Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 15, PLA-RAM

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fubji (ft is taken. lie has there promiied a fecond part
_ to his paper, in which the algebraical invelligafion
of porifms is to be confulered. This will no doubt
throw confiderable light upon the fubject, as we may
readily judge from that gentleman’s known abilities, and
. from’the fpecimen he has already given us in the firlt part.
FORK, the flefh of fwine killed for the purpofes of
food. See Sus.
The hog is the only domeftic animal that wre know
of no ufe to man when alive, and therefore feems pro¬
perly defigned for food. Befides, as loathfome and ugly
to every human eye, it is killed without rdu&ance.
The Pythagoreans, whether to preferve health, or on
account of compaffion, generally forbade the ufe of ani¬
mal food ; and yet it is alleged that Pythagoras referved
ihe ufe of hog’s flelh for himfelf. The Jews, the
Egyptians, &c. and other inhabitants of warm countries,
and all the Mahometans at prefent, rejedl the ufe of
pork. It is difficult to find a fatisfactory reafon for this,
or for the precept given to the Jews refpefting it, tho’
tmqueftionably there was feme good one for it. The
Greeks gave great commendations to this food; and Galen,
though indeed that is fufpefted to be from a particular
fondnefs, is everywhere full of it. The Romans confi-
dered it as one of their delicacies ; and if fome of the
inhabitants of the northern climates have taken an aver-
fion to it, that probably arofe from the uncultivated
Rate of their country not being able to rear it. Pork
is of a very tender ftrufture ; increafed perhaps from a
peculiarity in its ceconomy, viz. taking on fat more
readily than any other animal. Pork is a white meat
even in its adult Rate, and then gives out a jelly in very
great quantity. On account of its little perfpirability
. and tendernefs it is very nutritious, and was given for
that intention to the athlete. With regard to-its alka-
lefcency, no proper experiments have yet been made ;
but as it is of a gelatinous and fucculent nature, it is
Cullen's probably lefs fo than many others. Upon the whole,
Med. ft appears to be a very valuable nutriment; and the rea-
fim. is not very obvious why it was in fome countries
forbid. It is faid that this animal is apt to be difeafed ;
but why were not inconveniences felt on that account
in Greece ? Again, it has been-alleged, that as Paleftine
would not rear thefe animals, and as the Jews had
learned the ufe of them in Egypt, it was necefiary they
fhould have a precept to avoid them. But the Egyp¬
tians themfelves did not ufe this meat; and this reli¬
gious precept, indeed, as well as many others, feems
to have been borrowed from them. Poffibly, as pork
is not very jperfpirable, it might increafe the leprofy,
which was faid to be epidemic in Paleftine; though
this is far from being, certain.
PORLOCK, in the county ofSomerfet in England, is
a fmall fea-port town fix miles weft from Minehead. This
whole parifh, including hamlets, contains about no
houfes, and nearly 600 inhabitants. The fituation of the
town is very romantic, being nearly furrounded on all
fides, except toward the fea, by fteep and lofty hills,inter-
le6led by deep vales and hollow glens. Some of the hills
are beautifully wooded, and contain numbers of wilddeer.
he valleys are very deep and pi&urefoue; the fides be-
mg fteep,fcarredwithwild rocks,and patched with woods
and for eft ii rubs. Some of them are well cultivated
and ftudd d with villages or fingle fat ms and cottages,
although agriculture here is very imperfcaiy uaderftood.
1 400 1
P O R
Moft of the roads and fields are fo fteep, that no carriages Po-e
of any kind can be ufed ; all the crops are therefore il
carried in with crooks on horfes, and the manure in Pt,rPh>ry
wooden pots called dojfds. Many of the poor are cm-
ployed in fpinning yarn for the Dunfter manufaeftory.
W. Kong. 3. 32. N. Lat. 51. 14.
PORO. See Calauria.
f ORI ESSE, in ichthyology. See Delphinus.
PORPHYRIUS, a famous Platonic philofophct, was
b6rn at Tyre in 233, in the reign of Alexander Seve-
rus. He was the difciple of Longinus, and became
the ornament of his fchool at Athens ; from thence he
went to Rome, and attended Plotinus, with whom he
hved fix years. After Plotinus’s death he taught phi-
lofophy at Rome with great applaufe ; and became well
ficilled in polite literature, geography, aftronemy, and
muhe. He lived till the end of the third century, and
died in the reign of Dioclefian. There are ftill extant
his book on the Categories of Ariftotle ; a Treatife on
Abftinence fiom bleffi; and feveral other pieces in
Greek. He alfo compofed a large treatife againft the
Chriftian religion, which is loft. That work was an-
fwered by Methodius biffiop of Tyre, and alfo by Eu-
febius, Apollinarius, St Auguftin, St Jerome, St Cyril,
and Theodoret. The emperor Theodofius the Great
caufed Porphyrtus’s book to be burned in 338. Thofe
of his w'orks that are ftill extant were printed at Cam¬
bridge in 1655, 8vo, with a Latin verfion.
“ Porphyrins (fays X>r Enfield) was, it muft be own¬
ed, a writer of deep erudition ; and had his judgment and
integrity been equal to his learning, he would have defer-
ved a diltingihfficd place among the ancients. But neither
the fplendor of his diftion, nor the variety of his reading,
can atone for the credulity or the diffionefty which fifl-
ed the narrative parts of his works with fo many extra¬
vagant tales, or intereft the judicious reader in the ab-
ftrule iubtelties and myftical flights of his philofophical
writings*”
PORPHYRY, a genus of ftones belonging to the
order of faxa. It is found of feveral different colours,
as green, deep.red, purple, black, dark-brown, and
giey. Under the name of porphyry, Mr Kirwan and
M. de Saufture include thofe ftones which contain ei¬
ther felt-fpar, fchoerl, quartz, or mica, with other fpecies
of cryftalhzed flone on a filiceous or calcareous ground.
There are a great many different kinds. M. Ferber de-
feribes 20 varieties under four fpecies, but in general it
is conlidered with relation to its ground, which is met
with of the colours already mentioned. When the
ground is of jafper, the porphyry is commonly very
hard; the red generally contains felt-fpar in fmall white
dots or fpecks; and frequently, together with thefe,
black fpots of fchoerl. The green is often macmetic,
and is either a jafper or fchoerl, with fpots of quartz.
Sometimes a porphyry of one colour contains a frag¬
ment of another of a different Colour. Thofe that have
chert for their ground are fufible per fe. The calca¬
reous porphyry confifts of quartz, felt-fpar, and mica,
in feparate grains, united by a calcareous cement ; and,
laftly, the micaceous porphyry confifts of a greenifh
grey micaceous ground, in which red felt-fpar and
greenifh foap-rock are inferted.
'1 he porphyry of the ancients is a moft elegant mafs
of an extremely firm and compaft ftrufture, remarkably -
heavy, and of a fine ftrong purple, variegated more.or.
lefs