Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/81

* PISAREFF. 59 PISGAH. burg Classical Gjmnasium, and took up philol- ogy. A successful review (18o9) in the Dann, a magazine for girls, caused liiiii to turn to literature. In 18tiO he placed a translation of Heine's Alia Troll in BlagosvyetlolT's monthly ly'iissian M'orld, of whieli he hccanie coeditor. Srholiifilicf! of Ills Xiiicteciith Cenlurji made him I lie idol of the youth, who asserted that "thence- forth contemporary metaphysics and mysticism were dead." In Maj-, 18U2, the monthly was sup- pressed. In bitter mood PisarelV rewrote a sup- pressed review of his for an undergroimd publica- tion. As a result he was shut up for nearly five years in the Schlusselberg fortress. All his best cllorts, critical estimates of contemporary and preceding Russian authors, as well as his popu- hnization of natural sciences, which exercised a powerful influence on the generations of the six- ties and seventies, were written here. Given liberty in 1807, he went to recuperate on the shores of the Baltjc, and lost his life while bathing. Ru- mors were rife that the Government had a hand in the nmtter. Pisarefl's fame rests on his cham- ]iionslup of two principles — emancipation of per- sonality and utilitarianism. He has been berated as a savage utilitarian, advising poets "to make shoes and bake fish j)ies." In reality he demand- ed that when a writer could not say with Biirne, "I write with the blood of my heart and the sap of my nerves," he should turn to more utilitarian work. Scientific achievements during the fifties, Mill's ardent plea for utilitarianism, and the lilieration of serfs in 1801 account for Pisarefl's ideas as well as for his popularity. Dying at twcntv-eight, he left ten volumes of critical works' (2d ed.. vols.. Saint Petersburg, 1894). PISCAT'AQUA. A river about 80 miles in length, forming the southern part of the boun- dary between JIaine and New Hampshire (Jlap: New Hampshire, L 9 ) . It empties into the Atlantic, forming at its mouth the harbor of Portsmouth. PISCES, pis'sez (Lat., fishes). One of the main divisions, or phyla, of cold-blooded verte- brates, including the fishes in the more restricted sense. It is well marked ofl' from the lampreys, which are commonly called fishes, and is char- acterized by the presence of persistent gills and the possession of paired appendages in the form of fins. See Fisn. . PISCHEL, pishVl. Richard (1849-). A German Sanskrit scholar, born in Breslau, and educated there and in Berlin. He was professor of Sanskrit in Kiel from IST.'S to 1885. and then at Halle, and in 1902 went to Berlin. Pischel's especial field is classical Sanskrit, and more par- ticularly the drama. He urges its independence from the Greek drama, and is particularly for- tunate in his conjectures of dates and authors for famous plays. But he wrote as well on the Vedic period, pvddishing with Geldner three vol- umes of Vediarhc t^tudien (1889-1901), and on Prakrit grammar, nrmacandras (Irniiimnlil; dcr I'mkritsprarheii, (1877-80): a Prakrit diction- aiy. Hemacandra's Dp<:ini~imnm(iln. with BiUiIer (1880); and Grnmmnlil: ilrr I'n'ihrituprdchrn (1900). His further work includes: Ki'ilidi'iiid's Clikuntala. the Bengali recension (1877); liii- drala's Qriigarntilakn, a rhetorical work (1880) ; Die Heimat deft Puppenxpiclx (1900) : and Mii- tcrialien ::ur Kenntnis dcs Apabhramsa (1902). Vol. XVI.— s. PISCICULTURE. See Fisir-CtXTUBE. PISCINA, pis-:-i'nd (Lat, fish-tank). A water-tank, especially the cold plunge or swim- ming basin of a Ronum bath. In ecclesiastical and modern usage, a small basin supplied with running water, particularly such a basin in a decorative setting applied to o'r set in a wall, as in the chancel of a church for the washing of the chalice after nuiss, or in the sacristy for the vise of the clergj'. These were often high- ly ornate in the medieval and early Renaissance periods, ccmsisting of a wall-niche, either single or double, richly adorned, containing one or two faucets, and a sculptured basin projecting from the wall. PISE, pe'zu'. or PISAY(Fr.. pounded, brayed, crushed). A material and a process of building which depends upon the adhesive character of many natural earths. Any soil which is found to pack in the hand may be used. Where the soil is veiy fat, with much clay in it. this con- struction is capable of enduring many years. The material is of the nature of unburned brick so much used in Western Asia in antiquity, but it is made up in the mass instead of being shaped in blocks for building. See Brick. PISEK, pts'ek. A small town of the Crown- land of Bohemia, Austria, situated on the Wot- tawa, an affluent of the Moldau, 55 miles south- west of Prague ( llap : Austria, D 2 ). It is still partly surroimded with walls, has an old castle, a gj'mnasium, a realschule, and schools of agriculture and forestry. The manufactures are woolen and cotton fabrics, iron wire, and musical instruments. Population. in 1890, 10,900: in 1900, 1.3,.574. PISEMSKI, pe'syem-ske, Alexei Feofilakto- viTCii ( 1820-81 ). A Russian novelist, born in the Government of Kostroma. He was educated in Kostroma and at the University of Jloseow. Until his retirement in 1874 he was in the Gov- ernment service. His literary activity dates from Iloi/iirshchina (1847). A long line of works followed, among which Tyufyak (1850), A Love Mutch, and the drama of peasant life, A Bitter Lot (1853), Pitershchik. and -1 Thousand Souls (1858), may be mentioned as the Ijest. In all of these Pisemski appears as an over- sober realist, picturing life in its lower aspects without compassion or censure, and at times vcrjjing on cynicism. His hopeless pessimism discovers the basest motives in what appears to be respectable and good, as when in A Thou- sand Souls he drew only the vices and short- comings of the whole liberal movement without a single attractive feature for relief. With a heart embitt<'red bv his critics, he published in 180.3 his last great effort. Turbid Sea. The works following it. such as Men of the Forties (1809). Whiripooi (1871). Burijesscs (1877), Freemasons (1878), and many plays, showed a falling off in his powers and received little attention from the critics. Grief at the death of his two sons, both professors at the Moscow Uni- versity, hastened his end. His works were pub- lislicd'in 24 volumes (Saint Petersburg. 1895). PISGAH, piz'ga (.Heb. Pisfiah. boundary, from pCisa/j. to divide). A mountain of the Abarim range, east of the Dead Sea. It is to I)e noticed that Pisgah never occurs by itself in the Old Testament, but always with the definite article