PEL 
522 
the 16th century, was born at Pelta, in the diocefe of 
Liege, whence he derived his furname, but in what year 
we are not informed. He became a member of the So¬ 
ciety of Jefus in the year 155a; and acquired celebrity by 
his proficiency in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Ian- 
guages, and his knowledge of philofophy and divinity. 
When Albert duke of Bavaria founded the Univerfity of 
Ingoldftadt,in 1556, he w'as appointed profeflor of Greek 
and Hebrew literature in that feminary, and difcharged 
the duties of his office with uncommon applaufe. At 
different periods he was admitted to the fubordinate de¬ 
grees in the faculty of divinity, and in 1562 proceeded 
DoCfor. Immediately afterwards he was called to the 
theological chair, which he filled with great reputation 
till the year 1574; when he retired to the college be¬ 
longing to his order at Augfburg, where he fpent his 
time in laborious ftudy and writing till his death, which 
took place in theyear 1584. He was the author of a work 
entitled “ Theologia Naturalis, et Theologia Myftica;” 
together with numerous do&rinal and controverfial 
Treatifes, Thefes, Propofitions, &c. and fundry tranfla- 
tions from Greek into Latin. After his death were pub- 
liflred from his manuferipts, 2. Catena Grascorum Pa- 
trum in Proverbia Salomonis, Latine fa&a, 1604, 8vo. 
3. Commentarii ac Paraphrafis in Proverbia Salomonis, 
1606, 4to. Sotvelli Bill. Script. Soc. Jefu. 
PELTA'RIA, f. [from the form of the feed-veffel, 
round and flat, like the pelta, or round fhield.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clals tetradynamia, order filiculofa, 
natural order of filiquofae, cruciformes, or cruciferae. 
Generic characters—Calyx: perianthium four-leaved; 
leaflets ovate, concave, ereCt, coloured, deciduous. Co¬ 
rolla: four-petalled, cruciform; petals obovate, entire, 
flat, with claws fhorter than the calyx. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments fix, awl-fhaped ; of thefe two oppofite, fhorter, the 
length of the calyx; antherae Ample. Piftillum : germ 
roundilh, comprefled ; ftyle flrort; ftigma Ample, blunt. 
Pericarpium: filicle entire, fuborbiculate, comprefled 
flat, one-celled, not opening. Seed one to three, round¬ 
ifh, comprefled-flat, emarginate.— EJfcntialCharacter. Sili- 
cle entire, fuborbiculate, comprefled-flat, not opening. 
There are two fpecies. 
1. Peltaria alliacea, or garlie-feented peltaria : leaves 
embracing, oblong, undivided. This is a biennial plant, 
and generally dies foon after the feeds are perfected. It 
rifes with an upright branching ftalk, about a foot high. 
Leaves heart-fhaped, fmooth. White flowers terminate 
the ftalk in form of umbels. It is a native of ftony 
mountainous places in Auftria, near the lofty Schnee- 
burg. It was introduced into our gardens in the time of 
Clufius, as he himfelf mentions; and is ftill preferved, for 
the fake of curiofity, in botanical collections; flowering 
in May and ripening feed a month or fix weeks later. 
The herb when bruifed has an unpleafant garlic feent 
fomewhat like that of Eryfimum alliaria. The feeds are 
bitter and acrid. 
2. Peltaria Capenfis, or Cape peltaria : Item-leaves 
quinate-pinnate, linear, fomewhat flefhy. Stem upright, 
branched, round, even, a foot high, leafy. Petals of the 
flowers white, fubemarginate, four times as big as the 
calyx, fpreading, feflile. Seeds in the centre as in Clype- 
ola, folitary in each cell, comprefled. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope. 
Juffieu reduces this genus to Clypeola, and he is fol¬ 
lowed by Lamarck; but P. Capenfis (Linn. Suppl. 296.) 
has, as Willdenow well obferves, a pouch of two cells, 
with diftinCt valves and a membranous partition. Its ha¬ 
bit is like a Heliophila. Whatever it may be, it is no 
Peltaria. 
PEL'TATE, or Target-shaped, adj. in botany, 
having the ftalk inferted in the difk of the leaf, and not 
in the edge. 
PEL'TER,/. A pinch-penny; one withered with co- 
vetoufnefs: a mean paltry wretch. Not now in ufe. 
PEL'TING, adj. “ This word in Shakefpeare Signifies, 
PEL 
I know not why, mean; paltry; pitiful.” Dr. Johnfon. 
—“The word is not peculiar to Shakefpeare : it is ufed 
by writers before and after him ; and appears to have been 
common.” Todd.—They (hall not fuffer, that any of 
thefe light wanderers in markets, and pelting fellers, 
which carry about and fell pinnes, points, and other fmall 
trifles, whom they call pedlars, to fet out theyr wares to 
fale, either in the church-yeardes, or in the porches of 
churches. Boohe of Certaine Canons, Sec. 1571.—Abufed 
and baffled by every pelting paultry lull. Hammond. 
Could great men thunder, Jove could ne’er be quiet; 
For every pelting petty officer 
Would ufe his heaven for thunder. Shakefpeare. 
PEL'TING, f. Aflault; violence: 
Poor naked wretches wherefoe’er you are, 
That bide the pelting of this pitilefs ftorm, 
How (hall your houfelefs heads, and unfed (Ides, 
Your loop'd and window’d raggednefs, defend you ! 
Shakefpeare. 
PELTRY, f. [peltric, old Fr.] Furs or (kins in ge¬ 
neral.—The profits of a little traffick he drove in peltry. 
Smollet. 
PELTUTNUM, in ancient geography, a town of Italy, 
in the territory of Samnium. 
PEL'UA, a town of Illyria, on the route from Sir- 
mium to Salonae, between Salva and aEquum, according 
to the Itinerary of Antonine. 
PELU'CHE, or Felud'sje, a fmall ifland in the north- 
weft part of the gulf of Perfia, near the coaft of Arabia : 
ten miles eaft of Koueit. Lat. 29. 45. N. Ion. 48. E. 
PEL'VIS, f. [Lat. a bafon.] A large irregular bony 
cavity, open above and below, and forming the inferior 
end of the trunk of the human body. At the upper and 
back part its parietes fupport the vertebral column, and 
they are fuftained below and towards the front by the 
thighs, to which they tranfmit the weight of the body ; 
thus a well-marked (pace, which meafures the immediate 
bafe of fupport of the trunk, is left between the plane 
of the limbs and of the fpine. In a well-formed indi¬ 
vidual, the pelvis divides the body into two equal halves : 
that is, if a line be drawn acrofs its middle, the upper 
and lower portions of the body have the fame length. 
This rule, however, is fubjeCt to fome exceptions: the 
lower limbs are imperfectly developed in the feetus ; and, 
in unufually tall or (hort adult individuals, the lower ex¬ 
tremities or the trunk exceed the juft proportion. 
The pelvis is fymmetrical, but of a figure not eafily de¬ 
fined. It forms, by its upper portion, a cavity nearly 
oval in the tranfverfe direction, expanded at the fides, and 
hollowed out in front, communicating by an elliptic 
opening, called the fuperior aperture, with its lower 
portion, which is much fmaller in fize, and ends below 
byjan opening called the inferior aperture. 
The pofition of the pelvis is oblique, the back part be¬ 
ing confiderably higher than the front: this obliquity is 
well feenin the fuperioraperture, which flants very mani- 
feftlyfrom above downwards and forwards: the inferior 
aperture looks downwards and backwards. Soemmerring 
dates, that in the ereCl attitude the laft bone of the coc¬ 
cyx is an inch higher than the inferior edge of the fim- 
phyfis pubis ; and that the promontory of the facrum 
is higher than the fame point, by the whole depth of the 
facrum and coccyx. The axis of the upper or broad 
part of the pelvis is nearly perpendicular; that of the 
lower or fmaller divifion flants from above downwards, 
and from before backwards. It is faid to correfpond to 
a line drawn from the apex of the os coccygis to the 
umbilicus. This line would cut the level of the pelvis 
nearly at a right angle ; that is, the meeting of the two 
lines would form an angle of 75 degrees in front, and of 
105 behind. The weight of the trunk being obliquely 
tranfmitted to the thighs, in confequence of this inclina¬ 
tion of the pelvis, it follows, fays Bichat, that the latter 
is the feat of a decompofition of motion in this tranf- 
2 million, 
