POLECAT 291 POLICE MATRONS Sheen Monastery and Magdalen College, Oxford; and after obtaining preferment in the Church, went to Italy, where he long resided. On his return to England he so strongly opposed the divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine of Aragon, that the king drove him from his pres- ence, and never saw him more. He again left England, was made a cardinal in December, 1536, and had the offer of the popedom on the death of Paul III. Henry put to death his mother, and other members of his family, for corresponding with him. He found protection at Rome, was employed as nuncio, and was named president of the Council of Trent. When Mary ascended the throne, Pole returned to England as legate, in which capacity he absolved the Parliament from their sin of heresy, and reconciled the nation to the Holy See. The day after the bum- of Cranmer, the cardinal was conse- crated Archbishop of Canterbury; later he was elected chancellor of Oxford and Cambridge, and died Nov. 18, 1558. Major. There is no corresponding star in the Southern Hemisphere. The pole star is a convenient one for observing to determine the latitude and also the azimuthal error of any transit instru- ment. POLIANTHES, a genus of HemerO' callese; the peduncle is two or three feet long, and has on its summit many cream colored flowers. P. tuberosa (tuberose), a native of Mexico and South America, much cultivated in gardens in India, China, and Java, is deliciously fragrant, especially after dark, and during some thunderstorms its fading flowers emit electric sparks. POLICE, a system of judicial and ex- ecutive administration of a country, espe- cially concerned with the maintenance of the quiet and good order of society; the means or system adopted by the authori- ties of a government, state, or community to maintain public order and liberty, and POLECAT POLECAT, the putoriiis t~: diis, one of the Mustelinse, akin to the marten, but with a broader head, a blunter snout, and a much shorter tail. The shorter hairs are yellow and woolly, the longer ones black or brownish black and shining. Two glands near the root of the tail emit a highly offensive smell. It makes im- mense havoc in poultry yards. It also devours many eggs. POLEMICS, the art or practice of con- troversy or disputation; controversy; controversial writings, especially on mat- ters of divinity or theology. POLE STAH, Polaris, a bright star at 4ie tip of the tail of Ursa Minor, and in a line with the pointers Merak and Dubhe, the two stars constituting the front of the plowlike figure in Ursa to protect property. In a more limited sense, the administration of the laws, by- laws, and regulations of a city. Also properly an abbreviation of the term police force. POLICE MATRONS, women stationed in police stations whose function it is to take charge of the women and child pris- oners. The brutality of compelling women to be searched and held by men police officials first brought protest over a hundred years ago. As far back as 1822 Elizabeth Fry, and the Society for the Improvement of Prisons, demanded that women should have charge of female prisoners arrested by the police, and gradually police matrons became an in- stitution all over the country. Portland, Me., has the honor of having been the first municipality to install matrons in
