Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/245

 P I E

P I G

With a broad line of a ferrugineous brown down the back." Ra/s Ornithol. p. 96. Aldravand. de Avibus, 1. 12. c. 35. In the Linnaean fyftem of zoology, the fiats makes a diftincl genus of birds, of the order of the pyes. The characters of this genus, according to this author, are, that the feet have two toes before ; the tail is rigid and of the (bape of a wedge ; the bill is angular, and terminates in the form of a wedge ; the tongue is pointed, hard, and fharp.

Of "this genus are the black, green, and variegated wood- pecker, and the -three-toed fpecies, defcribed in the a£ta litera- ria fuecisi in 1740. Linnm Syftem. Natur. p. 4,5.

Picus imbrifextus, in zoology, the name of an American bird, defcribed by Nieremberg, and called by the natives quatoUmi It is of the fize of the hoopoe, and is variegated with black and brown. It is of the wood-pecker kind, having a beak three finder's breadth long, with which it perforates trees. Its head is final! and red, and has a fine red creft ; but the feathers are black on their upper fide. It has on each fide of the neck a broad white line, reaching to the breaft. Its legs and feet are of a bluifb colour. It builds in high trees, and is prin- cipally found near the fhores of the ibuth fea. It feeds on in- fecls. Ray's Ornithol. p. 301.

Picus rnwarius, in zoology, the name of a bird called in Eng- lish the wall-creeper, and but improperly ranked among the piei, as wanting many of the characters of that genus It is about the bignefs of the common fparrow ; its bill is black, ilender, and long; its bead, neck, and back grey; its breaft white, and its wings partly grey and partly red ; its tail is fhort and black ; its long wing-feathers alfo, and the lower part of its belly, and its legs, are of the fame colour ; its legs are fliort, but its feet are not placed as in the wood pecker ; but are three before, and one behind : it is very common in Italy, Germany, and fome parts of France ; it is a very lively and chearful bird, and as the common wood-pecker climbs trees, and feeds on the infecls in their cracks ; fo this bird runs up old walls, and feeds on what it finds in the cracks of the ftones. JldrovamL de Avib. L. 12. c. 37.

Picus niaum fufpendms, a name by which fome authors have called the galbula ; a yellow bird of the thrufh kind, very re- markable for its beauty, and for the ftruiture and manner of hanging its neft. Aldrovand. de Avib. See Galbula.

ViCOsJalutiferus, in zoology, a name under which Nieremberg has defcribed a Mexican bird, called by the natives henquech- oltUotl,

It is of the fize of the common black-bird, and has a long and black beak : its head and a great part of its neck are red : its breaft and belly are grey, and it has a creft of red feathers upon its head. It is of the wood-pecker kind, and has its name from the fuppofed virtues of its feathers, particularly thofe of the creft, in curing the head-ach. Rafs Ornithol. p. 301.

PIEDRA de la hyada, in natural hiftory, the name given by the Spaniards to a ftone found in many parts of America, parti- cularly in New Spain ; and famous among the Indians for cur- ing the colic on being applied to the navel. It is green, and is a fpecies of jafper, approaching to the nature of the lapis nephriticm, and is called by many colicus lapis, from its virtues.

PIERRE d'automne-i a French name tranflated from the Chinefe. It is the name of a medicinal ftone, famous throughout the eaft for curing all diforders of the lungs.

Many people fuppofe it had its name of the autumn -Jl one, from its being only to be made at that feafon of the year; but it may be made equally at all times, and the origin of the name is to be farther fearched into.

The Chinefe chemifts, like thofe of all other nations, delight in a fort of gibberifli. A part of this is, the referring the ie- veral parts of the body to the feveral feafons of the year. The lungs are in this fcheme referred to autumn. This appears in their writings ; and thus the ftone for difeafes of the lungs came to be called auiumn-Jlone.

It is a tedious preparation of human urine, and made as fol- lows : they put thirty pints of the urine of a ftrong and healthy young man into a large iron pot, and fet it over a gentle fire ; and when it begins to boil, they add to it, drop by drop, about a large tea-cup full of rape-oil: it is then left on the fire till the whole is evaporated to a thick fubftance rcfembling black mud ; they then take it out of the pot, and laying it on a flat iron, they dry it fo that it may be powdered very fine. This powder they moiften with frefli oil, and put the mafs into a double crucible, furrounded with coals ; where it Hands till thoroughly dried again. They finally powder this again, and putting it into a china vefTcl, covered with filk cloth and a double paper, they pour on boiling water, which makes its way, drop by drop, thro' thefe coverings, till fo much is got in, as is fufficient to reduce it to a pafte. This pafte is well mixed together in the vcflcl it is kept in, and this is put into a vcftel of water, and the whole fet over the fire. The mat- ter thus becomes again dried in balneo mariae, and is then nniftied. Obferv. fur les Cout. de FAfie, p. 258.

PIER1DES, among the antients, an epithet given to the mufes, upon account of their having been born in that part of the country of Macedon which was called Phria. PitJfc. in voc. 2

PIESMA, a word ufed by the antients to expreis the remaining: mafs after the expreffion of any fluid fubftance from among its' more folid parts. Thus the cake remaining in the bag aftei the exprcfiion of oils* is called by this name : but there are inftances of authors calling the exprefTed juice, inftead of the refidmim, ( by this name. Thus Diofcorides calls the exprefled juice of the bay-berries, the pie/ma laurinum j and others, the exprefied juice of rofes, piefma rojarum, paying no regard to the rofe-cake left behind.

PIESTER, the name ufed by the antients for the prefs which tbey employed in preparing the feveral juices of plants, &c hence the word pie/ma, which fee.

PIES I 'RON, a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs a fort of forceps, which he recommends to be ufed in difficult labours, to break the bones of the cranium of the foetus, when its head is too large to fuffer it to pafs whole.

PIETERMAN, in zoology, the name ufed by fome for a fifh of the citcuhu kind, approaching to the nature of the draco ma- rhms, or weaver; and more ufually called among authors by its Braftlian name niqui. Willughbys Hift. Pifc. p. 2S9. See Tab. of Fifties, N°. 49. and the article Njqjjj.

PJETOSO, in the Italian mufic, fignifies to play or fing in a foft manner, fit to move pity or cumpaflion.

PIETRA emhofcaiai in natural hiftory, a name given by the Ita- lians to the Florentine marble, fo remarkable for its delinea- tions.

I his marble is found in thin ftrata, and is full of cracks; in thefe cracks there is ufually found a black mineral matter, which getting into the fubftance of the ftone a little way on each fide of the crack, forms there various delineations, or the figures qf pieces of mofs bufhes, and the like: the paler pieces of the marble ufually have thefe delineations ; the darker coloured having the forms of trees and houfes, or the ruins of old buildings, ll-codw. Hift. Fofl". V. II. p. ig.

PIEXE-;W/o, in zoology, a name given by the Portuguefe to a fifh caught about the fhores of the Brafils, and much refem- bling our doree or faber fifcis ; more ufually known among au- thors by its Braftlian name, abacatuaia. WiUugbbfs Hift. Pifc. p. 295. See Abac atuaia.

PiEXE-po>co, in zoology, a name by which feme authors have called the msnoceros, or unicorn fifh of Clufius. The name is Portuguefe, and fignifies hog-fifh ; this little creature having a mouth like a hog. JVillughhys, Hift. Pifc. p. 150. j PIG Guinea. See Guinea.

! PIGAYA, in natural hiftory, a word ufed by the natives of Bra- ftl as a name for the famous ipecacuanha-root. The firft European who brought this root into ufe was an apo- thecary of Brafi),' whofe name was Michael Triftaon. j he book which this author publifhed on this fubject falling into the hands of the EnHim, is tranflated into our language, and frauds, among a number of like accounts, among Purchas's pilgrims.

He fays it is an excellent remedy aga'mft dvfenteries and fluxes of all kinds. He fays alfo, in its defcription, that the ftalks are a quarter of a yard long, and the roots nearly as much ; and that the leaves grow only four or five upon a plant. This agrees very well with all that we have fmce difeo'. ered of this plant, and the method of uling it at that timej we find, was not as a vomit ; but they bruifed the frefli root, and fteeped it about twelve hours tn water, at the end of which time, the patient drank the water early in the morning: it operated by ftool ; but after its operation, the natural purging and voiding of blood ceafed. This feems the original account we have of this drug.

De Latt from this compiled his account; which is almoft a literal tranflation of this into Latin : from his hint Pifoand Marggrave enquired after it more carefully upon the fpot, and from them came the firft accurate accounts we had of it ; fo that all feems, ab or'igh.e, deduced from Michael Triftaon's ac- count of it.

PIGEON, in zoology. See Columba.

PjGEON-lWff, in brick-making. See Brick.

Turbit Pigeon. See Turbit.

PIGNOLETTI, in ichthyography, a name ufed by many for the aphua cobites, a fmall fifh of the gobius, or fca-gudgeon kind, common in the Mediterranean, and brought to the markets of Rome and Venice. pyHlughby's HiR.Vric. p. 207. See the article Aphua.

PIGUS, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of leather- mouthed fifh, very much approaching to the nature of the carp. It is of the fame fhape and fize with the common carp, and its eyes, fins, and flefliy palate wholly the fame. From the gills to the tail there runs a crooked doited line : its back and fides are bluifti, and its belly reddifh : it is covered with large fcales, from the middle of every one of which there rifes a fine, pellucid, and very fharp prickle.

It is a finer fifh than the carp for the table, and is in feafon in the months of March and April. It is caught in lakes in fome parts of Italy, and is mentioned by Pliny, tho' without a name.

It is a fpecies of cyprinus, according to Artedi, and is diftin- guifhed by that author under the name of the cyprinus, called pick and pigus. He adds, that the tail is forked, and the fcales large ; and that in ipring and autumn there grow out of

them