28 PROME PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH Constantinople 1855-'67, and nuncio at Con- stantinople 1867-'72. His celebrated collec- tion of coins was bought by the Prussian gov- ernment in 1875 for the museum of Berlin, for $150,000. Among his works are : Erinner- ungen aus Aegypten und Kleinatien (3 vols., Vienna, 1829-'31) ; Denkicurdigkeiten und Erinnerungen aus dem Orient, edited by E. Munch from Prokesch's correspondence with Schneller (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1836-7) ; Kltine Schriften (7 vols., 1842-'4) ; and Geschichte des Alfalls der Griechen vom turkischen Reich (G vols., Vienna, 1867-'8). PROME, a town of British Burmah, in Pegu, on the E. bank of the Irrawaddy, 166 m. N. N. "W. of Rangoon ; pop. about 80,000. It is surrounded by a brick wall 1J m. in circum- ference, has several paper manufactories, and is a place of considerable commercial impor- tance. A railway is projected to Rangoon. In the suburbs are extensive rice grounds. Prome was taken by the British in 1825, and again in the second war with Burmah in 1852. It was nearly destroyed by fire in 1856, and in the same year suffered seriously from an inundation of the Irrawaddy. PROMKTIIEIS, in Grecian mythology, the son of Japetus and Clymene, and brother of Atlas, Menojtius, and Epimetheus. According to Hesiod, gods and men were in a dispute at Mecone in regard to what portion of the animal should bo offered in sacrifice. Prometheus, as the tutelary representative of man, divided a bull into two parts, one consisting of the flesh and intestines wrapped in the skin, and the other of the bones covered up by the white fat. Jupiter, having been asked which of the two he would choose, decided for the latter; and as the choice could not be revoked, those parts alone were thereafter offered on his altar. In- dignant at the deception, he withheld fire from mortals, but Prometheus stole fire from heaven in the hollow of a tube. Jupiter now sent Pandora to earth with her box of evils, and fastened Prometheus to a pillar, where he re- mained for many generations, an eagle every day feeding upon his liver, which every night grew again. At length Hercules was permitted to kill the eagle and free the prisoner. The most celebrated drama founded upon this myth is the trilogy of /Eschylus, of which the " Pro- metheus Bound " and a few fragments of the " Prometheus Loosed " are extant. In ^Eschy- lus, Prometheus appears not only as the pro- tector of the human race against the superior might of the gods, but as its teacher and bene- factor. Through his assistance, Jupiter over- comes the Titans ; but when Prometheus frus- trates the design of destroying mankind, he is chained to a rock in Scythia. There he is visited by the Oceanids and by lo, to whom he foretells her long wanderings. He is in posses- sion of knowledge which it is essential to the safety of Jupiter to gain ; but he bids defiance to his persecutor, and refuses to make known the secret. He is hurled into Tartarus, and afterward reappears chained to Mount Cau- casus, to undergo fresh torments. From this condition he can only be freed when some other god shall voluntarily descend into Tar- tarus for him, which finally happened when Chiron, wounded by Hercules, sought permis- sion to go into Hades. Another account says that Jupiter himself delivered Prometheus when the latter agreed to reveal the prophecy, according to which, if he were married to Thetis, she would give birth to a son greater than himself. PROMISSORY NOTE, a promise in writing to pay money. "When the promise is to pay it to the payee or his order, or to the bearer, the note is negotiable, and, as an exceedingly use- ful and important instrument of business, it is governed by a system of law which is quite peculiar. When not payable to order, or not negotiable, the rules of law applicable to it vary but little from those which are in force generally in relation to written contracts. (See EXCHANGE, BILL OF, and NEGOTIABLE PAPEE.) PRONG HORN. See ANTELOPE. PROPAGANDA, or Cougregatip de Propaganda Fide (congregation for propagating the faith), a board of 25 cardinals founded at Rome in 1622 by Gregory XV. for the support and direction of foreign missions. It has a secretary, who is generally a bishop or archbishop, and priests, advisers, and under secretaries, who hold a consultation weekly. The cardinal prefect of the propaganda is the pope's representative in all matters concerning the affairs of foreign missions, including the final appointment of all bishops in missionary countries. Pope Urban VIII. in 1627 added to the congregation a col- lege for the education of missionary priests, where young men from every country in the world, with the exception of strictly Catholic countries, were educated, and ordained for the missionary work among their fellow country- men. A celebrated polyglot printing estab- lishment was attached to the propaganda, and besides a full corps of professors, it possessed a museum of antiquities and curiosities, a hand- some church, and a large library. This college was suppressed in 1873, and its property was sold by auction. PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH, Society for the (la soeiet^ pour la propagation de la foi), a Roman Catholic society in aid of foreign mis- sions founded at Lyons in 1829. It* plan is to raise, through committees and sub-committees, one cent a week from each subscriber, the money being forwarded to the central com- mittee at Lyons, by whom the funds are appor- tioned to bishops of the various missionary countries throughout the world. The society spread rapidly over the whole of Europe, and has now paying members in almost every country in the world. It is sometimes con- fused with the Roman propaganda, with which it has nothing in common except a similar ob- ject. The central committee at Lyons pub- lishes six tunes a year the Annulet de la pro-
