561- 



PINEL FINITE. 



ally found l>y the Europi ans in Peru, and has not 

 been known in Europe above two centuries. It pas- 

 sed from Brazil to the West Indies, and thence was 

 transported to the East Indies, where it has long been 

 successfully cultivated. The leaves are canaliculate, 

 and spiny on the margin ; the stem erect, and about 

 two feet high ; the flowers blue, and united in a dense 

 spike, which U crowned at the summit with a tuft of 

 leaves ; the berries, in ripening, unite, and give to 

 thi> spike somewhat of the form of a pinecone, but it 

 is much larger. The seeds have been rendered abor- 

 tive by cultivation. The pine-apple is most readily 

 reproduced by planting the terminal tuft of leaves ; 

 but. in our green-houses, it is far inferior to the tro- 

 pical fruit, and yet is very generally cultivated in 

 many parts of Europe, especially near the larger cities. 

 In one or two of the southern provinces of Spain, it 

 is raised in sheltered situations in the open air. Many 

 varieties of the pine-apple have been produced, but 

 they may be referred to seven principal ones. Some 

 of the other species of true bromelia have crowns, and 

 the fruit of most of them, though small, is eatable. 

 The Bapinguin has the fruit separately in clusters, 

 and not in a cone, and the leaves afford a fibre, which 

 is manufactured into conlage, or sometimes into good 

 cloth. From the pine-apple is made very good wine, 

 which turns in about three Weeks, but recovers by 

 longer keeping. The fruit is also sometimes preser- 

 ved entire, and, when taken out of the sirup, is iced 

 with sugar. 



PINEL, PHILIP, member of the institute, and of 

 the legion of honour, the Howard of the insane, was 

 born in 1745, at St Andre, in the department of the 

 Tarn, studied at Toulouse, and Montpellier, where 

 he supported himself by teaching mathematics. In 

 1778, he went to Paris, and at first applied himself 

 to the study of the sciences connected with medicine, 

 but afterwards devoted himself entirely to that science 

 itself. In 1791, he was made directing physician at 

 the Bicetre, an insane hospital, and, in 1794, at the 

 Salpetriere. The harsh treatment of the insane then 

 in vogue, their chains and unhealthy dungeons, filled 

 him with horror. He introduced gentle treatment, 

 uniting firmness with kindness, and was the first defi- 

 nitely to recommend moral remedies (in his work Sur 

 r Alienation mentale),and one of the earliest to estab- 

 lish a regular police in the mad-houses. He also 

 proved the existence of what he called manie sans de- 

 lire. He placed less stress on physical treatment, 

 and, in particular, he agreed with Bordeu in condem- 

 ning blood-letting. In general, he recommended de- 

 lay. " What art cannot effect," he used to say, " time 

 may accomplish." His pathology was founded on 

 Condillac's system of philosophy, and was directed 

 more to a consideration of the obvious phenomena than 

 to a thorough insight into the nature of diseases ; yet 

 his Nosographie philosophique (Paris, 1798 ; Gth ed. 

 1818) formed an epoch in French medicine, as it sup- 

 plied a want then generally felt. In many respects, 

 Pinel is to be considered as the precursor of Bichat, 

 since he was the first to point out the physiological 

 and pathological difference of the various textures. 

 He edited, for some time, the Gazette de Sante, and 

 was a collaborator in Fourcroy's Medicine eclairee 

 par les Sciinccs physiques, and in the great Diction- 

 naire des Sciences medicates. In the time of terror, 

 Pinel concealed the unfortunate Condorcet in his 

 house. In 1823, when the school of medicine was 

 reformed by the government, M. Pinel was removed 

 from his post on suspicion of entertaining liberal prin- 

 ciples ; and he died three years later, at the age oi 

 eighty-one years. 



PINGRE, ALEXANDRE Gci, canon of the congrega 

 tion, and librarian of Ste. Genevieve, astronomer anc 

 geographer to the marine, and member of the aca 



lemy of sciences at Paris, was Lorn in P;iri, in 171 1. 

 le distinguished himself at first as a theologian, par- 

 icularly in the Jansenistic controversy ; but, at the 

 ige of thirty-eight, he was induced to devote himself 

 o astronomy, for the purpose of fitting himself for 

 he place of astronomer to the academy of sciences at 

 louen. His observations here caused him to \w. 

 chosen correspondent of the Paris academy, in 1750, 

 and, in 1751, he was called to Paris by its order, to 

 rect and superintend an observatory. Here he con- 

 tinued his observations for forty years, and published 

 an astronomical nautical almanac from 1754 to 1757. 

 In 1756, he became associe of the academy, whose 

 Transactions, from 1753 to 1770, contain numerous 

 papers by him. In 1757, he entered upon one of tlie 

 most difficult of astronomical labours, the theory ai.d 

 calculation of comets and calculated the paths of 

 more comets than all the other astronomers of Europe 

 together. In 1766, he calculated the eclipses of (lie 

 sun and moon for a period of 2000 years, for the 

 second edition of the Art de verifier les Dates, with 

 a greater degree of accuracy than Lacaille had done. 

 In 1767, he accompanied Courtanvaux on a voyage, 

 to try the chronometers of Leroy and Berthoud, and 

 made a report on the subject. In 1769, he made a 

 second voyage with Fleurieu for the same purpose, 

 and, in 1771, a third with Borda. In 1769, he obser- 

 ved a passage of Venus over the sun's disk at cape 

 Francjois (he had been prevented from observing a 

 previous passage, in 1761, by the state of the weather). 

 In 1783 appeared his Comttographie. In 1790, lie 

 completed his History of Astronomy during the Seven- 

 teenth Century, and, in 1786, he published a transla- 

 tion of the astronomical poem of Manilius. He died 

 in May, 1796. 



PINGUIN (from pinguis, fat), more commonly 

 called PENGUIN (aptenodytes} ; a genus of birds exclu- 

 sively found in the Antarctic seas. Their feet are 

 placed more posteriorly than in any other birds, and 

 only afford them support by resting on the tarsus, 

 which is enlarged like the sole of the foot of a quad- 

 ruped. The wings are very small, and are furnished 

 with rudiments of feathers only, resembling scales. 

 Their bodies are covered with oblong feathers, harsh 

 to the touch, and closely applied over each other. 

 These, with a thick coat of fat, preserve the penguins 

 from the severity of the cold. The water is the 

 natural element of these birds : on land, their motions 

 are slow and awkward, and, from the form of their 

 wings, or rather fins, they cannot fly. While in the 

 water, they move with great alertness and rapidity. 

 They principally feed on fish. The female lays from 

 one to three eggs, forming a rude excavation or bur- 

 row in the sand, instead of a nest, and it is only during 

 the period of incubation that they are to be found on 

 shore : at all other times, they live entirely on the 

 water. The largest species is the A. magellanica, or 

 great magellanic penguin, which is perhaps the most 

 awkward and ill-shaped of the genus ; for, although 

 not more than two feet in length, their bulk is some- 

 times so great that they weigh from thirty to forty 

 pounds. They derive their name of penguin from 

 their excessive pinguitude, or fatness. The birds 

 which Buffon has distinguished by this name belong 

 to a different genus, namely, alca, and are known 

 among British naturalists by the appellation of auk. 

 They are principally natives of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, particularly of the Faroe islands. 



PINION, in mechanics ; an arbour or spindle, in the 

 body of which are several notches, which catch the 

 teeth of a wheel that serves to turn it round ; or it is 

 a lesser wheel that plays in the teeth of a larger one. 



FINITE is a crystallized earthy mineral, found in 

 granite and porphyry. Its form is that of a six-sided 

 prism, usually much rounded on the lateral edges ; 



