182 



PIMPKRNKL 



1-lNDAlt 



and liark |>artake of the aromatic property for 

 which tin* fruit i- valued. The fniit, when npe, i- 

 tilled with n sweet pulp, anil the aromatic property 

 which so strongly characterises it in an unri|>e state 

 ha- in a gieat measure disappeared. The gather 

 ini; of the berries, therefore, taken place ax xoon as 

 they have readied their full size, which i* about 

 that of pepi?reorns. They are gathered liy the 

 hainl, and dried in the sun on terraced Doom, 

 during which process great care in taken, )iy turn- 

 ing and winnowing, to prevent them from being 

 injured by moisture. Their colour change* in dry- 

 ing from green to reddiidi lirown. When dry they 

 .-in- piickitl in l>agx for the market. Some planter* 

 kiln-dry them. The name Allspice was given to 

 pimento from a -uppn-cd resemblance in flavnur 

 to n mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. 

 I'imento i- much employed in cookery, and is also 

 i!--,| in medicine as a carminative amf stimulant to 

 prevent the griping of purgative*, and to disguise 

 the taMe of nauseous drugs. It depends for its 

 pmj>erties chiefly on a volatile oil, (HI of Pimento, 

 which is obtained from it hy distillation with water, 

 ami is sometime.* used to relieve toothache. The 

 leaves are used for tanning, and a large tr;nle i- 

 carried on in young sln>ot.- of the tree. From 3000 

 to 4000 bundles (.VHl to KIXI in each liundle) are 

 shipped annually from Jamaica for sticks for 

 umbrella.*. The crop of pimento in Jamaica, which 

 alone furnishes the spice to commerce, varies. In 

 1SSS it was ll,.V.!t ,-wt.. ami in 1889, 46,179 ewt. 

 The average receipts of the spice in Kngland are 

 about 4,000,000 Hi. 



Pimpernel (Anngallis), a genus of elegant 

 little annual and perennial plants of the natural 

 order Primulace;e, natives chiefly of temperate 

 climates. They have a wheel -shaped corolla, and 

 the cajwule opens by divis n round the middle. 

 The flowers are not large, but very beautiful. Those 

 of the Scarlet Pimpernel ( .1. arven&ix), common in 

 most parts of Eurojie and many parts of Asia, and 

 occurring in Britain as weeds in the fields and gar- 

 dens, are of a tine scarlet colour, with a purple 

 circle at the eye. They usually open about eight 

 in the morning and close about noon. In the com- 

 mon lielief, mentioned by Lord Bacon, their <>|>ening 

 in the morning presages a tine day ; while they 

 certainly close very readily U|x>n the approach of 

 rain whence the popular names in some places 

 of I'oor Man's Weather glass and Shepherd s Ba- 

 rometer. The Blue Piiii|M-rnel (.1. nrniti-n) is 

 far lea* common in Britain, but very abundant 

 in some parts of Ktiropc. The Bog Pimpernel 

 i .1. Irnrllii), freijiient ill (nigs in Kngland, but rare 

 in Scut land, is an exquisitely beaut ii'ii! plant. 

 Scvcial s|iecies are cultivated in flower garden*. 

 Acrid pro|H-rtics prevail ill tliis genus, and . I. 

 arrtnrit has been used medicinally in epilepsy, 

 drop-v.and mania. The name Water Pimiiernel 

 is given to tutui'ilii* ntlrriiin/i. al-o called OTOot 

 weal, another British plant of lite same order, with 

 racemes of small white (lowers, growing in watery 

 gravelly places. It is supposed to IK' the Samolus 

 which Pita) says I lie Druid* gathered fasting, wilh 

 the left band, and without looking at it, ascribing 

 to it magical virtue* in the cure and prevention of 

 i.*-n in cattle It- geographic distribution 

 extends over almo-l all the world. 



Plnnr del Rio, a city of Culw, 95 miles direct 

 W8W. of Havana, with which it is connected by 

 rail, and about 14 miles from Coloma, its port, on 

 the south coast. It is the centre of the famous 

 ' Vuelta Abu jo' tobacco region, and trades in U>- 

 hmoco. Pop. ( 1899 ) 8880 ; of the province, 173,064. 



Pimple*. See PAPULES. ACNE, PUBITI 



Pin. See Pis 



Piftn <'loth, n beautiful fabric made of the 



fibres of the leave* of the pine-apple plant. See 

 FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, BROMKLIACK.*:. 



Pinchbeck, a reddish-yellow alloy of /inc and 

 copper, containing 4 pat t - of copper to 1 of zinc. 

 It was invented by Christopher Pinchbeck, a Lon- 

 don clockmaker, who died in 1732, and was much 

 employed at the beginning of the 19th century for 

 making watch-cases and other small articles in imita- 

 tion of gold. The term is now but little used. 



Pinekney, CHARLES COTESWORTH, an Ameri- 

 can statesman, was bom at Charleston, South 

 Carolina. A"ith February 1746, was sent to Kngland 

 and educated at Westminster and at Christ Church, 

 Oxford, read law at the Middle Temple, and 

 studied for a while at the military academy in 

 j Caen. He afterwards nettled as a barrister at 

 ' Charleston. He was Washington's aide-de-camp 

 at the battle- of Brandywine and (iermantown. 

 and afterwards, as colonel, saw much active 

 service, until 1780, when he was taken prisoner 

 at the surrender of Charleston, and detained till 

 the close of the war. A member of the conven- 

 tion that fiamed the constitution of the United 

 States (1787), he introduced the clause forbidding 

 religious tests as a qualification for ottice. He 

 declined the secretaryship of war in 1794, and of 

 state in 17!l.">: in 1796 lie was sent as minister to 

 France, but the Directory refused to receive him. 

 and he bail to quit the country. It was while on 

 this mission that, when it was intimated that peace 

 might lie granted in return for a money payment. 

 he replied, 'Millions for defence, but not a rent for 

 tribute." He was unsuccessful in 1800 as Federalist 

 candidate for the vice-presidency, and in 1SO4- S for 

 the presidency. He died Kith August 1829. 



Pilldar (Gr. Pindaros), the chief lyric poet of 

 Greece, was born about 522 B.C. of Thelwn family 

 at < 'ynoscephalip, near Thebes, the capital of 

 llo-otia, a district in which music and poetry were 

 widely cultivated. His family, the .-r.geid.-c. a* 

 an old and illustrious one, often mentioned in the 

 heroic legends. His father or his uncle was a flute- 



tilayer, and Pindar inherited the musical talent of 

 lis family. He made music and poetry his pro 

 fession, and was placed under the tuition of Lasus, 

 a well known musician and poet, at Athens. 

 Though Thebes was the bitter foe of that city, 

 Pindar often speaks of Athens with love and 

 veneration. But Pindar seems, as a poet, to have 

 been influenced far more deeply by Coriuna and 

 Myrtis, two poetesses then famous, with whom he 

 competed for the prize at public contests. Corinna 

 five times gained the victory over him. Shoas.-i-ted 

 tin- young poet with her advice, judiciously as it 

 would seem. 1 1 is said that she urged him to 

 introduce mythical subjects into his poems, and 

 then, when he had composed an ode uitrodiicin;.' 

 almost the whole Thelwui mythology in the lint 

 -i\ *0ne>, -be smiled and said : ' We ought to sow 

 with the hand, and not with the whole sack.' He 

 commenced bis career as a composer of choral odes 

 for s|>ecial occasions at the early age of twenty 

 with a song of victory which still remains ( 1'ijlli. X.. 

 composed in -Mi-j L He soon reached the "highest 

 rank in hi- profession, and composed ode- for 

 .us in all parts of the Greek world. He was 

 enitilovcd by the Sicilian rulers, Micro of Syracuse 

 am! Tin-to of Agri^entiiin. by Arcesilaus of C\ rem- 

 and Amynta* of Maeedon, as well as by the free 

 cities of Creece. Wherever In- went, he was 

 honoured and loved for his own sake as well as for 

 his ait. Stales \ ied with one another in doing him 

 honour; great cities like Athens created him their 

 public guest. Though a frequenter of princely 

 nouses and king's palaces, he never lost his irnle- 

 |H>ndi*ncf>. In his poem- he gives advice and 

 reproof as well as praise to his patrons. He warna 



