Protandry (prō̇-tăn′drĭ), (in plants), a condition in which the stamens are mature and shedding pollen before the stigma of the same flower is ready to receive it. See Pollination.
Protec′tion is the aid given by government to particular industries by bounties by taxation of other industries or, more commonly, by tariff or import-duties on foreign products. See Political Economy.
Protec′tor, a title which has sometimes been conferred on the regent or governor of the kingdom during the minority of the sovereign. Oliver Cromwell in 1653 took the title of lord-protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and ruled under that title until his death.
Pro′teids, a large group of organic compounds found in animals and plants. They form the chief constituents of blood, muscle, nerves, glands and other organs of animals, and play an important part in plant-life. Although much work has been done in attempting to learn their exact chemical constitution, little definite is yet known. They are amorphous, and contain about 54 parts carbon, 7 hydrogen, 16 nitrogen, 21 oxygen and from 1 to 1½ sulphur. They differ widely in solubility and in their decomposition-products. Food-stuffs have been divided into two divisions: heat-producing and tissue-forming, the amyloids and fats constituting the former and proteids the latter division. This, however, is very misleading if it implies that the oxidation of proteids does not develop heat and that amyloids and fats subserve only the production of heat. Proteids are tissue-formers, but they also are heat-producers because they are competent by chemical metamorphosis in the body to give rise to amyloids. The following is one of the several classifications that have been made of proteids:
I. Albumens, soluble in water: 1. Serum; albumen; 2. Egg albumen.
II. Globulins, insoluble in water, soluble in very dilute acids and alkalies, soluble in dilute solutions of sodic chloride and other neutral salts: 1. Myosin; 2. Globulin; 3. Fibrinogen; 4. Vitellin.
III. Derived albumens, insoluble in water and solutions of sodic chloride, soluble in dilute acids and alkalies; 1. Acid albumen; 2. Alkali albumen or albuminate casein.
IV. Fibrin, insoluble in water, sparingly soluble in dilute acids and alkalies and in neutral saline solutions.
V. Coagulated albuminoids,
VI. Amyloid substance or lardacein.
VII. Peptones, produced by action of the gastric juice on all albuminoids.
Protestantism, a term derived from the protest of Luther and his adherents against the decree passed by the Roman Catholic states at the second Diet of Speier, in 1529. The principles involved in this protest were that the Roman church has no authority over the Reformed church, that the authority of the Bible is supreme and above that of bishops and councils and that it is to be interpreted, not according to tradition, but by its own language. The right of private judgment in reference to the interpretation of the Scriptures is the principle of Protestantism that especially distinguishes it from Roman Catholicism. Protestant churches are divided into numerous branches, with wide differences of doctrine and forms of worship, but all agree in the assertion of independence from the Roman see.
Proteus (prō′tē̇-ŭs or prō′tūs), in the oldest Greek mythology, appears as an old man of the sea who tends the seal-flocks of Neptune, his father and is endued with the gift of prophecy. His favorite residence, according to Homer, is the island of Pharos, near the mouth of the Nile. Here he rises at midday from the floods, and sleeps in the shadow of the rocky shores, surrounded by the monsters of the deep. But when caught by persons who sought to have him foretell future events, he would try to escape by assuming all manner of ugly shapes and disguises, and would refuse to exercise his gift until he found that further resistance would be useless.
Prothallium (prō̇-thăl′lĭ-ŭm), among plants, is a name applied in a general way to the gametophytes of Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes. It specially belongs, however, to the ferns, in which the prothallium, often written prothallus, is a quite distinct but very small green and notched thallus. Upon the under side of this small body the antheridia and archegonia occur. From the fertilized egg within the archegonium the ordinary leafy fern-plant arises. When in other plant-groups the prothallium ceases to be independent, as in seed-plants, it often retains the name. For example, many would speak of the female gametophyte (endosperm) found in seeds as a female prothallium. See Gametophyte.
Proth′ero, George Walter, English historian, was born in Wiltshire, Oct. 14, 1848, and educated at Eton, Cambridge and the University of Bonn. From 1876 to 1894 he was tutor and university lecturer at Cambridge, after which, for five years, he was professor of history at Edinburgh University. In 1899 he succeeded his brother as editor of The London Quarterly Review. His published work embraces The Life of Simon de Monfort; Memoir of Henry Bradshaw; and The British History Reader. Rowland Edmund Prothero, besides editing The Quarterly, has published The Life of Dean Stanley, besides editing the latter's Letters, Letters of Edward Gibbon, Letters of Byron and Letters of Richard Ford. He has also written a Life of Queen Victoria, a memoir of Prince Henry of Battenburg, The Psalms in Human Life and Pioneers of English Farming.
