PRECEPTOR 



Preceptor. Literally, one who 

 issues orders, especially by way of 

 instruction, therefore, a teacher. 

 The Knights Templars called their 

 provincial houses, or divisions, 

 preceptories. and the head thereof 

 the preceptor. 



Preceptors, COLLEOE OF. 

 British educational institution. It 

 was established 1846 and incor- 

 porated in 1849, and its member- 

 ship is chiefly among the proprie- 

 tors of private schools. Its original 

 aim was to raise the standard of 

 teaching by granting diplomas to 

 teachers ; afterwards examina- 

 tions for pupils were instituted. 

 Its diplomas are F.C.P., L.C.P., 

 and A.C.P., i.e. fellow, licentiate, 

 and associate of the college, and it 

 also grants a certificate of ability 

 to teach. It has a paper, The 

 Educational Times. Its head- 

 quarters are in Bloomsbury Sq., 

 London, W.C. 



Precession. In astronomy, 

 term used in connexion with the 

 movements of the equinoctial 

 points, i.e. the points where the 

 equator intersects the ecliptic. The 

 slow retrograde movement of these 

 points, known as the precession of 

 the equinoxes, is due to the un- 

 equal gravitational pull of the sun 

 and moon on the earth's equa- 

 torial protuberance. The equinoc- 

 tial points take 25,800 years to 

 make a complete circuit in the 

 heavens, and the effect of the 

 movement is to shorten the time 

 between successive equinoxes and 

 to alter the signs of the zodiac re- 

 lative to those of the ecliptic. The 

 first sign of the zodiac, for ex- 

 ample, is no longer in Aries, but in 

 the constellation Pisces. The pre- 

 cession of the equinoxes was dis- 

 covered by Hipparchus about 130 

 B.C. See Equinox ; Nutation. 



Precieuses Ridicules, LES. 

 Farcical one-act comedy by Mo- 

 liere, produced at the Petit- 

 Bourbon, Paris, 1659. Moliere's 

 first essay in contemporary satire, 

 it was directed at the imitators of 

 the learned, if affected, coterie of 

 the Hotel Rambouillet. The pre- 

 cieuses had kindred spirits in other 

 countries, e.g. the euphuists in 

 England. The ridiculous euphuists 

 of the title are two provincial belles 

 i who reject the advances of their 

 suitors because the latter do not 

 make love according to the novels 

 of Mile, de Scudery. In revenge 

 the suitors send two valets, Mas- 

 carille and Jodelet, to masquerade 

 as a marquis and a viscount re- 

 spectively, and dazzle the ignorant 

 girls by their jargon and assurance 

 until unmasked by their em- 

 ployers. Moliere acted the part of 

 Mascarille. Apart from its in- 

 trinsic qualities, the play is im- 



63 1 4 



portant as inaugurating a new 

 style of satirical comedy. 



Precipitation (Lat. praecipitare, 

 to throw headlong). Term used in 

 meteorology and climatology to 

 denote the water deposited from 

 the atmosphere. The deposit may 

 occur as snow, rain, or hail. Rain 

 is measured in a rain gauge, the 

 depth of snowfall is estimated, a 

 foot of snow being taken as equiva- 

 lent to an inch of rain. An inch of 

 rain over an acre of ground roughly 

 equals the deposition of 100 tons 

 of water. (See Rainfall : Weather.) 



Chemical precipitation is the 

 process of separating solid particles 

 from a solution by adding a 

 chemical substance. For example, 

 if a solution of sodium carbonate is 

 added to one of calcium chloride, 

 calcium carbonate in the form of a 

 white precipitate results. Many 

 of the methods of testing em- 

 ployed in chemical analysis de- 

 pend upon the formation of pre- 

 cipitates of distinctive appearances. 



Precis- Writing (Fr. ; Lat. 

 praecisus, cut short). Process of 

 extracting in condensed, yet easily 

 intelligible, form the essential facts 

 or statements contained in a letter, 

 dispatch, or other document. 

 Precis-writing forms an examina- 

 tion subject for many government 

 departments, and is particularly 

 used in foreign office and diploma- 

 tic work. 



Precognition. Term applied in 

 Scots law to the preliminary ex- 

 amination of witnesses to be called 

 in a criminal case, usually by the 

 procurator-fiscal and before a 

 judge, justice, or sheriff, to deter- 

 mine whether there i ground for 

 trial. The word iy also used less 

 correctly of any antecedent ex- 

 amination of witnesses by solicitors 

 or counsel before their examina- 

 tion in court, and of the written 

 statement, or proof, of their 

 evidence. 



Predeal Pass. Pass over the 

 Transylvanian Alps (q.v. ). slightly 

 S. of Kronstadt (q.v.), Rumania. 

 It was captured by the Germans. 

 Oct. 26, 1916. See Carpathians; 

 Rumania, Conquest of. 



Predestination. Term used in 

 Christian theology to denote the 

 act of God in determining the 

 destiny of nations and individuals. 

 The doctrine of Predestination cor- 

 responds to the belief in fate which 

 is found in some form or other in 

 most religions though it is sharply 

 differentiated from it by the 

 Christian conception of God. 



The term is used in several 

 senses to denote (1) the eternal 

 purpose of God, which was prede- 

 termined before the creation of 

 the world ; (2) the selection of 

 certain nations or individuals for 



PREECE 



the performance of specific tasks in 

 connexion with the realization of 

 this purpose ; (3) the selection of 

 individuals as subjects for the 

 exercise of Divine grace and the 

 inheritance of eternal life. It is in 

 the third sense that the term is 

 most commonly used. The doctrine 

 was first formulated by S. August- 

 ine, who defines predestination as 

 the " unconditional decree, accord- 

 ing to which God determines to 

 select from the fallen mass of man- 

 kind, the whole of whom are alike 

 guilty and under condemnation, a 

 portion upon whom he bestows 

 renewing grace." 



S. Augustine never carried the 

 doctrine to its logical conclusion. 

 Predestination simply affected 

 those who were selected for re- 

 demption. It was not till the llth 

 century that through the influence 

 of Gottschalk the reprobation of 

 the wicked was included in the 

 scheme of predestination. The 

 Biblical data upon which the theory 

 is based are found mainly in the 

 Pauline Epistles, and especially in 

 Romans viii, 29-30, and chaps. 9- 

 11, though it is doubtful whether 

 the words used by Paul will bear 

 the construction placed upon them, 

 and it is quite certain that the 

 Apostle laid the utmost stress on 

 human responsibility and the 

 freedom of the will. See Augustine ; 

 Calvin ; Calvinism. 



Predicable (Lat. praedicare, to 

 declare). In logic, that which can 

 be predicated or affirmed of some- 

 thing. Aristotle distributed th3 

 predieables under four heads : 

 property (the quality common to 

 the whole of a class, but not neces- 

 sary to distinguish it from other 

 classes), definition, genus, acci- 

 dent (a quality which is not essen- 

 tial to the conception of a sub- 

 stance). These were increased by 

 later logicians to five : genus, 

 species, property, accident, differ- 

 ence (a characteristic mark dis- 

 tinguishing a thing from all others 

 in the same class), difference being 

 added, and species taking the place 

 of definition. The question of the 

 reality or non-rea'ity of these pre- 

 dieables subsequently led to the 

 dispute about universals (q.v. ). 



Predil. Mt. 

 pass of the 

 Carnic Alps. 

 Between Tar- 

 vis, in Carin- 

 t h i a, and 

 Flitsch, in 

 G o r i z i a, its 

 maximum alti- 

 tude is 3,810 ft. 



* f' f 

 " I L L I A M 



HENRY (1834- 

 1913). British 



Sir W. H. Preece, 



British electrical 



engineer 



