POITIERS POLAND. 



595 



The same substance is found in the cherry laurel ; 

 and, among the productions of the animal world, in 

 the Prussian blue. Among plants, there are many 

 which unite the properties of both kinds, which sti- 

 mulate by means of a sharp, acid substance, and are 

 also subsequently sedative, from the operation of a 

 narcotic principle. To these belong the purple fox- 

 glove (digitalis purpurea), the monks-hood (aconitum 

 napellus), &c. Other poisons operate by suddenly 

 and entirely destroying many of the functions neces- 

 sary to life. To this class belong all the kinds of 

 gas and air which are irrespirable, suffocating va- 

 pours, as carbonic acid gas, or fixed air in cellars, 

 where beer is working, wells, &c., fumes of sulphur 

 and charcoal, air corrupted by the respiration and 

 perspiration of many people in closed rooms, con- 

 centrated effluvia of flowers in similar places, &c. 

 Many preparations of lead, as sugar of lead, white 

 lead, wine sweetened by the addition of lead, are to 

 be counted in this class, since they destroy the ac- 

 tivity of the absorbent vessels in the abdominal ca- 

 nal, contract the bowels, produce colicky pains, and 

 finally prevent the absorption of the chyle by which 

 the body is to be nourished. Pope Clement XIV., 

 according to the common belief in Italy, was de- 

 stroyed by a terrible poison, called I'acquetta. The 

 Indians of South America, between the Amazon and 

 the Orinoco, apply a very powerful poison, called 

 the IVourali poison, to the heads of the arrows with 

 which they shoot their game. It destroys life very 

 quickly, without corrupting or imparting any bad 

 quality to the flesh. (See Waterton's Wanderings, 

 description of his first journey.) The so called 

 morbid poisons, or contagions, do not belong to 

 this class, and are very improperly called poisons, 

 as for instance, the poison of hydrophobia. See 

 Contagion. 



Every substance is called an antidote, which 

 counteracts the effect of a poison, more especially 

 the remedies which belong to each kind of poison 

 respectively. Antidotes are as various as poisons. 

 They sometimes protect the body against the opera- 

 tion of the poison, sometimes change this last in 

 such a manner that it loses its injurious properties, 

 and sometimes remove or remedy its violent results. 

 Thus, in cases of poisoning by acrid and corrosive 

 substances, we use the fatty, mucilaginous substances, 

 as oil, milk, &c., which sheath and protect the coats 

 of the stomach and bowels against the operation of 

 the poison. Against the metallic poisons, soap and ' 

 liver of sulphur are most efficacious, as they prevent 

 the operation of the poison by combining the alkali 

 and sulphur with the corrosive particles of the metal. 

 Oil, alkalies and soap are the best remedies for the 

 powerful acids. For cantharides, mucilage, oil and 

 camphor, are employed. We oppose to the narcotic 

 poisons the weaker vegetable acids, vinegar, the 

 acid virus, coffee. Prussic acid is neutralized by 

 alkalies and iron. To arouse those poisoned by 

 opium, we use wine, coffee, brandy, camphor, &c. 

 It was formerly believed that all poisonous matters 

 could be thrown out of the body with the perspira- 

 tion ; and hence we find among the old antidotes a 

 large number of sweating medicines. In this idea 

 originated the alexipharmacon of the ancients, the 

 famous mithridate, the theriaca, &c., which pro- 

 duced, however, no other effect than increased acti- 

 vity of the nervous and circulatory system, from 

 which followed sweats, and perhaps as much harm 

 as good to the sufferer. 



POITIERS (anciently Pictavi] ; a town of France^ 

 on the Clain, formerly capital of the province of 

 Poitou, at present of the department of the Vienne; 

 population, 21,562 ; lat. 4b' 35' N. ; Ion. 21' E. ; 

 08 leagues south-west of Paris. It is a very old 



place, surrounded by a wall, with narrow, crooked 

 streets ; its cathedral is only remarkable for its age; 

 it contains several literary institutions, and some 

 manufactures. Poitiers is celebrated for the battle 

 fought in its vicinity (at Maupertuis), between the 

 French, under their king John, and the English, 

 under Edward the Black Prince, Sept. 19, 1356. 

 (See Edward 111., and Edward, Prince of Wales.) 

 The English army did not exceed 12,000 men ; the 

 French was not less than 60,000 ; but the English 

 were superior in discipline and subordination. The 

 French van was at once routed, and their centre was 

 broken almost at the first onset. John was made 

 prisoner after an obstinate resistance, and, though 

 treated with great courtesy by the conqueror, was 

 detained prisoner in London for four years, and 

 obliged to purchase his freedom by the cession of 

 several provinces and the payment of 3,000,000 

 crowns of gold. (See Froissart, liv. i, ch. 158 174, 

 and ch. 212.) 



POITIERS, DIANA OF. See Diana of Poitiers. 



POITOU, OB POICTOU ; before the revolution, 

 one of the provinces of France, in the western part 

 of the kingdom, between Brittany and Anjou on the 

 north, Berry on the east, the Atlantic on the west, 

 and Angoumois and Saintonge on the south. The 

 departments of the Vienne, the Deux-Sevres and the 

 Vendee have been formed out of this province. (See 

 Department.'] Henry II. of England acquired pos- 

 session of Poitou by his marriage with Eleanor, 

 heiress of the last duke of Aquitaine. Philip Augus- 

 tus conquered it. It was ceded to the English by 

 the peace of Bretigny (1360), but was recovered by 

 Charles V. 



POL A (Pietas Julia) a town of Istria, belonging 

 to the circle of Trieste, in the Austrian kingdom of 

 Illyria. It is a bishop's see, and, although reduced 

 to a population of 8 900, contains traces of its flour- 

 ishing condition under the Romans. Within its an- 

 cient walls are seen the ruins of an amphitheatre, 

 which is estimated to have been large enough to 

 accommodate 18,000 persons. Spon first directed 

 the attention of the public to Pola, and Cassa's ex- 

 cellent sketches of its ruins have increased the inter- 

 est. (See his F'oyage pittoresque de I'lstrie et de la 

 Dalmatie.) The amphitheatre is equal to any thing 

 of the sort that has come down to us. It differs 

 from the others with which we are acquainted, in 

 having four buttresses at the four corners of a quad- 

 rangle. According to Cassa, it is not built of the 

 Istrian stone, which is so much esteemed by archi- 

 tects. It consists of three stories, each of which 

 contains seventy-two arcades. There are no stairs re- 

 maining, but the exterior walls are almost entire. 

 The two temples, one of which is in good preserva- 

 tion, belong to a period of pure taste. Pola was 

 most flourishing in the reign of Severus, when it as- 

 sumed the proud title of Respublica Polensis. A 

 triumphal arch, erected by Salvia Posthuma in 

 honour of her husband, Sergius Lepidus, is in a 

 pretty good condition, and, under the name of porta 

 aurea, is used as a gate of the town. 



POLACCA, ALLA. See Polonaise. 

 POLAND (in Polish, Polska ; in German, Polen; 

 in French, Pologne) ; an extensive country in the 

 northern part of Europe, extending from the foot of 

 the Carpathian mountains, and the fertile plains of 

 the Ukraine (lat. 47), to the shores of the Baltic 

 (56 lat.), and from the 15th to the 32d degree of 

 east longitude. It derives its name, whicli signifies, 

 in the Sclavonic dialect, a plain, from the level char- 

 acter of its surface. Although it has ceased to 

 constitute an independent and single state, still the 

 country is distinctly separated from those which sur- 

 round it by national character, language, and manners ; 



