PREFORMATION. 359 PRELLER. to shape, from forma, shape) . A view originating in the seventeenth century with Malpighi and Bonnit. They assumed that the germs of all coming generations were contained in one prim- ordial egg. According to this view all the parts and organs of the chick are present in the germ or egg, there being no differentiation, but only an unfolding of parts ('evolutio') existing, infinitesimal in size, in the egg. Haller emphati- cally stated that there was no such thing as the differentiation of parts, that no part of the body was made before another, but that all the organs were simultaneously created. It logically fol- lowed that the germ destined to give origin to the animal — the ovum according to ovulists, the sperm as claimed by the spermatists (q.v. ) — contained within itself the germ of the next generation, that of the next after, and so on in- definitely, so that the first created male or female of each species contained within its sperms or ova the germs of all future generations, inclosed within one another, like a nest of Chinese boxes. The theory of incasement ( embottement ) propounded by Swammerdam in 17.33 was that the form of the larva, pupa, and imago of the butter- fly preexisted in the egg, and even in the ovary; and that the insects in these stages were distinct animals, contained one inside of the other. This explanation Swammerdam extended to the entire animal kingdom. Consult, for recent statements, Delage,La struc- ture des protoplasma et les theories sur I'here- dite (Paris, 1895) ; Parker and Haswcll, Text- hook of Zoology (Xew York, 1897); Packard, Text-book of Entomology (Xew York, 1898). PREGEL, pra'gel. The principal river of East Prussia, formed bj' the confluence of the Ister and the Angerapp. below Insterburg ( ilap : Prussia, J 1 ) . It flows in a western direction and enters the eastern end of the Frisches Haff about 5 miles below Konigsberg. Its total length is about SO miles and it is navigable from Inster- burg. PREGNANCY. ATIOX. See Obstetrics; ^Mexstru- PREHNITE (named in honor of Colonel Prrhn, who discovered it at the Cape of Good Hope in the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury). An aluminum-calcium orthosilicate that crystallizes in the orthorhombic s^-stem. It has a vitreous lustre and is light green to white in color. It is widely distributed and occurs in eruptive rocks, usually associated with zeolites, fine specimens being found in France, the Harz Mountains, and Scotland, and in the United States at Bergen Hill and Patterson, N. .J., and in the Lake Superior copper region. When cut and polished it yields a gem resembling chryso- prase in color and lustre, and polished slabs have been cut from masses in China. PREL, prel. K.rl. Baron du (1839-99). A German philosophic author. He was born at Landshut, studied at Munich, and. after thirteen years (18.59-72) in the Bavarian army, devoted himself to philosophy. His chief works are: Oneirokritikon. Der Trnum vom Standpmikfe des transcendentalen Idenlismus (1868). which won him an honorarj- doctorate from Tubingen: Der Kampf urns Dasein am Bimmel (1874: 3d ed.. Entiriekelutifjsrjeschichte. 1882); Die Philosophie der Mystik (I'SSS; Eng- lish version, 1889) ; Die ilystik der alien Grie- ehen (1888); and Die Magie als y at urioissen- schaft (1899). His selected works in fifteen volumes were published at Leipzig in 1900. PRELATE (JIL. prwlatus. prelate, Lat. prce- latus, set before, p.p. assigned to prceferre, to set before). A title given to certain ecclesiastics of a higher order, usually to patriarchs, metropoli- tans, archbishops, bishops, and in the Roman Catholic Church to the heads of religious houses and certain other officials. In the Roman Curia many such officials, although not bishops, wear the episcopal purple and are addressed as 'Mon- signore' and 'Right Reverend.' These prelates are often intrusted with weighty diplomatic and other missions, and their office is commonly a training-school for the cardinalate. By the de- rived term prelacy is understood such an eccle- siastical polity as provides for a gradation of the clergy in rank, as distinguished from a .sys- tem in which all the clergy are on an equality. PRELL, Hebii.xn ( 1854— ) . A German his- torical painter, born at Leipzig. He was a pupil of Grosse in Dresden and of Gussow in Berlin, then went to Italy to study fresco painting, in which branch he produced his most important works, to wit: eleven mural paintings .symbol- izing the '"Main Epochs in the History of Archi- tecture" (1881-82, Banquet Hall, Architects' L'nion, Berlin, for which he also painted a ceiling- piece in oil, "Ars Victrix," 1886) ; "Justice" and "Valor," and "Henry IV. Granting Privileges to Worms in 1074" (City Hall, Worms) : cycles of historic episodes and allegorical scenes, respect- ively, in the City Halls at Hildesheim (1888-92) and Danzig (1896). and in the staircase of the Breslau Museum (1894) ; mythological scenes in the Albertinum, Dresden (1900). Of his easel pictures the Dresden Gallery contains the "Be- trayal of Christ" (1886)," and the Breslau ^luseimi a "Repose in Egypt" (1890). The car- toons to his Hildesheim frescoes were awarded the great gold medal in Berlin in 1893. From 188G to 1891 he taught at the Berlin Academy, then was appointed professor in Dresden. He pub- lished Die Fresken im Rathaus zu Hildesheim (1894) and Die Fresken im Treppenhaus des Schlesischen Museums, text by Janitsch (1895). For his biography, consult Meissner (Vienna, 1897) and Rosenberg (Bielefeld, 1901). PREL'LER, Fkiedrich (the Elder) (1804- 78). A distinguished German landscape painter, to whom the "historic" landscapeowes its highest development in the nineteenth century. Bom at Eisenach, April 24, 1804, he removed in infancy with his parents to Weimar and early gave proof of artistic talent. Through Heinrich Meyer (q.v.), who subsequently was his instruc- tor. Goethe became interested in him and hence- forth influenced the development of the young artist. In 1821 Preller went to Dresden, where he copied after Ruisdael and Potter and was much impressed by the works of Claude Lorrain and Poussin. Back at Weimar, his work at- tracted the attention of the Grand Duke Charles Augustus, who in 1824 took him to Antwerp.where Preller now devoted two years to the study of the human figure at the Academy under Van Bree. With a stipend from the Grand Duke, he went in 1826 to Milan, and in 1828 proceeded to Rome, where an intimate acquaintance with an- tique models and the master works of the Italian
