PLATTSBURG 272 PLAYFAIR PLATTSBURG, a town and county- seat of Clinton co., N. Y.; at the mouth of the Saranac river, which here enters Cumberland Bay, a part of Lake Cham- plain, and on the Delaware and Hudson, and the Chateaugay railroads; about 155 miles N. of Albany. Here are electric lights, public library, court house and jail, barracks for United States soldiers, custom house. Home for Aged Ladies, Home for the Friendless, Plattsburg Academy, a State Normal school, Na- tional banks, and a number of daily and weekly newspapers. The town has a large harbor, and ships lumber, grain, and other commodities. It has manu- factures of shirts, wood pulp, sewing machines, etc. On Oct. 11, 1776, one of the earliest naval actions of the Revolu- tionary War took place here, Benedict Arnold commanding the American forces. On Sept. 11, 1814, Commodore Mc- Donough gained a remarkable victory over the British fleet in Cumberland Bay. About the same time an American army under General Macomb repulsed a superior force which, under General Prevost, had attacked the town. Pop. (1910) 11,138; (1920) 10,909. PLATTSBURG TRAINING CAMPS, United^ States military barracks, estab- lished in 1838 and having a reservation of over 700 acres on the W. side of Lake Champlain, S. of Plattsburg, N. Y., on the Delaware and Hudson railroad. The barracks are among the largest in the United States, and is usually garrisoned by a regiment of infantry. The reserva- tion has often been used as a training camp in military exercises by business men from New York and the surround- ing towns, and in 1916 a training camp was established there by the Government. During the campaign for preparedness that preceded the entry of the United States into the European War, exercises in drill were carried on at Plattsburg continually, and college and business men went in large numbers to submit themselves to training. After the entry of the United States into the war, the training camps were greatly extended, and recruits were there put through their drill in great numbers. In 1915 the organizers of the camp at Plattsburg sought the co-operation of professional and business men from the south. The military encampments usu- ally lasted a month, during which the men were instructed in military calis- thenics, rifle practice, offensive and de- fensive field work, camp sanitation, trench digging, signalling, marching, and m the general duties of a soldier. Before the United States entered the war the number of men voluntarily at- tending ran up to about a thousand, and the cost of the instruction was about $60. The civic authorities co-operated and the policemen of New York who desired to attend camp were permitted to do so on full pay. General Wood inspected the camps of college students and addresses were delivered by Colonel Roosevelt and other public men. Among those who took the training were Mayor Mitchel and other New York City of- ficials. The men so trained were en- couraged to join the National Guard, and as a result of the work accomplished business men in Chicago and other cities had similar training camps established. On several occasions the trenches at Plattsburg were used in mimic battles. PLAUEN, one of the most important manufacturing towns of Saxony; on the Elster, 72 miles S. of Leipsic. Its chief industries are the manufacture of cotton goods, muslin, cambric, jaconet, and em- broidered fabrics, with in a secondary degree cigars, paper, machinery. Pop. about 130,000. PLAUTUS, T. MACCIUS, a Roman comic poet; born in Umbria, probably about 255 B. c. He spent the greater part of his life at Rome, where at one time he is said to have been reduced to the necessity of grinding corn with a handmill for a baker. He began to write plays about 220, and gained im- mense popularity with his countrymen by his numerous comedies. Twenty of his comedies are still extant out of the 21 pronounced genuine by Varro. One hundred and thirty were current under his name. His plays were still acted in the reign of Domitian, and some of them have been imitated by modern drama-: tists. He died 184 b. c. PLAYFAIR, SIR LYON, an English scientist; son of Dr. G. Playfair, in- spector-general of hospitals in Bengal; born in Meerut, Bengal, May 21, 1819; educated at St. Andrews and Edinburgh Universities. He studied chemistry un- der Graham in Glasgow and London, and under Liebig at Giessen. Inspector-gen- eral of government museums and schools of science in 1856, and was Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University 1858-1869. From 1868-1885 he repre- sented Edinburgh and St. Andrews Uni- versities in the House of Commons, and afterward the S. division of Leeds. He held several appointments under Liberal governments, including that of postmas- ter-general 1873-1874, and was created a K. C. B. in 1883. Besides his scien- tific memoirs he published numerous im- portant papers on political, social, and educational subjects. Most of these
