pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
PISCADORE or Ponghou Islands, a cluster of small islands in the North Pacific Ocean, in the channel of Formosa, about six leagues from the west coast of that island. According to Pérouse, they are a heap of rocks, which assume all kinds of shapes, and are totally barren, but have a good and sheltered harbour. The Chinese maintain a garrison here. They are situated between the island of Formosa and the port of the island of Emouy, and extend from 23. 10. to 23. 40. N., about twenty-four miles; the westernmost is in 119. 27. E. long.
PISCINA, in Antiquity, a large basin in a public place or square, where the Roman youth learned to swim, and which was surrounded with a high wall, to prevent filth from being thrown into it. This word is also used for a lavatory amongst the Turks, placed in the middle court of a mosque or temple, where the Mussulmans wash themselves before they offer their prayers.
PISMIRES, or Ants. See Ants.
PISO, Lucius Calpurnius, surnamed the Frugal, on account of his parsimony, was descended of the illustrious family of the Pisos, which gave so many great men to the Roman republic. He was tribune of the people in the year 149 before Christ, and afterwards consul. During his tribuneship he published a law against the crime of concussion or extortion, entitled Lex Calpurnia de pecuniis repetundis. He happily ended the war in Sicily. To reward the services of one of his sons, who had distinguished himself in that expedition, he left him by his will a golden crown, weighing twenty pounds. Piso joined to the qualities of a good citizen the talents of a lawyer, an orator, and an historian.
PISSASPHALTUM, or Asphaltum, Earth-pitch, a fluid, opaque, mineral body, of a thick consistence, strong smell, readily inflammable, but leaving a residuum of grayish ashes after burning. It arises out of the cracks of the rocks in several parts of the island of Sumatra, and some other places in the East Indies, where it is much esteemed in paralytic disorders. There is a remarkable mine of it in the island of Bua.
PISSELAEUM Indicum, Barbadoes Tar, a mineral fluid of the nature of the thicker bitumens, and of all others that which most approaches, in appearance, colour, and consistence, to the true pissasphaltum, though it differs from it in other respects. It frequently occurs in many parts of America, where it is found trickling down the sides of mountains in large quantities, and sometimes floating on the surface of the waters. It has been greatly recommended internally in coughs and other disorders of the breast and lungs.
PISTACIA, TuRPENTiNE-TREE,-Pzstoi⅛α-wwiand Mastich tree, a genus of plants belonging to the dioecia class. Pistachia-nuts are moderately large, containing a kernel of a pale greenish colour, covered with a reddish skin. They have a pleasant, sweet, unctuous taste, resembling that of almonds; and they abound with a sweet and well-tasted oil, which they yield in great abundance on being pressed after bruising them. They are reckoned amongst the analeptics, are wholesome and nutritive, and are by some esteemed very proper to be prescribed by way of restoratives, eaten in small quantity, to people emaciated by long illness.
[7:17:752]
PISTIL, amongst botanists, the little upright column which is generally found in the centre of every flower. According to the Linnaean system, it is the female part of generation, the office of which is to receive and secrete the pollen, and produce the fruit. It consists of three parts; the germen, stylus, and stigma. See Botany.
PISTOJA, a city of the duchy of Tuscany, in Italy, the capital of a district, called a vicariate, of the same name, in the circle of Florence. It stands on the river Om-brone, and is defended by walls and ditches. It is the see of a bishop, whose cathedral is abundantly furnished with holy relics. It contains many churches and monasteries, and 1100 houses, with 9160 inhabitants, who make some woollen cloth, some ironmongery and fire-arms. Lon∏∙. 10. 32. 45. E. Lat. 45. 47. N.
PISTON, in pump-work, is a short cylinder of metal or other solid substance, fitted exactly to the cavity of the barrel or body of the pump. See Hydrodynamics.
PISUM, Pease, a genus of plants belonging to the dia-dclphia class. See Horticulture.
PITCH, a tenacious oily substance, drawn chiefly from pines and firs, and used in shipping, medicine, and various arts; or it is more properly tar inspissated by boiling it over a slow fire.
PITCHING, in naval affairs, maybe defined the vertical vibration which the length of a ship makes about her centre of gravity; or the movement by which she plunges her head and after-part alternately into the hollow of the sea. This motion may proceed from two causes; the waves which agitate the vessel, and the wind upon the sails, which makes her stoop to every blast. The one depends absolutely upon the agitation of the sea, and is not susceptible of inquiry; the other is occasioned by the inclination of the masts, and may be submitted to certain established maxims.
PITHIVIERS, an arrondissement of the department of the Loiret, in France, extending over 475 square miles. It comprehends five cantons, divided into 108 communes, and contains 56,800 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated in a fertile district, watered by the River Deuf. It contains 720 houses, with 3430 inhabitants, who deal largely in wine, brandy, and other products of the surrounding country. Long. 2. 10. 4. E. Lat. 48. 10. 26. N.
PITHO, in fabulous history, the goddess of persuasion amongst the Romans. She was supposed to be the daughter of Mercury and Venus, and was represented with a diadem on her head, to intimate the influence she exercised over the hearts of men. One of her arms appeared raised in the attitude of an orator haranguing a public assembly; and in the other she held a thunderbolt and fetters, made with flowers, to signify the powers of reasoning and the attractions of eloquence. A caduceus, as a symbol of persuasion, appeared at her feet, and beside it were the writings of Demosthenes and Cicero, the two most celebrated orators amongst the ancients.
PITISCUS, Samuel, a learned philologist, was born at Zutphen, in Dutch Gueldres, and became rector of the college of that city, and afterwards of St Jerome at Utrecht, where he died on the 1st of February 1717, at the age of ninety. He wrote, 1. Lexico Latino-Belgicum, 1704, in 4to; 2. Lexico Antiquitatum Romanarum, in quo ritus et antiquitates, tum Graecis et Romanis communes, tum Romanis particulares exponuntur, Lecuwarden, 1713, in two vols. folio; and he published good editions, with prefaces and notes, of Quintus Curtius, Polyhistor, Solinus, with the Observations of Salmasius on Pliny, Suetonius, Aurelius Victor, the Pantheon Mythicum, and the Antiquitates Pomanae of Rosini. In 1685, Pitiscus announced a Lexico Cdtullo-Tibullo-Propertianum ; but this work, which his friends regarded as a mine of erudition, never appeared.
PITKEATHLY, or Pitcaithly, a rural watering-place, much resorted to, in Perthshire.
PITOT, Henry, descended of a noble family of Languedoc, was born at Aramont, in the diocese of Usez, on the 29th of May 1695, and died there on the 27th of December 1771, aged seventy-six. He studied the mathe-riiatics without a master, and went to Paris in 1718, where he formed a close friendship with the illustrious Reaumur. In 1724 he was admitted a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and in a few years he rose to the rank of pensioner. Besides a great number of Memoirs printed in the collection of that society, he published in 1731 the Theory of the Working of Ships, in one volume 4to; a work of considerable merit, which was translated into English, and caused the author to be admitted into the Royal Society of London. In the year 1740, the states-general of Languedoc made choice of him as their chief engineer, and at the same time gave him the appointment of inspector-general of the canal which unites the two seas. That province is also indebted to him for several monuments of his genius, which will transmit his name with lustre to posterity. The city of Montpellier being in want of water, Pitot brought from a distance of three leagues the water of two springs, which furnish a plentiful supply of that necessary article. The water is brought to the magnificent

Place du Peyron, and thence distributed throughout the city. This work is the admiration of all strangers. The celebrated Marshal de Saxe was the great patron and friend of Pitot, who had taught him the mathematics. In 1754 he was honoured with the order of St Michael. In the year 1735 he married Marie Leonine Pharambier de Sab-balloua, descended of a very ancient noble family of Navarre; but by this marriage he had only one son, who became advocate-general of the court of accounts, aids, and finances of Montpellier. Pitot was a practical philosopher, and a man of uncommon probity and candour. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Montpellier, before which his eloge was pronounced in 1772, by Μ. de Ratte, perpetual secretary, in presence of the states of Languedoc; and, in the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, the same honour was done him by the Abbé de Fouche, who was then secretary.
PITS, John, the biographer, was born in 1560, at Aul-ton, in Hampshire, and educated at Wykeham’s school, near Winchester, where he remained until he was about eighteen years of age, when he was sent to New College, Oxford, and admitted a probationer fellow. Having continued in that university not quite two years, he left the kingdom as a voluntary exile, and retired to Douay, whence he proceeded to the English college at Rheims, where he remained about a year, and then went to Rome, where he continued a member of the English college nearly seven years, at the expiration of which he was ordained priest. In 1589 he returned to Rheims, where, during two years, he taught rhetoric and the Greek language. He then quitted Rheims on account of the civil war in France, and retired to Pont-à-Mousson, in Lorraine, where he took the degrees of master of arts and bachelor in divinity. From this he travelled into Germany, and resided a year and a half at Triers, where be commenced licentiate in his faculty. He then visited several of the principal cities in Germany, and, continuing three years at Ingoldstadt, in Bavaria, took the degree of doctor in divinity. Having made the tour of Italy, he returned once more to Lorraine, where he was patronised by the cardinal of that duchy, who preferred him to a canonry of Verdun; and about two years afterwards he became confessor to the Duchess of Cleves, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. During the leisure he enjoyed in this employment, he wrote in Latin the lives of the kings, bishops, apostolical men, and writers of England. The last of these, commonly known and quoted by the title ofJ9e illustribus Angliae scriptoribus, was published after his death. The three others still remain in manuscript amongst the archives of the collegiate church of Liverdun. The Duke of Cleves having died about twelve years after Pits had been confessor to the duchess, the latter returned to Lorraine, attended by our author, who was promoted to the deanery of Liverdun, which, with a canonry and officialship, he enjoyed till the close of his life. He died in 1616, and was buried in the collegiate church. Pits was undoubtedly a scholar, and not an inelegant writer; but he is justly accused of ingratitude to Bale, from whom he borrowed his materials, without acknowledgment. He quotes Leland with great familiarity, without ever having seen his book; his errors are innumerable, and his partiality to the Catholic writers is obvious; nevertheless we are indebted to him for his account of several Catholic authors who lived abroad at the beginning of the Reformation.
PITT’S Island, a small mountainous island in the South Pacific Ocean, covered with wood. Long. 193.14. E. Lat. 11. 50. S.

Pitt’s Straits, in the Eastern Seas, separate the islands of Salwatty and Battanta, at the western extremity of Papua or New Guinea, and extend from west-south-west to east-south-east about thirty miles, being about six in average breadth. No bottom is found in the middle with seventy-five fathoms of line.
PITTACUS, a native of Mitylene, in Lesbos, was one of the seven wise men of Greece. His father’s name was Hyrradius. With the assistance of the sons of Alcaens, he delivered his country from the oppression of the tyrant Melanchrus; and, in the war which the Athenians waged against Lesbos, he appeared at the head of his countrymen, and challenged to single combat Phrynon, the enemy’s general. As the event of the war seemed to depend upon this combat, Pittacus had recourse to artifice, and, when engaged, entangled his adversary in a net which he had concealed under bis shield, and easily despatched him. He was amply rewarded for this victory; and his countrymen, sensible of his merit, unanimously appointed him governor of their city, with unlimited authority. In this capacity, Pittacus behaved with the greatest moderation and prudence; and after he had governed his fellow-citizens with the strictest justice, and enforced the most salutary laws, he voluntarily resigned the sovereign power after having enjoyed it for ten years; observing, that the virtues and innocence[7:17:771] of private life were incompatible with the power and influence of a sovereign. His disinterestedness gained him many admirers; and when the Mitylenians wished to reward his public services by presenting him with an immense tract of territory, he refused to accept more land than could be contained within the space to which a javelin could be thrown. He died in the seventieth year of his age^, about 579 years before Christ, after he had spent the last· ten years of his life in literary ease and peaceful retirement.
PITTENWEEM, a royal burgh and seaport town on the Frith of Forth, in the parish of the same name, and on the east coast of Fifeshire. It is situated on gently-elevated ground, which overhangs the harbour, and consists of an irregular main street, having the form of an oblong square, from which a number of by-streets stretch out along the public roads. The houses are chiefly of old date, with the exception of a neat range of respectable cottages on the north side of the town.- In the main street are situated the town-house, the parish church (an old ungainly structure, with a turreted spire), and all that remains of the ancient priory of PittenWeem. In addition to the ruins of the priory, there is a quadrangular range of most antique houses, which are stated to have been the residences of the prior and other superior officers of the establishment. This ancient edifice is now included within the private property of a gentleman, who resides in a part of it. The town derives its name from a spacious cave, called a weem, hollowed out, partly by the action of the waves, and partly by art, from the rock on which stands the residence alluded to. There is also a communication between the prior’s house and the cave, by means of a spiral stair, the orifice of which has, however, been lately built up. Besides the established church, there is an Episcopalian chapel, and one or two dissenting places of worship. Pittenweem was erected into a royal burgh in the year 1542, and, like all the other Fifeshire burghs, had a thriving and extensive trade, which was carried on with success till the time of the union, from which date its importance and its trade have alike declined. It was also a great fishing station, and much coal was once wrought here; but both are now considerably decreased. The harbour is very much exposed to easterly winds but it has been improved so far as the means of the town will allow, and is now rather an extensive work. The revenue of the burgh amounts to above L.550, and its expenditure to nearly the same amount. In the year 1833, the town was in debt to the amount of L.1621 sterling. The burgh is governed by a council, consisting of four bailies,· a treasurer, and nineteen councillors; and, with St Andrews, the two Anstruth- 6rs, Crail, Cupar, and Kilrenny, it returns a member to parliament. The population in 1821 amounted to 1200, and in 1831 to 1317.
PIVOT, or Pivat, a foot or shoe of iron or other metal, usually conical or terminating in a point, whereby a body, intended to turn round, bears upon another fixed at rest, and performs its revolutions. The pivot usually bears or turns round in a sole, or piece of iron or brass hollowed to receive it.
PIZARRO, Francis, a celebrated Spanish general, the discoverer and conqueror of Peru, in conjunction with Diego Almagro, a famous Spanish navigator. They are both charged with having committed horrid cruelties on the inhabitants; and they fell victims to their own ambition, jealousy, and avarice. Almagro having revolted, was defeated and beheaded by Pizarro, who again was assassinated by Almagro’s friends in 1541. See the article Peru.
PIZZO, a city of Italy, in the province of Calabria Ulteriore 1I., and kingdom of Naples. It is situated on a promontory’ on the south side of the Gulf of Euphemia. It was destroyed by the tremendous earthquake of 1783, but has been again rebuilt, and contains upwards of 5000 inhabitants, the most industrious of the population of Calabria. They have been freed from taxes on salt, and from some other imposts, since 1815, when they resisted the attempt of Murat, who landed near it. This has promoted the fishery, and especially the curing of fish. The country around it is highly productive of corn, oil, figs, and mulberry trees, and yields much silk.
PLACE, in Astronomy. The place of the sun, a planet, or a star, denotes the sign and degree of the zodiac which the luminary is in; or the degree of the ecliptic, reckoning from the beginning of Aries, which the planet’s or star’s circle of longitude cuts; and therefore coincides with the longitude of the sun, planet, or star. As the sine of the sun’s greatest declination, 23° 30', is to the sine of any present declination given or observed, for instance, 23° 15 ’; so is the radius 10 to the sine of its longitude, 81° 52'; which, if the declination were north, would give 20° 52' of Gemini, or, if south, 20° 52' of Capricon, for the sun’s place.
PLACENTIA, a city of Spain, in the province of Estremadura, the capital of a partido of the same name, which comprises two fruitful districts on the two sides of the river Vera. It is situated on the river Xerte, between two hills, and has been fortified, but its defences have been neglected. It has seven gates protected by towers, twenty-two streets and squares, seven churches, as many monasteries, five hospitals, two colleges, 950 houses, and 5200 inhabitants, who are occupied in tanning leather, and in making hats and pottery Ware. The district around produces much , honey and bees’ wax; which adds to its trade. ∙ The city is supplied with water by means of a fiiie aqueduct of eighty arches'. ’ '" ,; 9υ -* 1 * ’ ' i ' , a ,t ''** yu∙i t ⅛a <-
PLAGIARY ∕ the i purloirìer of another man’s works. Amongst the Romans, plagiarius' was propérly a’person who bought, sold, or retained a freeman for a slave; and was so called because, by the Flavian law, such persons were condemned ad plagas, or to be whipped.' Thomasius has an express treatise de plagia literario, wherein he lays down the laws and measures of the right which authors have to use one another’s writings. ’ ∙ j -√- ’-> -
PLAIN, or Plane, in general, an appellation given to whatever is smooth and even, or simple, obvious, and easy to be understood; and, consequently, stands opposed to rough, enriched, or laboured.

A plain figure, in Geometry, is an uniform surface, from every point of the perimeter of which right lines may be drawn to every other point in the same. A plain angle is one contained under two lines or surfaces, in contradistinction to a solid angle. See Angle and Geometry. The doctrine of plain triangles, as those included under three right? lines, is termed plain trigonometry. See the article Trigonometry.
PLAN, in general, denotes the representation of something drawn upon a plane, such as maps, charts, ichnographies, and the like. The term plan, however, is particularly used for a draught of a building, such as it appears, or is intended to appear, on the ground, showing the extent, division, and distribution of its area or ground-plot into apartments, rooms, passages, &c. A geometrical plan is that in which the solid and vacant parts are represented in their natural proportions. The raised plan of a building is the same with what is otherwise called an elevation or orthography. A perspective plan is that exhibited by degradations or diminutions, according to the rules of perspective.
PLANE, in Geometry, denotes a plain surface, or one that lies evenly between its bounding lines; and as a right line is the shortest extension from one point to another, so a plane surface is the shortest extension from one line to another.

In astronomy, conic sections, &c. the term plane is frequently used for an imaginary surface, supposed to cut and pass through solid bodies; and on this foundation is built the whole doctrine of conic sections. In mechanics, planes are either horizontal, that is, parallel to the horizon, or inclined thereto. The determining how far any given plane deviates from an horizontal line, makes the whole business of levelling. In optics, the planes of reflection and refraction are those drawn through the incident and reflected or refracted rays. In perspective we meet with the perspective plane, which is supposed to be pellucid, and perpendicular to the horizon; the horizontal plane, supposed to pass through the spectator’s eye, parallel to the horizon; and the geometrical plane, likewise parallel to the horizon, in which the object to be represented is supposed to be placed.

The plane of projection in the stereographic projection of the sphere, is that on which the projection is made, corresponding to the perspective plane.

Plane, in joinery, an edged tool or instrument for paring and shaving wood smooth. It consists of a piece of wood very smooth at bottom, as a stock or shaft, in the midst of which is an aperture, through which passes a steel edge, or chisel, placed obliquely; and this being very sharp, takes off the inequalities of the wood along which it slides.
PLANET, a celestial body, revolving round the sun as a centre, and continually changing its position with respect to the fixed stars; whence the name planet, which is a Greek word signifying “wanderer.” See Astronomy.
PLANETARIUM, an astronomical machine, so called from its representing the motions and orbits of the planets, agreeably to the Copernican system.
PLANETARY Days. Amongst the ancients, the week was shared among the seven planets, each having its own day. This we learn from Dion Cassius, and also from Plutarch (Sympos. lib. iv. q. 7). Herodotus adds, that it was the Egyptians who first discovered what god, that is, what planet, presided over each day; for amongst this people the planets were directors. And hence it is that in most European languages the days of the week are still denominated from the planets.

Planetary Years, the periods of time in which the several planets make their revolutions round the sun or earth.

As from the proper revolution of the sun the solar year takes its origin, so from the proper revolutions of the rest of the planets about the earth, several sorts of years arise; such are the Saturnian year, which is defined by twenty-nine Egyptian years, 174 hours, fifty-eight minutes, equivalent in a round number to thirty solar years; the Jovial year, containing 317 days, fourteen hours, fifty-nine minutes; and the Martial year, containing 321 days, twenty-three hours, thirty-one minutes. With respect to Venus and Mercury, as their years, when judged of with regard to the earth, are almost equal to the solar year, so they are more usually estimated from the sun, the true centre of their motions; in which case the former is equal to 224 days, sixteen hours, forty minutes, and the latter to eighty-seven days, twenty-three hours, fourteen minutes.
PLANIMETRY, that part of geometry which considers lines and plain figures, without regard to their height or depth.