PURPLE CRACKLE PYRALLOLITE. 



759 



and rose-coloured, ami was one of the most costly 

 dyes with which they were acquainted. They 

 obtained their purple dyes partly from plants, and 

 partly from several kinds of shell fish, as the buc- 

 cinum (a species of muscle), and the purpura, or 

 purple fish. In modern times, a similar purple 

 matter has been found in several other shell fish. 

 It is a viscous juice, contained in a little pouch or 

 bag, lying generally between the heart and liver. 

 The colour of the juice varies, being in some pur- 

 plish red, in others pale yellow or orange coloured. 

 Reaumur found that the juice taken from the buc- 

 cinum, on being applied to linen, changed, in the 

 course of a few seconds, from yellow to green, blue, 

 and finally to purplish red. The juice of the sea- 

 snail, found by the Spaniards in Peru, and used for 

 dyeing, presents similar phenomena. Cochineal is 

 used for purple dyes by the moderns, and has the 

 advantage that it strikes equally well on silks and 

 woollen stuff's ; while the ancients used their purple 

 only on cotton and woollen. The ancients attri- 

 buted the invention of purple to the Phoenicians. 

 The story of its having been discovered by a dog's 

 biting a purple fish, and thus staining his mouth, 

 is well known. The purple fish was found not only 

 on the Phoenician coasts, but in all other parts of 

 the Mediterranean, so that the use of it in dyeing 

 came to be common with other nations; but the Phoe- 

 nicians excelled in the beauty and permanence of 

 their colouring. The Tyrians excelled particularly 

 in the bright red and violet shade. They dyed the 

 finest wools of this colour, usually twice, and then 

 gave an artificial brilliancy to the stuff. 



PURPLE GRACKLE. See Blackbird. 



PURPLE OF CASSIUS. See Tin. 



PURSE, among the Turks ; the sum of 112, so 

 called because the treasure in the seraglio is kept 

 in leathern purses of this value. 



PURSLANE (portulacea oleracea) ; a common 

 and insignificant weed, said to have come originally 

 from India, but now almost universally diffused 

 through the civilized world. The stems divide from 

 the base into several prostrate branches, which are 

 clothed with sessile, smooth, and wedge-shaped 

 leaves, the flowers are small, yellow, and axillary. 

 The whole plant is succulent. Formerly it was 

 cultivated as a pot-herb, for salads, garnishings, 

 and pickling, and it is still sometimes employed for 

 those purposes. 



PURSUIVANT. See Poursuivant. 



PUTEOLI ; the ancient name for Pozzuoli, See 

 Naples. 



PUTREFACTION. See Decomposition, Fer- 

 mentation, and Adipocire. 



PUTTER, JOHN STEPHEN, was born at Iserlohn 

 in 1725, and made such rapid progress in his stud- 

 ies, that he was ready to enter the university in his 

 thirteenth year. After studying at Marburg, Halle, 

 and Jena, he became professor extraordinary of 

 law at Gottingen, in 1747, and soon became dis- 

 tinguished as a lecturer. In 1757, he was named 

 professor juris publici. Although employed in 

 various public capacities, he still continued to re- 

 side in Gottingen, till the time of his death in 1807. 

 His works have lost much of their importance by 

 the dissolution of the German empire, but his His- 

 torische Entwickelung der f-'erfassung der Deut- 

 schen Staaten (3 vols.) is still valuable. 



PUTTY, in the arts. When tin is melted in an 

 open vessel, its surface soon becomes covered with 

 a gray powder, which is an oxide of the metal. If 

 the heat is continued, the colour of the powder 

 gradually changes, and at last becomes yellow. In 

 this state it is known by the name of putty, and em- 

 ployed in polishing glass and other hard substances. 



PUTTY is also a kind of paste, compounded of 

 whiting and linseed oil, beaten together to the con- 

 sistence of a thick dough. 



PUY DE DOME. See Cevennes, and Barome- 

 ter. 



PUZZOLANA. See Pozzolana and Cement. 



PYGMALION ; a prince of Cyprus, who, dis- 

 gusted with the debaucheries of his countrywomen, 

 took an aversion to the sex. According to Ovid 

 (Met. x. 243), having made a female statue of ivory, 

 he was so enchanted by its beauty, that he fell in 

 love with his own work, and entreated Venus to 

 endow it with life. His prayer was granted ; the 

 statue began to breathe and live before his eyes, 

 and in his embrace. It became his wife, by whom 

 he had Paphos, the founder of the city of the same 

 name. Rousseau's opera of Pygmalion is founded 

 on this story. Another Pygmalion, king of Tyre 

 and Sidon, was brother of Dido. 



PYGMY. The Pygmies were a fabulous nation 

 of dwarfs, who were said to live near the sources of 

 the Nile, or, according to some, in India. Homer 

 mentions them as threatened with death and destruc- 

 tion by the cranes (II. iii. 3). Later writers are 

 more minute in their accounts. Pliny says that 

 their towns and houses were built of eggshells ; 

 and, according to Philostratus, they cut down their 

 corn, as one would fell a tree, with axes. The lat- 

 ter also speaks of an army of Pygmies, which at- 

 tacked Hercules, while sleeping, after his struggle 

 with Antaeus. They made such preparations for 

 the assault, as if they were to attack a city. But 

 the hero, on awaking, laughed at the little warriors, 

 wrapped them up in his lion-skin, and carried them 

 to Eurystheus. 



PYLADES ; son of Strophius, king of Phocis, 

 and Anaxibia, the sister of Agamemnon, celebrated 

 for the friendship which existed between him and 

 Orestes. Pylades married Electra, the sister of his 

 friend. (See Orestes.) 



PYLOS; a city of Elis, the residence of Nestor, 

 now Navarino. Another Pylos in Elis was the 

 residence of Augeas. Some, however, consider the 

 city of Pylos in Messina as the residence of Nes- 

 tor. 



PYM, JOHN, a parliamentarian in the reign of 

 Charles I., was descended of a good family in Som- 

 ersetshire, where he was born in 1584. He was 

 educated at Pembroke college, Oxford, whence he 

 removed to one of the inns of court, and was called 

 to the bar, and placed as a clerk in the office of the 

 exchequer. He was early elected member of Par- 

 liament for Tavistock in the reign of James I., and 

 in 1626 was one of the managers of the impeach- 

 ment of the duke of Buckingham. He was also a 

 great opposer of Arminianism, being attached to 

 Calvinistic principles. In 1639, with several other 

 commoners and lords, he held a close correspondence 

 with the commissioners sent to London by the Scot- 

 tish covenanters ; and in the parliament of 1 640, 

 was one of the most active and leading members. 

 On the meeting of the long parliament, he made an 

 able speech on grievances, and impeached the earl 

 of Stafford, at whose trial he was one of the mana- 

 gers of the house of commons. It was the zeal and 

 earnestness of Pym which led Charles into the 

 imprudent measure of going to the parliament in 

 person, to seize him and other four members. Some 

 time before his death, he drew up a defence of his 

 conduct, which leaves it doubtful what part he 

 would have taken had he lived until hostilities com- 

 menced. In November, 1643, he was appointed 

 lieutenant of the ordnance, and died Dec. 8, 1 643. 



PYRALLOLITE is a mineral which occurs 

 massive and crystallized, in flat rhombic prisms, 



