PUENTEAREAS, a town of north-western Spain in the province of Pontevedra; on the Tuy-Santiago de Compostella railway and on the river Tea, a right-hand tributary of the Miño. Pop. (1900), 13,452. Puenteareas is the chief town of a fertile hilly region, which produces wine, grain and fruit, and contains many cattle farms. The industries of the town itself are porcelain manufactures, tanning and distilling. Close by are the ruins of the castle of Sobroso, which played an important part in the medieval civil wars.
PUENTE GENIL, or Puente Jenil, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Cordova; on the right bank of the river Genil
or Jenil, a tributary of the Guadalquivir. Pop. (1900), 12,956.
Puente Genil is on the Cordova-Malaga railway, and is the
starting-point of the line to Linares. A bridge across the Genil,
from which the name of the town is derived, joins the lower part
of Puente Genil with the higher, which is built on rising ground
extending to the olive groves above. There are several convents,
schools for primary and higher education, hospitals, a municipal
library and a theatre. The principal industry is the manufacture
of olive oil. There are also flour-mills and linen factories.
The alhondiga or permanent market is always well stocked with
grain, vegetables and livestock.
PUERPERAL FEVER (Lat. puerpera, from puer, child, and
parere, to bring forth), the name given to the varieties of general
infection, long regarded as a specific disease (" child-bed fever,"
" lying-in fever "), to which women are subject after parturition,
owing to the genital tract being peculiarly exposed, in septic
surroundings, to the invasion of pathogenic bacteria (see Sepsis).
Owing largely to the labours of I. P. Semmelweiss (q.v.) the grave
mortality formerly attending this condition has been enormously
reduced; and the necessity of rigid cleanliness in the treatment
of lying-in cases is fully recognized. When unhappily this is
not the case, and infection takes place, its complications must
be treated according to the circumstances, antiseptic douching
being employed, or preferably curetting the endometrium with
a sharp curette and swabbing with disinfectant solution. In
definitely septicaemia cases antistreptococcic serum may be
useful.
PUERTO CABELLO, a city and port of Venezuela, in the state
of Carabobo, 20 m. N. by W. of Valencia, the capital of the state.
Pop. (1891), 10,145. Puerto Cabello has railway connexions
with Valencia and Caracas. It stands on a small peninsula
which partly shelters a large bay, called “ Golfo Triste,” by
the early Spanish navigators. After La Guayra the harbour is
the principal port of Venezuela, and it is provided with mole,
wharves, railway communication with the interior, and other
facilities for the handling of merchandise and produce. The
town and harbour were strongly fortified in colonial times, but
the port defences were greatly damaged in 1902 in a bombardment
by some German vessels of the allied blockading fleet.
Among the exports are coffee, cacao, dyewoods, hides, skins,
and copper ores. Puerto Cabello suffered much in the War of
Independence, changing hands several times and remaining
in the possession of Spain down to 1823.
PUERTO CORTES (Cortez or Caballos), a seaport on the Atlantic coast of Honduras; in 15° 51' N. and 87° 56' W., at the northern terminus of the transcontinental railway from Fonseca Bay, and near the mouth of the river Chamalecon. Pop. (1905), about 2500. The harbour, an inlet of the Gulf of Honduras, is deep, spacious and secure, and there is a railway pier at which vessels can load and discharge. The exports
include bananas, coffee, cabinet woods, rubber, sarsaparilla,
livestock, deer skins and gold. The harbour was discovered
in 1527 by Gonzalo d'Avila, and the town was founded a few
years later by order of Hernando Cortes, from whom it derives
its name.
PUERTO DE SANTA MARIA, a seaport of southern Spain,
in the province of Cadiz, on the right bank of the river Guadalete, with a station on the railway from Cadiz to Seville. Pop. (1900), 20,120. Puerto de Santa Maria, commonly called “ El Puerto,” is probably the Menesthei Portus of Ptolemy. Its most important industry is the wine trade; there are also glass, liqueur, alcohol, starch and soap manufactures. The principal buildings are a Moorish citadel, a Gothic church founded in the
13th century, a Jesuit college, and a bull-ring which accommodates 12,000 spectators. The town is noted for its bull-fights, that
given here in honour of Wellington being the subject of the
considerably idealized description in Byron's Childe Harold.
PUERTO PRÍNCIPE (officially, Camagüey), a city and the capital of the province of Camagüey in east-central Cuba, about
528 m. E.S.E. of Havana. Pop. (1899), 25,102; (1907), 29,616.
In addition to the axis-railway of the island, which connects
it with Havana and Santiago, the city has Connexion by a branch
line with Nuevitas. Puerto Príncipe lies on a broad plain about
equally distant from the north and south coasts of the island,
and between two small rivers, the Tinima and Hatibonica.
In appearance it is one of the most ancient of Cuban towns.
Many of the churches, convents and other ecclesiastical establishments
were built in the second half of the 18th century, some
in the first half; and some parts of the original cathedral of 1617
have probably survived later alterations and additions. Some
of the bridges, too, built in the 18th century, are picturesque.
The city hall was begun in 1733. There is a provincial institute
for secondary education. The city is the seat of a court of appeal.
Puerto Principe is connected by railway, 47 m. long, with its
port, Nuevitas (pop. in 1907, 4386), which is on the north side
of the island and has a spacious land-locked bay of good depth,
approached through a break in the off-lying coral keys and ~a
narrow canyon entrance. About 50 m. south of Puerto Principe
is Santa Cruz del Sur (pop. in 1907, 1640) on the south coast.
Cabinet woods, fruit, tobacco, sugar, wax, honey and cattle
products are the leading exports. In 1514 Diego Velasquez
founded, on Nuevitas Bay (then known as the Puerto del Principe),
a settlement that was moved in 1515 or 1516 to the site of the
present city of Puerto Principe (or Santa Maria del Puerto del
Principe). From very early times the surrounding plains were
given over to horse and cattle-raising. As early as the beginning
of the 17th century Havana depended on this supply to furnish
the fleets of royal ships which monopolized trade between Spain
and America. From very early times, too, a. prosperous clandestine
trade was maintained with Providence, the Bahamas,
and especially with Curaçoa and Tamaica (after its capture by
the English in 1655). After the capital, Puerto Príncipe was
the richest prize of the island when it was captured and plundered
in 1668 by a force of Frenchmen and Englishmen under Henry
Morgan, the buccaneer. In the 18th century land grants and
illicit trade led to serious disturbances. In 1775 Nuevitas was
resettled, and in 1780 was made a legal (habilitado) port. After
the cession of Santo Domingo to France in 1800, the Real
Audiencia, the supreme court of the Spanish West Indies, was
removed to Puerto Principe. A superior audiencia was created
for Havana in 1838, but the older court continued to exist
throughout the Spanish period. Puerto Príncipe boasts of being
the most Creole of Cuban cities. It was prominent in the war of
1868–78 and in the disaffection preceding and following it.
PUERTO REAL, a seaport of southern Spain, in the province
of Cadiz; on the north shore of the inner arm of the Bay of Cadiz
and on the Seville-Cadiz railway. Pop. (1900), 10,535. Puerto
Real (Port Royal) is the Portus Gaditanus of the Romans, and
is probably the most ancient trading-station on the Bay of Cadiz.
It owes its modern name to the fact that it was rebuilt in 1488
by Ferdinand and Isabella. The port has good quays, a dry
dock of the Spanish Transatlantic Company, connected with
their important works, and safe anchorage close to the wharves
for the largest steamers. The town has fine squares, and broad,
well-built streets, a handsome town-hall, many schools, a bull-ring,
several convents, and a 16th-century Gothic parish church,
with three naves and a remarkable atrium. There is an active
trade in wine and oils; other industries are the construction
and repairing of ships, and the production of salt.
PUFENDORF, SAMUEL (1632–1694), German jurist, was born at Chemnitz, Saxony, on the 8th of January 1632. His father was a Lutheran pastor, and he himself was destined for the ministry. Educated at Grimma, he was sent to study theology
