PURPLE LIGHT 



Purple Light. Phenomenon 

 seen in the western sky after sun- 

 set. It is an arch-shaped glow of 

 colour, varying from pink to violet, 

 which appears in the western sky 

 at a considerable altitude above the 

 point at which the sun sinks below 

 the horizon, and is due to diffrac- 

 tion of sunlight by tiny particles 

 of different sizes in the atmosphere. 

 See Diffraction. 



Purple of Cassius. Purple 

 precipitate formed by adding a 

 solution of stannous and stannic 

 chloride to a dilute solution of gold 

 chloride. First prepared by Andreas 

 Cassius of Hamburg, about 1683, 

 his son of the same name pub- 

 lished a pamphlet describing its 

 properties. Much discussion Las 

 taken place as to the original 

 composition of purple of Cassius, 

 the modern view being that it is a 

 mixture of colloidal gold and col- 

 loidal stannic acid. Its chief use 

 is for preparing ruby glass. 



Purple-wort OR MARSH CIN- 

 QCEFOIL (Comarum palustre). Peren- 

 nial herb of the natural order 



Purple-wort. Foliage and dowers 



Rosaceae, a native of Europe (in- 

 cluding Britain), N. Asia, and N. 

 America ; it has a long woody root- 

 stock, and tall stems of purple- 

 brown tint. The leaves are divided 

 into five or seven leaflets with 

 toothed edges. The sparse flowers 

 have short, dark purple-brown 

 petals and larger sepals which are 

 purple on the inner face. The root- 

 stock is an astringent, and a yellow 

 dye is obtained from it. It is also 

 known as Potentilla palustris. 



Purpura. Red or purple patches 

 on the skin due to haemorrhage 

 from the superficial blood-vessels. 

 It is a symptom of a large number 

 of diseases, including cerebro-spinal 

 menineitis, smallpox, and scurvy, 

 and may follow the administration 

 of certain drugs ; or may be asso- 

 ciated with rheumatism. 



Purpnra. Genus of marine 

 gastropods. P. lapillus, the dog 

 whelk, sometimes called the dog 

 winkle, swarms on the rocks around 

 the British coasts, resembles in 



64 10 



form a small whelk, and has a 

 whitish shell with spiral bandings. 

 Chiefly found on the rocks between 

 tide marks, it is carnivorous in 

 habit, feeding mainly on mussels, 

 and is destructive in oyster beds, 

 drilling holes through the shell with 

 its radula and extracting the in- 

 mate. It derives its scientific 

 name from the fact that the 

 secretion of a gland behind the 

 head yields an indelible purple 

 dye. See Gastropoda. 



Purpure. One of the tinctures 

 in heraldry. It is represented in 

 drawings by thin diagonal lines 

 from sinister chief to dexter base. 

 See Heraldry ; Tincture. 



Purree. Yellow pigment, much 

 used in India for decorating nouses. 

 It is prepared from the urine of 

 cows that have been fed on mango 

 leaves. 



Purse (Gr. byrsa, hide or skin). 

 Small bag or receptacle, com- 

 monly one used for holding money. 

 The privy purse is the name for the 

 sum of money voted to the king 

 for his personal expenses. Purse is 

 also used for a sum of money 

 collected for a gift, as when a 

 presentation takes the form of a 

 purse of gold. See Bourse ; Bursar ; 

 Civil List. 



Purser. Victualling officer of a 

 warship in past days and prede- 

 cessor of the modern accountant 

 officer or paymaster of the navy. 

 Liners and other trading vessels 

 still carry pursers. See Paymaster. 



Purslane (Pnrtulaca). Genus 

 of plants belonging to the order 

 Portula-caceae (q-v.). 



Pursuivant (Fr. poursuivanl, 

 attendant). Title of the junior 

 officers of arms. Formerly they 

 were the messengers and executive 

 officers of the earl marshal's court, 

 as well as the assistants and 

 secretaries of the heralds. They 

 derive their individual titles from 

 honoured badges and other in- 

 signia. The pursuivants of the 

 Heralds' College, or office of arms, 

 are bluemantle, instituted by 

 Edward III as an extra officer to 

 the Order of the Garter ; rouge croix 

 in allusion to the cross of S. 

 George ; rouge dragon, and port- 

 cullis, both instituted by Henry 

 VII, in allusion to the Welsh dragon 

 of the Tudors and the Beaufort 

 badge which had come to their 

 house by alliance. Pursuivants, 

 like the heralds, wear tabards. The 

 Scottish puisjivants are named 

 Unicorn, March, and Carrick, and 

 the Irish officer, Athlone. See 

 College of Arms ; Herald ; Tabard. 



Purulia. Town of Bihar and 

 Orissa, India, in Manbhttm dist. 

 It is the headquarters of the dis- 

 trict and a railway junction. Pop. 

 20,900. 



Punis. River of S. America, 

 a tributary of the Amazon. Rising 

 in La Montana, E. Peru, it traverses 

 Bolivia, flows N.E. into Brazil, and 

 joins the Amazon through a large 

 delta, about 120 m. above Manaos. 

 Its length is estimated to be about 

 1,850 m. Sluggish and extra- 

 ordinarily winding, it is navigable 

 for steamers for 1,650 m. 



Purveyance (Lat. providere, to 

 provide). Right claimed by English 

 and other kings to requisition, when 

 travelling through the country, 

 whatever was needed by themselves 

 and their retinue in the way of pro- 

 visions and services. This right, 

 which appears to have been exer- 

 cised from the earliest times, was 

 naturally liable to great abuses. 

 The grievance was dealt with in 

 Magna Carta, and was the subject 

 of much legislation from Edward I's 

 time, but was not abolished until 

 1660. See Royal Household. 



Pus. Collection of dead, white 

 blood corpuscles, resulting from 

 inflammation. See Inflammation ; 

 Suppuration. 



Pusey, EDWARD BOUVERIE 

 (1800-82). British divine. Born 

 at Pusey, Berkshire, Aug. 22, 1800, 

 --,,.. : he was a son 



a of Jacob Bou- 

 I verie, a son of 

 I the 1st Vis- 

 count Folke- 

 stone, who 

 took the addi- 

 tional name of 

 Pusey on suc- 

 ceeding to 

 estates there. 

 Educated a t 

 Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, 

 Pusey became a fellow of Oriel Col- 

 lege, was ordained, and studied at 

 Gottingen. He made a reputation 

 as a theologian, and in 1828 was 

 elected professor of Hebrew at 

 Oxford and canon of Christ Church. 

 Pusey gave much time to study- 

 ing the usages of the Church in the 

 past, and in a series of sermons laid 

 down the principles on which the 

 High Church movement was found- 

 ed, while he contributed to Tracts 

 for the Times. For a sermon, 

 preached in Oxford, May 14, 1843, 

 he was suspended from preaching 

 for two years. However, the move- 

 ment was widely successful, and 

 from its inception Pusey was its 

 acknowledged head, remaining its 



fuide until his death in Oxford, 

 ept. 16, 1882. His writings in- 

 clude the Doctrine of the Real 

 Presence, 1865. Pusey House, a 

 theological centre in Oxford, is a 

 memorial of his life and work. See 

 Oxford Movement ; consult also 

 Life, H. P. Liddon, J. O. Johnston 

 and R. J. Wilson, 1893-99 ; Life. 

 G. W. E. Russell, 1907. 



Edward Pusey, 

 British divine 



