680 P L E 
ereft, fimple, of fix or eight yellowilh-brown ftalked 
flowers, the fize of Ornithogalum umbellatum, each ac¬ 
companied by a tubular pointed (heath as long as the 
flower of its ftalk. This plant agrees in number of fta¬ 
mens, though not of piftils, with ourButomus umbellatus, 
a genus of the fame natural order; but the ftru< 5 ture of 
the feeds, and their infertion, are both different, as well 
as the inflorefcence. 
PLEGORRHI'ZA, / [from the Gr. wAjjy/j, a wound, 
and a root, becaufe the root of this plant is ufed by 
the inhabitants of Chili as a vulnerary. Molin.Chil. 140.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs enneandria, order mono- 
gynia.— EJfential Char alder. Calyx none; corolla of one 
petal; caplule of one cell; feed folitary. Only one fpecies. 
Plegorrhiza adftringens. Native of the northern pro¬ 
vinces of Chili. Stem woody. Radical leaves collefled 
into a tuft, ftalked, oval, fimple, undivided ; thofe on 
the branches feflile, ovate. Flowers numerous, ftalked, 
terminal; corolla undivided ; ftamens nine, very fhort; 
antherae oblong; germen orbicular; ftyle cylindrical, 
the length of the ftamens; capfule oblong, rather com- 
prefled; feed of the fame ftiape. Jufiieu reckons a calyx, 
what Willdenow, as above, terms corolla; and advifes 
that the genus (hould be compared with his orders of 
Lauri and Polygonere. 
PLE'GRA, in ancient geography, a town of Alia, in 
the interior of Galatia, in the country of the Paphlago- 
nians: placed by Ptolemy between Zagira aud Sacora. 
PLEI'ADS, or Pleiades,/ [Greek.] A northern con- 
ftellation : 
The pleiades before him danc’d, 
Shedding fweet influence. Milton's P.L. 
Then failors quarter’d lieav’n, and found a name, 
Tor pleiads, hyads, and the northern car. Drjjden. 
The Pleiades, were feven of the daughters of Atlas 
by Pleione, or FEthra, one of the Oceanides. They 
were placed in. the heavens after death, where they form¬ 
ed a conftellation near the back of the Bull. Their names 
were Alcyone, Maia, Eleftra, Taygeta, Sterope, Celeno, 
and Merope. They all, except Merope, who married 
Sifyphus king of Corinth, had fome of the immortal 
gods for their fuitors. On that account, therefore, 
Merope’s ftar is dim and obfcure among the reft of her 
filters, becaufe (he married a mortal. Indeed there are 
now only fix ftars vifible in Pleiades, and this appears to 
have been the cafe fo long ago as the time of Ovid: 
“Quae feptem dici, fex tamen elfe folent.” The largeft 
of thefe ftars is of the third magnitude, and is called 
Liicida Pleiadum. The name of Pleiades is derived from 
the Greek word ttXe ew, to fail, becaufe that conftellation 
ftiows the time molt favourable to navigators, which is in 
the fpring. The Latins call them Vergilice, from ver, the 
fpring, becaufe of their riling about-the vernal equinox. 
They are alfo called Atlantides, from their father; and 
Hefperides, from the gardens of that name, which belong¬ 
ed to Atlas. 
Pleiades is a name which the Greeks gave to feven 
celebrated poets, fiourilhing under the reign of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, king of Egypt. Their names were Lyco- 
phron, Theocritus, Aratus, Nicander, Appollonius, Phi- 
licus, and Homer the Younger. 
In imitation of the Greeks, Ronfard formed a Pleiades 
of French poets under the reign of Henry II. It con¬ 
fided of Daurat, Ronlard, du Bellay, Bellau, Baif, Tyard, 
and Jodelie. 
On the fame model, fome of their authors afterwards 
projetfled a new Pleiades of the Latin poets of the laft 
century; but they were not agreed about the names 
of thole that fhould compofe it; much lefs on him who 
fhould be the Lucida Pleiadum. M. Bnillet named 
Rapin, Commire, dela Rue, Santeuil, Menage, du Perier, 
and Petit. 
PLEI'DELSHEIM, a town of the fouth-weft of Ger- 
P L E 
many, in Wirtemburg, near Ludwigfburg. Population 
1250. 
PLEIN RIV'ER, a river of the United States, which 
rifes in the north-weft: territory, flows into Indiana, and 
unites with the Theakiki, to form the Illinois. 
PLEIN RIV'ER. See Kickapoo. 
PLEIN FOUGE'RE, a town in the north-weft of 
France, department of the Ille andVillaine: thirty-one 
miles north by eaft of Rennes. Population 2800. 
PLEIN'FELD, or Bleinfeld, a town of Bavaria, in¬ 
flated in Anfpach : twenty-two miles fouth-eaft of 
Anfpach. Lat. 49. 3. Ion.' 10. 55. E. 
PLEIN'TING, a town of Bavaria, on the Danube: 
five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Ofterhof. 
PLEIO'NE, one of the Oceanides, who married Atlas 
king of the Mauritania, by whom (he had twelve daugh¬ 
ters, and a fon called Hyas. Seven of the daughters were 
changed into a conftellation called Pleiades, and the reft 
into another called Hijades. Ovid. Fafl. v. 84. 
PLE'ISKE, a river of Brandenburg, which runs into 
the Oder nine miles-above Frankfort. 
PLEI'SNITZ, a town of Hungary, twenty-five miles 
weft of Cafchau. 
PLEI'SSE, a river of Saxony, which rifes in the Erzge¬ 
birge, paffes through the circle of Leipfic, and falls into 
the Saale between Halle and Merfeburg. 
PLEI'SSEN, a lordfnip of Germany, in the principality 
of Helfe Rhinfels, infulated in the duchy of Brunfwick. 
It takes its name from an old caftle fituated on a 
mountain. 
PLEIS'VEDEL, a towm of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Leitmeritz : eight miles fouth-weft of Leypa. 
PLE'LAN, a town of France, in the department of the 
Ille and Vilaine, containing, with its parifli, about 300 
inhabitants : twenty-three miles fouth-weft of Rennes. 
PLE'LAN, a town of France, in the department of the 
Northern Coafts, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftrift of Dinan: fix miles eaft of Loudeac. The place 
contains 854 inhabitants. 
PLEL'LENBERG’S BA'Y, a bay in the diftria of 
Zwellendam, in the eaftern part of the territory of the 
Cape of Good Hope. It gives name to a diftria, the 
afpea of which is extremely agreeable, diverfified by hill 
and dale, and lofty forefts. The furface is almoft as level 
as a bowling-green : 400 miles eaft of Cape-town. 
PLEM'ET, a town of France, in the department of the 
Cotes-du-Nord ; containing, including its parifh, 2400 
inhabitants : it has confiderable iron-works : nine miles 
fouth of St. Brieux. 
PLEMMYR'IUM, in ancient geography, a promontory 
on the eaftern coaft of Sicily, over-againft Syracufe, of 
which it was the port, according to Thucydides. It is 
alfo mentioned by Virgil. 
PLEMMY'ROS,/. A word ufed by the old Greek 
writers to exprefs a redundance of humours. Its proper 
fignification is theflowdng in of the tide. 
PLEM'NEUS, in fabulous hiftory, a king of Sicyon, fon 
of Peratus. His children always died as foon as born, 
till Ceres, pitying his misfortune, offered herfelf as a 
nurfe to his wife, as fine was going to be brought to bed. 
The child lived by the care and protection of the 
goddefs : and Plemneus was no fooner acquainted with 
the dignity of his nurfe, than he raifed her a temple. 
Pauf. ii. 5,11. 
PLEMP, or Plem'pius (Vopifcus Fortunatus), an 
eminent phyfician, was born at Amfterdam, of a diftin- 
guifhed family, in December 1601. He received his 
claffical education at Ghent, and ftudied philofophy at 
Louvain, whence he repaired to Leyden, and commenced 
his medical ftudies. He fubfequently travelled into 
Italy, and palled the principal portion of his time at 
Padua and Bologna, having the advantage of ptirfuing 
his anatomical inveftigations under the diredfion of 
Spigelius at the former place, and of taking his degree of 
, dodlor 
