434 
T I M 
P I NT 
P I N 
PILE, in building, is used for a large stake 
rammed into the ground in the bottom of ri- 
• ) v< ’ rs > or in marshy land, for a foundation to 
build upon. 
Pile Engine. See Engine. 
Pile, in coinage, denotes a kind of pun- 
cheon, which in the old way of coining with 
tne hammer, contained the arms, or other 
figure and inscription, to be struck on the 
coin. Accordingly we still call the arms side 
of a piece of money the pile, and the head 
the cross; because in ancient coins, a cross 
usually took the place ot the head in ours: 
but some will have it called pile, from the 
impression of a ship built on piles, struck on 
this side of our ancient coins. 
PILLAR. See Architecture. 
P1LO I , a person employed to conduct 
snips over bars and sands, or through intricate 
channels, into a road or harbour. Pilots are 
no constant and standing officers aboard our 
vessels, but are called in occasionally, cm 
coasts or shores unknown to the master ; and 
mv'mg piloted in the vessel, they return to the 
shore where they reside. 
Pilots taking upon them to conduct ships 
up the 1 liames, are to be examined and ap- 
proved by the master and wardens of the 
Trinity-house at Deptford, or shall be liable to 
forfeit 10/. for the first offence, and 20/. for 
the second, &c. and the Ijke penalty, if they 
act without licence from the said master and 
wardens ; and if by their negligence they lose 
a ship, they shall be for ever disabled. 3 
Geo. I. and 5 Geo, II. c. 26. 
PILULAltlA, a genus of the cryptoga- 
mia Alices. There is one species. 
PIMELIA, a genus of insects of the order 
coleoptera. The generic character is, anten- 
na; filiform ; feelers four; thorax plano-con- 
vex, margined; head exserted ; shells rather 
rigid; wings usually none. It is divided into 
sections : A, antenna; moniliform at the tip ; 
JB, entirely filiform. 
PIMELITE, a mineral distin guished by a 
fine apple-green colour : according to Klap- 
roth , it is composed of 
35.00 silica 
15.62 oxide of nickel 
5.00 alumina 
„ 4.58 oxide of iron 
1.25 magnesia 
37.91 water. 
99.36 
PIMENTA, or Pimento, Jamaica pep- 
per, or allspice. See Myrtus. 
PIMPINELLA, burnet saxifrage, a ge- 
nus of the digynia order, in the pentandria 
class of plants. The petals are bent in ; stig- 
ma subglobular ; fruit ovate, oblong. There 
are nine species; the most remarkable of 
which are: 1. The major, or greater burnet 
saxifrage, growing naturally in chalky woods, 
and on the sides of the banks near hedges, in 
several parts of England. 2. The ansium or 
common anise, an annual plant, which grows 
naturally in Egypt; but is cultivated in Malta 
and Spain, whence the seeds are annually im- 
ported into Britain. 
Both these species are used in medicine. 
The roots of pimpinella have a grateful, 
warm, very pnngent taste, which is entirely 
extracted by rectified spirit: in distillation 
the menstruum arises, leaving all that it had 
taken Up from the root united into a pungent 
aromatic resin. This root promises, from its 
sensible qualities, to be a medicine of consi- 
derable utility, though little regarded in com- 
mon practice: the only officinal composition 
in which it is an ingredient is the pu 1 vis ari 
compositus. Stahl, Hoffman, and other Ger- 
man physicians, are extremely fond of it; and 
recommend it as an excellent stomachic, re- 
solvent, detergent, diuretic, diaphoretic, and 
ulexipharmic. 
Aniseeds have an aromatic smell, and a 
pleasant warm taste, accompanied with a de- 
gree of sweetness. Water extracts very little 
of their flavour; rectified spirit, the whole. 
1 hese seeds are in the number of the lour 
greater hot seeds: their principal use is in 
cold flatulent disorders, where tenacious 
phlegm abounds, and in the gripes to which 
young children are subject. Frederic Hoff- 
man strongly recommends them in weakness 
of the stomach, diarrhoeas, and for' strength- 
ening the tone of the viscera in general ; and 
thinks they well deserve the appellation 
given them by Helmont, intestinorum sola- 
men. The smaller kind of aniseeds brought 
from Spain are preferred. 
PIN, in commerce, a little necessary in- 
strument made of brass wire, chiefly used by 
women in adjusting their dress. In the year 
1543, by statute 34 and 35 of Henry 4 111. 
cap. vi. it was enacted, <£ that no person 
shall put to sale any pinnes but only such as 
shall be double-headed, and have the heads 
soldered fast to the shank of the pins, well 
smoothed, the shank well shapen, the points 
well and round filed, canted, and sharpened.” 
From the above extract it should appear that 
the art of pin-making was but of late inven- 
tion, probably introduced from France; and 
that our manufactories since that period have 
wonderfully improved. 
Though pins are apparently simple, their 
manufacture is, however, not a little curious 
and complex. When the brass wire, of 
which the pins are formed, is first received at 
the manufactory, it is generally too thick for 
the purpose of being cut into pins. The first 
operation therefore is that of winding it off 
from one wheel to another with great velo- 
city, and causing it to pass between the two, 
through a circle in a piece of iron of smaller 
diameter: the wire being thus reduced to its 
proper dimensions, is straightened by draw- 
ing it between iron pins, fixed in a board in a 
zigzag manner, but so as to leave a straight 
line between them: afterwards it is cut into 
lengths of three or four yards, and then into 
smaller ones, every length being sufficient to 
make six pins ; each end of these is ground to 
a point, which is commonly performed by 
boys, who sit each with two small grinding- 
stones before him, turned by a wheel. Tak- 
ing up a handful, he applies the ends to the 
coarsest ot the two stones, being careful at 
the same time to keep each piece moving 
round between his fingers, so that the points 
may not become flat : he then gives them a 
smoother and sharper point, by applying them 
to the other stone, and by that means a lad 
of twelve or fourteen years of age is enabled 
to point about 16,000 pins in an hour. When 
the wire is thus pointed, a pin is taken off 
from each end, and this is repeated till it is 
cut into six pieces. The next operation is 
that of forming the heads, or, as they term it, 
head-spinning ; which is done by means of a 
spinning-wheel, one piece of wire being thus* 
with astonishing rapidity, wound round ano- 
ther, and the interior one being drawn out 
leaves a hollow tube between the circumvolu- 
tions: it is then cut with shears, every two 
circumvolutions or turns of the wire forming- 
one head: these are softened by throwing, 
them into iron pans, and placing them in a 
furnace till they are red-hot. As soon as they 
are cold, they are distributed io children, 
who sit with anvils and hammers before them,, 
which they work with their feel, b\ means of 
a lathe ; and taking up one of the lengths,, 
they thrust the blunt end into a quantity of 
the heads which lie before them ; and catrli- 
ing one at the extremity, they apply them im- 
mediately to the anvil and hammer; and by 
a motion or two of the foot, the point and the* 
head are fixed together in much less time 
than it can be described, and with a dexte- 
rity only to be acquired by practice ; the 
spectator being in continual apprehension for 
flie salety ot their fingers ends. I he pm is- 
now finished as to its form, but still it is 
merely brass ; it is therefore thrown into a- 
copper, containing a solution of tin and the 
leys of wine. Here it remains tor some time 
and when taken out assumes a white, though 
dull appearance : in order therefore to give a 
polish, it is put into a tub containing a quan- 
tity ot bran, which is set in motion by turn- 
ing a shaft that runs through its centre; and 
thus by means of friction it becomes perfectly 
bright. T he pin being complete, nothing re- 
mains but to separate it from the bran ;. which 
is performed by a mode exactly similar to the 
winnowing of corn, the bran ‘flying off, and 
leaving the pin behind fit for immediate- 
sale. 
PINCHBECK, an alloy containing three 
parts of zinc, and four of copper: it assumes 
the colour of gold, but it is not so malleable 
as brass. See Zinc. 
PINE. See Pinus. 
Pine-Apple. See Bromelia. 
PlNEAL GLAND. See Anatomy. 
PINGUICULA, hattcrivort, a genus of 
the monogynia order, in the diandria class of 
plants. The corolla is ringent, with a spur; 
calyx two-lipped, five-cleft ; capsule one-; 
celled. There are five species, of which the 
most remarkable is the vulgaris, or common 
butterwort, growing commonly on bogs or 
low moist grounds in England and Scotland. 
Its leaves are covered with soft upright pel- 
lucid prickles, secreting a glutinous liquor. 
The flowers are pale red, ‘purple, or deep 
violet-colour, and hairy within. If the fresh- 
gathered leaves of this plant are put into the 
strainer through which warm milk from the 
cow r is poured, and the milk is set by for a day 
or two to become acescent, it acquires a con- 
sistency and tenacity, and neither whey nor 
cream separates from it. In this state it is an 
extremely grateful food, and as such is used 
by the inhabitants of the north of Sweden. 
There is no further occasion to have recourse 
to the leaves; for half a spoonful of this pre- 
pared milk, mixed with fresh warm milk, will 
convert it to its own nature, and this again 
will change another quantity of fresh milk, 
and so on without end. T he juice of the 
leaves kills lice; and the common people use 
it to cure the cracks or chops in cows’ ud- 
ders. T he plant is generally supposed inju- 
rious to sheep, by occasioning in them that 
disease called the rot ; but from experiments 
