from the Phoenician, which is known to be the same with the Samaritan or Hebrew. Hitherto the analogy is not only plausible, but the resemblance precise. The Hebrews and Samaritans employed these vowels exactly in the same manner as the Greeks; and so all was easy and natural. But the assertors of the Masoretic system maintain that the letters mentioned above are not vowels but consonants or aspirations, or any thing you please but vocal letters. This they endeavour to prove from their use among the Arabians, Persians, and other oriental nations; but to us it appears abundantly strange to suppose that the Greeks pronounced beta, gamma, delta, &c., exactly as the Hebrews and the Phoenicians did, and yet at the same time did not adopt their mode of pronunciation with respect to the five letters under consideration. To this argument we think every objection must yield. The Greeks borrowed their letters from the Phoenicians; these letters were the Hebrew or Samaritan; the Greeks wrote and pronounced all the other letters of their alphabet, except the five in question, in the same manner with their originals of the east; if they did so, it obviously follows that the Greek and oriental office of these letters was the same. POINT-BLANK, in gunnery, denotes the shot of a piece levelled horizontally, without either mounting or sinking the muzzle. In shooting thus, the bullet is supposed to go in a direct line, and not to move in a curve as bombs and highly elevated random shots do. We say supposed to go in a direct line, because it is certain that a shot cannot fly any part of its range in a right line strictly taken: but the greater the velocity, the nearer it approaches to a right line; or the less crooked its range. The French point-blank, or but en blanc, is what the British call the line of metal elevation, which in most guns is from one to two degrees. POINT DE GALLE, a fortified town in the Island of Ceylon, the third in consequence, is situated sixty miles south from Columbo. The harbour, particularly the outer road, is spacious, and the inner harbour is secure during a great part of the year. Ships outward-bound from Europe generally come in sight of the first land at Dondrahead, the southern promontory of Ceylon, and make Point de Galle their first harbour. There is no regular rainy season, but from its situation at the extremity of the island it has a share of the rain of each coast, which falls in storms at all seasons of the year. The heaviest rain, however, falls between November and February. Point de Galle is an old Dutch fort out of repair, and not above six English families reside here constantly. The pettah, or native town, is, however, extensive, and superior to those at Trincomalé; in respect to trade it ranks next to Columbo. Fisheries to a considerable extent are carried on, and the fish dried and cured for exportation to the neighbouring continent. Arrack, oil, pepper, cotton, and cardamums, also form its exports. Cinnamon is grown, but not in such quantities as about Columbo: one of the East India ships touches here annually, to carry off what is prepared. Near the fort a colony of Chinese is established as gardeners by the East India Company, for the purpose of raising vege tables. They cultivate esculents of various sorts, and have also thriving plantations of sugar-cane. The mutton here is said to be indifferent; but the beef, poultry, bread, and fish, are excellent. The travelling distance from Columbo is seventytwo miles. POINT OF APPUI, in military affairs, the point upon which a line of troops is formed. When the right stands in front, and the column is marching to form, the first halted company, division, &c., is the point of appui; and, when the right is in front, the distant point of formation is the left. Point of intersection (Fr. point d'intersection), the point where two lines intersect each other. Intermediate point (Fr. point intermédiare). In marching forward that is called an intermediate point which lies between the spot marched from, and the spot towards which you are advancing. In forming line, the centre point between the right and left is the intermediate point. It is of the utmost consequence to every body of troops, advancing or retreating, but especially in advancing towards the enemy, to find an intermediate point between two given, and perhaps inaccessible, objects. The line of march is preserved by these means in its perpendicular direction, and every column may be enabled to ascertain its relative point of entry in the same line. Point of alignment (Fr. point d'alignement), the point which troops form upon and dress by. Point of formation, a point taken, upon which troops are formed in military order. A perpendicular point is the point upon which troops march in a straight forward direction. Relative points are the points by which the parallelism of a march is preserved. Point of passing, the ground on which one or more bodies of armed men march by a reviewing general. Point to salute at, the spot on which the reviewing general stands. This, however, is not to be understood literally, as every infantry officer, when he arrives within six paces of the general, recovers his sword and drops it, keeping it in that situation until he shall have passed him a prescribed number of paces. The cavalry salute within the breadth of the horse's neck, the instant the object is uncovered. Point of war, a loud and impressive beat of the drum, the perfect execution of which requires great skill and activity. The point of war is beat when a battalion charges. POINTE, in modern music, is a sign of augmentation only, and is placed on the right of a note; it augments by one half the value of every note to which it is attached; thus the pointed semibreve is equal to three minims, or one semibreve and a half; the pointed minim is equal to three crotchets, &c. POINTER, in zoology. See CANIS. POINTING, in grammar, the art of dividing a discourse, by points, into periods and members of periods, in order to show the proper pauses to be made in reading, and to facilitate the pronunciation and understanding thereof. See PUNCTUATION. POIRET (Peter), a native of Metz, born in 1646, and educated at Erasmus College Basil. He is chiefly distinguished by his zeal for Madame Guyon and the Mystic writers. He published several pieces in favor of their tenets, and died in 1719. POISE, or Ital. and Span. pesa; POIZE, n. s. & v. a.) Fr. peser of Lat. pondus. Weight; gravity; balance; equilibrium; any regulating power or force: to balance; hold in equiponderance: weigh; test by a balance; oppress or load with weight. How nice to couch? how all her speeches poized be? A nymph thus turned but mended in translation. Levy'd to side with warring winds, and poize Their lighter wings. Id. Paradise Lost. Love is the great leveller which in a manner setteth all things on even ground, and reduceth to a just poise. Barrow. Men of an unbounded imagination often want the poize of judgment. Dryden. Where could they find another formed so fit, To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit? Id. He cannot sincerely consider the strength, poize the weight, and discern the evidence of the clearest argumentations, where they would conclude against his desires. South. 'Tis odd to see fluctuation in opinion so earnestly charged upon Luther, by such as have lived half their days in a poize between two churches. Atterbury. The particles that formed the earth must convene from all quarters towards the middle, which would make the whole compound to rest in a poize. Bentley's Sermons. POI'SON,n. s. & v. a. French poison; Qu. Por'sONER, n. s. Lat. potio, potionatum. Por'sONOUS, adj. Mr. Thomson says, POISONOUSLY, L. Belg. piso, poscio, Por'SONOUSNESS. seem to have been like Ital. tosco, and Span. tosigo from Gr. Tožikov, Lat. toxicum. Venom; whatever destroys life; particularly in a secret or occult manner; hence whatever is malignant, infectious, or deleterous: to poison is to kill, injure, to infect with poison; corrupt; taint all the other words are regularly derived from poison, noun-substantive. He was so discouraged, that he poisoned himself and died. 2 Mac. That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous, Themselves were first to do the ill, Virtue, dear friends, needs no defence, Davies. Roscommon So many mischiefs were in one combined; So much one single poisoner cost mankind. Dryden Not Sirius shoots a fiercer flame, When with his poisonous breath he blasts the sky. Id. Notions with which the schools had poisoned our youth, and which only served to draw the prince to govern amiss, but proved no security to him, when the people were grown weary of ill government. Davenant. One gives another a cup of poison, but at the same time tells him it is a cordial, and so he drinks it off and dies. South. Wretches who live upon other men's sins, the common poisoners of youth, getting their very bread by the damnation of souls. Id. Men more easily pardon ill things done than said, such a peculiar rancour and venom do they leave behind in men's minds, and so much more poisonously and incurably does the serpent bite with his tongue than his teeth. Hast thou not With thy false arts poisoned his people's loyalty? Id. Rowe. This being the only remedy against the poison of sin, we must renew it as often as we repeat our sins, that is, daily. Duty of Man. A lake that has no fresh water running into it, will, by heat, and its stagnation, turn into a stinking rotten puddle, sending forth nauseous and poisonous steams. Cheyne. Drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat; That's just a swatch o' Hornbook's way; Pope. An's weel paid for't; Burns. Yet stops me o' my lawfu' prey. POISON, in medicine, any thing which, whether taken into the stomach or lungs, or introduced by means of a wound or secreting surface, as the rectum, tongue, &c., proves fatal to animal life by an action not mechanical. Most of the substances properly called poisonous are only so in certain doses; for below this point, in the general scale, many of them form the most active and consequently the most valuable medicines of the dispensatory. There are nevertheless some poisons which are deleterious and even fatal in the smallest quantities imaginable, and which are hence never administered medicinally; such are those of hydrophobia and the plague. There are other poisons, again, which are innocent when taken into the stomach, but which prove deleterious when applied to the lungs, or to an abraded surface; thus carbonic acid is continually swallowed with fermented liquors with impunity, and the poison of the viper may be taken in the same manner: whilst inspiring car- When a substance produces disease, not only in mankind but in all animals, it is distinguished by the term common poison, as arsenic, sublimate, &c., whilst that which is poisonous to man only, or to animals, and often to one genus, is said to be a relative poison; thus aloes is poisonous to dogs and wolves; the phellandrium aquaticum kills horses, whilst oxen devour it greedily and with impunity. It appears, then, that substances act as poisons only in regard to their dose, the part of the body they are applied to, and the subject. Poisons have been arranged in six classes:— They are so named because they usually irritate, inflame, and corrode the animal texture with which they come into contact. Their action is in general more violent and formidable than that of the other poisons. The following list from Orfila contains the principal bodies of this class : 1. Mercurial preparations; corrosive sublimate, red oxide of mercury; turbith nineral, or yellow subsulphate of mercury; pernitrate of mercury; mercurial vapors. 2. Arsenical preparations; such as white oxide of arsenic, and its combinations with the bases, called arsenites; arsenic acid, and the arseniates; yellow and red sulphuret of arsenic; black oxide of arsenic, or fly-powder. 3. Antimonial preparations; such as tartar emetic, or cream tartrate of antimony; oxide of antimony; kermes mineral; muriate of antimony; and antimonial wine. 4. Cupreous preparations; such as verdigris; acetate of copper; the cupreous sulphate, nitrate, and muriate; ammoniacal copper; oxide of copper; cupreous soaps, or grease tainted with oxide of copper; and cupreous wines or vinegars. 5. Muriate of tin. 6. Oxide and sulphate of zinc. 7. Nitrate of silver. 8. Muriate of gold. 9. Pearl-white, or the oxide of bismuth, and the subnitrate of this metal. 10. Concentrated acids; prussic, sulphuric, nitric, phosphoric, muriatic, hydriodic, acetic, &c. 11. Corrosive alkalis; pure or subcarbonated potassa, soda, and ammonia. 12. The caustic earths, lime and barytes. II. Astringent poisons. 1. Preparations of lead, such as the acetate, carbonate, wines sweetened with lead, water impregnated with its oxide, food cooked in vessels containing lead, syrups clarified with subcarbonate of lead, plumbean vapors. III. Acrid poisons. 1. The gases; chlorine, muriatic acid, sulphurous acid, nitrous gas, and nitro-muriatic vapors. 2. Jatropha manihot, the fresh root, and its juice, from which cassava is made. 3. The Indian ricinus, or Molucca wood. 4. Scammouy. 5. Gamboge. 6. Seeds of palma Christi. 7. Elaterium. 8. Colocynth. 9. White hellebore root. 10. Black hellebore root. 11. Seeds of stavesacre. 12. The wood and fruit of the ahovai of Brasil. 13. Rhododendron chrysanthum. 14. Bulbs of colchicum, gathered in summer and autumn. 15. The milky juice of the convolvulus arvensis. 16. Asclepias. 17. Enanthe fistulosa and crocata. 18. Some species of clematis. 19. Anemone pulsatilla. 20. Root of wolf's-bane. 21. Fresh roots of Arum maculatum. 22. Berries and bark of Daphne Mezereum. 23. The plant and emanations of the rhus toxicodendron. 24. Euphorbia officinalis. 25. Several species of ranunculus, particularly the aquatilis. 26. Nitre, in a large dose. 27. Some muscles and other shell-fish. IV. Narcotic and stupefying poisons. 1. The gases; hydrogen, azote,and oxide of azote. 2. Poppy and opium. 3. The roots of the solanum somniferum; berries and leaves of the solanum nigrum; those of the morel with yellow fruit. 4. The roots and leaves of the atropa mandragora. 5. Datura stramonium. 6. Hyosciamus, or henbane. 7. Lactuca virosa. 8. Paris quadrifolia, or herb Paris. 9. Laurocerasus, or bay laurel and prussic acid. 10. Berries of the yew tree. Ervum ervilia; the seeds. 12. The seeds of lathyrus cicera. 13. Distilled water of bitter almonds. 14. The effluvia of many of the above plants. V. Narcotico-acrid poisons. 11. 1. Carbonic acid; the gas of charcoal stoves and fermenting liquors. 2. The manchineel. 3. Faba Sancti Ignatii. 4. The exhalations and juice of the poison-tree of Macassar, or UpasAntiar. 5. The ticunas. 6. Certain species of strychnos. 7. The whole plant, Lauro-cerasus. 8. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade. 9. Tobacco. 10. Roots of white bryony. 11. Roots of the charophyllum sylvestre. 12. Conium maculatum, or spotted hemlock. 13. Æthusa cynapium. 14. Cicuta virosa. 15. Anagalis arven sis. 16. Mercurialis perennis. 17. Digitalis purpurea. 19. The distilled waters and oils of some of the above plants. 19. The odorant principle of some of them. 20. Woorara of Gujana. 21. Camphor. 22. Cocculus Indicus. 23. Several mushrooms; see AGARICUS, and BOLETUS. 24. Secale cornutum. 25. Lolium temulentum. 26. Sium latifolium. Coriaria myrtifolia. VI. Septic or putrescent poisons. 27. 1. Sulphureted hydrogen. 2. Putrid effluvia of animal bodies. 3. Contagious effluvia, or fomites and miasmata. 4. Venomous animals; the viper, rattlesnake, scorpion, mad dog, &c. M. Drapiez has ascertained, by numerous experiments, that the fruit of the feuille a cordifolia is a powerful antidote against vegetable poisons. He poisoned dogs with the rhus toxicodendron, hemlock, and nux vomica; and all those which were left to the effects of the poison died, but those to which the above fruit was administered recovered completely, after a short illness. To see whether the antidote would act in the same way, applied externally to wounds into which vegetable poisons had been introduced, he took two arrows, which had been dipped into the juice of the manchenille, and slightly wounded with them two cats; to one of these wounds he applied a poultice, composed of the fruit of the feuillea cordifolia, while the other was left without any application. The former suffered no inconvenience, except from the pain of the wound, which speedily healed; while the other, in a short time, fell into convulsions, and died. This fruit loses these valuable virtues if kept two years after it is gathered. Dr. Lyman Spalding of New York announces in a small pamphlet that, for above these fifty years, the scutellaria lateriflora has proved to be an infallible means for the prevention and cure of the hydrophobia, after the bite of rabid animals. It is better applied as a dry powder than fresh. According to the testimonies of several American physicians, this plant, not yet received as a remedy into any European materia medica, afforded perfect relief in above 1000 cases, as well in the human species as in the brute creation (dogs, swine, and oxen).-Philosophical Magazine. When sudden death is suspected to have been occasioned by the administration of poison, either wilfully or by accident, the testimony of the physician is occasionally required to confirm or invalidate this suspicion. He may also be sometimes called upon to ascertain the cause of the noxious effects arising from the presence of poisonous substances in articles of diet; and it may, therefore, serve an important purpose to point out concisely the simplest and most practicable modes of obtaining, by experiment, the necessary information. The only poisons, however, that can be clearly and decisively detected by chemical means are those of the mineral kingdom. Arsenic, and corrosive sublimate, are most likely to be exhibited with the view of producing death; and lead and copper may be introduced undesignedly, in several ways, into our food and drink. The continued and unsuspected operation of the two last may often produce effects less sudden and violent, but not less baneful to health and life, than the more active poisons; and their operation generally involves, in the pernicious consequences, a greater number of sufferers. When the cause of sudden death is believed, from the symptoms preceding it, to be the administration of arsenic, the contents of the stomach must be attentively examined. To effect this let a ligature be made at each orifice, the stomach removed entirely from the body, and its whole contents washed out into an earthen or glass vessel. The arsenic, on account of its greater specific gravity, will settle to the bottom, and may be obtained separate, after washing off the other substances by repeated effusions of cold water. These washings should not be thrown away till the presence of arsenic has been clearly ascertained. It may be expected at the bottom of the vessel in the form of a white powder, which must be carefully collected, dried on a filter, and submitted to experiment. Boil a small portion of the powder with a few ounces of distilled water, in a clean Florence flask, and filter the solution. To this solution add a portion of water, saturated with sulphureted hydrogen gas. If arsenic be present, a golden yellow sediment will fall down, which will appear sooner if a few drops of acetic acid be added. A similar effect is produced by the addition of sulphuret of ammonia, or hydro-sulphuret of po tassa. It is necessary, however, to observe, that these tests are decomposed not only by all metallic solutions, but by the mere addition of any acid. The sediments produced by any of the foregoing experiments may be collected, dried, and laid on red hot charcoal. A smell of sulphur will first arise, and will be followed by that of garlic. A process for detecting arsenic was proposed by a Mr. Hume of Long-Acre. The test which he has suggested is the fused nitrate of silver or lunar caustic, which he employs in the following manner : Into a clean Florence oil-flask introduce two or three grains of any powder suspected to be arsenic; add not less than eight ounce measures of either rain or distilled water; and heat this gradually over a lamp, or a clear coal fire, till the solution begins to boil. Then, while it boils, frequently shake the flask, which may be readily done by wrapping a piece of leather round its neck, or putting a glove upon the hand. To the hot solution add a grain or two of subcarbonate of potassa or soda, agitating the whole to make the mixture uniform. In the next place, pour into an ounce phial, or a small wine-glass, about two table spoonsful of this solution, and present, to the mere surface of the fluid, a stick of dry nitrate of silver or lunar caustic. If there be any arsenic present, a beautiful yellow precipitate will instantly appear; which will proceed from the point of contact of the nitrate with the fluid, and settle towards the bottom of the vessel as a flocculent and copious precipitate. The nitrate of silver, Hume finds, also, acts very sensibly upon arseniate of potassa, and decidedly distinguishes this salt from the above solution or arsenite of potassa; the color of the precipitate, occasioned by the arseniate, being much darker and more inclined to brick-red. In both cases, he is of opinion that the test of nitrate of silver is greatly superior to that of sulphate of copper; inasmuch as it produces a much more copious precipitate, when equal quantities are submitted to experiment. The tests he recommends to be employed in their dry state, in preference to that of solution; and that the piece of salt be held on the surface only. A modified application of this test has since been proposed by Dr. Marcet, whose directions are as follow:-Let the fluid, suspected to contain arsenic, be filtered; let the end of a glass rod, wetted with a solution of pure ammonia, be brought into contact with this fluid, and let the end of a clean rod, similarly wetted with solution of nitrate of silver, be immersed in the mixture. If the minutest quantity of arsenic be present, a precipitate of a bright yellow color, inclining to orange, will appear at the point of contact, and will readily subside to the bottom of the vessel. As this precipitate is soluble in am monia, the greatest care is necessary not to add an excess of that alkali. The acid of arsenic, with the same test, affords a brick-red precipitate. -Hume, it may be added, now prepares his test by dissolving a few grains, say ten, of lunar caustic in nine or ten times its weight of distilled water; precipitating by liquid ammonia; and adding cautiously, and by a few drops at once, liquid ammonia, till the precipitate is re-dissolved, and no longer. To obviate the possibility of any excess of ammonia, a small quantity of the precipitate may be left undissolved. To apply this test, nothing more is required than to dip a rod of glass into this liquor, and then touch with it the surface of a solution supposed to contain arsenic, which will be indicated by a yellow precipitate. Sylvester has objected to this test, that it will not produce the expected appearance, when common salt is present. He has, therefore, proposed the red acetate of iron as a better test of arsenic, with which it forms a bright yellow deposit; or the acetate of copper, which affords a green precipitate. Of the two, he recommends the latter in preference, but advises that both should be resorted to in doubtful cases. Dr. Marcet, however, has replied, that the objection arising from the presence of common salt is easily obviated; for if a little diluted nitric acid be added to the suspected liquid and then nitrate of silver very cautiously till the precipitate ceases, the muriatic acid will be removed, but the arsenic will remain in solution, and the addition of ammonia will produce the yellow precipitate in its characteristic form. It is scarcely necessary to add that the quantity of ammonia must be sufficient to saturate any excess of nitric acid which the fluid may contain. A more important objection to nitrate of silver as a test of arsenic is that it affords, with the alkaline phosphates, a precipitate of phosphate of silver, scarcely distinguishable by its color from the arseniate of that metal. In answer to this, it is alleged by Hume, that the arsenite of silver may be discriminated by a curdy or flocculent figure, resembling that of fresh precipitated muriate of silver, except that its color is yellow; while the phosphate is smooth and homogeneous. The better to discriminate these two arsenites, he advises two parallel experiments to be made, upon separate pieces of clean writing paper, spreading on the one a little of the fresh prepared arsenite, and on the other a little of the phosphate. When these are suffered to dry, the phosphate will gradually assume a black color, or nearly so, while the arsenite will pass from its original vivid yellow to an Indian yellow, or nearly a fawn color. Dr. Paris conducts the trial in the following manner-Drop the suspected fluid on a piece of white paper, making with it a broad line; along this line a stick of lunar caustic is to be slowly drawn several times successively, when a streak will appear of the color resembling that known by the name of Indian yellow. This is equally produced by arsenic and by an alkaline phosphate, but the one from arsenic is rough, curdy, and flocculent, like that from a crayon; that from a phosphate is homogeneous and uni form, resembling a water color laid smoothly on with a brush. But a more important and distinctive peculiarity soon succeeds; for in less than two minutes the phosphoric yellow fades into a sap green, and becomes gradually darker, and ultimately quite black, while on the other hand the arsenic yellow continues permanent, or nearly so, for some time, and then becomes brown. In performing this experiment, the sunshine should be avoided, or the change of color will take place too rapidly. (Ann. of Phil. x. 60). The author of the London Dispensatory adds, that the test is improved by brushing the streak lightly over with liquid ammonia immediately after the application of the caustic, when, if arsenic be present, a bright queen's yellow is produced, which remains permanent for nearly an hour; but that when lunar caustic produces a white yellow before the ammonia is applied, we may infer the presence of some alkaline phosphate rather than of arsenic. Smithson proposes to fuse any powder suspected to contain arsenic with nitre; this produces arseniate of potassa, of which the solution affords a brick-red precipitate with nitrate of silver. In cases where any sensible portion of the alkali of the nitre has been set free, it must be saturated with acetous acid, and the saline mixture dried and re-dissolved in water. So small is the quantity of arsenic required for this mode of trial, that a drop of solution of oxide of arsenic in water (which at 54° of Fahrenheit may be estimated to contain one-eightieth its weight of the oxide), mixed with a little nitrate of potassa, and fused in a platinum spoon, affords a very sensible quantity of arseniate of silver. (Ann. of Phil. N. S. iv. 127). Dr. Cooper, president of Colombia College, finds a solution of chromate of potassa to be one of the best tests of arsenic. One drop is turned green by the fourth of a grain of arsenic, by two or three drops of Fowler's mineral solution, or any other arsenite of potassa. The arsenious acid takes oxygen from the chromic, which is converted into oxide of chrome. To exhibit the effect, take five watch-glasses; put on one, two or three drops of a watery solution of white arsenic; on the second, as much arsenite of potassa; on the third, one-fourth of a grain of white arsenic in substance; on the fourth, two or three drops of a solution of corrosive sublimate; on the fifth, two or three drops of a solution of copper. Add to each three or four drops of a solution of chromate of potassa. In half an hour a bright clear grass-green color will appear in numbers one, two, three, unchangeable by ammonia; number four will instantly exhibit an orange precipitate; and number five a green, which a drop of ammonia will instantly change to blue. (Silliman's American Journal, iii). But the most decisive mode of determining the presence of arsenic (which, though not absolutely indispensable, should always be resorted to, when the suspected substance can be obtained in sufficient quantity), is by reducing it to a metallic state; for its characters are then clear and unequivocal. For this purpose, let a portion of the white sediment, collected from the contents of the stomach, be dried and mixed with three |