POT 



POU 



heat at which they are baked is suffici- 

 ent. 



The wheel and lathe are the chief, and 

 almost the only, instruments used in pot- 

 tery ; the first for large works, and the 

 last for small. The potter's-wheel con- 

 sists principally in the nut, which is a 

 beam, or axis, whose foot or pivot plays 

 perpendicularly on a free-stone sole or 

 bottom. From the four corners of this 

 beam, which does not exceed two feet in 

 height, arise four iron-bars, called the 

 spokes of the wheel ; which, forming dia- 

 gonal lines with the beam, descend, and 

 are fastened at bottom to the edges of a 

 strong wooden circle, four feet in diame- 

 ter, perfectly like the felloes of a coach- 

 wheel, except that it has neither axis nor 

 radii, and is only joined to the beam, 

 which serves it as an axis, by the iron- 

 bars. Tiie top of the nut is flat, of a cir- 

 cular figure, and a foot in diameter; and 

 on tliis is laid the clay which is to be turn, 

 ed 'And fashioned. The wheel, thus dis- 

 poss-d, is encompassed with four sides of 

 four different pieces of wood, fastened on 

 a wooden frame ; the hind-piece, which is 

 that on which the workman sits, is made 

 a little inclining towards the wheel ; on the 

 fore piece are placed the prepared earth ; 

 on the side-pieces he rests his feet, and 

 these are made inclining, to give him more 

 or less room. Having prepared the earth, 

 the potter lays a round piece of it on the 

 circular head of the nut, and, sitting 

 down, turns the wheel with his feet till it 

 has got the proper velocity : then, wetting 

 his hands with water, he presses his fist 

 or his fingers-ends into the middle of the 

 lump, and thus forms the cavity of the 

 vessel, continuing to widen it from the 

 middle ; and thus turning the inside into 

 form with one hand, while he proportions 

 the outside with the other, the wheel con- 

 stantly turning all the while, and he wet- 

 ing his hands from time to time. When 

 the vessel is too thick, he uses a flat piece 

 of iron, somewhat sharp on the edge, to 

 pare off what is redundant; and when it 

 is finished, it is taken off' from the circu- 

 lar head, by a wire passed underneath the 

 vessel. 



The potter's lathe is also a kind of 

 wheel, but more simple and slight than 

 the former; its three chief members are, 

 an iron-beam or axis, three feet and a half 

 high, and two feet and a half diameter, 

 placed horizontally at the top of the beam, 

 and serving to form the vessel upon ; and 

 another large wooden wheel, all of a 

 piece, three inches thick, and two or three 

 feet broad, fastened to the same beam at 



the bottom, and parallel to the horizon. 

 The beam or axis turns by a pivot at the 

 bottom, in an iron stand. The workman 

 gives the motion to the lathe with his feet, 

 by pushing the great wheel alternately 

 with each foot, still giving it a greater or 

 lesser degree of motion, as his work re- 

 quires. They work with the lathe, with 

 the same instruments, and after the same 

 manner, as with the wheel. The mould- 

 ings are formed by holding a piece of 

 wood or iron, cut in the form of the mould- 

 ing, to the vessel, while the wheel is turn- 

 ing round, but the feet and handles are 

 made by themselves, and set on with the 

 hand ; and if there be any sculpture in 

 the work, it is usually done in wooden 

 moulds, and stuck on, piece by piece, on 

 the outside of the vessel. 



POUCH, in military affairs, a case of 

 black stout leather, with a flap over it, 

 which is generally ornamented by a brass 

 crown, &c. for the battalion men ; a fuse 

 for the grenadiers ; and a bugle-horn for 

 the light infantry. The pouch hangs from 

 a buff cross belt over the left shoulder, 

 and is worn in that manner by the infan- 

 try for the purpose of carrying the am- 

 munition. 



POULTICE. See PHARMACY. 



POUNCE, gum sandaric 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 a little heap of charcoal 

 dust, inclosed 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 thereof on paper, silk, 

 &c. placed underneath ; which are to be 

 afterwards finished with a pen and ink, a 

 needle, or the like. This kind of pounce 

 is much used by embroiderers, to transfer 

 their patterns upon stuffs ; by lace-mak- 

 ers, and sometimes also by engravers. 



POUND, a certain weight, which is of 

 two kinds ; iAz. the pound troy, and the 

 pound avoirdupois ; the one is divided in- 

 to 12 ounces, the other into 16. The 

 pound troy is to the pound avoirdupois as 

 576 to 700. 



POUND also denotes a money of ac- 

 count ; so called because the ancient 

 pound of silver weighed a pound troy. 

 See MONEY. 



Pou NT), in law, any place inclosed to 

 keep beasts in ; a common pound belongs 

 to a lordship, or village, and there ought 

 to be such a pound in every township. 

 Some persons have of late very reasona- 

 bly complained of the ancient practice of 

 keeping beasts for many days, in a com- 



