraternal form 

 among the Nayars of India, and in 

 the Marquesas islands, is scarcely 

 distinguishable from communal 

 marriage. See Marriage; Poly- 

 gamy ; Society. 



Polyanthus (Gr. polys, many ; 

 anthos, flower). Garden hybrid 

 originally derived from crossing the 



Polyanthus. Flowers, leaves, and 

 buds of the hybrid garden plant 



cowslip (Primula veris) and the 

 primrose (P. acaulis). By selection 

 and further crossing an almost end- 

 less variety of form and colour has 

 been raised by florists. 



Polybius (c. 210-120 B.C.). 

 Greek historian. He was born in 

 Megalopolis in Arcadia, and his 

 father was one of the leaders of the 

 Achaean League at a time when 

 it was endeavouring to resist the 

 inevitable dominion of Rome. 

 Deported to Italy after the con- 

 quest of Macedonia, Polybius had 

 the good fortune to be received in 

 the household of Aemilius Paulus, 

 with whose son, the younger 

 Scipio, he formed a life-long friend- 

 ship. Polybius was with Scipio at 

 -the destruction of Carthage in 146 

 B.C. The same year saw him in 

 Greece, and when the inevitable 

 defeat took place Polybius set 

 "Dhimself to secure the most favour- 

 able terms for his countrymen. So 

 successful were his efforts that 

 statues were erected in his honour 



POLYCRATES 



in several of the cities of Greece. 

 Already Polybius had begun to 

 collect materials for his great work, 

 a history of Rome from 221-146. 



Of the 40 books of the history, 

 only the first five survive, but these 

 and fragments of the lost books 

 make it clear that the general thesis 

 of the work was to show that the 

 passing of dominion into the hands 

 of the Romans was inevitable, be- 

 cause they were more fitted to rule 

 than the nations they conquered. 

 Polybius is no stylist, yet he ranks 

 high as an historian. See Greek 

 Literature ; consult also The Ancient 

 Greek Historians, J. B. Bury, 1909. 



Polycarp (c. 69-155). Apostolic 

 father and saint. Born about A.D. 

 69, he is said to have become a 

 Christian about the year 80. Ac- 

 cording to Irenaeus, he was a 

 disciple and friend of S. John, who 

 is said to have consecrated him 

 bishop of Smyrna about the year 

 96. It is supposed that he was the 

 angel of the Church in Smyrna 

 (Rev. ii, 8). One of his pupils was 

 Irenaeus. Polycarp was the author 

 of an Epistle to the Philippians, and 

 about 155 went to Rome to confer 

 with Pope Anicetus on the question 

 of the date of the Easter festival 

 and other matters of Church obser- 

 vance. Soon after his return to 

 Smyrna he was apprehended in a 

 local persecution of the Christians, 

 and burnt at the stake. 



Polyclitus (5th century B.C.). 

 Greek sculptor. He was probably 

 a native of Sicyon, but was identi- 

 fied with the school of Argos, where 

 he lived. One of the greatest artists 

 of his time, his Doryphorus (spear- 

 man), of which there are copies at 

 Rome, Florence, Naples, and Ber- 

 lin, was, according to Pliny, the 

 last word in perfect sculpture. 

 Among his other works are the 

 Diadumenus and the famous 

 chryselephantine statue of the 

 goddess Hera, once in the temple at 

 Argos. Portraits, etc., by him have 

 been discovered at Olympia, Delos, 

 and Samos. There was also a 

 younger Polyclitus, architect and 

 sculptor, who flourished in the 4th 

 century.' Pron. Polly-cly-tus. , 



Polycrates (d. 522 B.C.). Tyrant 

 of Samos. By creating a fleet, he 

 extended his dominion to other 

 islands and the coast of Asia 

 Minor, and became exceedingly 

 powerful and wealthy. His good 

 fortune was so constant that 

 Amasis, king of Egypt, who had 

 entered into an alliance with him, 

 became uneasy, thinking that such 

 unvarying prosperity would even- 

 tually provoke the anger of the 

 gods. According to Herodotus, 

 Amasis asked his ally to throw 

 away one of the most valued of his 

 possessions. Polycrates threw a 



