or without the original. Polyglots are of great service for the understanding the Scriptures, and were early undertaken by theologians. The first great work of the sort is the Complutensian Polyglot, prepared by several learned men, under the patronage of cardinal Ximenes. Great care and pains were taken in procuring early manuscripts of the text and of the translations. It was splendidly printed (1514—17), in six folio volumes, at Alcala de Henares (q. v.), in Latin, Complutum, whence its name. It contains the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, with the Vulgate, the Septuagint, a literal Latin translation, a Chaldee paraphrase (which is also accompanied by a Latin translation). Another celebrated polyglot is that of Antwerp, called the Royal Bible, because Philip II of Spain bore part of the cost of publication. It was conducted by the learned Spanish theologian, Benedict Arias Montanus, who was assisted by other scholars. It appeared at Antwerp, in eight folio volumes (1569-72), and, besides the Hebrew text, contains the Latin Vulgate, the Septuagint (with a literal Latin translation), several Chaldaic paraphrases (Targums), also accompanied by a Latin translation, and the New Testament in the original Greek, with the Latin Vulgate, and a Syriac translation in Hebrew and Syriac letters (also with a Latin translation). Still more celebrated is the Paris polyglot, executed principally under the direction of Gui Michael le Jay (an advocate to the parliament, who expended his whole fortune on the object), by several distinguished Orientalists and critics. It appeared in 1645, in ten folio volumes, and contains, in addition to the contents of the Antwerp polyglot, a Syriac and an Arabic translation (with Latin), and also the Samaritan pentateuch (a Samaritan text, with a translation), and likewise an Arabic translation of the New Testament,

with a Latin translation of the same. Finally, the London or Walton's polyglot, in ten languages, appeared in six volumes folio, with two supplementary volumes (London, 1654-57). It was conducted under the care of Bryan Walton (q. v.), afterwards bishop of Chester, and contains all that is in the Paris polyglot, but with many additions and improvements. It contains the original text according to several copies, with an Ethiopic and a Persian translation, and the Latin versions of each. Cromwell patronised the undertaking. Besides these four great polyglots, there are several of parts of the Bible, particularly of the Psalms.

POLYGNOTUS OF THASUS, one of the most distinguished Greek painters, flourished from 450 to 410 B. Č., embellished Athens with his pencil, and was rewarded with the citizenship. Cimon, the demagogue, and rival of Pericles, employed him to decorate the Pocile. He was also the favored lover of the beautiful Elpinice, sister of Cimon. Micon and Panænus assisted him in painting the Pœcile. His two principal pictures there represented the Greeks before Troy; the subject of one of them was the assembly of the chiefs after the rape of Cassandra; of the other, the captive Trojan females, in the midst of whom was Čassandra. In the Lesche (hall), at Delphi, he painted the Conquest of Troy and the Regions of the Dead, which are described by Pausanias. In a portico of the Parthenon there were also several easel-pieces, relating to the Trojan war. In the temple of Castor and Pollux was a painting representing the abduction and marriage of the daughters of Leucippus, and in the propylæa were several pictures. His works were probably on wood. Polygnotus is represented as being the first who made painting independent of sculpture, and gave life, motion, character and expression (whence his surname hoypapos) to the countenance, skilful disposition to the drapery, and proportion to the figures, and he is said to have been the first who painted tetrachromes (pictures with four colors). With him began the grand and lofty style in Greek painting.

POLYHALITE; the name of a mineral species, bestowed in allusion to the many salts which it contains. It occurs in coarsely fibrous masses of a reddish white color, and a pearly lustre; specific gravity 2.77; hardness not much above that of gypsum. Its constituents are as follows:

shall touch all the angles or corners of the solid. There are but five of these regular bodies, viz. the tetrahedron, the hexahedron or cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, and the icosahedron.

POLYHISTOR (from noλus, much, and lorwo, knowing); a scholar who is acquainted with all the chief branches of science. Formerly it was possible to be well versed, at the same time, in law, theology, medicine, &c. (as in the case of Leibnitz, and several scholars of eminence before him.) In the present advanced state of science, it is impossible to be a polyhistor without the sacrifice of thoroughness. Polyhistor is also used for a scholar, who, besides his peculiar branch, has a general knowledge of most others. (See Morhof.)

POLYHYMNIA, OF POLYMNIA; according to the later poets, the muse of lyric song or of music, to whom is attributed the invention of mimes and pantomimes. The Grecian artists represented her covered with a veil, and in a meditating posture. Her attributes are the lyre and the plectrum. She places the forefinger of her right hand on her mouth, or holds a scroll.

POLYMIGNITE; the name of a mineral recently found in Norway. It is black, brilliant, and crystallized in small prisms, long, thin, with rectangular bases, the edges of which are commonly replaced by one or several planes. Specific gravity, 4.806. It scratches glass. Fracture conchoidal, without indications of cleavage; lustre semi-metallic. Alone, before the blow-pipe, it undergoes no change, but melts easily with borax. Its composition is as follows:

It is found in the zircon sienite at Fredericksværn.

POLYNESIA (from modus, many, and vncos, island); the name given by geographers to the great body of islands scattered over the Pacific ocean, between Australasia and the Philippines, and the American continent. It extends from lat. 35° N. to 50° S.; and from lon. 170° to 230° E., an extent of 5000 miles from north to south, and of 3600 from west to east. It includes, therefore, the Sandwich islands,

the Marquesas, Navigator's, Society, Mulgrave, Friendly, Ladrone, and Pelew isles, the Carolines, Pitcairn's island, &c. (See these articles, and also Australia, Oceanica, and Pacific Ocean.)

POLYNICES. (See Eteocles, and Thebes.) POLYPHEMUS, son of Neptune, the most famous of the Sicilian Cyclops (q. v.), is described by Ulysses (Odyssey, ix), as a giant, living by himself in a cave, and feeding his flocks. Ulysses (q. v.) and his companions, having unwarily taken refuge in his cave, were found there by Polyphemus, when he returned home at night, and shut up the mouth of the cavern with a large stone. Having seized two of the strangers, he ate them for supper, and the next morning made a breakfast of two more of them, after which he drove out his flocks to pasture, and shut up the unhappy captives by closing the entrance of his cave. Ulysses then contrived a plan for their escape. Having sharpened the club of the Cyclops, he intoxicated the monster with wine, and, as soon as he fell asleep, bored out his eye. He then tied himself and his companions under the bellies of the sheep, in which manner they passed safely out in the morning. Polyphemus was the lover of the nymph Galatea, but the nymph despised his offers, and preferred Acis, who was killed by his jealous rival. (See Galatea.)

POLYPI, in natural history; a numerous order of animals of the class of zoophytes, or animal plants, forming the transition from the animal to the vegetable kingdom. (See the article Animal, in which the five zoophyte orders are described under the head Radiated.) These singular animals were first described by Trembley, in his Mémoires sur les Polypes (printed at Leyden, 1744). The unpractised eye easily overlooks these animalcules, as they consist merely of a semitransparent jelly, and, when disturbed, contract themselves into a shapeless lump. They are to be found from the beginning of the warm weather, through summer, in pools, and slowly running waters, attached to plants, snails, &c. When the sun is very warm, little, transparent, gelatinous lumps, of about the size of a pea, may be discovered in the situations above described. These are polypi in a state of rest, and apparently without life. But they are capable of stretching both their body and their arms (six to ten in number) in an astonishing manner, and they are then seen to be composed of a stomach furnished with instruments of prehension. By these arms the polypus seizes any insect which ap

proaches it, and conveys it to an orifice by which it passes into the stomach, and through which the undigested part is also voided. There is a great number of species of these little animals; the green, the brown and the orange-colored are the most common, and all the species have at the least six, or at the most twelve to thirteen arms. The latter are generally not longer than the body, but they are often one, and even eight inches in length. When, however, the polypi are taken out of the water, they look like a little mass of jelly, which frequently is hardly of the size of a grain of sand. They can extend one or several of their arms at the same time, and contract them in one or several parts, and thus are enabled to change their position, by applying them to a particular point, and drawing themselves to it. On examining the polypus with a microscope, the external surface resembles shagreen, and is covered with little grains, which are more or less close in proportion as the animal contracts or expands itself. On cutting the animal into pieces, the skin will be found to consist entirely of such grains, united by a kind of gummy substance. The color of these grains determines the color of the animal. The brown polypus has the longest arms, and employs the greatest variety of movements to seize its prey. All the species have not eyes, yet they have some method of discovering the approach of their prey to their arms, and show the greatest attention to it. When full, the polypus is torpid and motionless, but as it digests its food, it resumes its activity. As the whole animal is one entire stomach, the cavity of which is continued even to the extremities of the arms, the food may be seen to pass from the stomach through the latter, and from these back again to the stomach. To try this experiment, it is only necessary to give the polypus a worm of a red color. If it is constantly fed with insects of one color, the polypus takes the same color. It sometimes happens that two polypi lay hold of the same worm; in this case they continue eating till they break it asunder in the middle; and sometimes one also swallows the other; but they are incapable of digesting each other, and, after an hour or two, the one which has been swallowed issues out. The manner in which these animals propagate is not less remarkable than the rest of their organization. There appear small tubercles on the sides, which in a few days have the figure of small polypi. The connexion still remains; what the

young one seizes, goes to the nourishment of the parent, and vice versa. But the end by which they are joined gradually becomes thinner, and finally they choose different points to attach themselves to, and are thus torn apart. The polypus produces young in this way, in all parts of the body, and often bears five or six at a time. Trembley, who kept them in glasses above a year, never observed any act of copulation among them; but some modern observers have thought that they propagate by eggs. Sometimes a polypus, not yet detached from its parent, becomes a parent and grand parent, all the individuals forming one whole. The indestructibility of their life is most astonishing, and their power, when mutilated, of supplying the lost parts anew; and if cut to pieces in any direction, each part forms a new animal. They may also be turned inside out and even grafted together. This remarkable power of reproduction gave them the scientific name hydra, in allusion to the fabulous monster of that name. How far the stories of similar animals, but of enormous size, inhabiting the bottom of the sea, are true or fabulous, is yet uncertain.

POLYPUS, in medicine; a name given to swellings, which form chiefly in the mucous membranes, and were considered to resemble the animal of the same name. These tumors are most common in the nostrils, the throat, the uterus, and are more rarely found in the stomach, the intestines, the bladder, or the external passage of the ear. Polypuses differ much in size, number, mode of adhesion, and nature. One species is called mucous, soft, or vesicular polypuses, because their substance is soft, spongy, vesicular, and, as it were, filled with white juices; another is called the hard polypus, and has been distinguished into the fibrous or fleshy, and the scirrhous or cancerous. The fibrous polypuses are of a dense, close texture, and of a whitish color; they contain few vessels, and do not degenerate into cancers. The scirrhous or carcinomatous polypuses are really cancerous, painful tumors, which discharge blood, and exhibit all the pathological changes of cancerous affections. Different modes of treatment must be adopted, according to the particular nature of the disease. Among the methods of cure are exsiccation, which consists in subjecting the polypus to the action of astringent powders or solutions, to effect the resolution of the tumor; cauterization, or the application of fire and caustics; excision,

or the removal of the polypus by the knife; extraction, or its removal by the fingers, or by pincers; the seton, which consists in the application of a wire or thread, for the purpose of destroying the pedicle, or by ligature, which consists in tying up the base of the tumor, and causing it to fall off by the destruction of the vascular pedicle which nourishes it.

POLYTECHNICS; used on the European continent, particularly in Germany, for the science of all mechanical arts and skill, aided or unaided by machinery.

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL (Ecole Polytechnique); an establishment which ranks among the first in the history of education. This school was established by a decree of the national convention of March 11, 1794, which was passed by the influence of Monge, Carnot, Fourcroy, &c. The committee of public safety had seen the necessity of providing for the education of engineers. The school was first called école centrale des travaux publics, which name was changed a year after. Men like Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, Fourcroy, and many other distinguished individuals, were its professors. It is now established in the buildings of the ancient college of Navarre. Napoleon did much for it, and under him it received considerable modifications. The pupils were obliged to live in the building, and wear a uniform. Its object is to diffuse the knowledge of the mathematical, physical and chemical sciences, and to prepare the pupils for the artillery service and the various departments of engineering, military, naval and civil. The number of pupils is limited to 300. The terms for the students not supported on the foundation are 1000 francs a year, independent of the expense of uniform and books. The pupil, at the time of admission, must be more than sixteen and less than twenty years old. The course of studies lasts two years, in certain cases three. A rigorous examination precedes admission, and another examination takes place before the pupils leave the institution, and it is invariably attended by the greater number of the marshals of France, together with many of the most distinguished scholars; "and," says an English writer, "the replies of the pupils might well astonish a senior wrangler of Cambridge, or a medallist of Dublin." The origin of this establishment, and the high character of the course of instruction, has always inspired the students with a warm love of their country. March 30, 1814, they fought bravely against the allies. In

April, 1816, the school was abolished, the students appearing not sufficiently devoted to the Bourbons, who, however, were obliged to reestablish it, in September of the same year. In the revolution of July, 1830, the students immediately took part with the people, and were of the greatest use, as well by their military knowledge as by their heroic enthusiasm; and several of the most important attacks during those memorable days were conducted by these youths. The école polytechnique is a favorite institution with the whole nation. (See France, vol. v, p. 237. See the work of M. Fourcy on this school, and La Correspondance de l'École Polytechnique, by M. Hachette.)

POLYTHEISM; Worship of several or many gods, opposed to monotheism (q. v.), (from Tous, many, and Oeos, god). The origin of polytheism may be different. We find tribes whose polytheism can be ascribed, almost beyond doubt, to the deification of the powers and phenomena of nature; but with others it cannot be so clearly traced. As to the views of the polytheism of antiquity, they may, perhaps, be classified under the following heads:-1. Monotheism was the pure religion revealed to the progenitors of the human race, handed down through the patriarchs, and, after its decline, revived in its purity by Moses, and taught to the children of Israel, whilst all nations except this chosen one deviated more and more from the true revelation, and created a host of gods, good and evil. (See Monotheism.) 2. Man, beginning with the savage state, proceeded in every thing from the concrete to the abstract; from the observation of nature, he rose to the natural sciences; from the measurement of space to mathematics; from the idea of just dealing, so natural in families, to that of politics and ethics; from the observation of beautiful things to ideal beauty; and from the knowledge of effects, only ascribable to higher powers, to the veneration of the powers of nature, to polytheism, and from this to monotheism. The chief objections to this view are that there are numerous nations which refined their polytheism more and more, but never arrived at monotheism, the two most civilized nations of antiquity not excepted, and that we meet with monotheism in the very records where, according to this view, we should expect it least,

those of the most ancient races, as given in the Bible. 3. Another view is taken of polytheism by Creuzer (q. v.), in his Symbolics and Mythology of the Ancient Nations, particularly of the Greeks (partly

translated, partly rewrought by Guigniaut, in his Religions de l'Antiquité, considérées principalement dans leurs Formes symboliques et mythologiques, Paris, 1824 et seq.). He considers Greek polytheism as presupposing a whole system of ancient Asiatic poetry, philosophy and theology, the symbols of which gradually lost their hidden meaning, but still continued long in use as forms. 4. Others have considered the polytheism of the Greeks as the mere forms under which natural science had been preserved and taught in previous ages. 5. Some consider polytheism as having originated from a corruption of monotheism; others regard it as a deification of the powers of nature. Even the Greek polytheism is considered by many as indicating strongly the preexistence of monotheism. (See Mythology.) The two extremes of polytheism may be considered to be dualism (q. v.), and pantheism (q. v.). The former is the belief in two original beings, a good and an evil spirit. It forms the basis of several Oriental religions, and is considered by many as merely a misconception of the primitive monotheism. Pantheism originates from polytheism. It makes the world itself God, and God the world, the One and the Whole. (See Pantheism.)

POLYXENA; daughter of Priam and of Hecuba, whose fate is related by the postHomeric epic poets. Achilles loved her, and advantage was taken of his passion for her to effect his death. According to some accounts, she returned his affection, and killed herself on his tomb. But according to the most common story, she was sacrificed to his Manes, either in Thrace or at his tomb.

POMBAL, Sebastian Joseph Carvalho, count of Oeyras, more known as marquis of Pombal, a celebrated Portuguese statesman, was born in 1699, at the castle of Soura, near Coimbra, and died in 1782. His father was a captain of the poorer class of the nobility; but his mother, a Mendoza, and his uncle, a respectable ecclesiastic, opened to the young Carvalho, who, after having studied law at Coimbra, entered the army, the prospect of promotion. Nature had given him all the qualities which indicate a person destined for rule; a tall and strong frame, a vigorous constitution, a daring eye, a fiery temperament, strong passions, a penetrating judgment, and the most captivating address. In every thing which he undertook, he led the way. Having been banished from Lisbon on account of some youthful imprudences, the offspring of

his ardent temperament, he passed several years at Soura devoted to study. While there, he gained the affections of Theresa de Noronha Almada, a rich widow, whose proud relations rejected with disdain his advances. He eloped, however, with the object of his passion, and his courage and resolution saved him from the daggers of assassins. At the same time, the contempt with which the family of his wife, the counts of Arcos, treated him, kindled his ambition to rise. He returned to court, where his address acquired him such high favor, that in 1739 he was appointed ambassador to London. Here he became acquainted with the relations between England and Portugal, and formed the plan of delivering his country from the fetters of the English commercial system. The new minister, Peter di Motta, his enemy, recalled him in 1745; but the queen, who was his patroness, sent him to Vienna to act as mediator between the pope and the empress Maria Theresa. Carvalho here gained general esteem, and, his first wife being dead, obtained the hand of the youthful countess of Daun. He was obliged, however, to refute the calumnies which a Portuguese of rank had circulated against him in Vienna, and to prove his claims to nobility. The queen now procured his nomination as ambassador to the Spanish court; but the king and his minister hated him; he was recalled, and even the influence of the queen was insufficient to overcome the aversion of the king (John V). was in vain that Pombal insinuated himself into the favor of the Jesuits, and, by his entire devotion to the order, imposed upon them to such a degree as to obtain an intimate acquaintance with their organization, of which he afterwards made use when he was minister. The high nobility persecuted him with irreconcilable hatred; but Carvalho concealed his desire of revenge, and passed for the most amiable, modest and pious courtier in the service of the queen. John V died in 1750, and, through the influence of the queen dowager, Carvalho finally obtained from his successor, Joseph I, the long coveted post of secretary of state for foreign affairs. The confessor of the king, Moreira, a Jesuit, was his friend; and Carvalho courted the order with such zeal, that he was called the great Jesuit. He soon rendered the feeble and sensual king (particularly after the death of the queen mother, 1754) entirely subject to his influence. Joseph I, from fear of his brother dom Pedro, to whom Carvalho's enemies at

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