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 direction via Perth. At Crieff junction it sends off a branch to Crieff and at Perth branches to Dundee and Lochearnhead. The Stirling to Oban line of the same company crosses the shire from Dunblane to Tyndrum. The Highland railway runs northwards from Perth, and has a branch at Ballinluig to Aberfeldy. Branches of the North British railway reach Perth from Mawcarse in Kinross-shire and Ladybank in Fifeshire; part of the branch from Buchlyvie on the Forth and Clyde line runs to Aberfoyle, and the West Highland railway skirts the extreme west of the shire. At several points coaches supplement the rail. In the tourist season steamers ply on Loch Tay and Loch Katrine, and there is a service on the Tay between Perth and Dundee.

Population and Administration.—In 1891 the population amounted to 122,185 and in 1901 to 123,283, or 49 persons to the sq. m. The rate of increase was the smallest of any Scottish county for the decade. In 1901 there were 78 persons speaking Gaelic only and 11,446 Gaelic and English. The chief towns are Perth (pop. 32,873), Crieff (5208), Blairgowrie (3378), Dunblane (2516), Auchterarder (2276), Coupar-Angus (2064), Rattray (2019). Among lesser centres may be mentioned Aberfeldy (1508), a favourite resort on the Tay, well known for the falls of Moness, mentioned in Robert Burns's song “The Birks of Aberfeldy”; Abernethy (623), the seat of an early bishopric, retaining one of the three ancient round towers in Scotland, Alyth (1965); Callander (1458); Comrie (1118), a holiday resort on the Earn; Pitlochry (1541); and Stanley (1035), on the Tay. Of old the county was divided into hereditary jurisdictions, which were abolished in 1748, and in 1795 the county was divided into districts for administrative purposes, a system which obtained until 1889, when county and district councils were established. The sheriffdom is divided into an eastern and western district, the seat of the one being Perth and the other Dunblane. For parliamentary purposes the county is also divided into an eastern and a western division, and the city of Perth returns a member. The shire is under school-board jurisdiction, and there are secondary schools at Perth and Crieff, and Trinity College in Glen Almond is a well-known public school on the English model.

History.—In 83 Agricola explored the lands beyond the Forth and in the following year penetrated to the Grampians, defeating the Caledonians under Galgacus with great slaughter. The site of this battle is conjectured by William Forbes Skene to have been near Meikleour, south of Blairgowrie, but other writers have referred it to Dalginross, near Comrie; to Ardoch (where there are the most perfect remains of a Roman encampment in the British Isles); and even as far north as Raedykes, near Stonehaven in Kincardineshire. The Romans did not pursue their victory, and the Picts were left undisturbed for a considerable period. At this time, according to Ptolemy, the territory now known as Perthshire was occupied by three tribes—the Damnonii, the Venicones and the Vacomagi. The Damnonii held Menteith, Strathearn and Fothrif (the western part of modern Fife and Kinross), with Alauna (Allan), just above Stirling, Lindum (Ardoch) and Victoria (believed by some authorities to be Lochore in Fifeshire, and by others to be Perth city), as their chief towns. The Venicones inhabited north-western Fife and the adjoining tract of Perthshire, with Orrea (probably Abernethy) as their chief town and a station at Ardargie. The Vacomagi dwelt in the Highland region, with stations at Inchtuthil (a peninsula in the Tay above Kinclaven) and Banatia (Buchanty on the Almond). The growing lawlessness of the southern Picts and their frequent raids in the more settled country in the south at last compelled the attention of the emperor Severus. He arrived in Britain in 208, but though he led a strong army to the shores of the Moray Firth, he was unable effectually to subdue the tribesmen. The road he constructed ran from Stirling to Ardoch (where there are notable remains) and thence by Strageath, near Muthill, where it branched north-westwards to Dalginross and Buchanty, and north eastwards to Perth and so to the Grampians. When the Romans finally withdrew from Britain, the Picts established their capital first at Abernethy and then at Forteviot. Abernethy was the centre of the Celtic church after the conversion of the natives by Ninian, Palladius and other missionaries in the 5th and 6th centuries. On the burning of Forteviot by the Norsemen in the 8th century, the seat of Pictish government was removed to Scone. In the latter half of the 9th century Dunkeld—to which Kenneth Macalpine had brought some of the relics of Columba from Iona—became the scene of monastic activity, the abbot succeeding to the position of the abbot of Iona, and exercising great influence for nearly a hundred years. The Danes periodically harried the land, but a crushing defeat at Luncarty in 961 put an end to their inroads in this quarter. In 1054 Macbeth was defeated at Dunsinane by Siward, earl of Northumberland, who had invaded Scotland in the interest of his kinsman, Duncan's son, who, on the death of the usurper three years later, ascended the throne as Malcolm III., called Canmore. With Malcolm's accession the Celtic rule of the monarchy of Scone came to an end. Nevertheless, the Scottish sovereigns (excepting James II., James III. and Mary) continued to be crowned at Scone, which also retained the position of capital until the beginning of the 12th century, when it was displaced by Perth. From the time of Alexander I. (d. 1124), therefore, the history of the shire is merged in that of the county town, with the exception of such isolated incidents as the removal of the Coronation Stone from Scone to Westminster in 1296, the defeat of Robert Bruce at Methven in 1306, the battle of Dupplin in 1332, the victory of Dundee at Killiecrankie in 1689 and the indecisive contest at Sheriffmuir in 1715. Among archaeological remains may be mentioned the hill-fort on Dunsinane; the ship-barrow of the vikings at Rattray, weems (or earth-houses) in the parishes of Monzie, Alyth and Bendochy; the witch-stone near Cairnbeddie, one of the numerous spots where Macbeth is alleged to have met the witches, but probably a sepulchral memorial of some forgotten battle; standing stones near Pitlochry, and an extraordinary assemblage of sculptured stones at Meigle.

 PERTINAX, PUBLIUS HELVIUS ( 126—193), Roman emperor, the son of a charcoal-burner, was born at Alba Pompeia in Liguria. From being a teacher of grammar he rose through many important offices, both civil and military, to the consulate, which he held twice. Chosen, at an advanced age and against his will, on the 1st of January 193, to succeed Commodus, he was himself assassinated in a mutiny of the soldiers, on the 28th of March 193.

 PERTZ, GEORG HEINRICH (1795–1876), German historian, was born at Hanover on the 28th of March 1795. From 1813 to 1818 he studied at Göttingen, chiefly under A. H. L. Heeren. His graduation thesis, published in 1819, on the history of the Merovingian mayors of the palace, attracted the attention of Baron Stein, by whom he was engaged in 1820 to edit the Carolingian chroniclers for the newly-founded Historical Society of Germany. In search of materials for this purpose, Pertz made a prolonged tour through Germany and Italy, and on his return in 1823 he received at the instance of Stein the principal charge of the publication of Monumenta germaniae historica, texts of all the more important historical writers on German affairs down to the year 1500, as well as of laws, imperial and regal archives, and other valuable documents, such as letters, falling within this period. Pertz made frequent journeys of exploration to the leading libraries and public record offices of Europe, publishing notes on the results of his explorations in the ''Archiv. der Gesellsch. f. deutsche Geschichtskunde'' (1824—1872). In 1823 he had been made secretary of the archives, and in 1827 principal keeper of the royal library at Hanover; from 1832 to 1837 he edited the Hannoverische Zeitung, and more than once sat as a representative in the Hanoverian second chamber. In 1842 he was called as chief librarian to Berlin, where he shortly afterwards was made a privy councillor and a member of the Academy of Sciences. He resigned all his appointments in