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 612 PLEURISY ROOT PLINY lymph or pus. When the strength of the pa- tient is good, a gentle mercurial course with diuretics and the use of flying blisters or iodu- retted liniments will often remove the effusion. Bromide and iodide of potassium are often all that is necessary. If the patient be broken down, tonics and cod-liver oil with iodine may be advisable, while ioduretted liniments are freely employed. In young persons, particu- larly in children, if there be no tubercular complication, the operation for empyema is generally successful. In some persons pleurisy gives rise to extensive effusion without caus- ing any symptoms to attract the attention of the patient. Sometimes a person may be seen with one pleural cavity distended with fluid, and yet pursuing his ordinary occupations, scarcely conscious that he is ill. This is latent pleurisy, the treatment of which is the same as for acute, except that it should be less active. PLEURISY ROOT. See MILKWEED. PLEURO-PXEOIOMA. See MURRAIN, vol. xii., p. 59. PLEYEL. I. Ignaz, a German composer, born at Ruppelsthal, near Vienna, in 1757, died in Paris, Nov. 14, 1831. He was a pupil of Haydn, visited Italy, and in 1789 was appointed chapel- master in the cathedral of Strasburg, but lost this post during the revolution. A few years later, having removed to Paris, he became a publisher of music, and afterward established a pianoforte manufactory. He wrote trios, quartets, and sonatas for the piano, which had remarkable success. II. Joseph Etienne Camille, a composer, son of the preceding, born in Strasburg in 1792, died in Paris, May 4, 1855. He succeeded his father in the direction of the piano manufactory, and invented several im- provements in the construction of pianos. The pianist Kalkbrenner was his partner. He was an excellent pianist, and composed numerous quartets, trios, and sonatas. III. Marie Felitite, a pianist, wife of the preceding, born in Paris in 1811, died near Brussels, March 30, 1875. She was of Belgian origin, sister of Prof. Moke of Ghent, and was separated from her husband a few years after their marriage. She com- pleted her studies under Kalkbrenner, became one of the most accomplished performers of her day, and in 1848 was appointed professor at the conservatory of music in Brussels. She reappeared in concert only once, in 1874. PLICA POLOMCA (Lat. plicare, to knit to- gether), a disease of the hair and hairy scalp, endemic in Poland, and characterized by a matting together of the hairs. It was former- ly common in Poland, but is now rare and almost exclusively confined to wretched and filthy persons. The preliminary symptoms are fever, loss of appetite, headache, vertigo, and pains in the scalp. Then a glutinous secretion makes its appearance upon the hairy scalp, and afterward upon the hairs themselves, which become adherent to each other, and at the same time acquire a morbid sensibility, so that the least touch or movement of them causes acute pain. They become arranged in three different modes: 1, in long flexible locks or strings of agglutinated and pendent hairs ; 2 (the most common and characteristic form), in an inex- tricably tangled mass, consisting of hairs mat- ted together in every direction, and often exha- ling a fetid odor and overrun with vermin ; 3, in a long mass of disproportioned growth like a horse tail, called plica caudata (Fr. plique d queue}. The malady lasts thus for several months or years. In the majority of cases it gradually subsides after a time, and healthy hair begins to take the place of the diseased growth. It is then sufficient to cut off the tangled mass and allow the new crop of hair to occupy its place ; but this measure is not effectual unless the disease already shows signs of having exhausted itself. During its height the best treatment is attention to cleanliness and the prevention of any further irritation to the scalp. A microscopic fungoid vegetable growth, the tricophyton tomurans, was dis- covered by Giinsburg in 1843 in the diseased hairs of plica polonica, and the malady was attributed by the discoverer to the presence of the vegetable parasite. But it is still doubt f ul whether it occurs in all cases, and whether it may not be the accompaniment rather than the cause of the malady. Experiments have been tried in the inoculation of plica polonica, with varying and indecisive results. PLINY. I. The Elder (CAius PLINIUS SEOUN- DUS), a Roman author, born A. D. 23, died in 79. Verona and Novum Comum (the modern Oomo) both claimed to be his birthplace. He belonged to a noble and wealthy family, and when about 23 years old served in Germany under L. Pomponius Secundus, whose life he afterward wrote, and was made commander of a troop of cavalry. At this time he composed a treatise De Jaculatione Equestri, and began a history of the Germanic wars, which was finished in 20 books. Returning to Rome in 52, he studied jurisprudence, and practised as a pleader. He wrote a treatise in three books on the education of an orator, entitled Studio- sus, and during the reign of Nero composed a grammatical work, Dubius Sermo, in eight books. Appointed procurator of Spain, he held that office until a little before 73, when he returned to Rome, became an intimate friend of Vespasian, and continued the history of Aufidius Bassus, in 31 books, down to his own time. An account of his death is given in a letter of the younger Pliny to Tacitus (Epist, vi. 16). He was at Misenum in com- mand of the fleet when, on Aug. 24, 79, his attention was directed to a cloud of very un- usual size and shape, which was afterward dis- covered to proceed from Vesuvius, and was the precursor of the great eruption which de- stroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii. He im- mediately went to an eminence near at hand to obtain a closer view, and desiring to make a fuller examination, he ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and provided himself with tab-