N.B.-The duty on wheat, beans, and peas, imported into Prussia from Poland by the Vistula and the Niemen and exported by Dantzie, &c., has recently been raised to 3 silver gros per scheffel; do. on rye, barley, and eats, 2 silver do. Formerly it was only half as much. This increase of duty, intended to operate as a retaliation on Russia, shows pretty conclusively that in commercial affairs Russian influence does not go for much in Prussia.

PUBLICANS, are persons authorised by licence to retail beer, spirits, or wines. Under the term publicans are comprised innkeepers, hotel keepers, alehouse keepers, keepers of wine vaults, &c. An inn differs from an alehouse in this, that the former is a place intended for the lodging as well as the entertainment of guests, whereas the latter is intended for their entertainment only. If, however, ale or beer be commonly sold in an inn, as is almost invariably the case, it also is an alehouse; and if travellers be furnished with beds, lodged, and entertained in an alehouse, it also is an inn. It is not material to the character of an innkeeper that he should have any sign over his door;

it is sufficient that he makes it his business to entertain passengers and travellers, providing them with lodgings and other accommodations.

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1. Licensing of Publicans. - The provisions with respect to the licensing of public houses are embodied in the 9 Geo. 4. c. 61., of which we subjoin an abstract.

General Meetings. There shall be annually holden in county divisions, cities, and towns, a special session of justices, to be called the " General Annual Licensing Meeting," for the purpose of granting licences to persons keeping or about to keep inns, alehouses, &c.; such meetings to be held, in Middlesex and Surrey, within the first 10 days of the month of March; and in every other place between the 20th of August and the 14th of September, both inclusive.

Notice of General Meeting. Within every division, 21 days before the annual licensing meeting, a petty session of justices to be held, a majority of whom shall fix the day and hour for holding the general annual meeting; and shall direct a precept to the high constable, requiring him, within 5 days after the receipt thereof, to order the petty constables to affix on the door of the church, chapel, or other public place, a notice of such annual meeting, and give or leave at the dwelling-house of each justice acting for the division, and of each person keeping an inn, or who shall have given notice of his intention to apply for a licence to keep an inn, a copy of such notice. - § 2.

The annual meeting may be adjourned, but the adjourned meeting is not to be held on any of the 5 days immediately following the adjournment; and every adjournment to be held in the month of March in Middlesex and Surrey, and in August or September in every other county. - § 3.

Sessions for Transfer of Licences. At the annual meeting, justices to appoint not less than 4 nor more than 8 special sessions, to be held as near as possible at equidistant periods, for the purpose of transferring licences. -- § 4.

Notice of holding any adjourned meetings, or of any special session for the transfer of licences, to be given in the same manner and to the same parties as mentioned above. - § 5.

Justices disqualified. - No justice who is a common brewer, distiller, maker of malt for sale, or retailer of malt or any exciseable liquor, shall act or be present at any annual licensing meeting, or adjournment, or special session for transferring licences, or take part in the adjudication upon any application for a licence, or upon an appeal; nor in the case of licensing any house, of which he is owner, or agent of the owner, or of any house belonging to any common brewer, maker of malt, &c. to whom he shall be, either by blood or marriage, the father, son, or brother, or with whom he shall be partner in any other trade; in any of these cases knowingly or wilfully to act, subjects to a penalty of 1007. But disqualification does not arise, where a justice, having no beneficial interest in a house licensed or about to be licensed, holds only the legal estate therein as trustee or for a charitable or public use. - §6.

When in any liberty, city, or town, 2 qualified justices do not attend, the county justices may act. -$7.

The power given to county justices not to extend to the Cinque Ports. - § 8.

Questions respecting licences to be determined, and licences to be signed, by a majority of the justices present. § 9.

Application for a Licence. - Persons intending to apply for a licence to a house not before licensed, to affix a notice on the door of such house, and on the door of the church or chapel of the parish, and, where there shall be no church or chapel, on some other conspicuous place within the parish, on three several Sundays, between the 1st of January and the last day of February in the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, and elsewhere between the 1st of June and the last day of July, at some time between the hours of 10 in the forenoon and 4 in the afternoon, and shall serve a copy of such notice upon one of the overseers of the poor, and upon one of the constables or peace-officers of the parish, within the month of February in the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, and elsewhere within the month of July, prior to the annual meeting; such notice to be in a legible hand, or printed and signed by the applicant. The application must state the Christian and surname of the party, with the place of his residence, and his trade or calling during the 6 months previous to the serving of the notice. — § 10.

Notice to transfer Licence. — Persons desirous of transferring a licence, and intending to apply to the next special sessions, must, 5 days previously, serve a notice upon one of the overseers and one of the constables of the parish. Persons hindered, by sickness or other reasonable cause, from attending any licensing meeting, and proof thereof adduced on oath, may authorise another person to attend for them. -$12.

Licences to be in force, in Middlesex and Surrey, from the 5th of April; elsewhere from the 10th of October, for one whole year. -§ 13.

Provision for Death or other Contingency.. y. If any person licensed shall die, or become incapable, or a bankrupt or insolvent, or if he or his heirs, executors, or assigns, shall remove or neglect to apply for a continuation of his licence, the justices at special session may grant a licence to the heirs, executors, or assigns of such party, or to any new tenant; or if any man's house should be, or be about to be, pulled down for a public purpose, or rendered, by fire, tempest, or other unforeseen calamity, unfit for the purposes of an inn, licence may be granted to the occupier, if he intend to open another house as an inn. Such transferred licences shall continue only in force to the end of the year; and in case of removal to another house, notice must be given on some Sunday, within 6 weeks before the special session, in the manner and form before described. - § 14.

Fees for Licences. The clerk of the justices may lawfully receive from every person to whom a licence is granted, for trouble and all expenses, the following sums

For precept to the high constable, and notices to be delivered by the petty constable 1 6 Clerks demanding or receiving more than these fees, to forfeit 54. - § 15.

No sheriff's officer, or officer executing the process of any court of justice, qualified to hold or use any licence under this act.-§ 16.

Excise Licences. No licence for the sale of any exciseable liquors, to be consumed on the premises, shall be granted by the excise to any person, unless such person be previously licensed under this act. - $17.

Penalties. Any person without a licence selling or exchanging, or for valuable consideration disposing of, any exciseable liquor by retail, to be consumed in his premises; or with a licence, and so selling in premises other than those specified in his licence, shall for every offence, on conviction before 1 justice, forfeit not exceeding 207. nor less than 54. with costs; but the penalty not to attach in case of death or insolvency, and sale by the heir or assigns, prior to the next special sessions. § 18.

Every licensed person shall, if required, sell all liquors by retail (except in quantities less than a j pint) by the gallon, quart, pint, or pint, sized according to the standard; in default thereof to forfeit the illegal measure, and pay not exceeding 40s, with costs, to be recovered within 30 days before 1 justice. - § 19.

In cases of riot, or probability of riot, houses licensed in the neighbourhood may be closed by the order of 2 justices. - § 20.

Any person convicted of a first offence, before 2 justices, against the tenour of his licence, to forfeit not exceeding 51. with costs; guilty of a second offence within three years of the first, to forfeit not exceeding 107. with costs; and guilty of a third offence within 3 years, to forfeit not exceeding 507. with costs; or

the case in the last instance may be adjourned to the petty sessions, for the annual meeting, or the general quarter sessions; and if the offender is found guilty by a jury, he may be fined 1007, or adjudged to forfeit his licence or both, and rendered incapable of selling any exciseable liquor in any inn kept by him for 3 years. - § 21.

Proceedings at the session in certain cases may be directed by the justices to be carried on by the constable, and the expenses defrayed out of the county rates. — § 22.

Witnesses refusing to attend without lawful excuse may be fined not more than 107. —§ 23.

Penalties against justices may be sued for in any court of Westminster; a moiety to the king and a moiety to the party suing. - § 24.

Penalties adjudged by justices may be recovered by distress or the party imprisoned 1, 3, or 6 calender months.§ 25.

The next sections relate to the mode of prosecuting actions.

The last section of the act bears that the word "inn" shall include any inn, alehouse, or victualling house, in which is sold by retail any exciseable liquor, to be drunk or consumed on the premises; and the words exciseable liquor are to include all such fermented or spirituous liquors as may now or hereafter be charged with any custom or excise duty. - § 37.

The act does not affect the Universities, nor the privileges of the Vintners' Company, except those freemen who have obtained their freedom by redemption; and it does not alter the time of granting licences in the city of London.

Innkeepers are bound, by the tenour of their licence, to keep order in their houses, to prevent drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and gambling. If they fail in these respects, they forfeit their licence, and subject themselves to the penalties mentioned before. Allowing seditious or immoral books to be read in an inn, also forfeits the licence, and subjects to penalties. (39 Geo. 3. c. 79. § 31.) .

2. Duties of Innkeepers. Innkeepers are bound by law to receive guests coming to their inns, and they are also bound to protect their property when there. Thy have no option to reject or refuse a guest, unless their house be already full, or they are able to assign some other reasonable and sufficient cause. Neither can they impose unreasonable terms on such as frequent their houses: if they do, they may be fined, and their inns indicted and suppressed. An innkeeper who has stables attached to his premises, may be compelled to receive a horse, although the owner does not reside in his house; but he cannot, under such circumstances, be compelled to receive a trunk or other dead thing. By the annual Mutiny Act, constables, or, in their default, justices of the peace, may quarter soldiers in inns, livery-stables, alehouses, &c., under the conditions and regulations set forth in the statute.

3. Responsibility of Innkeepers. - An innkeeper is bound to keep safely whatever things his guests deposit in his inn, or in his custody as innkeeper; and he is civilly liable for all losses, except those arising from irresistible force, or what is usually termed the act of God and the king's enemies. "It has long been holden," says Sir William Jones, "that an innkeeper is bound to restitution, if the trunks or parcels of his guests, committed to him either personally or through one of his agents, be damaged at his inn, or stolen out of it by any person whatever (except the servant or companion of the guest); nor shall he discharge himself of this responsibility by a refusal to take care of the goods, because there are suspected persons in the house, for whose conduct he cannot be answerable; it is otherwise, indeed, if he refuse admission to a traveller because he really has no room for him, and the traveller, nevertheless, insist upon entering, and place his baggage in a chamber without the keeper's consent. Add to this, that if he fail to provide honest servants and honest inimates, according to the confidence reposed in him by the public, his negligence in that respect is highly culpable, and he ought to answer civilly for their acts, even if they should rob the guests that sleep in their chambers. Rigorous as this law may seem, and hard as it may actually be in one or two particular instances, it is founded on the great principle of public utility, to which all private considerations ought to yield; for travellers, who must be numerous in a rich and commercial country, are obliged to rely almost implicitly on the good faith of innholders, whose education and morals are usually none of the best, and who might have frequent opportunities of associating with ruffians or pilferers, while the injured guest could never obtain legal proof of such combinations, or even of their negligence, if no actual fraud had been committed by them. Hence the prætor declared, according to Pomponius, his desire of securing the public from the dishonesty of such men; and by his edict gave an action against them, if the goods of travellers or passengers were lost or hurt by any means except by inevitable accident (damno fatali): and Ulpian intimates, that even this severity could not restrain them from knavish practices or suspicious neglect.”— (Essay on the Law of Bailments, 2d ed. pp. 95, 96.)

Even if an innkeeper bid the guest take the key of his chamber and lock the door, telling him that he cannot undertake the charge of the goods, still, if they be stolen, he is held to be responsible. In all such cases it is not competent to the innkeeper to plead that he took ordinary care, or that the force which occasioned the loss was truly irresistible. A guest is not bound to deliver the goods in special custody to the innkeeper, nor, indeed, to acquaint him that he has any. If he have property with him, or about his person, the innkeeper must be responsible for it without communication. But the innkeeper may require that the property of his guest be delivered into his hands, in order that it may be put into a secure place; and if the guest refuse, the innkeeper is not liable for its safety. The guest exonerates the innkeeper from liability when he takes upon himself the exclusive custody of the goods, so as to deprive the innkeeper of having

any care over them: thus, if a guest demand and have exclusive possession of a room, for the purpose of a shop or warehouse, he exonerates the landlord from any loss he may sustain in the property which he keeps in that apartment: but it is otherwise if he have not the exclusive possession of the room. The innkeeper cannot oblige the guest to take charge of his own goods; for this, in effect, would be a refusal to admit them into the inn. And it is no excuse for an innkeeper to say that he delivered the key of the chamber whence the property was stolen to the guest, who left the door open. A case of this sort occurred a few years ago, at Brighton. A lady having left the door of her bed-room, of which she had the key, open for a few minutes, 50l. were abstracted from her reticule. The innkeeper contended that the plaintiff, by selecting particular apartments, and taking the key, had exonerated him from his liability. The jury found for the plaintiff; and upon a motion for a new trial, Lord Tenterden said," By the common law of this country, and also by the civil law, the principle of the liability of innkeepers was founded on two reasons: first, to compel the landlord to take care that no improper company was admitted into his house; and, secondly, to prevent collusion. The principle, as stated in the civil law, was this-Ne, quisquam putet graviter hoc in eos constitum esse; nam est in ipsorum arbitrio nequem recipient; et nisi hoc esset statutum, materia daretur cum furibus, adversus eos quos recipiunt, coeundi: cum ne nunc quidem abstinent hujusmodi fraudibus.' It was true that, in the present state of society, it was very difficult to prevent the intrusion of improper company into inns. But still the principle was such as he had stated it to be, and it would be dangerous to relax it; and he did not think that the taking rooms in this way was sufficient to discharge the landlord. Then, as to the objection that the cases did not extend to money, it was clear that money was as much within the principle as goods, and that no substantial distinction could be made. He was therefore of opinion that the verdict was right."— Rule refused.

A landlord may exempt himself from liability, if he can show that the loss was occasioned by the misconduct of the guest; as, if his goods are stolen by his own servant or companion.

It has been decided that a man is a guest at an inn, if he leave his horse at it, though he has not gone into it himself. If a man come to an inn, and make a contract for lodging for a set time, and do not eat or drink there, he is no guest, but a lodger, and, as such, not under the innkeeper's protection; but if he eat and drink, or pay for his diet there, it is otherwise. Any innkeeper or alehouse keeper, knowingly receiving and harbouring any person convicted of an offence against the revenue laws, for which he has been in prison, or for which he has fled, shall forfeit 1007., and have no licence for the future.

4. Remedy of an Innkeeper against his Guest. An innkeeper may, without any agreement to that effect, detain the person of a guest who has eaten in his house, until payment; and he may do the same by the horses in his stable.

An innkeeper is not entitled to recover for spirits supplied to his guests, of the value of 208. and upwards, unless supplied or contracted for at one time.(23 Geo. 2. c. 40.)

By the custom of London and Exeter, if a man commit a horse to an hostler, and the expense of his keep become equivalent to his price, the hostler may appropriate the horse to himself upon the appraisement of four of his neighbours, or may have him sold. But innkeepers in other parts of the country have no power to sell horses detained by them.

A horse committed to an innkeeper cannot be detained as a security for the board of his master.

It is enacted by 11 & 12 Will. 3. c. 15. that innkeepers, alehouse keepers, &c., refusing to specify in an account the number of pints or quarts for which demand is made, or selling in unmarked measures, shall have no power to detain any goods or other things belonging to the person from whom demand is made, but shall be left to their action for recovery of the same.

PUMICE-STONE (Ger. Bimstein; Fr. Pierre pouce; It. Pietra pomice; Sp. Piedra pomez; Lat. Pumex), a light, spongy, vitreous stone, found usually in the neighbourhood of volcanoes. It is used for polishing metals and marble, and smoothing the surface of wood and pasteboard. It is said to form a good glaze for pottery. The lighter pumice stones swim on water, their specific gravity not exceeding 914. The island of Lipari, in the Mediterranean, is chiefly formed of pumice stone, and may be said to be the magazine whence all Europe is supplied with this useful article. There are several species of pumice stones; but those only that are light and spongy are exported. The price varies in the London market from 8 to 10l. a ton.

PUTCHOCK. An article of this name is imported in considerable quantities from the north-west coast of India into China, and is regularly quoted in the Canton price currents. It is the root of a plant that grows abundantly in Sinde. When burned, it yields a fine smoke, and a grateful and diffusive smell. The Chinese beat it into a fine powder, which they burn as incense in the temples of their gods. --- ( Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies, vol. i. p. 126.)

Q.

QUARANTINE, a regulation by which all communication with individuals, ships, or goods, arriving from places infected with the plague, or other contagious disease, or

supposed to be peculiarly liable to such infection, is interdicted for a certain definite period. The term is derived from the Italian quaranta, forty; it being generally supposed, that if no infectious disease break out within 40 days, or 6 weeks, no danger need be apprehended from the free admission of the individuals under quarantine. During this period, too, all the goods, clothes, &c. that might be supposed capable of retaining the infection, are subjected to a process of purification. This last operation, which is a most important part of the quarantine system, is performed either on board ship, or in establishments denominated lazarettos. (See post.)

Policy of Quarantine.

-The regulations as to quarantine are entirely precautionary; they have their origin in the belief that various diseases, but especially the plague, are contagious; and supposing such to be the case, the propriety of subjecting those coming from an infected or suspected place to a probation is obvious. Indeed, no government could, until the belief in question be proved to be ill founded, abstain from enforcing precautionary measures, without rendering itself liable to the charge of having culpably neglected one of its most important duties, that of providing, by every means in its power, for the safety of its subjects. Latterly, however, it has been contended that the plague is never imported; that it is always indigenous; originating in some peculiar state of the atmosphere, or in something peculiar in the condition of the people; and that, consequently, quarantine regulations merely impose a heavy burden on commerce, without being of any real utility. But though there does not seem to be any reason for doubting that infectious diseases have originated in the way described, the fact that they have, in innumerable instances, been carried from one place to another, seems to be established beyond all question. Even if the evidence as to the importation of infectious diseases were less decisive than it is, or the opinions of medical men more divided, it would not warrant the repeal of the restraints on the intercourse with suspected ports. This is not a matter in which innovations should be rashly introduced; wherever there is doubt, it is proper to incline to the side of security. In some cases, perhaps, quarantine regulations have been carried to a needless extent; but they have more frequently, we believe, been improperly relaxed.

Institution of Quarantine. The notion that the plague was imported from the East into Europe, seems to have prevailed in all ages. But it would appear that the Venetians were the first who endeavoured to guard against its introduction from abroad, by obliging ships and individuals from suspected places to perform quarantine. The regulations upon this subject were, it is most probable, issued for the first time in 1484. (Beckmann, Hist. of Invent. vol. ii. art. Quarantine.) They have since been gradually adopted in every other country. Their introduction into England was comparatively late. Various preventive regulations had been previously enacted; but quarantine was not systematically enforced till after the alarm occasioned by the dreadful plague at Marseilles in 1720. The regulations then adopted were made conformably to the suggestions of the celebrated Dr. Mead, in his famous "Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion."

Lazarettos or Pest-houses are establishments constructed to facilitate the performance of quarantine, and particularly the purification of goods. They have usually a port in which ships from a suspected place may anchor; and, when perfect, are provided with lodgings for the crews and passengers, where the sick may be separated from the healthy; and with warehouses, where the goods may be deposited; all intercourse between the lazaretto and the surrounding country being, of course, interdicted, except by permission of the authorities. The lazarettos at Leghorn, Genoa, and Marseilles are the most complete of any in Europe. The facilities they afford to navigation are very great; for, as ships from suspected places may discharge their cargoes in the lazaretto, they are not detained longer than they would be were there no quarantine regulations. The goods deposited in the lazaretto, being inspected by the proper officers, and purified, are then admitted into the market.

Compared with these, the quarantine establishments in this country are exceedingly defective. There is not, even in the Thames, a lazaretto where a ship from a suspected place may discharge her cargo and refit: so that she is detained, frequently at an enormous expense, during the whole period of quarantine; while, if she have perishable goods on board, they may be very materially injured. It is singular that nothing should hitherto have been done to obviate such grievances. The complaints as to the oppressiveness of quarantine regulations are almost wholly occasioned by the want of proper facilities for its performance. Were these afforded, the burdens it imposes would be rendered comparatively light; and we do not know that many more important services could be rendered to the commerce of the country, than by constructing a proper quarantine establishment on the Thames.

Bills of Health. — The period of quarantine varies, as respects ships coming from the same place, according to the nature of their bills of health. These are documents, or certificates, signed by the consul or other competent authority in the place which the