adequate to a rate of production equal to the present demand. The attention of practical men was consequently directed to some more rapid means of production, and as early as 1790, even before the Stanhope-press was generally known, Mr. W Nicholson had letters-patent for a machine similar in many respects to those which have now come into use. Subsequently Mr. König, a German, conceived nearly the same idea, and meeting with the encouragement in this country which he failed to obtain on the Continent, constructed a printingmachine, and on the 28th of November, 1814, the readers of the 'Times' were informed that they were then for the first time reading a newspaper printed by machinery driven by steam-power. This printing-machine, though highly ingenious, was very complicated, and the machine of König was soon superseded by that of Messrs. Applegath and Cowper, the novel features of which were accuracy in the register, the method of inking the types, and great simplicity in hitherto very complicated parts. Printing-machines may be distinguished into single and double; the single being that in which only one side of the sheet of paper is printed, the double that in which both sides are printed before the sheet leaves the machine. The former is used for newspapers and that kind of printing in which it is not necessary for the two sides of the sheet to 'register,' that is, for the printing on one side to be exactly at the back of the other; the latter for books, in which it is essential that the printing on one page should correspond with the printing on the other when the sheets are folded. This important object of the register is effected by causing, the parts to move at precisely the same speed. This being the principle of the register, its success will depend on great accuracy of workmanship in the mechanical parts. The accompanying representation of the printing-machine will furnish a correct notion of the several parts, and of the way in which motion is communicated to them. A sheet of paper is taken from the pile to be printed (as represented at the left-hand side of the drawing), and put into the machine by one attendant, and taken out printed on both sides by the other attendant, whose hand is shown under the cylinders. The accompanying sketch will show the principle of the printingmachine. The sheet of paper taken from the table A is laid on the feeder B, which consists of girths of linen, tightly stretched by being passed round two cylinders. By the motion of this feeder the sheet is placed between the two systems of tapes which lie on the cylinder G: these tapes, of which one set is represented by the dotted line, and the other by the thin line, lie two and two over each other on the cylinders and small rollers a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i. The sheet of paper grasped between them is kept clean at the places in which it is in contact with them, and by the motion of the various parts is conducted under the first printing-cylinder H, and receives an impression from the types at C; thence by means of the cylinders I, K, to the second printing-cylinder L, where it receives an impression on the other side from the types at D. Thus printed on both sides, it is taken out at e by the attendant. The cylinders I and K are simply for the purpose of conveying the sheet steadily and smoothly from one printing-cylinder to the other. The sheet will be seen to be reversed in its progress from one set of types to the other, descending the left side of the first and the right side of the second printing-cylinder. An inking-apparatus is placed at each end of the table M, N, which carries the types C, D, and which traverses backwards and forwards under the printing-cylinders L, H, and inking-rollers. The ink, received from a reservoir k by the two rollers / and m, is transferred from them to the surface of the table; the surface of the table inks the rollers n, o, and these, in their turn, ink the types as they pass backwards and forwards for each impression. The excellence of the printing depends in a great measure on the types being properly inked. In a machine arranged according to the accompanying diagram, the types are touched four times by the inking-rollers for each impression, and by increasing the number of rollers, any perfection of inking may be obtained. The machines commonly used for printing books will print from seven hundred to one thousand per hour, in perfect register; and for newspapers, printed on one side only, from four thousand to six thousand per hour PRINTING, CALICO. [CALICO PRINTING.] PRIONI'TES, Illiger's name for a genus of birds. Generic Character.-Both mandibles slightly curved and compressed; the margins with strong denticulations, Wings short, Tongue long, slender; the sides ciliated. rounded. Tail lengthened, cuneated. Feet gressorial, as in Merops. (Sw.) Mr. Swainson (Classification of Birds) remarks that every writer since the days of Linnæus (who at first actually classed them in the same genus) has placed the Motmots (Prionites) and the Toucans (Ramphastos) close together, not only from the similarity of their habits, but from the structure of the tongue, which in both is long, and so much ciliated at its sides as to resemble a feather; so far, therefore, he observes, the resemblance is unquestionable. 'But,' continues Mr. Swainson, the feet of the motmot are totally different from the toucan; they are not scansorial, but of that particular structure so common among the Fissirostres. The toucans, we know, from personal observation, to be gregarious, living in flocks, and seeking their food from the tops of lofty trees; the motmot is solitary, hiding in the deep shades of the forests, and, like other air-feeding birds, is always found sitting nearly motionless. Here, then, is a very obvious departure from the structure and habits of the toucan. The question then is, to what does it lead? If to the hornbills (which has been inferred from the structure of the feet), we should have no diminution in the size of the bill, which in both the hornbills and toucans is equally large, but in the motmot of an ordinary and proportionate size: we should further expect a bird which was gregarious, since both these groups are so. Yet there is nothing in the motmot, beyond its feet, which will at all assimilate it to the perchers; while its fissirostral habit of catching its food upon the wing, and the discovery of the broad-billed species, Prionites platyrhynchus, seems to us a conclusive argument for placing this genus in the fissirostral order, as more intimately connected to the Jacamars (Galbula) [KINGFISHERS, vol. xiii., p. 233], than to any other known genus. son (Zool. Ill.) states that the motmots or momots, so named from their monotonous note, live only in the tropical forests of the New World, preferring those deep recesses of perpetual shade where a high canopy of matted foliage nearly excludes the rays of a vertical sun. They appear even more solitary in their disposition than the Trogons; their note may be heard, morning and evening, from the depths of the forests, but the bird is never seen, unless the hunter comes unexpectedly upon its retreat. This we have generally found to be a low withered branch completely shaded and just at the edge of such paths as are made by the Cavies or the Indians. The Jacamars and the Trogons both love these shady nooks, where they sit nearly motionless, watching for passing insects, on which they dart. Such is, no doubt, the manner in which the motmot feeds; but his strong conformation enables him to capture larger game. Travellers assert that he also devours the eggs and young of other birds, like the Toucans; this we believe, as both have the same long and feather-like tongue.' Mr. G. R. Gray makes the Momotina, a subfamily of the Todide, consist of the genus Crypticus, Sw. (Momotus, Leadb.; Prionites, Sw.), and the genus Momotus, Briss. (Baryphonus, Vieill.; Prionites, Ill.; Momota, Shaw; Ramphastos, Linn.). PRIO NODON, Dr. Horsfield's name for a feline form (Felis gracilis, Delundung of the Javanese), and placed by him in a separate section under the name of Prionodontidae, between Felis and Viverra. (Zoological Researches in Java.) Mr. Swainson remarks (Classification of Quadrupeds) that of the genus Prionodon, at present, but one species has been found, in Java. As a familiar appellation, expressive, in all probability, of its analogy to the Sorecida, he terms it the Shrew Cat. sive or cutting teeth alike, and those of the shrew cat are similar: nor does there appear any essential difference in respect to the canine teeth of the three. The cats have three or four cheek-teeth above, and three below; the Viverra, on the contrary, have six; while our present animal differs from both, in having five above and six below. The pupil of the eye is circular; that of the genus Felis in some instances is the same, but in others oblong; while in the Civets it is transversely elongate. In the ears and form of the body, our animal much more resembles the Viverre than the Feline; but in regard to colour it preserves a much closer relation to the genuine cats. The ears are short and round, the body long, and the legs short From these facts it appears more natural to associate this singular animal with the present group (Feline) than with the Gennet family; inasmuch as although it wears the aspect and possesses some of the characters of the latter, it has others, more important to its economy and habits. which belong only to the Felina. So far we coincide with the views of those who associate Prionodon with the true Feline. But before this question can be ultimately decided, it is absolutely necessary that the circle of the Mustelida should be analysed. Prionodon may possibly be the type of Felis, in the circle of Viverra; or it may be, as we esteem it at present, an aberrant form of the group before us Felina).' Description.-Tail elongated, annulated, cylindrical; body pale flavescent, with four very wide dorsal bands and two narrow anal bands; two broad lateral striæ, the narrow cervical striæ, the numerous humeral and femoral spots, and the seven caudal rings very deep brown. (Horsf.) Habits, Locality, &c.-Dr. Horsfield discovered this animal in 1806, during the early period of his researches in the district of Blambangan, situated at the extremity of Dental Formula:-Incisors; canines; molars Java; the natives distinguish it by the name above given. 5-5 6-6 Dr. Horsfield was not able to ascertain that it is found in any other part of the island, or that it has another name; but he states that even in Blambangan it is rarely met with. He notices it as inhabiting the extensive forests which, with the exception of the capital of Banyuwangi and a few small villages, cover that district. He obtained but little information as to its habits and manners, and records nothing on the subject beyond what we have mentioned. Head, teeth, and feet of Prionodon. a, Lateral view (external) of the teeth; b, lateral view (internal); c, front Prionodon gracilis. (Horsf., Java.) PRIOR, PRIORY, ecclesiastical terms denoting certain monastic foundations and the heads of such foundations. They differ in nothing essentially from the terms abbot and abbey. There were in England religious houses the chiefs of which were called priors, quite as rich and as powerful as many that had a chief who was called the abbot. Thus in Yorkshire there were two houses at no great distance from each other, called Roche and Nostel, the head of the former being an abbot, and of the latter a prior, though Nostel was the more antient and more considerable foundation. Neither has the distinction respect to the order to which the house belonged; for Kirkstall had an abbot, while Fountains had only a prior, and yet both were Cis tercian houses. The prior of Saint John of Jerusalem was equal to any abbot; yet in the main we find the greater monastic foundations presided over by monks who were called abbots, as Glastonbury, Malmesbury, Tewkesbury, and others of ante-Norman foundation. In some cases there was both an abbot and a prior, when the abbot was regarded as the superior officer; and in the priories there was often a second officer called the sub-prior. PRIOR, MATTHEW, was born on the 21st of July, 1664, it is uncertain whether at Wimborne in Dorsetshire, or in London, in which city his father is said to have been a joiner. His uncle, Samuel Prior, kept the Rummer Tavern near Charing-Cross. Matthew, on the death of his father, was taken charge of by his uncle, who sent him to Westminster school, then under Dr. Busby. When he was well advanced in the school, his uncle took him home with the intention of employing him in his business; but he had the good fortune to attract the notice of the earl of Dorset, who formed so favourable an opinion of his talents, that he sent him, in 1682, to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted to his bachelor's degree in 1686, and obtained a fellowship. Dryden's Hind and Panther' was published in 1786, and Prior, in conjunction with the Hon. Charles Montague, afterwards earl of Halifax, wrote, in ridicule of Dryden's poem, The City Mouse and Country Mouse,' which was published in 1687. After the Revolution of 1688, Prior came to London; and was introduced at court by the earl of Dorset, by whose influence he was appointed secretary to the embassy which was sent to the congress at the Hague in 1690, and his conduct gave so much satisfaction to King William, that he made him one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber. On the death of Queen Mary in 1695, Prior wrote an ode, which was presented to the king on his arrival in Holland after her death. In 1697 he was appointed secretary to the embassy which concluded the peace of Ryswick, and the next year filled the same office at the court of France, where he was treated with marked distinction. In 1799 he was at Loo in Holland with King William, by whom he was charged with dispatches to England, and on his arrival was made under-secretary of state, but losing his place soon after, on the removal of the earl of Jersey from the office of secretary of state, he was made, in 1700, one of the commissioners of trade. This year he published a long and elaborate poem, the 'Carmen Seculare,' in which he celebrates the virtues and heroic actions of King William. In the parliament that met in 1701, Prior sat as member for East Grinstead. Soon after this he joined the Tory party. In 1706 he celebrated the battle of Ramillies, in a long ode, which he inscribed to Queen Anne. In July, 1711, the Tories being now in power, Prior was sent privately to Paris with proposals of peace. In about a month he returned, bringing with him the Abbé Gualtier, and M. Mesnager, one of the French ministers, who was invested with full powers. The queen's ministers met Mesnager privately at Prior's house on the 20th September, 1711. This private meeting was made the ground of the charge of treason which the Whigs afterwards brought against Prior. The conferences began at Utrecht, on the 1st of January, 1712, but the business advanced so slowly that Bolingbroke was sent as ambassador to Louis XIV. at Paris, to forward it, and Prior either accompanied or followed him. After Bolingbroke's return, Prior acted as ambassador, though he was not officially appointed till August, 1713; his public dignity however was of short duration, for on the 1st of August, 1714, the Tories lost office, and Prior was recalled by the Whigs, by whom he was committed on a charge of high treason, and remained in custody two years. During his confinement he wrote his poem of 'Alma.' He was now without the means of subsistence, except from his fellowship, which he still retained; but the publication of his poems by subscription, which amounted to 4000 guineas, and an equal sum added by Lord Harley, son of the earl of Oxford, for the purchase of Down-hall in Essex, which was settled upon Prior for his life, restored him to easy circumstances. He died at Wimpole, a seat of the earl of Oxford, in Cambridgeshire, September 18, 1721, at the age of 57. A monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey; and for this and the Latin inscription upon it, which he directed in his will to be written by Dr. Robert Friend, he left 500%. Prior seems to have been well fitted for the public situations which he filled. It is evident that he was skilled in the art of pleasing, an important requisite in a diplomatist. He secured the approbation of the English sovereigns and ministers who employed him, and his influence at the French court was undoubted. When he joined the Tories he became, as is usual in such cases, a violent partisan; and the charge of high treason and two years' imprisonment were the result of a malignant persecution to which he had exposed himself by his desertion of the Whigs. In his private habits he appears to have been negligent and sensual. It is stated, on the authority of Spence, that the woman with whom he lived was 'a despicable drat of the lowest species.' It is evident however that he secured the esteem and affection of a large circle of associates; he became indeed almost a member of the family of the earl of Oxford. Prior, as a poet, was once popular, but is little read now. His lighter pieces are the most attractive. His Tales though borrowed and mostly indecent, are told with ease and sprightliness, and his Epigrams are often neatly pointed. His 'Alma, or the Progress of the Soul, the style of which is professedly an imitation of that of 'Hudibras,' has not much either of philosophy or wit in it, but is written in a very lively manner. 'Solomon' is one of the best of his poems. It is a sort of epic, formed out of the 'Proverbs' and 'Ecclesiastes.' The reflections are elaborately expressed, and often with great felicity of diction, but being without character or incident, it is rather heavy reading. Henry and Emma' is displeasing from the improbability both of the circumstances and sentiments; yet it was once a favourite with the public. Johnson very truly calls it a 'dull and tedious dialogue.' His smaller occasional poems are deformed by the continual introduction of the deities of the Grecian and Roman mythology. Venus and Cupid and Mars and Mercury and Jupiter meet us at every turn. Prior is fortunately one of the last of that race of poets who sought for ornament in these school-boy allusions. On the whole, it may be said of Prior that he had none of the higher qualities of a poet-no invention, little power of imagination, and consequently no vividness of description. He has diligence and judgment, and he may be regarded as one of the most correct of English poets. A History of the Transactions of his own Times, for which he had been collecting materials, was published after his death, in 2 vols. 8vo., but it has little in it of Prior's, and is of small value. (Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Life of Prior, by Humphreys; Biographie Universelle; Campbell's Specimens of the British Poets.) PRIORITY. [NOTICE.] PRISCIA'NUS was a celebrated Roman grammarian, who is said to have been born at Cæsarea; but we have hardly any particulars respecting his life. It appears that he was appointed professor of grammar at Constantinople in the reign of Justinian, about A.D. 525 (Fabricii Bibliotheca Latina, vol. iii., p. 398, ed. Ernesti); and we may infer from this circumstance, as well as from several passages in his works, that he was a Christian. He received instruction himself from Theoctistus, whom he frequently mentions with great praise. Priscian's work 'De Arte Grammatica' is comprised in eighteen books, and is dedicated to Julian, whom some modern writers have erroneously supposed to be the emperor of that name. This work, which is the most complete treatise on the Latin language that has come down to us from antiquity, supplied the materials for most of the Latin grammars published at the revival of learning; and the estimation in which it was held at that time is shown by the fact that five editions of it were published between the years 1470 and 1495. Modern scholars may still consult it with profit; it is particularly valuable for the number of quotations which it contains from writers whose works have not come down to us. Besides this work, the following treatises of Priscian's are extant:-'De XII. Versibus Eneidos principalibus ad Pueros,' 'De Accentibus,' 'De Declinatione Nominum,' 'De Versibus Comicis,' De Præexercitamentis Rhetoricæ,' De Figuris et Nominibus Numerorum et de Numis ac Ponderibus.' The best editions of Priscian are by Putschius, in his 'Grammatica Latina Auctores antiqui,' 4to., Hanov., 1605, and by Krehl, 8vo., Lips.. 1819-20. The 'Opera Minora' were also edited by Lindemann, 8vo., Lugd. Bat., 1819. His treatise on Comic Metres is included in Gaisford's 'Scriptores Latini Rei Metrica,' 8vo., Oxon., 1834. Priscian also wrote a short poem entitled 'De Laude Im peratoris Anastasii,' which was published for the first time | ties on his own account, but under the sanction of a be liby Endlicher, 8vo., Vindob., 1828. PRISCILLIA'NUS. [OFFICE, HOLY.] gerent state, against the public enemy. It is the practice of most nations to commission vessels of this kind as auxiliaries to the public force. The owners of them are licensed to attack and plunder the enemy, and their enterprise is encouraged by allowing them a large portion of any property they may capture. By the law of nations they are not considered pirates. It is usual for the country on whose behalf they carry on war to take security for their duly respecting the rights of neutrals and allies, and observing generally the law of nations. [PRIZE.] (45 Geo. III., c. 72; 1 Kent's Commentaries, 96.) PRISM (pioμa), in Mathematics, is a solid formed by a straight line which moves parallel to a given straight line, and one end of which traces out the contour of a given rectilinear polygon. The other extremity of the moving straight line traces out an equal and similar polygon, placed parallel to the former one: and the prism is thus bounded by two equal and parallel polygons, joined by as many parallelograms as each polygon has sides. When these parallelograms are at right angles to the planes of PRIVILEGE (Privilegium, from the sense of which the polygons, the solid is called a right prism; in all other cases, an oblique prism. The prism is among plane solids however it has been perverted), a particular beneficial exwhat the cylinder is among curvilinear ones: it is also emption from the general rules of law. Privilege is of two called triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal, &c. according kinds; real, attaching to place, and personal, attaching to as the polygons have three, four, five, &c. sides. Thus the persons, as ambassadors, peers, members of parliament, atprism used in optics is a triangular prism, while the paral-torneys, &c., whose peculiar privileges are stated under these heads respectively. lelopiped is a quadrangular prism. The number of cubic units in the content of a prism is found by multiplying the number of square units in either of the polygons by the number of linear units in the perpendicular distance between the planes of the two polygons; and all prisms, however much they may differ in obliquity, which have equal bases, and equal heights or perpendicular distances between opposite polygons, are equal in magnitude. No other rule can be given for computing the surface of a prism except the simple direction to add the areas of the two polygons to those of the joining parallelograms. But in the case of a right prism, the finding of the parallelograms may be shortened by multiplying the number of linear units in the contour of one polygon by the altitude of the prism. PRISM. (Optics.) [REFRACTION.] Formerly many places conferred the privilege of freedom from arrest, even in criminal matters, upon those entering them [SANCTUARY]; and even in later times many places existed which privileged those within them from arrest in civil suits. Of these the most notorious were White Fryars, the Savoy, the Mint, and other places in their neighbourBut by 8 & 9 Will. III., c. 27, the privileges of all hood. these places were abolished. However, at the present time, no arrest can be made in the king's presence, nor within the verge of the palace of Westminster, nor in any palace where he resides, nor in any place where the king's justices are sitting. (3 Inst., 141.) Personal privilege, conferring freedom from arrest, is enjoyed by all suitors, counsel, witnesses, or other persons attending any courts of record upon business, or an arbitrator under a rule of Nisi prius. This exemption is to be interpreted liberally, and will not theregoing other than the direct road to or from a court. (Com, Dig., tit. Privileges.") PRI'SODON, Schumacher's name for a form among the fore be forfeited hy taking refreshment after a suit, or by PRIVILEGIUM. [LAW.] PRISTIDACTYLS, the name assigned by MM. PRIVY COUNCIL (Consilium regis privatum, conDuméril and Bibron to a group of Calodonts, being the second of their Lézards Lacertiens ou Autosaures. The cilium secretum et continuum concilium regis). The privy Lacertians of this group are those which have the toes council, or council table, consists of the assembly of the either dentilated laterally or carinated on their inferior sur- king's privy councillors for matters of state. During the face, or provided both with carinations below and dentila- existence of the Star-chamber, the members of the privy tions along their edges. None of them have the temples council were also members of that court. Their number covered with plates or large scales. In the greater part of was antiently about twelve, but is now indefinitely increased. the species the plates which surround the nostrils are more The present usage is, that no members attend the deliberaor less convex, the palpebral disk is nearly completely sur-tions of the council who are not especially summoned for that rounded with a cordon of granules, and the ventral lamellæ, as well as the preanal scales, are smaller and more numerous than in the Leiodactylous Cælodonts. The following genera are arranged by MM. Duméril and Bibron under this group : Psammodromus, Fitz. (Notophilis, Aspistis,Wagl., Bonap., Ophiops, Ménestriés (Amystes, Wiegm.). [OPHIOPS.] Acanthodactylus, Fitz. (Podarcis, part, Wagl.). Eremias, Fitz. (Podarcis, part, Wagì.). purpose. They must be natural-born subjects of England, and are nominated by the king without any patent or grant. After nomination and taking the oath of office, they immediately become privy councillors. Formerly they remained in office only during the life of the king, who chose them subject to removal at his discretion; but by 6 Anne, c. 7, the privy council continues in existence six months after the demise of the crown, unless sooner determined by the successor, and they are to cause the successor to be pro claimed. The privy council of Scotland is now merged in that of England, by 6 Anne, c. 6. The duties of a privy councillor, as stated in the oath of office, are, to the best of his discretion truly and impartially to advise the king; to keep secret his counsel, to avoid corruption, to strengthen the king's council in all that by them is thought good for the king and his land, to withstand those who attempt the contrary, and to do all that a good councillor ought to do This small provincial capital is on a hill rising out of a unto his sovereign lord. By the Act of Settlement (12 & 13 pleasant valley. It has few public structures of any import-Will. III., c. 2) all matters relating to the government proThere are an old castle, and a convent of Recollet perly cognizable in the privy council are to be transacted monks, now converted partly into a court of justice and there; and all the resolutions taken thereon are to be signed partly into barracks. The population of the commune in by such of the privy council as advise anu consent to them. 1831 was 4342. The townsmen are engaged in throwing and manufacturing silk, and carry on trade in leather. There are coal-mines in the neighbourhood. Privas has a subordinate court of justice, several fiscal government offices, a house of correction, a library, and an agricultural Society. The town was taken from the Huguenots, A.D. 1629, by Louis XIII. PRIVAS, a town in France, capital of the department of Ardèche, situated on the little river Ouvèze, 382 miles from Paris by Lyon and Valence, in 44° 44′ N. lat. and 4° 35' E. long. ance. The court of privy council is of great antiquity; and during earlier periods of our history appears not always to have confined itself to the entertainment of mere matters of state. It had always and still has power to inquire into all of fences against the government, and to commit the offenders for the purpose of their trial in some of the courts of law; but it often assumed the cognizance of questions merely affecting the property and liberties of individuals. This is evident from the complaints and remonstrances that so frequently occur in our history, and ultimately from the declaratory law of the 16 Ch. I. referring to such practices. ProPRIVATEER, a private ship of war, fitted out at the bably the very statement of Sir Edward Coke, that the subcost of an individual for the purpose of carrying on hostili-jects of their deliberation are the 'publique good, and the The arrondissement of Privas had, in 1831, a population of 107,696. It comprehends 107 communes, and is divided into ten cantons or districts, each under a justice of the peace. honour, defence, safety, and profit of the realm....private PRIZE, property taken from an enemy. The term is causes, lest they should hinder the publique, they leave to generally applied to property taken at sea exclusively. The the justices of the king's courts of justice, and meddle not law of prize is regulated by the general law of nations. Ꭺ with them,' proceeded from his knowledge that such limits between the belligerent powers themselves, the property in had not always been observed, and his jealousy of their a ship or other thing captured passes at once, by the mere invasion. Several other passages in his works seem to show taking itself, to the captor. But the thing captured may that this was so. These encroachments, in one arbitrary be purchased from the captor by a person belonging to a reign, received the sanction of the legislature. By 31 neutral state, or it may be recaptured. It becomes there Hen. VIII., c. 8, the king, with the advice of his privy fore necessary, as between the original owner and such council, was empowered to set forth proclamations under purchaser, or between the original owner and the recaptor, such pains and penalties as seemed to them necessary, to lay down some rule for determining at what time and which were to be observed as though they were made by Act under what circumstances the thing captured becomes prize, of Parliament. It is true there was an attempt to limit the so that the property in it passes to the captor for all pureffects of this, by a proviso that it was not to be prejudicial to poses. The law of nations upon this point was very vague any person's inheritance, offices, liberty, goods, or life. The and unsettled. It used to be said that property was not statute itself however was repealed in the first year of the devested by capture until after possession had been retained ensuing reign. The king, with the advice of his council, may twenty-four hours, or until the prize had been taken infra still publish proclamations, which are said to be binding on præsidia; or again, until the spes recuperandi was gone. the subject; but the proclamations must be consonant to The present rule is thus expressed by Lord Stowell:-'By and in execution of the laws of the land. The attempts to en- the general practice of the law of nations a sentence of large the jurisdiction of the council appear always to have condemnation is at present deemed generally necessary, and been resisted as illegal; and they were finally checked by a neutral purchaser in Europe during war looks to the legal the 16 Chas. I., c. 10. That statute recites that of late sentence of condemnation as one of the title-deeds of a years the council-table hath assumed unto itself a powership, if he buys a prize vessel.' Sentence of condemnation, to intermeddle in civil causes, and matters only of private that is, sentence that the thing captured is prize, and that interest between party and party, and have adventured to consequently the property of the original owner in it is endetermine of the estates and liberties of the subject, con- tirely devested, must be pronounced by a court of the captrary to the laws of the land, and the rights and privileges turing power duly constituted according to the law of of the subject.' By the same statute it is declared and en- nations. The prize court of the captor may sit in the terriacted that neither his majesty nor his privy council have or tory of an ally, but not in that of a neutral. Questions of ought to have any jurisdiction in such matters, but that prize are by the English law disposed of in the courts of they ought to be tried and determined in the ordinary Admiralty. [ADMIRALTY.] courts of justice, and by the ordinary courts of law. (45 Geo. III., c. 72; 1 Kent's Commentaries, 100; Douglas's Reports, p. 612.) PRIZE-MONEY. All the acts relating to army prizemoney have been repealed by the 2 and 3 Wm. IV., c. 53, which also enacts that all captures made by the army shall be divided according to such general rule of distribution as the king shall direct. PROBABILITY, PROBABILITIES, THEORY OF. A conclusion may be said to be known in two distinct ways: first, when it is derived from those principles (as we call them) which may be considered as common to all mankind, or which at least no one is found to deny; secondly, when it results, by a sure process of inference, from premises which are believed to be known. Whether these premises are properly known, that is to say, whether another person assuming to decide on the propriety or impropriety is satisfied or not, is not a part of the present inquiry. That knowledge of the first kind exists is unquestioned, and most of the results of such knowledge are agreed upon. That knowledge of the second kind exists is also unquestioned, though two men may differ as to whether a given conclusion is part of it or not. The distinction, as elsewhere noticed [MATHEMATICS], is positive, easily apprehended, and useful; it exists moreover, and must exist, whatever may be the system of metaphysics on which one man or another may explain it. Subsequently however to this statute, in matters arising out of the jurisdiction of the courts of the kingdom, as in colonial and admiralty causes, and also in other matters, where the appeal was to the king himself in council, the privy council continued to have cognizance, even though the questions related merely to the property of individuals. By 2 and 3 Wm. IV., c. 92, the powers of the high courts of delegates, both in ecclesiastical and maritime causes, were transferred to the king in council. The decision of these matters being purely legal, it was found expedient to make some alterations in the court, for the purpose of better adapting it to the discharge of this branch of its duties. Instances had before occurred where the judges had been called in and had given extra-judicial opinions to the privy council; but the practice was inconvenient and unsatisfactory, and all necessity for it is now wholly removed. By the 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 41, the jurisdiction of the privy council is further enlarged, and there is added to it a body entitled the judicial committee of the privy council.' This body consists of the keeper of the great seal, the chief justice of the King's Bench and of the Common Pleas, the master of the rolls, the vice chancellor, the chief baron of the Exchequer, the judges of the prerogative court of Canterbury and of the high court of admiralty, the chief judge of the bankruptcy court, and all members of the privy council who have been presidents of it or have held the office of chancellor or any of the beforenamed offices. Power is also given to the king by his sign manual to appoint any two other persons who are privy councillors to be members of the committee. In the third section of the act are enumerated the appeals which are to be referred to this committee. They are authorised to examine witnesses on oath, and to direct an issue to be tried by a jury. The same powers for enforcing their decrees, &c. are given to the judicial committee as are possessed by the Court of Chancery, King's Bench, &c. A registrar is also attached to the committee, to whom matters may be referred, as intion offers for acceptance, and we should cease to consider a chancery to a master. The privileges of a privy councillor, beyond those of mere honorary precedence, formerly related to the security of his person. If any one struck another a blow in the house or presence of a privy councillor, he was fineable. Conspiracy by the king's menial servants against the life of a privy councillor was felony, though nothing were done upon it. And by 9 Anne, c. 16, any unlawful assault by any person on a privy councillor in the execution of his office was felony. These statutes have however been now repealed, by 9 Geo. IV., c. 31, and any offence against a privy councillor stands on the same footing as offences against any other individual. (1 Co. Lit., 110, a, n. 5; 3 Inst., 182; Inst., 52; 1 Bl., Com., 222; Hallam's Constitutional History.) In the exact sciences, demonstration is always effected in such a way as to show that nothing contradictory of the proposition demonstrated either is true or can have been true at any time. Two sides of a triangle are, were, and always will be, greater than the third; by which we mean that persons with minds constituted as ours are, must have admitted this, must now admit it, and must admit it in all time to come. Those who should deny the proposition must really hold that a whole may be less than its contained part: such is the alternative which geometrical demonstra mind as the proper object of instruction which should prefer the alternative to the proposition. Such truths as these are not the subject of the present article. The other class of conclusions consists of those which may be false, or which may have been false at one time, or may become so, without the necessity of our supposing an absolute and inconceivable difference of mental constitution between ourselves and the person who may have seen this falsehood, may now see it, or is to see it. Many such conclusions appear to be as certain as if they were absolutely demonstrated, until a close and (to those who have not considered the subject) a captious test is applied, which shows that this certainty is not what is called mathe matical certainty. One of the most certain perhaps of |