Photoelectrotype
a block made mainly with the aid of photography and of the electrotyping process, and which can be printed with type like a woodcut. A photographic negative of the subject required is printed on a film of gelatine which has been treated with bichromate of potash, to render it sensitive to the action of light. Those parts on which the light has not acted are soluble in water, and are washed away, leaving the printed parts that are insoluble in relief. From this relief a mold is taken, and an electrotype made in the usual way. Unless special means are taken to translate the half-tones of the photograph into line or stipple, this process is only available for reproducing drawings, etc., in black and white.
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Photographs
TRANSMISSION. (See TELEPHOTOGRAPHY.)
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Photogravure
a term applied to methods of producing, by photography, plates for printing in a copper plate press. The processes are kept secret.
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Photophobia
a dread or intolerance of light; a symptom more or less present in all inflammations of the eye. It is also met with in many diseases of the nervous system and in many febrile conditions. luminous envelope believed to completely
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Photosphere
in astronomy, a surround the sun within an outer environment of a dense atmosphere. It is from the photosphere that light and heat are radiated. Used more rarely of the fixed stars.
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Photostat
a trade name for direct photographing process. By this means copies of drawings, legal papers, records, etc. may be rapidly produced. A special camera, with special developing and fixing attachments, is used in the process. The reproductions are made directly upon the surface of the print paper, which has been coated with a special emulsion. In order that the image will not be reversed the camera is fitted with a reversing prism and a special copying lens. The entire apparatus of the camera and developing plant is self-contained. After exposure the paper passes through the developing and fixing process, and is then cut and dried and is ready for use. The ordinary photostat print is white upon a black background, but by a slight addition to the process, black prints upon light backgrounds are secured. The process is much used for legal work, duplicating policies, in insurance, and particularly in engineering work, where many copies of the same plans are desired. The scale of the drawing made may be easily altered.
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Photosynthesis
literally a combining by means of light, the process by which carbohydrates (starch, sugar, etc.) are manufactured by green plants in the presence of sunlight from the carbon dioxide and water of the air and soil. Since this manufacture is the basis of the whole food supply of the human race, its importance is evident and in 1922 the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science authorized the appointment of a special committee to coordinate the efforts being made by scientists to penetrate the mystery, with a possible view to the future artificial manufacture of foods from the same exhaustless sources in nature. (See CHLOROPHYLL.)
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Phragmites
in botany, reed; a genus of grasses, tribe Arundineae. Spikelets panicled, four or six flowered, those above perfect, the lower one with stamens only; all enveloped in silky hairs; palea short, two nerved. Known species five. The hard seeds of P. arundinacea and P. calamagrostis. In Cashmere the first species is given to cattle, and sandals are made from its stems. In palæontology, a form of reed occurring in the Miocene.
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Phreno-Magnet
Journal of Magnetism. (See Spiritualism .)
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Phrenology
the science or doctrine which teaches that a relation exists between the several faculties of the human mind and particular portions of the brain, the latter being the organs through which the former act. That the brain, taken as a whole, is the part of the human body through which the mind operates, had been from ancient times the general belief; but the localization of the several faculties was first attempted by Dr. Franz Joseph Gall, who gained, in 1804, a valuable coadjutor in Dr. Spurzheim. When Spurzheim visited Edinburgh, he met Mr. George Combe, who adopted his views, and in 1819 published "Essays on Phrenology," ultimately developed into his "System of Phrenology," which became very popular. Gall enumerated nearly 30, Spurzheim 35, mental faculties which he considered as primitive. These Spurzheim divides into moral, or affective, and intellectual.
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Phrixus
A son of Athamas, king of Thebes , and Nephele. On the plea of insanity, Nephele was repudiated by Athamas, who then married Ino, who persecuted Phrixus with inveterate hatred, because he was to succeed to the throne in preference to one of her own children. Being apprised that Ino had designs on his life, he started with his sister Helle to go to Aeetes, king of Colchis. According to the poets they mounted on a ram, whose fleece was gold, which soared into the air, directing its course to Colchis. Helle became giddy, and, falling into the sea (afterward called the Hellespont), was drowned. Phrixus arrived at the court of Aeetes, whose daughter Chalciope he married. Some time afterward he was killed by his father-in-law.. The murder of Phrixus gave rise to the famous Argonautic expedition under Jason , the object being to recover the Golden Fleece , which Jason succeeded in obtaining. She
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Phrygia
in ancient geography, an inland province of Asia Minor, bounded N. by Bithynia and Galatia, E. by Cappadocia, S. by Lycia, Pisidia, and Isauria, and W. by Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. It was called Phrygia Pacatiana, and also Phrygia Major Major, in distinction from Phrygia Minor, which was a small district of Mysia near the Hellespont, occupied by some Phrygians after the Trojan War. The part of Phrygia Major was also called Lycaonia.
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Phryne
a famous courtesan of Greece, and mistress of Praxiteles, who employed her as a model for his statues of Venus. She acquired immense wealth and offered to rebuild Thebes, provided this inscription should be placed on the walls: "Alexander destroyed this city, and the courtesan Phryne restored it"; but her offer was rejected.
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Phthalic Anhydride
CH (CD), O. A white, crystalline substance, specific gravity 1.527, melting point 128° C. Sublimes below boiling point. Soluble in alcohol, slightly soluble in ether and hot water. An important intermediate in the dye industry, being used in the manufacture of eosin and other dyestuffs. PHTHISIS. See CONSUMPTION.
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