PHARMACY 



4618 



PHEASANT 



they may be taken, and the standard of 

 strength and purity. The volume is compiled 

 usually under highest professional, sometimes 

 governmental, authority, by men who have 

 wide knowledge of the subject. The first book 

 * of the kind was the Nuremberg Pharmacopoeia, 

 published in Germany in 1542. From time to 

 time similar books were published, but they 

 varied in accuracy and worth, and so the ne- 

 cessity of standardizing such publications be- 

 came apparent. The governments of practi- 

 cally all civilized nations now authorize the 

 preparation of national pharmacopoeias, which 

 are continually revised. The first pharmaco- 

 poeia published in the United States appeared 

 in 1778, but the earliest which was national 

 in scope dates from 1820, the year of the as- 

 sembling of the first convention of delegates 

 of medical colleges and societies. Similar con- 

 ventions have since been held every ten years, 

 to provide for new editions of the work. In 

 1907, under the provisions of the Food and 

 Drug Act, the pharmacopoeia of the United 

 States was made a legal standard, and the ninth 

 revised edition was published in 1915. Laws 

 of Congress make provisions for the enforce- 

 ment of the requirements of the work. 



PHARMACY, fahr'masi, the art of com- 

 pounding and dispensing medicines and drugs. 

 This subject is discussed in these volumes un- 

 der the heading DRUGGIST. See also MEDICINE 

 AND DRUGS. 



PHAROS, ja'rohs, a rocky island off the Afri- 

 can coast, formerly celebrated as the site of 

 a famous lighthouse, erected by Ptolemy I and 

 long regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of 

 the World. When the city of Alexandria was 

 founded by Alexander, he caused the island to 

 be connected with the mainland by a mole 

 or causeway seven furlongs (280 rods) in length. 

 The great lighthouse, resting on a base 100 

 feet square and of great height, stood for 

 nearly 1,600 years; it was destroyed by an 

 earthquake early in the fourteenth century. 

 The peninsula is now occupied by part of the 

 modern city of Alexandria, for many years an 

 object of contention between France and Eng- 

 land. 



An yiu.stration showing the relative location 

 of Pharos and the mainland appears in the article 

 ALEXANDRIA. See SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD. 



PHARYNX, fahr'ingks, a cone-shaped bag, 

 about four and one-half inches in length, which 

 leads from the cavity of the mouth to the oe- 

 sophagus, or gullet. With the latter it is con- 

 tinuous at its narrower end. The pharynx con- 



of three layers; these are an outer coat 

 of muscular tissue, a middle fibrous layer, and 

 an inner mucous coat which is continuous with 

 the mucous membrane of the month (see MEM- 

 BRANES). Besides communicating with the 

 mouth and gullet, it has openings which com- 

 municate with the nostrils. the larynx and 

 the two Eustachian tubes (see EAR; NOSE; 

 MOUTH; LARYNX). In the process of swallow- 

 ing, the muscles of the pharynx relax and con- 

 tract to permit the passage of food from mouth 

 to gullet. This organ also has an important 

 part in the production of tone. See PALATE. 



PHEASANT, fez 'ant, a group of briUiantly- 

 colored birds belonging to the same family as 

 the domestic fowl and the peacock. There are 

 about 100 species of true pheasants, all of 

 which are native to Asia. The word pheasant 

 is derived from Phasis, the name of a river in 

 Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. 

 In this region pheasants have always been 

 found in large numbers. Two of the best- 

 known species are the so-called English pheas- 

 ant, brought to England supposedly by the 

 Romans ; and the ring-necked. These birds are 

 natives of Asia Minor and of China, respec- 

 tively. The English pheasant is bred in large 

 numbers in English preserves as a game bird. 

 The cocks of this species are most brilliantly 

 colored, the head and neck being a bright 

 green, the underparts bronze-red, and the flanks 

 reddish-brown tipped with blue-black ; the long, 

 tapering tail is gray, marked with bands of 

 black. In different lights, the plumage re- 

 flects varying shades of black, green, purple, 

 and gold. Female birds are of a yellowish- 

 brown color, with darker brown markings. The 

 cocks are about three feet long, fully half of 

 this length being taken up by the tail, and 

 the females are about a foot shorter. 



Ring-necked pheasants have as a distinctive 

 marking a white ring about the neck, but 

 their plumage shows a similar brilliant com- 

 bination of red, purple, green and black. These 

 two species have been crossed until pure- 

 bred specimens have become rare, and both 

 names are applied to the birds bred in the 

 preserves. A naturalized American pheasant, 

 established in several states, is a hybrid of 

 these species. Pheasants nest on the ground, 

 laying the twelve or more olive-buff eggs in a 

 hollow among the leaves. Berries, seeds, worms 

 and insects form their food. The propagation 

 of these birds is encouraged by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture because of 

 their destruction of insect pests. 



