200 



PISOLITE 



PITCAIHNE 



supremacy to lib sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, 

 known as the Pisistratitlas. Although tin* precau- 

 tionary measures he adopted to Mtebttdl his author- 

 ity involved at first a resolute and stringent policy, 

 yd no sooner had lie placed himself out of danger 

 than he began to display that wonderful tact, 

 moderation, and sympathetic appreciation of the 

 wishes of the Athenians that have won him the 

 praise and esteem of all later ages. He (irmly, but 

 not harshly, enforced oliedience to the laws of 

 Solon ; emptied the city of its poorest citizens, and 

 made them agriculturists, supplying such as had 

 no resources with cattle ami seed ; secured pro- 

 \isions for old and disabled soldiers; bestowed 

 great care on the celebration of the religious festi- 

 vals of the Atticans ; encouraged literature more 

 than any Athenian had ever done before it is to 

 I'isistratns, or to the poets, scholars, and priests 

 about him, iliat we owe, for example, the first 

 complete edition of Homer ; and, like nis still more 

 brilliant successor in the following century, Pericles, 

 he adorned Athens with many ofite most beautiful 

 buildings, such as the Lyceum, temples to the 

 Pythian Apollo and the Olympian Zeus, &c. See 

 works on Pisistratus by Flach (1885) and Tanner 

 (1886). 



Pisolite (dr., 'pea-stone'), a concretionary 

 limestone, differing from oolite in having the 

 particles as large as peas. 



I'isl aria, a genus of trees of the natural order 

 Anacardiaceie, having dioecious (lowers without 

 petals, and a dry drupe with a bony stone. The 

 Pistacia or Pistachio tree ( P. vera ) is a small tree 

 of about 20 feet high, a native of Persia and Syria, 

 but now cultivated in all parts of the south of 

 Europe and north of Africa, and in many places 

 naturalised. It has pinnate leaven, with about two 

 pair of ovate leaflets, and an odd one, (lowers in 

 racemes, fniit ovate, and about the size of an olive. 

 The stone or nut splits into two valves when ripe ; 

 the kernel, which is uf a bright green colour, is very 

 oleaginous, of a delicate flavour, and in ite pro- 

 perties very much resembles the sweet almond. 

 In the south of Europe and in the East Pistachio 

 nuts are much esteemed ; but as they very readily 

 become rancid they are little exported to other 

 countries. They are sometimes called '.'<. 

 Almonds. Oil is expressed from them for culinary 

 and other uses. In cultivation one male tree is 

 allowed to five or six fertile ones. The tree pro- 

 duces flowers and even fruit readily enough in the 

 south of England, hut the summers are not warm 

 enough to ripen the frail, and the tree is apt to IK; 

 dc-t roved liy a severe frost. The Ma-tir nee, or 

 LntUk (P. Untisc.us), yields the gum-resin called 

 M.i-ti.- i<|.v.). It is a native of the countries around 

 the Mediterranean. The Tut|ventine-tree (P. (ere- 

 /nut/ins) yields the Turi>entine (q.v.) known in 

 eommerce as Cyprus Turin-iitim; <'hinn Tiir/ii-iitim-, 

 or .Son Tur/ii iiliiir, which is of a consistency some 

 what like that of honey, a greenish yellow colour, 

 an agreeable odour, and a mild taste, and in its 

 i>ro|>crties resembles the turpentine of the < 'oriit'ei.i . 

 lull is free from acridity. It is ohtained by making 

 iiieisinnn in the trees, and placing stones for the 

 turpentine to (low upon, from which it is scrajied 

 in the morning, before it is liquefied again by the 

 heat of the nun. The tree is about 30 or 35 feet in 

 height, and has pinnate leaves, of about three pair 

 of leaflets and an odd one, the (lowers in com]>ounil 

 racemes, the fniit nearly globular. The kernel of 

 the fniit is oleaginous and pleasant. The Batouni 

 Tree (P. atlantira), a round-headed tree almut 

 40 feet in height, a native of the north of Africa, 

 produce* a fniit much used by the Arabs ; and a 

 gum-resin of pleasant aromatic smell and agreeable 

 taste, which exudes from its stem and branches, is 



chewed to clean the teeth and impart a pleasant 

 smell to the breath. The fragrant oil of the kernels 

 of /'. olttaa, a native of Cochin-China, is used 

 there to perfume ointments. 



Pistil, that part of the Flower (q.v.) which, 

 after flowering is over, is developed into the fruit. 

 See Fur IT. 



PiStoia (anc. Pisloria), a town of Italy, stands 

 21 miles by rail N \\ . of Florence, on a B pur of the 

 Apennines. Its streets are thoroughly Tuscan, and 

 it is surrounded with walls, pierced by five gates, 

 and has a citadel. The chief buildings are the 

 cathedral of San Jacopo (12th and l.'tth centuries), 

 containing a magnificent altar of silver ( 1'Jsii 1 H 17 i 

 and several good pictures; the church of Si Kar 

 tholomew, with a tine white marble pulpit bv diiido 

 of Como ( 1250) ; St Andrea, with diovanni I'isanu s 

 pulpit (1301); St John, with a font by diovanni 

 Pisano and terra-cot las ],\ Andrea della Hobbia ; 

 the 14th-century communal palace; and other 

 palaces. The principal manufactures are iron and 

 steel wares, agricultural implements, paper, oil, 

 and silk. But the town bos the credit ot having 

 invented and first made pistols, and of having 

 given them ite name in the form pistula. Here 

 ( 'at iline wits defeated in 62 n.c. The town was con- 

 quered by Florence and Lucca in 1306. Pop. 21,500. 



Pistol is the smallest description of Firearms 

 (q.v.). See also KKYOI.VKK. 



Pistole, a gold coin formerly current in Spain 

 ami Italy, and originally equivalent to alioul eleven 

 old French livres, though till about 1730 it was 

 merely an irregular piece of gold. Its value varied 

 somewhat at different times and in different coun- 

 tries, usually lieing lietween fifteen and sixteen 

 shillings. The gold pistoles once current in parts 

 of Germany were in most cases merely convenient, 

 multiples of the ordinary thaler and gulden. The 

 touts (for was intended to take in France the same 

 place as the pistole in Spain. 



Pita-hemp, one of the names of the Agave 

 fibre. See FIBROUS SUBSTANCES. 



I'itaka. a division of the Buddhists' sacred 

 literature ; the tripit'aka meaning the three great 

 divisions of their canonical works, the Vinaya 

 (discipline), Abhitlharma ( metaphysics ), and Sutra 

 (aphorisms in prose), and collectively, therefore, 

 the whole Buddhistic code. 



Pit and tallows, a rendering of the grant 

 of capital jurisdiction (cum fossa et fnrrti) made 

 to vassals by the crown in feudal limes. Male 

 felons were usually hanged on the gallows (furni ) ; 

 women drowned in a ditch or well (fossa). See 

 l!\i:ox, DROWNING. 



Pitaval. Fi: vsroisGAYOT DE( 1673-1743), com- 

 piler of the famous collection of Causes Celebrex 

 (q.v.), served in the army, but became an advocate, 

 ami was known as an industrious ami painstaking 

 compiler. Of his great work there have l>een nin 

 ons abridgment*, continuations, ami translations; 

 and his mime has become so identified with the 

 collecting of criminal cases that a similar work, 

 published by various editors in Leiji/ig in 1843 and! 

 succeeding \eais, was railed /'</ \rue Pitaval ( 2d 

 ed. W vols. 'IH.-.7-72; new series, 1866 et seq.\. 



Pitrairn. I:<UIKKT (1793-1855), editor of the 



invaluable collection of ( 'riminal 1'rin/x m StotUuui 

 from 1484 to 1624 (4 vols. Edin. lx:l 33), held a 

 Y-t in the liegister House at Edinburgh. He was 

 an active member of the I'.annatMie Club, and 

 secretary of the Calvin Translation Siwiety (founded 

 1843). 



Pltrairne. AWHIIIAI.I), physician and satirist, 

 was born at Edinburgh, 25th December 1652. He 

 studied first theology and then law at the nniver- 



