POUND. 329 POUSSIN. ^Yhere cattle are taken to a public pound the person taking them should leave with the pound- keeper a certificate, containing a brief statement of the cause of impounding, and the amount of damages he claims. The poundkeeper then be- comes responsible for the keep of the animals. The compensation of the poundkeeper is usually derived from fees, which must be paid by the owner before the poundkeeper is obliged to re- lease them. In most States, either the pound- keeper or the person impounding the animals nmst give notice to their owner if he can be ascertained and found. If the owner does not redeem his animals within a time fi.xed by stat- ute, or, in absence of such provision, within a reasonable time, after notice, the poundkeeper may advertise and sell the beasts, satisfy all charges against them, and hold the balance to the credit of the owner. Consult Ingham, Law of Animals { 1808). POURBUS, poUr'bus. A family of Flemish painters. — Pieter the Elder (c.1463-?) was born at Gouda. Three portraits, supposed to be by him, are in the Vienna Gallery. — Pieter the YorxGER (c.1510-84) was born at Gouda, settled at Bruges, and became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1543. He painted religious sub- jects and portraits. In the Academy and churches of Bruges there are a number of good works by hira. — Fr.^^ns the Elder (c1540-c.1581) was born in Bruges. He was the son and pupil of Pieter the Younger, and of Frans Floris. He lived principally in Antwerp. His portraits are notable for their fine, mellow color. There are also religious pictures bv him in the Ghent Cathedral, the Ghent iluseum, the Antwerp Academy and elsewhere. — Fraks the Y'ounger (c.1570-1622) was born in Antwerp. He was the pupil of his father, Frans the Elder. He became Court painter to the Duke of Mantua in about 1600, and afterwards worked at the Court of France, and died in Paris. There are portraits of Henry IV. of France and of Maria de' iledici in the Louvre, Paris, by him; a portrait of Catharine de' Medici (in the Madrid Museum), "Henry IV. Lying in State" (Berlin Museum), portrait groups (Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg), and a portrait of himself (in the Uffizi, Florence). He also painted historical pictures. By some critics he is considered a better colorist than his father. POURCEAUGNAC, poor'so'nyak', ^Monsieur DE. A bright prose comedy ballet by ilolifere, in three acts (1669), containing the author's at- tacks on the medical profession. The hero is a young man of Limoges who goes to Paris in search of a wife and is involved in many trying situations through the plots of the suitor of his lady love. The play is said to have been written in retaliation for Moli&re's treatment at the hands of the inhaliitants of Limoges. POUR LE MERITE, poor e ma'ret' (Fr., for merit ) . A Prussian order conferred for military and civil distinction. It originated in the Order of Generosity, founded in 1667, and in 1740 was reorganized by Frederick II. into an order of merit. In 1810 it was expressly made a reward for distinction in battle. The decoration is a blue cross of eight points, the arms separated by golden eagles, and bearing the inscription, "Pour le merite." A civil class was establislied in 1842 by Frederick William IV. Its decoration is a blue band with the name of the order, inclosing a central gold medallion with the Prussian eagle. See Plate of Orders. POURPOINT, poor'point, Fr. pron. poor'- pwux' ((JF., Fr. pourpoint, from ML. perpunc- tum, cjuilted garment, from Lat. perpunyere, to pierce through, from per, through -j- punyere, to pierce). A doublet made of quilted cloth, worn for defense both by soldiers and civilians in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and si.xteenth centuries. See Gajibeson. POURTALES, poor'Ui'les', Louis Francols de (1824-80). An American naturalist, born at Xeucliatel, Switzerland. He was a pupil of Agassiz, whom he accompanied in 1840 on gla- cial expeditions in the Alps and in 1847 to America, where in 1848 he entered the United States Coast Survey. In 1851 he assisted in the triangulation of the Florida reef, and from 1854 until his resignation in 1873 was in special cliarge of the office and field work of the tidal de- partment of the survey. In 1873 he became cus- todian of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoologj', in which he had previously been as- sistant in zoology. He was the first in the L^nited States to undertake deep-sea dredging, and was an authority on marine zoology. The name Pour- talesia was given to a variety of sea-urchin. Pourtalfes presented his extensive collections to the museum. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and wrote various contribu- tions to the Coast Survey reports, to Silliman's Journal, and to the Procccdinys of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He published, under the auspices of the museum, sev- eral W'Orks, including: Contributions to the Fauna of the Gulf ,S7(Tom at Great Depths (1867-68) ; Deep-Sea Corals (1871); Corals and Crinoids (1878); and Report on the Corals and Anti- paiharia (1880). POUSSIN, poS'saN'. Caspar (1613-75). An Italian landscape painter, the son of a French- man, settled in Rome. He was the pupil of Nicolas Poussin, who had married his sister, and from respect to that great artist adopted his name in place of his own, which was Dughet. He was called by the Italians Gasparo Duche, and he inscribed his etchings, eight in number, in that way. He never left Italy, and lived chiefly in Rome, where he died Jlay 27, 1675. His landscapes are composed in general from studies in the Canipagna of Rome and the surrounding country, worked out with the feeling of a mind deeply im- bued with classical associations, and tending to- ward melancholy reflection, by contrasting the glory of the past with the decadence of the pres- ent. He excelled in the portrayal of the wind and the storm, the sombre eflTects of his paint- ings being increased by the influence of time in darkening the colors. His first period was marked by a certain constraint, but under the influence of Claude Lorrain his style became warmer, and he acquired mastery over light and air. He was a very facile painter; nearly all European galleries possess examples of his works, which are especially numerous in the public and private collections of Rome, Vienna, and Lon- don. His most ambitious undertakings were in Rome: the series of frescoes of the Life of I^ias, in the Church of San Martina : the cycle of 12 tempera landscapes in the Colonna Palace; and
