PLA 



PLE 



before it is bent, is first tinned, and then 

 the silver-plate is gently hammered upon 

 it, the hammer employed being always 

 covered with a piece of cloth. The silver 

 now forms, as it were, a mould to the ring, 

 and whatever of it is not intended to be 

 used is cut off. This mould is fastened 

 to the ring of the buckle by tv. r o or three 

 cramps of iron-wire ; after which the 

 buckle, with the plated side undermost, is 

 laid upon a plate of iron sufficiently hot to 

 melt the tin, but not the silver. The buc- 

 kle is then covered with powdered resin, 

 or anointed with turpentine ; and, lest 

 there should be a deficiency of tin, a small 

 portion of rolled tin is likewise melted on 

 it. The buckle is now taken off with 

 tongs, and commonly laid on a bed of 

 sand ; where the plate and the ring, while 

 the solder is yet in a state of fusion, are 

 more closely compressed by a smart 

 stroke with a block of wood. The buckle 

 is afterwards bent and finished. 



The mode of plating at present is, to 

 fasten plates of silver upon thicker plates 

 of copper, and then rolling them together 

 into thin plates. The copper is twelve 

 times thicker than the silver, and one 

 ounce of silver is rolled to a surface of 

 three feet or more. The plates being 

 thus made, they are then stamped by a 

 single stroke into the size and form of 

 buckles, buttons, spoons, &.c. 



PLATONIC year, or the GREAT year, 

 is a period of time determined by the re- 

 volutioii of the equinoxes, or the space 

 wherein the stars and constellations re- 

 turn to their former places, in respect of 

 the equinoxes. The platonic year, accor- 

 ding to Tycho Brahe, is 25,816, according 

 to Ricciolus 25,920, and according to 

 Cassini 24,800 years. This period once 

 accomplished, it was an opinion among 

 the ancients, that the world was to begin 

 anew, and the same series of things to 

 turn over again. 



PJLATOXIC pfalosophy. See ACADEMICS. 



PLATOON, in the military art, a small 

 square body of forty or fifty men, drawn 

 out of a batallion of foot, and placed be- 

 tween the squadrons of horse, to sustain 

 them ; or in ambuscades, straits, and de- 

 files, where there is not room for whole 

 battalions or regiments. Platoons are al- 

 so used, when they form the hollow 

 square, to strengthen the angles. The 

 grenadiers are generally posted in pla- 

 toons. 



PLATYLOBYUM, in botany, a genus 

 of the Diadelphia Decandria class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Papilionaceae or Le- 

 . Essential character : calyx 



bell-shaped, five-cleft; the two upper 

 segments very large and obtuse ; legume 

 pedicelled, compressed, winged at the 

 back. There is but one species, viz. P. 

 formosum, orange flat pea, a native of 

 New South Wales, where it flowers all 

 the year round. 



PLATYPUS, in natural history, a ge- 

 nus of Mammalia of the order Bruta. Ge- 

 neric character : mouth shaped like the 

 bill of a duck ; webbed feet. The P. ana- 

 tinus, or duck-billed platypus, is a native 

 of South Wales, and constitutes a new and 

 most curious genus of quadrupeds. See 



PLEA, in law, that which either party 

 alleges for himself in court. These are 

 divided into pleas of the crown and com- 

 mon pleas. Pleas of the crown, are all 

 suits in the King's name, against offences 

 committed against his crown and dignity, 

 or against his crown and peace. Common 

 Pleas, are those that are held between 

 common persons. Common Pleas, are ei- 

 ther dilatory or pleas to the action. Pleas 

 dilatory, are such as tend merely to de- 

 lay, or put off the suit, by questioning the 

 propriety of the remedy, rather than by 

 denying the injury. Pleas to the action, 

 are such as dispute the very cause of suit. 

 Dilatory pleas must not be confounded 

 with sham pleas, which are used for the 

 purpose of delay, but which, if true, 

 would go to the merits of the action, and 

 which, however they may be abused, can 

 never be avoided in practice. 



PLEADINGS. Pleadings, in general, 

 signify the allegations of parties to suits 

 when they are put into a proper and legal 

 form ; and are distinguished in respect to 

 the parties who plead them, by the 

 names of bars, replications, rejoinders, 

 sur-rejo"mders,rebutters, Sec. ; and though 

 the matter in the declaration or count 

 does not properly come under the name 

 of pleading, yet, being often compre- 

 hended in the extended sense of the 

 word, it is generally considered under 

 this head. This is the technical sense of 

 the word pleading, which is vulgarly ap- 

 plied to the public speaking of the advo- 

 cates in the courts. The necessity of re- 

 ducing the proceedings into writing gives 

 rise to a great deal of business amongst 

 barristers, which is called special plead- 

 ing, and those who are skilled in this are 

 distinguished particularly as pleaders. Of 

 late years persons under the degree of 

 barristers have drawn pleadings, which 

 are afterwards signed by barristers. 

 These persons take very low fees, but 

 when called to the bar engross a great 



