Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/60

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POMADE—POMEGRANATE

POMADE, or POMATUM, a scented ointment, used formerly for softening and beautifying the skin, as a lip-salve, &c., but now principally applied to the hair. It was made originally from the juice of apples (Lat. pomum), whence the name. » POMANDER (from Fr. pomme d'ambre, 'i.e. apple of amber), a ball made of perfumes, such as ambergris (whence the name), musk, civet, &c., and formerly worn or carried in a case, also known by the same name, as a protection against infection in times of pestilence or merely as a useful article to modify bad smells. The globular cases which contained the “ pomanders ” were hung from a neck-chain or attached to the girdle, and were usually perforated and made of gold or silver. Sometimes they contained several partitions, in each of which was placed a different perfume. There is an early Spanish pomander set with emeralds, and a fine 16th-century one, dredged from the Thames, in the British-Museum.


POMBAL, SEBASTIAO JOSE DE CARVALHO E MELLO, MARQUESS or (1699-1 782), Portuguese statesman, was born at Soure near Pomba, on the 13th of May 1699. He was the son of Manoel de Carvalho e Athayde, a country gentleman (idalgo) and of his wife D. Theresa Luiza de Mendonca e Mello. He studied law at Coimbra University, served for a short time as a private in the army, and afterwards lived the life of a man about town in Lisbon, sharing in the diversions of the “ Mohocks ” who then infested the streets. In 17 3 3 he abducted and married D. Theresa de Noronha, a widow belonging to one of the most distinguished families in Portugal. He then retired to Soure, where, on the recommendation of Cardinal de Motta, King John V. commissioned him to write a series of biographical studies. In 17 39 he was sent as Portugueseambassador to London, where he remained until 1745. He was then transferred to Vienna. His first wife having died on the 7th of January 17 39, he married, on the 18th of December 1745, Leonora Ernestine Daun, daughter of General Count Daun. In 1749 he was recalled to take up the post of secretary of state for foreign affairs and war. The appointment was ratined on the 3rd of August 17 50, by King ]oseph, who had succeeded John V. in that year. Carvalho's career from 1750 to 1777 is part of the history of Portugal. Though he came into power only in his 51st year, without previous administrative experience, he was able to reorganize Portuguese education, finance, the army and the navy. He also built up new industries, promoted the development of Brazil and Macao, and expelled the Jesuits. His complete ascendancy over the mind of King Joseph dates from the time of the great Lisbon earthquake (Nov. 1, 1755). Though the famous words “ Bury the dead and feed the living ” were probably not spoken by him, they summarize his action at this time of calamity. In June 1759 his suppression of the so-called “ Tavora plot ” gained for him the title of count of Oeyras; and in September 1770 he was made marquess of Pombal. His severe administration had made many enemies, and his life had been attempted in 1769. Soon after the death oi King Joseph, in 1777, Pombal was dismissed from office; and he was only saved from impeachment by the death of his bitterest opponent, the queen-mother, Mariana Victoria, in January 1781. On the 16th of August a royal decree forbade him to reside within twenty leagues of the court. He died at Pombal on the 8th of May 1782. See, in addition to the works dealing with the period 1750-1777 and quoted under PORTUGAL! History; S.].C.M. (Pombal), Relagdo abrevzada, &c. (Paris, 1758); Memoirs of the Court of Portugal, &c. (London, 1765); Anecdotes du ministére de Pornbal (Warsaw, 1781)1 Administration du marquis de Pombal (4 vols., Amsterdam, 1787); Carlos . . . do mar ues de Pombal (3 vols., Lisbon, 1820-1824); J. Smith, Count of Carnota, ~Memoirs of the Marquess of Pombal &c. (London, 1843); F. L. Gomes, Le Marquis de Pombal, &c. (Paris, 1869); B. Duhr (S.].), Pombal, &c. (Freiburg im Breisgau 1891); C. J. de Menezes, Os Jesuitas e o morques de Pombal (Oporto, 1893). See also articles in the Revue des deux monrles for September 1870; the Revue bleue for September 1889, and the Revue hislorigue for September 1895 and January 1896.


POMEGRANATE. The pomegranate (Punica Granatum) is of exceptional interest by reason of its structure, its history, and its utility. It forms a tree of small stature, or a bush, with opposite or alternate, shining, lance-shaped leaves, from the axils of some oi which proceed the brilliant scarlet flowers. These are raised on a short stalk, and consist of a thick fleshy cylindrical or bell-shaped calyx-tube, with five to seven short lobes at the top. From the throat of the calyx proceed five to

FIG. I.-Pomegranate, Puuica Grarzatum, flowering branch, half natural size.

1, Flower cut lengthwise; the 3, Same cut across, showing petals have been removed. seeds.

2, Fruit, about one-thlrd natural 4, Seed, natural size. Sl.Z€»

seven roundish, crumpled, scarlet or crimson petals, and below them very numerous slender stamens. The pistil consists of two rows of carpels placed one above another, both rows embedded 1n, and partially in separate from, the inner surface of the Calyxtube. The styles are confluent into one slender column. The fruit, which usually attains the size of a large orange, consists

(Ai'terhEichler, from Strasburger's Lehrbueh der Batanik, by permission of Gustav isc er.)

FIG. 2.—Punica Grauatum.

A, Floral diagram. B, Longitudinal section of the ovary. of a hard leathery rind, enclosing a quantity of pulp derived from the coats of the numerous seeds. This pulp, filled as it is with refreshing acid juice, constitutes the chief value of the tree. The more highly cultivated forms contain more of it than the wild or half-wild varieties. The great structural peculiarity consists in the presence of the two rows of carpels one above another (a state of things which occurs exceptionally in apples and oranges), and in the fact that, while in the lower series the seeds are attached to the inner border or lower angle of the cavity, they occupy the outer side in the upper series, as if during growth the upper whorl had become completely bent over. 4 By Bentham and Hooker the Punica is included as an anomalous genus in the order Lythraceae; others consider it more nearly allied to the myrtles; while its peculiarities are so great as, in the opinion of many botanists, to justify its inclusion in a