PLA 
being always covered witli a piece of cloth. 
The silver now forms, as it were, a mould fo 
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 two or tliree 
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 buckle 
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 com- 
pressed 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 revolu- 
tion of the equinoxes, or the space wiierein 
the stars and constellations return to their 
former places, in respect of the equinoxes. 
The platonic year, according to Tycho 
Brahe, is 25,816, according to Ricciolus 
25,920, and according to Cassini 24,800 year s. 
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. 
Platonic yhilosoyhy. See Academics. 
PLATOON, in tire military art, a small 
square body of forty or fifty men, drawn 
out of a battalion 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 bat- 
talions or regiments. Platoons are also 
used when they form the hollow square, to 
strengthen the angles. The grenadiers are 
generally posted in platoons. 
PLATYLOBIUM, in botany, a genus of 
the Diadelphia Decandria class and order. 
Natural order of Papilionaceae or Legumi- 
nosse. Essential character : calyx bell- 
shaped, five-cleft ; the two upper segments 
PLE 
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 fioweis all the year round. 
PLATYPUS, in natural history, a genus 
of Mammalia of the order Bruta. Generic; 
character : mouth shaped like the bill of a 
duck ; webbed feet. The P. anatinus, or 
duck-billed platypus, is a native of South 
AV^ales, and constitutes a new and most cu- 
rious genus of quadrupeds. See Orni- 
THORHYNCHUS. 
PLEA, in law, that which either party 
alleges for himself in court. These are di- 
vided into pleas of th6 crown and common 
pleas. Pleas of the crown, are all suits in 
the King’s name, against offences com- 
mitted against his crown and dignity, or 
against his crown and peace. Common 
Pleas, are those that are held between com- 
mon persons. Common Pleas, are either 
dilatory or pleas to the action. Pleas dila- 
tory, are such as tend merely to delay, or 
put off the suit, by questioning the pro- 
priety of the remedy, rather than by deny- 
ing the injury. Pleas to the action, are 
such as dispute the very cause of suit. Di- 
latory 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, sun-re- 
joinder, rebutters, &c. ; and though the 
matter in the declaration or count does not 
properly come under the name of pleading, 
yet, being often comprehended in the ex- 
tended sense of the word, it is generally 
considered under tliis head. This is the 
technical sense of the word pleading, which 
is vulgarly applied to the public speaking 
of the advocates in the courts. The ne- 
cessity of reducing the proceedings into 
writing gives rise to a great deal of business 
amongst barristers, which is called special 
pleading, 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 
