PUR 
only to be avoided. See Dr. Toulmin’s 
edition of Neal’s history of tlie Puritans, 
and Palmer’s Nonconformist’s Memorial ; 
two works of considerable merit, and fraught 
with information, on the history and prin- 
ciples of the Puritans. See also the arti- 
cles, Non-Conformists, Presbyterians, 
Protestants, and Reformation. 
PURLUE, or Purlieu, signifies all that 
ground near any forest, which, being made 
forest by Sing Henry II. Richard I. and 
King John, was afterwards, by perambula- 
tions and grants of Henry III. severed 
again from the same, and made purlieu ; 
that is to say, pure and free from the laws 
of the forest. 
PuRLUE man, or Purlieu man, a person 
who has ground within the purlieu, and is 
qualified, to hunt within the same, though 
under certain restrictions. 
By a statute of Charles II. no man may 
keep greyhounds within the purlieu, or else- 
where within England and Wales, unless he 
have a free warrant, or be lord of a manor, or 
such a freehold as is seised in his own right, 
or in right of his wife, of lands, tenements, 
or hereditaments, of the clear yearly value 
of 401. over and above all the charges of re- 
prises of such estate of inheritance ; or of 
lands, tenements, &c. in his own right, or 
in the right of his wife, for the term of 
life or lives, of the yearly value of 801. over 
and above all charges and reprises ; or that 
is worth, in goods or chattels, 4001. Others, 
that are not thus qualified, and yet have 
land in the purlieus, if they find beasts Vif 
the forest in their own ground, within the 
purlieu, may chase them out with little 
dogs, though not with greyhounds. 
PURPLE. See Dyeing. 
PURPURE, PouRPRE, or Purple, in 
heraldry, according to some, is one of the 
five colours of armories, compounded of 
gules and azure, bordering on violet, and, 
according to others, of a great deal of red 
and a little black. But it was excluded by 
the ancient heralds as only an imperfect co- 
lour. In the coats of noblemen, it is called 
amethyst ; and, in those of princes, mer- 
cury. It is represented in engraving, by 
diagonal lines drawn from the sinister chief 
to the dexter base point. 
PURSER, an officer aboard a man of 
war, who receives her victuals from the vic- 
tualler, sees that it be well stowed, and 
keeps an account of what he every day de- 
livered to the steward. He also keeps a 
list of the ship’s company, and sets down 
exactly the day of each man’s admission, in 
order to regulate the quantity of provisions 
PUT 
to be delivered out, and that the pay-mas- 
ter or treasurer of the navy may issue out 
the disbursements, and pay off the men, ac- 
cording to his book. 
PUS, in medicine. What is called 
healthy pus is about the consistence of 
cream', and of a yellowish- white colour, an 
insipid taste, and when it is cold, without 
smell. It produces no change on vegetable 
blues. When pus is exposed to a moderate 
heat, it dries, and assumes the appearance 
of horn. By distillation it gives out water 
in considerable proportion, ammonia and 
some gaseous substance, and an empyreu- 
matic oil ; a shining coaly matter remains 
behind, the ashes of which, after being 
burnt, afforded some traces of iron. The 
following tests have been given to distin- 
guish pus from mucus, which is of consider- 
able importance in cases where the forma- 
tion of pus is suspected in the lungs. 
1. Pus is soluble in sulphuric acid, and pre- 
cipitated by water ; mucus swims. 2. Pus 
may be diffused through water, diluted sul- 
phuric acid, and brine ; but mucus is not. 
3. Pus is soluble in alkaline solutions, and 
is precipitated by water ; but this is not 
the case with mucus. These are the pro- 
perties of pus when it is secreted from a 
sore which is said to be in good condi- 
tion, or in a disposition to heal. Its pro- 
perties are very different in what are called 
ill-conditioned sores. In these cases, the 
matter secreted is thin, fetid, and acrid. 
Matter secreted by cancerous sores, which 
has been examined, converts tlie syrup of 
violets to a green colour ; and from this mat- 
ter sulphurated hydrogen gas is separated by 
means of sulphuric acid. This gas is sup- 
posed to exist in combination with ammonia. 
PUTAMINE^E, in botany, the name of 
the twenty-fifth order in Linnaeus’s Frag- 
ments of a Natural Method ; the 'fleshy 
seed-vessel of which is frequently covered 
with a hard, woody shell : among the ge- 
nera of this, are the capparis, caper-bush ; 
and the crescentia, calabash-tree. Most of 
the plants of this order are acrid and pene- 
trating, and yield, by burning, large quan- 
tities of alk^i. The flower-buds of the ca- 
per-bush, preserved with vinegar, furnish 
the pickle well known by the name of ca- 
pers. The calabash-tree is large and spread- 
ing, like an apple-tree: the fruit, when 
largest, is capable of holding, when the 
pulp is cleared out, about two gallons of 
water, and is used in the West Indies, as 
drinking cups, punch-bowls, and other arti- 
cles of household furniture. 
PUTREFACTION, is that spontaneous 
