PILOT OFFICER 



PIMPERNEL 



Karl von Piloty, 

 German painter 



accompanies ships, whence arose 

 the old notion that it acted as a 

 pilot and indicated the proximity 

 of land. It also frequents the com- 

 pany of sharks. 



Pilot Officer. Designation in 

 the Royal Air Force of the lowest 

 rank of commissioned officer. 



Pilot Snake. Harmless N. 

 American reptile. Common in the 

 middle states of the U.S.A., it is 

 black or'dark brown above, spotted 

 with darker shades. It is a little 

 lighter shade underneath. The 

 snake is remarkable for its extra- 

 ordinary quietness when captured 

 and the ease with which it can be 

 tamed. It lives chiefly in the 

 forests, and feeds chiefly on birds, 

 mice, and other small animals. The 

 name is also given to the copper' 

 head and fox snakes. See Snake. 



Piloty, KARL THEODOR VON 

 (1826-86). German painter. Born 

 at Munich, Oct. 1, 1826, he studied 

 at the Munich 

 Academy, under 

 C. Schorn. On 

 his return to 

 Munich after a 

 journey abroad 

 he painted in 

 1854 for the 

 Maximi 1 ianeum 

 a picture of the 

 Elector Maxi- 

 milian adhering 

 to the Catholic League in 1 609. This 

 work established him as an historical 

 painter of the new realistic school, 

 and he became a professor of the 

 Munich Academy. His Murder of 

 Wallenstein, 1864, is a good ex- 

 ample of his treatment. Piloty died 

 July 21, 1886. His brother, Fer- 

 dinand (1828-95), studied under 

 Schorn at the Munich Academy, 

 and afterwards was greatly influ- 

 enced by Karl. He painted a 

 series of historical frescoes in the 

 National Museum, Munich, the 

 town hall at Landsberg, etc. He 

 is also well known as an illustrator 

 of the works of Shakespeare and 

 Schiller. Pron. Piloh-ty. 



Pilsen OR PLZEN. Town of 

 Czecho-Slovakia, in Bohemia. It 

 is 52 m. W.S.W. of Prague at the 

 confluence of the Mies and Radbusa 

 and is an important rly. junction. 

 S. Bartholomew's, a 13th century 

 edifice, has a notable spire 335 ft. 

 high. The Renaissance town hall 

 contains the banqueting hall where 

 Wallenstein received the oath of 

 fealty from his generals. Pilsner 

 lager is brewed in the municipal 

 brewery. The first printing press hi 

 Bohemia was established in Pilsen. 

 Near here is Skoda (q.v.). Pop. 

 81,000. See Czecho-Slovakia. 



Pilsudski, JOSEPH (b. 1867). 

 Polish soldier and statesman. Of 

 Lithuanian descent, he was born, 



Joseph Pilsudski, 

 Polish soldier 



Dec. 5, 1867, at Zulov, Vilna 

 province, and early showed him- 

 self an intensely patriotic Pole. In 

 1887 be was arrested by Russia, 

 and spent five years in exile in 

 Siberia, returning whence to 

 Poland, he became the leader of 

 the Nationalist g,^,, 

 Socialist party. 1 

 From 1894 to 

 1900 he edited 

 The Worker, a 

 clandestine 

 paper, and this 

 led to his arrest 

 and imprison- 

 ment. Escap- 

 ing in 1901, 

 he made his 

 way to England, but 1902 found 

 him again in Poland. 



When the Great War broke out 

 he appeared as general of a Polish 

 legion which invaded Russia on 

 Aug. 6, 1914. After the Austro- 

 German conquest of Russian 

 Poland, he was made a member of 

 the Polish council of state in Nov., 



1916, but soon resigned. The 

 Central Powers thereupon caused 

 him to be arrested on July 21, 



1917, He was liberated in Nov., 



1918, and returning to Poland, was 

 entrusted with the powers of the 

 council of regency. Governing for 

 a while as dictator, he was elected 

 president of Poland, Feb. 20, 1919, 

 and later was given the rank of 

 marshal. In Dec., 1922, he resigned 

 the presidency. See La Pologne 

 Nouvelle et son premier chef 

 d'etat, Stanislas Szpotenski, Paris, 

 1920. 



Piltdown Skull. Fossil bones of 

 the oldest known European race 

 with distinct human traits. They 

 were discovered by Charles Daw- 

 son (d. 1916) in quaternary gravels 

 at Pilt Down, Sussex, from 1912 

 onwards. The human skull and 

 ape-like jaw, if belonging to the 

 same individual, suggest that 

 mental development preceded the 

 disuse of prehuman methods of em- 

 ploying the teeth as weapons. See 

 Anthropology ; Eoanthropus ; Man. 



Pima. American Indian tribe 

 in the U.S.A. and Mexico. They 

 numbered in 1910, in U.S.A., 4,236, 

 mostly hi Arizona; in Mexico 

 7,468, including Cora and Nevome 

 or lower Pima, mostly in Vera 

 Cruz and Tepic. 



They are one of the leading 

 tribes of Piman stock, the im- 

 portant group which occupies 

 nearly the whole of the W. coast 

 and Sierra Madre region of Mexico 

 and Arizona from the Gila river 

 S. into Jalisco. They are agricul- 

 tural, and were driven out of their 

 original homes from the middle 

 Gila to Sonora, Mexico, by hostile 

 tribes. In 1751 they revolted under 



their chief Don Luis and destroyed 

 all Spanish missions and settle- 

 ments in their country. The 

 women are noted for their pottery 

 and water-tight woven baskets. 

 They are now chiefly collected on 

 the Gila river and Salt river 

 reservations, Arizona. SeeSonoran; 

 American Indians. 



Pimento (Sp. pimienta). Genus 

 of tropical American trees be- 

 longing to the order Myrtaceae. 

 They bear cymes of small flowers 

 and coriaceous leaves. The chief 

 species are Pimento, officinalis, the 

 pimento bush, and P. acris, the 

 wild clove or black cinnamon tree. 

 The chief use of pimento is as a 

 spice. The oil is used in medicine 

 in the same way as cloves, and in 

 perfumery. The well-known bay- 

 rum toilet requisite is sometimes 

 scented with P. acris. See Allspice ; 

 Cinnamon ; Pepper. 



Pimlico. Dist. of London. It 

 lies between the Thames, E. and S., 

 Chelsea, W., and Belgravia and 

 Victoria St., Westminster, N. It 

 includes Victoria stations of the 

 S.E. & C. and L.B. & S.C. Rlys. 

 Pimlico Road links the Royal 

 Hospital Road with Buckingham 

 Palace Road. First mentioned in 

 the early part of the 17th century 

 and notable for its ales, Pimlico is 

 said to derive its name from a house 

 of popular resort resembling one of 

 the same name at Hoxton, called 

 after its Italian proprietor. Hoxton 

 still has a Pimlico Walk, and a 

 public garden at Bankside, South - 

 wark, was known as Pimlico 

 Garden. See London. 



Pimpernel (Med. Lat. pipin- 

 ella) OR POOR MAN'S WEATHER- 

 GLASS (Anagallis arvensis). Annual 

 herb of the natural order Primu- 

 laceae. It is a native of Europe, 

 Asia, and N. Africa. The slender 

 square stem mostly lies along the 

 ground, the branches more erect. 

 The opposite, stalkless leaves are 

 oval or lance-shaped. The bright 

 scarlet flowers open only in the 

 earlier part of the day, and in clear 

 weather. The fruit is a globular 



Pimpernel. Leaves, stalks, and 



flowers o! the familiar scarlet 



pimpernel 



