500 
r n o 
ship of war, a privateer, &c. having a *om- 
ruiisioii for that purpose. 
Vessels are looked on as prize, if they 
ficrht under any other standard than, that ol 
the state from which they have their com- 
mission ; if they have no charter-party, in- 
voice, or bill ot lading, aboard; it loaded 
“with effects belonging to the king’s enemies, 
or with contraband goods. I hose ot the king s 
subjects recovered from the enemy, alter 
remaining twenty-tour hours in their hands, 
are deemed lawful prize. 
Vessels that refuse to strike, may be con- 
strained ; and if they make resistance and 
fi Jit, become lawful prize it taken, 
In ships Tit war, the -prizes are to be di- 
vided among the officers, seamen, &c. as his 
majesty shall appoint by proclamation ; but 
among privateers, the division is according 
to the agreement between the owners. 
By stat. 13 Geo. If. c. 4. judges and of- 
ficers, failing of their duty, in respect to the 
condemnation of prizes, forfeit five hundred 
pounds, with full costs of suit: one moiety 
to the king, and the other to the informer. 
PROA , jli/ing, in navigation, is a name 
given to a vessel used in the South Seas, be- 
cause with a brisk trade-wind it sails near 
twenty miles an hour. In the construction 
«f the proa, the head and stem are exactly 
alike, but the sides are very different ; the 
side intended to be always the lee-side being 
flat ; and the windward side made rounding, 
in the manner of other vessels ; and to pre- 
vent her oversetting, which from her small 
breadth, and the straight run of her leeward 
side, would, without this precaution, infal- 
libly happen, there is a frame laid out of her 
from windward, to the end of which is fasten- 
ed a log, fashioned in the shape of a small 
boat and made hollow. The weight of the 
frame is intended to balance the proa, and 
the small boat is by its buoyancy (as it is 
always in the water) to prevent her overset- 
ting to windward; and this frame is usually 
called an outrigger. T he body of the vessel 
is made of two pieces joined endwise, and 
sewed together with bark, for there is no 
iron used about her; she is about two inches 
thick at the bottom, which at the gunwale 
is reduced to less than one. The sail is made 
of matting, and the mast, yard, boom, and 
outriggers, are all made ot bamboo. 
PROBABILI TY of an event, in the doc- 
trine of chances, is greater or less according 
to the number of chances by which it may 
happen or fail. (See Expectation.) The 
probability of life is liable to rules of compu- 
tation. In the Encyclopedic Methodique, 
we find a table of the probabilities of the 
duration of life, constructed from that which 
is to be found in the seventh volume of the 
Suppleiheus a THistoirede M. de Buffon, of 
which the following is an abridgement. 
Of 23, 994 children bom at the same time, 
there will probably die, 
I In one year 
I Remaining | or 15996 
•| f In eight years 
■\ ( Remaining -§ or 1 1997 
f In thirty-eight years 
3- ( Remaining £ or 7998 
z | In fifty years 
A | Remaining £ or 5999 
f In sixty-one years 
* \ Explaining A or 3992 
4 
V R O 
.5 i f In seventy years - - 51595 
'( Remaining -L- or 2399 
( In eighty years - - 22395 
| Remaining ^ or 599 
■ ( in ninety years - - 2391-1 
ll ' ( Remaining «_ or 80 
In a hundred years - - 23992 
Remaining or 
PROBATE. See Wile. 
PROBE, a surg. on’s instrument for ex- 
amining the circumstances ot wounds, txc. 
See Surgery. 
PROBLEM, in logic, a proposition that 
neither appears absolutely true nor false ; and 
no 
(r 
I nail. These birds feed on tire blubber or" 
| fat of whales, &c. which being soon conver- 
tible into oil, OuppT.es them constantly with 
means of defence, as well as provision for 
their voting, which they cast up into their 
mouths. 'They arc likewise said to feed on 
sorrel, which they use to qualify the unctuous 
diet they live on. This species inhabits 
the isle of St. Kilda ; makes its appearance 
there in November, and continues the whole 
year, except September and October ; it 
lays a large, white, and very brittle egg, and 
the young are hatched the middle of June. 
No bird Is of such use to the islanders as 
this: the fulmar supplies them with oil for 
tneir lamps, down for their beds, a delicacy 
7998 
11297 
15996 
17994 
19995 
consequently may be asserted either in the j ) 0l - their tables, a balm for their wounds, anti- 
affirmative or negative. . 1 a medicine for their distempers. Ihe fulmar 
Problem, in geometry, is a proposition 
wherein some operation or construction is re- 
quired ; as to divide a line or angle, erector 
let fall perpendiculars, Sec. See Geometry. 
Problem, in algebra, is a question or pro- 
position which requires some unknown truth 
to be investigated, and the truth of the dis- 
covery demonstrated. 
Problem, Kepler's, in astronomy, is the 
determining a planet’s residence from the 
time; so called from Kepler, who first pro- 
posed it. It was this : to find the position of 
a right line, which, passing through one 
of the foci of an ellipsis, shall cut otF an 
area described by its motion, which shall 
be in any given proportion to the whole area 
of the ellipsis. 
The proposer knew no way of solving 
the problem but bv an indirect method ; but 
sir Isaac Newton/ Dr. Keil, Sec. have since 
solved it directly and geometrically several 
wavs. 
PROBLEMATICAL resolution, in 
algebra, a method ofsolving-difficultquestions 
by certain rules, called cnnbns. 
PROBOSCIS, m natural history, is the 
trunk or snout of an elephant, and some other 
beasts and insects. 
PROCEDENDO, in law, a writ whereby 
a plea or cause, formerly called from an in- 
ferior court to the court of chancery, king’s 
bench, or court of common pleas, by writ 
of privilege, habeas corpus, or certiorari, is 
released, and returned to the other court to 
be proceeded in, upon its appearing that the 
defendant has no cause of privilege, or that 
the matter in the party’s allegation is not 
well proved. 
PROCELLAR IA, in ornithology ; a genus 
of birds, belonging to the order of anseres. 
The beak is somewhat compressed, and with- 
out teeth ; the mandibles are equal, the su- 
perior one being crooked at the point ; the 
feet are palmated, the hind claw being sessile, 
without any toe. Mr. Latham enumerates 
twenty-four species, which are principally 
distinguished by their colour. The most re- 
markable are : 
1. The onicrea, petrel, or fulmar. The 
size of this bird is rather superior to that of 
the common gull: the bill very strong, much 
hooked at the end, and of a yellow colour. 
The nostrils are composed of two large 
tubes, lodged in one sheath : the head, neck, 
whole under side of the body, and tail, are 
white ; the back and coverts of the wings 
ash-coloured ; the quill-feathers dusky ; and 
the legs yellowish. In lieu of a back foe, 
it has only a sort of spur, or sharp straight 
is also a certain prognosticator of the change 
of the wind : if it comes to laud, no west 
wind is expected for some time ; and the 
contrary when it returns and keeps the seat. 
The whole genus of petrels, have a peculiar 
faculty of spouting from their bills to a con- 
siderable distance, a large quantity of pure 
oil ; which they do by way of defence, into- 
the face of any one that attempts to take. 
them; so that they are, for the sake of this-- 
panacea, seized by surprise ; as this oil is 
subservient to the above-mentioned medical 
purposes. Martin tells us, it has been used 
in London and Edinburgh with success in 
rheumatic cSses. Frederick Martens, who- 
had the opportunity of seeing vast numbers of 
these birds in Spitzbergen, observes, that 
they are very bold, and resort after the 
whale-fishers in great flocks ;. and that, when 
a whale is taken, they will, in spite of all. en- 
deavours, light on it and pick out large 
lumps of fat, even when the animal is alive ^ 
that the whales are often discovered at sea., 
by the multitudes of them flying; and that, 
when one of the former is wounded, prodi- 
gious multitudes immediately follow its. 
bloody track.. He adds, that it is a most 
gluttonous bird> eating till it is forced to dis- 
gorge itself. 
2. The puffinus, or shear-water, is fifteen 
inches in length ; the breadth thirty-one 
the weight seventeen ounces ; the bill is an 
inch and three quarters long ; nostrils tubu- 
lar, but not very prominent ; the head, and 
whole upper sides of the body, wings, tail, 
and thighs, are of a sooty blackness; the un- 
der side from chin to tail, and inner coverts- 
of the wings, white ; the legs weak, and com- 
pressed sideways ; dusky behind, whitish be- 
fore. These birds are found in the Calf of 
Man ; and, as Mr. Ray supposes, in the 
Scilly isles. They resort to the former 
in February, take a short possession of the 
rabbit-burrows there, and then disappear till 
April. They lay one egg, white, and blunt 
at each end ; and the young are fit to b* 
taken the beginning of August, when great 
numbers are killed by the person who farms 
the island ; they are salted and barrelled ; 
and when they are boiled, are eaten with 
potatoes. During the day they keep at sea, 
fishing ; and towards evening return to their 
young, whom they feed by discharging the 
contents of their stomachs into their mouths, 
which by that time is turned into oil : from 
the backward situation of their legs, they sit 
<juite erect. They quit the island the latter 
end of August, or beginning of September 
and we hate reason to imagine that, like the 
