P E Y 
P E Y 
23 
made of ioo parts of tin, 8 of antimony, i of bifmutli, 
and 4 of copper. The ufe of thefe additions to the tin 
is to harden it, and preferve its whitenefs; and this fine 
kind of pewter takes a very high polifii, has a beautiful 
filvery luftre, and is not readily tarniflied. Tin, with a 
little zinc or brafs, makes a very fine hard alloy. The 
antimony is fo intimately united to the tin, that it is not 
volatilized when ftrongly heated, or only in a very fmall 
degree, and it is not eafily difTolved by any weak acid ; 
fo that in the ufe of this kind of pewter there is no dan¬ 
ger of incurring the common effedfs of this metal. 
The next metal inferior to this is called trifling metal, 
and is lowered one half-penny per pound in worth, by 
alloying it with lead; of this metal ale-houfe pots are 
made. The lower fort of metal is ftill farther alloyed by 
lead, fo as to reduce the value two-pence in a pound 
lower than plate-metal; of this, which is called lay-metal, 
wine-pots are made. 
Lead may be mixed with tin in any proportion, without 
deftroying the malleability of the compound metal,whereas 
the brittle metals, and copper, impart a brittlenefs to the 
alloy, when they exceed certain proportions. Hence 
lead and tin, with or without other fmaller additions, 
form the pewter in ordinary ufe. Lead being the cheap¬ 
en of the two metals, the manufacturer finds it his Jnte- 
reft to employ it in as large a proportion as poflible; but, 
danger having been apprehended from this noxious 
metal, the French government appointed a commifiion of 
fome very able chemifts to examine the fubjedf; and they 
found, that, when wine or vinegar is allowed to Hand in 
velfels compofed of an alloy of tin and lead in different 
proportions, the tin is firft difTolved ; whilft the lead is 
not fenfibly oxydated by thefe liquors, except at the line 
of contaft of the air and the liquor; and no fenfible quan¬ 
tity of lead is difTolved even by vinegar, after Handing 
for fome days in veffels that contained no more than 
about 18 percent, of lead. Hence it was concluded that, as 
no noxious effedl is produced by the very minute quan¬ 
tity of tin which is difTolved, pewter may be confidered 
as perfeClly fafe, which contains about So or 82 per cent, 
of tin; and, where the veffels are employed merely for 
meafures, a much lefs proportion of tin may be allowed. 
But the common pewter of Paris was found to contain 
no more than about 25 or 30 per cent, of tin, and the re¬ 
mainder was lead. For the refults of the proceffes of 
MefTrs. Bayen and Charlard for afcertaining the nature 
and proportions to the feveral alloys ufed by the pewter- 
ers of Paris, we refer to Chaptal’s Elements of Chemiftry, 
vol. ii. 
Pewter has occafionally ferved for money. In the Phi- 
lofophical TranfaCfions, M. Putland informs us, that king 
James II. turned all the pewter veffels, &c. of the Protel- 
tants in Ireland he could feize, into money; half-crowns 
were fomevrhaf bigger than halfpence, and other pieces 
in proportion. He ordered it to be current in all pay¬ 
ments : whence our author obferves, people abfconded for 
fear of being paid their debts : he alio mentions crown- 
pieces of this metal, with this legend on the rim, mei.ioris 
TESSERA FATI. 
PEW'TERER, f A man who works in pewter.— He 
fliall charge you and difcharge you with the motion of a 
pewlerer's hammer. Shakefpeare's Hen. IV. 
PEX'ITY, f. [from peido, Lat. to comb.] The nap or 
lhag of cloth. Cole. 
PEYAU'NNY, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude: eigh¬ 
teen miles fouthof Mahomdy. 
PEY'ER (John-Conrad), a phyfician and anatomift, 
was born of a good family at Schaffhaufen in 1659. He 
ftudied at Bafil, where he took the degree of M.D. in 
1681, having previoufly vifited Paris, and differed under 
Duverney. He fettled in his native country; and, be- 
fides adfing in his medical capacity, he filled with repu¬ 
tation the chairs of eloquence, logic, and natural philofo- 
phy. He died at Schaffhaufen in 1712. Peyer has per¬ 
petuated his name by the diligence and accuracy with 
which he inveftigated the muciferous agminnted glands 
of the inteftines in man and other animals. His re- 
fearches on this fubjedf are contained in his “ Exercitatio 
Anatomico-medica de Glandulis Inteftinorum, earumque 
ufu et affedfionibus, cui fubjungitur Anatome Ventri- 
culi Gallinacei,” 1671, 8vo. He alfo wrote, a. Methodus 
Hiftoriarum Anatomico-medicarum, &c. 1678; in which 
he defcribes the proper manner of making diffedtions with 
the view of difcovering the caufe of difeafes. 3. Preonis 
et Pythagorae Exercitationes Anatomico-medicse, 1682, 
8vo. thefe are obfervations on a variety of anatomical 
fnbjedls by Harder and Peyer, whofe affumed names as 
members of the fociety Naturae Curioforum are the above. 
4. Merycologia, feu de Ruminantibus et Ruminatione 
Commentarius, 1685. 5. De Valetudine hunrana. 6. 
De Pancreate Schediafma. 7. Obfervatiocirca Urachum. 
8. Several papers on comparative and human anatomy in 
the Ephemerides Naturae Curioforum. 
His fon, John James Peyer , alfo a phyfician at Schaff¬ 
haufen, publilhed “ Obfervationes Anatomies,” 1719. 
Gen. Biog. 
PEY'ERBACH, a town of Auftria : feven miles weft 
of Efferding, and fixteen weft of Lintz. 
PEYERSON’S POI'NT, a cape on the north coaft of 
Antigua. Lat. 17. 18. N. Ion. 61. 32. W. 
PEYJURE'E, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Kitchwara : fourteen miles fouth - fouth- weft of Ra- 
googur. 
PEY'RAC, a town of France, in the department of 
the Lot: five miles north-weft of Guerdon, and nine 
fouth-weft of Martel. 
PEY'RAT, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Vienne: twelve miles eaft-fouth-eaft of St. 
Leonard, and twenty-one eaft of Limoges. 
PEYREFIT'TE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Aude: five miles weft of Limoux. 
PEYREHOURA'DE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Landes: ten miles fouth of Dax, and fixteen 
eaft of Bayonne. 
PEYRE'I, a town of France, in the department of 
the Vienne : fifteen miles fouth-weft of Poitiers. 
PEYRELAU', a town of France, in the department of 
the Aveiron : nine miles north-eaft of Milhau. 
PEYRILLA'T, a town of France, in the department 
of the Upper Vienne: twelve miles north-weft of Li¬ 
moges. 
PEYRE'RE (Ifaac la), a French writer wdro held fome 
lingular opinions, was born at Bourdeaux, about the 
year 1594. He was educated a Proteftant, and atone 
time had an employment under M. de la Thuillerie, am- 
baffador from France to the court of Denmark. After¬ 
wards he obtained a poll in the eftablifhment of the prince 
of Conde. He was fond of reading and enquiry ; but was 
greatly deficient in learning and in judgment, as well as 
firmnefs and confiftency of principle. Having one day 
perufed the fifteenth chapter of St. Paul’s Epiltle to the 
Romans, he conceived thewhimfical notion, that the 12th, 
13th, and 14th, verfes, offered evidence of the exiftence 
of men in the world before Adam. This point he 
undertook to prove in a book which he caufed to be 
printed in Holland in 1655, under the title of “ Pre- 
adamitse, five Exercitatio luper Verfibus 12, 13, 14. 
Cap. XV. Epiftolae Pauli ad Romanos,” in 4to. and 12010. 
In this work he maintained, that it is the origin of the 
Jewilh nation only, and not of the human race, which 
we find recorded in the books of Mofes ; and that our 
globe was inhabited by many nations before Adam, 
whom he confidered as the father of the Jews. No loaner 
had this book been publilhed at Paris, than it was con¬ 
demned to be burnt by the hands of the common execu¬ 
tioner; and, though M. La Peyrere had not put his name 
to it, yet, as he W'as well known to be the author, he was 
arrefted at Bruffels, and thrown into prifon, by the au¬ 
thority or through the influence of the vicar-general of 
the archbilhop of Mechlin. By the intereft of the prince 
