PLINTH PLOTINUS. 



587 



time, to cut off the hair was the first step taken on 

 the approach of the disease. People were naturally 

 anxious to get rid of its most disgusting symptom, 

 and they ascribed the melancholy effects that uni- 

 formly followed, not to the removal of the hair, but 

 merely to the internal malady, on which this removal 

 had no influence; and medical men had not yet 

 learned that this was the natural outlet of the dis- 

 ease. Even towards the end of the last century, 

 some medical writers of Germany still maintained 

 that the hair should instantly be cut ; but the exam- 

 ples in which blindness, distortion, death, or insa- 

 nity, has been the immediate consequence of the 

 operation, are much too numerous to allow their 

 theoretical opinion any weight. The only known 

 cure is to allow the hair to grow till it begins to 

 rise pure and healthy from the skin, an appearance 

 which indicates that the malady is over ; it is then 

 shaved off, and the cure is generally complete, 

 although there are cases in which the disease has 

 been known to return. The length of tune during 

 which the head continues in this state of corruption, 

 depends entirely on the degree of malignity in the 

 disease. 



The fPeichselzopf, at once a painful, a dangerous, 

 and a disgusting disease, is not confined to the hu- 

 man species; it attacks horses, particularly in the 

 hairs ot the mane, dogs, oxen, and even wolves 

 and foxes. Although more common among the 

 poorer classes, it is not peculiar to them, for it 

 spares neither rank, nor age, nor sex. Women, 

 however, are said to be less exposed to it than men, 

 and fair hair less than brown or black hair. It is 

 contagious, and, moreover, may become hereditary. 

 Among professional persons, great diversity of 

 opinion prevails regarding its origin and nature. 

 According to some, it is merely the result of filth 

 and bad diet; but, although it certainly is more 

 frequent among the classes who are exposed to these 

 miseries, particularly among the Jews, whose beards 

 it sometimes attacks as well as their locks, it is by 

 no means confined to them ; the most wealthy and 

 cleanly are not exempt from its influence. Others 

 again, allowing that it is much aggravated by un- 

 cleanliness and insalubrious food, set it down as epi- 

 demic, and seek its origin in some particular quali- 

 ties of the air or water of the country, just as some 

 have sought the origin of goitres ; but, though more 

 common in Poland than elsewhere, it is likewise at 

 home in Livonia, and some other parts of Russia, 

 and, above all, in Tartary, from whence, in fact, it 

 is supposed to have been first imported during the 

 Tartar invasion, in the end of the thirteenth century. 

 A third party has made it a modification of leprosy. 

 The more ignorant classes of the people believe that 

 it is a preservative against all other diseases, and 

 therefore adorn themselves with an inoculated 

 Weichselzopf. See Russell's Tour in Germany. 



PLINTH. See Architecture. 



PLINY (CAIUS PLINICS SECUNDUS), the elder, a 

 Roman knight, was born at Verona, A. D. 22. He 

 was one of the greatest scholars of Rome. He de- 

 voted himself to jurisprudence, but made a cam- 

 paign into Germany, and afterwards filled many 

 public offices, among them the office of a procurator 

 in Spain. His uncommon spirit of inquiry was aided 

 by an unwearied industry. Every moment that was 

 not employed in the business of his office, he appro- 

 priated to his studies. He was a very early riser, 

 even in winter ; very often did not retire to bed at 

 all, and used to read while at meals, and in the bath, 

 or had some one to read to him. He diligently 

 noted down every thing of importance ; and often 

 said, that no book was so bad, but that something 

 might be learned from it. If he was not able tc 



write himself, he dictated. In this way, Pliny, 

 notwithstanding his many public affairs, wrote many 

 important works, which give proof of his very ex- 

 tensive learning. He finally became a victim to his 

 curiosity. Being one day in the neighbourhood of 

 Vesuvius, a terrible eruption of this volcano (A. D. 

 79) induced him to approach for the purpose of 

 viewing it closely, notwithstanding the danger to 

 which he was exposed. The hot ashes even fell 

 upon his vessel; still he continued to take note of 

 every thing he saw. While the earth around him 

 threatened, he passed the night quietly with a friend 

 not far from the mountain, and the next morning, 

 on the sea-shore, he perished by a suffocating va- 

 pour which spread over the whole country. The 

 writings of this diligent and active man are princi- 

 pally lost; among them the work on the war in 

 Germany, and his Universal History. The Historia 

 Naturalis, or Historia Mundi, in thirty-seven books, 

 is extant ; it is a rich collection of facts of every 

 kind, from the whole circle of nature and science, 

 and also from the history of art, which is the more 

 valuable, as Pliny drew from many lost books. Of 

 the old critical editions, that ot Hardouin (Paris, 

 1723), is the best. 



PLINY (CAIUS PLINIUS CJECILIUS SECUNDUS), the 

 younger, a nephew of the former, was born A. D. 

 62, at Comum (Como). Having been adopted by 

 his uncle, he learned to make a wise use of time, 

 applied himself early, with the greatest assiduity, 

 to the study of eloquence and philosophy, and, when 

 a boy of thirteen years of age, made an attempt to 

 write a tragedy in the Greek language. In Syria, 

 where he was the commander of a legion, he en- 

 joyed the society of the philosopher Euphrates, and 

 afterwards made his appearance in Rome as an ad- 

 vocate with success, filled several public offices, and 

 was consul in his thirty-ninth year. By the favour 

 of the emperor Trajan, he was appointed augur and 

 governor of Pontus, in Bithynia, which office he 

 administered for two years, to the general satisfac- 

 tion. He was one of the most distinguished, and 

 best, and, we may also add, one of the most fortunate 

 men of his age. He had most of the requisites for 

 the enjoyment of life, a cultivated mind, a gener- 

 ous heart, friendship and love. As an author he 

 laboured with ardour. He attempted several de- 

 partments of literature, both in prose and poetry. 

 Of his writings, only a collection of letters, in ten 

 books, and a panegyric on Trajan, remain. The 

 letters are add'ressed to different friends, some of 

 them to the emperor, and are on various subjects. 

 Their elegance and intellectual tone make them 

 attractive, and very instructive. In his Panegyric 

 on Trajan, he is, as some think, extravagant in his 

 praise, and in his rhetorical ornaments. It is not, 

 indeed, to be recommended as a model, yet it is an 

 important work for the history of the noble emperor 

 and his time. The Letters and the Panegyric were 

 edited together, with notes, by Gesner (Leipsic, 

 1739); Ernesti (Leipsic, 1770), and others. A later 

 critical edition of the Letters, with notes, was edited 

 by Gierig (Leipsic, 1800), and the complete works 

 of Pliny, by the same (Leipsic, 1806); afterwards by 

 G. H. Schafer (Leipsic, 1815); and by Titze (at 

 Prague, in 1820). The Panegyric was edited by 

 Gierig, with notes (Leipsic, 1796), who also pub- 

 lished a work On the Life, Moral Character, and 

 Literary Reputation of the Younger Pliny. The 

 Epistles of Pliny have been translated into English 

 by lord Orrery and Mr Melmoth. 



PLOTINUS, the most distinguished among the 

 New Platonists, was born at Lycopolis, in Egypt, 

 A. D. 205, is said to have studied philosophy at 

 Alexandria, under Ammonius, travelled, at the age 



