PISTIL 



PISTOL 



petals, the sexes on separate trees. 

 The oval reddish fruits are about 

 an inch long, and contain a single 

 green, oily seed enclosed in a bony 

 shell. They are eaten dry ake 

 almonds, or made into various 

 forms of confectionery. The tree 

 also produces galls used in dyeing 

 and tanning. 



Pistil (Lat. pistillum, a pestle). 

 Botanical term for the female 

 organs in a flower, including the 

 ovary, the style, and the stigma. 

 The ovary, containing the ovules 

 or seed -eggs, develops after fer- 

 tilisation into the seed-vessel. The 

 style is often absent, when the 

 stigma is seated directly upon the 

 ovary. The stigma may be thread- 

 like (filiform), knobbed (capitate), 

 lobed, etc. ; and is either sticky, 

 rough with raised points, or hairy, 

 to retain the grains of pollen. The 

 latter send out long shoots which 

 penetrate the length of the style 

 and enter the ovary, where they 

 fertilise the ovules. See Flower. 



Pistoja (anc. Pistoria). Walled 

 city of Italy, in the prov. of 

 Florence. It stands on the left 

 bank of the Ombrone, 21 m. by rly. 

 N.W. of Florence. The walls date 

 from 1302 and the cathedral from 

 the 12th and 13th centuries. The 

 Palazzo Pretorio, 1367, and the 

 Palazzo del Commune, with the 

 Ospedaie del Ceppo, 1277, are fine 

 examples of medieval architecture. 

 Pistoja, in art history, held rank 

 midway between Florence and 

 Pisa; and its early sculpture is 

 especially remarkable. 



The city's industries areconnected 

 with iron, steel, glass, paper, silk, 

 macaroni, and oil. Pistoja is 

 well known also for its small 

 arms manufactures. Catiline was 

 defeated here in 62 B.C. The 

 scene of fierce faction fights in 

 the Middle Ages between the 

 Guelphs and Ghibellines, it fell to 

 Florence in 1351. Pop. 65,000 

 Pron Pisto-va 



Pistol (Fr. pistolet, originally a 

 dagger, made at Pistoja). Pistols 

 may be defined as firearms capable 

 of being used from one hand, and 

 accepting this definition it would ap- 

 pear that they were invented about 

 1500. In 1515 the wheel-lock was 

 invented, making a great advance 

 in the mechanism of firearms 

 generally, and gave a decided im- 

 petus to pistol manufacture, since 

 it was then possible to construct a 

 weapon which could easily be 

 carried or concealed on the person. 

 These pistols were frequently con- 

 structed with bell mouths for use 

 at close quarters with a scattering 

 charge. The flint-lock became weU 

 known about 1630, but it was 

 some time before it entirely super- 

 seded the wheel-lock, retaining its 

 position until about 1825. 



Before the end of the 17th cen- 

 tury pistols about 18 ins. long were 

 being made, and shortly after- 

 wards, owing to better methods 

 of manufacture and increased 

 accuracy, the size was further 

 reduced. Pistols, with a half-inch 

 bore, became duelling weapons in 

 1780. Rifled pistols were often 

 constructed so that the barrel 

 would screw out of the breech 

 block to facilitate loading, and two 

 and four barrelled pistols were in- 



Pisioj a, Italy. Facade of the 12th century cathedral. Top, 

 right, cathedral campanile, from the Piaiia del duomo 



troduced, one 

 hammer firing 

 the barrels 

 successively 

 as the various 

 priming pans 

 were brought 

 under it by a 

 Land-operated 

 mechanism. 

 T h e percus- 

 sion cap came 

 into use about 

 1815, and by 

 1830 had dis- 

 placed all 

 other types of 



ignition. By this time the weapons 

 were practically all rifled. By 1835 

 the revolver was highly developed, 

 and practically no further advance 

 has been made. At the present time 

 a few breech-loading single-barrel 

 pistols are made, but these chiefly 

 fire the '22 rim-fire cartridge, and 

 are only used for target practice. 

 At one time the -410 single 

 Derringer pistol was much used as 

 a pocket pistol in Western America, 

 but is now almost obsolete. 

 Automatic Weapons 



The next development of this 

 weapon is of much more recent 

 date, and concerns the automatic 

 pistol, which in some fields seems 

 likely to displace the revolver. 

 This is an adoption of the machine- 

 gun principle in which the recoil of 

 the weapon actuates mechanism 

 which ejects the empty shell, cocks 

 the pistol, and reloads the chamber 

 from the magazine ready for the 

 next shot. The first weapon of 

 this type was made by Borchardt 

 in 1893. It was large and cumbrous. 

 In the next year one was con- 

 structed by Bergmann, and this is 

 actually the ancestor of the small 

 flat pocket pistol of to-day, though 

 neither of these weapons was very 

 satisfactory. In 1898 the Mauser 

 was produced, a large weapon pro- 

 vided with a wooden holster which 

 could be fitted to the butt, con- 

 verting the pistol into a small car- 

 bine. It has an effective range up 

 to 600 yards, and was consider- 

 ably used by the Boers in the S. 

 African War. It was a very useful 

 weapon, and is still used in the 

 9 mm. calibre. The Mauser was 

 followed by the Mannlicher, a very 

 similar weapon, but arranged to 

 accommodate the magazine in the 

 butt instead of in front of the 

 trigger guard, an innovation which 

 has been retained in this type of 

 weapon ever since. 



All pistols depend on the same 

 principle, the recoil moving the 

 barrel and breech block to the rear, 

 whereby the reloading operation is 

 effected. The cartridges are carried 

 in a magazine in the butt, being 

 forced upwards by a spring so that 

 one is always in the correct position 

 to be fed into the chamber. The 

 weapon can be very quickly re- 

 loaded. An automatic pistol is 

 lighter and more accurate than a 

 revolver. Being flat, it is much 

 more readily carried in the pocket, 

 and can be fired three times as 

 rapidly. The stopping power is not 

 so good, as the small high velocity 

 bullets may pass right through an 

 assailant without putting him out 

 of action, and there is a greater 

 tendency for the weapon to jam if 

 dirty. See Ammunition; Duel ; 

 Firearm ; Revolver. 



