Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/247

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PILE (Cycl.)^-ViLE iwnw, are a kind of -worms found in the piles of the fea dikes In Holland. Thefe worms are of various fizes, fome of the young ones are not above an inch or two in length ; but others have been found of thirteen or fourteen inches long.

The heads of thefe creatures were covered with two "hard ftells, or hemicrania ; which together form a figure refem- blirig an augur; and with which they bore the wood The beft'remedy againft them is, to perforate the pile with many ■ fmall holes, about an inch afunder; then it muft be done over with a varnifli in the hotteft fun ; and while the varnifh is hot brick duft muft be ftrewed over it; and this being fe- veral times repeated, the pile will be covered with a ftrong cruff impenetrable to all infects. See a farther account of thefe creatures in Phil. Tranf. N° 45'$. Sect. 5.

Piles, the popular name for the hesnvrrboides. See the article H.'EMOHRHOiDEs, Cycl. and Snip!.

PILE/E, a name given by fome authors to a genus of echinoder- tnata Seethe article Con ul us.

PILENTUM, among the Romans, an eafy kind of chariot, ufed by the Roman ladies at games and religious procefiions. Pitifc. in voc.

PILEUS presbyter''^ in botany, a name given by fome writers to the euonymus or fufanus, a fhrub which grows in our hedges, and bears a fquare fruit fome what refembling the cap worn by fome orders of priefts.

PILHANNAW, a name given by the Indians to a bird found in the forefts on the back of fome our American plantations. It is a bird of prey very large and bold; it is defcrSbed by Joflelin as four times as big as our gofhawk, and having a remarkably kjrge head. All the birds are terrified at its ap- proach ; but it principally feeds on quadrupeds, as the young fawns and the like.

PILIMICTIO, a word ufed by feveral authors to exprefs a dis- charge of fmall and long filaments, which referable hairs among the urine.

PILL (Cycl.) — Aromatic Pills, pilule aromatic a; a form of me- dicine in the New London Difpenfatory, intended to ftand in the place of the pilules diambrcs of the former, and the pi- lules alephangines, or aksphanglna of that, and fome other Difpenfatories.

The compofition is this : Take focotrine aloes, an ounce and half; gum guaiacum, an ounce; the aromatic fpe- cies and balfam of Peru, of each half an ounce ; let the aloes and gum guaiacum be powdered feparately, and afterwards mixed with the reft, and formed into a mafs with fyrup of orange-peel Pernberton's Lond. Difp. p. 326.

Pills of colocynth with aloes, pilules e colccynthidc cum aloe, a name given in the New London Fharmacopceia, to the purging- As this is originally a prefcription of Galen's, and the man- ner of proportioning the ingredients has been altered for the worfe, iince his time, by enlarging the quantity of that nau- feous ingredient the colocynth - f the college have reduced it to its former proportions, and ordered it to be made in this man-
 * ///, commonly known by the name of pilules eoccies minores.

' ner : Take focotrine aloes and fcammony, of each two oun- ces ; pith of coloquintida, owe ounce ; oil of cloves, two ' drams ; let the dry fpecies be reduced to powder feparately, the oil mixed among them, and the whole formed into a mafs, with fyrup of buckthorn. Pemberton's Lond. Difp.

P- 327-

Pilule e cokcynth'uk fimpliaorcs, a name given in the late Lon- don Pharmacopoeia, to the purging-/*/// commonly known by the name of pi. ex du.bus. It is made of equal parts of colocynth and fcammony, with a conliderable proportion of oil of cloves ; and is beat up to a confiftence with fyrup of buckthorn. Pembertotfs Load. Qtfp. p. 327.

Mercurial Pills, pilules mcrcuriales, a form of medicine pre- ferred in the late London Fharmacopceia, and containing crude mercury mixed for interna! life*. The compofition is to be made as follows : Take of pure quickfdver, five drams ; of Straiburg turpentine, two drams ; of the cathartic extract, four fcruples ; rhubarb in powder, one dram.; grind the quickfdver with the turpentine till it makrs one uniform mats, and then add the other ingredients, and beat up the whole into pills. If the turpentine be too hard, it muft be Ibftened with a little oil of olives. Pemb ton?, Lond. Difp. p. 329.

Soap Pills, pilules faponacees, a form of medicine prefcribed in the late London Difpenfatory, and ordered to be made in the following manner : Take almond foap, four ounces; Stain cd opium, half an ounce; e (fence of lemons, a dram ; foften the opium a little with wine, and beat that and the foap with the cftencc, till it be reduced to the form of a pill. This i> intended to ftand in the place of the/'///, commonlv called MathrJs pill, and is very happily corrected in regard to the taftc of the foc?p, by the addition of the eft'ence of le- mons. PembcYlm't Lond. Difp. p. 231.

ti'ara"* Pill. See Ward's pill.

PILLAR tCyct.) — It feems not impoftible for ftone to be caft into the fhape of pillars. We find mention made in the Phi- lofophica! Tran factions, of two pillars of ftone, at Fotitev- raud, in France, each about 60 feet high, all of one folid piece, which are (aid to have been run. N y 481. p. 328. in Not. Suppl. Vol. II.

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Pillars of ftone were antiently ere&ed as fepulchral monu- ments, near the highways ; and alfo in memory of fome victory. We find traces of this cuftom in Cornwall and Wales, where thefe pillars are often found, and called meinigwir, a ftone fof play, perhaps in memory of funeral games; anil fometimes lhch, that is, tabula faxea. Phil. Tranf. N p 458. p. 471. PILLVENKEGEN, in zoology, the name of a bird approach- ' ing to the fnipe kind, defcribed by Aldrovand, and fuppofed by fome to be the bird we call the knot. See Knot. PILLOW of a phvghi a term ufed by the farmers to exprefs that part of" a plough which ferves to raife or fink the beam, and with it the ihare, as the land is to be ploughed fliallower or deeper.

This pillow is a crofs piece of wood, reaching from one of the crowftaves or uprights, to the other; and as they are bored with two rows of holes, this pillow can be fliped up or down to any height, and kept there by pegs or cords in the holes. Tul/'s Husbandry. See Plough. Pillow, in a ftiip, is that piece of timber whereon the bow- fprit refts at its coming out of the hull aloft, clofe by the ftern. PILOSE leaf among botanifts. See the article Leaf. PILOSELLA, the common moufe-ear, is efteemed a "teat me- dicine by many, asabftergent and aftringent. It is prefcribed in dyfenteries, and all other hemorrhages, and particularly in bleedings at the nofe. Some have given it a great chara&er alfo in the cure of ruptures ; and its juice is faid to be a very great remedy in the milliary herpes, rubbed on the part. PILOTING, in navigation. See the articles Navigation

and Pilot, Cy:l. P1LULARIA, pepper-grafs, the name of a very remarkable little plant, of which Mr. Bernard de Jtiflieu has given a very ac- curate account in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences •of Paris.

It is a low and creeping plant, always being procumbent up- on the earth; its roots are long, flender, white filaments, which pierce perpendicularly down, and have at their ex- tremities a few fhort fibres. Every one of thefe roots is fixed to the bafe of one of the leaves that ftand on the bran- ches. The branches are divided and fpread about, and are all fo regular in fize, and fo oddly interwoven among one another, that it is not eafy to fay which of them is the main ftalk, which the ramifications; but the feveral radicles which ufually go down very deep, keep the whole lengths of the branches clofe down to the ground. The branches are round, green, and knotty ; and their ramifications are placed alter- nately, and are terminated by a protuberance or foft button, or a fmall leaf rolled up in a fpiral form. The leaves ftand alfo alternately on the branches, and are itrait, narrow, and fome what cylindric in fhape, and pointed at the end ; they referable, in fome fort, the young fhoots of nifties, and are feldom more than four inches long; nor are the ftalks ufually more than fix.

The Mowers of this plant ftand in the alse of the branches, and four flowers, each enveloped by its own peculiar mem- brane, which is very fine and delicate, are always contained in one common covering; which refembles a fphere fet all over with prickles or hairs. This globule increafes at length to the fize of a pepper-corn ; and when mature, it opens in- to four quarters, each of which has its peculiar pedicle, by which it adheres to the branch.

The membrane which envelopes each particular flower, or as it may be called, each quarter of the globule, is very fine and delicate; and each has three faces; one convex, and the other two in form of fcmi-circles. The inferior angles of thefe three faces terminate in one common point; and the femi-circular faces open a little at the oppofite end, to dif- clole the flower. See Tab. of MofTcs, N° 2i. Every quarter of the globule is hollow, and has the fhape of a quarter of a regular hollow fphere, and sontains its perfect flower, which is of the hermaphrodite kind, containing fta- mina and piftils, arranged on, and fixed to a common pla- centa. This placenta is a membranaceous band, faftened to the inner fpherical part of the membrane, which inclofes the flower ; it occupies only about half the cavity, and is fo formed as to reprefent, in fome meafure, two thirds of a crefcent ; from which one of the points had been cut off. This placenta is, in a manner, furrounded with piftils, hav- ing four feries of them on each fide; fome of which ftand oppofite to others, and fome are erect, while others lie ho- rizontally. The piftils fill up two thirds of the cavity of the flower, and the reft is occupied by theftamina; which are fo many little horns all growing from a little head, which ftands in the angle made by the fides of the placenta. The ftamina diverging from this point, form a fort of pyramidal cl Lifter. The number of the piftil is various in different flowers; fome having twelve, others twenty ; they are each of them of an oval figure, and are enveloped each in a fine thin membrane, which is folded and wrinkled. I hey have no ftyle, but have only a downy prominence on their upper extremity, which may be properly called the ftigma. Thefe piftils are fo many embryo feeds ; the ftamina are ufual- ly more than thirty in number, and are fo fmall as not to be eafily difcoverable to the naked eye ; and 'tis from this 2 M m minute-