431 
P I G 
the floor; their lower parts fliould be firmly fixed, and 
motionlefs, and their upper parts fliould be moved by 
rods connected with the lever. The tube of the pyramid 
fliould be divided into two branches, which branches 
fliould communicate with the bellows; the nozles of 
which fliould be larger than ufual. Thus the air, loaded 
with the vapours from the colours, might be driven into 
a chimney, or any other place where it might be difperfed 
without danger. Inftead of the bellows, a ventilator, or 
any other means of occafioning a draught of air, might 
be ufed; the object required being only to produce a 
current of air, round the grinding-ftone, that may be 
capable of carrying off the dangerous effluvia arifingfrom 
the colours.” Rep. of Arts, vol. v. 1796. 
PIG'MY, properly Pygmy, [pygmeeus, Lat.] One of a 
fmall nation, fabled to be devoured by the cranes; thence 
any thing mean or inconfiderable.—Of fo low a feature, 
that in relation to the other, they appear as pigmies. 
Hep iin. 
When cranes invade, his little fword and fliield 
Tile pigmy takes. Dnjden s Juvenal. 
M. Gentil, who vifited Madagafcar in 1762 and 1769, 
pofitively denies the exiftence of a race of pygmies, 
which, according to the circumftantial relation of the 
celebrated Commerfon, inhabit the mountains of Mada¬ 
gafcar, and are called Kimos ; fee that word. This rela¬ 
tion, which is contained in a letter written from Mada¬ 
gafcar by M. Commerfon to M. de la Lande, is inlerted 
in the Supplement to M. Bougainville’s Voyage. Our 
author declares that, during a refidence of fix years, 
partly at Madagafcar, and partly at the I fie of France, he 
never heard a word mentioned of thofe pretended pygmies. 
He affirms, that there is neither at Fort Dauphin, nor 
in the other parts of the ifland which he vifited, any 
tradition that mentions them, or a general perfuafion 
(as M. Commerfon alleges) of their exiftence. In faff, 
none of the travellers there quoted had vifited this mira¬ 
culous nation. All that can with confidence be affirmed, 
is that each of them had feen a very little thin woman. 
See vol. xi. p. 722. 
PIG'MY, or Pygmy, adj. Small; little; fhort.—If 
they deny the prefent fpontaneous production of larger 
plants, and confine the earth to as pygmy births in the 
vegetable kingdom as they do in the other; yet furely, 
in fuch a fuppofed universal decay of nature, even man¬ 
kind itfelf, that is now nourifned, though not produced, 
by the earth, muft have degenerated in ftature and 
ftrength in every generation. Bentley. 
The fun is gone : but yet Caftara flays, 
And will add ftature to thy pigmy&zys. Habington’s Cajlara. 
PIG'NA, a town of Italy : twenty miles north-eaft of 
Nice, and nine north-eaft of Vintimiglia. 
PIG'NA (Giambatifta), a learned Italian, born at 
Ferrara in 1530, was the fon of a druggift who acquired 
wealth by being the only perfon who was acquainted 
with the manner of making ultramarineblue in perfection. 
Pigna from his earlieft years difplayed uncommon abili¬ 
ties, with an infatiable avidity for learning; and, under 
fome of the molt eminent fcholars of the time, he made 
(uch a progrefs, that he was created doftor in philoiopby 
in his twentieth year. He was foon after placed in the 
chair of Greek and Latin eloquence at Ferrara; and, 
after the death of his brother, he married the daughter 
of the celebrated phyfician Braflavola. Alfonfo, the fiere- 
ditary prince of Ferrara, elfeemed him fo highly, that he 
kept him about his perfon as one of his principal intimates. 
In 1559 Pigna joined the prince, then in France, and 
returned with him upon his fucceffion to the dukedom 
on the death of his father. He continued tolivein the 
court of Alfonfo II. chiefly occupied in drawing up a 
hiftory of the houfe of Elte, till his death in 1575, at the 
age of 45. 
Pigna wrote Latin and Italian poems, and various 
P I G 
treatifes on different fubjefts, among which are, 1. Del 
Duello, treating on what w\as called laScienza Cavallerefca. 
2. I Romanzi ; on romances, which involved him in a 
difpute with his old mafterCinzio Giraldi, who publiffied 
upon the fame fubjeft, and charged him with plagiarifm. 
But his principal work is, 3. Storia de’ Principi d’Efte, 
of which the firft part was printed at Ferrara in 1570; 
the fequel never appeared. It brings down the hiftory 
of this illuftrious houfe nearly to the end of the 15th 
century, and was the mod: copious and exact account of 
thofe princes that had hitherto appeared, though not 
without an intermixture of ancient fable. For this work, 
alfo, he underwent the acctifation of plagiarifm, as it was 
fa id he had borrowed it from the MS. of Falletti : but 
Tirabofchi has fuccefsfully vindicated Pign3, flowing 
that he only made an allowable ufe of the matter collected 
by that writer, which he himfelf acknowledges. TiraboJ'chi. 
PIGNAN', a town of France, in the department of 
the Herault: five miles weft of Montpellier, and eight 
north of Frontignan. 
PIGNAN'S, a town of France in the department of the 
Var: eighteen miles north-eaft of Toulon. 
PIGNA'TA, f. A meafure for oil at Naples; 320 pig- 
nate being = 325 lb. avoirdupois. 
PIGNERO'LA or Pinerola, a. town of Piedmont, 
near the Clufon, formerly fortified with great care, and 
confidered as the key of Italy. It was a long time 
in pofieffion of the French, who ceded it to Savoy, in 
the year 1713, after having deflroyed the fortifications: 
it is' at prefent only furrounded by a wall. In the year 
1748, it was eredfed into abiftiopric, under the archbifhop 
of Turin: fixteen miles fouth-weft of Turin, and tweniy- 
feven north-north-weft of Coni. 
PIGNORA'TION.^/i [p?gw«s,Lat.] TheaCt of pledging. 
PIGNO'RATIVE. Pledging; pawning. Bulloliar. 
PIGNO'RIA (Lorenzo), a learned antiquary, was born 
at Padua, in 1391. He received his education at the 
Jefuits’ fchool and the univerfity of that city; and, having 
been ordained prieft, he went with the bifliop of Padua 
to Rome, where he remained two years. Returning to 
his native place, he became confeffor to a nunnery, and 
pariffi-prieft of St. Lorenzo. A canonry of Trevifo was 
alfo conferred upon him by Cardinal Fr. Barberini. He 
was in habits of intimacy with many of the molt eminent 
men of letters in his time ; and collected a valuable 
library and cabinet of antiquities. He died of the plague 
in 1631. 
Pignoria was the author of feveral learned works which 
gave him a high reputation. 1. His differtation “ De 
Serviset eorumapud Veteres Minilteriis,” though dift’ufe, 
is a valuable work. 2. He applied his erudition to the 
explanation of Egyptian antiquities in a treatife on hie¬ 
roglyphics, and elpecially in his “ Menfa Ifiaca, 4to. Amft. 
1669,” which is an elaborate commentary upon that 
famous relic. 3. He alfo manifefted his attention to the 
antiquities of his native place, by three Latin letters 
addrelfed to the fenator Domenico Molino; by his 
Origini di Padova, and his Antenore. In thefe he dif¬ 
played a found critical judgment in reje&ing certain 
popular traditions and luppofititious authors. One of 
his criticifms gave occafion to a long controverfy upon a 
trifling fubjedt with Portenari and others. 4. He wrote 
fome other works; and many of his letters in Italian were 
publiffied in the collection of “ Lettere inedite d’uomini 
illuftri, Venet. 1744.” Gen. jBiog. 
PI'GRIN, a Ruffian lettlement, on the weft coaft of 
America, in Beering’s Strait. Lat 65. 54. N. Ion. 191. 
40. E. 
PIG'RITUDE, J. [frotn the Lat. piger, flow.] Lazi- 
nefs; flothfulnefs. Scott. 
PI'GRUM MA'RE, a name applied to the Northern 
Sea, from its being frozen. The word Pigra is applied 
alio to the Pains Mceotis. 
PIG'SNEY, f [piga, Sax. a girl. Lye and Dr. Johnfon. 
—The Romans tiled oculus (the eye) as a term of endear- 
7 ntent, 
