PRIMATES 



6329 



PRIMITIVE METHODISTS 



Lyons, Mainz, Toledo, Gran, Pisa, 

 and Salerno. See Archbishop ; 

 Canterbury; Exarch ; Metropolitan. 



Primates (Lat., primus, first). 

 Highest order of the mammalia. It 

 is divided into two sections, the 

 Lemuroidea, which include the 

 lemurs and their relatives, and 

 the Anthropoidea, which include 

 the monkeys, apes, and man. These 

 two sections are regarded as dis- 

 tinct orders by some authorities. 

 With the single exception of man, 

 all the members of this order are 

 inhabitants of tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries, and are arboreal 

 in habit, though some baboons are 

 more usually found among rocks 

 than in trees. Hence they are 

 essentially climbing animals, and 

 the four feet are adapted for grasp- 

 ing, thus the old name of quadru- 

 mana or four-handed animals. 



Except in man, the great toe 

 is opposable to the others, but 

 the thumb is often imperfectly so. 

 The upper halves of the limbs are 

 free from the body and not em- 

 bedded in it. as in the ungulates 

 and others. The fingers and toes 

 do not taper to a point, but are 

 more or less broad at the tip and 

 bear a nail instead of a claw. 

 Another notable distinction is 

 that the eyes are brought round 

 to the front of the head, and not 

 placed at the sides. The mam- 

 mae or teats are normally only two 

 in number and are situated on the 

 breast, and never on the abdomen. 

 In the higher primates, a more or 

 less erect attitude has been 

 adopted ; and in man the brain has 

 been greatly developed both in size 

 and in elaboration of structure. 

 The dentition differs essentially 

 from that of both carnivores and 

 herbivores, and is indicative of a 

 mixed diet. See Animal ; Mammal. 



Prime Meridian. Zero longi- 

 tude from which all meridians are 

 reckoned or numbered E. and W., 

 in the majority of maps the meri- 

 dian of Greenwich. The choice of a 

 prime meridian is determined by 

 its utility. See Longitude. 



Prime Minister. Head of the 

 British Government and the prin- 

 cipal adviser of the sovereign, 

 called also the premier. He must 

 be a member of Parliament and 

 enjoy the confidence of a majority 

 of the House of Commons, and 

 through them that of the country. 

 Under the party system, he is also 

 the leader of his own party. His 

 powers are enormous, as he selects 

 the cabinet, advises the sovereign 

 when to dissolve parliament, and 

 exercises patronage. 



Sir Robert Walpole is generally 

 regarded as the first prime minister, 

 and since his time the power and 

 prestige attached to the office have 



steadily increased. In the consti- 

 tution the position of prime minis- 

 ter was unknown, and the holder, 

 therefore, always held, in addition, 

 some other office, usually, but not 

 always, that of first lord of the 

 treasury. In 1905, however, King 

 Edward VII recognized the exis- 

 tence of the position, and gave the 

 prime minister precedence on state 

 occasions, immediately after the 

 archbishop of York. At present 

 there is a tendency for the prime 

 minister to perform a dual role, to 

 be the head of the government, 

 one representing only one party or 

 a coalition of parties, and, apart 

 from this, to be the adviser of the 

 sovereign in his relations with the 

 self-governing Dominions. Canada, 

 Australia, South Africa, New Zea- 

 land, etc., have a prime minister. 



PRIME MINISTERS SINCE 1721 



172142 Sir Robert Walpole. 



174244 Lord Carberet, aft. Earl Granville. 



174454 Henry Pelham. 



175456 Duke of Newcastle. 



175662 William Pitt and Duke of New- 

 castle. 



176263 Earl of Bute. 



176365 George Grenville. 



1765 66 Marquess of Rockinghara. 



176667 William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. 



176770 Duke of Grafton. 



177082 Lord North, aft. Earl of Guilford. 



1782 Marquess of Kockingham (2nd time). 

 178283 Earl of Shelburne, aft. Marquess 



of Lansdowne. 



1783 Lord North, aft. Earl of Guilford 



(2nd time). 



17831801 William .Pitt. 

 18014 Henry Addington, aft. Viscount 



Sidmouth. 



18016 William Pitt (2nd time). 

 18067 Lord Grenville. 

 18079 Duke of Portland. 

 180912 Spencer Perceval. 

 181227 Earl of Liverpool. 

 1827 George Canning. 

 182728 Viscount Goderich, aft. Earl of 



Ripon. 



182830 Duke of Wellington. 

 1830-34 Earl Grey. 

 1834 Viscount Melbourne. 

 183435 Sir Robert Peel. 

 1835 41 Viscount Melbourne (2nd time). 

 1841-46 Sir Robert Peel (2nd time). 

 184652 Lord Russell, aft. Earl Russell. 

 1852 Earl of Derby. 

 185255 Earl of Aberdeen. 

 185558 Viscount Palmerston. 

 185859 Earl of Derby (2nd time). 

 185965 Viscount Palmerston (2nd time) 

 186566 Earl Russell (2nd time). 

 1866-68 Earl of Derby (3rd time). 

 1868 Benjamin Disraeli, aft. Earl oi 



Beaconsfield. 



186874 W. E. Gladstone. 

 187480 Earl of Beaconsfleld (2nd t'me). 

 188085 W. E. Gladstone (2nd time). 

 1885 86 Marquess of Salisbury. 

 1886 W. E. Gladstone (3rd time). 

 188B 92 Marouess of Salisbury (2nd time). 

 1892-94 W. E. Gladstone (4th time). 

 189495 Earl of Rosebery. 

 18951902 Marquess of Salisbury (3rd 



time). 



19025 Arthur J. Balfour. 

 19038 Sir H. CamDhell-Bannorman. 

 190816 H. H. Asquith. 

 191622 David Lloyd George. 

 1K>2 23 Andrew Bonar Law. 

 jStt! 24 Stanley Baldwin. 

 1M24 ,T. Ramsay MacDonald. 

 1924-Stanley Baldwin (2nd time). 



It will be seen that Walpole was 

 continuously prime minister for a 

 longer period 21 years than any 

 one else. The younger Pitt was 

 premier for 18 years, and Lord 

 Liverpool for 15 years continuously. 

 No one save Gladstone has held 

 office four times. See The Govern- 

 ance of England, S. J. Low, 1904. 



Primer. Term employed to 

 describe the intermediate or prim- 



ary member of the train of devices 

 employed to initiate detonation or 

 ignition in explosives and pro- 

 pellants. Modern high explosives 

 become so insensitive when in the 

 dense state that they cannot be 

 relied upon completely to detonate 

 from the direct impulse of a ful- 

 minate detonator, and it is there- 

 fore usual to interpose between the 

 latter and the main charge a small 

 quantity of either the same high 

 explosive in a loose state or a more 

 sensitive one, this intermediate 

 charge being termed a primer, or, 

 in America, a " booster." (See 

 Ammunition ; Cartridge ; Explo- 

 der ; Explosives; Ordnance.) 



The word is also used for a small 

 elementary book for childn n to 

 read and henr e for any small book 

 dealing with elementary principles, 

 e.g. a primer of grammar. 



Prime Vertical. Name given 

 to the great meridian circle of the 

 celestial sphere. It passes through 

 the E. and W. points of the horizon 

 and the zenith (q.v.). 



Priming. In oil painting, the 

 coating of a canvas or panel with 

 size, so as to form a ground for 

 the colours. The Van Eycks used 

 a pure white gesso ground, but 

 later priming mixtures formed of 

 white lead, various oils, and 

 earths were light grey or even 

 brightly tinted. Opinions differ 

 as to how far the colour of the 

 ground affects the brilliancy of the 

 picture, but it is usually held to 

 correct the darkening of the oil 

 which takes place after a time. 

 See Paint ing. 



Primitive Methodists. Body 

 of Methodists. They arose as the 

 result of difference of opinion on 

 the subject of camp meetings, a 

 species of open-air revival services 

 which were long popular in 

 America, especially among the 

 negroes. In the opening years of 

 the 19th century they were intro- 

 duced into Staffordshire by an 

 American Methodist named 

 Lorenzo Dow, the first camp meet- 

 ing being held in 1807 and speedily 

 followed by others. 



Conspicuous among the organi- 

 zers and leaders was Hugh James 

 Bourne, a Methodist local preacher, 

 who was joined by several energetic 

 preachers of like mind. They 

 founded a new denomination, 

 which soon included 16 congrega- 

 tions and 28 preachers in Lanca- 

 shire and Cheshire. The name 

 Primitive Methodist indicated that 

 the new body sought to revive 

 the primitive fervour of the early 

 Methodists under Wesley. 



The new connexion grew with 

 remarkable rapidity, and within 

 30 years numbered 36,000 ad- 

 herents more than the original 



