Polype à Panache, Trembley. Naisa, Lamouroux; Deslongchamps. Polyzoary membrano-corneous, branched; branches composed of a series of claviform cells, placed end to end, and separated from one another by complete septa; orifices tubular, lateral, placed near the wider extremity of each cell; ova lenticular, with a narrow annulus. Alcyonella (sp.), Ehrenberg; Nordmann. Paludicella, Gervais; Van Beneden; Allman; Thomp- POLYSTICHUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the Plumatella (sp.), Schweigger; De Blainville; Gervais; natural order of Filices, the sub-order Polypodiacea, and the Alcyonella, Raspail; Johnston; Allman. Lophopus, Van Beneden; Allman. One species. Gen. 2. Alcyonella, Lamarck. tribe Aspidea. The indusium is circular, attached by the P. Lonchitis, with rigid simply pinnate fronds. Found P. aculeatum, with linear rigid bipinnate fronds; the pin Polyzoary tubular; tubes united by their sides; orifices nules obliquely decurrent. Common in hedge banks. P. angulare, with the fronds lax, drooping, bipinnate, pinnules truncate below, distinctly stalked. Found in the west of England, on sheltered banks. (Babington, Manual of British Botany; Lindley and Moore, The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland, natureprinted.) POMPILIDÆ, a family of Fossorial Hymenopterous Insects. They are sometimes included with the Sphegida. They have the collar either transversely or longitudinally square, with the abdomen more or less oval, and attached to the thorax by a very short peduncle. The legs are very long. The fore wings have two or three perfect submarginal cells, and another commenced at the tip of the wings. The species are called Sand Wasps, and are amongst the most ferocious of the insect tribes. The species of the exotic genus Pepsis are amongst the largest of the Hymenoptera. The genus Pompilus is British. The species are very active, running amongst grass and other plants in hot sandy situations. They are quick in their motions, and their wings are constantly agitated. Their long legs give them the appearance of spiders. (Westwood, Families of Insects.) PONERA (Latreille), a genus of Insects belonging to the POOL, or WELSHPOOL. [MONTGOMERYSHIRE.] POOR LAWS. There have been several statutes making Under the head of PAUPERISM [Penny Cyclopædia,' SY and give the total amount levied for poor-rates in each year. The years end uniformly at Lady Day. The second column gives the total amount levied for poor-rates, the third the amount expended for the maintenance and relief of the poor. Years. £ Years. 1840 1841 6,014,605 4,576,965 1849 7,674,146 5,792,963 6,351,828 4,760,929 1850 7,270,493 5,395,022 1842 6,552,890 4,911,498 1851 6,778,914 4,962,704 1843 7,085,595 5,208,027 1852 6,552,298 4,897,685 1844 6,847,205 4,976,093 1853 6,522,412 4,939,064 1845 6,791,006 5,039,703 1854 6,973,220 5,282,853 1846 6,800,623 4,954,204 1855 7,864,149 5,890,041 1847 6,964,825 5,298,787 1856 8,201,348 6,004.244 1848 7,817,450 | 6,180,765 1857 8,139,003 5,898,756 was appointed chief commissioner, and under his direction it came into operation in 1839. The unions were formed gradually, and the expense of erecting workhouses was so great, that loans to a large amount were granted for that purpose by government, a considerable portion of which was subsequently remitted. In 1840 there were but four unions in operation, North and South Dublin, Cork and Londonderry, and on Dec. 31, there were in them 5468 inmates, 10,910 had been relieved in the year, and the expenditure had been 37,0571. On Dec. 81, 1841, there were 37 unions in operation, and there had been relieved 31,108 destitute persons, and 15,246 were then in the workhouses; the expense having been 110,277. On Dec. 31,1842, there were 31,572 inmates in 92 union workhouses, 87,604 persons had been relieved, and the expense had been 281,2337. On Dec. 31, 1843, there were 33,510 inmates in 106 workhouses, 87,898 persons had been relieved, and the expense had been In the years above mentioned we may observe that in 244,374. On Dec. 31, 1844, there were 39,175 inmates in 1852 the average price of wheat was 39s. 4d.; in 1840 it 113 workhouses, 105,358 persons had been relieved, and the was 688. 6d. ; yet the amount of relief shows but a small expense had been 269,5307. In 1845 another period of disdifference. The number of persons relieved is an imperfect tress occurred through the failure of the potato, and the numguide to the amount of distress, as it does not distinguish, ber of the destitute continued to increase. On Dec. 31, except as regards in-door relief, between a single meal or 1845, there were 42,068 inmates in 123 workhouses (in assistance for a lengthened period, but we add a few statements March 1845 there had been 50,717), 114,205 persons had of numbers at different periods. In the quarter ending Lady been relieved, and the expense amounted to 316,0261. In Day 1840, there were 169,232 persons relieved in work- 1846 the potato-rot continued, and the distress increased to houses, and 1,030,297 had out-door relief. The number such an extent that the government was forced to intervene continued to increase till 1843, when the number in the for its relief by providing public works to employ the ablehouse was 238,560, and receiving out-door relief 1,300,930. bodied, by reducing the duty on the import of corn, and by The numbers then slowly decreased till 1847, when the furnishing food at a low price to the destitute poor, in which in-door numbers mounted to 265,037, and the out-door to last act it was aided by a general subscription, which 1,456,813, increasing respectively in 1848 to 305,956 and amounted to 98,000l., the whole sum contributed amounting 1,570,585. Until 1848 the quarter ending Lady Day was to 831,3727. The greatest number of persons employed at taken as representing the number of persons relieved in one time on public works was 97,000. On Dec. 31, 1846, each year. Since then the numbers in receipt of relief in 130 workhouses there were 94,437 inmates, 243,933 peron Jan. 1 and July 1, have been taken, being the periods of sons had been relieved, and the expense had been 435,0012 greatest and least distress. Thus, on Jan. 1, 1849, there But the evils arising from the continued failure of the potato were 131,591 persons in the house, and 855,573 receiving continued to operate. Food was scarce, and the public out-door relief; on July 1, there were only 102,641 in the works, instead of alleviating the distress, seemed likely to house, and 783,096 receiving out-relief. The estimated total increase it. Agriculture was abandoned for the 'governfor the year, however, including 214,870 for places not ment work,' the fisheries were deserted, and even artisans included in the returns, was 1,043,886. In 1853 the num-left their trades. In October 1846 there were 114,000 men ber similarly calculated had sunk to 857,035. On Jan. 1, employed; in January 1847 the number had increased to 1857, the total number of paupers in receipt of relief, in- 570,000; and in March to 734,000. It was evident a change door and out-door, in 624 unions and parishes of England of system must be adopted. Exertions were made to apply and Wales, was 843,340, being a decrease from 1856, in the again the workhouse test, and the number rapidly fell, in same number of unions, of 33,225, or 3.8 per cent. Of adult April to 520,000, in May to 419,000, in June to 101,000, on able-bodied paupers relieved, exclusive of vagrants, there the 26th of which month it was reduced to 28,000, and in were 139,130, a decrease of 13,044, or 8.6 per cent. Of the August the system was discontinued. Cooked food had also number relieved, 50,362 were widows, a decrease in the been supplied, and in July 1847, 3,020,712 persons received same class of 2291. Of the gross number of able-bodied separate rations. The entire amount advanced by govern paupers, 22,368 were in the receipt of in-door relief, a de- ment in 1846 and 1847 had been 7,132,2687., and the amount crease of 1128 only, so that the chief decrease is in out-door subscribed had been upwards of half a million. It was in relief. The greatest decrease took place in Bedford, Lan- these years that the large amount of emigration took place.. caster, Nottingham, Rutland, and Caernarvon, where it ex- On Sept. 21, 1847 (the date of making up the accounts had ceeded 20 per cent. In Kent, Hereford, Durham, Oxford, been altered), the number of workhouse inmates was 86,376, Sussex, and Worcester, there was an increase, as also in and the total number relieved in the house had been 417,139; several of the Welsh counties. Of the in-door adult able- but the houses were crowded, and the mortality had been bodied there were 842 married men, 1007 married women, great; the expenditure during the year had been 803,654. 5952 other males, and 14,567 other females. Of the out- The harvest of 1847 proved a good one, and the pressure door adult able-bodied, 83 males had been relieved in cases upon the public funds decreased, but not upon the workof sudden or urgent necessity; 17,210 males in cases of their house relief. On Sept. 29, 1848, there were 124,003 inmates own sickness or accident, 6835 males in cases of sickness or in 131 workhouses, 610,463 had been relieved in the house accident in their family, or for a funeral; 3784 males for during the year, and 207,683 persons were then receivi want of work or other causes; 22,839 females were wives of out-door relief, while 1,433,042 had received out-door reliet adult males, 50,362 were widows, 5114 were single women in the course of the year; the total expense had been without children, 2660 the mothers of illegitimate children; 1,732,5977. On Sept. 29, 1849, there were 141,030 inmates, 2018 were wives relieved on account of the husband being 932,284 had been in the house, and 1,210,482 had been in jail, &c.; 1268 were wives of soldiers, sailors, and relieved out of the house during the year, the total expense marines; and 4389 were wives of other non-resident being 2,177,651. On Sept. 29, 1850, the number of unions males. had been increased to 163, the total number relieved in the house during the year was 805,702, out of the house 368,565, and the expenditure was 1,430,108/. On Sept. 29, 1851, the number relieved in the house during the year was 707,443, out of the house 47,914, and the expenditure was 1,141,647 On Sept. 29, 1852, the number relieved in the house during the year was 504,864, out of the house 14,911, and the expen diture was 883,2677. On Sept. 29, 1853, the number in the house during the year was 396,436, out of the house 13.232, and the expenditure was 785,718. By the 10 & 11 Vict cap. 31, 1847, permission had been given to guardians of unions to hire or purchase limited quantities of land, to be occupied as agricultural schools for pauper children. These The amount expended in the half year ending Lady Day 1857 for the relief of the poor was 1,979,885., of which 493,0767. was for in-door maintenance, and the remainder for out-door relief. IRELAND. In consequence of the distress occasioned by the potato rot and bad harvests in previous years, it was considered necessary to provide a poor-law for Ireland. Accordingly, in 1838, an Act (1 & 2 Vict., cap. 56), mainly founded on the reports and recommendations of Mr. (now Sir George) Nicholls, was passed. In its main features it resembled the English poor-law, but the workhouse as a test of need was more stringently enforced. Mr. Nicholls In SCOTLAND there had been no effective legal provision for the poor. As early as 1579 power was given to magistrates in burghs and justices in the country, a power afterwards transferred to the heritors and kirk sessions of parishes, to assess the parish for the support of the poor; but no assessment was made under this act for a century after its passing, and when it became necessary in some few parishes it was confined to them alone. Other acts were passed for preventing begging, for providing houses of correction for vagrants, for compelling each parish to maintain its own poor, and for providing work for the able-bodied. But, as a general practice, the wants of the infirm, sick, and impotent poor were relieved by the voluntary contributions received at the kirk, and distributed by the kirk sessions, usually in the form of assistance to the relatives or connections of the destitute persons who undertook their support. This system did not work badly in country districts, except in periods of extreme and general distress. But when, by the extension of manufactures and commerce, the towns increased largely in size, and an influx of strangers took place to them, the necessity of a more perfect system was very shortly felt. This had been experienced in Glasgow, Paisley, and Dundee on various occasions, but temporary expedients and increased voluntary contributions had been the only resort. In 1840, 1841, and 1842, however, the distress in Paisley could not be thus relieved, although it had been in less severe trials in 1819, 1827, and 1837. At the census of 1841 the population of Paisley amounted to 48,416; in January, 1842, the number of persons depending on the relief fund was 12,703, and in the following June it was still 10,417. The inhabitants at a public meeting, agreed to a voluntary assessment of 15 per cent. on their parochial rating, and this produced 574, on y 473 of the rate-payers contributing. Extraneous aid was sought, and subscriptions to the amount of 25,000l. were obtained, a trifling alleviation of a suffering that the relief committee described as frightful. The law and the practice had always been in Scotland to refuse relief to ablebodied adults, consequently the unfortunate artisan, deprived of his employment by the commercial difficulties occurring between 1838 and 1843, was not considered as belonging to the class receiving relief from the kirk sessions. The number of this class during the year ending June 1842 had been 700, and the expenditure on them had been 3682/., neither the number nor the amount varying much from the usual average. had gradually been instituted, and in Sept. 1853 the total they found a poor-house of very inadequate accommodation, number of boys in the workhouses of Ireland, between the and the system was almost uniformly one of out-door relief. ages of 9 and 15, was 12,320; of girls, between the same ages, The report recommended a legislative enactment for a regular 14,273; of these, 3,873 boys were employed in agricultural system of poor-laws, and accordingly in 1845 the 8 & 9 Vict. labours on land attached to the unions, amounting to 1,506 c. 83 was passed. It constituted parochial boards of manageacres, of which 1,070 were under crop, wholly or partially ment elected by the rate-payers, a board of supervision; cultivated by boys; and 3,196 were receiving instruction in gave the power of levying assessments; the option of comtrades. Of the girls, 9,166 were receiving industrial educa-bining parishes for the erection of poor-houses; made a more tion of various kinds. 2,940 boys and 2,425 girls, under certain provision for relief of the lunatic, casual, and unfifteen, had obtained employment, during the year 1852, out settled poor, for medical relief, and for purposes of education; of the workhouse. On Sept. 29, 1854, the total number of but it still leaves the able-bodied adult without a legal claim persons receiving in-door relief during the year had been on parochial assistance. Each parish is allowed to decide 318,320, out-door 7954, the total expenditure being 746,4077. whether the requisite sum for the relief of the poor shall be On Sept. 29, 1855, the number relieved in the house during raised by voluntary contribution or assessment, and if by the year had been 269,800, out of the honse 35,342, total assessment, how certain properties shall be classed; but expenditure 683,596. On the first Saturday of January, having once decided in favour of assessment, they cannot 1857, in the 163 unions of Ireland, there were 55,183 per- retract such decision without the consent of the board of sons receiving in-door relief, and 911 out-door relief, showing supervision. The voluntary system had been the custom, a total decrease of 16,989 persons-23.3 percent.-from the and out of 880 parishes in Scotland, only 230 were legally Return of the same date in 1856. Less than a third of the assessed in 1842-43; these have been gradually increased, so workhouse accommodation was in use, provision having been that now (1858) there are but few in which a legal assessmade for 199,667, which is itself a reduction of the provision ment has not taken place. Although the Act was brought for previous years. The poor-rate collected in the year into immediate operation, it was some time before the registers ending September 29, 1856, amounted to 723,7977., of which and accounts could be reduced into proper forms. Officers 76,1607. were expended for Poor Law purposes, being a de- and inspectors were alike inexperienced. But according to crease on the preceding year of 109,0997. For medical the best returns the commissioners could obtain from the charities 89,8997. were paid, and 44367. on account of annui- several parishes, the expenditure for the year ending Februties. In the week ending Saturday, January 2, 1857, the ary 1, 1845, was 258,815. From the returns made in 1843 amount of out-relief paid throughout Ireland was 44/.; in the it appeared that from all sources there was raised for the year ending Sept. 29, 1856, it was 21987., while emigration relief of the poor in 1836 the sum of 171,0427., and 218,481/. expenses amounted to 417ÓZ. in 1841; the amount having gradually increased in every intervening year. The number of poor in those years is not stated, but on February 1, 1845, there were 63,070 on the poor roll. In the year ending February 1, 1846, there had been raised 306,044., of which 295,2321. were expended in poor relief. In the autumn of 1846 the potato rot visited Scotland, and again in 1847, creating a vast amount of distress, particularly in the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Government aid was offered, and poor-houses and medical relief were strongly recommended, and in most instances adopted, particularly that of medical relief. For the few following years we present the progress in the annexed table. The years end on the 14th of May. In 1843 a government commission was appointed to inquire into the state of pauperism and the mode of managing the poor in Scotland. They reported that the parishes in most large towns had been forced to resort to assessment, but that it was generally disliked, and that the modes of assessment were so various in different places that it was difficult to make one that should be strictly legal. Here and there Registered Casual £ 1847 336,515 36,340 Medical Poorhouse Other ex- Total. £ £ £ £ 48,181 433,915 47,753 544,334 60,324 577,044 26,574 42,815 65,927 581,553 63,920 535,944 During these years the highest number of the poor on the register was 82,357 in 1849, the lowest 69,432 in 1846; the greatest number of casual poor relieved was 126,684 in 1848, the lowest 46,031 in 1852. The number of insane or fatuous poor average about 3500; and the number of orphans or deserted children have increased from 4794 in 1847 to 8328 in 1853. The figures for the succeeding years vary little in their details, showing chiefly an increase as the system extends, and we therefore give only the latest published. In the year ending May 14, 1857, the total amount expended in poor-law relief was 629,3487., including 27,2777. on buildings, on medical relief 61,553., on law charges 27,2777., and ou management, 73997. The number of registered poor who received relief in the year ending May 14, 1857, was 88,622, a decrease of 10,740 from the previous year; and the casual poor receiving relief amounted to 36,545. The number of poor-houses in 1856 numbered 30, belonging to 120 parishes, either singly or in combination, affording accommodation for 10,443 inmates, and 16 others were in course of erection. The number of registered poor on the 14th of May, 1857, was 69,217. (History of the Poor Laws. By Sir George Nicholls.) POPINJAY (Picus viridis). [WOODPECKERS.] POPULIN. [CHEMISTRY, S. 1.] POPULUS. [SALICACEE.] PORLOCK. [SOMERSETSHIRE.] PORPHYROXINE. [CHEMET, S. 2.] PORPIONE. [CHEMISTRY, 5. j PORPOISE, or PORPESSE. [WHALES.] PORT LINCOLN. [SOUTH AUSTRALIA, S. 1.] PORT PHILLIP. [VICTORIA, S. 2.] a merchant in London, designed him for his own profession, and he became a sugar-broker. He was unsuccessful in trade; but his commercial knowledge was made available for literary objects. In 1830 he published a work, 'On the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane.' A paper on 'Life AssurPORTER, ANNA MARIA, born at Durham about 1781, ance' was published in the Companion to the Almanac for was the youngest child of a family all of whom attained con- 1831.' In the same year 'A Treatise on the Origin, Prosiderable celebrity. Her eldest brother was an eminent phy-gressive Improvement, and Present State of the Silk Manusician at Bristol; another brother was Sir R. K. Porter; and facture,' was issued in a volume of Lardner's 'Cabinet Cycloher eldest sister was Jane, the subject of the following pædia,' for which series, in 1842, he wrote a similar treatise notice. When only a few months old her father died, and On the Manufacture of Porcelain and Glass.' His paper the mother, for the sake of educating her children economi- in the Companion to the Almanac,' of which Mr. Charles cally, removed to Edinburgh. Anna Maria was the most Knight was the projector and editor, led to Mr. Porter's precocious; and as a lively and intelligent child attracted official appointment in the Board of Trade. In an article the notice of Sir Walter Scott, then a youth, who de- in the Gentleman's Magazine,' for October 1852, the cirlighted in relating tales to her, and this probably led to her cumstance is thus correctly stated:-"Mr. Knight was own early attempts in the same line. While still almost a written to by the late Lord Auckland, then president of the child she had written Artless Tales' in two volumes, which Board of Trade, requesting that he would wait on that were issued in 1793 and 1795, of which she afterwards re- minister at his office at his earliest convenience, and was gretted the publication. Her mother had before this time asked at the interview whether he would undertake the task removed with her family to London, and subsequently, with of arranging and digesting for the board the mass of informa her sister Jane, they settled first at Thames Ditton, and tion contained in blue books and parliamentary returns; in finally at Esher. After the death of her mother in 1831, short, if he would do for the Board of Trade_what Mr. while travelling in hopes of restoring her delicate health, she Porter has since done so well, and what Mr. Fonblanque was attacked by typhus fever, and died on June 21, 1832, at continues to do for the same office, with the same accuracy the seat of Mrs. Colonel Booth, Montpelier, near Bristol. and success. Mr. Knight hesitated. The engagement, Besides many contributions to periodical works, she had pub- should he accept it, must necessarily interfere in a great lished numerous novels, among which 'The Hungarian measure with his business as a publisher. In this dilemma, Brothers,'' Don Sebastian,' 'The Recluse of Norway,' The he consulted a distinguished friend, and by that friend was Village of Mariendorpt,'The Fast of St. Magdalen,' and advised to wait on Lord Auckland, and decline the office. "The Knight of St. John,' enjoyed and retain considerable This he did; and at Lord Auckland's request, he named popularity. They belong, more or less, to the class of his- Mr. Porter, to whom the office was given." torical novels, and show skill in the management of the story, and some discrimination of character; but her heroes and heroines too often possess a superhuman excellence that becomes palling. 'Tales of Pity,' were published anonymously, and are intended to inculcate kindness to animals. In The Barony' she has developed her religious feelings. She also published a volume of poetry, 'Ballad Romances and other Poems,' in 1811, of no great value. PORTER, JANE, the elder sister of the preceding, was born in 1776. Her life followed that of her sister, with whom and her mother she constantly resided till their deaths. She then, as she described herself, "became a wanderer," living with one or other of her friends till, in 1842, she went with her brother to St. Petersburg. On his death she returned to England, and resided with her eldest brother, the physician at Bristol, where she died May, 24, 1850. Miss Jane Porter did not adventure into the field of literature so early as her sister, and in some respects came better prepared, but she has the same fault in the unmitigated excellence or depravity of her characters. Still, in many of her characters there is a firmer delineation, and perhaps somewhat greater knowledge, though not very rigidly adhered to, of the manners of the times of which she treats. Her first work was 'Thaddeus of Warsaw,' published in 1803, which was extremely popular, and procured for her the admission as a canoness into the Teutonic order of St. Joachim, and a complimentary letter from Kosciusko. In 1809 she published the Scottish Chiefs,' a romance of Wallace and Bruce, in which there is considerable vigour of description, some character, but a total misconception of the condition of the time. Wallace and Bruce are depicted as little less than demigods. To these followed the Pastor's Fireside' and 'Duke Christian of Luneburgh,' the latter said to have been suggested by George the Fourth. She next joined with her sister in Tales round a Winter's Hearth,' and these were succeeded by The Field of Forty Footsteps,' founded on a London tradition connected with the spot where now stands University College and Hospital, and which was almost immediately dramatised. After a considerable interval, during which she contributed largely to periodical works, among other things a biography of Colonel Denham, the African traveller, in the Naval and Military Journal,' she published anonymously in 1831 Sir Edward Seaward's Diary,' in which she so successfully imitated the style and adhered so closely to the manners and history of the period, that it was for a considerable time doubted whether or not it was a fiction. This was her last work. PORTER, GEORGE RICHARDSON, was born in London in 1792. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' school, where he became intimate with the Ricardo family, and subsequently married the sister of David Ricardo. His father, The first appointment of Mr. Porter at the Board of Trade took place in 1832. It was an experimental appointment at a small salary. When the statistical department of the Board of Trade was fully organised, Mr. Porter was placed at its head. In 1840 he was appointed in addition, senior member of the railway department of the board, then newly constituted to meet the growing increase of projects in that direction. His able reports, which were laid before parliament, were of the utmost value, and were properly appreciated by official men and by the public. For his labours in this department he had an additional salary of 2001. a-year. On the retirement of Mr. McGregor, as one of the secretaries of the Board of Trade, in 1841, Mr. Porter was appointed to succeed him, at the salary of 1500 a-year. His labours in all these positions were increasing and successful. He had a genius for tabulating the most incongruous materials, and he formed the model, which he was always improving, of the returns which are now periodically issued from the Board of Trade with so much advan tage to the commerce of the country. But his active misl was not confined to his official duties. In 1833 he published The Tropical Agriculturist.' In 1834 he exerted himself in the founding of the Statistical Society, of which he was for a considerable time one of the vice-presidents, and on the resignation of Mr. Hallam in 1841, he was chosen treasurer. To the 'Jourual' of the Society he was a frequent contributor. In 1836 he published The Progress of the Nation, in its social and commercial relations, from the beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Present Time. Sections I. and II., Population and Production.' Sections III. and IV., 'Interchange, and Revenue and Expenditure, followed in 1838; and the work was completed in 3 vols. 12mo, by Sections V. to VIII., including Consumption, Accumulation, Moral Progress, Colonial and Foreign Dependencies.' This valuable work necessarily admits of constant correction and new matter, and other editions were issued each in a large 8vo volume, in 1847 and 1851. The mass of information clearly set forth in this work presents the best and most complete picture of the progress and state of the country for the period of which it treats. On the establishment of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he became one of its most active members, always attended its annual meetings, and usually read a paper to the statistical section. Mr. Porter had been ever a firm and unwavering advocate of the doctrines of free-trade, and in 1849 he published a translation, with notes, of F. Bassist's 'Popular Fallacies regarding General Interests,' in 16mo. In the same year he wrote the Fifteenth Section of the 'Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry,' edited by Sir J. F. Herschel, which was subsequently published alone in 1851. In 1850, in conjunction with Mr. George Long, he 6 wrote the Geography of Great Britain. Part I., England | and Wales,' published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. This was his last unofficial labour. Sedentary pursuits had induced a bad habit of body, and the sting of a gnat produced inflammation of the leg, from the consequences of which he died on September 3, 1855, at Tonbridge Wells, whither he had gone in hopes of relief. PORTSEA. [PORTSMOUTH.] PORTUGAL. The political divisions of the Kingdom of Portugal, with the area and population of each, are as follows: Leiria. Estremadura Santarem Lisbon. 3,615 482,328 1,312 140,114 2,315 161,342 423,705 7,242 725,161 Tras os Montes Villa Real 2,374 4,020 126,617 35,189 3,487,025 Entre Douro e Minho Braga 184,359 297,969 postage, but then letters might be paid, or stamped, or were charged double. In that year 191,931,365 of letters only passed through the post-offices of the United Kingdom. The revenue derived from the post-office had been 1,649,0887. in 1839; in 1840 it only amounted to 495,5147. In 1845 the number of letters had reached 329,161,811, and the revenue 760,5881. The number of letters and the amount of net revenue continued to increase rapidly. In 1848 the additional advantage was given of a book-post, by which single books could be sent, open at the ends, at an uniform rate of 6d. per pound. This privilege was gradually extended to the British Colonies. In 1855 the rate of postage for printed sheets was reduced to one penny for a quarter of a pound, twopence for half a pound, and twopence extra for each fraction above half a pound; but if fourpence or upwards were paid, the packet might contain any number of sheets written or printed, except that the writing must not be of the nature of a letter. The last regulation in 1857 is that the packet may contain, in every case, any number of sheets, written or printed, but the written matter must not be of the nature of a letter, and may consist of bound books, or maps or prints on rollers, or whatever is necessary to the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter, such packets, however, not to exceed two feet in length, depth, or width, and all must be open at the ends or sides. Such packets may also be sent to all the British Colonies at the rate of 3d. for 4 oz., 6d. for 8 oz., and then proceeding at the rate of 6d. for every 8 oz., or portion thereof, except to Ascension Island, the East Indies, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and the Gold Coast, to all of which the rates are one-third more, and the weight is restricted to three pounds. By various conventions the foreign postage of letters has been materially reduced, in some cases 50 per cent., and in others varying from 17 to 20 per cent. The rates to all the British Colonies were in 1857 reduced to an uniform rate of 6d. per half ounce, payable in advance. The fourth annual return of the Post-Office for 1857 states that the total number of letters delivered in the year was 504,421,000, of which 410,003,000 were in England and Wales, 42,806,000 in Ireland, and 51,612,000 in Scotland. These numbers give an average, in England, of 21 letters for each person of the population (in London it amounts to 43 for each), in Ireland to 7 for each, and in Scotland to 16 for each person. The number of newspapers passing through the Post-Office was 71,000,000, about three-fourths of which bore the newspaper stamp. The number of book-packets was about 6,000,000. There were 580,000 newspapers, and 1,700,000 letters that from various causes could not be delivered, chiefly from illegible or erroneous directions. The In addition to the above political divisions, each of the sub-gross revenue was 2,928,8587.; the cost of management provinces or districts is subdivided into comarcas (or judi- | ciary divisions), cancelhos (or communal divisions), and parishes. The total number of comarcas is 111; of cancelhos, 379; of parishes, 3774. Total PORTUMNA, Galway, Ireland, a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is situated at the head of Lough Derg, in 53° 6' N. lat., 8° 12′ W. long., 41 miles E.S.E.'from Galway, and 94 miles W.S.W. from Dublin. The population in 1851 was 1542, besides 147 in the Union workhouse. Portumna Poor-Law Union comprises 15 electoral divisions, with an area of 77,046 acres, and a population in 1841 of 30,714; in 1851 of 19,731. The town has been much improved by the increased trade of the Shannon. It contains the parish church, a handsome structure in the perpendicular style; a large Roman Catholic chapel; a dispensary; Union workhouse; and bridewell. The Shannon is here crossed by a causeway and wooden bridge 820 feet in length. Quarter and petty sessions are held in the town. Saturday is the market-day; fairs are held six times a year. Portumna Castle, a fine baronial mansion, the seat of the Marquis of Clanricarde, was destroyed by fire in 1826. POST OFFICE. In the 'Penny Cyclopædia,' vol. xviii. p. 453, there was given under this head an account of the Post-office up to and inclusive of the improvements introduced by Mr. Rowland Hill. All that remains is to notice what has been done in the way of extension of the advantages derived from rapid and cheap intercommunication, and a few figures to show the enormous increase which has taken place. In 1838, as stated in the previous article, the total number of documents transmitted by post, including franks, public statutes, and newspapers (of which there were 44,500,000), was 126,423,836. In 1839 the new system was introduced, but 1840 was the first entire year of the penny 1,720,8157.; the net revenue 1,322,2377. The cost of management includes the following items:-Salaries, pensions, &c., 948,5737.; buildings, 29,3677.; conveyance of mails by railways, 420,000l.; by coaches, carts, &c., and wages of mail-guards, 165,000l.; by mail-packets (when paid for by the Post-Office) and private ships, 12,2987.; for manufacture of postage-stamps, 28,5667.; miscellaneous, including conveyance of mails in the Colonies, under the postal direction of the postmaster-general, the conveyance of the mails through Egypt, clothing for letter-carriers and guards, rents, taxes, law expenses, &c., 109,6721. The business of the Money-order Office has also greatly increased; and, while it affords great advantages to the public in the transmission of small sums, has become a source of profit to the establishment. In 1857 the total number of money-orders issued in the United Kingdom was 6,389,702, to the amount of 12,180,2727., an increase of 3 per cent. over 1856. Of the total number 5,417,203 orders, to the amount of 10,410,8631., were issued in England; 459,625, to the amount of 818,5377., in Ireland; and 512,874, to the amount of 950,872., in Scotland. The commission gave a profit, after deducting expenses, in England, of 23,6137., and in Scotland of 11807.; in Ireland there was a loss of 6187. The number of orders gives an average of 1 for every 4 persons in England, for every 6 in Scotland, and for every 14 in Ireland. Money-order offices have also been established at Malta and Gibraltar. In 1855 some important improvements in matters of detail were introduced with great success. Country letters to London, or passing through London, were either sorted at the provincial offices or during their transmission, and this expedited the morning delivery in London by nearly an hour. Pillar letter-boxes were also erected in London, Edinburgh, |