PTOLEMY 



6385 



PUBLIC HEALTK 



Physcon, Lathyrus, or Soter II, 

 now usually ranks as X. His 

 mother was co-regent until in 110 he 

 exercised sole authority, but three 

 years after was banished in favour 

 of his younger brother, Ptolemy XI, 

 or Alexander I. He hi his turn 

 was deposed in 88, and Lathyrus, 

 recalled from Cyprus, reigned a 

 second time until his death. 



Ptolemy XIII Auletes (95-51 

 B.C. ). King of Egypt. On the assas- 

 sination of Ptolemy XII (Alexander 

 II) in 80 the legitimate line ended. 

 The throne was offered to a natural 

 son of Lathyrus, nicknamed Au- 

 letes (Gr., flute-player), from his 

 proficiency with that instrument. 

 He married Cleopatra V, and on 

 her death about 69 fled to Rome, 

 his daughter Berenice IV being put 

 in his stead. Rome reduced Cyre- 

 naica to a Roman province and 

 confiscated Cyprus, but acknow- 

 ledged Auletes as legitimate sove- 

 reign of Egypt, on payment of a 

 tribute of 6,000 talents. Auletes 

 greatly embellished Philae. ' 



Ptolemy XIV Philopator (61- 

 47 B.C.). King of Egypt. On the 

 death of Auletes hi 51 his eldest 

 son, Philopator, and his daughter, 

 Cleopatra, ascended the throne 

 jointly, under the guardianship of 

 the Roman senate. In their fourth 

 year the queen was banished, and 

 raised an army in Syria, but with- 

 out avail. After his defeat at 

 Pharsalia Pompey sought refuge in 

 Egypt, but was slain at Ptolemy's 

 instigation. On Julius Caesar's 

 arrival at Alexandria Cleopatra's 

 cause was espoused by him. In 47 

 Ptolemy was drowned after a battle 

 on the Nile, and his sister was rein- 

 stated, with their younger brother, 

 Ptolemy XV, as co-regent. See 

 Cleopatra ; consult also The Em 

 pire of the Ptolemies, 1895 ; His- 

 tory of Egypt under the Ptolemaic 

 Dynasty, 1899, "j. P. Mahaffy; 

 History of Egypt, E. A. T. Wallis 

 Budge, 1902. 



Ptomaine (Gr. ptoma, corpse). 

 Alkaloidal substance formed in 

 the process of putrefaction of nitro- 

 genous organic tissues. Such have 

 been regarded as responsible for 

 the symptoms in cases of poisoning 

 by meat, but it is now known that 

 many, if not all, such cases are 

 due to the meat having become 

 infected with disease-producing 

 micro-organisms. See Meat. 



Ptosis (Gr. ptosis from piptein, 

 to fall). Inability to raise the upper 

 eyelid. It may be congenital, or 

 due to injury or disease, producing 

 paralysis of the nerve which sup- 

 plies the eyelid, locomotor ataxia 

 being the most common. Rheuma- 

 tism may cause ptosis, and in some 

 cases the condition is a manifesta- 

 tion of hysteria. See Eye. 



Ptyalin (Gr. ptyalon, saliva). 

 Enzyme in the saliva. Secreted by 

 the salivary glands, it acts on 

 starch, splitting it into the simpler 

 substances, dextrin and maltose. 



Puberty (Lat. puber, mature). 

 Age at which the reproductive 

 organs become functionally active. 

 In boys, hi temperate regions, 

 changes characteristic of puberty 

 generally appear between the 14th 

 and 16th years. The rate of growth 

 is increased, the frame and general 

 build begins to approach that of 

 the man, hair appears in the pubic 

 region, the tones of the voice be- 

 come deeper, and for a time some 

 slight want of control over the 

 pitch of the voice gives rise to the 

 occasional squeakiness known as 

 " breaking " of the voice. In girls, 

 puberty generally occurs between 

 the ages of 13 and 15. The figure 

 fills out, the breasts become en- 

 larged and rounded, and the men- 

 strual function is established. In 

 hot countries puberty tends to 

 occur at an earlier age than in cold 

 climates. 



Publican (Lat. publicanus). In 

 ancient Rome, a contractor for 

 public business, but more especi- 

 ally for the collection of taxes. The 

 tax-farmer paid the state a certain 

 sum and found his remuneration in 

 what excess revenue he could col- 

 lect, a vicious system, which inevit- 



ably caused injustice and oppres- 

 sion. In practice, owing to the 

 heavy financial responsibility in- 

 volved, publicans formed them- 

 selves into syndicates to carry out 

 any particular contract. The farm- 

 ing of taxes was for long a coveted 

 privilege of the equestrian order at 

 Rome, which was chiefly composed 

 of capitalists and men of business. 

 The actual work of collecting the 

 taxes was done by slaves, freed- 

 men, and other people of humble 

 rank. See Equites ; Licensing Laws. 

 Public Defender. Suggested 

 legal official corresponding to the 

 public prosecutor. It has long been 

 recognized that some definite legal 

 machinery is required to enable 

 poor persons to obtain proper 

 legal assistance to defend them- 

 selves on any particular charge. 

 Several attempts have been made 

 along such lines, e.g. the Poor 

 Prisoners' Defence Act, 1903, 

 which entitles any poor person 

 committed for trial on charge of 

 an indictable offence to have 

 solicitor and counsel assigned to 

 him for his defence on a certificate 

 of justices committing him for 

 trial or of the judge or quarter 

 sessions chairman. Many efforts 

 have been made to provide a 

 publie defender on the lines of the 

 public prosecutor, and a bill was 

 introduced into Parliament in 1919. 



PUBLIC HEALTH AND ITS PROBLEMS 



H. R. Kenwood, M.B., F.B.S. (Eclin.), Professor 

 of Hygiene and Public Health, London TJniv. 



See on this subject the articles Infant Mortality; Sanitation; also 



Birth Rate ; Death Rate ; and those on Cancer ; Tuberculosis, and 



other diseases 



Public Health relates more par- 

 ticularly to the collective physi- 

 cal health of the community. The 

 general hygiene which it connotes 

 is directed towards the elimination 

 or amelioration of unfavourable 

 conditions affecting the health of 

 the public at large, and thus to the 

 increase of health and the prolon- 

 gation of life. Its instruments are 

 the machinery of education and the 

 powers and provisions of organized 

 authority for safeguarding the 

 health interests of the community, 

 where ignorance, indifference, or 

 avarice run counter to them. The 

 various public health provisions 

 that are made for the common 

 good, necessary and valuable 

 though they are, cannot in them- 

 selves secure a high level of public 

 health, for this is in great measure 

 dependent on the hygienic concern 

 and habits of the people in the inti- 

 mate circumstances of their living. 

 Popular education and training in 

 such matters are of essential im- 

 portance. Public health, however, 

 does not solely relate to physical 

 well-being ; it is intimately con- 



cerned with broader issues ; and in 

 its application it seeks to influence 

 morals and economic conditions. 

 Thus all measures that are calcu- 

 lated to raise the standard of social 

 well-being, physically and morally, 

 fall within the realm of public 

 health the ultimate aim being to 

 secure hi the greatest possible 

 number the healthy mind in the 

 healthy body. The aim of pre- 

 ventive medicine is to make human 

 knowledge of all preventable dis- 

 ease as complete as possible, and 

 to apply this knowledge to the 

 best advantage. It seeks to pre- 

 vent or remove all those circum- 

 stances which cause or favour the 

 appearance and propagation of 

 disease ; and to increase the indi- 

 vidual power of resistance. 



The prevention of disease in- 

 creases the sum of human happiness 

 and efficiency ; for disease is not an 

 eliminator of the unfit only ; it 

 destroys indiscriminately. To this 

 end the preventive and curative 

 sides of medicine, which are 

 naturally correlated, should be 

 more closely linked up. The 



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