PORT-WINE 



6284 



POSEN 



brandy, is put in the wine, and 

 this is again repeated before ship- 

 ping. Port wine thus contains 

 from 17 to 25 p.c. of alcohol, the 

 average amount varying from 18 

 to 21 p.c. Some natural, specially 

 good, vintage port is shipped un- 

 sophisticated, soon after making, 

 but the bulk is manufactured as de- 

 scribed, and almost always blended. 

 Port is stored for a long time, 

 being matured both in cask and in 

 bottle. Rome is kept in cask up 

 to 20 years; always it is so kept 

 for two years, and jrcnerally for 

 three, or even six, before bottling. 

 The former is a mistaken policy, 

 as the valuable esters escape 

 through the wood, but long rest in 

 bottle improves the wine. Never- 

 theless, port should not be kept too 

 long, as it loses its essential 

 qualities as well as its red colour, 

 owing to the escape of the esters. 

 The last most famous vintage year 

 was 1847, though wine 100 years 

 old is still on sale, but after 40 or 

 50 years port becomes of a sherry 

 colour, and though often a delect- 

 able drink, it is not characteristic- 

 ally port wine. Port contains from 

 7 to 15 p.c. of sugar, and a fair 

 amount of tannin, much of which 



Poseidon. Greek god of the sea. 

 From a statue of the 4th century B.C. 



National Museum. Athens 



Poseidon. In Greek mythology, 

 son of Cronos and Rhca, and gcd 

 of the sea, that domain falling to 

 him when the universe was divided 

 among him and his brothers, 

 Zeus king of heaven and Pluto 

 king of the netherworld. Dis- 

 satisfied with this division, Poseidon 

 conspired against Zeus, but was 

 worsted, and as a punishment had 

 to work for a period for Laomedon, 

 king of Troy. He constructed for 

 that king the famous walls of Troy, 

 but when he claimed the reward 

 promised, Laomedon refused to 

 make good his word. Poseidon 

 accordingly sent a sea-monster, 

 which ravaged the country and 

 exacted a tribute of maidens until 

 killed by Hercules (see Hesione). , 



The palace of Poseidon was sup- 

 posed to lie at the bottom of the 

 sea. The symbol of his power was 

 a trident, and he was wont to 

 drive over the sea in a chariot with 

 horses having brazen hoofs and 

 golden manes. He had the power 

 of causing not only storms, but also 

 earthquakes. The Isthmian Games 

 were held in his honour. His wife 



last is depos' ed 

 as a crust in the 

 bottle. Some 

 white port is 

 made, chiefly for 

 the Russian and 

 German markets. 

 See Wine. 



Port - wine 

 Mark. Mark 

 present on the 

 skin at birth, due 

 to dilatation of 

 the blood-vessels 

 of the skin. See 

 Naevus. 



Posen, Poland. Dzialynski Palace, formerly a Prussian 

 royal residence ; top, left, Town Hall, rebuilt, 1550-55 



was Amphitrite (q-v.), and the 

 Romans identified him with Nep- 

 tunus or Neptune. See Odysseus ; 

 Polyphemus. 



*' Posen. Former province of 

 Prussia, now a county of Poland, 

 and known as Poznan. Its area 

 was 11,200 sq. m., and it had a pop. 

 of about 2,000,000. Posen was the 

 capital and it was divided into the 

 districts of Bromberg and Posen. 

 Hohensalze and Gnesen were other 

 towns. For many years included 

 in Poland, part of Posen was taken 

 by Prussia when the former king- 

 dom was divided in 1772. In 1793 

 the rest was added to Prussia. 

 From 1807-15 Posen was part of 

 the grand duchy of Warsaw, but 

 in 1815 it was returned to Prussia. 

 In 1848 there was a revolt against 

 Prussian rule. 



The people of Posen consisted of 

 the native Poles and a number of 

 German settlers. Later in the 

 19th century there was a move- 

 ment among the Poles towards the 

 assertion of their nationality, which 

 the Prussian government countered 

 by measures for Germanising the 

 province. This took the form of 

 forbidding Polish and making Ger- 

 man compulsory in the schools, 

 and encouraging Germans to settle- 

 on the land, much land being 

 bought from the Poles for this pur- 

 pose. This policy, which aroused 

 much opposition even within Ger- 

 many, failed, one sign being the 

 strike of 100,000 school children in 

 1906. Posen was ceded by Ger- 

 many to Poland by the treaty of 

 Versailles. See Poznan. 



Posen OR POZNAN. Town of 

 Poland. It is the capital of the 

 county of Poznan, as it was for- 

 merly of the prov. 

 of Posen. It 

 stands on the 

 Warthe, 158 m. 

 E. of Berlin. The 

 town is divided 

 into six districts 

 and became an 

 important fron- 

 tier fortress in 

 1828. The Dzial- 

 ynski Palace is a Romanesque struc- 

 ture erected 1905-10. The Rathaus, 

 destroyed by fire in 1536 and rebuilt 

 1550-55, contains some frescoes of 

 the kings of Poland. The cathedral, 

 a modernised building rebuilt 1775- 

 89, contains some effigies of former 

 bishops. The Golden Chapel, a 

 Byzantine structure erected at the 

 instigation of Count Raczinsky in 

 1842, contains two bronze statues 

 of Mieszko I and Boleslaus I by 

 Rauch. In the cemetery of S. Mar- 

 tin there is a monument to the poet 

 Mickiewiczj' '\Iachinery, furniture, 

 agricultural implements, leather, 

 tobacco, and cigars are manufac- 



