Prose (Lat. prorsus, straight- 

 forward). Direct language com- 

 posed as the vehicle of thought in- 

 tended to be spoken. It is thus 

 one of the two principal forms into 

 which literature (q~v.) is divided, 

 the other being verse, language 

 composed as an expression of 

 thought primarily intended to be 

 sung or chanted to musical accom- 

 paniment. Its complete emanci- 

 pation from the laws of metre that 

 are the subject matter of prosody 

 thus furnishes the capital distinc- 

 tion between prose and verse. 

 Rhythm (q.v.) is an integral part of 

 good prose, but if it is to fulfil its 

 primary function the first three 

 essentials of prose arc directness, 

 lucidity, and appropriateness of 

 the language it employs. 



Prose as a studied literary form 

 is preceded by poetry in the his- 

 tory of every literature. Another 

 general truth is that classic Greece 

 set a standard of excellence in 

 every sub-division of prose as of 

 poetry, upon which no later 

 civilization has improved. Hero- 

 dotus with the confident swing of 

 his narrative, Thucydides with his 

 chiselled periods polished to the 

 nail, and Xenophon with his almost 

 indolent facility, remain the types 

 upon which all later historians 

 have modelled their style. No detail 

 of technique has been added to the 

 art of oratory since the voice of 

 Demosthenes was stilled. Plato 

 remains the perfect master of prose 

 applied to the expression of human 

 thought in its widest range. 



Of the few great Roman names 

 that need be recalled here, Cicero 

 stands out as the most versatile 

 master of Latin prose, excelling as 

 orator, as essayist, and as letter 

 writer. Caesar's commentaries on 

 the war in Gaul give hardly suffi- 

 cient evidence of the qualities that 

 must have informed works lost to 

 us to justify the very high enco- 

 miums lavished on them by his 

 contemporaries, but it is indis- 

 putably the work of a great writer, 

 if not indisputably a great work. 

 Sallust owed much to Thucydides ; 

 Livy introduced an intricate em- 

 broidery into the pattern of the 

 language, which has a fascination 

 that was not lost upon Macaulay 

 eighteen hundred years later. Taci- 

 tus, whose style sometimes peri- 

 lously approximates mannerism, 

 closes the era of classic Latin prose. 



Of the prose literature of the 

 modern world much is said in the 

 articles scattered throughout this 

 Encyclopedia. Perhaps the most 

 original, in the sense of not being 

 derived from classic sources, is 

 that of Iceland, where a purely 

 native form of prose heroic narra- 

 tive was developed in the 12th 



6360 



century. Even earlier than that 

 England had a prose literature of 

 her own, but this was based on 

 Latin models, and it was not until 

 the 16th century that the wonder- 

 ful flower of English literature ap- 

 peared in full perfection in the 

 authorised translation of the Bible, 

 especially the O.T. Thereafter the 

 story must be followed elsewhere, 

 through Donne, Cowley, Taylor, 

 Temple, and Dryden, and through 

 the romantic revival to the present 

 day. In Germany, too, the Reform- 

 ation brought in Luther's Bible the 

 beginning of a vernacular prose 

 literature. Elsewhere, in France 

 and Italy and Spain, the story may 

 be said to begin with the Renais- 

 sance ; it is packed with great 

 names, a few immortal. In all 

 European countries the inheritance 

 is rich. There is no indication, how- 

 ever, that, in any, trustees will fail 

 to be forthcoming to preserve that 

 which has been bequeathed, or 

 lovers of literature to strive to in- 

 crease the rich store for posterity. 



Bibliography. English Prose, J. 

 Earle, 1890 ; 'English Prose, Sir H. 

 Craik, 5 vols., 1893-96 ; The Rise of 

 English Literary Prose, G. P. Krapp, 

 1915; On the Art of Writing, A. T. 

 Quiller-Couch, 1916. 



Proselyte (Gr. pros, to ; elthein, 

 to come). Term applied to a 

 convert from one religion, opinion, 

 or party to another. Originally it 

 meant a Gentile convert to Jewish 

 law and belief. Proselytes to 

 Judaism were distinguished as 

 proselytes of righteousness and 

 proselytes of the gate. The first 

 received circumcision and baptism; 

 the second, also called sojourners, 

 undertook to observe the precepts 

 against idolatry, blasphemy, blood- 

 shed, uncleanness, and the eating 

 of flesh with its blood. Unless a 

 proselyte was the son of a Jewess 

 he could hold no public office nor 

 become a member of the Sanhedrin. 



Proskurov. Town of S.W. 

 Russia. It is in the government of 

 Podolia, and is a station on the 

 Odessa- Volochitsk rly. 55 m. N.E. 

 of Kamenetz - Podolsk. In the 

 district are remains of an old wall, 

 called the Wall of Trajan, coins of 

 whom have been found. Grain, 

 fruit, and tobacco are cultivated 

 in the neighbourhood. Pop. 41,000. 



Prosody (Gr. prosodia, relating 

 to song). That part of grammar 

 which treats of quantity, accent, 

 and the laws of versification. See 

 Poetry ; Verse. 



Prosopopoeia (Gr. prosoj)on, 

 person ; poiein, to make). In 

 rhetoric, a figure by which in- 

 animate things or abstract con- 

 ceptions are represented as ani- 

 mate beings with human attributes. 

 Such personification is common in 

 the poetry of all peoples. Another 



PROSPECTUS 



kind of prosopopoeia attributes 

 probable but fictitious speech and 

 action to historical persons. 



Prospecting. The search for 

 minerals conducted by trained 

 workers. Although many valuable 

 mineral deposits have been found 

 by chance, others are discovered 

 by systematic search conducted 

 by miners or prospectors, qualified 

 by a general knowledge of geology 

 and mineralogy. 



Having decided upon a locality, 

 the prospector generally pays 

 attention first to the streams, as 

 these afford a geological section of 

 the country, and also probably 

 contain fragments of ore, derived 

 from lodes existing in the water- 

 shed. The next step is to prospect 

 the banks and hill sides adjacent 

 to the stream, an operation called 

 " loaming " in Australia. 



The surface indications of a lode 

 depend upon the tendencies of the 

 lode material and the country rock 

 to weather ; if the former is the 

 more resistant, the lode will pro- 

 ject above the surface, and con- 

 versely, if the country rock is more 

 resistant, the course of the lode will 

 be denoted by a depression. The 

 colour of the ground is important, 

 as certain minerals produce charac- 

 teristic stains, e.g. copper imparts 

 green, blue, or red colours to the 

 rocks, nickel shows green, iron, 

 reddish or brown, and manganese 

 black. Oil floating on the surface 

 of water may lead to the discovery 

 of petroleum, and brine springs 

 indicate salt deposits. Mineralised 

 soil sometimes causes a change of 

 colour in the leaves of trees, and 

 some plants only grow where they 

 can obtain mineral substances 

 necessary for their existence. 



Geological and other reasoning 

 often points to the existence of an 

 ore deposit which is overlain by 

 other strata. Diamond and churn 

 drills are frequently employed for 

 prospecting deep-seated deposits ; 

 the former are particularly useful 

 in boring horizontal or inclined 

 holes from the workings of a mine 

 to search for other lodes, and the 

 latter is often used to bore for coal, 

 oil, iron ore, etc. The magnetic 

 needle is used for prospecting for 

 iron ore. See Mining. 



Prospectus. Document issued 

 by a new company or by one 

 requiring further capital, setting 

 forth for intending investors the 

 prospects of the undertaking. A 

 copy must be sent to the registrar 

 of joint-stock companies, and the 

 directors, who must sign this, are 

 responsible for any false statements 

 therein. A prospectus must give 

 certain specified information about 

 the directors of the proposed 

 company and their interests in it, 



