PYROXENE-PYRRHIC DANCE. Roman candle is a favourite firework; it is a tube which is held on the ground, and discharges upwards a continuous stream of blue or white stars or balls. Bengal lights are cases of about an inch or more in diameter, filled with a composition of 7 parts nitre, 2 of sulphur, and 1 of antimony. These are much used as signals at sea; they diffuse an immense glare of bluish-white light. Chinese or jasmine fire, which is used by itself or in combination with other mixtures, consists of 16 parts of gunpowder, 8 of nitre, 3 of finely-powdered charcoal, 3 of sulphur, and 10 of small cast-iron borings; the last must be finer or coarser in proportion to the bore of the case to be filled. The compound devices in fixed fireworks, such as are seen at public entertainments, are very complicated in their structure, and are varied more or less by every artist. One nice point in the arrangement is to insure simultaneous ignition of all the various parts. PY'ROXENE. See AUGITE. SPIRIT, WOOD SPIRIT, or METHYLIC ALCOHOL, a peculiar alcohol obtained by the destructive distillation of wood in the manufacture of Pyroligneous Acid (q. v.). It is one of numerous volatile products of that distillation, and has to be separated from the others by saturating it with the chloride of calcium, with which it combines, and is no longer volatile, except at a greater temperature than 212° F. It is therefore easily separated by means of a steam-bath from its more volatile associates, which are carried off at a temperature below boiling water. A higher temperature is afterwards applied to the residue, which is the compound of chloride of calcium and pyroxylic spirit, and the spirit is thus distilled off. Commercially, the discovery of this substance was of great importance, as many of its properties are the same as those of common alcohol; and now, notwithstanding a long opposition from the Revenue Board, its manufacture and importation are regularly allowed. It is of nearly equal value to alcohol in making varnishes, as it dissolves the resins, oils, and other similar substances. It has a peculiar naphtha-like odour, which is inseparable from it, and prevents its use as a potable spirit at present; but it has been asserted lately that some makers have almost made it odourless, and that it is consequently taking the place of common alcohol in the manufacture of cheap perfumes. PYRO'XYLIN, a name for Gun Cotton (q. v.). PY'RRHIC DANCE, the most famous of all the war-dances of antiquity, is said to have received its name from one Pyrrichos, or, according to others, from Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Critical scholars, however, content themselves with im Pyrrhic Dance. (Copied from Sir W. Hamilton's work on Greek and Roman Vases.) a general inference deduced from the substantial harmony of the various mythical or legendary accounts given of its origin-viz., that it was a Doric invention. It was danced to the flute, and its time was both quick and light, as may be seen from the Pyrrhic foot, composed of two shorts (~~), and the Prokeleusmatic, or challenging-foot, of two double shorts (~~). According to Plato, it aimed to represent the nimble motions of a warrior either avoiding missiles and blows, or assaulting the enemy; and in the Doric states, it was as much a piece of military training as an amusement. Elsewhere, in Greece, it was purely a mimetic dance, in which the parts were sometimes represented by women. It formed part of the public entertainments at the Panathenaic festivals. Julius Cæsar introduced it at Rome, where it became a great favourite. The Romaika, still danced in Greece, is PYRRHON-PYTHAGORAS. said to be a modern relic of the ancient Pyrrhic dance; but if Dr Corrigan's description of it (Ten Days in Athens, 1861) is correct, it is not easy to see the resemblance. PYRRHON (Lat. Pyrrho), the founder of a school of Greek scepticism, named after him, was a native of Elis, and was born in the first half of the 4th c. B. C. In his youth he is said to have been a painter, but was subsequently attracted to philosophy by the study of the writings of Democritus. Diogenes Laertius tells us that, along with Anaxarchus (one of his teachers, according to Aristocles), he joined Alexander the Great's eastern expedition; and it has been conjectured that, at this period, he obtained some knowledge of the opinions and beliefs of the Persian Magi and the Indian Gymnosophists. He died about the age of 90, after spending a great part of his life in retirement. P.'s scepticism was by no means of the thorough-going kind that is usually associated with his name, which is synonymous with absolute and unlimited infidelity. He certainly disbelieved in the possibility of acquiring a scientific knowledge of things, but (like Kant) he appears to have tenaciously maintained the reality of virtue and the obligations of morality. So greatly was he reverenced by his townsmen, on account of his personal excellences, and so little did they consider his philosophical scepticism a barrier to his holding a religious office, that they chose him high-priest of their sacred city, and for his sake declared all philosophers exempt from public taxes. Cicero (not so far wrongly either) ranks him among the Socratics; and, indeed, he was as much opposed to the pretensions of the Sophists as Socrates himself, though from a different point of view. P., so far as we know, wrote nothing; and the works of his friend and follower, Timon, are lost. PY'RRHUS, king of Epeirus, born about 318 B. C., a Greek warrior, whose personal bravery and passion for adventurous exploits equals anything recorded of the knights of chivalry, was the son of Eacides, who succeeded to the throne of Epeirus by the death of his cousin, Alexander, 326 B. C. Alexander was the brother of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great; and thus young P. was a distant kinsman of the Macedonian hero, whose career of far-stretching conquest he dared to dream of imitating. After experiencing many vicissitudes of fortune in his youth, he became sole king of Epeirus in 295 B.C.; and, in the following year, increased his territories by the addition of the western parts of Macedonia, which he obtained in reward for aiding Alexander, son of Cassander, against his brother, Antipater, in their struggle for the paternal inheritance. In 281 B. C., a glorious prospect opened up before the eyes of the restless warrior-nothing less than the conquest of Rome and the western world, which (if he should achieve it) would confer on him a renown equal to that of his Macedonian kinsman. The Tarentines, a Greek colony in Lower Italy, then at war with the Romans, sent an embassy to P., in the name of all the Greek colonies in Italy, offering him the command of all their troops against their enemies. The king was overjoyed at the proposal; instantly accepted it; and in the beginning of 280 B. C. sailed for Tarentum with 20,000 foot, 3000 horse, 2000 archers, 500 slingers, and a number of elephants. The gay, pleasure-loving Tarentines had no great relish for the rigorous service of war, and were far from pleased at the strict measures taken by P. to inure them to its hardships. The first battle between P. and the Romans (who were commanded by the consul, M. Valerius Laevinus) took place at the river Siris in Lucania. The contest was long, obstinate, and bloody; and P. only succeeded by bringing forward his elephants, whose strange appearance and gigantic size excited a sudden panic for P., who said, as he looked upon the field, thickamong the Romans. It was a hard-bought victory strewn with his numerous dead: Another such victory, and I must return to Epeirus alone.' Many of the Italian nations now joined P. (for Rome was not liked by her neighbours and dependents), and The Roman senate was thoroughly frightened, and he proceeded on his march towards Central Italy. would have come to terms with P., but for the stirring speech of old Ap. Claudius Cæcus, which made them resolve to 'fight it out' with the foreigner. P., after penetrating to within 20 miles of Rome, found it impossible to proceed further with safety, as one Roman army occupied the city, and another He therefore withhung upon his flanks and rear. drew to Campania, and thence to Tarentum, where he wintered. The campaign of 279 B. C. was carried on in Apulia, and the principal engagement took defeated; but P. himself lost so heavily, that he place near Asculum. The Romans were again felt it impossible to follow up his victory; and again withdrew to Tarentum. Here a truce was entered into Sicily to assist the Sicilian Greeks against the into between the belligerents; and P. passed over island were both brilliant and successful; but the Carthaginians, 278 B. C. His first exploits in that repulse which he sustained in his attack on Lilybæum broke the spell which invested his name. Soon afterwards he became involved in misunderstandings with the Greeks; and in 276 B. C. he quitted the island in disgust, to renew his war with While crossing over to the mainland the Carthaginians attacked him, and destroyed 70 of his ships; and although he reached Tarentum in safety, his prospects were now much more clouded than at first. In 274 B. C. he fought a great battle with the Romans, under the consul Curius Dentatus, near Beneventum, and was utterly defeated, escaping to Tarentum with only a few personal attendants. He now saw himself forced to abandon Italy and return to Epeirus, where he almost immediately engaged in war with Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius, and king of Macedonia. His success was complete, for the Macedonian troops deserted to him en masse, and he once more obtained possession of the country; but nothing could satisfy his love of fighting, and in less than a year he was induced to enter on a war with the Spartans. He marched a large force into the Peloponnesus, and tried to take their city, but was repulsed in all his attempts. He then proceeded against Argos, where he met his death, 272 B. C., in the 46th year of his reign. Rome. PY'RUS, a genus of trees and shrubs of the natural order Rosacea, suborder Pome, having a two seeds in each cell. It includes species differing 5-celled fruit, with a cartilaginous endocarp and very much in appearance, in foliage, and in almost everything except the characters of the flower and Aria, Aronia, &c.; or included in Mespilus (see fruit, and formerly constituting the genera Sorbus, MEDLAR) and Crataegus. Some botanists separate the Apples (Malus) as a distinct genus. Amongst the species of P. are some of the most valuable fruits of temperate climates, and some highly ornamental trees and shrubs. See APPLE, PEAR, SERVICE, ROWAN, Beam-tree. PYTHAGORAS. The life of this celebrated man, the founder of what is known as the Italic School of Philosophy, has been so greatly obscured by the mass of legends and incredible stories which PYTHAGORAS. gathered in later ages round his name, that it is the assertion that they had to maintain silence for very difficult to arrive at anything like certainty two or even five years is an exaggeration of later regarding his history and character. That he was times. Among the members of the society we are a native of the island of Samos, the son of Mnesar- told there were several gradations, and there was also chus, a merchant, or, according to other accounts, a more general division of his disciples under the a signet-engraver, we know on good authority. names Esoteric and Exoteric the former being apThe date of his birth is very uncertain, but is plied to all who were admitted to the more abstruse usually placed about the year 570 B. C.; and all doctrines and sublimer teaching of their master, the authorities agree that he flourished in the times of latter to those who received only the instruction Polycrates and Tarquinius Superbus (540-510 B.C.). open to all. The mode of life seems to have been He is said to have been a disciple of Pherecydes of regulated by P. in its minutest details. It is well Syros, of Thales, and Anaximander, and, like other known that he is said to have forbidden all animal illustrious Greeks, to have undertaken extensive food-a consequence, perhaps, of the doctrine of travels for the purpose of adding to his knowledge; Metempsychosis-and also particularly beans (but in the course of which-lasting, we are told, for these statements cannot be relied on), and there is nearly 30 years-he visited Egypt (bringing with no doubt that temperance of all kinds was strictly, him, according to the usual story, letters of intro- enjoined. In the course of instruction, great attenduction from Polycrates to Amasis the king) and tion, was paid to mathematics, music, and astrothe more important countries of Asia, including nomy; and gymnastics formed an important part of even India. We have every reason to believe that the training. Religious teaching was inculcated in he did, at all events, visit Egypt, and there availed the so-called Pythagorean Orgies or Mysteries; and himself of all such mysterious lore as the priests while he outwardly conformed to the usual mode could be induced to impart; from whom possibly of worship, there is reason to believe that in secret he learned the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or the he taught a purer faith. The result of the whole transmigration of souls (which was, as is well system seems to have been an unbounded reverence known, one of the most famous tenets of the Pytha- on the part of the disciples for their master (of gorean school), and whose influence may perhaps be which the well-known ipse dixit is a sufficient traced in the mystic rites, asceticism, and peculi- attestation); in the members of the order an elearities of diet and clothing which formed some of vated tone of character, exhibited in serenity of its chief characteristics-though we may consider mind and self-possession, extreme attachment to it as nearly certain that his philosophic and each other, and also supreme contempt for all the religious system was much less indebted to the outer world. But it was natural that political influence of other countries than the ancients gener-power uniformly exercised in one direction by an ally believed. During his travels, we may believe, aristocratic and exclusive society such as this should P. matured the plans which he afterwards carried in the end excite a wide-spread feeling of jealousy into action; but finding, on his return to his native and hatred, which at length, when opportunity was island, that the tyranny established there by Poly-given, caused the overthrow of the fraternity. A crates unfitted it for his abode, he quitted Samos, and eventually settled in the city of Croton, in Southern Italy. Here he is said to have acquired in a short time unbounded influence over the inhabitants, as well as over those of the neighbouring states; and here he established the famous Pythagorean fraternity or order, which has often been compared with the still more celebrated order founded by Ignatius Loyola in modern times. The adherents of P. were chiefly found among the noble and the wealthy; these, to the number of 300, he formed into a select society, bound by a sort of vow to himself and to each other, for the purpose of study ing the philosophical system of their master, and cultivating the ascetic observances and religious rites enjoined by him. They thus formed at once a philosophical school and a religious brotherhood, which gradually assumed the character and exercised the power of a political association also. This political influence, which undoubtedly became very great, was constantly exerted on the side of aristocracy; and to carry out the principles of this form of government, understood in the best sense of the word, seems to have been the ultimate aim of Pythagoras. He is said also to have increased his influence by a practice unknown to the other sages of the ancient world-the admission of women, not probably into his society, but to attendance on his lectures and teaching. Of the internal arrangement and discipline of this fraternity we really know but little. All accounts agree that what was done and taught among the members was kept a profound secret from the outer world. In the admission of members, P. is said to have exercised the greatest care, and to have relied much on his skill in physiognomy. They then had, it is said, to pass through a long period of probation, intended apparently to test especially their powers of endurance and self-restraint-though probably war between the cities of Croton and Sybaris, in which the Pythagoreans took a prominent part, ended in the total destruction of the latter city (510 B. C.); and on this success they seem to have presumed so greatly, that they proceeded to more active measures against the popular party than they had yet attempted. A violent outbreak was the consequence; the house in which the leading Pythagoreans were assembled was set on fire, and many perished in the flames. Similar commotions ensued in other cities of Southern Italy in which Pythagorean clubs had been formed, and the result was that, as a political organisation, the Pythagorean order was everywhere suppressed; though, as a philosophical sect, it continued to exist for many years after. Of the fate of P. himself different accounts are given; but he is generally supposed to have escaped to Metapontum, and died there (504 B. C.), where his tomb was shewn in the time of Cicero. P. is said to have been the first to assume the title of Philosopher (Lover of wisdom') in place of the name Sophos (Wise '), by which the sages had before been known. Various discoveries in music, astronomy, and mathematics are attributed to him; among others, the proposition now known as the 47th of Euclid, Book I. We have good ground for believing that he was a man of much learning and great intellectual powers, which were specially exerted in the way of mathematical research, as is evinced by the general tendency of the speculations of his school. There is no doubt that he maintained the doctrine of the transmigration of souls into the bodies of men and other animals-which seems to have been regarded in the Pythagorean system as a process of purification-and he is said to have asserted that he had a distinct recollection of having himself previously passed through other stages of existence. We are told that on seeing a PYTHIAN GAMES-PYTHON. dog beaten, and hearing him howl, he bade the striker desist, saying, 'It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom I recognise by his voice.' Respecting the system of philosophy actually taught by P., we have but little trustworthy testimony. P. himself, it is all but certain, wrote nothing, and the same seems to have been the case with his immediate successors; we are therefore, in endeavouring to form an idea of the Pythagorean philosophy, obliged to rely almost entirely on the compilations of later writers (mainly Diogenes Laërtius, and the Neo-Platonists, Porphyrius and Iamblichus, all of them long subsequent to the Christian era), who often but imperfectly understood the details they gave. The tendency of the school was towards the consideration of abstractions as the only true materials of science' (Lewes's Biographical History of Philosophy), and to Number was allotted the most prominent place in their system. They taught that in Number only is absolute certainty to be found; that Number is the Essence of all things; that things are only a copy of Numbers; nay, that in some mysterious way, Numbers are things themselves. This Number theory was probably worked out from the fundamental conception, that, after destroying or disarranging every other attribute of matter, there still remains the attribute Number; we still can predicate that the thing is one. With this doctrine of Number was intimately connected that of the Finite and the Infinite, corresponding respectively with the Odd and the Even in Number; and from a combination of this Finite and Infinite it was taught that all things in the Universe result. The abstract principle of all perfection was One and the Finite; of imperfection, the Many and the Infinite. Essentially based also on the same doctrine, was the Theory of Music; the System of the Universe, which was conceived as a Kosmos, or one harmonious whole, consisting of ten heavenly bodies revolving round a Central Fire, the Hearth or Altar of the Universe; and the celebrated doctrine of the Harmony of the Spheres-the music produced, it was supposed, by the movement of these heavenly bodies, which were arranged at intervals according with the laws of harmony-forming thus a sublime Musical Scale. The Soul of Man was believed to partake of the nature of the Central Fire, possessing three elements, Reason, Intelligence, and Passion; the first distinctive of Man, the two last common to Man and Brutes. The Ethical teaching of the Pythagoreans was of the purest and most spiritual kind; Virtue was regarded as a harmony of the soul, a conformity with, or approximation to, the Deity; Self-restraint, Sincerity, and Purity of Heart were especially commended; and Conscientiousness and Uprightness in the affairs of life would seem to have been their distinguishing characteristics. The Pythagorean system was carried on by a succession of disciples down to about 300 B.C., when it seems to have gradually died out, being superseded by other systems of philosophy; it was revived about two centuries later, and lasted for a considerable time after the Christian era-disfivured by the admixture of other doctrines, and an exaggeration of the mysticism and ascetic practices, without the scientific culture of the earlier school. In addition to the writers above mentioned, scattered and scanty notices-affording, however, really the most trustworthy information that we possess, as to the life and doctrines of P.-occur in Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle (the latter especially), and a few other authors. Fuller details on the subject will be found in the Histories of Greece by Thirlwall and Grote, in the works of Ritter, Brandis, and Tennemann on the History of Philosophy; in Lewes's Biographical History of Philosophy; and a complete summary of the whole in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography. PYTHIAN GAMES, one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks, held in the Crissæan plain, near Delphi, are said (according to the prevalent mythological legend) to have been instituted by Apollo after vanquishing the snaky monster, Python, and were certainly in the earliest times celebrated in his honour every ninth year. They were at first under the management of the Delphians, intrusted with the conduct of them, and arranged but about 590-586 B. C. the Amphictyons were writers state that it was only after this date that that they should be held every fifth year. Some they were called Pythian. Originally, the contests of cithern-playing, but the Amphictyons added the were restricted to singing, with the accompaniment flute, athletic contests, and horse-racing. By and in historical recitations, and in works of art, were by, contests in tragedy, and other kinds of poetry, introduced, and long continued a distinguishing feature of these games, which are believed to have lasted down to nearly the end of the 4th c. A. D. The prize was a laurel wreath and the symbolic relate to victors in the Pythian Games. palm-branch. Several of Pindar's extant odes PYTHON, a genus of serpents of the family Boida (see BOA), differing from the true boas in having the plates on the under surface of the tail double. The tip of the muzzle is plated; the lips are grooved. The species are all natives of the Old World. They are all large; some of them very large, and rivalled in size by no serpents except the boas of America. The name Boa is often popularly given to the pythons, and in its ancient use belongs to them. Some of the pythons are known in the East Indies by the name of ROCK SNAKE, as P. molurus, a species very extensively diffused. This name is given to some species which belong to the genus or subgenus Hortulia, one of which, the NATAL ROCK SNAKE (H. Natalensis), is said to attain so large a size that its body is as thick as Python, or Rock Snake (Hortulia Natalensis). that of a man. Although a native of Natal, it is already unknown in the settled parts of the colony. Python reticulatus is probably the largest snake of India and Ceylon. It is found also in more eastern regions. What size it attains is not well known. Specimens of 15 or 20 feet long are common, but it certainly attains a much larger size. It seems to be this snake which is sometimes called ANACONDA. It is rather brilliantly coloured; its body being covered with gold and black, finely intermixed. The forehead is marked by a longitudinal brown stripe. Although sluggish for some time after a repast, it is at other times very active, and easily scales the highest garden walls. It feeds on deer and smaller animals; but the largest pythons are said to seize buffaloes, tigers, and even elephants, and to crush them in their coils. In this there is perhaps some exaggeration; but there are wellauthenticated stories of snakes in the East Indies quite capable of killing at least the buffalo and the tiger (see My Indian Journal, by Colonel Walter Campbell; Edin. 1864, pp. 126, 127). PYX (Gr. pyxis, a box, properly of boxwood), the sacred vessel used in the Catholic Church to contain the consecrated eucharistic elements, which are preserved after consecration, whether for the communion of the sick or for the adoration of the faithful in the churches. Its form has varied very much at different times. Anciently it was sometimes of the form of a dove, which was hung suspended over the altar. More commonly, however, it was, as its name implies, a simple box, generally of the precious metals, or, at least, of metal plated with gold or silver. At present, the pyx is commonly cup-shaped, with a close-fitting cover of the same material. The interior is ordered to be of gold, or at least plated Pyx, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (Copied from Parker's Glossary.) 40 with gold. Like all the other sacred utensils connected with the administration of the eucharist, it must be blessed by a bishop, or a priest delegated by a bishop. PYX, TRIAL OF THE, the final trial by weight and assay of the gold and silver coins of the United Kingdom, prior to their issue from the Mint. It is so called from the Pyx, i. e., box or chest, in which are deposited specimen coins. When the coins are weighed into bags at the Mint, two pieces are taken out of each bag, one for assay within the Mint, the other for the pyx. The latter are sealed up by three officers and deposited in the chest or pyx. The trial takes place about once in three years by a jury of goldsmiths, summoned by the Lord Chancellor. The jury are charged by the Lord Chancellor, at the Exchequer Office, Whitehall, in presence of several privy councillors, and of the officers of the Mint. Being furnished with a piece of gold and silver from the trial plates deposited in the Exchequer, they are required to declare to what degree the coin under examination deviates from them. The jury then proceed to Goldsmiths' Hall, where assaying apparatus is in readiness, and the sealed packets of coin being delivered to them by the officers of the Mint, are first tried by weight, after which a certain number of pieces taken from the whole are melted into a bar, from which the assay trials are taken. A favourable verdict relieves the officers of the Mint from responsibility, and constitutes a public attestation of the standard purity of the coin. |