PICHINCHA PICTS' WALL. 



555 



been the intention of himself and his accomplices to 

 make away with the existing head of the state. It 

 is more probable that, in despair at the foil u re of a 

 plot equally foolish and wicked, he committed suicide 

 by strangling himself with the silk handkerchief, 

 which was found about his neck. His body was 

 publicly exposed the day after his death, and no 

 traces of torture could be perceived. His private 

 character is deserving of much praise. Disinterest- 

 ed in a high degree, he declined the gifts that were 

 frequently proffered him, and his humanity to pri- 

 soners was exhibited on more than one occasion. 

 When he was transported to Cayenne, he was so 

 poor that his friends were obliged to sell his effects, 

 to procure him money for his voyage. Montgaillard 

 published a Memoire concernant la Trahison de 

 Pichegrit dans les Annies 3, 4 et 5 (1795, 1796 and 

 1797), which contains many disclosures with respect 

 to his negotiations with the Bourbons. 



PICHINCHA, THE BATTLE OF, was fought near 

 the celebrated volcano of this name, May 24, 1822, 

 between the Colombians under general Sucre, and 

 the Spaniards, assembled for the defence of Quito. 

 Sucre succeeded in gaining the vicinity of the capi- 

 tal, and turning the left flank of the Spanish army 

 stationed near it, by marching over the frozen sum- 

 mits of Cotopaxi, and sleeping on the mountains. 

 In consequence of this and several successive daring 

 movements of Sucre, the royalists found it necessary 

 to hazard a battle, and sustained a total defeat. 

 Quito and the Spanish forces capitulated the next 

 day, and the patriots thus became possessed of the 

 entire presidency, with all the Spanish magazines and 

 stores ; and the road to Peru was left open to Bolivar. 



PiCHLER, OR PICKLER, JOHN ANTHONY, and 

 JOHN (father and son) ; two artists, celebrated for 

 thfiir skill in gem-sculpture. The father was born 

 a' Brixen, in Tyrol, in 1700, and died at Rome, in 

 1779, with the reputation of having restored this art 

 to a high degree of perfection, which had sunk en- 

 tirely since the times of the ancients. His son was 

 born at Naples, in 1734, and excelled his father. 

 His Hercules struggling with the Nemaean Lion, his 

 Leander and his Achilles, are master-pieces, ac- 

 knowledged as such by all connoisseurs, and esteem- 

 ed very nearly equal to the most perfect works of 

 antiquity. Pichler lived in Rome, where he saw the 

 emperor Joseph II., who raised him to the rank of 

 nobility, and wished him to live in Vienna with a 

 decent salary ; but Pichler refused this offer, as well 

 as several invitations to go to Britain. He died at 

 Rome, in 1791, where J. G. de' Rossi published a 

 biography, subsequently translated by Boulard and 

 Millin into French, and published in the Magazin 

 Encyclopedique, with notes by Dufourny. A bust 

 of Pichler, made by Chr. Heveston, was placed in 

 the Pantheon. 



PICK-AXE; an axe composed of a wooden handle, 

 and an iron head, which has two slightly curved 

 prongs, situated on each side of the handle, and 

 forming one piece. The pick-axe is employed in 

 loosening the soil, in picking out pavement, &c. 



PICKETS, in fortification; sharp stakes, about 

 three feet long, sometimes shod with iron, used in 

 laying out ground ; but when used for pinnhig the 

 fascines of a battery, they are from three to five feet 

 long. In the artillery, pickets five or six feet long 

 are used to pin the park lines ; in the camp, they are 

 used about six or eight inches long to fix the tent- 

 cords, or five feet long in the cavalry camp to fasten 

 the horses. 



PICKLE-HERRING. See Harlequin. 



PICO ; one of the Azores, so called from a very 

 high mountain, terminating, like Teneriffe, in a peak. 

 See Azores. 



PICO DELL A M1RANDOLA. See Mirandola. 

 PICQUET. See Piquet. 



PICROMEL ; the characteristic principle of bile, 

 and named from two Greek words, signifying bitter 

 and honey, in allusion to its sharp, bitter and sugared 

 taste. If sulphuric acid, diluted with five parts of 

 water, be mixed with fresh bile, a yellow precipitate 

 will fall. On heating the mixture, leaving it to re- 

 pose, and decanting off the clear part, what remains 

 is a compound of picromel and sulphuric acid. It is 

 edulcorated with water, and digested with carbonate 

 of barytes, the result of which is that the picromel 

 is liberated and left dissolved in the water. On 

 evaporating the water, the picromel is obtained in a 

 solid state. It resembles inspissated bile. Its colour 

 is greenish-yellow. It affords no ammonia by its 

 destructive distillation ; hence the absence of nitro- 

 gen is inferred, and the peculiarity of picromel. 



PICROTOXIA (meaning a bitter poison} is the 

 peculiar principle of cocculus indicus. When sepa- 

 rated from the colouring matter and other substances 

 with which it exists in the berries of this plant, it 

 presents itself in four-sided crystals, of a white colour 

 and an intensely bitter taste. Alcohol dissolves one 

 third of its weight of picrotoxia. It is soluble in 

 twenty-five times its weight of water. Pure sulphuric 

 ether dissolves two-fifths of its weight. It is soluble, 

 likewise, in other acids, and may therefore be regard- 

 ed as a vegeto-alkaline principle. M. Casaseca 

 thinks that it is not a vegetable alkali, but merely a 

 peculiar bitter vegetable principle. 



PICTET, MARCUS AUGUSTUS, a naturalist, born at 

 Geneva, in 1752, was the pupil and friend of the 

 celebrated Saussure, whom he succeeded as professor 

 of philosophy, in 1786. Pictet, after the incorpora- 

 tion of Geneva with the French republic, was one of 

 the fifteen appointed to manage the public debt and 

 the fund for the support of the Protestant church. 

 In 1803, he became secretary of the tribunate, as a 

 member of which he exerted himself particularly in 

 extending the freedom of trade, and in improving 

 and laying out roads and canals. In 1807, on the 

 abolition of that body, Napoleon appointed him one 

 of the fifteen general inspectors of the imperial uni- 

 versity. In connexion with his brother Charles, and 

 Maurice, mayor of Geneva, he established, in 1796, 

 the Bibliotheque Britannique, a periodical which, 

 since 1816, has been issued under the name of Biblio- 

 theque Universelle. In 1803, Pictet travelled in the 

 British isles, and, after his return, published his 

 Voyage de trois Alois en Angleterre, en Ecosse et en 

 Irlande. He was the author of several other works, 

 chiefly on physical, mathematical and agricultural 

 subjects. 



PICTOU ; a thriving commercial town in the 

 northern part of Nova Scotia. The first house was 

 built in 1790. In 1827, it contained 1439 inhabi- 

 tants. It is the resort of coasters from all parts of 

 the gulf of St Lawrence, the eastern shores of Prince 

 Edward's island, and the north coast of Cape Breton. 

 The coal-mines in its vicinity are very extensive, 

 and the coal is excellent. Iron is also found, and 

 manufactured in small quantities. The harbour is 

 capacious, and easy of access. There is no other 

 town in Nova Scotia, except Halifax, so well situated 

 for trade. 



PICTS. See Scotland, division History. 

 PICTS' WALL ; an ancient wall built by the 

 Romans to defend the Britons from the incursions ot 

 the Scots and Picts, from Carlisle to Newcastle. It 

 was first built of earth, by the emperor Adrian, in 

 123, afterwards of stone by Severus, and, in 430, re- 

 built of brick by Aetius, the Roman general. It 

 was eight feet high, twelve thick, and nearly 100 

 miles in length. There are still some remains 



