PURPURE-PURÚRAVAS. PURSE-CRAB (Birgus), a genus of Crustacea, of the order Decapoda, Purpure. and suborder Anomoura (see CRAB), allied to Hermit-crabs (q. v.), but having the abdomen or tail shorter and almost orbicular, its under surface soft and membranous, its upper surface covered with strong plates, which overlap one another as in lobsters. The first pair of legs have large and powerful pincers; the pair of legs nearest the abdomen are very small, but terminated by rudimentary pincers; the pair next to them larger, with small pincers; the second and third pair of legs are terminated by a single nail. A species of P. (B. latro) is found in Mauritius and in the more eastern islands of the Indian Ocean. It is one of the largest of crustaceans, sometimes two or three feet in length when fully stretched out, and Purse-crab (Birgus latro). capable of erecting itself to the height of a foot from the ground, which it readily does if irritated, retreating backward, and exhibiting to the utmost its powers of offence or defence. It is of a yellowish-brown colour, its limbs covered with little blackish projections. It is never found far from the sea, to which it is said to pay visits, in order to moisten its gills; but it resides on land, and often in holes under the roots of trees, where it accumulates great quantities of the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, as if to keep itself warm, or for a soft bed. The Malays rob these stores to supply themselves with junk. The gills of the P. are contained in a very large cavity, of which they fill only a very small part. Its food consists of cocoa-nuts and other nuts, which it climbs trees to procure. Its manner of dealing with a cocoa-nut is described as exhibiting a remarkable instinct, as it always begins to tear off the husk at the end where the eyes are. It is variously stated that it makes a hole through the eye from which the nut would germinate, and then scoops out the nut with the small pincers of its fourth pair of legs; and that having made this hole, it seizes the nut by one of its great pincers, and breaks it against a stone. Both statements may perhaps be true. PU'RSER, in the Royal Navy, was formerly a warrant, and subsequently a commissioned officer, in charge of the provision, clothing, pay, and necessaries of a ship-of-war. His title was changed in 1844 to that of Paymaster (q. v.). PU'RSLANE (Portulaca), a genus of plants of the natural order Portulaceae, having a bifid calyx, 4 or six petals, 8 or 16 stamens, and a capsule dividing around the middle. COMMON P. (P. oleracea) grows in cultivated and waste grounds on the sea-shore, in almost all tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It is cultivated as a pot-herb. It is a shortlived annual, with spreading and rather procumbent stems, and obovate fleshy leaves, which, as well as the young shoots, are frequently used in salads. The young and tender shoots are pickled in France like gherkins. P. is not so common in British gardens as it once was. PU'RSUIVANT (Fr. poursuivant, follower), the third and lowest order of heraldic officers. The office was instituted as a novitiate, or state of probation through which the offices of herald and kingat-arms were ordinarily to be attained, though it has been held that a herald or king-at-arms may be made per saltum. There are four pursuivants belonging to the English College of Arms: Rouge Croix, the oldest, so named from the Cross of St George; Blue-mantle, instituted either by Edward III. or Henry V., and named in allusion to the robes of the Order of the Garter, or perhaps to the colour of the arms of France; Rouge Dragon, deriving his title from King Henry VII.'s dexter supporter, a red dragon, assumed in allusion to his descent from Cadwaladyr; and Portcullis, named from a badge of the same monarch. There are six pursuivants in the heraldic establishment of Scotland, known by the names of Dingwall, Bute, Carrick, Ormond, Kintyre, and Unicorn-titles which, as well as those of the heralds, seem to have originated in the reign of James III. The Scottish pursuivants take precedence according to seniority in office. In ancient times, any great nobleman might institute his own pursuivant with his own hands and by his single authority. The Dukes of Norfolk had a pursuivant, called Blanch-lyon, from the white lion in their arms; the pursuivant of the Dukes of Northumberland was styled Espérance, from the Percy motto; and Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, had a pursuivant called Egle vert. We even find Sir John Lisle, in 1442, making Thomas de Launey his pursuivant, by the title of Blanch Sanglier. The ancient costume of a pursuivant of the king was a surcoat, embroidered with the royal arms, and worn with one sleeve hanging down in front, and another behind. In 1576, Rouge Croix was severely censured for wearing his coat as a herald. In later times, however, a pursuivant's coat is worn exactly as a herald's, the latter officer being distinguished by the collar of SS. PURÛRAVAS, a celebrated legendary king of ancient India. According to tradition, he was a of the earth, a prince renowned for liberality, son of the planet Budha, or Mercur, by Ila-a name devotion, magnificence, truthfulness, and personal beauty; but still more so on account of his love for the Apsaras Urvas'i. This heavenly nymph having incurred the imprecation of some gods, and therefore having been compelled to descend from heaven, saw P., and was seen by him. The king having, in consequence, fallen in love with Urvas'i, she consented to return his affection, on the condition that he would never suffer two rams, which she loved as children, and always kept near her bedside, to be carried away from her, and also that he should never be seen by her undressed. To these terms the king gave his assent; but the Gandharvas, the choristers in Indra's heaven, and the husbands of the Apsarasas, being jealous of P., instigated one of their tribe to carry away one of the rams during the night; and after he had accomplished their design, other Gandharvas came and stole the second ram. Upon this P., highly incensed, and trusting that the nymph would not see his person, as it was PURVEYORS-PUSEY. through the purveyor-in-chief to the Secretary of State for War. The department consists (1864) of 1 purveyor-in-chief, sitting at the War Office, 10 principal purveyors, 20 purveyors, 30 deputypurveyors, and 26 purveyors' clerks. A purveyorin-chief has £547 per annum, rising to £730 after long service. He ranks with a colonel in the army. All ranks above clerks hold commissions. The total annual cost of the personnel of the purveyors' department is £23,743. in dark, rose in pursuit of the robbers. At that moment, however, the Gandharvas caused a flash of lightning to irradiate the scene, and Urvas'i beheld the king undressed. The compact was violated, and Urvas'i disappeared, while the Gandharvas, abandoning the rams, departed to the sky. P. recovered the animals, but could find Urvas'i nowhere. Like one insane, the king now wandered over the world, until he saw her, at Kurukshetra, sporting with four other nymphs of heaven in a lake beautified with lotuses. Urvas'i, however, told him PUS is a well-known product of inflammation, to keep away from her until, at the end of the year, and occurs as a thick yellow creamy fluid, differing she should be delivered of the son with whom she from all other morbid exudations in containing a was pregnant by him. He obeyed; and after Ayus large number of corpuscles, having a soft and fatty was born, these annual interviews between P. and feeling when rubbed between the fingers, a peculiar Urvas'i were repeated, until she had born him five odour, usually an alkaline reaction, and a specific other sons-Dhimat, Amâvasu, Vis'wâvasu, S'atâyus, gravity of about 1032. Like the blood, it consists and Srutâyus. But the king, now longing for an of certain definite microscopic elements, and of an uninterrupted re-union with his wife, Urvas'i intercellular fluid or serum in which they swim. endeavoured to propitiate the Gandharvas who had The microscopic elements are: 1. The pus-corcaused their separation. Her efforts were success-puscles, which, both in their microscopical and ful; and they taught the king how to produce by chemical relations, seem to be identical with the attrition, from the wood of the fig-tree, a sacrificial lymph-corpuscles, or colourless blood-cells; fire, and how to divide it into the three fires diameter, they range from 0·004 to 0005 of a line, required for sacrificial acts. By this means, they and each corpuscle consists of a cell-wall, which enabled him then to celebrate many sacrifices, and, often appears granular, of viscid transparent conby virtue of these, to be transferred to the sphere tents, and of a nucleus which is adherent to the where Gandharvas and Apsarasas dwell together. cell-wall, and which can be rendered much more This legend is adverted to in the Vedas, and related apparent by the addition of acetic acid. 2. Molecular with more or less detail in the Mahabharata and granules, and 3. Fat-globules. The serum of pus the Purûn'as (see, for instance, Wilson's Vishn'u- is perfectly clear, of a slightly yellow colour, and Purân'a); it is likewise the subject of the cele- coagulates on heating into a thick white mass. brated drama of Kâlidâsa, the Vikramorvas't, where, however, the incidents that, according to the Puran'as, cause the separation of P. and Urvas'i, are not mentioned by the poet, her disappearance being ascribed by him to a fit of jealousy, in which she trespassed on the proscribed bounds of a divine hermitage. It deserves notice, too, that, in the drama, Urvas' is transformed into a creeper, and discovered in that condition by P., when franticly roaming in search of her in the forest of Akalushaa transformation pointing to some affinity between this latter myth and that of Daphne when pursued by Apollo.-The idea, however, on which the original Hindu myth is based-apart from the semihistorical and fantastical detail by which it was overgrown-seems to have been suggested by the (supposed) motion or wanderings (Purûravas, from puru, much, and ravas, going-from ru, go, move) of the sun (Gandharva, in the Vedas, also being a personification of the fire of the sun), attracting or absorbing, and thus uniting, as it were, with the vapours floating in the sky (Apsaras-from ap, water, and saras, going, arising, hence waterborn'-being originally personifications of the vapours which are attracted by the sun, and form into mists or clouds;' see Goldstücker's Sanskrit Dictionary, under Apsaras;' and Urvas'i, from uru, large, wide, and as', pervade, hence the far-pervading-being identified in one passage of the Mahabharata with the river Ganges). A Greck myth of a kindred character is that of Apollo and Daphne, and also that of Io, according to the ingenious interpretation of it by Professor P. W. Forchhammer, in the Verhandlungen der Versammlung deutscher Philologen in Frankfurt, 1862. In his Hellenica, the same scholar has moreover shewn that, in Greek mythology, the ram is a symbol of the cloud. PURVEYORS, ARMY, are officers charged with superintending the civil affairs of army hospitals, as the payment of men, procuring provisions, medical comforts, bedding, &c. The purveyor acts indepen The chemical constituents of P. are water (varying from 769 to 907 in 1000 parts), albumen (from 44 to 180); fats (from 9 to 25); extractive matter (from 19 to 29); and inorganic salts (from 6 to 13); in addition to which, mucin, pyin, glycin, urea, &c., are occasionally present. Of the inorganic or mineral constituents, the soluble salts are to the insoluble in the ratio of 8 to 1, and the chloride of sodium (the chief of the soluble salts) is three times as abundant as in the serum of the blood. The mode of formation of pus is described in the article SUPPURATION. PUSEY, REV. EDWARD BOUVERIE, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and Canon of Christ-church, a celebrated English divine, and one of the chief promoters of the High Church movement in the Church of England. He is the second son of the Honourable Philip Bouverie (younger brother of the first Earl of Radnor, who assumed the name of P.), by Lady Lucy Sherard, eldest daughter of Robert, fourth Earl of Harborough. He was born in the year 1800, was educated at Eton, and thence proceeded to Christchurch, where he obtained a first class in Classics in 1822, and gained the university prize for a Latin essay in 1824. He was afterwards elected Fellow of Oriel; and in 1828, succeeded Dr Nicoll in the Regius Professorship of Hebrew, to which a canonry at Christ-church is annexed. Dr P.'s first publication was on the State of Religion in Germany, the result of a visit to that country, which appears to have greatly influenced his subsequent course, and led him to devote himself to resist the progress of Rationalism. In 1835, he became a contributor to the Tracts for the Times (in union with Messrs J. H. Newman, Keble, Williams, &c.), of which Nos. 67, 69, On Holy Baptism, and Nos. 18 and 66, On the Benefit of Fasting, were written by him (see TRACTARIANISM). He was also one of the editors of the Library of the Fathers, and of the Library of AngloCatholic Theology. In consequence of a sermon on The Holy Eucharist, a Comfort to the Penitent, preached before the university in 1843, he PUSHKIN-PUTTY. suspended from preaching by the Vice-chancellor included under the head of 'pustular diseases,' are for three years, on the allegation that his language on the subject of the Real Presence was beyond what is sanctioned by the Formularies of the Church of England. Dr P., however, protested against the proceeding, and appealed to the teaching of English divines. His other principal works are-Remarks on the Benefits of Cathedral Institutions; two treatises on the Royal Supremacy in Spiritual Matters; a treatise on the Ancient Doctrine of the Real Presence; Letters to the Arch bishop of Canterbury, the (late) Bishop of Oxford, and the (late) Bishop of London, in Defence of Church Principles; On Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister; On the Use of Private Confession in the English Church; Translations of several foreign devotional works adapted to the use of the English Church; a Commentary on the Minor Prophets, now in progress; Lectures on the Prophet Daniel; Catalogue of Arabic MSS. in the Bodleian Library; and numerous sermons. a PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER SERGEIVITCH, a Russian poet of good family, was born at Moscow, 26th May 1799, and educated at the imperial lyceum of Tsarskoe Selo, where he acquired more reputation for his liberal opinions than for his attention to study. In 1817, he entered the service of govern ment, and soon became one of the most prominent figures in fashionable society. In 1820, he published his romantic poem of Ruslan and Liudmila, which met with a flattering reception from the public. The incidents are laid in the legendary times of Vladimir, the Russian Charlemagne. During the next five years, P. led a roving sort of life, in the course of which appeared his Plennik Kavkaskoi (Prisoner of the Caucasus, 1822), which narrates the escape of a young Russian from a Circassian horde by the help of a Circassian maid; and his Fountain of Bakhtchiserai (1824), a poem of singular beauty and interest. These were followed by Tzigani (The Gipsies, 1827), a picture of wild gipsy life in Bessarabia, and Evgenii Onaegin (1828), a humorously sarcastic description of Russian society-after the fashion of Byron's Beppo. In 1829, he published his last narrative poem, Pultava, which has for its hero Mazeppa, the famous Hetman of the Cossacks. About the same time, he wrote a dramatic poem entitled Boris Godunov, one of the best of all his works; but subsequent to this he appears to have addicted himself almost wholly to prose. Another, and less commendable change, however, took place in him. From being or seeming an enthusiastic liberal,' he passed-after his appointment to the office of imperial historiographer, with a pension of 6000 rubles-to the extreme of Russian conservatism. The chief thing he did in his official capacity was to write the life of the rebel Pugatschew. He was mortally wounded in a duel, and expired at St Petersburg, January 29 (February 10), 1837. P. is reckoned the finest poet that Russia has produced in the present century. His countrymen call him the Russian Byron,' and he has not a little of the bold and brilliant genius of his prototype, excelling like him in vigour of imagery and impassioned sentiment. PU'STULAR DISEASES. Under this head are included the cutaneous diseases which are characterised by pustules, or circumscribed elevations of the cuticle, containing pus; they are Ecthyma, Impetigo, Acne, and Sycosis, all of which are noticed in special articles. Pustules also occur in small-pox, and occasionally in chicken-pox, but these are on good grounds regarded as febrile diseases, in which the eruption on the skin is not the primary disorder. Boils (q. v.), although not in their nature pustular. It article of commerce in India, where it is used both PU'TCHUK, an aromatic root, a considerable as a perfume and as a medicine, and of export to China, where it is much used for incense, as it gives out a very pleasant odour when burned. appears to be the Costus (q. v.) of the ancients, and is the root of Aucklandia costus, one of the Composita, and not, as was once supposed, of a species of Costus, one of the Scitaminea. Cashmere, and is called Kooth in Northern India. It grows in P. is its name at Calcutta. PU'TLOGS, small timbers used in the construc tion of buildings. They lie between the wall and the poles of the scaffolding, and on them the floor of the scaffolding rests. Apertures called 'putlogholes' are common in buildings of all ages. PUTREFA'CTION is the term applied to the spontaneous decomposition of organic substances, when such decomposition is accompanied by an offensive odour. In other respects, it may be regarded as identical with Fermentation (q. v.). of a higher order are resolved into lower organic In the process of putrefaction, organic compounds compounds, into inorganic compounds (such as water, ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, &c.), or into simple chemical elements (such as hydrogen or nitrogen. The substances which most readily putrefy are the protein bodies (albumen, fibrine, caseine, &c.) and gelatigenous tissues, glue, &c.; the only necessary conditions being the presence of moisture and the access of air at the commencement of the process. Since animals are mainly composed of the protein bodies, they are especially liable to undergo this change; but many vegetable products, which are rich in these bodies (e. g., seeds), are also prone is readily accounted for when the nature of the to this form of decomposition. The peculiar smell resulting compounds is considered. by a variety of conditions, amongst which may The putrefaction of organic matters is prevented be mentioned (1) exclusion of air, (2) perfect dryness, (3) a freezing temperature (as, e. g., in the (4) a high temperature (about 250°), and (5) anticase of the mammoths preserved in the Siberian ice), putrescent or antiseptic substances of various kinds. It is worthy of notice that all bodies susceptible of and may thus induce special changes in sugar, putrefactive decomposition may act as ferments, urea, &c., which would not have occurred except in the presence of the putrefying matter PUTRID FEVER. See JAIL FEVER. PUTTING TO SILENCE, in the Law of Scotland, is the title of a suit or action of declarator, the object of which is to put an end to certain pretended claims of marriage. The most recent illustration of this action was that in Yelverton v. Yelverton. The suit corresponds to what is called in England a suit of Jactitation (q. v.). worked into a thick paste. It is used by painters PUTTY, a composition of whiting and drying oil and glaziers-by the former for filling up holes in surfaces, previous to their being painted with oilcolours; and by the latter, for fixing panes of glass in windows, &c. It becomes remarkably hard in time, and fixes the glass immovably. This has been found rather an evil in some cases, especially where thick plate-glass is used for skylights and other roofing purposes, because it will not permit the expansion and contraction caused by the varying temperature to which the glass is exposed in such situations. Hence the addition, in such cases, has been made lately of a pound of fine Russian PUTTY-POWDER-PYÆMIA. PUZZOLA'NA, a mineral substance, produced tallow to every twelve pounds of the ordinary putty materials. This prevents its becoming by volcanoes, and abundant in volcanic countries. extremely hard, and insures a certain amount of elasticity. PUTTY-POWDER, a material, consisting of peroxide of tin, in great use for polishing stone and metal work. It is also used as a colouring material for white glass, and for the white enamels of porcelain, &c. It is made by melting tin; as the surface oxidises, the scum, which is the peroxide, is raked off, and when cold, is reduced to a fine powder, which is white in colour, and the particles are extremely hard. It derives its name from Puzzuoli near Naples. It is earthy in character, consisting of particles in a very loose state of aggregation, but its chemical composition agrees with that of Basalt (q. v.). It is found of various colours-brown, yellow, reddish, and gray. colours of the P. of Italy. See CEMENTS. Brown and yellow are the ordinary PYÆ'MIA (from the Gr. pyon, pus, and hæma, blood), or purulent infection of the blood, is a disease whose exciting cause is the introduction of decomposing animal matter into the circulation. The animal matter may be decomposing pus, unhealthy secretions, putrid fluid (as from decompos PUY is the name commonly given in the highlands of Auvergne and the Cevennes to the trunc-ing hides, dead bodies, &c.), the fluid of glanders, ated conical peaks of extinct volcanoes. It is perhaps connected with puit or puits, a well' or vent, and may have been given in allusion to the craters of these mountains. PUY, LE, or LE PUY-EN-VELAY, a town of France, department of Haute-Loire, about 70 miles south-west of Lyon, is one of the most picturesque towns in Europe. It stands on the steep southern slopes of Mount Anis, from the summit of which starts up precipitously the huge basaltic mass called Rocher de Corneille, crowned by the ruins of an ancient episcopal castle. The greatest natural curiosity is the Rocher de St Michel, an obelisk of nature's own making, composed of basaltic tufa, and rising in a solitary abrupt cone from the margin of the river Borne to a height of 265 feet, with a circumference at its base of 500 feet, and at its top, of from 45 to 50 feet. The sides of this sugar-loaf' are almost perpendicular; but a winding stair cut along the rock conducts to the summit, which is surmounted by a little Romanesque chapel of the 10th century. The most notable buildings of Le P. are the cathedral, a splendid but heavy-looking structure of the 10th or 11th c., situated in the highest part of the town, and chiefly remarkable for a wonder-working image of the Virgin (Notre Dame du Puy). For more than 100 years, the town has furnished the carriers and muleteers of Southern France with the bells for their horses and mules. Pop. 14,560. PUY-DE-DOME, a large central department of France, containing an area of 5070 sq. m., and a population of 576,409. Plateau and mountain occupy three-fourths of it; plain and valley the rest. Branches of the Cevennes and of the Auvergne mountains overspread the east and west of the department. The multitude of conical hills or puys, of basaltic and lava masses, and of craters, shews the volcanic nature of the soil. See AUVERGNE. The principal river is the Allier (a tributary of the Loire), which flows in a northern direction through the middle of the department; but there are numerous lesser streams. The soil is, in general, light and poor; but its volcanic character fosters vegetation; and the splendid valley of Limagne, upwards of 70 miles long, is fertile throughout, and well cultivated. The climate is uncertain; the mountains are tormented with howling storms, and more or less covered with snow for six or seven months of the year. The chief products are wheat, rye, flax, fruits (especially cherries and nuts). Some middling wine is also produced. The high pasturelands support great numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats. The principal minerals are iron, antimony, and lead. Hot and cold mineral springs are abundant; among the most frequented are those of St Myon and Chateldon. The department is subdivided into the arrondissements of Ambert, Clermont, Issoire, Riom, and Thiers. &c.; and it may be introduced through an ulcer or a wound, through an imperfectly closed vein (see PHLEBITIS and PUERPERAL FEVER), or through a mucous membrane, as that which lines the nostrils. absorbed and diffused, and the blood undergoes The poison in these cases, if it acts at all, is rapidly certain changes, the nature of which chemistry has Within twenty-four hours, in very acute cases, there are severe shiverings, as yet failed to detect. headache, and giddiness, followed by heat, perspiration, and accelerated circulation. In twenty-four hours more, the patient may be in a hopeless condition, delirious, and rapidly sinking. In less acute cases, the symptoms closely resemble those of typhoid fever, and in this form, the disease is a is only, however, when there are predisposing causes common cause of death, after surgical operations. It that the poison acts so severely. By their presence, they convert a comparatively slight local mischief into infection of the whole mass of the blood; while by their absence, they render the poisonous matter comparatively harmless. Mr Callender, whose essay on pyæmia is the most complete that has yet appeared (for the recognition of the disease by a special name is comparatively recent), signalises extreme prostration or exhaustion of the system as the chief predisposing causes-previous illness; from organic disease, from surgical complaints, or from difficult parturition; unhealthy occupations; over-indulgence in food, &c. In association with the general symptoms which have been already stated, there are often local or secondary complications. 6 The disease is always accompanied with great danger. When secondary complications are present, the hope of recovery is very small. Practical surgeons,' observes Mr Callender, acknowledge that very little chance remains for the patient who, after an operation, is attacked with symptoms of this disease.' The only disease with which this disorder can be confounded is typhoid fever. If the poison has been received into the system by an open sore, nitrate of silver should be applied freely, after which the part should be treated with soothing fomentations or poultices. The bowels should be freely acted on by a sharp purgative (as five grains of calomel and a scruple of jalap). The action of the skin should be increased by diaphoretics, and the bowels should be daily acted on by saline draughts, with the addition of bicarbonate of potash to stimulate the kidneys. By these means, the poison may be eliminated. The depression of the nervous system, which is usually very marked, must be counteracted by opium in small and repeated doses, in addition to which, a dose of Dover's Powder (ten grains) should be taken at bed-time. Stimulants, such as brandy and sherry, should be given in small but frequently-repeated doses from almost the beginning of the disease, and light nutritious food should be given as freely as the stomach PYCNOGONIDE-PYM. will bear it. The internal administration of hyposulphite of soda and of the hyposulphites generally, has been lately recommended by Professor Polli of Milan. Considering that pyæmia is the cause of death in 10 per cent. of all cases of amputation, and in 43 per cent. of all fatal primary amputations, it becomes a question of great importance how it can be prevented. Persons whose health is already broken down require careful preparation before under. going an operation. They must be strengthened,' says Mr Callender, by tonics, such as quinine and iron; and their secretions must be set right by appropriate alteratives; this treatment must be continued for a considerable period; for if the health be much broken, it is slow of taking effect, and its employment for only a few days prior to an operation is of course simply useless. The diet should at the same time be attended to; and persons of intemperate habits should be accustomed to a more healthy mode of living, although in no case should the stimulants be too suddenly withdrawn.' On the same principles, after the operation has been performed, these patients must have their strength supported by a nutritious diet; must have stimulants freely given them, if there are any signs of incipient prostration; and should take opium in sufficient doses to quiet the system and allay irritation. that every spring they were attacked by the cranes on the coasts of Oceanus. Later writers place them at the mouths of the Nile, but we also read of northern Pygmies inhabiting the region of Thule, and of Pygmies who lived in subterranean dwellings on the eastern side of the Ganges. Greek fancy worked hard to paint the Lilliputian dimensions of these creatures. It was said that they cut down every corn-ear with an axe; that when Hercules came into their country, they climbed up his goblet, by the help of ladders, to drink from it; and that, when he was asleep, two whole Pygmy armies fell upon his right, and another on his left, hand, but were all rolled up by the hero in his lion's skin. Aristotle did not believe that the stories about Pygmies were utterly fabulous, however much they had been overlaid by fancy with the marvellous. His 'rationalistic' (if not rational) interpretation was, that they were probably some diminutive tribe in Upper Egypt, who rode very small horses, and lived in caves. PYM, JOHN, famous as the leader of the popular party in the House of Commons in the reign of Charles I., was born in the year 1584. He came of a good family in Somersetshire, and was proprietor of the lands of Woolavington Pym and Woolavington Throckmorton, near Bridgewater, in that county. He was for some years a gentlemancommoner of Pembroke College, Oxford, and afterPYCNOGO'NIDÆ, a very remarkable family of wards studied law at one of the Inns of Court. Crustacea, of the section Edentata of Milne-Edwards, Having been sent to parliament as member for and forming the order Araneiformes (Spider-like) Tavistock, in Devonshire, he attached himself to of some authors. By Cuvier and many other the popular party; and, during the later part of naturalists, a place was assigned them among the reign of James I., became noted for his vigorous Arachnida; and it is only of late that they have opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court. been decidedly referred to Crustacea, in consequence In 1626, the year after the accession of Charles I., of the discovery that they undergo metamorphoses. he distinguished himself by taking a prominent part They are all marine, and some of them live among in the impeachment of the king's favourite, the alge, or are to be found under stones on the beach, Duke of Buckingham. In 1640, the functions of whilst others are dredged from deep water. They parliament having been in abeyance for 13 years, seem to prey by suction on during which time the popular discontents had molluscs, but probably on gradually been growing to a head, the celebrated many kinds of marine Long Parliament was convened; and from the first, animals. The legs of many, P. was by common consent recognised in it as the as in the genus Pycnogonum, leader of the opposition to the despotic policy of the are furnished with hooks monarch. For the position which he thus occupied, for taking hold, and Linnæus his qualifications were eminent. In temper, he was believed P. littorale to be bold and fearless; he was master of an eloquence, parasitic on whales; but it close, terse, and vigorous; and in knowledge of is not uncommon among parliamentary form and business procedure, it was sea-weeds the British considered he had scarcely his equal in the House. coasts. The suctorial pro-On November 3, as soon as business had opened, boscis of these creatures he set forth to the House, in a long and elaborate Pycnogonum littorale. may be said to form the address, the intolerable grievances under which the whole head. The abdomen nation laboured; and a week after, he boldly deis almost rudimentary. Their most remarkable char- nounced the Earl of Strafford as the 'great promoter acteristic is in their digestive cavity. The stomach of tyranny,' to whose evil influence on the mind gives off from its circumference ten long cæca, four of the king these grievances were in the main to of which on each side extend into the proper or be attributed. In the impeachment of Strafford locomotive legs, the other two into the pincer-like which followed, resulting in his execution under a rudimentary foot-jaws. These ramifications of the bill of attainder passed upon him, Pym took the alimentary canal seem to serve all the purposes of leading part. Of this master-stroke of policy, the circulatory, respiratory, and chyliferous systems which deprived the king of the one man of resolute of higher animals. This arrangement, which temper and powerful genius who adhered to his appears also among the inferior tribes of some cause, the credit must be chiefly awarded to Pym. other classes of animals, has received from M. de In the subsequent proceedings against Laud, he was Quatrefages the name of Phlebenterism (Gr. vein- also conspicuous, as in every other crisis of moment, intestineism). The stomach of the P. with its cæca up to the time when war became inevitable between floats almost freely within the general cavity of the the king and the parliament. On the breaking out body in a fluid, which is kept in agitation by the of hostilities, he remained at his post in London, movements of the limbs. on PY'CNOSTYLE. See INTERCOLUMNIATION. PY'GMIES (Gr. pygmē, a measure-from the clbow to the hand), a fabulous race of dwarfs in whose existence the ancients believed. Homer says and in the exercise of the functions of the executive there, rendered services to the cause not less valuable and essential than those of a general in the field. While the strife was yet pending, he died somewhat suddenly at Derby House, on December 8, 1643, having been appointed to the |