Propertius

384S

Proportional

somewhat similar way, but in their case it is
the middle of a branch and noi its ba?e which
is cut and pegged beneath the soil. Another
method by which many plants can be in-
creased is that of culUige. This is usually
employed lor chrysanthemums, pansies, and
certain other plants. A cut should be made
in a slanting direction through the stem to be
severed just below a joint. As a rule, cut-
tings of herbaceous plants should be made in
the spring. Some cuttings will root readily
in light soil in the open air if a shady posi-
tion be selected; but usually it is better to
plant the cuttings in pots of sandy loam and
place them in a hot bed, taking care to shade
from the sun until they are rooted,

Propertius, Sextus, Roman elegiac poet,
was born probably about 50 B.C. at Asisium,
now Assisi, in Umbria. He possesses great
vigor of passion and of expression; and
though his work is unequal, ho clearly pos-
sesses a more original genius than eithci cf
his rivals, Tibullus and Ovid.

Property. In the legal sense the rights of
control and enjoyment which one may pos-
sess in material things. Where one is the ab-
solute owner of a horse it is safe and proper
to describe the animal as his property; but
where land is held by a tenant for life or
years, subject to a reversion or remainder in
fee, it would not be accurate to describe the
land as the property of either the tenant or
the landlord. The truth is that the property
of the one is his estate for life or years,
while that of the other is his estate in fee
simple.

Our classification of property as real and
personal is based primarily on the two classes
of actions formerly available for the protec-
tion of property rights—the real action,
which aimed at the restoration of the sub-
ject matter of the property in specie, being
strictly confined to property rights in land;
and the personal action, which was aimed at
the person interfering with the property, and
which was satisfied by a payment of its
value, being appropriated to rights in chat-
tels. There is in our law no such thing as
the absolute ownership of land by a private
individual, but the greatest interest which
the subject or citizen can hold in land, the
fee simple absolute, is only an estate in the
Sand, held in subordination to the superior
title of the state, and in legal theory falling
for short of absolute ownership. The classi-
fication of property as corporeal and incor-
poreal belongs almost exclusively in the field
of real property. The literature of the sub*

ject is extensive and includes Blackstone's
Commentaries on English Law, Kent's Com-
mentaries on American Law, Pollock and
Wright, Essay, on Possession in the Common
Law (Oxford, 1888), and Holland on Juris-
prudence (toth ed. London and New York,
1906).

Prophecy. None of the- original Hebrew
terms for 'prophet' necessarily contains the
idea of prediction. The prophet was a 'forth
teller' rather than a 'foreteller/ regarded as
a divinely commissioned agent and interpre-
ter of the counsel of the Most High. In the
times of Samuel, as later of Klijah and Rlisha,
there were 'schools of the prophets/ associa-
tions where the gift could be nurtured and
directed; but from the 8th century onwards
the prophet was one who had not been taught
of man, but received his call and equipment
direct from God. Having the faculty of spir-
itual insight, they not only proclaimed moral
and religious truth, but anticipated the fut-
ure. See Davidson's Old Testament Prophecy

Prophylaxis and Prophylactics, in med-
icine, the taking of measures to prevent dis-
ease, ana the means employed. For example,
in smallpox, isolation of the patient is pro-
phylaxis for those not yet infected; so is vac-
cination previous to infection. Quinine is a
good prophylactic against malaria; but the
best is the prevention of mosquito bites.

Proportional Representation, a system
of election of representatives in legislative
bodies which, without making it compulsory
on the voter to name one candidate, permits
him to insert a second name under the first,
a third under the second, and so on, at his
discretion. A vole is to be given to the cand-
idate placed second on the paper if the first
has had enough votes without it. If 658,000
people voted, and there were 658 members,
T,OOO would be enough for each member;
and if any candidate had more than 1,000,
the excess beyond that number would he
transferred to the successive candidates
named in the voting-papers. The voting is
general, not local Every elector may vote
Cor whom he pleases in any constituency. The
method enables the dector to put his vote in
writing, and makes it possible that the vote,
although without effect in his own constitu-
ency, may in some other place aid in the
election of the candidate for whom it is given.
This system has been employed successfully
in Switzerland* It has bwn proposed in sev-
eral states of the United States, but it has
failed of popular support,