descent, came to this country from Ireland, and his father, John, was a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary army, He was graduated in 1702, with the first honors, at Harvard, where he was tutor in Greek in 1795-'8, after teaching in Woburn and Cambridge. He had also studied theology, was licensed to preach in 1798, and on 16 July. 1799, was ordained pastor of the Federal street church in Boston, where he remained till 1802. He was pastor at Xewbury in 1804-'lo, then professor of Greek at Harvard on the college foundation till 1826, and Eliot professor of Greek literature, to succeed Edward Everett, till 1833. From the latter date till his death he lived in retirement in ('.tin- bridge. Harvard gave him the degree of D. D. in 1815, and he was a member of the American acade- my of arts and sciences. Dr. Popkin left the Uni- tarian faith for the orthodox Congregational, and finally became an Episcopalian. He was a profound Greek scholar. He edited the fourth American edition of Andrew Dalzel's " Collectanea Graeca Majora" (2 vols., Cambridge. 1824). and was the author of various occasional sermons, a Greek gram- mar (1828). and ' Three Lectures on Liberal Edu- cation " (1836). These last, with selections from other lectures, extracts from his sermons, and a memoir by Cornelius C. Felton, appeared after his death (1852).
PORCALLO DE FIGUEROA, Vaseo (por-cal-
yo), Spanish soldier, b. in Caceres, Spain, in 1404 ;
d. in Puerto Principe, Cuba, in 1550. He went to
Cuba when very young and served under Diego
Velazquez, the conqueror and first governor of the
island. He was the founder of several cities, among
others Remedios and Puerto Principe. Velazquez
selected him to command the expedition that he
intended to send against Cortes, but Porcallo de-
clined. In 1539 he accompanied Fernando de Soto
in his expedition to Florida, but he soon returned
to Cuba, and afterward resided in Puerto Principe.
PORCHER, Francis Peyre, physician, b. in
St. John's, Berkeley, S. C., 14 Dec.; 1825 ; d. in
Charleston, S. C.. 19 Nov., 1895. He was graduated
at the Medical college of the state of South Carolina
in 1847, where he occupied the chair of materia
medica and therapeutics. On graduating he settled
in Charleston, where he had since continued in the
active practice of his profession, also holding the
appointments of surgeon and physician to the ma-
rine and city hospitals. During the civil war he was
surgeon in charge of Confederate hospitals at Nor-
folk and Petersburg, Va. Dr. Porcher was president
of the South Carolina medical association in 1^7'J.
and. besides holding memberships in other societies,
was an associate fellow of the Philadelphia college
of physicians. He was one of the editors of the
"Charleston Medical Journal and Review." having
charge of the publication of five volumes of the
first series (1850-'o), and more recently of four vol-
umes of the second series (1873-'6). Dr. Porcher
was an enthusiastic botanist and had devoted con-
siderable attention to that subject. Besides numer-
ous fugitive contributions to the medical journals,
and articles in medical works, he had published "A
Medico-Botanical Catalogue of the Plants and Ferns
of St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina " (Charleston,
1847); "A Sketch of the Medical Botany of South
Carolina" (Philadelphia, 1849); "The 'Medicinal.
Poisonous, and Dietetic Properties of the Crypto-
gamie Plants ol' the United States " i New York,
1854); "Illustrations of Disease with the Mic-ro-
scope, and Clinical Investigations aided by the
Miercisenpeaiid lit ( 'hemieal Rea^'Hts" ^ 'liarli -I. m.
1861); mid lie-i>inve- ..| ih> Southern Fields and
Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural,"
published by order of the surgeon-general of the
Confederate states (Richmond, 1863; new and re-
vised ed.. Charleston. 1860).
PORET DE BLOSSEVILLE, Jules Alphonse Rene (po-ray), Baron, French navigator, b. in Rouen, 29 July, 1802; d. in the Arctic ocean about February, 1834. He entered the navy as a volun-
teer in 1818. served in the West Indies and South
America, and in 1833 was appointed commander
of the brig " La Liloise " and sent to the Arctic
ocean. Sailing from Brest in May, 1833, he visited
Iceland and Greenland, where he made astronomi-
cal observations, and prepared a valuable chart of
the western coast of the latter country. He had
reached latitude 83 N. when he was imprisoned by
the ice-fields, and sent news to France by a whaler.
This was the last that was heard of him, and several
French and English expeditions failed to find traces
of him. The expedition of " La Recherche et 1'A ven-
ture " ascertained through Esquimaux that Poret
advanced farther than latitude 84 N., and it is
supposed that his death was similar to that of Sir
John Franklin. His works include " Ilistoire des
decouvertes faites a diverges epoques par les navi-
gateurs" (Paris, 1826), and "Histoire des explora-
tions de 1'Amerique du Sud " (1832). His brother,
Viscount Beniqne Ernest, b. in Rouen, 19 Jan.,
1799; d. in 1882; was the author or translator of
several American novels, including " John Tanner,
ou 30 annees dans les deserts de 1'Amerique du
Nord " (Paris, 1839).
PORRAS, Martin de, clergyman, b. in Lima
in 1579; d. there in 1639. He was an illegitimate
son, his father being a nobleman and his mother a
negress. His youth was neglected, but he gave
evidence of so many virtues that his father deter-
mined to recognize him. He was then educated, and,
as his tastes lay in the direction of surgery, was
enabled to study that profession. He was noted
for his care of the poor, whom he attended without
fee : but the respect that this gained him in Lima
alarmed his humility, and he determined to retire
from the world. He joined the Dominicans in
1602, taking the lowest rank in the order that of
oblate brother. He was charged with the care of
the sick after his reception, and when a plague
broke out in Lima he was constant in his attend-
ance on its victims. The ravages of this epidemic
in one of the suburbs obliged his superiors to
send him thither, and he set out at once. Some
of the cures he performed were considered miracu-
lous, and he was summoned back to Lima. Tin-
rest of his life was spent in caring for the sirk.
It was believed in Peru that he had restored
many to life by supernatural agencies. After his
death, the chapter, university, and religious com-
munities of Lima demanded that he should be
honored on the altars of the church, and, after an
examination that lasted during the reign of Cle-
ment X., he was beatified under Gregory XVI.
PORRO, Francis, clergyman, d. about 1802. He was a member of the order of Franciscans, and belonged to the con vent of the Holy A post les in Rome. Bishop Portier, when he was at Rome in 1S20, saw a portrait of Porro as bishop of New Orleans. It was supposed that he was consecrated in 1802. and died on the eve of his departure for Louisiana. It is now believed that he was never consecrated, a- it was known at liome that the Spanish government was not likely to retain possession of Louisiana, in which case it was doubtful whether the diocese could support a bishop. See Archbishop Spalding's "Life of liishop Klairet."
POUTALES, Dieso Jose Victor (por-tah -les), Chilian soldier, h. in Santiago in June, 1793; d. in
