PHY 
PHY 
431 
• Vessels, but is a proper secretion from the 
arteries which terminate on the internal sur- 
face of the uterus. The hual cause of men- 
struation is unquestionably to furnish the 
foetus with its requisite support during gesta- 
tion. '1 he hypotheses which have been pro- 
posed to account for menstruation, as the in- 
fluence of the moon, Szc. are too frivolous 
and antiquated to require refutation or no- 
tice.. 
The state of virility succeeds to that of 
| puberty, and now the constitutional character 
l is fully and firmly established. Theantients, 
| observing a great diversity among individuals, 
i and supposing that such varieties must de- 
I pend upon some elementary matter with which 
the body is impregnated, instituted a general 
i division of constitution into four classes, which 
j in compliance with their mode of judging re- 
specting the origin of such differences they 
called temperaments; a word i\ tained, while 
the theories which introduced it are aban- 
; cloned. The sanguine, the melancholic, the 
j choleric, and the phlegmatic constitutions of 
| authors, with their endless intermixtures, do 
not require description in this place. M. 
Richerand lias proposed a classification which 
will be seen by referring to the above table, 
and which is, perhaps, more accurate in re- 
1 lation to appearances, certainly much more 
so as it regards the origin of difference, than 
the ancient distinctions. We are persuaded, 
that to the physician, tiie arrangement of in- 
dividual peculiarity would be most useful, 
which should be founded on those marks in- 
( cheating an hereditary tendency to lymphatic, 
nervous, and sanguineous affections 
The national varieties of man are, accord- 
■ ing to our author, the Arab-Europeun, “with 
face oval, or nearly oval, in a vertical direc- 
tion, the nose long, the forehead projecting, 
hair long, and generally lank, skin more or 
less white.” These fundamental characters 
are no where so well marked as in the north 
I of civilized Europe. 
The Mongol race, with “ the forehead 
| flat, the cranium not very prominent, the 
eyes directed a little obliquely outwards, and 
r Ahe oval formed by the face, instead of being 
I from the forehead to the chin, is from one 
! cheek to the other.” This is the most nu- 
i merous race, comprehending the Chinese, 
Tartars, Japanese, Szc. 
'The Hyperborean race, “ with flat face, 
squat body, and very short stature,” is form- 
* ed of the Greenlanders, Samoiedes, and Lap- 
landers. The American Indian, M. Sicher- 
and conjectures to be a race from the other 
continents. On the Negro, he has the fol- 
lowing remarks-# “ t ie small progress of this 
| race in the study of the sciences and in civili- 
| zation; their decided taste and singular apti- 
i tu de for all the arts that require more address 
than understanding and reflection, as dan- 
cing, music, fencing, Szc . ; the form of their 
head, which is a medium between the Eu- 
ropean and orang-outang; the existence of 
■ intermaxillary bones, at an age when in us the 
traces of their separation are completely ob- 
literated ; the high situation and smallness of 
the calf of the leg, Szc., have been advanced 
as arguments which, however, are less solid 
than specious, by those who have endeavour- 
ed to degrade this portion of the human 
i species, with a view of justifying the com- 
merce made of them by civilized nations, 
and the slavery to which they are reduced. 
*' Without admitting this position,” says our 
author, “ believed by the avarice of riches, 
we cannot but allow that the differences in 
organization induce (should he not have said, 
are accompanied with ?) an obvious inequality 
in the perfection of the moral and intellectual 
faculties. This truth will be completely elu- 
cidated if we can point out their moral dif- 
ferences to be equally real and strongly 
marked as the physical characters of the hu- 
man races that have been just recapitulated; 
oppose European activity, versatility, and 
restlessness, to Asiatic indolence, phlegm, and 
patience; examine what effects may be 
produced on the character of nations by the 
fertility of the soil, serenity of the atmo- 
sphere, and mildness of the climate ; shew by 
what obligation of physical and moral causes 
the influence of custom lias so much power 
over Eastern people, that in India and China 
we find the same laws, manners, and forms of 
worship, as existed long before the commence- 
ment ot our sera ; investigate by what singu- 
larity these laws, manners, and religions, have 
suffered no alteration amidst the revolutions 
that have so frequently overturned those rich 
countries, which have been seveial times 
conquered by the warlike Tartars ; demon- 
strate that ignorant and ferocious conquerors, 
by the irresistible ascendancy of wisdom and 
information, have adopted the customs of the 
nations they have subjugated; and prove that 
the stationary state of the arts and sciences, 
in people who have enjoyed the benefits of 
society and the advantages of civilization be- 
fore us, is not so much to be attributed to the 
imperfection of their organization, as to the 
humiliating yoke of a religion, abounding in 
absurd practices, and which makes learning 
the exclusive appendage of a privileged 
cast.” 
Tor physiology of plants, see Plants, 
physiology of. 
PIl YbSOPHORA, a genus of vermes 
mollusca ; the generic character is, the 
body gelatinous, pendant from an aerial 
vesicle, with gelatinous members at the 
sides, and numerous tentacula beneath. 
These are nearly allied to the medusa;, and 
might without much impropriety be remov- 
ed to that genus. There are three species. 
PHYTEUMA, cretic rampions, in bo- 
tany, a genus of the pentandria monogynia 
class of plants, the flower of which is com- 
posed of a single stellated petal ; the fruit is 
a roundish capsule, and contains three cells, 
with numerous seeds. There are sixteen 
species. 
PHYTOLACCA, in botany, a genus of 
the decandria decagynia class of plants, the 
corolla whereof consists of five roundish, 
hollow, patent petals ; the fruit is an orbieu- 
lated depressed berry, with ten longitudinal 
furrows, and as many cells, in each of which 
is a single kidney-shaped seed. There are 
six species. In Virginia and other parts of 
America the inhabitants boil the leaves, and 
eat them in the manner of spinach. They 
are said to have an anodyne quality, and 
the juice of the root is violently cathartic. 
The stems when boiled are as good as as- 
paragus. r Flie Portuguese had formerly a 
trick of mixing the juice of the berries with 
their red wines, in order to give thema 
deeper colour ; but as it was found to debase 
the flavour, and to make the wine deleteri- 
ous, the matter was represented to his Por- 
P 1 G 
tuguese majesty, who ordered all the stems 
to be cut down yearly before they piociu- 
- ced flowers, thereby to prevent any lurther 
adulteration. r i he same practice was com- 
mon in France till it was prohibited by an 
edict ot Louis XVI. and his predecessor 
under pain of death. I his plant lias been 
said to cure cancers ; but the truth of this 
assertion lias not been indisputably proved, 
and does not appear very probable.’ 
JTi^ lOLOGY, a discourse concerning 
the kinds and virtues of plants. 
PHY 1 01 AM A, a genus of birds of the 
order passeres ; the generic character is, 
bill conic, straight, serrate; nostrils oval;, 
tongue short, obtuse ; feet four-toed. There 
is only a single species, viz. P. rara, that in- 
habits Chili, nearly equal in size to the quail ; 
has a harsh interrupted cry, resembling the 
syllables ra, ra ; feeds on fresh vegetables 
which it cuts down near the roots with its 
bill as with a saw, and is on that account a 
great pest to gardens; builds in high shady 
trees, in retired places ; eggs w hite spotted; 
with red. 
PI A MATER. See Anatomy. 
PICA. See Mus. 
PICJE, the second order of birds, accord- . 
ingto the Linnaean system. They are dis- 
tinguished by a bill sharp-edged, convex 
above; legs short, strong; feet formed for- 
walking, perching, or climbing; body ton? Ir- 
ish, impure; food various, filthy substances; 
nest in trees; the male feeds the female while 
she is sitting. They live in pairs. Of this- 
order there are twenty-six genera, viz. alcedo,. 
buceros, bucco, buphago, certhia, coracias, 
corvus, crotophaga, cuculus, galbula, glau- 
copis, gracula, merops, momotus, oriolus, 
paradisea, picus, psittacus, rhamphastos, 
scythrops, sitta, todus, trocliilus, trogon, 
upupa, yunx. 
PICKET, Pickquet, or PrauET, in for- 
tification, a painted staff shod with iron; used 
in marking out the angles and principal parts 
of a fortification, when the engineer is tracing, 
out a plan upon the ground. 
PICQUET, a celebrated game at cards 
played between two persons, with only thirty- 
two cards; all the twos, threes, fours-, lives, 
and sixes, being set aside. 
In playing at this game, twelve cards are- 
dealt to each, and the rest laid on the table: 
when if one of the gamesters finds he has not 
court-card in his hand, he is to declare that 
lie has carte-blanche, and tell how many cards 
lie will lay out, and desire the other to dis- 
card, that lie may shew' his game, and satisfy 
his antagonist, that the carte-blanche is real’; 
for which he reckons ten. And here the 
eldest hand may take in three, four, ot five,, 
discarding as many of his own for them, after 
which the other may take in all the remainder 
if he pleases. After discarding, the eldest 
hand examines what suit he lias most cards 
of; and, reckoning how many points he has 
in that suit, if the other has not so many in 
that, or any other suit, he reckons one for 
every ten in that suit, and he who thus reck- 
ons most is said to win the point. It is to be 
observed, that in thus reckoning the cards,, 
every card goes for the number, it bears ; as* 
a ten for ten ; only all court-cards go for ten,, 
and the ace for eleven, and tlie usual-game is. 
one hundred up. The point being over, each, 
