148 rOETRV. 



of disease). — An account of the diseases to which iiilants 



are liahlc. 

 Pro'tophyte. — The lowest order of plants, cither unicellular 



or without any essential mutual dependence between the 



cells, as the silicious infusoria, or diatoms, the desmidians, 



etc. 

 Pro'tophytorogy. — The science o? protopliijtes ; fossil botany. 



POETRY. 



Po'esy. — The art of composing poems. 



Acrost'ic. — A poem so contrived that the first or the last letters 

 of the lines or words, taken together, will make a proper 

 name or some other word. 



Alexan'drine. — A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, 

 or of twelve and thirteen alternately. 



Anacreontic. — Pertaining to Anacreon, a Greek poet, whose 

 odes and epigrams are celebrated for their delicate, easy, 

 and graceful air, and for their exact imitation of nature. 

 They consist of three feet and a half, the first foot always 

 a spondee, iambus, or an anapest, the rest usually spondees 

 or iambuses. 



Asmatog'raphy (Gr. asma, a song, and grapho, I write). — The 

 art of song-writing. 



Ballad. — A species of narrative poetry, displaying the condi- 

 tion and the habits, the tastes and the sentiments of the 

 various nations among whom it is found. 



Slank Verse. — That which is without rhyme. 



Bucorics. — Pastoral poems. 



Can'to. — A part or division of a poem, answering to what in 

 prose is called a book. 



Ganzo'ne. — A poem to which music may be composed in the 

 style of a cantata. 



Cen'to. — A composition formed by verses or passages from 

 different authors, disposed in a new order. 



Didac'tic Po'etry. — That species of metrical composition 

 which has instruction for its primary object. 



Dis'tich. — A couplet in poetry making complete sense. 



Dith'yramb. — In ancient poetry^ a hymn in honor of Bacchus, 

 full of transport and poetical rage. 



Eclogue. — A pastoral composition in which shepherds are in- 

 troduced conversing with each other; as i\\c Eclogues o? 

 Viro-il. 



