POU ( 6G9 ) POU
; Belidor , in his Art of Engineering, re-commends small arched magazines to beconstructed on the right and left of* thepaths that lead to these gates.
POTEST AS, or Imperium, a com-mand among the Homans, which camedirect from the people, and withoutwhich authority no general could carryon the war. Of this description wasthe command given to Fabius, and af-terwards divided by the people betweenhim and Minucius. See Presumption .
POUCH, (giberne , Fr.) a case of blacki stout leather with a Hap over it, whicli isgenerally ornamented by a brass crown,i &c. for the battalion-men ; a fuse forthe grenadiers; and a bugle-horn for thelight infantry. The pouch hangs fromi a cross belt, over the left shoulder,and is worn in that manner, by the in-fantry, for the purpose of carrying theirammunition. The pouches in use among■ the cavalry are smaller, whicli theFrench call demie giberne.
Pouch -flap, the outside covering ofthe pouch. It is made of the stoutestblackened calf-skin, and ought always tobe substantial enough to turn the se-verest weather.
POUCE, Fr. an inch, or the twelfthpart of a French foot;, which is likewisedivided into twelve parts, called lines.The superficial square inch contains 144of these lines, and the cubic inch hast 1728.
j Pouce de pied cube, Fr. cubic foot! inch is a parallelopiped whose base is a; square foot, and whose height is one• inch, and which is consequently worth144 cubic inches.
Pouce de pied quarrt, Fr. squarefoot inch is a rectangle, whose base hasone inch upon one toise of elevation,
- and which contains 72 square inches.
Pouce desolive, Fr. a parallelopiped,whose base is one inch square, and whichhas one toise in height. Thus an inchof timber, or a wooden peg, is the same, thing.
| Pouce dleau, Fr. a term used amongdiggers of wells, or searchers of springs.It consists of an opening of one inchdiameter, which, according to M. Ma-riotte, must give fourteen pints of water,Paris measure, in a minute, 810 pints in' an hour, and 20,160 pints in twenty-i four hours. See BGlidor’s article on thisi head, in the first part of his Architecture! Hydraulique, vol. i. p. 135.
POUDRE a canon , Fr, See Gun-
powder. The reader is referred, forfurther particulars respecting the inven-tion of this powder, to Dictionnaire deJilathematique de M. Saverien, underArtillerie ; and, for its composition andmanufacture, to the second part of Be-lidor’s Bombardier Frangais. See Traitesur l’Influence de la Poudre d Canon ;Also, Traite des Fcux d’Artifice de M.Frezier, new edition, printed at Paris in1747.
Poudre muette, poudre sourde, Fr. aspecies of gunpowder which is free fromnoise or detonation.
Poudre fulminunte, Fr. a species ofgunpowder which makes a greater noisethan the common sort. This powder iscomposed of three parts saltpetre, twoparts salt of tartar, and one part sul-phur.
Poudre d gros gruins, Fr. gunpowderwhich is used for artillery pieces. It islikewise called poudre a canon.
Poudre d mousquet, Fr. gunpowderused for muskets, and other fire-arms.
POUDlilER, Fr. a gunpowder ma-ker. It also signifies an hour-glass.
POVERTY, (pauvrete, Fr.) indigence,necessity, want of riches; which, by somefools, is reckoned a crime, although it betoo frequently the concomitant of merit.Poverty also means mental defect; wantof understanding.
Poverty, a goddess adored by thePagans , and familiar to Christians. Shew r as reverenced, as a deity, by the hea-thens, because they feared her, and wasvery justly considered as the mother ofindustry and the fine arts. Among mili-tary men, poverty is seldom felt whilst theactive duties of the profession are exe-cuted with zeal and good sense; and theindividuals entrusted with them are notonly paid with punctuality, but are se-cured in their honest hopes of promo-tion. Economy is the basis on whichevery soldier should build his views ofpersonal comfort and independence; andif he attends to the perpetual calls of ser-vice, he will not fail to realize them. Fora life of real service affords no scope toextravagance; and when a good soldierbecomes unequal to the hardships it im-poses, the nation should provide for him.
Badge of Poverty. The militarycockade is sometimes so called; and notwithout a wounding application to itswearer, especially if he have nothing buthis pay to subsist upon.
POUF, Ind, a word used among the