ssion which was guaranteed by France, the States-General, and the
most of the European Powers.

PRAGUE (310), capital of Bohemia, on the Moldau, 217 m. by rail NW.
of Vienna, is a picturesque city with over 70 towers, a great royal
palace, unfinished cathedral, an old town-hall, a picture-gallery,
observatory, botanical garden, and museums; the University, partly German
and partly Czech, has 300 teachers, 4000 students, and a magnificent
library; the centre of an important transit trade, Prague is the chief
commercial city of Bohemia; has manufactures of machinery, chemicals,
leather, and textile goods; four-fifths of the population are Czechs;
founded in the 12th century, it has suffered in many wars; was captured
by the Hussites 1424, fell frequently during the Thirty Years' War,
capitulated to Frederick the Great 1757, and in 1848 was bombarded for
two days by the Austrian Government in quelling the democratic
demonstrations of the Slavonic Congress of that year.

PRAIRIE, name given by the French to an extensive tract of flat or
rolling land covered with tall, waving grass, mostly destitute of trees,
and forming the great central plain of North America, which extends as
far N. as Canada.

PRAKRIT, name given to a group of Hindu languages based on Sanskrit.

PRATIQUE, license given to a ship to enter port on assurance from
the captain to convince the authorities that she is free from contagious
disease.

PRAXITELES, great Greek sculptor, born at Athens; executed statues
in both bronze and marble, and was unrivalled in the exhibition of the
softer beauties of the human form, especially the female figure, his most
celebrated being the marble one of Aphrodite at Cnidus; he executed
statues of Eros, Apollo, and Hermes as well, but they have all perished.

PRAYING-WHEELS, cylinders with printed prayers on them, driven by
hand, water, or wind-power, in use among the Buddhists of Thibet.

PRE-ADAMITES, a race presumed to have existed on the earth prior to
Adam; traditional first fathers of the Jews.

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES, name given to the gradual shifting of
the equinoctial points along the ecliptic from east to west. See
EQUINOXES.

PRECIEUSES RIDICULES, a play of Moliere's, published in 1653,
directed against the affectations of certain literary coteries of the
day.

PREDESTINATION, the eternal decree which in particular foreordains
certain of the human family to life everlasting an