Poggio
BRACCIOLINI, GIAN FRANCESCO, an Italian humanist; born in Castel Terranuova, near Florence, Feb. 11, 1380. By his untiring research of the monastery libraries of Switzerland and Germany he brought to light MSS. supposed to have been lost, of works of the ancient classics, Quintilian, Valerius Flaccus, Ascanius, Statius, Ammianus, and many others. He translated into Latin several of the Greek classics. His own writings are: "Facetiæ," a work of the same questionable character as others of the same title the book had 26 editions at the end of the 15th century; "Of the Variances of Fortune"; a "History of Florence"; "The Miseries of Human Life"; POINCARÉ , " The Infelicity of Princes "; " On Marriage in Old Age "; " Dialogue Against Hypocrites. " He died lied in Florence, Oct.
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Poindexter
MILES, United States Senator from Washington. Born at Memphis, Tenn., in 1868, and educated at Washington and Lee University, he moved to the State of Washington in 1891, where he took up the pr practice of w. After serving as district attorney, law. and later judge of Spokane co., he was elected to the National House of Representatives as a Republican in 1909, and at the expiration of his term was chosen United States Senator. He received the support of the Republicans in the State of Washington as a candidate for the presidential nomination in 1920. Vol. VII-Cye
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Poinsettia
a genus of Euphorbiaceæ, now merged in Euphorbia itself. P. pulcherrima is a highly ornamental stove plant, with rose-like whorls of bracts.
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Point
in geometry, a quantity which has no parts, or which is indivisible, or which has position without magnitude. Points may be regarded as the ends or extremities of lines. If a point is supposed to be moved in any way, it will by its motion describe a line. POISON. Professor Christison divides poisons into three great classes: Irritants, narcotics, and narcotico-acrids, or narcotico-irritants. A fourth class is sometimes added, septics, consisting of animal poisons, such as the bites of rabid animals and venomous snakes, the stings of insects, and the poison generated by pestilential carbuncle, etc. An irritant poison produces violent pain and cramp in the stomach, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, etc. A narcotic poison produces stupor, numbness, drowsiness, coldness, and stiffness of the extremities, etc.; a narcotico-acrid poison produces a certain combination of the symptoms attendant on both the former classes. Savages poison their arrows with the milky juice of various Euphorbias or of the manchineel, or by the juice of two species of Strychnos. Both in man and in the inferior animals there is often a curious correlation between the color of the skin and hair ard immunity from the action of certain vegetable poisons. Metallic poisons act on vegetables vegetab nea nearly as they do on animals, that is, they are absorbed into the different parts of a plant, destroying the structure. Vegetable poisons, especially those which destroy animals by action on their nervous system, also cause the death of plants.
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Poising Tool
A tool consisting of two parallel jaws mounted upon a base in such a way that they may be opened or closed to suit the length of the arbor of the piece to be poised. When using the tool it must be perfectly level.
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Poisson
SIMÉON-DENIS, a French geometer; born in Pithiviers, department of Loiret, June 21, 1781; and displaying an aptitude for mathematics, he was received into the École Polytechnique in 1798. In 1802 he became a professor in the Polytechnique; in 1808 a member of the Bureau des Longitudes; in 1809 professor in the Faculty of Sciences; member of the Institute in 1812, etc.; and this list of distinctions was crowned in 1837 by his elevation to the dignity of a peer of France. Poisson's whole life was devoted to the prosecution of scientific research, and the fruits of his pen number about 300 memoirs. Of the separate treatises published by Poisson, the best known is the "Treatise on Me chanics" (1833); others were on capillary action, the mathematical theory of heat, the motion of projectiles, and, lastly, the celebrated work "On the Invaria bility of the Mean Movement of the Planetary Axes." Poisson is fairly considered one of the chief founders of the science of mathematical physics. He died April 25, 1840.
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Poitiers
or POICTIERS, a town of France, on the Clain, formerly capital of the province of Poitou, at present of the department of the Vienne. The town occupies a large space, the houses being often surrounded by gardens and orchards. The principal edifice is the cathedral, founded by Henry II. of England about 1162. Poitiers is one of the most ancient towns of France, and the vestiges of a Roman palace, of Roman baths, of an aqueduct, and an amphitheater still remain. Two famous batvicinity, that in which Charles Martel defeated the Sarawere fought in its vicinity, cen army in 732, and that between the French under their king John II., and the English under Edward the Black Prince in 1356. The manufactures are unimportant, but there is a large trade. Pop. about 42,000.
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Poitou
a former province of S. W. France, coincident with the present departments of Deux Sèvres, Vendée, and Vienne. It was divided into Upper and Lower Poitou, and had for its capital Poitiers. Its early history is the same as that of AQUITANIA (q. v.). Poitou became a possession of the English crown when Eleanor, Countess of Poitou and Duchess of Aquitaine, after her divorce from Louis VII. VII. of France, married (1152) Henry of Anjou, afterward Henry I. of England. Philip Augustus reconquered the province in 1205. By the peace of Bretigny, in 1360, it again reverted to England, but nine years later was retaken by Charles V.
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Poker
a game played with a full pack of cards, five being dealt, one at a time, to each player in rotation, beginning at the left of the dealer. The player winning the "pool," or "pot," always deals. An exposed card may be accepted or rejected; in the latter case it must be placed at the bottom of the pack. The cards rank in value as at WHIST (q. v.). The game admits of a number of players, from 2 to 10.
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