Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/502

 480 P E L P E L Sparta, he only mentions Pelopidas in connexion with his fruitless embassy to Persia. There is a meagre life by Cornelius Nepos. See also Diod. Sic., xv. 62, 67, 71, 75, 80, 81. PELOPONNESUS. See GREECE. PELOPS, a hero of Greek mythology, was the grand son of Zeus, son of Tantalus and Dione, and brother of Xiobe. His father s home was on Mount Sipylua in Asia Minor, whence Pelops is spoken of as a Lydian or a Phrygian, or even as a Paphlagonian. Tantalus was a friend and companion of the gods, and one day he served up to them his own son boiled and cut in pieces. The gods detected the crime, and none of them would partake except Demeter (according to others Thetis), who, dis tracted by the loss of her daughter Persephone, ate of the shoulder. The gods restored Pelops to life, and the shoulder consumed by Demeter was replaced by one of ivory. Wherefore the descendants of Pelops had a white mark on their shoulder ever after. This tale is perhaps a reminiscence of human sacrifice, of which numerous traces remain in Greek legend and history. Poseidon admired Pelops, the beautiful boy, and carried him off to Olympus, where he dwelt with the gods, till, for his father s sins, he was cast out from heaven. Then, taking much wealth with him, he crossed over from Asia to Greece. He went to Pisa in Elis as suitor of Hippodamia, daughter of King CEnomaus, who had already vanquished in the chariot- race and slain many suitors for his daughter s hand. But by the help of Poseidon, who lent him winged steeds, or of (Enomaus s charioteer Myrtilus, whom he or Hippodamia bribed, Pelops was victorious in the race, wedded Hippo damia, and became king of Pisa. Pelops s race for his wife was a favourite subject of Greek poetry and art. It may be a confused recollection of the custom of wife-snatching prevalent in early times. When Myrtilus claimed his promised reward, Pelops flung him into the sea near Gerrestus in Eubcea, and from his dying curse sprang those crimes and sorrows of the house of Pelops which supplied the Greek tragedians with such fruitful themes. Among the sons of Pelops by Hippodamia were Atreus, Thyestes, and Chrysippus. According to others Chrysippus was his son by a different mother. Atreus and Thyestes were jealous of Chrysippus and murdered him, wherefore Pelops drove them out. According to another story it was Hippodamia who murdered him and fled, but after wards her bones were brought back to Olympia, where she had a temple, in which the women offered her a yearly sacrifice. From Pisa Pelops extended his sway over the neighbouring Olympia, where he celebrated the Olympian games with a splendour unknown before. He warred against and treacherously slew Stymphalus, king of Arcadia. His power and fame were so great that henceforward the whole peninsula was known to the ancients as Peloponnesus (Isle of Pelops). In after times Pelops was honoured at Olympia above all other heroes ; a temple was built for him by Heracles, his descendant in the fourth generation, in which the annual magistrates sacrificed to him a black ram. During the Trojan war the Greeks were told that Troy could not be taken until they fetched a bone of Pelops. So a shoulder-blade of Pelops was brought from Pisa. When it was being brought back again the ship carrying it was wrecked off Eubcea. Many years after wards the bone was taken up by Damarmenus, a fisher man, in his net. Astonished at its size, he went to inquire of the Delphic oracle. There he met envoys from Elis come to discover a remedy for a pestilence. The oracle bade them recover the bone of Pelops, and commanded Damarmenus to restore it to them. He did so, and he and his descendants were appointed custodians of the bone. Some thought that the Palladium was made of the bones of Pelops. This belief in the miraculous efficacy of the bones of heroes was common in Greece (witness, e.g., the story of the bones of Orestes in Herodotus). From the great size of the bones they may sometimes have been those of large extinct animals. From the reference to Asia in the tales of Tantalus, Niobe, and Pelops it has been conjectured with some probability that Asia was the original seat of these legends, and that it was only after emigration to Greece that the people amongst whom they were current localized a part of the tale of Pelops in their new home. In the time of Pausanias the throne of Pelops was still shown on the top of Mount Sipylus. The story of Pelops is told in the beautiful first Olympian ode of Pindar. The prosaic version of the story found in Nicolaus Damascenus (17) differs in several points from the usual legend. PELOUZE, THEOPHILE JULES (1807-1867), French chemist, was born on 26th February 1807 at Valognes in Normandy, where his father was manager of a porcelain manufactory. The elder Pelouze was a man of great ability and energy, but of a peculiarly susceptible tempera ment, which made it impossible for him to remain long in any position. He gave up his post at Valognes, and found employment successively at the glass-works of St Gobain, the iron-works at Charenton, and in gas-works. This moving life was unfavourable for the family finances, but doubtless gave young Pelouze opportunities of seeing and becoming familiar with a great variety of chemical operations on a large scale. He studied pharmaceutical chemistry first at La Fere, and afterwards, under Chevalier, at the Ecole de Pharmacie in Paris. He then became a clinical clerk under Magendie in the Salpetriere hospital. One day, when returning from a visit to his father at Charenton, he was surprised by a heavy shower, and seeing what he took to be a public carriage the omnibus of the period he hailed it. It contained only one passenger, but the driver, instead of stopping for another fare, drove on without taking the least notice. Pelouze rushed up and stopped the horse. On this the solitary passenger, who was Gay-Lussac, explained that he had hired the vehicle for his own use, but that he would be glad of the company of the new-comer. The result of this accidental introduction was that Pelouze abandoned medicine and continued the study of chemistry in Gay-Lussac s laboratory. From 1827 to 1829 he acted as assistant to Gay-Lussac and Lassaigne, and in 1830, on the recommendation of Gay-Lussac, he was appointed professor of chemistry at Lille. Returning to Paris, he was appointed in 1831 pro fessor of chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique and at the College de France, in 1833 assay er to the mint, and in 1848 president of the Mint Commission. In 1850 he succeeded Gay-Lussac as chemical adviser to the glass works of St Gobain. He was elected a member of the Institute of France in 1837. He died, after a short illness, on the 31st of May 1867. Along with Fremy, Pelouze published a Treatise on Chemistry (1849-50 ; 2d ed. 1854-56). His numerous chemical papers were published in the Annalcs de Chimie ct de Physique and in the Comptcs rvndus. Among these the most important are: &quot;On Beetroot Sugar&quot; (1831), &quot;On Salicine &quot; (1830 and 1831), &quot;On the Transformation of Hydrocyanic Acid and Water into Formiatc of Ammonia&quot; (1831), &quot;On Lactic Acid&quot; (with Gay-Lussac, 1833), &quot;On Tannin, Gallic Acid, Pyrogallic Acid, &c. &quot; (1833), &quot;On the Product of the Distillation of Organic Acids&quot; (1834), &quot;On Nitro- sulphatcs&quot; (1835), &quot;On Butyric Acid&quot; (with Gelis, 1844), &quot;On Gun-cotton&quot; (1846 and 1847), &quot;On the Effect of Light on the Colour of Glass&quot; (1865 and 1867). PELTIER, JEAN CHARLES ATHANASE, was originally a watchmaker, but retired from business about the age of thirty and devoted himself to experimental and observa tional science. He was born at Ham (Somme) in February 1785 ; his death took place at Paris in October 1845. His great experimental discovery was the heating or