Prime, v. To put in the first powder, to put powder in the pan of a gun.
Primero, s. A game at cards.
Privateer, s. A ship fitted out by private men to plunder enemies.
Produce, s. Product, that which anything yields or brings.
Produce Stakes. Vide Racing.
Projectile, s. A body thrown forward with violent force, as a stone from a sling, or a ball discharged from a cannon.
Proof, s. Evidence, testimony, convincing token; test, trial, experiment; firm temper, impenetrability; armour hardened till it will abide a certain trial.
Proof of Barrels.—There has been lately cast in the foundery at Ruelle, near Angoulême, a cannon, after a model differing a little from that formerly adopted, and which has been submitted to an extraordinary trial, called “proof to the utmost.” This trial, the result of which was to burst the piece, was composed of two series, one of fifty, the other of fifty-seven shots, in which the charge was successively increased, so that the quantity of powder in the charge was raised to twenty-eight pounds instead of six, and the number of balls amounted to twelve. For the last six shots they succeeded in filling the barrel entirely with clay over the balls; and besides, in some of the last shots they secured each by four iron wedges, fastened on in such a manner that the number of these wedges was sixteen for the 106th shot, and as many for the last.
Prophylactic, s. A preventive against canine madness.
The oldest prophylactic with which we are acquainted is suction. We have very ancient records of its employment, and, if we can believe these legends, a particular family enjoyed the privilege, or devoted themselves to this process of drawing, by the application of the mouth to the wound, the poison inserted by a venomous animal. A ligature has also been recommended to stop the progress of the rabid poison, but, according to the present theories, it can have no preventive efficacy whatever.