ents; seniority by birth among children. Also, the right, system, or rule under which, in England, in cases of intestacy, the eldest son of a family succeeds to the real estate of his father to the absolute exclusion of the younger sons and daughters.
PRIMROSE, the Primula vulgaris. Common in copses, pastures, hedgebanks, and woods or by the side of streams. Its root-stock is emetic. The peerless primrose is Narcissus biflorus.
PRIMROSE LEAGUE, a league having for its objects “the maintenance of religion, of the estates of the realm, and of the imperial ascendancy of the British empire.”
PRIMULACEÆ, primworts; herbs, generally with radical exstipulate leaves. Flowers on radical scapes or umbels, or in the axil of the leaves. Genera 18, species about 200.
PRINCE. (1) One who holds the first, or chief place, or rank; a sovereign; the ruler of a country or state. (2) The ruler or sovereign of a state or territory which he holds of a superior. (3) The son of a sovereign, or the issue of the royal family. In heraldic language, the title of prince belongs to dukes, marquises, and earls of Great Britain, but in ordinary use it is confined to members of the royal family. The only case in which it is a territorial title is that of the Prince of Wales. On the Continent of Europe the title of prince is borne by members of families of very high rank, though not immediately connected with any royal house.
PRINCE, JOHN DYNELEY, an American university professor and philologist. Born in New York in 1868 he graduated at Columbia at the early age of twenty, studied in Berlin and received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1892. From 1892 to 1902 he was professor of Semitic languages and dean of the Graduate School of New York University. From 1902 to 1915 he occupied a similar professorship at Columbia until in 1915 the chair of Slavonic languages was created when he was appointed to that. Professor Prince in 1909 was the Republican speaker of the New Jersey Assembly and President of the New Jersey Senate in 1912, and for a short time was acting Governor of the State.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, an island forming a Province of the Dominion of Canada, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; area, about 2,134 square miles. Pop. about 100,000. The island is naturally divided into three peninsulas, and the whole is eminently agricultural and pastoral, the forests now being of comparatively limited extent. The climate is mild; winter, though longer and colder than in England, is free from damp, and summer is fitted to promote the growth of all the ordinary cereals. Sheep, cattle, and horses are reared in numbers; cod, mackerel, herring, oysters, and lobsters form the most productive part of the fisheries. The manufactures are chiefly confined to linen and flannels for domestic use; there are also several tanneries, and shipbuilding is carried on to a considerable extent. The exports consist of timber, agricultural produce, and live stock. The capital is Charlottetown. Pop. about 12,000. The island is supposed to have been discovered by Cabot. It was first colonized by France, captured by Great Britain in 1745, restored and recaptured, and finally in 1873 was admitted to the Dominion of Canada.
PRINCEITE, the sect into which the movement of the Lampeter Brethren developed. It was founded about 1840 by the Rev. Henry James Prince, a clergyman of the extreme Evangelical school, who asserted that the Holy Ghost was incarnate in him, and that the Gospel dispensation was thereby superseded. Prince established his community near Bridgeport, England. This sect is also called Agapemone.
PRINCE OF WALES. See Wales, Prince of.
PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. See Penang.
PRINCES ISLANDS, a beautiful group of nine islets near the E. end of the Sea of Marmora, about 10 miles S. E. of Constantinople, the largest being called Prinkipo. Pop. (1917) 10,500.
PRINCETON, a town in Mercer co., N. J., on the Delaware and Raritan canal, near the Millstone river, and on a branch of the Pennsylvania railroad; 10 miles N. E. of Trenton. It contains waterworks, gas and electric lights. National, State, and savings banks, and weekly newspapers. Princeton is chiefly known as the seat of the College of New Jersey, officially called Princeton University (q. v.). The battle of Princeton took place at the bridge on Stony Brook, about 3 miles W. of the town. During the engagement, which was very severe, General Mercer fell mortally wounded. The action resulted in a decisive victory for the Continental army. The British lost nearly 200 in killed and wounded, and 230 captured. The American loss was about 37. After his retirement ex-President Cleveland made his
