382 P I C 
of the Thames, to be accounted for? Nay; if, by ftretch- 
ing probability as far as it will well go, we admit that the 
difference of fpecies may account for their exiftence in a 
temperate climate, are we to extend their admifiion to 
thofe ifiands of the frozen ocean whofe foil is faid to be 
compofed of the bones of elephants and other large ani¬ 
mals ? To explain their exiftence in fuch a fituation ap¬ 
pears to us to require fomething more than a difference 
of fpecies ; it requires a change of climate ; and the only 
means that we know of, ftifficient to account for fuch a 
change,and which would eft'eflually produce it,is a change 
in the pofition of the poles of the earth, or of the incli¬ 
nation of its axis to the plane of its orbit. Either of 
thefe caufes would not only occafion a change of climate, 
but at the fame time produce one of thofe dreadful cataf- 
trophes, which have difturbed and afflidted the furface of 
the earth. That fuch changes fliould occur, and more 
frequently than they have happened, is more conceivable 
than that the earth, in its double motion, Ihould for ever 
prefent nearly the fame point of its furface to the fame 
fpot of the heavens,, when fo many difturbing caufes ap¬ 
pear to be within the range of poffibility. The old theory 
of internal heat, and gradual cooling of the globe, long 
fince exploded, has been revived to account for the phe¬ 
nomena in queftion; but the arguments built on a foun¬ 
dation fo unftable would lead to conclufions fo abfurd 
and unphilofophical, that, in our opinion, they are not 
worth purfuing. Indeed, no other caufe than one or the 
other of thefe we have mentioned, feerns adequate to the 
produdtion of thofe great cataftrophes which have broken 
up the furface of the earth, produced revolutions in the 
bafin of the lea, and converted its ancient bed into moun¬ 
tains, hills, and plains, as is abundantly teftified by the 
numerous beds of (hells in the one, and of echini, coral¬ 
lines, ferpelli, and various other marine productions, in 
the rocky ftrata of the other. 
PICK'ERSGIL CO'VE, a harbour within Chriftmas 
Sound, on the fouth coaft of Terra del Fuego, at the fouth 
extremity of South America. 
PICK'ERSGIL HAR'BOUR, a port of New Zealand, 
on the fouth Ihore of Dulky Bay. Lat. 45. 47. S. Ion. 
166. 18. E. 
PICK'ERSGIL I'SLAND, a fmall ifland in the South 
Atlantic Sea, near the fouth coaft of the ifland of Geor¬ 
gia, fo called from Capt. Cook’s third lieutenant. Lat. 
54. 47. S. Ion. 36. 42. W. 
PICK'ERSVILLE, a town of North America, in South 
Carolina: twenty miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Cambridge. 
PICK'ERY, J'. in Scots law, petty theft, or Healing 
things of fmall value. 
PICK'ET, f. [piquet, Fr.] An out-guard polled be¬ 
fore an army, to give notice of an enemy approaching. 
Pickets, or tent-pins, are fmall Hakes, of about fix or 
eight inches long, to fallen the cords in pitching the 
tents. Others, of about four or five feet long, are driven 
into the ground near the tents of the horfemen, to tie 
their horfes to. The pickets ufed in fortification are 
fometimes (hod with iron, being ufed in laying out the 
ground ; and, when ufed for pinning the fafcines of a bat¬ 
tery, they are from three to five feet long. The artillery- 
pickets are five or fix feet long, (hod with iron, to pin the 
park-lines, and to lay out the boundaries of the park. 
The Picket was a corporal punilhment, chiefly ufed 
by the cavalry and artillery ; and in the former often in¬ 
flicted by order of the commanding officer, without the 
ientence of a court-martial. The mode of inflicting it 
was this: a long pod being driven into the ground, the 
delinquent was ordered to mount a ftool near it, when his 
right hand was fattened to a hook in the poll by a noofe 
round his wrill, drawn up as high as it could be ftretched; 
a reverfed tent-pin or picket, of the height of the ftool, 
with its end cut to a round and blunt point, was then 
driven into the ground near the poll before mentioned, 
and, the ftool being taken away, the bare.heel of the fuf- 
ferer was made to reft upon the Hump, which, though it 
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did not break the Ikin, put him to great torture ; the only 
mitigation he could obtain was by relting his weight on 
his wrill, the pain of which foon became intolerable. 
Soldiers were frequently fentenced to Hand on the picket 
for a quarter of an hour. This, like the riding of the 
wooden horfe, has been for fome time left off, as it lamed 
and ruptured many foldiers. 
To PICK'ET, v. a. To fet or poll a picket.—The ca¬ 
valry are pichetted, without order or regularity, around 
the llandards of their refpedlive chiefs. Moore's JSarr. of 
the Mahratta Army, 1794. 
PICK'ETS, a town of Virginia : thirty-five miles fouth- 
fourh-weft of Wafhington. 
- PICK'ING,/. [generally ufed in the plural.] That 
which is left to be picked up; the refufe. 
PICK'LE, f. [pekel, Teut. and Saxon. One William 
Beukelen, of Biervelt near Siuys, is laid to have firft in¬ 
vented the art of pickling herrings, whence pekel. See 
Brit. Zoology, iii. 290.] Any kind of fait liquor, in which 
flelh or other fubftance is preferved.—Some filh are gut¬ 
ted, fplit, and kept in piclile; as whiting and mackerel. 
Carew's Snrv. of Cornwall. —A third fort of antiscorbutics 
are called allringent; as capers, and mod of the common 
pickles prepared with vinegar. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 
Thou (halt be whipt with wire, and (tew’d in brine. 
Smarting in lingering pickle. Skakefpcare. 
Thing kept in pickle. Condition ; (late. A word of 
contempt and ridicule.— A phyfician undertakes a wo¬ 
man with fore eyes ; his way was to dawb ’em with oint¬ 
ments, and, while (he was in that pickle, carry off a fpoon. 
L' EJlrange. 
Poor Umbra, left in this abandon’d pickle , 
E’en fits him down. Swift’s Mijcell. 
To PICK'LE, v. a. To preferve in pickle : 
They (hall have all, rather than make a war, 
The (traits, the Guiney-trade, the herrings too ; 
Nay, to keep friendfhip, they (hall pickle you. Dryden. 
To feafon or imbue highly with any thing bad : as, A pic¬ 
kled rogue, or one conlummately villanous. 
PICK'LE, Py'cle, or Pi'ghtel, /. [piccolo, Ital.] A 
fmall parcel of land inclofed with a hedge, which in fome 
counties is called a pingle. Phillips. 
PICK'LE-HER'RING, /. [“ There is a fet of merry 
drolls, whom the common people of all countries admire ; 
thofe circumforaneous wits, whom every nation calls by 
the name of that difli of meat which it loves belt. In 
Holland they are termed pickled-herrings; in France, 
Jean Potages; in Italy, maccaronies; and in Great Bri¬ 
tain, jack-puddings.” Addifon’s Speft. N° 47.] A jack¬ 
pudding ; a merry-andrew; a zany; a buffoon.—The 
pickle-herring found the way to drake him ; for, upon his 
whiffling a country jig, this unlucky wag danced to it 
with fuch a variety of grimaces, that the .countryman 
could not forbear finding, and loll the prize. AdiliJou"s 
Spectator. 
PICK'NICK, /. [Swedilh.] An aflembly of young 
people of both fexes at a tavern, where every one pays his 
club. Widegrin's Swedi/h and Eng. Lexicon; Stockholm, 
1788.—The Engliftr meaning feerns to be, a feledl feafting 
aflembly, where each perfon makes fome particular con¬ 
tribution towards the general entertainment. 
PICKNO'MON,/. in botany. See Cnicus. 
PICKOUAG'AMIS, a river of Canada, which runs 
from Lake Shabamoulhan to Lake St. John. 
'PICK'WORTH, a village in Rutlahdlhire, to the eaft 
of Five-Mile Crofs, in the York road from Stamford: it 
was formerly a town, with a parilh-church, of which no¬ 
thing remains but the (leeple, now called Mock-beggar. 
PI'CO , f. [Spanilh.] Peak; point.—Though every rock 
of the fea was as high as the pico of Teneriffe. Jicniley's 
Sermons. 
PI'CO, one of the Azores, which derives its name from 
a high mountain terminating in a peak. This volcanic 
mountain 
4 
