PROPHYLAXIS 



an entirely false conception of pro- 

 phecy to regard it, as Bishop But- 

 ler does, as " nothing but the his- 

 tory of events before they come to 

 pass." There are elements of pre- 

 diction in all prophecy, but they 

 do not constitute its essence, and 

 in not a few cases the predictions 

 were not fulfilled. The essence of 

 prophecy lies in its moral and re- 

 ligious teaching, or, in other words, 

 in its revelation of the purpose and 

 will of God. See Inspiration. 



Prophylaxis (Or. prophylax, 

 advanced guard). Term applied to 

 measures taken for preventing a 

 disease. See Public Health. 



Propionic Acid OR METHYL 

 ACETIC ACID. Acid produced during 

 the fermentation of calcium tar- 

 trate. calcium malate, and glycerin, 

 and also in the destructive dis- 

 tillation of wood. It is a colourless 

 acid, resembling both acetic acid 

 and butyric acid. Salts mad* from 

 it have a fatty feel. 



Proportion (Lat. pro, in com- 

 parison with, portio, share, or 

 part). Literally, the relation of one 

 thing to another, or a symmetrical 

 arrangement. It enters, therefore, 

 largely into architecture, in which 

 the proportion of one part to 

 another is a prime consideration. 

 See Architecture. 



Proportion. In mathematics, 

 an equality of ratios. As an ex- 

 ample the ratio 6 to 4 equals that 

 of 24 to 16, and the statement as 6 

 is to 4, so is 24 to 16, is a statement 

 of proportion. In general the pro- 

 portion between four quantities, 

 a, b, c, d, is written a : b :: c : d, a 

 symbolism invented by the English 

 mathematician William Oughtred 

 (1575-1660). The theorem arising 

 from the proportion is that the 

 multiple of the first and last 

 terms, ad, is equal to that of the 

 intermediate terms, be. If one 

 quantity varies inversely as another, 

 the two are said to be inversely 

 proportional. 



Proportion. Term given in 

 medieval music to the admixture 

 of different rhythms, according to 

 mood, prolation, and time, the 

 result being an enormous complex- 

 ity, in which many 15th and 16th 

 century composers appeared to 

 take an excessive delight for its 

 own sake. The chief proportions 

 still exist in modern notation. See 

 Mood ; Music ; Prolation ; Time. 



Proportional Representation. 

 Term used for a method of elect- 

 ing representatives that aims at 

 reproducing in the elected body 

 the opinions of the electorate in 

 their true proportions. It is worked 

 best in constituencies each re- 

 turning a number of members, and 

 cannot be worked in one that re- 

 turns only one. Special arrange- 



ments must therefore be made for 

 a bye-election caused by the death 

 or retirement of a single member. 



The base of the system is the 

 transferable vote, introduced by 

 Thomas Hare. The voter records 

 his preference on the ballot paper 

 and also marks a second name if 

 he so desires. It is thus quite dis- 

 tinct from the second ballot. When 

 the counting takes place, a quota 

 of votes is fixed which a candidate 

 must obtain to secure election. 

 This is done by dividing the number 

 of votes by one more than the num- 

 ber of members to be elected. 

 Thus, if there are 40,000 voters, 7 

 members to be elected and 20 

 candidates, the quota is 5,000. On 

 the first count, taking this as an 

 example, if any candidates have 

 received 5,000 votes they are de- 

 clared elected. Most probably 

 only one or two will succeed in 

 securing election on the first count. 



To fill the list, therefore, a 

 second process takes place. The 

 papers of the successful candidates 

 are examined for next preferences, 

 and are sorted among the unelected 

 candidates accordingly. The 



surplus votes are then distributed 

 in proportion to the numbers of 

 next preferences. For instance, a 

 candidate has received 7,000 votes, 

 i.e. a surplus of 2,000 ; the elected 

 candidate can spare two-sevenths 

 of all his papers, and each un- 

 elected candidate obtains therefore 

 as his share of the surplus two- 

 sevenths of the papers on which he 

 is shown as next choice. This 

 leaves 5,000 for the elected candi- 

 date and gives a fair distribution 

 of the surplus. When all surpluses 

 have been dealt with, the candi- 

 date at the bottom of the poll is 

 declared defeated and his votes are 

 all transferred to the next prefer- 

 ences shown upon them. The 

 latter process is continued until 

 only the required number of candi- 

 dates are left. 



Since 1859, when Hare wrote on 

 proportional representation, the 

 method has been adopted to a 

 fairly considerable extent. In the 

 United Kingdom the Representa- 

 tion of the People Act of 1918, as 

 first introduced, suggested it for 

 large urban constituencies, but this 

 the House of Commons refused to 

 accept. It was retained only for 

 certain university constituencies. 

 In Ireland an Act of 1919 set it 

 up for all local elections in that 

 country, and it was provided for 

 both in the Government of Ireland 

 Act of 1914, and the one of 1920. 



In Tasmania proportional re- 

 presentation was introduced in 

 1896, and it is also used to some 

 extent in New South Wales and 

 New Zealand. In South Africa the 



PROROGATION 



Act of 1909 provided for its use in 

 electing senators for the Union 

 parliament, and it is employed by 

 some municipalities in Canada. 

 Of foreign countries Belgium, Bul- 

 garia, Denmark, Holland, Norway, 

 Finland, and Sweden have adopted 

 proportional representation in 

 varying degrees of completeness, 

 while in the changes that followed 

 the Great War it found favour in 

 Germany, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, 

 and Italy. In the Church of Eng- 

 land, under the Act of 1919. mem- 

 bers of the Houses of Laity and 

 Clergy are elected by this method. 

 Proportional representation socie- 

 ties exist, one being at 82, Vic- 

 toria St., London, S.W. 1. See 

 Representation ; Scrutin ; Second 

 Ballot ; Vote ; consult also Treatise 

 on the Election of Representatives, 

 T. Hare, 1859 ; Consideration on 

 Representative Government, J. S. 

 Mill, 1860 ; Proportional Repre- 

 sentation, J. H. Humphreys, 1911 ; 

 The Reform of Political Repre- 

 sentation, J. F. Williams, 1918. 



Propyl Alcohol OR ETHYL CAR- 

 BINOL. One of the products of the 

 fermentation of sugar. It is also 

 found in the latter portions of the 

 distillate obtained hi rectifying 

 crude spirits of wine, i.e. in fusel 

 oil. Iso-propyl alcohol or dimethyl 

 carbinol is made from propylene 

 and sulphuric acid. Both sub- 

 stances have the same chemical 

 formula, C 3 H 7 OH, the former 

 boiling at 97 '4 C. and the latter at 

 82-7 C. 



Propylite. In geology, a variety 

 of andesite. The latter, a lava, 

 when cooling, has been altered and 

 decomposed by the hot solutions of 

 metals or metallic substances, and 

 is said to have suffered from pro- 

 pylitisation. The original minerals 

 of andesite are replaced by others, 

 owing to the action of the metalli- 

 ferous solutions. See Andesite. 



Pro Rata. Latin term meaning 

 in proportion. 



Prorogation (Fr., from Lat. 

 prorogare, to ask publicly, to 

 defer). In parliamentary procedure, 

 the interruption of a sitting of both 

 Houses by royal authority, usually 

 at the close of the session. It is a 

 formal process by which Parliament 

 stands prorogued until a certain 

 day, when, unless further pro- 

 rogued, Parliament meets. After 

 prorogation all bills automatically 

 expire, and must be introduced de 

 novo in the following session. For 

 this reason Parliament has oc- 

 casionally been prorogued for a 

 single day in order to enable a bill 

 to be introduced a second time, 

 since no second bill of the same 

 substance as a previous one may 

 be introduced in the same session. 

 See Parliament. 



