PIC 



565 



PIG 



the belly is white, and there is a large 

 spot of the same on the wing. Its eternal 

 chattering has rendered it notorious. In 



Scotland it is named the pyet. 2. In 



printing, a, large species of type, probably 

 named from litcra picata, a great black 

 letter at the beirinnuig of some new order 

 in the Liturgy. The name pica, or pye, 

 was also formerly given to an ordinary, 

 table, or directory, for devotional pur- 

 poses, but for what reason does not ap- 

 pear. 3. Depraved appetite, with 



strong desire for unnatural food, so named, 

 because the magpie was thought to be 

 subject to this disease ! -4. 1'iete formed 

 the second order of birds in the system of 

 Linnaeus. 



PIC'AMARE. A thick oil, one of the six 

 new principles discovered by M. Reichen- 

 bach in wood-tar. It has an insupport- 

 sbly bitter taste, from which -it is named : 

 pieeam amaram, the bitter principle of 

 pitch. 



PICAR'DS. A fanatic and immoral sect, 

 who sprung up iu Bohemia, in the loth 

 century. 



PICE. Small copper coins in the East 

 Indies. 



PICK'ET, Fr. picquet. 1. In military af- 

 fairs, a guard, consisting of a small num- 

 ber of men, who do duty at an outpost to 



prevent surprises. 2. In fortification, 



pickets are sharp stakes sometimes shod 

 with iron, used in laying out ground, or 

 for pinning the fascines of a battery. 



PICRID'IUM. A genus of herbaceous 

 plants. Syngenesia ; Poly, cequalis. France 

 and Barbary. 



PIC'ROLITE, from trtzgos, bitter, and 

 Xiflof , stone. A green-coloured mineral, 

 chiefly composed of carbonate of magnesia, 

 and so named from its taste. 



PICROLICH'ENITE. The bitter principle 

 of the Variolaria amara, a lichen which 

 grows in great abundance on the bark of 

 the beech: xix^, bitter, and lichen. It 

 is a neutral substance, insoluble in water, 

 but very soluble in alcohol : crystallises in 

 octahedrons with a rhomboidal base. Sp. 

 gr. 1-176. 



PJC'ROMEL, from 5njas, bitter, and 

 fuX, honey. The black bitter principle of 

 bile is so named by M. Thenard. 



PICEOTOX'IXE, I The substance to 



PICROTOX'IC ACID. ) which the Coccuhts 

 indicus, the fruit of the Menispermum coc- 

 cului owes its deleterious qualities: from 

 5T<gs, bitter, and ro^ixov, poison. It 

 forms acicular crystals, dissolves in water 

 and alcohol, and does not combine with 

 acids, and hence is not an alkali, as 

 was supposed when it was named piro- 

 toxic. From the experiments of MM. 

 Pelletier and Couerbe, on the other hand, 

 It appears that picrotoxine is capable of 

 combining with alkalies, and therefore 



approaches nearer the character of an 

 acid than a base : it is sometimes in con 

 sequence named picrotoxic acid, and the 

 compounds which it forms are accordingly 

 picrotoxtitcs. 



Piers' WALL. Adrian's Wall. An an- 

 cient wall, begun by the emperor Adrian, 

 A.D. 123, on the northern boundary ot 

 England, from Carlisle to Newcastle, to 

 prevent the incursions of the Picts and 

 Scots. 



PICTURER'QUE. All objects which afford 

 fit matter for the imitation of the painter. 



PIE, ) 1. Among printers, types mixed 



PYE. j or unsorted. 2. See PICA. 



PIECE. In commerce, a definite quantity 

 of cloth, according to its kind. Ihe pieces 

 of some piece-goods are much longer than 

 others. 



PIED'MONT TRCF'FT.E. In botany, the 

 Lycoperdon tuber or Trubs, a solid fungus 

 of a globular form, which grows under 

 the surface of the ground. 



PIEDIIOIT (Fr.). In architecture, a pile 

 or square pillar partly inserted in a wall. 



PIENO (It.). In music, signifies that all 

 the instruments are at that place per- 

 forming. 



PIE'POW'DER (corrupted from Fr. pie- 

 poudrc, from pied, foot, and poudre, dust, 

 or pied puldreaitx, a pedlar). An arcient 

 court of record in England, incident to 

 every fair and market, of which the 

 steward of him who had the toll was the 

 judge. It had jurisdiction of all causes 

 arising in the fair or market. 



PIER, Fr. pierre. A strong erection, 

 jutting into the sea, extending either in 

 a curved or straight line, constituting a 

 harbour for protecting shipping and othei 

 craft. Piers are generally constructed ol 

 strong masonry, supported on the out- 

 side by large fender piles driven into the 

 ground, and strongly framed together by 

 several rows of cross pieces. The piers of 

 a bridge are the wall or masses from . 

 which the arches spring. In buildings, 

 generally a pier is a strong flat buttress, 

 projecting from the face of a wall ; the 

 term is also applied to any wall inter- 

 posed between two windows or other 

 openings. 



PIERCED. In heraldry, when a charge 

 is represented as perforated. 



PI'ETISTS. A sect of Protestants who 

 sprung up in Germany, in the latter part 

 of the ITth century, professing great piety 

 and strictness of life. They despised learn- 

 ing and cultivated mysticism. 



PIEZOM'ETER, from trngu, to press, and 

 fjur^ov, measure. An apparatus for as- 

 certaining the compressibility of water. 

 The best piezometer is that of (Ereted, 

 described in Mosley's Illustrations of Me- 

 chanics. 



Pio (of lead). About 150 K,t. 



