POMERANIA (Germ. Pononern) is a maritime pro-vince of. Prussia, bounded on the N. by the Baltic, on the 'W. by Mecklenburg, on the S. by Brandenburg, and on the 11 by West Prussia. Its area is 11,620 square miles. The province is officially divided into the three districts of Stralsund, Stettin, and Coslin ; but more historical interest attaches to the names of Vorpommern and Hinter-pommern, or 'tither and Farther Pomerania, applied to the territory to the west and to the east of the Oder respectively. As a whole Pomerania is one of the lowest and flattest parts of Germany, but to the east of the Oder it is traversed by a range of low hills, and there are also a few isolated eminences to the west. Off the west coast, which is very irregular, lie the islands of Ititgen, Usedont, and Wollin ; the coast of Farther Pomerania is smooth. in outline and bordered with dunes or sandbanks. Be-sides the Oder and its affluents, there are several small rivers flowing into the Baltic, none of which, however, are navigable except for rafts. ..Many of these end in small littoral lakes, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land, through which the water escapes by- one or more outlets. 'The interior of the province is also thickly sprinkled with lakes, the comluined area of which is equal to about one-twentieth of its entire surfactl. The soil of Pomerania is for the most part thin and sandy, especially to the east of the Oder ; but patches of good soil occur here and there. About 55 per cent of the surface is under tillage, while 10 per cent. consists of meadow and pasture and 20 per cent. is covered by forests. The principal crops are potatoes, rye, and oats, but wheat and barley are grown in the more fertile districts ; tobacco and beetroot for sugar are also cultivated. Agriculture is still in many respects carried on in a somewhat primitive fashion, and the live stock is a:s a rule of an inferior quality. Large flocks of sheep are kept both for their flesh and wool, and geese and goose-feathers form lucrative articles of export. (A tabular view of the agricultural products of Pomerania will be found under PitusstA.) Owing to the long coast-line and the numerous lakes, fishing forms a not unimportant industry, and large quantities of herring, eels, lampreys, &e., are sent from Pomerania to other parts of Germany. With the excep-tions of its inexhaustible lay-ers of peat or soft coal, the mineral wealth of Pomerania is insignificant. Its indus-trial activity is also of no great importance, though there are a few manufactories of machinery, chemicals, tobacco; sugar, and other articles, chiefly in or near the larger towns, and linen-weaving is practised as a domestic industry. Shipbuilding is carried on at Stettin and other places on the coast. Commerce, however, is relatively much more flourishing. Stettin is one of the chief sea-ports of Prussia, and Stralsund, Greifswald, and Colberg also possess a foreign trade, the exports consisting mainly of grain, timber, and fish.

Itt 1880 Pomerania contained 1,540,031 inhabitants, all of whom were Protestants except 23,877 Ronan: Catholics and 13,880 Jews. The Slavonic element in the population is now represented only by a few thousand Poles and a handful of the ancient Cassuldatis on the east border. Pomerania is the most sparsely populated proyinee in Prussia, the ratio being 132 inhabitants per square mile. About 67 per cent. of the population belong to the rural tlistriets, while the remainder live in communities of 20n0 and upwards. There are only nine towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants, at the head of which stands Stettin with 91,000. The Pomeranians belong mainly to the old Saxon stock, and are, as a rule, tall, strong, and well-built. They somewhat resemble the Scots in their mations and persevering character, their strong theological bias (which perpetuates the existenee of numerous small Protestant sects), and their turn for dry humour ; hut they aro hy no means so enterprising or so open to IICW ideas. In 1833 only 0.32 per cent. of the Pomeranian recruits wen- illiterate, a filet which speaks well for the educational system of the province. There is a univetsity at Greifswahl. The province sendm 16 members to the reichstag and 2t; to the Prussian honse of representatives. The heir-presumptive of the Prussian crown bears the title of governor of Pomerania.

History. - In prehistoric times the southern coast of the Baltic seems to have been occupied hy C'elts, who afterwards made 'way for tribes of Teutonic stock. These in their turn migrated to other settlements and were replaced, abont the beginning of the oth century of our era, by Slavonians. 'rb, name of Pomore or Potinnern, meaning " on tbe sea," was attached to the district by the last of these immigrant raves, and has often changed its political and geographical significative. Originally it seems to have denoted the coast district between the Oder and the Vistula, a territory which was at first more or less dependent on Poland, but which appears toward:3 the end of the 12th century as divided between two native dukes owning the supremacy of the GI:1'1111111 emperor. Afterwards Pomerania spread ninth farther to the west, while correspondingly curtailed on the east, and a distinction was made between Slavinia, or modern Pomerania, and Pomerellen. The latter, corresponding substantially to the present province of West Prussia, remained subject to Poland down to the beginning of the 14th century, when part of-it fell away to the Teutonic knights and part of it was annexed to the duchy of Pornerania-Wolgast. Christianity was introduced in the 12th century, and its advance went hand in hand with the Germanizing of the district. The later inediveval history of Pomerania is occupied with an endless succes-sion of subdivisions among different lines of the ducal houses, and Ivith numerous expansions and contractions of territory through constant hostilities with the elector of Brandenburg, who claimed to be the immediate feudal superior of Pomerania, and with other neighbouring powers. The names Vorpommern and Ilinterponi-inern were at first synonymous with Slavinia and Pomercllen, but towards the close of the 14th century- they were transferred to the two duchies into which the former (Pomerania proper) was divided. In 1625 the whole of Pomerania became united under the sway of Bogetilaus XIV., and, OD his death without issue in 1637, Branden-burg laid claim to the duchy in virtue of a compact of 1571. The Swedes, however, had in the meantime occupied the country, and at the peaee of Westphalia (1648) tit?, elector had to content him-self with East Pomerania and see the other half awarded to Sweden. In 1720 Swedish Pomerania was enrtailed by extensive concessions to Prussia, but the district to the west of the Peelle remained in possession of Sweden down to the dissolution of the German empire. On the downfall of Napoleon, Sweden assigned her German pos-sessions to Denmark in exchange for Norway, whereupon Prussia, partly by purchase and partly by the cession of Laneuburg, succeeded iu uniting the whole of Pomerania under her sway.

P0)1E1.10Y, a city of the United States, in Meigs county, Ohio, lies on the right bank of the Ohio about half-way between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. It is the terminus of the Ohio River division of the Columbus, Hocking Valley, and Toledo Railway, a,nd has extensive coal-mines datino- from 1833, salt works (14,000,000 bushels per annum), and bromine factories. Incorporated as a village in 1841 and as a city in 1868, Pomeroy had 5824 inhabitants in 1870 and 5560 in 1880.