PYR 
colour. These materials require prepara* 
tion before they are fit for use j and before 
a person can be qualified for the business of 
fire-work making, he must understand the 
method of making the moulds, cases, &c. 
and be acquainted with the instruments 
used in the art, their dimensions and mate- 
rials. To discuss the several topics con- 
nected with the business, would require a 
space very much larger than could be 
afforded in this work, we shall therefore 
content ourselves witli this notice, referring 
our readers to distinct treatises on the sub- 
ject, which are to be found in the English 
and French language. 
PYRUS, in botany, a genus of the Ico- 
sandria Pentagynia class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Pomaceae. Rosaceae, Jussieu. 
Essential character : calyx five-cleft ; petals 
five ; pome inferior, five-celled, many- 
seeded. There are thirteen species, with 
many varieties. The P. communis, com- 
mon pear-tree, grows to a lofty height, with 
upright branches, the twigs or brauchlets 
hanging down; leaves elliptical, obtuse, 
serrate; the younger ones clothed with a 
deciduous cotton underneath and along the 
edge; stipules linear ; flowers in terminat- 
ing villose corymbs; corolla snow-white; 
pome produced at the base; hard and 
acerb, in the wild state, with five cells in 
the middle, each two-valved, containing two 
seeds. The wood of the pear is light, 
smooth, and compact ; it is used by turners, 
also for joiners’ tools, for picture frames, to 
be stained black ; the leaves afford a yellow 
dye, and may be used to give a green to 
blued cloths: the juice of the fruit ferment- 
ed is called Perry. The P. nialus, common 
apple-tree, is very spreading, with the 
branches and twigs irregular and twisting, 
more horizontal than in the pear; leaves 
ovate, serrate, the younger ones pubescent 
underneath ; stipules linear ; flowers in ter- 
minating sessile, villose, umbels; corollas 
white inside, and finely tinged with red on 
the outside; fruit roundish, umbilicate at 
the base, acid. The wood of the wild ap- 
ple. is tolerably hard ; it turns very clean, 
and when made into cogs for wheels, ac- 
quires a polish, and lasts a long time ; the 
bark affords a yellow dye ; the acid juice of 
the fruit is called verjuice ; it is much used 
in recent sprains, and in other cases, as an 
astringent or repellent. For a full descrip- 
tion of the numerous varieties of pears and 
apples, the reader is referred to Martyn’s 
edition of Millar’s “ Gardener’s and Bota- 
nist’s Dictionary.” 
PYT 
PYTHAGORAS, in biography, ohe. of 
the greatest philosophers of antiquity, was 
born about the forty-seventh Olympiad, or 
590 years before Christ. His father’s prin- 
cipal residence was at Samos ; but being a 
travelling merchant, his son Pythagoras was 
born at Sidon, in Syria ; but soon return- 
ing home, our philosopher was brought up 
at Samos, where he was educated in a 
manner that was answerable to the great 
hopes that were conceived of him. He was 
called “ the youth with a fine head of hair;” 
and from the great qualities that soon ap- 
peared in him, he was regarded as a good 
genius sent into the world for the benefit of 
mankind. 
Samos, however, afforded no philosophers 
capable of satisfying his thirst for know- 
ledge ; and therefore, at eighteen years of 
age, he resolved to travel in quest of them 
elsewhere. The fame of Pherecydes drew 
him first to the island of Syros, from hence 
he went to Miletus, where he conversed 
with Thales. He then travelled to Phoeni- 
cia, and stayed some time at Sidon, the 
place of his birth ; and from hence he pas- 
sed into Egypt, where Thales and Solon had 
been before him. 
Having spent twenty-five years in Egypt, 
to acquire all the learning and knowledge 
he could procure in that country, with the 
same view he travelled through Chaldea, 
and visited Babylon. Returning after some 
time, he went to Crete ; and from hence to 
Sparta,, to be instructed in the laws of Mi- 
nos and Lycurgus. He then returned to 
Samos; which, finding under the tyranny 
of Polycrates, he quitted again, and visited 
the several countries of Greece. Passing 
through Peloponnesus, he stopped at Pho- 
lius, where Leo then reigned ; and in his 
conversation with that prince, he spoke 
with so much eloquence and wisdom, that 
Leo was at once ravished and surprised. 
From Peloponnesus he went into Italy, 
and passed some time at Heraclea and at 
Tarentura ; but made his chief residence at 
Croton; where, after reforming the man- 
ners of the citizens by preaching, and esta- 
blishing the city by wise and prudent coun- 
sels, he opened a school, to display the 
treasures of wisdom and learning he pos- 
sessed. It is not to be wondered that he 
was soon attended by a crowd of disciples, 
who repaired to him from different parts of 
Greece and Italy. 
He gave his scholars the rules of the 
Egyptian priests, and made them pass 
