POSILIPO 



6285 



POSSESSION 



tured, and a trade is carried on in 

 spirits, wood, and grain. 



Posen is an ancient Polish town, 

 and was formerly known as Stra- 

 gon. It became a bishopric in 968, 

 and was the seat of the early 

 Polish rulers. In 1703 it was taken 

 by the Swedes and recaptured by 

 the Poles in 1716. It was ravaged by 

 fire in 1764 and 1803, was entered 

 by the French in 1806, when the 

 peace between France and Saxony 

 was concluded, and in 1815 was 

 ceded to Prussia. The ramparts 

 W. of the Warthe were dismantled 

 1907-8. In Dec., 1918, it was taken 

 by the Poles after heavy fighting. 



Posilipo. Tufa hill, cape, and 

 village of Italy, in the prov. of 

 Naples, immediately W. of Naples 

 and forming a part of that city. 

 The hill is pierced by four tunnels 



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Posilipo, Italy. Palazzo di Donn' Anna, the rained 17th 

 century palace of Anna Carafa, duchess of Medina 



two ancient and two modern. 

 The earlier ancient tunnel, the 

 Grotto of Posilipo, was pierced in 

 the reign of Augustus; the later, 

 the Grotto of Sejanus, was excav- 

 ated in A.D. 37 during the reign of 

 Tiberius. In the vineyards near 

 its entrance is a Roman colum- 

 barium, the alleged tomb of Virgil. 

 The Grotta Nuova, constructed 

 1882-85, affords passage to a tram- 

 way, and has a lift ascending to the 

 top of the hill, which is covered 

 with villas and vineyards. 



Position. Musical term with 

 several connotations. (1) In string 

 instruments, the shifting of the left 

 hand on the neck in order to attain 

 the higher notes. Theoretically, 

 the violin has eleven positions, 

 though seven mostly suffice. The 

 hand is said to be in the first posi- 

 tion when at the extreme end of 

 the neck. The index finger would 

 then be pressed down to obtain the 

 note next above the open string 

 (A on the G string), and tb^ re- 

 maining fingers in due order. 



In the 2nd position the same 

 finger would obtain B, the hand 

 being shifted a little higher, and so 

 on for the other positions, a note 

 higher each time. The same pro- 

 cedure applies to all the strings. 



Many notes can thus be produced 

 in various ways, the choice of 

 position depending partly upon 

 necessity or convenience, and 

 partly upon artistic reasons of 

 phrasing, etc. (2) The term is 

 similarly applied to the use of the 

 slide in the trombone [q.v. ). (3) 

 In harmony, a chord is said to be 

 in the 1st position when the root 

 is in the bass. When the 3rd, 5th, 

 or 7th is in the bass, it is in the 

 2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions re- 

 spectively. 



Positive. In photography, the 

 record of an object on a sensitive 

 paper or plate corresponding, as 

 regards light and shade, with the 

 original. Positives are produced 

 by exposure of sensitive photo- 

 graphic material to light through 

 a negative. A positive lens brings 

 rays of light to 

 a point (focus), 

 or renders a con- 

 vergent beam of 

 rays more con- 

 vergent. One 

 positive lens used 

 in conjunction 

 with another thus 

 shortens the focal 

 length. See Nega- 

 ti ve ; Photo- 

 graphy. 



Positive Or- 

 gan. Medieval 

 musical instru- 

 ment. Though 

 small, it was too 

 heavy to be carried about like 

 the Portative organ (q.v.), and 

 therefore had to be " placed in 

 position " before it could be 

 played. Originally a chamber 

 organ, it was incorporated hi the 

 larger instrument, being played 

 from the lowest keyboard, and 

 known in England as the Choir 

 organ. Thomas Casson applied 

 the name to a one-manual in- 

 strument, in which, by means of 

 various devices, he obtained pedal, 

 melodic, and second manual effects. 

 See Organ. 



Positivism (Lat. posit ivus, 

 laid down). System of philosophy. 

 Although it had its forerunners in 

 Protagoras and Hume, the term is 

 specially applied to the system of 

 Auguste Comte. Positivism only 

 recognizes facts or laws established 

 by strictly scientific methods and 

 unaffected by metaphysical or 

 theological considerations. Facts 

 are the phenomena manifested to 

 us by the senses, beyond which 

 nothing exists ; laws are the 

 relations of certain facts to other 

 facts. Philosophy investigates the 

 relations of the general laws of each 

 particular science ; the object of 

 its search is not the absolute, the 

 causes and principles of things ; 



its only concern is the relative. 

 Regarded as a religious system, 

 Positivism is the worship of 

 humanity regarded a? a whole and 

 single being. Comte's leading idea 

 was that all intellectual training 

 should have a synthetic character, 

 and serve to cultivate the whole 

 character ; and in 1851 he pub- 

 lished a list of books of permanent 

 value for habitual reading. This 

 list included about 270 distinct 

 compositions by about 140 authors, 

 and was designed to counteract 

 the exclusive spirit of nationality. 

 This list is described and anno- 

 tated in Frederic Harrison's Among 

 My Books, 1912. The best known 

 English positivists are Frederic 

 Harrison, R. Congreve, and E. S. 

 Beesly. See Comte ; Harrison, 

 Frederic ; consult also Positivism, 

 R. Newman, 1894; What Posi- 

 tivism Means, H. Ellis, 1894; 

 Positivism, F. Harrison, 1902. 



Posse Cpmitatus. Lathi 

 phrase meaning the power of the 

 county. In early times the sheriffs 

 in the English counties had the 

 power to call out all suitable males, 

 if needed, to quell disorder or pur- 

 sue felons, and this was the posse 

 comitatus. The establishment of 

 an efficient police in the 19th cen- 

 tury rendered this procedure un- 

 necessary, but the power is still 

 retained by the sheriffs by an Act 

 of 1887. 



Possession. In law, having a 

 thing in one's power, or in one's 

 hands. One may possess land, for 

 instance, without occupying it ; by 

 having it in the occupation of a 

 tenant. Naked possession, or 

 occupancy, without colour of title 

 or right, is only good to the extent 

 that anyone who seeks to oust the 

 occupier must show that he has a 

 better right. Occupation for 12 

 years of land, and for 6 years of a 

 chattel, ousts the title of the true 

 owner. Sometimes possession is 

 spoken of as distinct from re- 

 mainder or reversion. Thus, hi the 

 case of a grant of land to A for 

 life, and afterwards to B for life, 

 and afterwards to C and his heirs, 

 A has an estate in possession, while 

 B and C have estates in remainder. 

 When A dies, B's estate comes into 

 possession ; and when B dies, C's 

 estate becomes a fee simple in 

 possession. 



Possession. Name given to 

 the belief, which has always pre- 

 vailed in Oriental countries, that 

 evil spirits have the power of 

 entering into and taking possession 

 of the life of any individual. The 

 effect produced by this possession 

 is twofold: (1) physical maladies, 

 especially madness and epilepsy; 

 (2) moral evil, vice, and crime. 

 The belief was very prevalent in 



