PETROLEUSE 



PETTY OFFICERS 



101 



Scientific American (vol. xii. 18ti.~>); A. Gesner, Coal 

 Petroleum, <t,ul other Oil ( 1805) ; s. S. Hayes, Petroleum 

 , 1806 ; 39th Congress, Ex. Doc. 51 ) ; T. Sterry Hunt, 

 (ieolotjy of Petroleum (1806; Geological Survey of 

 Canada ) ; Cone and Jones, Petrolia, a Brief History of 

 the Pennsylmnia Re>iion ( 1870 ) ; C. F. Chandler, Report 

 on the Quality of Kerosene Oilt ( 1870 ) ; Report from the 

 Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Petroleum 

 BM(\ST2); A. N. Leet, Petroleum Distillation ( 1884 ) ; 

 K. J. Crew, Petroleum; and books on petroleum its 

 manufacture and uses, by Brannt ( 18115), Boverton-Red- 

 wood ( 1890 ), R. N. Boyd ( 185)0 ), and Jaccard ( Paris, 18%). 

 See also the articles FUEL, GAS, GAS-EXUIXK, NAPHTHA. 



Petrolense. a name riven to the women ol 

 the French Commune of 1871, localise they helped 

 to hum the Tuileries, H6teI-<le-Ville, aiid othei 

 public buildings by pouring petroleum on them. 



I Vtromy /.on. See LAMPRKV. 



Petronel, an ancient and clumsy description 

 of pistol. 



IV t roil his, surnamed 'ARBITER,' from his sup- 

 posed identity with the Caius Petronius whom 

 Tacitus calls 'arbiter elegantiae ' at the court of 

 Nero, is generally lielieved to be the author of the 

 satirical romance or collection of satires of which 

 I he 15th and 16th liooks have, though in a frag- 

 mentary state, ciime down to us. The work seems 

 to have been a novelty in Latin literature, consist- 

 ing of prose and verse, and depicting the licentious 

 life in Southern Italy of the upper or moneyed class. 

 It* artistic merit is great, in strength of portrayal 

 and colour anticipating Zola, with a vein of humour 

 as original as it is refined. Biicheler, its latest 

 and best editor (Berlin, 1882), and Cesareo, its 

 able Italian translator and critic ( Florence, 1887), 

 lioth support the long-prevalent view that its 

 author was no other than the Petronius aliove 

 referred to - a pro-consul of Bithynia and after- 

 wards consul, a past master in all the arts of the 

 voluptuary, (lie aider and aliettor of Nero and the 

 /MMtM doree of the 1st century in every form of 

 sensual indulgence. The favour he enjoyed at 

 court aroused the jealousy of another confidant 

 of the emperor's, Tigellinus, who had influence 

 enough with their common master to procure his 

 disgrace ami banishment. He had proceeded a-s 

 far as Cuiiiii'. when Nero's casual presence in Cam- 

 pania precipitated his determination to destroy 

 himself. True to the cynical side of his philosophy 

 he set about his suicide in the most leisurely fashion, 

 so as to glide out of existence ' without indecent 

 haste. ' He opened his veins at intervals and then 

 rebandaged them, discoursing the while not on 

 immortality or the hollowness of life, but on the 

 gayest of topics, and listening to songs and vers 

 ''iete when not transacting business or taking 

 a siesta. Shortly before expiring he drew up, 

 signed, sealed, and sent to Nero a summary of the 

 tyrant's amours and excesses, much of which is 

 mppOMd to have been embodied in his satires. 

 The work, fragmentary as it is, has drawn around 

 it quite a library of criticism and controversy, 

 of which Cesareo gives an excellent rtsumf, 

 whilst promising a yet fuller treatise on the sub- 

 ject. In style it represents the high-water mark 

 of silver-age Latinity, while as a picture of the 

 >t century on its seamiest side it shows l*tter 

 than any other how Christianity had become a 

 necessity, if only to save the "morality of the 

 world. 



IVtropavlovsk, a town of Asiatic Russia, 

 in the province of Akmolinsk, on the river Ishim, 

 17") miles WNW. of Omsk. Pop. 11,406. It is 

 an important military station, with a fort founded 

 in 1752, and has a large transit trade. Petropav- 

 lovsk is also the name of a small port on the east 

 coast of Kamchatka (q.v. ) with an admirable 

 harbour. 



Petrovsk, a town of Russia, 65 miles NW. of 

 Saratov, on a tributary of the Don. Pop. 15,316. 



Petrozavodsk, a town of Russia, on the 

 western shore of Lake Onega, 300 miles NE. of 

 St Petersburg, has a cannon-foundry and small- 

 arms factory, built in 1774 on the site of an iron- 

 work started by Peter the Great in 1703. Pop 

 11,0-27. 



Petrus Alphonsns. See FABLE. 



Pettenkofer, MAX VON, chemist, was lrn 

 near Neuburg on the Danube, 3d December 1818, 

 studied at Munich, Wiirzburg, and Giessen, and 

 in 1847 became professor of Chemistry at Munich. 

 He has made many valuable contributions to science 

 on subjects as various as gold-refining, gas-making, 

 ventilation, clothing, the influence of soils on 

 health, epidemics, and hygiene generally. His 

 Handbuch der Hygieine (1882 et seq.) is his best- 

 known work. He resigned in 1894. 



Pettie, JOHN, painter, was born at Edinburgh, 

 17th March 1839, was brought up at East Lintou, 

 studied art at Edinburgh, and died at Hastings, 21st 

 February 1893. ' The Prison Pet ' was exhibited at 

 Edinburgh in 1859, and 'The Armourers,' at the 

 Royal Academy in 1860. But the first work which 

 showed his characteristic qualities of strong ima- 

 ginative grasp of his subject, effective composi- 

 tion, and vigorous treatment was the ' Drum-head 

 Court-martial' (1864). Among the hundreds of 

 later pictures, including portraits, may here only 

 lie named 'An Arrest for Witchcraft' (1866), 

 ' Scene in the Temple Gardens' ( 1871 ), ' Juliet and 

 Friar Laurence' (1874), 'The Death Warrant' 

 (1879), 'The Vigil' (1884), and 'The Chieftain's 

 Candlesticks' (1886). Pettie was elected A.R.A. 

 in 1866, and R.A. in 1873. 



Petty, SIR WILLIAM, a man of singular versa- 

 tility, best known as a political economist, was 

 born at Romsey in Hampshire on 26th May 1623, 

 and educated partly at Caen, partly at the univer- 

 sities of the Netherlands, and at Paris. His ver- 

 satility and talent are evidenced by the positions 

 he successively held, and the subjects he interested 

 himself in : he taught anatomy and chemistry at 

 Oxford (1648), and was made professor of Anatomy 

 there (1651); was professor of Music at Greshaiii 

 College, London ; was physician to the army in 

 Ireland ( 1652), executed a fresh survey of the Irish 

 lands forfeited in 1641, started ironworks, lead- 

 mines, sea-fisheries, and other industries on estates 

 he bought in south-west Ireland ; was secretary 

 to Henry Cromwell when he was lord-lieutenant of 

 that island; was made surveyor-general of Ireland 

 by Charles II., who knighted him ; invented a copy- 

 ing-machine ( 1647) and a double-bottomed sea-boat 

 ( 1663) ; and in early life took much interest in edu- 

 cation. In political economy he claims a place as 

 one of the most important precursors of Adam 

 Smith, on the strength of his Treatise on Taxes in/il 

 Contributions (1662) and his Political Arithmetic 

 ( 1691 ), the latter a discussion of the value of com- 

 parative statistics. He died in London on 16th 

 December 1687. 



Petty Bag Office, one of the branches of the 

 Court of Chancery, was abolished in 1874, and its 

 duties were transferred. 



Petty Officers in the Navy hold a similar 

 rank and position to the non-commissioned officers 

 in the army. They are the backbone of the service, 

 as the efficiency, smartness, and morale of a ship's- 

 company depend in no small measure upon the 

 zeal and discretion of the petty officers. They are 

 now a most highly trained and valuable body of 

 men, and all the warrant officers are drawn from 

 their ranks. They are divided into four classes 

 viz. chief petty officers, 1st- and 2d-class petty 



