740 
PER 
PERT'NESS, /. Brilk folly; faucinefs ; petulance: 
Dullnefs delighted ey’d the lively dunce, 
Remembring ftie herfelf was pertnefs once. Pope. 
Petty livelinefs; fprightlinefs without force, dignity, or 
folidity.—There is in Shaftefbury’s works a lively pertnefs 
and a parade of literature; but it is hard that we ftiould 
be bound to admire the reveries. Watts on the Mind. 
PERTRAN'SIENT, adj. \_pertranfiens, Lat.] Palling 
over. 
PF.RTUI'S, a town of France, in the department of 
the Mouths of the Rhone, near the Durance : nine miles 
north of Aix, and twelve fouth-fouth-eaft of Apt. 
PERTUIS d’ANTIO'CHE, a ftrait or narrow part of 
the fea, between the I fie of Oleron and the Ifle 
of Rhe. 
PERTUIS BRETON', a narrow ftrait of the fea, be¬ 
tween the Ifle of Rhe and the coaft of France. 
PERTUIS de MAUMUSSON', a ftrait between the 
Ifle of Oleron and the coaft of France, fouthof the ifland, 
about one mile wide. 
To PERTUR'B, or Perturbate, v . a. [ perturho, 
Lat.] To difquiet 5 to difturb ; to deprive of tranquillity. 
-—Reft, reft, perturbed fpirit. Shahefpeare's Hamlet. 
His wafting flelli with anguifti burns, 
And his perturbed foul within him mourns. Sandps. 
To diforder; toconfufe ; to put out of regularity.—The 
acceftion or feceftion of bodies from the earth’s fur- 
face perturb not the equilibration of either hemifphere. 
Brown. 
Corruption 
Hath then no force her blifs to plrturbate. 
More's Immortal, of the Soul. 
PERTURBA'TION, /. [perturbatio, Lat.] Difquiet of 
mind ; deprivation of tranquillity.—The foul, as it is 
more immediately and ftrongly affedted by this part, fo 
doth it manifeft all its paflions and perturbations by it. 
Bap on the Creation. 
P E 
PERU', a conliderable province of South or Spanilh 
America. 
Peru, when firft difeovered by the Spaniards, was a 
large and flourilhing empire, including two kingdoms, 
Peru and Quito. It extended along the fhores of the 
South Pacific Ocean from Chili even to Popayan, em¬ 
bracing the vaft chain of mountains which, arifing in the 
Terra Magellanica, pafles onwards to Mexico, and thus 
■unites South and North America. Peru, therefore, when 
firft reduced to the obedience of the crown of Spain, was 
the largeft of any of the governments founded in America. 
It has fince been reduced, at two periods, in order to 
give fuch extenfion to other provinces as fhoitld entitle 
them to the rank of viceroyalties. In the year 1718, the 
province or kingdom of Quito was feparated from Peru, 
and added to the government of New Granada. In the 
year 1778, when the court of Madrid had refolved on 
erefting the province of Buenos Ayres into a viceroyalty, 
the province of Potofi, the diftrifit furrounding it, the 
cities of La Paz, La Plata, and the fertile diltridt of Co¬ 
chabamba, were feparated from Peru, to form a part of 
the newly-extended government. As, during the civil 
wars, which have raged from 1810 to the prefent time, 
thofe provinces have been wrefted from the dominion of 
-Spain, they are likely, in future, to appertain to that di- 
vifion of South America which will be included in the 
territories of Buenos Ayres or La Plata, rather than to 
that which will include either Peru or Chili. 
The prefent boundary of Peru to the north is the fmall 
river Tumbez, in latitude 3. 26. fouth, and longitude 
80. 6. weft from Greenwich ; which river divides it from 
PER 
Love was not in their looks, either to God 
Nor to each other, but apparent guilt. 
And fhame, and perturbation, and defpair. Milton's P.L . 
Reftleflnefs of palfions.—Natures that have much heat, 
and great and violent defires and perturbations, are not 
ripe for adtion till they have palfed the meridian of their 
years. Bacon's EJfaps. —Difturbance; diforder; confufion; 
commotion.—Although the-long difientions of the two 
houfes had had lucid intervals, yet they did ever hang 
over the kingdom, ready to break forth into new pertur¬ 
bations and calamities. Bacon.— Caufe of difquiet : 
O polifil’d perturbation ! golden care ! 
That keep’ft the ports of {lumber open wide 
To many a watchful night: fleep with it now'. 
Yet not fo found, and half fo deeply fweet, 
As he, whofe brow with homely biggen bound. 
Sleeps out the watch of night. Shahefpeare's Hen. IV. 
ComVr.otion of paftions : 
Reftore yourfelves unto your temper, fathers; 
And, without perturbation, hear me fpeak. 13 . Jonfon. 
PERTURBA'TOR, f. [Latin.] Raifer of commotions. 
PERTURBA'TRIX, f. A woman who breaks the 
peace. Scott. 
PERTUR'BER, f. A difturber.—It was high time for 
the archbifliop and ifate to look ftridfly to thefe perturbers 
of our church’s happy quiet. Sir G. Paul’s Life of Abp, 
Wliitgift. 
PERTU'SED, adj. [pertnfus, Lat.] Bored; punched 5 
pierced with holes. 
PERTU'SION,./. [from pertnfus, Lat.] The aft of 
piercing or punching.—The manner of opening a vein in 
Hippocrates’s time w'as by ftabbingorpertfi/km, as it is per¬ 
formed in horfes. Arbuthnot. —Hole made by punching or 
piercing.—An empty pot without earth in it, may be put 
over a fruit the better, if fome few pertijions be made in 
the pot. Bacon. 
PERTUS'SIS, or Whooping Cough. See the article 
Pathology, p. 183, 4, of this volume. 
New Granada. To the fouth the boundary is the chain 
cf mountains of Vilca-Nota, wdiich terminates at the river 
Loa in latitude 15. The extent of the coaft of Peru is 
thus about 700 geographical miles ; but. as the finuofities 
of the fhore are confiderable, the whole frontage to the 
ocean is upwards of 1000 miles. The eaftern boundaries 
of Peru are not clearly defined. They extend to the 
vaft plains claimed by Portugal, as a part of Brazil, de¬ 
nominated the Pampas del Sacramento, and farther north 
to Colonna, or the Land of the Millions, inhabited by 
unreclaimed Indian tribes. The medium breadth is about 
80 leagues, according to Humboldt, who eftimates the 
whole area of Peru to be 30,000 fquare leagues. 
Peru may be confidered as divided into three diftrifls. 
The firft, called Lower Peru, is a narrow flip of fandy 
plain, varying in breadth from fix to twenty leagues, 
which bounds the whole of the weftern coaft. It is ex¬ 
tremely barren except in the neighbourhood of rivers, 
which, though few and fmall, are in fome places met 
with. They are chiefly formed by torrents from the 
high lands. This fterility is however remedied in a great 
degree by the vaft quantities of manure which are depo- 
fited on the Ihore by aquatic birds, and conveyed thence 
over the country to the inlands. This ordure, which is 
peculiarto the coaft of Peru, is faid by Sir H. Davy tocon- 
tain a greater quantity of ammonia than any other known 
fpecies of manure. This is partly to be attributed to the 
total abfence of rain ; for, in the diftrift under confidera- 
tion, the lofty mountains to the eaftward intercept the 
clouds from the Atlantic Ocean, and the conftant winds 
from the fouth drive the clouds that ccfllsil in the Ant- 
anflic 
