peacock, for it produces a constant race of the same color; and its eggs, though transported into the most sultry climes, will yield birds of the parent hue.

PEARL OYSTER. A species of oyster that contains pearls. They are found in the greatest abundance, and of the best kind, in the Persian Gulf. That which particularly obtains the name of the pearl oyster, has a large, strong, whitish shell, wrinkled and rough without, and within smooth and of a silver color. The pearl is found, sometimes adhering to the shell, and sometimes within the body of the oyster. The value of this jewel is according to the size and color: the whit

This whiteness of plumage has justly been deemed by naturalists the effect of migration. Norway, and the other countries of the north, have given birth to this species, for there they are found wild; and from these frozen regions they annually retire to spend the winter in Germany. Whether this species was introduced into the north of Eu-est and the roundest is the best. What is called rope by a voluntary migration from Asia, or by the intervention of man, is a point which cannot now be determined. It is probable that it was wholly unknown to the ancients, since no mention is made of it in any of their writings; and it is to be presumed also, that its migration into the north is not very ancient, for, though now common there, it was deemed extremely rare by all former naturalists.

The feathers of these varieties, though white, still retain some shades of their primitive lustre. Those of the tail, particularly, show some faint traces of that beautiful eye, which sparkles at the end of each feather in the common variegated species. It is probable, that were this bird removed into the milder regions of Asia, its original ors would return in a few generations.

Mother of Pearl, is the external coat of the shell of the pearl oyster, resembling the real pearl in color and consistence. This substance is separated from the oyster shell, and shaped into a variety of beautiful utensils.

grown

PEASE. Pease form a wholesome and light food when green and young; but when full and dry, they are very indigestible; and in this state they are very liable to produce a great deal of wind in the intestines. When made into pudding, they are still worse, as the difficulty of digestion is increased by the toughness of the mass. The flour of pease, beans, and other leguminous plants, commonly called pulse, is of an unctuous col-nature, and forms a milky solution with water, owing to the presence of an oily matter. Pulse is highly nutritive, but difficult of digestion, and when made into bread they are apt to occasion flatulence, and to lie heavy on the stomach. It is principally the strong laboring classes that are able to digest this sort of bread. Those troubled with stomach complaints should carefully avoid them; flatulence and colic very commonly follow their use in such persons, and even more alarming symptoms.

PEAK. In Geography, a mountain or elevation with a sharp summit, as the Peak of Teneriffe. Among Mariners, the upper corner of sails which are extended by a gaff or by a yard, which crosses the mast obliquely.

PEAR. A well known class of trees which yields a great variety of fruit, as the musk, muscadelle, rose, bergamot, bury pear, sickle, St. Michael's, &c.

&c. It is found in low valleys and bogs in Great Britain and other parts of Europe, and in America.

PEAT. A sort of fuel dug out of the earth. It is the remains of decayed vegetables, as leaves, PEARL. A concretion formed in several spe-stringy fibres, the wood of decayed trunks of trees, cies of shells, as in some species of the oyster and the mussel. It has been regarded by some persons as a morbid concretion, owing to an excess of shelly matter, and by others it is supposed to have originated in a wound of the shell containing the animal. Pearls are of a silvery or bluish-white color, and very brilliant. As they consist of concentric layers of carbonate of lime and membrane, alternately arranged, the refraction of light is ascribed to the lamellated structure.

PEAT MOSS. The bed in which peat is found, either on the surface of the soil, or covered over with sand or earth to a short depth.

of

PEBBLES. In Mineralogy, are a genus fossils, distinguished from the flints by their having a variety of colors. These are defined to be stones composed of a crystalline matter debased by earths PEARL FISHERY. The fishing up of pearl of various kinds in the same species, and then suboysters, by divers employed for the purpose. The ject to veins, clouds, and other variegations, usually greatest pearl fishery is in the Persian Gulf. The formed by incrustation round a central nucleus, wretched people who are employed in this service, but sometimes the effect of a simple concretion; dive to the depth of fifteen fathom, or ninety feet, and veined like the agates, by the disposition drawing in their breath as they go down: when which the motion of the fluid they were formed arrived at the bottom, they fill their nets with oys-in gave their differently-colored substances. The ters, and making a signal, are drawn up with a rope. The oysters are brought to shore, and every one of them examined; a few only containing pearls. Thus a number of human creatures are chained to the bottom of the ocean, to pluck up a glittering pebble that may adorn the bodies of the rich. These wretched divers seldom live more than five or six years, after they begin their busi

ness.

variety of pebbles is so great that a hasty describer would be apt to make almost as many species as he saw specimens. A careful examination will teach us, however, to distinguish them into a cer tain number of essentially different species, to which all the rest may be referred as accidental varieties. In all the strata of pebbles there are constantly found some which are broken, and of which the pieces lie very near one another; but, as

bodies of such hardness could not be broken republic. For this seems to have been the original without some considerable violence, their present distinction between them and the ancient senators, situation seems to indicate that they have suffered as it is plainly intimated in the formule of the conthat great violence in or near the places where sular edict, sent abroad to summon the senate, they now lie. Several of these broken pebbles have their edges and corners so sharp and even that it seems evident they never can have been tossed about or removed since the fracture was made; and others have their sides and corners so rounded, blunted, and worn away, that they seem to have been roughly moved and rolled about among other hard bodies, either with great violence, or for a very long continuance; since such hard bodies could not have been reduced to the condition in which we now see them without long friction.

PECULIUM. The Roman slave, with every thing belonging to him, was, at first, the property of his master, but at a later period, a slave was permitted to have a property in a portion of the proceeds of his labor, as an incentive to diligence. This was styled his peculium; and masters were in the habit of making agreements with their slaves, who exercised some art or trade, that, if they gained a certain sum, they should be allowed to purchase their freedom with it; and such contracts were supported by law. The property of children who were still under the power of their father, was also called peculium; and in this, too, the earlier severity of the Roman law gradually gave place to milder provisions.

which was addressed to all senators, as those who had a right to vote in the senate. From which distinction, these last, who had only a right to vote, were called by way of ridicule, pedarian; because they signified their votes by their feet, not their tongues; and, upon every division of the senate, went over to the side of those whose opinions they approved. It was in allusion to this old custom, which seems, however, to have been wholly dropped in the later ages of the republic, that the mute part of the senate continued still to be called by the name of pedarians, as we learn from Cicero, who, in giving an account to Atticus of a certair debate and decree of the senate upon it, says, tha it was made with the eager and general concurrence of the pedarians, though against the authority of all the consulars.

PEER. In general, an equal. Peer, in the law of Britain, is a name that belongs to any class of persons who are the equals of each other. It is a fundamental law in the administration of justice, laid down by magna charta, that every man shall be tried by his peers; hence a commoner is tried by a jury of commoners, and a lord by a jury of lords. It is observable, that this privilege, however, so far as it is possessed by the lords, extends only to criminal cases. In civil actions, the advantage which the trial by peers was intended to pro

men of different conditions sometimes entertain against each other, is almost wholly on the side of the commonalty. If a mercantile question occur, a special jury of merchants, the precise peers in the case, may be required; but if a commoner sue a lord, the cause is decided by a common jury, with the exception that at least two knights be returned in the panel.

Peer: in a restricted sense, a lord of parliament, or peer of the realm.

PEDANT. Pedant is used for a rough, unpol-cure, that of security against the prejudices which ished, man of letters, who makes an impertinent use of the sciences, and abounds in unseasonable criticisms and observations. Madam Dacier defines a pedant, a person who has more reading than good sense. Malebranche describes a pedant as a man full of false erudition, who makes a parade of his knowledge, and is ever quoting some Greek or Latin author, or hunting back to a remote etymology. Lord Chesterfield justly and successfully ridiculed this species of pedantry, but set the example, which has been since very much followed, of what may be styled modern pedantry, by constantly interlarding his letters and other works with French, Spanish, and Italian quotations. St. Evremont says, that to paint the folly of a pedant, we must represent him as turning all conversation to some one science or subject he is best acquainted with. There are pedants of all conditions, and all robes. Wicquefort says, an ambassador always attentive to formalities and decorums is nothing else but a political pedant.

PEDARIAN. In Antiquity, those senators who signified their votes by their feet, not their tongues, that is such as walked over to the side of those whose opinion they approved of, in divisions of the senate.

The origin of the word Dr. Middleton thinks owing to this, that though the magistrates of Rome had a right to a place and vote in the senate, as well during their office as after it, and before they were put upon the roll by the censors, yet they had not probably a right to speak or debate there on any question, at least in the earlier times of the

PEEWIT, or LAPWING. An European bird that frequents marshes, and the banks of streams, about the size of a pigeon, and resembling the plover A similar bird, but much smaller in size, bears the same name in the United States.

PEGASUS. In the Heathen Mythology, a winged horse, on which Bellerophon is fabled to have ridden.

In Astronomy, a constellation in the northern hemisphere, containing from twenty to eighty-nine stars, according to different writers.

PELICAN. The pelican of Africa is much larger in the body than a swan, and somewhat of the same color and shape; its four toes are all webbed together, and the form of its neck bears some resemblance to the swan's. The singularity which peculiarly distinguishes this bird, chiefly consists in the form of its bill, and the great pouch which hangs underneath it, which has given rise to a variety of fabulous tales. This enormous bill is fifteen inches, from the point to the opening of

Some authors assert, that they may be made domestic, and rendered obedient to their commander's word; that they seen to be fond of music and conversation, and will show attention to both for several hours. They are allowed to be a longlived bird, as the emperor Maximilian had one tame above eighty years.

the mouth, which is a good way back, behind the | pouch, and did not seem inclined to leave them eyes; at the base it is rather greenish, but varies until each day was drawing to a close. towards the end to reddish blue; in the beginning it is very thick, but tapers off towards the point in the form of a hook. To the under chap hangs this extraordinary bag, which extends along the whole bill, and reaches to the neck, and is said to be capable of containing no less than fifteen quarts; this bag the bird has the power of wrinkling up into the hollow of the under jaw: it is not covered with feathers, but with a soft, very smooth down, and, when empty, is scarcely perceptible; but when the pelican has been successful in fishing, it is astonishing to see to what a size it will extend; and it has been asserted, that it would contain as many fish as would satisfy the appetites of six hungry men.

This bird was once known all over Europe, though it now seems to have deserted its coasts; fabulous writers have asserted that it fed its young with its blood, and that the bag served as a reservoir, when it flew over the desert sands. These accounts are equally incredible, as the bag is not used for water but for fish, and the bird never attempts to satisfy its appetite until it is completely filled; yet, as Father Labat studied its manners in America, from him is borrowed the following ac

count.

The pelican has strong wings, furnished with a thick plumage of ash color; and the feathers on the rest of the body are exactly the same; the eyes are small, compared to the size of its head, and there is something in the countenance very melancholy and sad.

PENAL LAWS. Those made against crimes, and in England unwisely and cruelly severe. Their worst characteristic is, that their severity does not seem to operate as a preventive. The number of persons committed for trial at assizes in England and Wales in 1805 was 4605, and progressively increased up to exceeding 18,000 in 1827, of whom, on an average of the ten years, 1817-1827, upwards of 1000 annually have been condemned to death, but the greater part afterwards reprieved. The executions average about seventy per annum.

PENALTY. In Law, a fine or forfeiture by way of punishment.

PENANCE. In Ecclesiastical Law, an infliction of some pain or bodily suffering, as an exercise of repentance for some sin, either voluntary or imposed by the priest in the Romish Church.

cils are made of camels', badgers' and squirrels' hair, and of the down of swans; these are tied at the upper end with a piece of strong thread, and enclosed in the barrel of a quill. Good pencils when drawn between the lips, come to a fine point.

PENCIL. An instrument used by painters for laying on their colors. Pencils are of various kinds, and made of various materials; the larger They are torpid and inactive to the greatest sorts are made of boar's bristles, the thick ends of degree; so that nothing can exceed their indolence, which are bound to a stick, large or small, accordbut their gluttony; and it is only by hunger theying to the uses they are designed for; these, when are excited to move, or they would continually re-large, are called brushes. The finer sorts of penmain in a stupid kind of sleep. When they have, with exertion, raised themselves about forty feet above the surface of the sea, they turn their head with one eye downwards, and in that position continue their flight. As soon as they perceive a fish sufficiently near the surface, with the swiftness of an arrow they dart down, surprise their victim before it can escape them, and carefully preserve PENCIL OF RAYS. In Optics, is a double it in their pouch; again they rise, and continue cone, or pyramid of rays, joined together at the hovering over the stream until their bag is com-base; one of which has its vertex in some point of pletely filled, when they retire to land, and greedily the object, and has the crystalline humor, or a glass devour the produce of their morning's toil. As for its base; and the other has its base on the same evening approaches, they feel another hungry call, glass or crystalline, but its vertex in the point of and again towards the rivers pursue their flight, convergence. where they remain until their bag is filled, when they take up their abode on some high tree for the night, and would remain in a state of torpid stupidity during the greater part of the succeeding day, were they not roused by that voracious appetite, which seems with reluctance to compel them away.'

This habit of indolence attends them through all seasons; for the female will not be at the pains of forming an abode for her young, but drops her eggs upon the ground; and, when sitting, will even suffer them to be taken away. Her young seem to call forth the powers of affection; for, Labat tells us, he tied two of them by the leg to a post, and the old one came to feed them with great regularity with the contents of her well stored

PENDANT, HANGING. An ornament, made of various materials, and fastened to the ear, lip, or nostril. Those streamers, or long colors, which are split toward the termination, and hung at the head of the mast of a ship, or at the end of a yard

arm.

PENDULOUS. A term applied to any thing that bends or hangs downwards; thus, the flowers, whose slender stalks are not able to sustain their heads upright, are called pendulous flowers.

PENDULUM. In Mechanics, a heavy body, so suspended as that it may vibrate, or swing backward and forward, about some fixed point, by the

force of gravity. The vibrations of a pendulum are called its oscillations. From the precision of its motions, it is employed in measuring time and space. The distance of a ship, from which a gun is fired, may be ascertained by measuring the interval of time between the flash and the sound of a gun; and, upon the same principle, the distance of a cloud, by numbering the seconds or half seconds between the lightning and the thunder. Thus, supposing that between the lightning and thunder ten seconds are counted, it follows, (sound passing through 1142 feet in a second) that the distance of the cloud is 11420 feet. Height, also, as the height of a room, may be measured by a pendulum vibrating from its top; and, by the same instrument, the force of gravity on the various parts of the earth's surface is discovered, and thence the true figure of the whole.

One imperfection belongs to the pendulum, the remedy of which is a great object of pursuit among men of science. It is that its length, upon which every thing depends, is perpetually liable to alteration, from the influence of heat and cold; the former of which expands, and the latter contracts, all metalline bodies.

PENSIONER, or PENSIONARY. One who receives an annuity from another, whether in consideration of service past or present, or merely as a benevolence.

quiring any skill in drawing: but there are few pentagraphs that can describe even straight lines with any tolerable correctness.

Since the invention of the pendulum for the regulation of time, by Galileo, the object of the researches of all the artists and philosophers for the improvement of that art, has been to correct PENTAGRAPH, or PARALLELOGRAM. the defects arising front the contraction and ex- An instrument, by means of which it is intended pansion of metals by heat and cold. Harison, a that drawings may be copied upon a similar, a recelebrated English artist, has in some degree cor- duced, or an enlarged scale, according to the rected these defects, by the invention of the 'grid-pleasure of those who use them, and without reiron,' put in practice by himself, by Cummings, and most of the eminent watch and clock makers in Great Britain, France, &c. Mr. Le Paute, an eminent artist of Paris, and watchmaker to the king, invented a more simple pendulum; by which the expansion and contraction of metals is ingeniously shown, by the assistance of a hand and quadrant on the pendulum, which mark the different degrees of heat and cold. This, although less complicated, comes as near the object in view, as the gridiron.'

Mr. Launy, an artist in New York, and formerly distinguished in several cities of Europe, is said to have discovered a full and complete corrective of the defects already mentioned. His invention is far less complicated than those of Harison and Le Paute. Several artists, who have examined it, have expressed the fullest confidence in its correctness and utility. It is a compensating pendulum, and is expected to perform its office without any alteration from the effects of the weather, in the greatest extremes; and may be accommodated to any well made clock, so as to convert it into an astronomical timepiece.

PENETRATION. The action of one thing upon another, whereby the first takes up the place previously possessed by the second.

In the philosophical idea of bodies, the possibility of penetration is excluded; but in the common one, nothing can be more evident than its reality. A knife penetrates an apple. A knife is a body, and an apple is a body: consequently, one body penetrates another. No, says the philosopher, the one body has only divided other bodies, and en

PENTAMETER. A sort of verse in Latin and Greek, consisting of five feet or metres.

PENTECOST. A solemn festival of the Jews, retained in the Christian church on account of the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, which happened on one of the annual returns of its celebration.

The feast of pentecost was instituted in memory of the promulgation of the law, and so named because that event took place on the fiftieth day after the escape from Egypt.

PENUMBRA. In Astronomy, a partial shade observed between the perfect shadow and the full light in an eclipse. It arises from the magnitude of the sun's body; for were he only a luminous point, the shadow would be all perfect; but by reason of the diameter of the sun, it happens that a place which is not illuminated by the whole body of the sun, does yet receive rays from a part thereof.

PEPPER. An aromatic and stimulant production of several plants of warm climates, which is pretty extensively used both in cookery and medicine. There are different kinds of pepper, the principal are Cayenne pepper, Jamaica pepper or allspice, long pepper, black pepper, and Java pepper. Cayenne pepper, as well as the other kinds, forms an excellent gargle in sore throats, especially

those proceeding from relaxation, and in the putrid | the cognizance of objects distinct and apart from sore throat and scarlet fever. Pepper is a useful ourselves, and learn that we are but a small part in article in cookery, as it stimulates the powers of the system of nature. By what process the senses the stomach, and prevents the flatulence which is give us this information is one of the most interapt to arise from the use of vegetables. With esting inquiries in metaphysics. such diet, pepper is almost universally necessary.

PERCH. A kind of fish with sharp, incurvate teeth, that prey upon other fish; the flesh of this fish is very delicate.

In Commerce, a measure of five yards and a half, or sixteen feet and a half.

PERCUSSION. The impression a body makes in falling or striking upon another. It is either direct or oblique ; direct when the impulse is made in the direction of a line perpendicular at the point of impact, and oblique when it is given in a line oblique to the place of impact, or that does not pass through the common centre of gravity of the two striking bodies.

PEPPER, BLACK. Piper nigrum, is an aromatic fruit, obtained from a species of piper which grows spontaneously in the East Indies, but does not arrive at perfection without the aid of culture. It is cultivated with much success at Malacca, Java, and especially at Summatra, and from these islands pepper is exported to every part of the world, where a regular commerce has been established. According to Mr. Marsden, the ground chosen by the Summatrans for a pepper garden, is marked out into regular squares of six feet, the intended distance of the plants, of which there are usually a thousand in each garden. The next business is to plant the chinkareens, which serve as props to the pepper vines, and are cuttings of a tree of that PERCUSSION LOCKS. A late and very usename, which is of quick growth. When the ful invention. The percussion lock has no pan. chinkareen has been some months planted, the In the place of the pan, a small tube projects horimost promising perpendicular shoot is reserved for zontally from the side of the gun. In this tube growth, and the others lopped off; this shoot, after another small tube stands perpendicularly. The it has acquired two fathoms in height, is deemed cock, instead of being formed to hold a flint, is sufficiently high, and its top is cut off. Two pep-shaped somewhat like a hammer, with a hollow to per vines are usually planted to one chinkareen, fit upon the tube last mentioned. On this tube a round which the vines twist for support; and after being suffered to grow three years (by which time they acquire eight or twelve feet in height) they are cut off about three feet from the ground, and being loosened from the prop are bent. into the earth in such a manner that the upper end is returned to the root. This operation gives fresh vigor to the plants, and they bear fruit plentifully the ensuing season. The fruit, which is produced in long spikes, is four or five months in coming to maturity; the berries are at first green, turn to a bright red when ripe and in perfection, and soon fall off if not gathered in proper time. As the whole cluster does not ripen at the same time, part of the berries would be lost in waiting for the latter ones; the Summatrans therefore pluck the bunches as soon as any of the berries ripen, and spread them to dry upon mats, or upon the ground. By drying they become black, and more or less shrivelled, according to their degree of maturity. These are imported here under the name of black pepper.

Pepper is also cultivated to a considerable extent in India. Dr. Roxburgh began the cultivation of black pepper in the Circars in 1787; using for prop trees the Moochy wood tree, or Erythrina corallodendron. One thousand plants yield from 500 lbs. to 1000 lbs. of pepper.

PERCEPTION. Perception is a word which is so well understood that it is difficult for the lexicographer to give any explanation of it. It has been called the first and most simple act of the mind, by which it is conscious of its own ideas. This definition, however, is improper, as it confounds perception with consciousness; although the objects of the former faculty are things without us, those of the latter the energies of our own minds. Perception is that power or faculty, by which, through the medium of the senses, we have

little cap of copper is placed, in the bottom of which is a chemical mixture that kindles by percussion. This percussion is produced by the cock, which therefore requires a very strong spring. The powder is made in various ways, and of different materials; among others of mercury, purified nitric acid, and spirit of wine freed from water. The copper caps in which this chemical powder is placed are two and a half lines long and two lines wide. Sometimes the powder is also formed in pills, and then a somewhat different contrivance is required to place the pills, covered with a little wax, to protect them from moisture, in the small tube.

The advantages of a percussion lock are great: 1. Provided the spring of the cock is strong, and the chemical powder good, the gun cannot miss fire; (as to the latter, the sportsman must choose a good chemist) while common locks are exposed to miss fire from many causes-bad flints, bad steel, bad priming, and weak springs. 2. The chemical powder explodes much more rapidly and forcibly than common powder, and therefore explodes the powder in the gun itself more forcibly, so as to produce a prompter and more effectual discharge. 3. The moisture of the air has hardly any influence in a violent rain the lock is as sure to give fire as in the driest day. 4. The danger of an unintentional discharge is avoided: as long as the copper cap is not placed on the little tube, the gun cannot go off, even if the cock is snapped by mistake; while, with other guns, there is always danger, even when no priming has been put in the pan, because some grains may always escape through the touch hole, and the cock may always be accidentally snapped. The caps or pills which the sportsinau must carry with him are not dangerous, because it requires a very strong percussion to explode the powder. Percussion locks have