PERTH 



PERTURBATIONS 



77 



Perth, the capital of Western Australia, occu 

 pies a picturesque site on the north bank of the 

 Swan River, 12 miles from Fremantle, its port, al 

 the mouth of the river. Perth is the headquarters 

 of banking for the colony, and the centre of the 

 principal railway lines, including the Great South- 

 ern Railway to Albany. The more important 

 buildings are the town-hall, the Protestant ( 1888; 

 and Roman Catholic cathedrals, churches, mechanics' 

 institute and museum, and the governor's residence. 

 Pop. (1881) 5044; (1890) 9617; (1895, estimated) 

 19,533, the rapid growth of late being accounted for 

 by the gold discoveries in Western Australia (q.v.). 



Perth, capital of Lanark county, Ontario, on 

 the river Tay, 141 miles by rail WSW. of Montreal, 

 contains mills and manufactories of machinery, 

 leather, woollens, &c. Pop. 2467. 



Perth Alllboy, a port of entry of New Jersey, 

 <>n the Kill van Kull, 26 miles by rail SW. of New 

 York. There is a steam-ferry" to Tottenville in 

 Staten Island. Pop. (1900)17,699. 



Perthes, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH, German pub- 

 lisher, was born at Rudolstadt, 21st April 1772, 

 learned his business in Leipzig, and started on his 

 own account in Hamburg in 1796, and soon pushed 

 himself into the front rank of German publishers. 

 An ardent patriot, he in 1810 started the National 

 .Mn.ieui, with contributions from the most influ- 

 ential writers of the day, and took an active per- 

 sonal part in resisting the establishment of French 

 authority in Hamburg and Germany. Having 

 built up his business again during the first years 

 of peace, he removed in 1821 to Gotha. there 

 hU greatest publication was the historical series 

 of works on all European nations, edited by Heeren, 

 Ukert, and Giesebrecht. He died at Gotha, 18th 

 May 1 843. See Lif e ( 6th ed. 1 872 ; Eng. trans. 1 878 ) 

 by his son Clemens Theodor. JoHANN GEORG 

 JUSTUS PERTHES (1749-1816), an uncle to Fried- 

 rich, established a publish ing- house at Gotha in 

 1 7s.>, which has acquired in the hands of his sons 

 a great reputation as a geographical institute ; it 

 HHiies Petermanns Mitteilungen, Stieler's Atlas, 

 numerous books of travel and geography, and the 

 .11 ni 1 1,1 1 1 i-li rte Gotha. 



Perthshire, the fourth largest county of Scot- 

 land, liotinded by Inverness, Aberdeen, Forfar, 

 FirV, Kinross, Clackmannan, Stirling, Dumbarton, 

 ami Argyll shires. Its greatest length, from east 

 to west, is 77 miles ; its greatest breadth, from 

 north to south, 68 miles ; and till 1891 its area was 

 2601 sq. m., or 1,664,690 acres, of which 38,274 

 were water. In that year no fewer than eighteen 

 alterations were made by the boundary commis- 

 sioners, Perthshire receiving eight small enclaves 

 from Forfar, Fife, Kinross, and Stirling shires, 

 whilst giving off to the last three a like number, 

 including the Culross and Tulliallan portion ( 13,125 

 acres). Partly Lowland, but mainly Highland 

 (Strathmore the dividing line), it is called by Scott 

 ' the fairest iwrtion of the northern kingdom ; ' and 

 "icli, indeed, it is, with its mountains and glens, 

 it rivers and lakes, its forests and fertile vales. 

 The chief rivers are the Forth and Tay, the 

 former receiving the Teith, Allan, and Devon, 

 Urn latter the Tummel, Lyon, Isla, Braan, 

 Almond, and Earn ; whilst amongst upwards 

 of eighty lakes are Lochs Tav, Ericht, Earn, 

 Kannoch, Lydoch, Katrine, Achray, Vennachar, 

 ami Menteith. In the south rise the Ochils, with 

 Dmirnyat (1375 feet) and Blainlenon Hill (2072); 

 in the south-east the Sidlaw Hills, with Dun- 

 oinane (1012) and King's Seat (1235); and the 

 Highland area is largely occupied by the Gram- 

 pians, of whose forty-six summits exceeding 2300 

 feet may l>e mentioned Ben Lawers (with cairn, 

 4004), Benmore (3843), Ben y-Gloe (3671), Schie- 



hallion (3547), Ben Vorlich (3224). Ben Ledi 

 (2875), Ben Vrackie (2757), and Ben Venue (2393). 

 The soil is extremely varied, in places of great 

 fertility e.g. in Strathearn and in the Carse of 

 Gowrie, which skirts the north side of the Tay's 

 estuary ; but barely a fifth of the entire surface is 

 in tillage, the rest being pasture, woods, deer- 

 forests, mountain, and desolate moorland, such as 

 Rannoch. The woods cover nearly 100,000 acres ; 

 and the annual rental of the Perthshire deer- 

 forests, grouse-moors, and rod- and net-fishings 

 exceeds in some years 70,000. Ancient divisions 

 were Athole (N.), Rannoch (NW.), Breadalbane 

 (W.), Balquhidder (SW.), Menteith (S.), Perth 

 (SE.), Gowrie (E. ), Stormont and Strathearn 

 (central). The county since 1885 returns two 

 members, one for the eastern and one for the 

 western division ; and Perth itself is a parlia- 

 mentary burgh. Other towns and villages are 

 Aberfeldy, Abernethy, Auchterarder, Birnam, Blair- 

 Athole, Blairgowrie, Callander, Comrie, Coupar- 

 Angus, Crieff; Doune, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Pit- 

 lochry, Scone, and Stanley. The Roman camp at 

 Ardoch is a famous antiquity ; and Perthshire 

 contains the battlefields of the Grampians, Tip- 

 perrnuir, Killiecrankie, and Sheriffmuir ; whilst 

 it possesses memories of Bruce, Queen Mary, Rob 

 Roy, Burns, Scott, Lady Nairne, Wordsworth, and 

 Queen Victoria, The mansions, which are very 

 numerous, include Taymouth, Drummond, and 

 Blair castles. Pop. (1801) 125,583; (1831)142,166; 

 (1881) 129,007; (1891) 126,184, of whom 14,150 

 were Gaelic-speaking. 



See separate articles on many of the above-named 

 places; also works by Drummond (1879), Marshall 

 (1880), Hunter (1883), and Millar (1890). 



Pertinax, HELVIUS, Roman emperor, was 

 born, according to Dio Cassius, at Alba-Pompeia, 

 a Roman colony of Liguria, August 1, 126 A.D. 

 He received a good education, and, entering the 

 military service, rose through the various grades 

 till he obtained the command of the first legion, 

 at the head of which he signalised himself in 

 Rhii-tia and Noricum against the native tribes. 

 In 179 he was chosen consul, aided to repress the 

 revolt of Avitiis in Syria, and was governor suc- 

 cessively of the provinces of Mcesia, Dacia, and 

 Syria. The Emperor Commodus sent him to 

 take the command of the turbulent legions in 

 Britain, who against his will proclaimed him 

 emperor; thereupon he solicited to be recalled, 

 and was appointed pro-consul of Africa, prefect of 

 Rome, and consul (a second time) in 192. On the 

 death of Commodus his assassins almost forced 

 Pertinax to accept of the purple, which with great 

 iiesitation he did ; but, in spite of his promise of 

 a large donation, he was unable to gain over the 

 praetorian guard. His accession was, however, 

 nailed with delight by the senate and people, who 

 were rejoiced to have as ruler an able captain 

 instead of a ferocious debauchee ; and Pertinax, 

 jncouraged by this favourable reception, announced 

 iis intention of carrying out an extensive series of 

 reforms, having reference chiefly to the army, in 

 which he hoped to re-establish the ancient Roman 

 lisripline. Unfortunately for his reforms and him 

 self, he was attacked by a band of the rebellious 

 >r.Ttorians, two months and twenty-seven days after 

 iis accession, and, disdaining to flee, was slain, 

 and his head carried about the streets of Rome in 

 riumph. 



Perturbations, in Physical Astronomy, are 

 the disturbances produced in the simple elliptic 

 motion of one heavenly body about another by the 

 action of a third body, or by the non-sphericity of 

 'he principal body. Thus, for instance, were there 

 io bodies in space except the earth and moon, the 



