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PROTHERO 363 PROUTY "unwilling to prophesy, and tried to es- cape by adopting all manner of shapes and disguises. When he found his en- deavors hopeless he resumed his proper form, and then spoke out unerringly about the future. PROTHERO, ROWLAND EDMUND, an English historian born in 1852 at Clifton-on-Teme in Hampshire. Edu- cated at Balliol College, Oxford, he grad- uated with high honors in modern his- tory and obtained a fellowship in All Souls' College in 1875. From 1894 to 1899 he was editor of the "Quarterly Review." He became one of the princi- pal editors of the "Cambridge Modern History," the most authoritative and scholarly of all the general modern his- tories in English. Among his other his- torical works are: "Letters of Edward Gibbon" (1896) ; "Life of Queen Vic- toria" (1897) ; "Letters and Journals of Lord Byron" (1900). PROTOCOL, the original draft or copy of a deed, contract or other document. In diplomacy, the minutes or rough draft of an instrument or transaction; the original copy of a treaty, dispatch, or other document; a document serving as the preliminary to diplomatic negotia- tions; a diplomatic document or minute of proceedings, signed by the representa- tives of friendly powers in order to se- cure certain political ends peacefully; a convention not subject to the formalities of ratification. PROTO-NOTARY, a member of the College of Proto-notaries Apostolic in the papal curia, whose duties are to register pontifical acts, make and keep the records of beatifications, etc. PROTOPLASM, in biology, etc., the living matter from which all kinds of living things are formed and developed, and to the properties of which all their functions are ultimately referred. It was first noticed and described by Roesel von Rosenhof, in his account of the Pro- teus-animalcule, and was named sarcode by Dujardin in 1835. PROTORNIS, a genus of Passerine birds, with one species, Protornis glan- ensie, from the Lower Eocene Slates of Claris. It was somewhat similar to a lark, and is the earliest known Passerine. PROTOROSAURUS, or PROTERO- SAtTRUS, a genus of Lacertilia, founded by Von Meyer, to include what was deemed the fossil monitor of Thuringia. The neck is long, the skull of moderate size, the tail long and slender, the teeth sharp-pointed and implanted in sockets, the cervical vertebrse slightly amphicoe- lous. PROTOZOA, a group of animals, oc- cupying the lowest place in the animal kingdom. They consist of a single cell, or or a group of cells not differentiated into two or more tissues ; incapable, as a rule, of assimilating nitrogen in its dif- fusible compounds. The food is taken into the protoplasm, either by a special- ized mouth or by any part of the cell sub- stance, in the form of particles. PROTRACTOR, a mathematical in- strument, used in drawing or plotting, for the laying down of angles. It is variously shaped, and may be circular, semicircular, or rectangular. PROUDHON, PIERRE JOSEPH, a French publicist; born in Besangon, France, July 15, 1809. He was em- ployed in various printing offices till 1837, but had found time to think and study. The sense of the inequality of conditions among men, and of the social stigma attached to poverty, gave perma- nent direction to his speculations and en- deavors. In 1840 appeared his famous memoir, entitled, "What is Property?" his answer to this question, "Property is Theft," being almost all that is popu- larly known of him. After the revolu- tion of February, 1848, Proudhon was editor of *'The People's Representa- tive," and attracted great attention and popularity, and was chosen member of the Constituent Assembly. But he found no hearing, and therefore started a newspaper under the title of "The Peo- ple," which was suppressed. In 1849, he founded his People's Bank, but being soon after sentenced, under the press laws, to three years' imprisonment and a fine, he left France, and the bank was closed by the government. He died in Passy, France, Jan 19, 1865. PROUT, SAMUEL, an English water- color painter; born in Plymouth, Eng- land, Sept. 17, 1783. He studied from nature, and sketched with Hay don through Devon and Cornwall, his draw- ings in the latter county being made for Britton's "Beauties of England and Wales." In 1805 he removed to Lon- don, in 1815 was elected to the Water- color Society. He died Feb. 9, 1852. PROUTY, CHARLES AZRO, an American economist. Born in 1853 at Newport, Vt., he graduated from Dart- mouth College in the class of '75, and was admitted to the bar in 1882. From 1888 to 1896 he held the position of re- porter of the Vermont Supreme Court. President McKinley in 1897 appointed him a member of the Interstate Com- merce Commission and in a few years was a recognized master of the growing problem of transportation. In 1912 he