Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/90

* PITKIN. 66 PITRI. in 1785, studied liiw, and was admitted to the bar. He was for live years Speaker of the Lower House of the State Legislature, and was a mem- ber of Congress from 1805 to 1819. He is re- membered, however, eliiefly as the author of .1 Stalistirul Viciv of the Commerce of the United Stairs of America ( 1810). and a Political and Civil llislori/ of the I'liitcd Slates from 1763 to the Clos( of Washiiii/lon's Administra- tion (2 vols., 1828). both of which arc written with great care, and though now largely super- seded by other works, are still frocpiently con- sulted by students of Ameriean history. PIT'MAN, Be.n.n (1822—). An American steiiogiapliir and artist_, born at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, the younger brother of Isaac PitMuin (q.v.). He came to the United States in 1853, and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the same year. He at tirst piiblished his brother's shorthand textbooks, giving him credit for the system; but in 1857. when Isaac and his co- laborcrs made certain changes in the system, he refused to adopt them. During the Civil War he did some official reporting for the Ciovern- nient, and afterwards dcvdled himself to profes- sional reporting until 1873. Pitman's artistic instinct, which had manifested itself in many ways, founil distinct expression in 1873, when he became connected with the Cincinnati School of Design as teacher of descriptive art in its various phases, and especially of wood carving. In this latter lield he introduced what has since hpcome kiunvn as the 'Pitman School of Wood Carving.' which provides fur the treatiiieiit of naturalistic designs and admits of very beautiful ell'ects in wood sculpture. Although he aban- doned his formal Cdiiiiection with the Cincinnati School cf Design in 1877. he continued to do more or less art work, and his inlluenee as an artist came to be considerable, particularly throughout the middle West. PITMAN, Charles ( 17!)01S54). . Ameri- can Mctbddist minister. He was born near C^ookstown. . .1.. and entered the Pliiladelphia Conference in 1818; he had important appoint- ments and served as presiding elder in three districts successively; he was corresponding sec- retary of the ilissionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1841-50. He was known as one of the most eloquent preachers of his de- nomination. Clonsult Malmslmry. The Life, La- bors, and Sermons of Uec. Charles Pitman (Lon- don. 1887). PITMAN, Sir I.sa.vc (1813-07). The inventor of the Pitman system of jihonography. He was born at Trowbridge. Wiltshire, England ; was educated at the normal college of the British and Foreign School Society of London; in 1832 began to teach a school at I5arton-on-Huniber, Lincolnshire, and was afterwards master of sev- eral other schools. In 1837 he published Hlcno- yraphie Sound-hand, an exposition of the pho- nographic method, to the improvement and diffu- sion of which he directed every effort. W'hen the English Government offered a prize of £200 for the best method of collecting the pence for prepaid letters. Pitman submitted a proposal to collect the postage by means of stamps, which should be engraved in small squares of an inch space, and jilates to be 20 inches by 12. making 240 squares, the price of which at one penny a stamp would be £1; he also pointed out the advantage to the public of being able to transmit small sums by means of such stamps. In 1842 he established the weekly Phonoijraphio Journal, afterwards named the Phonetic Journal, which he edited for more than fifty years. For many years Pitman was greatly interested in the subject of reform in English spelling, and issued a number of pamphlets advocating radical meas- ures. He was knighted in 18114, in recognition of his services to stenography. Consult Reed, Biography of Isaac Pitman (New York and Lon- don. 1890). For a description of his system, see SllOKTlIAND. PITO, See Chica. PITONI, pe-to'ne, CJlUSEPPE Ottavio (1057- 1743). A composer of the Roman school, born at Rieti. He was a pupil of the famous Pompco Natale at Rome, and afterwards studied counter- point under Foggia. Throughout his life he was connected in various musical capacities with most of the important churches of Italy, and at the time of his death was church maestro of San ilarco, Rome, ilost of his compositions have remained in manuscript and have been carefully treasured by the churches to which thi'y belong. During his lifetime only one book of motets (1697) was printed. One of his most famous comi)Ositions is a Dixit arranged for sixteen parts, or four choirs, which is sung annually during Holy Week in Saint Peter's, Rome. He died in Rome. PITRA, pe'tr.a', Jean Baptiste (1812-89). A French ecclesiastic and author, born near Autun. He taught rhetoric in the seminary at Autun before he became a Benedictine monk at .Solcsmes. He was made cardinal in 1803 anil librarian at the Vatican six years afterwards. His writings include: Vie de Saint Linger (1840); Siiicilcgiiim Solesmense (1852-00); Hymnogra- phie de I'eglise greeque (1867); Juris Eecle- siastici flrcFcorum Historia et Monumenta (1864-08); and Triodon Katanaction (1879). PITRE, pe'tra'. Giuseppe (1843—). An Ital- ian folklore scholar, born at Palermo. He was educated at Palermo and made a special study of the antiquities, traditions, dialects, and national songs of his native land, and was one of the founders of the iuore Effcmeridi Siciliane (1868). Besides his contributions to French and Italian reviews, he published Pihlioteca dclle tradixioni popolari siciliane (19. vol^ 1870-95) ; Curiosita popolari tradizionali ( 10 vols.. 1885- 91 ) ; and Bibliografia delle tradizioni popolari d'ltalia (1894). PITRI, pit're (Skt. pitr, father). A term in Hindu religion applied to three classes of divine beings. In the Rig- Veda the jiitris are the souls of the righteous dead who dwell with Yama (q.v.), and to' whom sacred balls of rice and flour together with water are duly olTered. (See SrakduS.) In the Atharva-Veda they are di- vided into higher and lower classes, the older manes being in general the more venerated and blessed. After the Vedic period the pitris lose their importance as distinct objects of cult, al- though sacrifices are still offered to them in India. In its second usage, the term is applied to the ten Prajapatis or progenitors of mankind. (See Pbajapati.) In the later Hindu period, however, the pitris denoted a much larger class of semi-divine beings. Manu (q.v.) enumerates various classes of pitris — those who were the