740 



PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM PUBLIC DEBT. 



{stations of its inward experience (consciousness). 

 See Philosophy Muntal, and Metaphysics. 



PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM. See System of the 

 Utiioerte. 



PTOLEMAIS. See Acre. 



PTOLEMY ; the common name of thirteen 

 Greco-Egyptian kings, who reigned in Egypt, fr m 

 the death of Alexander till it became a Roman pro- 

 vince (about 290 years). They are more properly 

 called LagiJes (since they did not all bear the name 

 of Ptolemy), from Lagus, the founder of the dyn- 

 asty. 1. Ptolenueus Lagi (i. e. son oi Lagus, a 

 Macedonian ; in reality, the son of Philip), called 

 also Soter, the Saviour (by the Rhodians, on account 

 of the assistance which he rendered them), at first 

 governor of Egypt, reigned thirty-nine years, and 

 died 284 B. C. He embellished Alexandria, and 

 founded the library in that city. His son and suc- 

 cessor, 2. Ptolemy II. (Philadelphia), a magnificent 

 prince, is said to have founded Ptolemais and sev- 

 eral cities, and to have built the Pharus (q. v.) 

 which, however, is by some ascribed to his father. 

 He died 247 &, C. 3. Ptolemy Euergetes died 221 

 B. C. His wife was Berenice. These three first 

 Ptolemies were, in particular, the patrons of learn- 

 ing at Alexandria. (Concerning these and the 

 other Ptolemies, see Alexandrian School, and 

 Egypt.) Vaillant wrote a Historia Ptolemoeorum 

 (Amsterdam, 1701, folio). 



PTOLEMY (properly PTOLEMjEUS, CLAU- 

 DIUS), geographer, astronomer, and mathematician, 

 born at Pelusium in Egypt, A. D. 70, lived at 

 Alexandria during the reigns of Marcus Antoninus 

 and Adrian, and is said to have reached the age of 

 eighty years. He is considered the first astronomer 

 of antiquity. He corrected Hipparchus's catalogue 

 of the fixed stars, and drew up tables for calculating 

 the motions of the sun, moon, and planets. The 

 scattered observations of the ancients were first 

 collected by him, and reduced to a system, which 

 is contained in his work MsyaXi; 2t/y<nz/c, thirteen 

 books (Basle, 1538, fol.). The system of the world 

 which he here exhibits is known under the name of 

 the Ptolemaic. This work was translated into 

 Arabic about 827, and from this translation, which 

 bears the title Almagest, a Latin version was made 

 by the command of the emperor Frederic II. (1230). 

 There are also other translations of this work from 

 the Arabic into Latin. Another important work 

 of Ptolemy is his Geography (in eight books). He 

 followed, in this work, the geography of Marinus 

 of Tyre, which appeared not long before ; but he 

 enriched his work with important additions and 

 improvements, both in regard to the latitude and 

 longitude of places, and the boundaries of countries 

 nd provinces, and he is the first writer who sought 

 to determine the situation of places in this way ; 

 his work also contains the first principles of the 

 projection of maps (in Greek and Latin, with maps 

 by Mercator, 1618). Although necessarily imper- 

 fect from want of observations, it is nevertheless 

 important to modern geographers. Besides these 

 principal works, we have other works of Ptolemy, 

 on chronology and astronomy. 



PUBERTY; that period of life in which child- 

 hood ceases and youth begins. It is much earlier 

 in southern countries than in northern. In our 

 climate, it is from the age of thirteen to fifteen in 

 the female sex, and from fourteen to sixteen in the 

 male, but, in individual cases, is accelerated or 

 retarded by various circumstances. The physical 

 and intellectual changes which manifest themselves 

 at this epoch are highly interesting. The child is 

 occupied and satisfied with present objects, and all 

 the functions of the body appear to operate merely 



for the preservation of the individual, while the 

 sexual organs, which are destined for the continu- 

 ance of the species, and therefore to direct the 

 thoughts to the future, are yet not developed for 

 the performance of their proper functions ; but, at 

 the period of puberty, a sudden change occurs : the 

 lively and easily-pleased boy, the gay and sportive 

 girl, begin to appear thoughtful and reserved, and 

 separate themselves from the childish plays in which 

 the two sexes mingle together ; the body grows 

 more rapidly than before; the sexual parts are 

 developed ; the breasts become fuller ; ;md, in both 

 sexes, the voice becomes harsh and disagreeable 

 before assuming the clear metallic tone, deep in 

 man, high in woman, but in both very different 

 from that of childhood. After this crisis is passed, 

 the youth and maiden appear in all their bloom ; 

 they look upon the world as if with new senses ; 

 hope shines over the future, in which they live 

 more than in the present ; the region of the ideal 

 opens before them, and they are eager to realize it, 

 at the greatest efforts. This period is often atten- 

 ded with dangerous diseases : in some individuals, 

 it is retarded or checked in its development, by 

 former maladies, and in this case the body is gen- 

 erally small and feeble, and the mind perverse ; in 

 others, it is attended with violent symptoms, which, 

 however, may depend upon accidental causes, 

 thwarting nature in her functions. Excess of blood, 

 inflammations, bleeding, are among the common 

 complaints of this period, arising from the irritable 

 state of the vascular system; or the nerves and 

 mind are too highly excited, giving rise to epi- 

 lepsy, St Vitus's dance, &c., or to mental aberra- 

 tions, melancholy, enthusiasm, &c. See Physi- 



PUBLIC DEBT. [For the amount of the 

 national debt of the different countries of Europe, 

 see the table in the article Europe, the securities 

 of which they consist are described in the article 

 Public Stocks.] The policy of contracting public 

 debts is good or bad, according to circumstances. 

 In general, it is not desirable for a government, any 

 more than for an individual, to be in debt ; and yet 

 cases will justify a nation in drawing on its future 

 resources. In pressing emergences, taxation is not 

 adequate to the necessary expenditures ; and even 

 if it were adequate, it may be better to distribute a 

 part of the burthen through many successive years, 

 by means of loans, because the suddenly levying of 

 an immense tax might check the productive facul- 

 ties of the people ; and no wrong is done to poster- 

 ity by this, where the object of the expenditure is 

 as important to the future as to the present, as in 

 case of national defence or public works. We may 

 add, that increasing the means of public expendi- 

 ture usually creates demand for an increased quan- 

 tity of the products of the country, and thus stimu- 

 lates industry. If, for example, the government 

 has a large army to maintain on its own territory, 

 and the products of the country can supply it with 

 arms, clothing, food, and all other articles, the army 

 will be a stimulus to all the kinds of industry con- 

 cerned in affording its supplies. It may even 

 happen that the very burthen, or what seems to be 

 one, will, in such case, enable the people in general 

 to be better clothed, fed, and lodged, since the 

 means of a people to produce the luxuries and com- 

 forts of life depend very materially upon the facility 

 and rapidity of exchanges of products of different 

 sorts of labour, and great public expenditure often 

 creates a market by increasing consumption, and 

 thus stimulating industry. But if the expenditure 

 employs only the industry of a foreign country, as 

 if an army is to be maintained abroad by the sup- 



