These 20 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Poperinghe, Popinjay, Popish Plot.
a town in West Flanders, Belgium, near the French frontier, 6 miles W. S. W. of Ypres. It has an ancient wall and mediæval church, and its industries include the gathering of hops and the making of cloths. The town as a result of the World War was largely reduced to ruins, being the scene, along with Ypres, of some of the bloodiest fighting in the war. Pop. about 12,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a parrot; a figure of a bird put up as a mark for archers to shoot at ("papingo " being another Scotch form for this sense). The green woodpecker is also sometimes called popinjay. Also derisive term for a fop.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in English history, an alleged plot made known by Titus Oates in 1678. He asserted that two men had been told off to assassinate Charles II., that certain Roman Catholics whom he or kins d
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a generic term applied to the groups of foliage or other ornaments placed on the summits of bench ends, desks, and other ecclesiastical woodwork in the Middle Ages.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Divination by smoke was sometimes practised by magicians. A few jasmine or poppy seeds were flung upon burning coals, for this purpose; if the smoke rose lightly and ascended straight into the heavens, it augured well; but if it hung about it was regarded as a bad omen.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
the number of people. Civilized countries take a census of the population about once in ten years. According to the latest enumerations the number of people living within reach of a census at the beginning of the twentieth century was about 900,000,000. The population of the world appears to have doubled during the nineteenth century. Careful estimates place the population of the world at about 1,600,000,000, distributed as follows: Europe 400,000,000 Asia 868,000,000 Africa 178,000,000 America 148,000,000 Oceania 6,000,000 Total 1,600,000,000 An estimate from a different source, seemingly quite as trustworthy, distributes mankind according to races as follows: Caucasians (or white men) 770,000,000 Mongols (or yellow men) 540,000,000 Ethiopians (or black men) 175,000,000 Americans (or red men), that is to say, Indians 22,000,000 Total 1,507,000,000 Still another competent authority offers the following figures based on creeds: Christianity 477,000,000 Confucianism 256,000,000 Hindooism 190,000,000 Mohammedanism 176,000,000 Buddhism 148,000,000 Polytheism 118,000,000 Taoism 43,000,000 Shintoism 14,000,000 Judaism 7,000,000 Total 1,429,000,000 A late estimate places the total at 1,611,718,000. When we consider the extent to which these figures are based on estimates, the results seem to confirm each other. The average is about thirty-one inhabitants per square mile, cities and all, of the earth's surface. See Cities
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a name for certain crustacea, typical of the family Porcellanidæ, small smooth crabs. So called from their smooth polished shell.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
. See Nankin
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a very hard, impure, jaspideous rock, frequently met with in the immediate vicinity of intrusive eruptive masses. In most cases porcellanite is simply a highly baked and altered argillaceous rock-shales being frequently converted into porcellanite along their line of junction with an igneous rock.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a covered entrance to a building; a covered approach or vestibule to a doorway. When a row of columns is added it becomes a portico. In some old churches the porches are of two stories, the upper being termed a parvis.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
THE, the School of the Stoics, so called because Zeno, the philosopher and founder of the sect, gave his lectures in the Athenian picture-gallery, called the stoa poikile, or painted porch.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Lithodes hystrix, a native of Japan. The carapace is triangular, and, like the limbs, thickly covered with spines. . It is dull and sluggish in its movements.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a fish of the order Plectognathi, found in the tropical seas. It is about 14 inches long, and is covered with spines or prickles. PORCUPINE GRASS (Triodia or Festuca irritans), a brittle Australian grass which it is proposed to utilize in the manufacture of paper. See SPINI- FEX.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the outer portion of the trunk of the cocoanut palm, a hard, durable wood, which, when cut horizontally, shows beautiful markings, resembling those of porcupine quills.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
POGGY, or PAUGIE, Pagrus argyrops, an important food fish found on the coast of the United States. It attains a length of 18 inches and a weight of about four pounds.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a term occasionally employed to designate the sponges.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the flesh of swine; one of the most important and widely used species of animal food. The swine was forbidden to be eaten by the Mosaic law, and is regarded by the Jews as especially typical of the unclean animals. Other Eastern nations had similar opinions as to the use of pork. Pork contains less fibrine, albuminous and gelatinous matter than beef or mutton, and is indigestible to anyone who is weak and debilitated. In the form of bacon, however, when well smoked and carefully prepared for the table, it acts as a stimulant to the stomach and is especially relished for breakfast. In the United States, prominently in the West, the pork-packing industry is one of the greatest factors of wealth.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a genus of Rallidæ, sub-family Gallinæ, with 18 species, chiefly Oriental and Australian, but occurring in South America, in Africa, and in the S. of Europe. In habits they resemble the water hen, but are larger and more stately birds; bill and legs red, general plumage metallic blue.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
or PORPHYRYTE, a name used by some petrologists for the porphyritic orthoclase rocks which are free from quartz.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a Neo-Platonic philosopher; born in Batanea, Syria, A. D. 233; was a disciple first of Longinus, then of Plotinus, whose works he edited, and whom he succeeded as master of a school of philosophy at Rome. He wrote a "History of Philosophy," to which probably belongs the extant "Life of Pythagoras." Some fragments of his condemned to the flames by the Emperor Theodosius . II in 453-are preserved in the writings of his adversaries . We have his tractate "On Abstinence from Animal Food"; also his "Homeric Questions," ," in 32 Queschapters. "Introduction to Philosophy, " in which the question of realism and nominalism is first mooted; "On Deriving a Philosophy from Oracles"; and "On the Cave of the Nymphs." He died in Rome 304 A. D.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia