PEPPER-ROOT 



PERAK 



41 



chiefly the unripe pods of the ochro (a Hibiscus, 

 q.v.), and chillies (see CAPSICUM). 



Pepper-root ( Dentaria ili/ihylla ), a perennial 

 herbaceous plant, of the natural order Crueiferae, a 

 native of North America, with pairs of termite 

 leaves, and racemes of white Mowers ; the root of 

 which has a pungent mustard-like taste, and is used 

 as a condiment. 



Pepsin has been already discussed (in the 

 article DlOBffnOM ) as one of the essential constitu- 

 ents of the gastric juice. Various modes of extract- 

 ing it from the walls of the stomach of the calf, 

 sheep, and pig have l>een proposed by different 

 chemists. It has not been satisfactorily isolated, 

 and its chemical constitution is unknown. 'At 

 present the manifestation of peptic powers is our 

 only test of the presence of pepsin ' (M. Foster). 

 This substance, either in powder or in solution, 

 has been employed of late years to a considerable 

 extent in medical practice, in cases of disorders of 

 digestion due to de6cient or imperfect secretion of 

 ;;:i~tric juice, and of convalescence from typhoid 

 and other debilitating fevers. It is an ingredient 

 in most of the digestive preparations now in the 

 market. 



Peptones. See DIGESTION, Vol. III. p. 819. 



Pepys, S.vMfEL, the celebrated diarist, son of 

 John and Margaret Pepys, was born on February 

 23, 1 632-33. He was a member of a junior branch 

 of an old and widely-spread family in the eastern 

 enmities, but there was little property in the pos- 

 session of tliis branch, and Samuel's father for a 

 time followed the business of a tailor in the city of 

 London. It is not known whether the diarist was 

 born at Hrampton, a village near Huntingdon, 

 where there was a small property l)elonging to his 

 father's family, or in London. \\'e do know-how- 

 ever, that he went to school at Huntingdon l>efore 

 entering St Paul's School, and that he remained at 

 the latter until he was seventeen years of age. On 

 March 5, 1650-51, he lirst put on his gown as a 

 scholar at Magdalene College, Cambridge. On the 

 1st December 1655, very soon after leaving college, 

 he was married to Elizulietli St Michel, a lieautiful 

 but portionless girl of fifteen. Sir Edward Montagu 

 (afterwards Earl of Sandwich), whose mother was 

 a Pepys, gave a helping hand to the imprudent 

 couple, and allowed them to live in his house. As 

 Samuel does not appear to have owed much to his 

 father, it seems probable that Montagu acted as a 

 patron at a still earlier period of his life. At all 

 events bis true start was entirely due to this 

 patron, for whom Pepys always expressed the must 

 unbounded attachment. Pepys's real life begins for 

 us on the 1st January 1659-60, when the Diary was 

 commenced. His appointment to the clerkship of 

 the Acts of the Navy in 1660 was distinctly a job, 

 for he knew nothing of the work of the navy when 

 he undertook the ollice, but it was a job that amply 

 justified itself, for his intelligence and industry 

 were so great that he soon became master of the 

 work of his office, and as Clerk of the Acts, and 

 subsequently as Secretary to the Admiralty, he 

 was one of the most distinguished officials in naval 

 affairs that England has ever possessed. At the 

 Revolution his career was closed, but until the end 

 of his life he was still looked upon as the Nestor of 

 navy affairs, to l! consulted upon matters of par- 

 ticular importance, and his name is still held in 

 bononr at the Admiralty. It is not, however, as 

 an citlicial that the fame of Pepys still lives, but as 

 the writer of a Diary which is unique in the litera- 

 ture of the world. This work has thrown the most 

 unexpected light upon the history and manners of 

 lii- day, while at the same time it presents a most 

 remarkable psychological study. Never before had 

 man written down hu inmost feelings with so little 



disguise. Hence Pepys's character has suffered 

 while his fame has spread. Passing thoughts 

 which had hut little real influence upon his actions 

 were set down by him, and they have given a wrong 

 impression of the man to numerous readers. 



Pepys's life was prosperous, for he made money 

 and held high offices. He was twice Master of the 

 Trinity House, tirst in 1676 and a second time in 

 1685, Master of the Clothworkers Company in 

 1677, and President of the Royal Society ( 1684^86). 

 But he was not without his troubles. At the period 

 of the supposed Popish Plot in 1679 he was com- 

 mitted to the Tower, and in 1690 he was placed in 

 Gatehouse at Westminster for a few days ; and at 

 his deatli the crown was indebted to him to the 

 extent of 28,000, a sum which was never paid. 

 Early in life Pepys was successfully cut for the 

 stone, and for many years he enjoyed good 

 health, but before his death, on the 26th May 

 1703, the wound broke out afresh. The Diar'if 

 was discontinued on 29th May 16(>9, and we 

 must ever regret that it was not continued to a 

 later period. The shorthand MS. was deciphered 

 by the Kev. J. Smith and lirst published in 1825 

 under the editorship of Lord Bray wooke. Although 

 much original matter has been added to various 

 editions, particularly in that of the Rev. Mynors 

 Bright ( 1875), the hiiiry had never been printed in 

 its entirety up to 1891, when a new edition of the 

 whole was in preparation. Besides the Diary 

 Pepys wrote nothing of importance but his 

 Memoires ri'lulimj tn the State of the Royal Navy, 

 published in 1690. Pepys was essentially a col- 

 lector, and he never saw a curious or uncommon 

 object without wishing to possess it. His library, 

 bequeathed to Magdalene College, Cambridge, still 

 remains in the exact condition in which he left it. 

 In the room containing that library and among his 

 books and papers we the better understand that 

 method, diligence, and general intelligence which 

 is exhibited in the Diary, and which, united with 

 the iiower of carrying out his views, helped to con- 

 solidate the British navy. 



See Mcitwirg of Samuel Pepys, Esq., Comprisitui his 

 Dinrii from HW.i tu 1W.I, edited by Lord Braybrooke 

 (2 vols. lui")) ; Itiarii and Correspondence, by Rev. 

 Mynors Bright (C vols. 187")) ; Life, Journal, and Corre- 

 spondence of Kaiiutfl Pepys, by Rev. John Smith {2 vols. 

 1841); and Samuel /Y/"/x "//'/ the World he lived in 

 (1880) and the edition of "the Diary (8 vols. 1893 96), by 

 the present writer. 



IV<|iiols. or PEQUODS, a tribe of American 

 Indians, a branch of the Mohicans, were warlike 

 and powerful in the country round the Thames 

 River when Connecticut was first settled, and 

 made treaties with the Dutch and English. 

 Hostilities, however, broke out in 1637, and the 

 tribe was cut to pieces and scattered ; yet a few 

 descendants may he found at Green Bay, Wis- 

 consin. 



IVra, a suburb of Constantinople (q.v.). 



Peraea (Gr., 'the country beyond'), a term 

 applied to many districts beyond a river or 8ea ; 

 most frequently to great part of Palestine (q.v.) 

 lieyond the Jordan. 



Perak, a Malay state on the west side of the 

 peninsula of Malacca, under the protection of 

 Britain since 1874. Estimated area, 7950 sq. in. 

 The interior ranges up to 8000 feet. The soil is 

 fertile, and for the most part covered with luxuriant 

 vegetation. Elephants, leopards, huge snakes, and 

 deer swarm in the forests of the interior. The soil 

 produces rice, sugar, tobacco, coffee, tea, vanilla, 

 and spices. But the principal production of the 

 state is tin ; the mines, worked chiefly by China- 

 men, yielded 2060 tons in 1876 and 23,866 tons in 

 1895. Lead also exists in great quantity. Pop., 



