an idea of the extent of the Phoenician trade and commerce. Safe and neighboring harbors must, therefore, have been of importance to the Sidonians. On this account they built houses around a natural harbor, and erected a castle (Zor) on a rock. Numbers gradually settled here, and if, with Josephus and Trogus Pompeius, we believe that Tyre was built about 1184, then we must suppose that at this time it received a large colony, which converted the fortress into a city. In a short time, the little town grew so important, that, from 1000 to about 600 B. C., it was the head of the Phoenician confederacy, as Sidon had previously been. They had not power to carry on foreign wars, and they had no occasion for defence; they sought to extend their dominion by the peaceful colonization of uninhabited countries, and by alliances. We hear first of the Tyrians being engaged in wars on account of the attacks of the Asiatic conquerors, who were allured by their riches; these they carried on with mercenary troops. About the year 1000, Hiram, son of Abibal, concluded treaties of commerce and friendship with David and Solomon. Ithobal, king of Tyre and Sidon, about 900 B. C., was the father of Jezabel. He built several cities in Phoenicia, and peopled Auza, in Africa. To his son, Badozor, succeeded Mutgo (Muttinus or Mutgenus), father of Pygmalion, Barca, Dido and Anna. Dido, on account of a dispute with Pyginalion (B. C. 888), fled with Barca and Anna, and founded Carthage. (q. v., and Dido.) The neighboring island Cyprus must have been then under the dominion of the Tyrians, for Pygmalion here built Carpasia. Tyre must have subsequently maintained its superiority over the Phoenician cities, and probably abused it, for we find that the Cytheans of Cyprus revolted under the conduct of Elulæus (about B. C. 700), and called the Assyrians to their aid. Elulæus, however, again submitted, and Salmanassar concluded peace. On this, Sidon, and many other Tyrian cities, revolted and submitted to Salmanassar, whom they supplied with ships. But the hostile fleet of sixty vessels was destroyed by a Tyrian squadron containing only twelve, and the Assyrians were obliged, after five years, to raise the siege of Tyre. Thus Tyre remained 100 years superior to the Israelites. In the mean time, Sidon appears to have again risen, and to have become independent of Tyre. The alliance with Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar proved fatal to them. Sidon was destroyed; Tyre was taken, after a

thirteen years' siege, and never recovered its former greatness. Most of the inhabitants fled with their treasures to the insular Tyre, which now became the centre of the commerce of the world. Itobal, who perished in this siege, was succeeded by Baal, who was probably a vassal of Babylon. During the seven years after his death, suffetes were chosen by the people. The government was afterwards again administered by kings subject to the Babylonian sovereignty. In the time of Cyrus (B. C. 555), Tyre, and probably all Phoenicia, fell under the Persian yoke. The kings of Tyre and Sidon, Mapenus and Tetramnestus, are mentioned as the most experienced seamen in the fleet of Xerxes, at the battle of Salamis, about B. C. 481. Sidon was at this time the richest city of Phoenicia, and was at the head of the insurrection against Artaxerxes, Mnemon and Ochus. Tennes, king of Sidon, assisted by the Greeks and Mentor, defeated (B. C. 361) the Persians; but Ochus, appearing with a formidable force, and the city, though strongly fortified, having fallen into his hands, by the treachery of Tennes, the Sidonians, in despair (B. C. 350), burned themselves and their property. Other Sidonians, who were absent at this time, rebuilt the city, on their return. When Alexander entered Phoenicia, after the battle of Issus, the Sidonians (B. C. 333) submitted without a struggle, and received for a king, instead of Strato, Abdolonymus, of the blood royal, but then a gardener. After a siege of seven months, the aid of the Carthaginians not having arrived, Tyre, at length, fell by treachery, and was reduced to ashes; part of the inhabitants were put to death, and part sold for slaves. Alexander rebuilt the city, but it never attained its former importance. It afterwards fell under the dominion of the Seleucidæ, as did Sidon under that of the Macedonians. About 65 B. C., the Romans took possession of it. From that time Phoenicia shared the fate of Syria. Tyre was an important rendezvous for the crusaders (1099). The sultan of Egypt, who took it in 1223, was soon driven out by the Franks, as were, also, the Tartars, in 1263, who had made themselves masters of it under Hou laku, together with the rest of Syria. It was finally subdued, in 1292, by the Egyptian sultan, since which it has shared the fate of the ruling country. The Phonicians are more important when considered in reference to their commerce, navigation and manufactures, than in respect of the events of their history. Compelled

by the unfruitfulness of their soil, they early betook themselves to the sea as pirates, and they gradually extended their voyages to the remotest countries. They bartered the productions of one country for those of another. They discovered the manufacture of glass, wool and purple, and executed all kinds of mechanical works. Their situation would lead the Phoenicians to trade particularly in the Mediterranean. Cyprus was their nearest landing-place; thence they extended their voyages to Greece and the Grecian islands. In Rhodes and Crete they established colonies. But when the Greeks themselves became a powerful and commercial people, the Phoenicians turned to the northern coasts of Africa. Here, as in Sicily and Sardinia, they founded colonies, by means of which they traded to the interior of Africa, and with which they always continued on good terms. But their trade to Spain was the most important. Here they found gold, iron, silver, tin and lead. The preserved fruits of the south were an important article of commerce. Gades (Cadiz), the most celebrated of their colonies, was the limit of the voyages in the Mediterranean, and the beginning of the more distant voyages in the Atlantic. They sailed northerly to the Cassiterides, Tin islands (the Scilly isles and Britain), and into the North sea, as far as the mouth of the Rhine. On the western coast of Lybia they must have visited and peopled the island of Madeira and the Fortunate islands (Canaries). Their trade to Ophir, on the Arabian gulf, and on the Persian gulf, perhaps as far as Ceylon, was less important and of shorter duration. Their circumnavigation of Africa is uncertain. They traded also in goods brought to them in caravans from the interior of Asia and Africa. For a long time their trade was entirely by barter; for the Numidians, not the Phonicians, are considered to have stamped the first coins. They invented, or at least improved, ship-building. They used rudders and sails, and followed, by night, the course of the stars. The invention of letters and arithmetic has been attributed to them, and they probably had considerable astronomical and mechanical knowledge. On the other hand, poetry and the higher branches of mental cultivation were not pursued by them. Of their writings nothing is preserved to us. Their language belongs to the Canaanite branch of the Semitic family, and is little understood. Their religion was polytheism, with the worship of images, and human

sacrifices. Their chief god was called by the Greeks Cronos (Saturn), by the He brews Baal or Bel, also Adonis (Lord), whose worship spread into Greece and Egypt (Osiris). Their principal goddess was Baaltis (Ísis), or Astarte, or Astaroth, called by the Greeks Aphrodite (Venus). In Tyre, Melcarth (Hercules) was worshipped as a local deity, and his worship extended thence to other countries. The Phoenicians likewise worshipped the Cabiri. The character of this commercial people was not very high among the ancients.-For further information respecting Phoenicia, see Heeren's works (eleventh volume, 1824).

PHENIX; a Greek coin, lately introduced, and equal to the sixth part of a dollar.

PHENIX; a wonderful Egyptian bird, about the size of an eagle, with plumage partly red, and partly golden. This bird is said to come from Arabia to Egypt, every 500 years, at the death of his parent, bringing the body with him, embalmed in myrrh, to the temple of the sun, where he buries it. According to others, when he finds himself near his end, he prepares a nest of myrrh, and precious herbs, in which he burns himself: but from his ashes he revives in the freshness of youth. From late mythological researches, it is conjectured that the phoenix is a symbol of a period of 500 years, of which the conclusion was celebrated by a solemn sacrifice, in which the figure of a bird was burnt. His restoring his youth signifies that the new springs from the old. Every thing which more than sixty authors have related of this bird-Strabo, Lucian, Pliny, Plutarch, Herodotus, and others, and all the researches of the French and Italians

may be found in Ant. Métral's work Le Phénix, ou l'Oiseau du Soleil (Paris, 1824).

PHONETIC (from pwvtw, I speak); a term applied to written characters which represent sounds, as a, b, in contradistinction to ideographic characters, which express ideas; e. g. the Chinese signs of a hand and a skin, to signify tanner.-(For further information on this subject, see the articles Hieroglyphics, Chinese Language, and Writing; see also Philology, and Palenque.)

PHONOLOGY. (See Philology.)

PHORCUS, or PHORCYS; son of Pontus and Terra, or, according to others, of Neptune and the nymph Thesea, was the father of many sea-monsters; for instance, the Gorgons, and the Hesperian dragon; according to some, also of Scylla and

Thoosa, whom his sister Ceto bore to him.

PHOSPHORESCENCE is the property which certain bodies possess of becoming luminous without undergoing combustion, as when we rub or heat them, or in consequence of the action of the living principle or of decomposition. Two pieces of quartz emit light on being rubbed together. Light is seen in breaking lumps of sugar. A variety of blende (sulphuret of zinc), on being scratched with a knife, emits a fine yellow light. In the year 1663, Mr. Boyle observed, that the diamond, when slightly heated, rubbed, or compressed, emitted a light almost equal to that of the glow-worm. The most complete account we possess of the phosphorescence of minerals is that furnished by doctor Brewster. He obtained his results by placing fragments of the bodies examined upon a thick mass of iron heated a little below redness, or introducing them into a pistol barrel similarly heated. The following table presents some of his results :Name of the Minerals.

Fluor spar,

Color of the Minerals

Color of the Light

green.

pink,

purple,

bluish.

bluish white,

blue.

Petalite,

Anatase,

white & bluish, reddish, reddish white,

dark brown,

white sparks. yellowish. yellow. reddish yellow. do.

bluish. scarlet. bright blue.

reddish yellow. The phosphorescence of anatase is entirely different from that of the other minerals. It appears suddenly like a flame, and is soon over. Certain varieties of fluor require no more heat than that of the hand to occasion the emission of light. The phosphoric light of minerals has the same properties as the direct light of the sun. The foregoing are instances in which it was not necessary to expose the bodies to the light previous to their exhibiting phosphorescence. Certain artificial compounds emit light in consequence of the action of extraneous light. The most powerful of these is the compound called Canton's phosphorus. It is formed by mixing three parts of calcined oyster-shells in powder, with one of flowers of sulphur, and ramming the mixture into a crucible, and igniting it for half an hour. The bright parts will, on exposure to the sun-beam, or to the common day-light, or to an electrical explosion, acquire the property of shining in the dark, so as to illuminate the

dial of a watch, and make its figures legible. It will, indeed, after a while, cease to shine; but if we keep the powder in a well corked phial, a new exposure to the sun's light will restore the phosphorescent quality. When the electric discharge is transmitted along the surfaces of certain bodies, or a little above them, a somewhat durable phosphorescence is produced. Sulphate of barytes gives a bright green light, acetate of potash a brilliant green light, and rock crystal, a red and then white light. Temperature has a marked effect on the emission of light by these bodies. When they are shining, the luminous appearance ceases if they are exposed to the cold of a freezing mixture. It becomes more vivid by applying heat; and if it has ceased, it may be renewed by applying a stronger heat, so that a piece of any solar phosphorus, which has apparently lost its power, may by heat be again made to shine. Some of the phosphorescent bodies, just mentioned, after their luminousness is over, upon partially heated iron, yield on fusion a very vivid light. Lime is the substance possessing this property in the most remarkable degree. If a piece of calcareous spar is placed on charcoal before the compound blow-pipe, it emits a light so vivid and white that it can scarcely be looked upon. The following fluids, have been found by doctor Brewster to be phosphorescent when poured into a cup of heated iron: Albumen (white of an egg) diluted in water, isinglass in solution, saliva, soap and water, solution of rhubarb, do. of common salt, do. of nitre, tallow (the phosphorescence of which may be observed when a candle is extinguished in a dark room), alcohol, oil of dill-seeds and oil of olives. Several cryptogamous plants have been observed to be luminous in the dark. The Rhizomorpha phosphoreus found in the mines of Hesse exhibits light when the extremities of the plant are broken. Other species of Rhizomorpha have also appeared phosphorescent to the miners. But marine animals are the most remarkable for this property; and to them is now fairly attributed the once mysterious phosphorescence of the ocean. This phenomenon is occasionally observable every where at sea; but it is in warmer regions and more southern latitudes, that it attains its greatest degree of brilliancy and beauty. In these parts it has been thus described by a scientific observer:-" At one time, the evening serene and delightful, a pleasant breeze just filling the sails, and the bow of the vessel throwing the water to each side, as it

gracefully parts the yielding waves, all round the ship, far as the eye can reach, may be seen innumerable bright spots of light rising to the surface, and again disappearing, like a host of small stars dancing and sparkling on the bosom of the sea. At another time, the night dark and lowering, a fresh breeze urging the ship rapidly onwards through her pathless track, upon looking over the stern, in addition to the smaller specks just now mentioned, large globes of living fire may be seen wheeling and dancing in the smooth water in the wake of the rudder; now, at a great depth shining through the water, then rising rapidly to the surface, they may be seen, as they reach the top of the wave, flashing a bright spark of light, sufficient almost to dazzle the eyes of the beholder; and now, again, they may be traced floating majestically along, till they gradually disappear in the darkness of the water in the distance. At other times, again, when light rain is falling, or perhaps previously to the rain coming on, when a light nimbose cloud is overspreading the sky, upon the water being agitated by the ship passing through it, or curled up by a rope towing overboard in a bight, a beautiful, general luminousness is diffused all around, bright enough to illuminate the whole ship's side, and the lower large sails which may be set at the time; and it is no unusual occurrence to have this appearance so bright, that a person with little difficulty, and near the surface of the water, might be enabled to read." That all this light is afforded by little animalcules there cannot be the smallest room for doubt; for they have been caught in the very act of giving out the luminous appearance, and in vast numbers; and in every instance where the water has been properly examined when luminous, they have been seen in great quantities; while, on the other hand, when the water has not been luminous, they have not been visible. They have been described and figured by naturalists, who have studied them by the aid of powerful microscopes; and they are found to belong to the mollusca, the vermes, the crustacea and the zoophytes. Light is also emitted from certain land insects, as from the lightning-bug and the glow-worm. A kind of phosphorescence, still different, is that observed in decomposing animal and vegetable matter. It appears during the putrefaction of fishes, especially, but has been observed also from the flesh of quadrupeds. Our woods during autumn frequently exhibit a high degree of luminousness in light rotten wood. 10

VOL. X.

PHOSPHORUS was discovered by Brandt in 1669, though there are some reasons for believing that the alchemists of an earlier period were also acquainted with this substance. Brandt kept his process secret for some time. Kunckel, another German chemist, knowing only that Brandt had procured it from urine, entered on the investigation, and succeeded in discovering the process. Mr. Boyle, in England, also discovered it, and Godfrey Hankwitz, a man who was taught the process by Boyle, sold it for many years, at a high price, in Londen. In. 1769, Ghau, a pupil of Scheele of Sweden, having discovered that phosphate of lime is the basis of bones, invented the process now generally followed. It is as follows:-100 parts of burnt bones in powder are to be mixed with 40 parts of sulphuric acid, and they are to be suffered to remain in contact for two days, the mixture being frequently stirred. The whole is then to be poured upon a filtre of cloth, and the liquor that passes through is to be added to a nitrous solution of lead; a white powder will be formed; this must be mixed with about one fifth of its weight of charcoal powder, and exposed to a strong red heat in a porcelain retort, the beak of which is plunged in water; much gaseous matter will come over, some of which will inflame spontaneously, and at length a substance will drop out of the neck of the retort, and congeal under the water, which is phosphorus. It may be purified by melting it in water, and passing it under water through chamois leather. It is semitransparent, and of a white, or yellowish-white color; it is as soft as wax; insoluble in water; specific gravity, 1.77. It melts at the temperature of 90° Fahr., and boils at 550°. When phosphorus is exposed to air at common temperatures, it emits a white smoke, which appears luminous in the dark. This depends upon its combining with oxygen, and forming an acid which unites with the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere, and they fall down in the fluid form. When phosphorus is heated to about 148°, it takes fire, and burns with intense brilliancy, throwing off dense white smoke, which is a strong acid, that soon becomes liquid by taking moisture from the air. forms three acids by combining with oxygen. When it is inflamed in oxygen gas over mercury, and the white substance produced strongly heated, the oxygen being in excess, for every grain of phosphorus burnt, four and a half cubic inches of oxygen are absorbed.

It

The substance so procured is phosphoric acid. It becomes fluid at a red heat, and is not volatile, even at a white heat. Its taste is intensely acid. It acts upon and corrodes glass, and unites with alkalies and oxides. When phosphorus is heated in highly rarefied air, three products result; one is phosphoric acid, another is an easily volatile substance, appearing as a white powder, and the third is a red solid, requiring a heat above that of boiling water for its fusion. The second substance is soluble in water, and the solution is possessed of acid properties. It contains less oxygen than the phosphoric acid; for it burns and becomes fixed when heated in the air. It is phosphorous acid. The third substance requires less oxygen than phosphorus to convert it into phosphoric acid, and is regarded as an oxide of phosphorus. Phosphorus burns in chlorine gas, and unites with it in two proportions, the one of which contains twice as much chlorine as the other. When these are thrown into water, the chloride is resolved into muriatic and phosphorous acids, the bi-chloride into muriatic and phosphoric acids. Iodine also acts upon phosphorus at common temperatures. It forms with sulphur compounds more inflammable than pure phosphorus. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and the expressed or volatile oils, especially by the aid of a little heat. The solutions in oils are luminous when exposed to the air. The compounds formed by phosphoric acid with the alkalies, earths and metallic oxides, are called the phosphates. Phosphates of alkalies are partially decomposed by heating with charcoal phosphate of ammonia is decomposed by heat alone. The phosphates of the alkaline earths are not decomposed when heated with charcoal. Before the blow-pipe both alkaline and earthy phosphates melt into a vitreous, transparent globule. They are soluble in nitric acid without effervescence, and precipitate from that solution by limewater or ammonia. Sulphuric acid decomposes them, and separates the phosphoric acid. The alkaline phosphates are soluble and crystallizable; the earthy ones are insoluble. The phosphites are distinguished from the phosphates by appearing luminous when heated before the blow-pipe, and by affording, on distillation, a small quantity of phosphorus. They become phosphates on exposure to the air for a little time. Phosphureted hydrogen. This interesting compound of phosphorus and hydrogen exists in the elastic form, and is obtained

by combining phosphorus with any substance which, by a resulting affinity, shall enable it to decompose water. Thus, if one part of phosphorus is heated with ten or twelve of a solution of potash, the alkali exerts this operation, the water present is decomposed, its oxygen combines with one proportion of the phosphorus, forming phosphoric acid, which unites with the potash; the hydrogen of the decomposed water combines with another portion of the phosphorus, producing phosphureted hydrogen. Or lime may be substituted for potash. The distinguishing peculiarity of this gas is its high inflammability, in consequence of which it takes fire whenever it is presented to the atmosphere. It cannot with safety be mixed with air in any quantity, from the violent detonation that would ensue, and it is therefore allowed to burn as it escapes from the water, in which the beak of the retort containing the materials producing it is immersed. The products of its combustion, as it escapes from the retort into the air, are phosphorous acid and watery vapor, which present at their formation a very singular appearance: the bubble of gas, as it escapes and inflames, expands into a horizontal ring of light white vapor, which enlarges in diameter as it rises until it breaks; this is phosphorous acid, wafted by the aqueous vapor, and it owes this corona form to the eccentric impulse of the explosion. It is supposed that many of those lights which are said to have been seen at night around burying-grounds, and other places, when animal and vegetable substances are undergoing decomposition, arise, in part at least, from phosphureted hydrogen. Bihydruret of phosphorus is a second compound of hydrogen with phosphorus, obtained when solid phosphorous acid is heated out of contact with the air: the oxygen of the water of crystallization present converts part of the phosphorous acid into the phosphoric, while the hydrogen, uniting with a small proportion of phosphorus, forms this gas. It is not spontaneously inflammable, but detonates when mixed with atmospheric air and heated to 212. Phosphorus is employed in the arts for the construction of fire-matches, and for the preparation of phosphoric acid. Its use in medicine has been attempted, but its violence is too great to be employed with safety. The phosphates are employed as fluxes, and in the composition of pastes for the imitation of gems.

PHOTIUS; a patriarch of Constantinople, celebrated, about the middle of the