PED 
PEC 
uncultivated, mountainous tracts, and like- 
wise in low vallies and fenny plains ; and in 
several parts of the western shore of Great 
Britain. The depth of peat mosses is very 
various, from a few feet to twelve or fifteen 
yards; its consistence is very various ; some- 
times in a semi fluid state, forming a black, 
impassible wilderness, studded here and 
there b}' tufts of rushes ; when more solid, 
it is scantily covered over witli heath and 
coarse grasses : in this state it is passable 
by sheep and other animals, especially dur- 
ing the dry season of the year. In deep 
peat mosses the upper part is loose, and 
less inflammable than the lower part of the 
bed. When of a good quality it is mode- 
rately compact, and may be readily cut in 
small masses of the size of bricks. By ex- 
posure to the air it dries, and becomes very 
inflammable. In this country it is tire com- 
mon fuel of large districts of Wales and 
Scotland, and of some parts of England, 
where coal is scarce and dear. Its ashes 
are in high estimation as a manure, being 
applied in the form of a top-dressing. 
PECK, a measure of capacity, four of 
which make a bushel. 
PECORA, in natural history, the fifth 
order of the class Mammalia. They have 
no fore-teeth in tlie upper jaw, but several 
in the lower; feet hoofed, cloven : they live 
on herbs, chew the cud, and have four 
stomachs ; fiz. the paunch, to macerate and 
ruminate the food; the bonnet, reticulate, 
to receive it; the omastis, of numerous folds, 
to digest it ; and the abomasus, to give it 
acescency, and prevent putrefaction. There 
are eight genera, viz. 
Antelope Capra 
Bos Cervus 
Camelus Moschus 
Camelopardalis Ovis. 
PECTIS, in botany, a genus of the Syn- 
genesia Polygamia Siiperflua class and or- 
der. Natural order of Compositas Oppo- 
sitifolia?. Corymbiferaj, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial character: calyx five-leaved, cylindric ; 
florets in the ray five ; down awned ; re- 
ceptacle naked. Tliere are four species. 
These are annual plants, and natives of the 
West Indies. 
PECULIAR, signifies a particular parish 
or church that hath jurisdiction within it- 
self, for probate of wills, &c. exempt from 
the ordinary, and the bishop’s court. The 
Court of Peculiars is that which deals in 
certain parishes, lying in several dioceses ; 
which parishes are exempt from the juris- 
diction of the bishops of those dioceses, and 
are peculiarly belonging to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, within rvhose province there 
are fifty- seven such peculiars. 
PEDALIUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. 
Natural order of Lurid®. Bignoni®, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx five-part- 
ed; corolla subringent, with a five-cleft 
border ; nut suberous, four-cornered, thorny 
at the corners, two-celled; seeds two. 
There is but one species, viz. P. murex, 
prickly-fruited pedalium : it is a native of 
the East Indies. 
PED.ALS, the largest pipes of an organ, 
so called because played and stopped with 
the foot. The pedals are made square, and 
of wood ; they are usually thirteen in num- 
ber. They are of modern invention, and 
serve to carry the sounds an octave deeper 
than the rest. See Organ. 
PEDESTAL, in architecture, the lowest 
part of an order of columns, being that 
which sustains the column, and serves it as 
a foot or stand. The pedestal consists of 
three principal parts, viz. a square trunk, 
or dye, which makes the body ; a corniche, 
the head; and a base, the foot of the pe- 
destal. There are as many kinds of pedes- 
tals as there are of orders of columns, viz. 
the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and 
Composite. See Architecture. 
Ped'estals of statues, are such as serve 
to support statues or figures. Vignola ob- 
serves, that there is no part of architecture 
more arbitrary, and in which more liberty 
may be taken, than in the pedestals of sta- 
tues; there being no rules or laws pre- 
scribed by antiquity, nor any settled even 
by the moderns. There baing then no 
fixed proportion for these pedestals, the 
height depends on the situation, and the 
figure that they sustain ; when on the 
ground, the pedestal is usually two-thirds or 
two-fifths of that of the statue ; the more 
massive the statue is, the stronger the pe- 
destal must be. Their form and character, 
&c. are to be extraordinary and ingenious, 
far fi-om the regularity and simplicity of the 
pedestals of columns. The same author 
gives a multiplicity of forms, as oval, trian- 
gular, multangular, &c. 
PEDICELLARIA, in natural history, a 
genus of the Vermes Mollusca class and or- 
der. Body soft, and seated on a rigid, fix- 
ed peduncle; aperture single. Three spe- 
cies only are enumerated. P. globifera ; 
head spherical ; inhabits the Northern seas, 
among the spines of echini ; body minute, 
and resembling a mucor; head reddish. 
