Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 15, PLA-RAM

'Pun<ftua*
tion.
PUN [67
words: which cultom, Lipf.as obfcrycs, continued till
the hundred and fourth Olympiad ; during which time
the fenfe alone divided the difcourfe.
What within our own knowledge at this day puts
this beyond difpute, is the Alexandrian manufcript,
which is at prefent in the king’s library at the Bntifn
Mufamm. Whoever examines this, will hnd, that the
whole is written continuo duflv, without dihintfion or
words or fentences. How the ancients read their works
written in this manner, it is not eafy to conceive.
After the pra&ice of joining words together cealed,
notes of diftinftion were placed at the end of every
word. In all the editions of the Fnjli Capitohni thele
points occur. The fame are to be feen on the Colum-
la Roftrala. For want of thefe, we find much con-
fufion in the Chronkon Marmortum, and the covenant
between the Smyrnseans and Magnefians, which are
both now at Oxford. In Salmafius’s edition of Dedicatio
Jlatvre rigilU Herodis, the like confufion occurs, where
we find aktpite and ‘Tf. .
Of thefe marks of diftin&ion, the Walcote inlcnp-
tion found near Bath may ferve for a fpecimen .
IVLIUSv VITALISv FABRI
CESISv LEGv XXv Vv V
STIPENDIORETMv &c.
After every woid here, except at the end of a line, we
fee this mark v. There is an infcription in Mount-
faucon, which has a capital letter laid in an horizontal
pofition, by way of interftitial mark, which makes one
apt to think that this way of pointing was fometimes
according to the fancy of the graver.
P. FERRARIVS HERMES
CAECINIAE Hi DIGNAE
CONIVGI H KARRISSIMAE
NVMERIAE H &c.
Flere we obferve after the words a T laid horizontally,
but not after each word, which proves this to be of a
much later age than the former.
Having now confidered that the prefent ufage of
flops was unknown to the ancients, we proceed to af-
fign the time in which this ufeful imprsvement of lan¬
guage began.
As it appears not to have taken place while manu-
fcripts and monumental infcriptions weie the only
known methods to convey knowledge, we mull con¬
clude that it was introduced with the. art. of printing.
The 14th cenlurv, to which we are indebted for this
invention, did not, however, bellow thofe appendages
we call flops : whoever will be at the pafns to examine
the firil printed books, will difcover no Hops of any
kind ; but arbitrary marks here and there, according
to the humour of the printer. In the 15th century,
we obferve their firil appearance. M e find, . in
the books of this age, that they were not all produced at
the fame time ; thofe we meet with there in me, be¬
ing only the comma, the parenthefis, the inlei roga¬
tion, and the full point. To prove this, we need but
look into Bale’s A£ts of Englifb Votaries, black-letter,
printed 1 S5°’ Indeed, in the dedication of this book,
which is to Edward VI. we difcover a colon : but, as
this is the only one of the kind throughout the work,
it is plain this flop was not eftahlifhed at this time,
and fo warily put in by the printer ; or if it was, that
it was not in common ufc. '1 hirty years after this
time, in that fenfible and judicious performance of
£>k Thomas Elyot, entitled ‘The Govet novtp imprinted
! ] PUN
1580, we fee the colon as frequently introduced. as Purnflum
any other flop ; but the femi-colon and the admiration punjca
were Hill wanting, neither of thefe being vifible in _—
this book. In Hackluyt’s voyages, printed 1599,
we fee the firfl inflance of a femi-colon : and, as if the
editors did not fully apprehend the propriety of its ge¬
neral admiffion, it is but fparingly introduced. The
admiration was the lafl flop that was invented ; and
feems to have been added to the reft in a period not fo
far diftant from our own time.
Thus we fee, that thefe notes of diftinftion came
into ufe as learning was gradually advanced and im¬
proved ; one invention indeed, but enlarged by feveral
additions. „ , r n -•
PUNCTUM saliens, in anatomy, the firft rudi¬
ments of the heart in the formation of the foetus, where
a throbbing motion is perceived. This is faid to be
eafily obferved with a microfcope in a brood-egg, where¬
in, after conception, we fee a little fpeck or cloud, in
the middle whereof is a fpot that appears to beat or
leap a confiderable time before the fetus is formed for
hatching. See the article Foetus, and Anatomr,
Punctum ftartS) a pbrafe by which the fchoolmen
vainly attempted to bring within the reach of human
comprehenlion the pofitive eternity of God. Thofe
fubtile reafoners feem to have difeovered that nothing,
which is made up of parts whether continuous or dif-
crete, can be abfolutely infinite, and that therefore eter¬
nity cannot confift of a boundlefs feries of fucccffive
moments. Yet, as if fuch a feries had always exifled
and were commenfurate in duration with the lupreme
Being, they compared his eternity to one of the mo¬
ments which compofe the flux of time arrefted in its
eourfe ; and to this eternal moment they gave the name
of punaum Jlnr.s, becaufe it was fuppofed to Hand Hill,
whilft the reft followed .each other in fuccefiion, all va-
nifhing as foon as they appeared. We need not w.afle
time or room in expofing the abfurdity of this conceit,
as we have elfewhere endeavoured, in the bell manner
that we can, to efeertain the meaning of the words eter¬
nity and infinityy and to fhow that they cannot be pre¬
dicated of time or fpace, of points or moments, whe--
ther flowing or Handing Hill. (See Metaphysics,
Part II. chap. 7. 8. and Part III. chap. 6.)
PUNCTURE, in furgery, any wound made by a
fharp-pointed inftrument.
Punct ure, in farriery. Sec there, § xl. 3.
PUNDITS, or Pendits, learned Bramins devoted
to the ftudy of the Shanfcrit language, and to the ancient
fcience, laws, and religion of Hiudoftan. See Phi¬
losophy, n° 4—12.
PUNICA, the POMEGRANATE TREE*. A genUS of
the monogynia order, belonging to the icofandria clafs
of plantst and in the natural method ranking under
the 36th order, Pomace*. The calyx is quinquefid fu-
perior; there are five petals ; the Iruit is a multiloculai
and polyfperraous apple.
Species. 1. The granatum, or common pomegra¬
nate, rifes with a tree Hem, branching numerouflv all the
way from the bottom, growing 18 or 20 feet high; with
fpear-fhaped, narrow oppofite leaves; and the branches-
terminated by mod beautiful large red flowers, fue-
ceeded by large roundifh fruit as big as an orange-
having a bard rind filled with foft pulp and numerous
feeds. There is a variety with double flowers, remark¬
able