Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/212

 PEL

PELAGIA, (Cycl.) in natural hiftory, a name by which Pliny, and other of' the antient naturalifts, have ufually called the purpura. See Purpura.

PELAMYS, in zoology, a name by which the antients ex- prefled the young brood of the thynnrn, or tunny fifh, at a certain age and fize ; but later writers have appropriated the word for the name of a diftin& fpecies of fifh, of the fame genus, called by others far da ; and by fome by the two names joined into one, pelamys-farda.

It is a fea- fifh, of the fhape of the tunny ; but of a fmooth fkin, and free from fcales every where, except about the gill fins. Its teeth are large, long, and crooked. Thefe are the only external marks by which it is to be known from the young brood of the tunny; but when biought to the table, it is eafily diftinguifhed by the hardnefs of its flefti. Ray's ich- thyography, p. I yg. '

Pelamys vera, a name given by Rondeletius, and fome other authors, to the fifh more diftin£tly known by the name oiamia, TVillughbfs Hift. Pifc. p. J 80. See Am i a.

PELANI, ibfctoti among the Athenians, a kind of cakes ufed in their libations. Pitt. T. 1. p. 214.

PELATiE, Tiihdai, in antiquity, a particular kind of fervants among the Athenians.

The pelaics were free-born citizens, who, by reafon of their indigence, were forced to ferve for wages. They had no fuf- frage in public affair.-;, as not being mafters of an eftate proper to qualify them for giving their votes ; but this reftri&ion was not perpetual. They were otherwife called thetes, and con- tinued in the condition of fervants only during their own plea- fure and neceffities ; for they had power either to change their mafters, or (if they became able to fubfift themfelves) wholly to releafe themfelves from fervitude. Pott. Arch. Graec. T. 1. p. 57.

PELECANUS, a name given by fome authors to the plaiea, 01 fpoon-bill ; a bird very different from the pelican, being of the ftork, or heroH kind. Aldrcvand. de Avib.

PELECINUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe: the fiower is of the papiliona- ceous kind, and from its cuparifes a piftil, which finally be comes a flat, bicapfular and bivalve fruit, containing feveral flat feeds, ufually approaching to a kidney-like fhape. There is only one known fpecies of this genus, which is the plant called by fome the fmooth-podded fecundaca, and by others the radiated lunaria. Tourn. Inft. p. 417.

PELICAN, (Cycl.) in the Linnsean fyftem of zoology, makes a diftin£f. genus of birds of the order of the anferes, or goofe kind ; the cha racier i flic of which is to have a beak of a de preffed form, with a hooked point, and furmfhed with a large bag or purfe beneath. Linnai fyftem. Nat. p. 46.

PELLA, in zoology, a name by which many have called the common grey heron. See the articles Ardsa and Heron

PELLACK, the name of a young fpout-whale, often found in Zetland ; where they run into creeks, and fo entangle them felves among the rocks, that they are caft on fhore, or eafily taken. Phil. Tranf. N°. 473, fea. 8.

PELLAGE, in our old writers, a etifrom or duty paid for fkins or leather. Rot. Pari. 1 1 Hen. IV. Blount.

PELLITORY of Spain, in the materia medica. See the ar tide Pyre thrum,

Pellitor y of the wall. See Parietaria.

PELOPIA, n«Mw«aj in antiquity, a feftival celebrated by the Eleans, in honour of Pelops, for whom that nation had more veneration than for any other hero. Eor the ceremonies of this folemnity, fee Pott. Archasol. Graec. 1. 2. c. 20, T. p. 429.

PELORIA, UsMiftx, in antiquity, a feftival not unlike the Ro- man faturnalia, celebrated by theThefialonians. Pott. Archaeol. Graec. 3. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 425.

PELORIDES, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome to a peculiar fpecies of chama. Bellonius, who firft ufed the word, never gives it alone as the name of the fhell, but only ufes it as an epithet derived from peloro, the name of the place where a particular fpecies of chama was very frequent.

PELT-w:o/, wool ftripped of the fkin or pelt of a dead fheep. Stat. 8 Hen. VI. c. 22. Blount, Coivel.

PELTASTES, Itovranifc among the antients, one who ufed the buckler called pelta. SeePELTA, Cycl.

PELTATED-iW/, Peltatum/./ww, among botanifts. Set the article Leaf.

PELVIS (Cycl)— The pelvis is the third and Weft part of th< trunk) confifting chiefly of two large pieces, called ofj'a inno- mlnatu ; which being united anteriorly by a cartilaginous fym phyfis, and poftei'iorly to the two fides of the os facrum, re- present a kind of bafin. When confidered feparately, they are of no determinate figure; being of different breadths in different parts, and unequally convex on the outride, and un- equally concave within Each bone is but one piece in adults, but in children each confifts of three pieces, joined together by a cartilage; which afterwards perfectly offifies, leaving commonly no veftige of the firft divifion. Anatomifts con- fider it, however, even in adults, as made up of three por- tions ; and diftinguifh them by different names, as if they were three different bones. Of thefe three bones the largeft is fupcrior and pofterior> and is called os ilium. The fecond

PEN

inferior called os ifehium : and the third and fmalleft anterior 1 called 0; pubis. Without entering on the particular defcrip- tion of thefe, (which, fee under their proper heads) it is to he obferved, that there are in the entire bone feveral common parts, or pans which belong to more portions of it than one, viz. a deep cartilaginous cotyloide cavity, called in Latin ace- tabulum: this is formed by all the three portions. A Ian*e opening, called the foramen ovale, formed by the os ifbium and os pubis. A large pofterior notch or finus, called the ifebiatic notch, and formed by the os ifehium and os ilium. An oblique eminence, or protuberance, above the acetabulum, toward the firagrlen ovale, made by the os ilium and os pubis : and to thefe may be added, a ridge on the infide the pelvis, which divide* the wide upper part from the bottom, to which alone the an- tients gave the name pelvis. Winptrfs Anatomy, p. 69.

PELUS armena, in the materia medica, a name given by fome of the old writers to the drug that we at prefent call bole ar~ maniac. This was the original name, and the term bolus armena is not to be found, but in the later writers.

PEMPHINGODES, art epithet bellowed by Hippocrates on fe- vers by flatulencies and inflations, in which the patient feels a kind of wind paffing along under the (kin, and the pbyfician may perceive it in the fame places rifmg againft the pre/lure of his finger, called by fome an inflative fever.

PEMPTiEUS, a word ufed by medical writers, as the name of an ague, the fits of which return always on thefifth day.

PENDANT-^*™. SeePENsiLEsferri.

PENDULOUS reifj, among botanifts, fuch as are fixed to the ends of fibres, whence they feem to hang. See Root.

PENDULUM (Cycl.)— Mr. Poleni feems to think, that if a long pendulum were made to fwing in the place of the meri- dian, and another of equal length in a plane perpendicular to the meridian, fome difference might be found in their vibra tions from the centrifugal force arifing from the earth's rotation about its axis. See Phil. Tranf. N°. 468. fefl. 1. Pendulum clocks refting againft the fame rail, have been found to influence each other's motions. See the Phil. Tranf. N". 453> fc& 5 and 6, where Mr. Ellicot has given a very cu- rious and exafi: account of this phenomenon.

PENELOPE, in zoology, the name ufed by authors for the bird commonly known in England by the name of the wigan ; called alfo in fome places the whewer; and by the Germans the febmey. The head and upper part of the neck in this bird are of a reddifli hue, variegated with black fpots ; but toward the beak the colour is paler, and blended with fome white and yellow. The upper part of the breaft and the (ides are of a deep reddifli hue, and variegated with tranfverfe ftreaks of black, and the back is brown ; the head is proportionably fmaller than that of the wild duck. It feeds, on weeds and fmall fhell-fifh. Ray's Ornithol. p. 288.

PENETRALE, among the Romans, properly denoted the cha- pel confecrated to the penates, or houfehold gods. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. invoc. See Penates, Cycl

PENGUIN, in zoology, a name given by Tailors of different nations to two different fpecies of water-fowl, both web-foot- ed, and both wanting the hinder toe.

The penguin of the Englifh is the bird more commonly known by the name of the goifugel.

It grows to the fize of a common tame-goofe, and is black on its back, or upper part, and white on the belly. Its wino-s are very fmall, and by no means fit for flying. Its beak is fome- what broad and long, compreffed on the fides and back, and has toward the extremity feveral furrows, feven or ei<mt on the upper fide, and about ten on the under; and the°lower chap fwells into a protuberance downward. Its head has two white lines reaching from the beak to the eyes. It tail is very fliort, and it has no hinder toe.

The penguin of the Dutch is the anfer magellanicus of Clufius. Pay's Ornithol. p. 242. See the article Duck.

PENICILLIrasnV, in natural hiftory, a fort of marine tubuli or cafes of fea- worms, making a diftiuct genus of thofe (hells! They are defined to be flielly tubes, very (lender, and termi- nating in the fhape of a painter's pencil; many of them in their native (late adhering to (tones, C3V. on the fea-fhorcs by means of a foft and lax fubltance. Some of thefe are white and pellucid, others yellowifh or brown ; and the more common fort are about a finger's length, and about the thicknefs of a wheaten draw ; and fome are of a fort of fun- nel-like fhape, and have their mouths furrounded by a foft of hairs, or filaments. Thefe are called by fome probofdpletlani, others are called cadi, and others entalia. K'ein, de Tubul. Marin, p. r.

PENIS (Cycl.)— Bleeding in the vena dorfalis of the penis is ufually found to furpafs all remedies whatever in abating in- flammatory diforders of this member. This large vein, which runs along the back or upper fide of the penis, being generally pretty much diftended and confpicuous in an inflammation of this part, may be opened about the middle, and kept bleed- ing till the member becomes flaccid, and a fufHcient quantity of blood be difcharged proportionably to the urgency of the cafe ; which done, a comprefs muff, be applied, and kept on by bandage. There muft, however, be great caution in this operation not to injure the arteries or nerves wnich enter the penis near this vein, as alfo not to make the bandage too

ftria,