PUL 



PUL 



It is likejy that the tube was nothing 

 more than a plain open one, employed to 

 strengthen and defend the eyesight, when 

 looking at particular stars, by excluding 

 adventitious rays from other stars and ob- 

 jects, a contrivance which no observer of 

 the heavens can ever be supposed to have 

 been without.. 



PUBES. See ANATOMY. 



PUSES, in botany, hair or dotvn ; a ge- 

 nei'a! term, expressive of all the hairy and 

 glandulous appearances on the surface of 

 plants. They are supposed to serve the 

 doable purpose of defensive weapons, 

 and vessels of secretion. Different spe- 

 cies of hairs have' obtained different 

 names; some are visible to the naiccd 

 eye, while others are rendered visible 

 only by the help of glasses ; they are of 

 different forms ; in leguminous plants 

 they are usually cylindric ; in the mallow 

 tribe, terminated in a point ; in agrimony, 

 shaped like a fish hook; in the nettle, 

 awl-shaped and jointed ; and in some 

 compound flowers, they end in two 

 crooked points. 



PUBLIC worship. By law all con- 

 temners of public worship shall be, ipso 

 facto, excommunicated; and if any per- 

 son shall disturb a preacher in his ser- 

 mon by word or deed, he shall be appre- 

 hended and carried before a justice, who 

 shall commit him to gaol for three 

 months. 



PUDDING stone, in chemistry, a term 

 invented by English lapidaries to desig- 

 nate one particular mineral aggregate, 

 consisting of oblong and rounded pebbles 

 of flint, about the size of almonds, im- 

 bedded in a hard siliceous cement. The 

 pebbles are usually black, and the cement 

 a light yellowish brown. It is capable of 

 receiving a very high polish, and is used 

 in ornamental works. It is found chiefly 

 in Essex. The French mineralogists have 

 naturalized the term, poudingue, and have 

 applied it to all rounded stones imbedded 

 in a cement, so as to make it nearly sy- 

 nonimous to the English " rubble-stone." 



PUGIL, in physic, &c. such a quantity 

 of flowers, seeds, or the like, as may be 

 taken up between the thumb and two 

 fore -fingers. 



PUISNE, younger, junior; as, a puisne 

 judge. 



PULEX, in natural history, the fea, a 

 genus of insects of the order aptera. Ge- 

 neric character : mouth without jaws or 

 feelers, with a long inflected proboscis, 

 covered at the base with two ovate la- 

 minee ; the sheath two-valved, five-joint- 

 ed, and concealing a single bristle ; lip 



rounded and fringed with reflected pric- 

 kles; antennae projecting, moniiiform ; 

 two eyes ; abdomen compressed ; six legs 

 formed for leaping. There are two spe- 

 cies, viz. P. irritans, the common flea : 

 and P. penetrans, or chigger. 



The common flea is remarkable for un- 

 dergoing the several changes experi- 

 enced by the greater part of the insect 

 race of other tribes, being produced from 

 an egg in the form of a minute larva, 

 which changes to a chrysalis, in order to 

 give birth to the perfect animal. The 

 egg is small, oval, and white, and from 

 this in a few days is hatched the larva, 

 which is destitute of feet, beset with 

 hairs, and furnished at the head with a 

 pair of short antennae, and at the tail with 

 a pair of slightly curved forks. The 

 larvse in about ten days arrive at their full 

 growth, when they cease to feed, and 

 casting their skin, change into the state 

 of a chrysalis, which is of a white colour, 

 and of an oval shape, with a slightly 

 pointed extremity, and exhibits the im- 

 mature limbs of the included insect. Af- 

 ter remaining in the chrysalis state about 

 a fortnight, tLe complete insect emerges, 

 in its perfect form. The singularity most 

 worthy of notice in the flea is the situa- 

 tion of the first pair of legs, which are 

 placed beneath the head. The eyes are 

 large, round, and black : the male is 

 smaller than die female, with the back 

 rather sinking than convex, as it always 

 is in the female. 



P. penetrans, or chigger, is a native of 

 South America and the West India 

 islands : it is, said to be exceedingly 

 troublesome in the sugar colonies, pene- 

 trating into the skin of the. inhabitants, 

 where it lodges its eggs, and causes ma- 

 lignant, and sometimes fatal ulcers. 



PULLEY, in mechanics, one of the me- 

 chanical powers, called by seamen a tac- 

 kle. See MECHANICS. 



PULMON ARIA, in botany, lung-wort, 

 a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia 

 class and order. Natural order of Asperi- 

 foliae. Borragineae, Jussieu. Calyx 

 prismatic five-cornered ; corolla, funnel 

 form, with an open throat. There are 

 five species, of which P. ofncinalis, com- 

 mon lung-wort, has a perennial fibrous 

 root, lower leaves rough, about six inches 

 long and two and a half broad, of a dark 

 green on their upper side, marked with 

 many broad whitish spots, pale under- 

 neath ; stalks almost a foot in height, hav- 

 ing several smaller leaves on them, stand- 

 ing alternately ; the flowers are produced. 



