PRECEDENCE 338 PBEFECT PRECEDENCE, the order in which men and women follow each other accord- ing to rank or dignity in a State proces- sion or on other public occasions. In England the order of precedence depends partly on statutes, and partly on ancient usage and established custom. The sov- ereign is always first in order of pre- cedence, after whom follow the Prince of Wales, sons of the sovereign, grandsons of the sovereign, brothers of the sov- ereign, uncles of the sovereign, the sov- ereign's brothers' or sisters' sons, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord High Chancellor, and so on through the high state dignitaries, the various ranks of the peerage, etc. The order of pre- cedence among women follows the same •rules as that among men. By the acts of Union of Scotland and Ireland the precedence in any given degree of the peerage has been established as follows: (1) Peers of England; (2) Peers of Scotland; (3) Peers of Great Britain; (4) Peers of Ireland; (5) Peers of the United Kingdom and Peers of Ireland created subsequent to the Union. PRECEDENT, a judicial decision, in- terlocutory or final, which serves as a rule for future determinations in similar cases; also a form of proceeding to be followed m similar cases. PRECENTOR, an officer in a cathedral, formerly sometimes called chaunter, and ranking in dignity next to the dean. His stall is on the opposite (N.) side of the choir, and that side is called cantoris side, the side of the cantor, as the other is called decani, the side of the dean. He has the direction of the musical por- tion of the service. The precentor is, in cathedrals of the new foundations, a minor canon, and is removable by the dean and chapter. PRECEPTORY, a religious house of the Knights Templars, subordinate to the Temple, or principal house of the or- der in London, under the government of an eminent knight. The preceptories of each province were subject to a pro- vincial superior, three of whom ranked above all the rest, viz., those of Jerusa- lem, Tripolis, and Antioch. PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES, in astronomy, the going forward of the equinoxes. The arrival of the sun at the point Aries a little earlier than he might be expected to reach it was first observed by Hipparchus about 150 B. c. Depending, as the phenomenon does, for its explanation, on the law of gravity, Hipparchus could not account for it. Sir Isaac Newton was the first who did so, and that his newly discovered law of gravitation explained the precession of the equinoxes was a confirmation of the accuracy with which he had read the law itself. Excepting only at the two equinoxes, the plane in which the sun moves in his orbit and that in which the earth rotates do not coincide. By the law of gravitation one body does not at- tract another in mass, but acts on its separate particles. The sun then does not attract the earth as a whole, but tends to pull the parts nearest it away from those in proximity to the center, and the center again away from those on the other side. The bulged-out equa- torial zone is specially liable to be thus acted upon, and, but for the rotation of the earth, would be so drawn down to- ward the ecliptic that it and the equator would ultimately be in one plane. The earth's rotation, however, modifies this action, and simply causes the points at which the earth's equator intersects the plane of the ecliptic to move slowly in a direction opposite to that in which the earth rotates. This is what is denomi- nated the precession of the equinoxes. It is generally associated with the sun, but the moon is twice as potent in pro- ducing it; owing to her comparative nearness to the earth she is able to pro- duce a greater differential effect on the nearer and more remote portions of our planet. PRECIOUS METALS, gold and silver, so called on account of their value. PREDESTINATION, the act of or- daining, decreeing, or determining events beforehand. In theology, foreordina- tion. The word "predestination"^ does not occur in the authorized version oi the Bible. PREDICATE, in grammar, the word or words in a proposition which ex- presses what is affirmed or denied of the subject. In logic, the term in a propo- sition, expressing that quality which, by the copula, is affirmed or denied of the subject. PRE-EMPTION, the act or right of buying before others. Also, the right of a settler on lands to purchase in prefer- ence to others, when the land is sold. PRE-EXISTENCE, existence previous to or before something else. Also, ex- istence in a previous state; existence of the soul previous to its union with the body. Pre-existence was a doctrine of the Pythagoreans, and several others of the old philosophers, and is still found in many of the Eastern religions. PREFECT, a governor, a commander, a chief magistrate; specifically, a title given to several officers, military, naval, and civil, in ancient Rome. Thus, in the
