PENNSYLVANIA 



PENOLOGY 



Pennisetum. Leaves and flowers of 



the genus. Inset: left, single flower ; 



right, flower-spike 



and are grown chiefly for ornament, 

 many of the species forming hand- 

 some tufts, with arching leaves and 

 plumy flower-spikes. 



Pennsylvania. State of the 

 U.S.A. It lies adjacent to the 

 states of Ohio, New York, New 

 Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and 

 West Virginia. The Delaware river, 

 on which stands Philadelphia, 

 forms the E. boundary, and the 

 state touches Lake Erie in the 

 N.W. corner. The surface varies 

 from the flat country of Lancaster, 

 Chester, and Bucks cos., to the high 

 ridges of the Allegheny Mts. The 

 chief rivers include the Delaware, 

 Susquehanna, and Allegheny. Its 

 area is 45,126 sq. m. 



Pennsylvania has great mineral 

 wealth, iron, coal, anthracite, and 

 petroleum being found in large 

 quantities, the mining products re- 

 presenting about one-quarter of the 

 total output of the U.S.A. Agricul- 

 ture is important, the chief crops 

 being hay, corn, wheat, and oats. 

 Pennsylvania engages in most in- 

 dustries represented in the U.S.A. : 

 steel works, tin-plate, and iron- 

 working, and the making of pig iron, 

 rails, silks, woollens, leather, glass, 

 and tobacco. Rly. and waterway 

 transport are highly developed. 

 Harrisburg is the capital, and the 

 chief towns include Philadelphia, 

 Pittsburg, Reading, and Erie. 



Early settlements were made by 

 Dutch and Swedes, 1614-43, and 

 the colony became attached to 

 New York, 1664-82. Its growth as 

 an individual state was due to 

 William Penn, who gave it that 

 liberal and democratic basis which 

 helped its rapid growth. Scottish, 

 Irish, and German immigrants 

 formed its early stock. The old 

 proprietary government was con- 

 verted into a state in 1776, this 

 constitution being revised in 1790. 

 Pop. 8,720,150. See Franklin, 

 Benjamin; Penn, W. 



Penny. British bronze coin, 

 one-twelfth of a shilling. Origin- 

 ally the penny was a silver coin, 



of which 240 weighed a pound, in 

 imitation of the Roman denarius. 

 Hence the pennyweight (dwt. ), 

 the 240th part of 1 Ib. troy. Also 

 known in Anglo-Saxon times as 

 the sceat, it is called penny (Anglo- 

 Saxon pening, pending, perhaps 

 meaning little pledge) in the laws 

 of Ine (q.v. ). Till the reign of 

 Edward I the coin was indented 

 with a cross, enabling it to be 

 divided into halfpennies and 

 farthings. Silver pennies were 

 coined until the reign of Charles II, 

 but steadily decreased in weight 

 In 1672 halfpennies and farthings 

 of copper were coined, and a 

 copper penny in 1797. The bronze 

 penny was introduced in 1 860. See 

 Numismatics. 



Penny Bank. Name given to 

 a class of savings bank that re- 

 ceives deposits as low as a penny. 

 Many such were established in 

 Great Britain during the 19th cen- 

 tury, including the National Penny 

 Bank, and later they were set up 

 in connexion with elementary and 

 other schools. In some cases ar- 

 rangements are made by which the 

 money invested can be transferred 

 to the P.O. Savings Bank. One 

 of the largest is the Yorkshire 

 Penny Bank. .See Savings Bank. 



Penny-royal ( Mentha pule- 

 gium). Perennial herb of the natu- 

 ral order Labiatae. A native of 

 Europe, N. and W. Asia, and N. 

 Africa, it has a creeping rootstock, 

 and branching, leafy stems. The 

 small leaves are oval or oblong, with 

 toothed edges. The tubular, two- 

 lipped, lilac flowers are borne in 

 whorls around the upper part of 

 the stems. From the fresh tops and 

 leaves an oil is distilled which is 

 used in medicine. 



Penny Wedding. Wedding at 

 which the guests pay for the enter- 

 tainment and also contribute to- 

 wards furnishing the home. At 

 marriages among the poorer 

 classes, especially in Scotland and 

 Wales, it was formerly the custom 

 for the couples to invite, more or 

 less indiscriminately, as many guests 

 as they could find, on condition 

 that they should defray expenses. 



Pennywort OR PENNY -LEAF. 

 Name given to a wall plant better 

 known as the wall pennywort (q.v. ); 

 also to the White-rot or Marsh 

 Pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris). 



Penobscot. River of Maine, 

 U.S.A. Rising close to the Cana- 

 dian border, it flows E. to Chesun- 

 cook Lake, then S.E., and finally S. 

 to the Atlantic, which it enters 

 through Penobscot Bay. It is about 

 360 m. long and navigable for 25 m. 

 Many paper and pulp mills are de- 

 pendent on the river for water 

 power ; the greater part of the 

 basin, 8,500 sq. m., is forested. 



Penobscot 



Bay. Inlet 



on the coast of 

 Maine, U.S.A. 

 ft is divided 

 into two por- 

 tions by a 

 chain of is- 

 lands, and 

 measures 30 

 m. in length 

 and 21 m. in 

 breadth. It 

 receives the 

 Penobscot 



Penology 



Penny, British cop- (Gr. p o i n e, 



pe /- coi ?' ^ c - tual punishment; 

 diameter, li in. 



logos, science). 



Name given to the study of the 

 punishment of criminals. 



With every advance in civiliza- 

 tion the punishment and reclama- 

 tion of the criminal have proceeded 

 on lines which have mitigated 

 force and substituted methods of 

 reformation. The death penalty, 

 torture, solitary confinement, and 

 segregation were all obvious forms 

 of forcible repression of crime, by 

 striking terror into the mind of the 

 criminal, which were tried from the 

 earliest times. Russia with her 

 Siberia, France with her ties du 

 Salut, and Great Britain with her 

 penal settlements in America and 

 Australia, are three notable in- 

 stances of repression by segrega- 

 tion, and all failures. At the 

 beginning of the 19th century in 

 the British Isles there were =ome 

 200 offences punishable with death, 

 and a corresponding state of affairs 

 existed in other countries. 



The failure of severe punishment 

 to prevent many minor crimes, the 

 large number of recidivists, and the 

 insanitary and evil atmosphere of 

 prisons of that date turned the atten- 

 tion of reformers to other methods. 

 John Howard, Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, 

 William Wilberforce, and others 

 began to study and suggest reforms, 

 which culminated in the 20th cen- 

 tury in an entire revolution in the 

 treatment of criminals. 



Under the existing British prison 

 system prisoners are encouraged to 

 earn promotion from a lower to a 

 higher grade by good behaviour 

 and industry ; appeal is constantly 

 made to their honour ; and where 

 considered advisable they are ap- 

 pointed to positions of trust, free 

 from supervision, Prisoners are, 

 where possible, taught trades if 

 they do not already know one, and 

 fitted in every way possible for a 

 return to civilian life. Aid societies 

 and institutions of various kinds 

 have sprung into existence with the 

 object of further helping the crimi- 

 nal on his release and inculcating 



