POTWALLOPERS POUSS1N, 



673 



face. When the furnace in which they are burnt 

 has arrived at its greatest heat, a quantity of mu- 

 riate of soda, or common salt, is thrown into the 

 body of the kiln. The salt arises in vapour and 

 envelopes the hot ware, and by the combination of 

 its alkali with the siliceous particles on the surface 

 of the ware, a perfect vitrification is produced. 

 This glazing, consisting of an earthly glass, is in- 

 soluble in most chemical agents, and is free from 

 the objections to which vessels glazed with lead 

 are liable that of communicating an unwholesome 

 quality to liquids contained in them, by the solution 

 of the lead in common acids which they frequently 

 contain. White ware is made of white clay, or of 

 clay containing so little oxide of iron that it does 

 not turn red in burning, but improves its white- 

 ness in the furnace. (See China-ware and fVedge- 

 wood.) 



The manufacture of pipes is also a branch of 

 pottery. Pano, a Spanish monk, first introduced 

 earthen pipes from St Domingo into Spain. A 

 manufactory was established in England by James 

 I., in 1621, and not long after a similar one was set 

 up at Tergow by the Dutch. The clay used for 

 pipes must burn white, be carefully cleansed, and 

 kneaded up to a tenacious paste. Small lumps of 

 the paste, of a suitable size, are then formed on 

 the wheel into cylinders, bored by the labourer 

 with a wire, and shaped in brass moulds. The 

 head is then hollowed by a stopper pressed into 

 it, and the whole is again smoothed and polished, 

 and the pipes are then baked. After baking, they 

 are again polished with wax, gum tragacanth, or 

 grease. 



POTWALLOPERS. See Preston. 



POUDRE DE SUCCESSION (French, succes- 

 sion powder) ; poisonous powder, once prepared in 

 Italy and France to a great extent, to kill people 

 slowly. The horrid art of poisoning never excited 

 more attention in France than about the year 1670, 

 when the extent of the crimes of the marchioness of 

 Brinvilliers became known. A numerous society 

 of young women, tinder the direction of an old wo- 

 man, of the name of Hieronyma Spara, was discov- 

 ered in Rome, in 1659, who had administered 

 poison to many people among the highest classes, 

 to rid wives of their husbands, and husbands of 

 their wives, children of their parents, &c. The 

 history of this foul blot in the records of mankind 

 may be found, with many particulars of a painful 

 interest, in Beckmann's History of Inventions, &c., 

 translated by Johnston (vol. i, division Secret Poi- 

 son). Though the times when poisoning was 

 habitually practised have past, yet, in some cases, 

 it has, even in our times, been carried to an incon- 

 ceivable extent. In 1831, a woman of the name 

 of Gottfried was executed in Bremen, Germany, 

 for having successively poisoned more than thirty 

 persons (among whom were her parents, children, 

 husbands, friends, servants), by means of butter 

 mixed with arsenic, used to poison mice. 



POUGHKEEPSIE, in New York, is situated on 

 the east shore of the Hudson, seventy-five miles 

 south of Albany, and seventy-four north of New 

 York. There are five landings with convenient 

 storehouses, wharves, &c., and the trade is exten- 

 sive. On the south line of the township is the 

 small post village called New Hamburgh. Barne- 

 gai is the name of a place on the shore of the river, 

 where great quantities of lime are manufactured. 

 The trade at the landings employs many packets. 

 The village of Poughkeepsie is situated on a plain 

 nearly a mile from the river, on the post-ioad from 

 New York to Albany. It contains the county 

 buildings, five meeting-houses, a bank, an academy, 



and several factories. Many of the buildings are 

 of stone, but the new ones are of wood or brick. 

 Population in 1820, 5726 ; in 1830, 7222. 



POULTICES. (See Cataplasms.') Mustard 

 poultices are called sinapisms, (q. v.) 



POUNCE ; gum sandarach, pounded and sifted 

 very fine, to rub on paper, in order to preserve it 

 from sinking, and to make it more fit to write upon. 

 Pounce is also charcoal dust, enclosed in a piece 

 of muslin, or some other open stuff, to be passed 

 over holes pricked in a work, in order to mark the 

 lines or designs on paper, silk, &c., placed under- 

 neath, which are to be afterwards finished with a 

 pen and ink, a needle, or the like. 



POUND ; an English weight, of different deno- 

 minations, as avoirdupois, troy, apothecaries, &c. 

 The pound avoirdupois is sixteen ounces of the 

 same weight, but the other pounds are each equal 

 to twelve ounces. The pound avoirdupois is to the 

 pound troy as 5760 to 6999^, or nearly as 576 to 

 700. (See Measures.) Pound is also the highest 

 denomination, used by the English in money ac- 

 counts, being equal to twenty shillings. 



POURSUIVANT, OR PURSUIVANT, in her- 

 aldry ; the lowest order of officers at arms. The 

 poursuivants are, properly, attendants on the her- 

 alds, when they marshall public ceremonies. 



POUSSIN, NICHOLAS, historical and landscape 

 painter, was descended from a noble but poor fam- 

 ily, born at Andelys, in Normandy, in 1594. He 

 first studied in his native place, and then at Paris, 

 under masters of little merit ; but he made aston- 

 ishing progress. He had already acquired consider- 

 able reputation, when, in 1624, he went to Italy 

 for the purpose of improving himself in his art. 

 At Rome, Marini the poet became his friend, and 

 inspired him with a taste for the Italian poets, in 

 which Poussin found rich materials for the subjects 

 of his paintings. After the death of Marini, he 

 was left without patronage, and obliged to sell his 

 productions at very low prices. He continued, 

 nevertheless, indefatigable in the study of geometry, 

 perspective, architectnre, anatomy, and other sci- 

 ences necessary for a painter, and in the practice 

 of his art. His conversation, his walks, his readings 

 were also almost always connected with it. In his 

 figures, he copied antiques ; he modelled statues, 

 and reliefs with great skill ; and he might have 

 become an excellent sculptor. In his landscapes he 

 followed nature : they usually represent plains with 

 magnificient ruins. All his works show much 

 study ; nothing is introduced without a purpose, or 

 merely as an afterthought. He at length found 

 liberal patrons in cardinal Barberini and the cava- 

 liere Cassiano del Pozzo, for whom he painted the 

 celebrated Seven Sacraments. These works like- 

 wise gained him celebrity in France ; and cardinal 

 Richelieu, at the suggestion of Desnoyer, invited 

 him to Paris to paint the great gallery of the Louvre. 

 Louis XIII. appointed him his first painter, with 

 a pension of 3000 livres. Poussin arrived in 

 Paris in 1 640, and executed numerous works, par- 

 ticularly historical pieces from the Old Testament, 

 and a repetition of his Seven Sacraments, but was 

 much harrassed by his enemies. The painter Jac- 

 ques Fouquiers had been employed to decorate the 

 gallery with views of the principal cities of France, 

 and the architect Mencier had overloaded it with 

 ornament. Poussin found himself under the neces- 

 sity of beginning his undertaking with the removal of 

 their labours. He also had to contend with the whole 

 school of Simon Vouet, who was protected by the 

 queen ; and his paintings were less justly appreciat- 

 ed by the French, who leaned to the brilliant and 

 showy, than by the correcter taste of the Italians. 

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