Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/225

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authors- The 'body con fifts of eighty-four rings, and it has no teeth. ArU&i Gen Pifc. 42. PETRONELLUS, in zoology, a name under which fome have defer ibed the bunting.

PLTRONIA marina, in zoology, the name of a fmall bird of the cenanthe kind, or nearly allied to that genus. Its beak is ftrong and {harp, like that 'of the chaffinch ; its head is ct" a brownifh grey, but has ufually a long whitiih {freak running alono- it ■ Its neck is afh-coloured, and at the bottom is varie- gated with black ; the rump is of a brownifh green ; the long wins-feathers are blackifh, with edges and tips of green, and are white underneath ; the breaft is of a dufky white, and the tail brownifh, variegated with yellow. It is, however, diftin- ffutfbed from all other birds by a fine large yellow fpot, which it has on the middle of its throat. Aidrovand. de Avib. 1. 17. c. 38.

PETROSELEN* radix, parjlcy-ro.t. See Parsley.

PETROSELINUM Macedmium^ in the materia medica, the name of a feed ufed in medicine. The plant which produces it is a native of the warm countries ; and the feed fhould be chofen for ufe clean, well fed, longifh, and of a brownifh green colour, and well tafied, and aromatic. The buyer ihould be careful in the choice of this feed, hecaufe it is com- monly adulterated, and the feeds of the common farfley, or thofe of a fort of iinailage, are too frequently fold in its place. It is aperitive, provokes urine and the menfes, and expells wi d i and, inform of a cataplafm, is faid extremely to help the gout. It is an ingredient alfo in the Venice treacle. Lcm, Diet, of Drugs.

J\ETROSUM_/tf/, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome of the old writers to the nitre of iEiypt, ufed in the antient times; and by others to the common nitre, which we ufe at prefent, and call by a fimilar name, jalt petre.

PETTY bag (Cycl.) — In antient times the chancellor was likewife chaplain to the king, and it was his buhnefs, in the time of the jufticiar, to write the diplomata ; that is, all char- ters and commiiiions from the king: therefore, when the power of the jufticiar was broke, he obtained the ofpeina bre- vium and chartarum regiarum; from thence all the extraordi- nary jurifdic'tions, touching granting of charters, as likewife all inquefis of office to entitle the crown, were returned into this office ; and the exchequer, in which thefe things were an- tiently tranfacfed, became only an ordinary court of revenue, to let leafes to the king's farmers, and to get in. the king's debts : and therefore the office in the exchequer was only an office of infl:ru£lion, of what lands were in the king in particular counties ; but to invert lands in the crown dc novo, it was neccflaryto have an office under the great feal, and fo to grant lands from the crown, unlefs it were merely farms granted for years. Vid. NewAbr. Law, Vol. I. p-58/. From hence, at this day this court has a jurifdiition to hold plea upon a fare facias, to repeal the king's letters patents upon petitions, mm/tram de drat, traverfes of offices, fate facias upon recognizances, executions upon fiatutes, 6fc which being regiltred in this court, the procefs thereupon i flues, and is returnable there, and entered in the office called the petty bag; whereas the writs which were the foundation of the butinefs of the other courts, were put together in the hamper, which gave the difrinclion of thofe names, and begat diftii.ct officers in the court. 4. IniL So.

If in this court the parties defcend to iffue, the chancellor cannot try it, but is to deliver the record, with his proper hand, into the king's-bench, where judgment is to be given ; but upon a demurrer, the chance lor is to give judgment r: : fo if the illue is to be tried otherwife than by a jury, as by the bifhop's certificate, judgment fhall be given in chancery b. [» Vid. New Abr. Law, Vol I. p. 587. b 1 Jon. So.] Alfo all perfonal actions, by or againft any officer or mini iter of this court, in re/peer, of their fervice or attendance, may be determined in this court; but in thefe no- jury procefs can ifiue, therefore the record is to be lemoved into the kihg's- bench, as before mentioned.

PETbLANTIUM /£/?//«*, in antiquity, a fcftival celebrated by the Athenians and Lacedemonians in honour of the moon, under the name of Venus : at which the men affifted, d relied in womens cloaths ; and the women in the habits of men. Hoff. Lex umv. in voc

PETUNTSE, or as it is ufually called pclwife, one of the two earths or foffile fubftances of which the porcelain ware of China is made. The other is named kao'in. See Kaolin. . 'J he fetuntfe is fprinkled all over with bright glittering particles. Jt is beaten to powder, and afterwards made up into a fort of bricks, and in that form it is fent to the places where it is to be wrought. It in of. a hard texture, and cf a fome- wliat greenifh colour. Mr. Reaumur, ef the academy of fciences of Paris, who was extremely indufrrious in fearching into the nature of porcelain, obtained feme fpecimens of the fetuntfe, both in its native Hate, and in form of the brick, which is given it after it is powdered and reduced to a pafle. Mr. Reaumur found that the fetuntfe was fo far from being an earth, as ufually fuppofed, that it was truly of the nature of the European flint or pebble, as he eilablifhes the character of that body ; but to umlerftand this rightly, it is to be obferved, that this author make; the flints and pebbles a very large clafs of bodies, (bine of which are more, fome Ids tranfpaient;

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and that this peluntfe is of the nature of the coarfer, or Jets tranfparent kind, the furface of which, when broken, is not fo fmooth and polifhcd as that of the ordinary flint. The great charaBer of thefe ftones for the porcelain manufaflures is, however, that they are very eafily vitrified, without the affiftance of any fait, and without the immediate contact of the fire, the operation fuccceding in a crucible, which is not at all the cafe in regard to tile European, flints, they -very differ- ently melting alone in a crucible, and then only into a whitiih opake glafs.

It being certain from hence, that one of the two ingredients of the china-ware is ealily vitrifiable, it follows, from the ex- periment of the whole mixture, or china-ware not being re- ducible into glafs in a large fire, that it is a compofition°of a vitrifiable, and a not vitrifiable (or at leaft not eafily vitri- fiable) fubftance ; and confequcntly, that the kaolin is a fcarce vitrifiable body, and that the refult of the action of fire on a mixture of thefe two, is a femivitrification; which is what we call the china-ware.

If we, therefore, could, in Europe, provide the materials of china, or fuch as were like them, we might reafon- ably hope to fucceed ; and this appears far from impro- bable. The fetuntfe is eafily fupplied by many of our own earths, ftones, and fands, as nothing is required in it more than a property of running eafily into a white glafs. The kaolin feems moil to be r.fembled by our European talcs. Mem Acad. Par. 1727. See the article Kaolin.

PEUCEDANUM, fogs-fennel, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flowers ftand in umbells, and are of the rofaceous kinds, being compofed of feveral petals arranged in a circular form, and placed upon a cup, which afterwards becomes a fruit, compofed of two flat, oval, marginatcd, and {Mated feeds. To this it is to be added, that the leaves are alated, narrow, grafly, and divided always into three parts.

1 he fpecies of peucedanum, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The greater Italian peucedanum. 2. The (mai- ler or German peucedanum. 3. The French peucedanum. with fewer and fliorter leaves. And, 4. The French peucedanum, with fewer and fliorter leaves, with purple flowers. Tourh. Inft. p. 318.

The common hogs fennel is found in wet and moorifh places, and about fen ditches. It flowers in June and July. Its root is efteemed of great ufe, as an expectorant and attenuant. It is prefcribed in difeafes of the bicaft and lungs, par- ticularly in thofe in which thofe parts are loaded with a tou»h phlegm. It is alfo recommended in all obftrufiions of the vifcera. It promotes urine, and is recommended in nephritic cafes. The old authors have fpoke greatly of its efficacy in all nervous cafes, and have recommended it as a Angular re- medy in lethargies, palfies, epilepfics, and the like.

PEWIT, in zoology, the Englifli name of a common bird of the larus, or fea-gull kind, called by fome authors larus cine- rcut, and by others cep^hus, and in fome of the counties of England the black cap, nndfea-crczv.

It is about the fize of a pidgeon. Its beak is red ; its head and throat of a greyilh black, and its neck, tail, breaft, and belly white ; the middle of its back grey. It has its Englifli name from its note, which feems to exprefs the word pewit. It is affirmed by many, that the head of this bird is only black at a certain feafon of the year. Ray's Ornithol. p. 204.

PHACOIDES, a word ufed by the antient phyficians to ex- prefs any thing that in fize and fhape approached to a len- til!. Thus the cryftalline humor of the eye was fo called.

PHACOPTISANA, a medicine often mentioned by the an- tient writers as a nouiilhing and ftrengthening thing : it was a ptifan with lentills.

PHACOSIS, a word u[cd by the antients to exprefs a diforder of the eye, appearing in form of a black fpot, of the fize and round figure of the lentill.

PH7ECASIA, in antiquity, a kind of fhoes. For the different opinions concerning which, fee Hofm. Lex. Univ. in voc.

PHAGEDENlC-zurtrtr, a name given to lime water, to every pint of which twenty or thirty grains of fublimate has been added. It is a great deterger of foul wounds ; whence it has its name.

PHAGESIA, p«ywia, in antiquity, a feftiva! in honour of Bac- chus, celebrated during the Dionyfia. SeeDloNYSIA, Cycl. It was otherwife called phageflfofw, GayrwwicL ; which names come from paysc, to eat, and thmi*, to drink ; becaufe it was . a time of good chear. Putter, Archad. Grasc. 1. 2. c. 20. T.i. p. 434.

PKAGON, $a.y», in antiquity, a feftival of the fame nature with that called phagefta. See Phagi'STA.

PHAGRUS, ihefiainam. The Artedian fyftem of ichthyo- logy does not allow this fifh a peculiar generical name, but makes it a fpecies of the large genus of tfiejpari : the author diftinguifhes this from the others by the name of the reddijb fiarus, with the fkin hollowed into a finus at the roots of the back fins. See Sparus.

PHAGUS, in botany, a name given by many authors to the exulus, or fweet and efculenr, oak, found in Greece and Dalmatia. Parkins. Theatr. p. 1487.

PHALACRA, a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs all the

blunt