only defence against the ravages of animale; at by means of them we are often enabled to defe ufeful plants from the deftroying infect; fuch by sprinkling them with effèntial oil of turpentin and by means of fome fubftances poifoncual them, we are enabled to destroy those infet which infeft the human body, and the bod es domeftic animals, &c.-As for poisonous min rals, the cafe will be found much the fame, natural productions of this kind being for fo ufe. As for poisonous animals, &c. their noxi qualities may be easily accounted for, it is the only mode of felf-defence. See ARANEA, SERPENT, &c.

To POISON. v. a. [from the noun.] 1. Toi fect with poifon.

by ftimulating the fibres, and preferving that irritability which it tends to deftroy." But whatever be the mode of its operation, the medicine is unqueftionably powerful. Mr Williams ufed either the volatile cauftic alkali, or eau de luce; the former of which he seems to have preferred. Of it he gave 60 drops as a dofe in water, and of the eau de luce he gave 40, at the fame time apply ing fome of the medicine to the part bitten, and repeating the dofe as he found occafion. Of feven cafes, fome of which were apparently very defperate, only one died, by bad treatment after the cure. Many of the patients were perfectly recovered in feven or eight minutes, and none of them required more than two hours: On the whole, Mr Williams fays that he "never knew an inftance of the volatile caustic alkali, failing in its effect, where the patient has been able to swallow it." Dr Mead afferts, that the alkali counteracts the deadly effects of laurel water; we have feen its effects in curing the bite of a viper, and of fnakes; and from Dr Wolfe's experiments on hydrophobous patients, it may even claim fome merit there. There ftill remains another method of cure in defperate cafes, when there is a certainty that the whole mafs of blood is infected; and that is, by the bold attempt of changing the whole dif eafed fluid for the blood of a found animal. Experiments of this kind have alfo been tried; and the method of making them, together with the confequences of fuch as are recorded in the Philofophical Tranfactions, we shall notice under the article TRANSFUSION.

(7.) POISONS, CULINARY, &c. Of all poifons, thofe which may be called culinary are perhaps the moft deftructive, becaufe they are generally the leaft fufpected. All copper veffels, therefore, and veffels of bell-metal, which contains copper, fhould be laid afide. Even the common earthen wares, when they contain acids, as in pickling, become very pernicious, as they are glazed with lead, which in the fmalleft quantity, when diffolved, is very fatal; and even tin, the leaft exceptionable of the metals for culinary purposes except iron, is not always quite free of poisonous qualities, it having been found to contain a small portion of arfenic. Mushrooms and the common laurel are alfo very fatal. The bitter almond contains a poifon, and its antidote likewife. The cordial dram ratafia, much used in France, is a flow poifon, its flavour being procured from the kernels of peach, black berry tones, &c.-The fpirit of lauro cera Jus is peculiarly fatal. The adulteration of bread, beer, wine, porter, &c. produces very fatal confequences, and merits exemplary punishment. Next to culinary poifons the abufe of medicines deferves particular attention.

(8.) POISONS, EFFECTS OF, ON THE MUSCLES, See MUSCLE, § 6.

(9.) POISONS, USES OF. Poifons, befides their physical effects, are likewife food for animals which afford us good nourishment, goats and quails being fattened by hellebore, ftarlings by hemlock, and. hogs innocently eating henbanc; besides most of thofe vegetables, which were formerly thought poifonous, are now ufed in medicine, whence PHARMACY literally fignifies skill in poifons. The poifon of many vegetables is their

Quivers and bows and poifon'd darts Are only us'd by guilty hearts.

Rofecmem 2. To attack, injure, or kill by poifon given.-F was fo difcourged, that he poifon'd himself ar died. 2 Mac. x. 13.

3.

Drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat; They'll never poison you, they'll only cheat. P To corrupt; to taint.

2. A corrupter.-Wretches who live upon othe men's fins, the common poisoners of youth. Seath POISONOUS. adj. [from poison.] Venom

having the qualities of poison.

Thofe cold ways,
That feem like prudent helps, are very poisone
Shak. Caricians
Not Sirius fhoots a fiercer fleme,
When with his pois'nous breath he blafts the sky.
Dryden

A lake that has no fresh water running into th will, by heat, and its stagnation, turn into a itisking rotten puddle, fending forth nauseous and fonous teams. Cheyne.

* POISONOUSLY. adv [from poisonous.] Ve nomously.-Men more easily pardon ill things den. than faid; fo much more poifoner fir and it curabr does the ferpent bite with his tongue than b

teeth. South.

* POISONOUSNESS: #. f. [from polies The quality of being poitonous; venomouinet. (1.) POISON-TREE. n. f. [toxicodendron A plant. Miller.

(2.) POISON-TREE. See RHUS, N° 7.

(3.) POISON-TREE OF JAVA, called in the M layan language bohun upas, is a tree which has e ten been defcribed by naturalifts; but its exite has been very generally doubted, and the defer p tions given of it, containing much of the marvel lous, have been often treated as idle ficties

N. P.

N. P. Foerich, however, in an account of it written in Dutch, afferts that it does exift; and tells us, that he once doubted it as much as any perfon; but, determined not to truft general opinions, be made the moft particular inquiries poffible; the refult of which was, that he found that frusted in the island of Java, about 27 leagues fra Batavia, 14 from Soura Charta, the empera's feat, and about 19 from Tinkjoe, the refidence of the fultan of Java. It is furrounded on alfides by hills and mountains, and the adjacent country for 12 miles round the tree is totally barr. Our author fays he has gone all round the fpot at about 18 miles from the centre, and on all fides be found the country equally dreary, which be afcribes to its noxious effluvia. The poifon procured from it is a gum, iffuing from between the bark and the tree; and it is brought by malefactors who have been condemned to death, but who are allowed by this alternative to have a chance for their life. An old ecclefiaftic, our auther informs us, dwelt on the outside of the furrounding hills, whose business it was to prepare the criminals for their fate, if death thould be the confequence of their expedition. And indeed fo fatal is its effluvia, that he acknowledged that fcarcely two out of 20 returned from above 700 whom he had difmiffed. Mr Foersch adds, that he had feen feveral of the criminals who had returned, and who told him, that the tree ftands on the borders of a rivulet, is of a middling fize, and that; or 6 young ones of the fame kind ftand clofe it. They could not, however, fee any other plant or fhrub near it; and the ground was of brownith fand, full of ftones and dead bodies, and dificult to pafs. No animal whatever is ever feen there; and fuch as get there by any means never return, but have been brought out dead by fuch of the criminals as have themfelves efcaped death. But all thefe accounts, and many other anecdotes reported by Foerfch, are denied by Lambert Nolft, M. D. fellow of the Batavian Experimental Socie. ty at Rotterdam; who fays, that the " affertions and pretended facts of Foerfch have no collateral evidence; and every thing which we gather from the account of others, or from the hiftory of the people, invalidates them. For these and other realous, Dr Nolft concludes, that very little credit is due to the reprefentations of Foerfch, and that the island of Java produces no fuch tree, which, if it really grew there, would be the most remarkable of all trees." Gent. Mag. May, 1794, P-433

POISSONS, a town of France, in the dep. of the Upper Marne; 4 miles SE. of Joinville. POISSY, a town of France, in the dep, of the Seine and Oife, and late prov. of the Isle of France; 3 miles NW. of St Germain, 9 S. of Pontoife, and 15 from Paris. Lon. 2. 12. E. Lat. 48. 56. N. POITIERS. See POICTIERS.

POITMASDORF, a town of Silefia, in Neiffe; 7 miles SW. of Grotkau.

POITOU. See POICTOU.

POITREL. n. f. [poitrel, poitrine, Fr. pettorale, Ital. pectorale, Lat.] 1. Armour for the breaft of a horle. Skinner. 2. A graving tool. Ainfw. POIVRE, N. a celebrated French botanist, and traveller, born at Lyons in 1715. He ftudied in VOL. XVIII. PART I.

the Miffionary Congregation at Paris, and then went to China, where he was imprisoned two years, after which he went to Cochin China. In 1745, he returned to France; and afterwards went to the E. Indies; but the fhip in which he failed was taken on the paffage by the British, and carried into Batavia; where he made many obfervations, before he returned to Paris. In 1749, he was appointed envoy from Lewis XV. to the king of Cochin-China, for the purpose of opening a commercial intercourfe with that country, Ile refided several years in various parts of the Eaft, and returned to Paris, where he died in 1786. He published his Travels, under the title of a Voyage of a Philofopher, in 1200.

POIX, a town of France, in the dep. of the Somme; 9 miles E. of Aumale, and 13 SW. of Amiens.

*PO ZE, n. f. [ poids, Fr.] 1. Weight; force of any thing tending to the centre.

2.

It fhall be full of poize and difficulty.
To do't at peri! of your foul,
Were equal poize of fin and charity.
Where an equal poize of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th' event, my nature is
That I incline to hope.

Milton.

Balance; equipoize; equilibrium.-The particles that formed the earth, muft convene from all quarters towards the middle, which would make the whole compound to reft in a poize. Bentley-Tis odd to fee fluctuation in opinion fo earneftly charged upon Luther, by fuch as have lived half their days in a poize between two churches. Atterbury. 3. A regulating power. Men of an unbounded imagination often want the poize of judgment. Dryden.

*To POIZE. V. a. · [pefer, Fr.] To balance; to hold or place in equiponderance.

How all her fpeeches poized be! Sidney. Nor yet was earth fufpended in the sky, Nor poiz'd did on her own foundation lie. Dryd. Our nation with united int'reft bleft, Not now content to poize, fhall fway the reft. Dryden. 1. To load with weight.

As the fands" Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poize Their lighter wings." Milton's Par. Lost.

Where could they find another form'd fo fit, To poize with folid fense a sprightly wit! Dryd. 3. To be equiponderant to.-If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reafon to poize another of fenfuality, the bafeness of our natures would conduct us to prepofterous conclufions. Shak, 4. To weigh; to examine by the balance.

Shak

We poizing us in her defective scale Shall weigh thee to the beam. -He cannot fincerely consider the strength, poize the weight, and difcern the evidence of the clearest argumentations. South. 5. To opprefs with weight.

I'll ftrive, with troubl'd thoughts, to take a

to the fovereignty, one Rithogar, a Teutonic prince, fent an ambaffador demanding her in marriage, and threatening war if his proposals were refufed. Vanda marched in perfon against him at the head of a numerous army. The troops of Rithogar abandoned him without ftriking a blow. upon which he killed himself in defpair; and Vanda, having become enamoured of him, was so much concerned for his death, that the drowned herself in the river Viftula or Wefel. From this unfortunate lady the country of VANDALIA takes its name. The family of Cracus having thus become extinct, the Poles restored the vaivodes notwithstanding all that they had formerly suffered from them. The confequences were the fame as before: the vaivodes abused their power. At that time the Hungarians and Moravians had invaded Poland with a numerous army, and were opposed only by a handful of men almoft ready to furrender at difcretion. However, one Premislaus, a private foldier, contrived'a ftratagem by which the numerous forces of the enemy were overthrown; and for his valour was rewarded with the duke. dom. We are ignorant of the other transactions of his reign; but all historians inform us that he died deeply regretted, and without iffue. On the death of Premiflaus feveral candidates appeared for the throne; and the Poles determined to prefer the victor in a horfe race. Lechus, one of the competitors being detected in endeavouring to take an undue advantage, another Lechus, a peafant, who made the difcovery, was raifed to the throne, and the other was put to death. This happened A. D. 774, and Lechus III. behaved with great wisdom and moderation. Though he poffeffed the qualities of a great warrior, and extended his dominions on the fide of Moravia and Bohemia, yet his chief delight was to make his fubjects happy by peace. In the decline of life he engaged in a war with Charlemagne, and is faid to have fallen in battle with that powerful monarch; though others fay he died a natural death. Lechus III. was fucceeded by his fon Rechus IV. who inherited all his father's virtues. He fuppreffed an infurrection in the polish provinces, by which he acquired great reputation; after which he led his army against the Greek and Italian legions who had over-run Panonia, and completely defeated them. Nor was his valour more confpicuous in the battle than his clemency to the vanquifhed. His fon Popiel I, who fucceeded him, was alfo a virtuous and pacific prince, who never had recourfe to arms but through neceffity. He removed the feat of government from Cracow to Gnefna, and was fucceeded by his nephew Popiel II. a minor, whofe maturity was diftinguished by cruelty. Prompted by an ambitious and barbarous queen, he invited his 20 uncles, natural fons of Lechus III. to an entertainment, and poisoned them all. Their bodies being left unburied were devoured by rats, who soon after punished the murderers, by devouring Popiel II. his cruel queen, and family, alive. Difcord, anarchy, and civil war followed. Foreign enemies took advantage of thefe diforders; and the ftate feemed to be on the verge of diffolution, when Piaftus was proclaimed duke in 8.30, from whom the natives of ducal or regal dignity were called Pinftes. See PIASTUS.

dukes or generals, as their office had been only to lead the armies into the field. The firft of thefe is univerfally allowed to have been Lechus or Lecht; who is faid to have been a lineal defcendant from Japhet the fon of Noah. Accord. ing to fome writers, he migrated at the head of a umerous body of the defcendants of the ancient Scavi from fome of the neighbouring nations; and, to this day, Poland is called by the Tartars the kingdom of Lechus. Bufching, however, gives a diferent account of the origin of the Poles. Sarmatia, he observes, was an extenfive country, habited by a variety of nations of different names. He fuppofes the Poles to be the defcendants of the ancient Lazi, a people who lived in Colchis near the Pontus Euxinus; whence the Poles are fometines called Polazi. Croffing feveral rivers, they entered Pofnania, and fettled on the borders of the Warta, while their neighbours the Zechi fettied on the Eib, in the 550th year of Chrift. As to the name of Poland, or Polka, as it is called by the natives, it comes from the Sclavonic word Pa, or Polo, which fignifies a country adapted to hunting, because the whole country was for. y covered with vaft forefts, exceedingly proper for that employment. To Lechus fucceeded Fer, generally fuppofed to have been his nephew. He was a warlike and fuccessful prince, bing many provinces of Denmark, and buildthe city of Wifmar, fo called from his name. After his death, the nobility were on the point of cading a fovereign, when the people, haraffed by grievous burdens occafioned by the wars of Viimer, unanimously demanded another form of government, that they might no longer be liable to fuffer from ambition or tyranny. The nobiy flattered this humour of the people, but inftitaled fuch a form of government as threw all the power into their own hands. Twelve palatines, er vaivodes, were chofen; and the Polish domiras divided into as many provinces. These paLatines exercifed a defpotic authority within their feveral jurisdiction, and aggravated the reifery of the people by perpetual wars among themselves; pos which the Poles, worn out with oppreffion, reclved to return to their old form of government, They caft their eyes upon Cracus, or Gracus, whole wealth and popularity had raised him to the higheft honours among his countrymen, and who is faid to have been defcended of the RoGRACCHI. He fignalized himself against the Pranks, whom he overthrew in fome desperate en agements, and afterwards built the city of Cra. Cow with their fpoils. He did not enlarge his dominions, but made his fubjects happy by many excellent regulations. At laft, after a long and erious reign, he expired, or, according to fome, was affaffinated by a nobleman who aspired to the crown. He left three children; Cracus II. Le chus and a daughter named Vanda. Cracus fucceeded to the dukedom, but was foon after mur. dered by Lechus. However, the crime he had tomitted fo difturbed his confcience, that the fecret could not be kept. When it was known that he had murdered his brother, he was depofed wh ignoming, and his fifter Vanda declared des She was a molt exutiful and accomponed ady; and foon atter she had been raifed

This