Polo (MARCO a Venetian traveler)
MARCO, a Venetian traveler of the 13th century, the son of a merchant, who, with his brother, had penetrated to the court of Kublai, the great khan of the Tartars. This prince, being highly entertained with their account of Europe, made them his ambassadors to the Pope; on which they traveled back to Rome, and with two missionaries, once more visited Tartary, accompanied by the young Marco, who became a great favorite with the khan. Having acquired the different dialects of Tartary, he was employed on various embassies; and after a residence of 17 years, all the three Venetians returned to their own country in 1295, with immense wealth. Marco afterward served his country at sea against the Genoese, and, being taken prisoner, remained many years in confinement, where he wrote his "Travels." An English translation of the "Travels of Marco Polo" was published by William Marsden, the Orientalist, in 1817 and it has often been reprinted.
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Polonaise
a Polish national dance, which has been imitated, but with much variation, by other nations. The polonaise, in music, is a movement of three crotchets in a bar, characterized by a seeming irregularity of rhythm, produced by the syncopation of the last note in a bar with the first note of the bar following, in the upper part or melody, while the normal time is preserved in the bass.
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Poltava
or PULTAWA, a province of Russia, bounded by Czernigov, Kharkov, Ekaterinoslav, Kherson, and Kiev; area 19,265 square miles; pop. about 4,000,000. It is one of the most fertile and best cultivated portions of the Russian empire, and grows large quantities of grain. Live stock and bee rearing are important branches of the rural economy. Both manufactures and trade are of very limited extent. Poltava, the capital, the confluence of the Poltava with the Worskla, has straight and broad streets, a cathedral, etc. As a place of trade Poltava derives importance from the great fair held each year. Wool is the great staple of trade. Horses, cattle, and sheep are likewise bought and sold in great numbers. It contains a monument to Peter the Great, who here defeated Charles XII. in 1709. Pop. about 85,000.
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Polyandry
the marriage of one woman to several men at once. The custom is still widely spread in the East. Cæsar found it in Britain on his arrival. Tacitus has been cited as an authority that the ancient Germans practiced polyandry.
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Polyanthus
a beautiful and favorite variety of the common primrose (Primula vulgaris), a native of most parts of Europe, growing in woods and copses in a moist clayey soil.
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Polybasic Acids
acids which possess more than one hydrogen atom capable of being replaced by a metal equivalent.
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Polycarp
ST., one of the apostolical fathers of the Church, and a Christian martyr who, according to tradition, was a disciple of the Apostle John, and by him appointed Bishop of Smyrna. many converts, enjoyed the friendship of Ignatius, and opposed the heresies of Marcion and Valentinus; but during the persecution of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius he suffered martyrdom wtih the most heroic fortitude, A. D. 166. His short "Epistle to the Philippians" is the only one of his writings that has been preserved.
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Polychromy
the art of coloring statuary to imitate nature, or particular buildings in harmonious, prismatic, or compound tints.
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Polycletus
One of the celebrated statuaries of the ancient world. He was also a sculptor, an architect, and an artist in toreutic. He was somewhat younger than Phidias, and flourished about B. C. 452-412. Phidias was unsurpassed in making the images of the gods, Polycletus in those of men.
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Polycotyledonous Plants
those plants of which the embryos have more than two cotyledons or seed lobes.
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Polycystina
or POLYCISTINA, in zoölogy, a sub-order of Radiolaria, placed by Wallich in his Herpnemata.
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Polydectes
A son of Magnes, king of Seriphos. He received with kindness Danae and her son Perseus , who had been exposed on the sea. Polydectes was turned into stone by being shown Medusa 's head by Perseus. 2026 Editor's Note: Polydectes grew enamoured with Danaë but feared her son Perseus, so he schemed to eliminate him by sending him to fetch Medusa's head. When Perseus returned victorious, he used the Gorgon's severed head to turn Polydectes to stone. (Ed: BR 2026-07-18)
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Polygala
milkwort, the typical genus of Polygalaceæ. Flowers irregular. Two inner sepals wing-shaped and petaloid; stamens combined by their claws with the filaments, the lower one keeled. Ovary two-celled, two-seeded, seeds downy, crested at the hilum. Known species 200, from temperate and tropical countries. Three are British. infusion P. rubella, a native North America, very bitter, is used in small doses as a tonic and stimulant, and in larger ones as a diaphoretic. The American P. senega is snake root. P. chamæbuxus from Europe, P. sanguinea and P. purpurea from North America, P. paniculata from the West Indies, P. serpentaria from the Cape, and P. crotalarioides from the Himalayas, are emetic, purgative, and diuretic. P. poaya from Brazil, P. glandulosa, and P. scopario from Mexico, are emetic. P. thesioides, from Chile, is diuretic. P. tinctoria, from Arabia, is there used in dyeing, and the Javanese P. venenosa is poisonous.
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Polyglot
a collection of versions in different languages of the same work, but is almost exclusively applied to manifold versions of the Bible. The Hexapla of Origen contained, besides the Hebrew text, several other Greek versions, but is not commonly reckoned among the polyglots. Of modern works of this kind the most convenient is Bagster's Polyglot, first published by Bagster at London in 1831, which gives the Old Testament in eight languages (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, German, Italian, French, and Spanish), and the New Testament in nine (the Syriac version being added).
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Polygon
in geometry, a portion of a plane bounded on all sides by more than four limited straight lines. These lines are called sides of the polygon, and the points in which they meet are called vertices of the polygon. Polygons are classified according to the number of their sides or angles. Polygons having all their sides equal are called equilateral; those having all their angles equal are called equiangular. Polygons which are both equilateral and equiangular are called regular polygons. Similar polygons are to one another as the squares of their homologous sides. In fortification, the exterior polygon is the figure formed by lines connecting the angles of the bastion round the work. The interior polygon is the figure formed by lines connecting the centers of the bastions all round. POLYGONACEÆ, buckwheats; an order of hypogynous exogens, alliance Silenales. Herbs, rarely shrubs. Distribution, world wide. Known genera 29, species 490. (Lindley.)
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