PUD 
in 4to. 5 and afterwards reprinted there, 
and inserted in tlie third volume of Wallis’s 
works, 1699, in folio. 
Mabillon exhibits, in his German Travels, 
an effigy of Ptolemy looking at the stars 
through an optical tube ; which effigy, he 
says, he found in a manuscript of the thir- 
teenth century, made by Conradus, a monk. 
Hence, some have fancied, that the use of 
the telescope was known to Conradus. But 
this is only matter of mere conjecture, there 
being no facts or testimonies, nor even pro- 
babilities, to support such an opinion. 
It is likely tW 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. 
Pubes, in botany, hair or down; a ge- 
neral term expressive of all the hairy and 
glandulous appearances on the surface pf 
plants. They are supposed to serve the 
double purpose of defensive weapons, and 
vessels of secretion. Different species of 
hairs have obtained different names ; some 
are visible to the naked eye, while others 
are rendered visible only by the help of 
glasses ; they are of different forms, in 
leguminous plants they are usually cylin- 
dric ; in the mallow tribe, terminated in a 
point; in agrimony, shaped like a fish hook ; 
in the nettle, awl-shaped arid 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 person 
shall disturb a preacher in his sermon by 
word or deed, he shall be apprehended and 
carried before a justice, who shall commit 
him to goal for three months. 
PUDDING stone, in chemistry, a term 
invented by English lapidaries to designate 
one particular mineral aggregate, consist- 
ing of oblong and rounded pebbles of flint, 
about the size of almonds, imbedded in a 
hard siliceous cement. The pebbles are 
usually black, and the cement a light yel- 
lowish 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 ih a cement, 
PUL 
so as to make it nearly synonimous to tte 
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. 
PULEk, in natural history, the fiea, 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 laminoe ; 
the sheat two-valved, five-jointed, and con- 
cealing a single bristle; lip rounded and 
fringed with reflected prickles; antennae 
projecting, moniliform ; two eyes ; abdomen 
compressed; six legs formed for leaping. 
There are two species, viz. P. irritans, the 
common flea : and P. penetrans, or chigger. 
The common flea is remarkable for un- 
dergoing the several changes experienced 
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 hatch- 
ed the larva, which is destitute of feet, 
beset with hairs, and furnished at the head 
with a pair of short antenn®, and at the 
tail with a pair of slightly curved forjis. 
The larv® 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 immature limbs 
of the inclnded insect. After remaining 
in the chrysalis state about a fortnight the 
complete insect emerges, in its perfect 
form. The singularity most worthy of 
notice in the flea is the situation of the first 
pair of legs, which are placed beneath the 
head. The eyes are large, round, and black ; 
the male is smaller than the 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, penetrating into the skin 
of the inhabitants, where it lodges its eggs, 
and causes malignant, and sometimes fatal 
ulcers. 
PULLEY, in mechanics, one of the me- 
chanical powers, called by seamen a tackle. 
See Mechanics. 
