Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/503

 PIAOENZA PIANOFORTE 487 4 or 6 ft. high, and terminated by a crown of 12 or more pinnatifid leaves 18 to 20 ft. long. The flowers are dioecious, the male plant tall- er and more robust than the female, and its flowers in pendulous spikes 5 or 6 ft. long; the female flowers are in bundles of six or sev- en on short, thick, erect peduncles ; both kinds emit a penetrating almond-like perfume, very attractive to bees. The fruit is a collection of six or seven drupes, each containing six to nine seeds ; these drupes are aggregated in a mass something like a rounded cone, its ex- terior being formed of the crustaceous cover- ing of the drupes, which is rough with woody protuberances. Each mass weighs about 25 Ibs., and there are six or eight to each tree ; these are called by the South Americans cdbe- zas de negro or negro-heads. The ovoid nut is about as large as a hen's egg, with a blunt prominence at one side, showing the point of attachment, and often more or less flattened and angled by mutual compression ; the testa, or outer covering of the seed, is hard and brit- tle, and within is the copious white, ivory-like albumen. In their early state the seeds are filled- with a clear tasteless liquid, which after a time becomes milky and sweet, and gradually acquires greater consistency, until at length it is nearly as hard as ivory ; during their softer stages swine, bears, turkeys, and other animals feed upon the seeds. The natives use the leaves of the plant to thatch their huts, eat the albu- men while it is soft, and also value the sweet- ish oily pulp which surrounds the seeds with- in the drupe ; but they make little or no use of the ripe nuts, which are exported in large quantities to England and the United States. A great many small articles of turnery are made from them, including cane heads, knobs, and buttons. Young specimens of the tree are much prized by collectors of palms and similar plants, as it is many years before the stem begins to become prostrate. PIACENZA. I. A 1ST. province of Italy, bor- dering on Pavia, Milan, Cremona, Parma, and Genoa; area, 965 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 225,- 775. The S. part is mountainous ; the N. part belongs to the plain of the Po, which river bounds it on the north. Wheat, maize, hay, chestnuts, wine, and excellent Parmesan cheese are produced in abundance. Among the min- erals are iron, copper, and marble. The prov- ince formerly constituted the duchy of Piacen- za, and was united with Parma. It is divided into the districts of Piacenza and Fiorenzuola. II. A city (anc. Placentia), capital of the prov- ince, on the right bank of the Po, 37 m. S. E. of Milan ; pop. in 1872, 34,985. It has many churches and palaces, and is laid out in mag- nificent distances. It derives great strategical importance from its strong fortress. The ori- ginal cathedral of the 4th century, repeatedly rebuilt, is now the church of Sant' Antonino, and the present cathedral dates from the 12th century. The churches Santa Maria, della Campagna, and others, were built after designs by Bramante; that of San Sisto once contained Raphael's celebrated Madonna of that name. One of the old churches is now used as a thea- tre, the Farnese palace as a barrack, and the Landi palace for courts of law. The Mandelli palace was long a ducal residence. Among the schools are a technical institute, a lyceum, a gymnasium, and the Gazzoli institute for in- struction in drawing and for the gratuitous tuition of poor girls. The public library con- tains about 40,000 volumes. The principal manufactories are woollen and silk goods. About 8 m. S. of Piacenza is Velleia, called the Pompeii of northern Italy, a city which was overwhelmed by a land slide probably in the reign of Probus (A. D. 276-282), and was discovered in 1760. Placentia became a Ro- man colony in 219 B. 0., and the battle of the Trebia between Hannibal and Sempronius was fought here in the following year. Sub- sequently it withstood a protracted siege by Hasdrubal, but in 200 was captured by the Gauls. The ^Emilian way originally termina- ted at Placentia. In the war between Marius and Sulla, M. Lucullus, the general of the lat- ter, defeated the partisans of Carbo in 82 B. 0. in its vicinity. Under the empire Placentia was a flourishing town of Gallia Oispadana. In 1126 it became an independent republic. In the 13th century it was subject to local dynasties, and subsequently to the Visconti of Milan, against whom it unsuccessfully revolted in 1447. The popes gained possession of Pia- cenza in 1512, after the battle of Ravenna, and through Paul III. it passed into the hands of his natural son Pietro Luigi Farnese along with Parma, of which it formed a part (see PAEMA) till 1860, when both duchies were an- nexed to Victor Emanuel'^ dominions. PIACENZA, Duke of. See LEBBUN, CHAELES FRANCOIS. PIANA DEI GRECI, a town of Sicily, in the province and 10 m. S. S. W. of the city of Palermo ; pop. about 7,000. A settlement of Albanian refugees from Turkey was formed here in the latter part of the 15th century, the free exercise of their religion being guar- anteed, and they still retain the Greek ritual, though acknowledging the pope. A few of the men still wear the fez, and most of the women preserve the picturesque Albanian cos- tume. All of them speak chiefly Albanian, and live in Albanian fashion. PIANOFORTE (Ital. piano, soft, and forte, loud), a musical instrument, the tones of which are elicited by the blows of small hammers upon a series of tightly stretched elastic steel strings; the hammers being caused, through certain connections, to rise upon the striking of the corresponding keys of a finger board, and the tones being strengthened and render- ed melodious by the reciprocal vibrations of a sounding board, over and near to which the strings are stretched. In his history of the pianoforte, Dr. Rimbault traces the first prin- ciple of the instrument, the stretched string,