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PURPLE EMPEROR-PURPURA.

The discovery was kept secret in Italy for nearly boring their shells with its proboscis. The genus is a century, and that country supplied the rest of interesting, because some species of it were amongst Europe with the prepared dye, which received the

name of Orchil or Archil (q. v.). The colour was very fugitive, and soon ceased to be used by itself; it, however, was found very useful in combination, and has a remarkable power of brightening up other colours. Many improvements have been lately made in archil dyeing, especially in fixing it. Its value, however, has been greatly lessened by the discovery of the beautiful series of purples yielded by coal-tar as results of the combination of one of its products called aniline with other bodies. See DYEING.

PURPLE EMPEROR (Apatura Iris or Nymphalis Iris), one of the largest of British butterflies, and one of the most richly coloured. The expanse of wings is from 2 to 34 inches. The wings are strong and thick, and the flight more sustained

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Purple Emperor (larva and pupa shewn below).

Purpura:

Shell of P. persica; an animal of P. hæmostoma.

those which yielded the famous Tyrian purple of the ancients. P. patula is supposed to have been one of those from which this dye was obtained, but it may have been obtained from others, as P. lapillus. The dye is contained in a small veinlike sac near the head. See PURPLE COLOURS.

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than that of many butterflies. The P. E. is very often to be seen about the tops of oak-trees.

PURPURA, or THE PURPLES, is a malady which is often erroneously placed amongst the diseases of the skin. It is in reality a blood disease, and is characterised by the appearance of small round spots, of a deep purple colour, which are seen first and most abundantly on the legs, and afterwards extend to the arms and trunk. They are accompanied by no local pain, are not effaced by pressure (being due to a drop of blood extravasated beneath the cuticle, or in the structure of the skin itself), do not rise above the surrounding surface, and are sometimes intermixed with livid patches resembling bruises; and, before disappearing, both the round spots and the patches undergo the same change of colour which a bruise undergoes. These spots are not peculiar to the skin, but occa sionally occur upon internal surfaces, and in the tissues of viscera. Passive hæmorrhages from the mucous membranes frequently accompany the external symptoms. There is usually much debility, and often a great tendency to faintness. The duration of the disease varies from a few days to a year or more. Slight cases are devoid of danger, and even the hæmorrhagic cases usually recover, unless the bleeding has been excessive, or the blood has been extravasated into a vital organ.

PURPLE WOOD, or PURPLE HEART, the heart-wood of Copaifera pubiflora and C. bracteata, a very handsome wood of a rich plum colour. The trees producing it are natives of British Guiana, where the wood is called generally Mariwayana. The trees are rather rare on the coast, but in the upland forests are common. The chief interest of the wood is its remarkable adaptation to the purposes of artillery and fire-arms. It is said no wood is better adapted for mortar-beds and gun-carriages, as it sustains better than any other the violent concussions to which they are subjected. Its chief use in this country has been for making ramrods for muskets. Its great beauty and smooth grain would insure its extensive employment in cabinet-work in this country, if it were better known.

PURPLES. See EAR-COCKLES.

PU'RPURA, a genus of gasteropodous molluscs, of the family Buccinidae. The species are very similar to those of the genus Buccinum (see WHELK), but have a less elongated shell, and a flattened columella, which is pointed at the base, and forms there, with the outer lip, a canal excavated as a notch in the shell, and not projecting. The species are numerous, mostly natives of the shores of warm climates. P. lapillus is a species pretty common on most parts of the British coast. It is smooth and whitish, with bands of reddish-brown, and sometimes two inches long. It feeds on mussels and other molluscs,

The causes of this disease are obscure. The mode of treatment varies in different cases, but the main indication always is to correct the condition of the blood. When there is reason to believe that the disease is dependent upon depressing influences, a nutritious diet, tonics, and stimulants are required; and chalybeates, or the mineral acids, and quinine, with plenty of exercise in the open air, should be prescribed. When, however, there is no evidence of the operation of any debilitating cause, and the pulse is hard, the most efficient treatment consists in abstinence, venesection, and purgatives. In cases of a mixed nature, a mixture of the oil of turpentine and castor-oil, in free doses (2 drachms of the former to 5 or 6 drachms of the latter), and iced drinks, or the sucking of small pieces of ice, have been strongly recommended. If the hæmorrhage is not stopped by the oil of turpentine, gallic acid, or acetate of lead and opium, must be prescribed; and if it proceeds from accessible parts, local measures, such as the employment of ice or strong astringents, should also be employed.

PURPURE-PURURAVAS.

PURPURE, in Heraldry, the colour purple,
expressed in engravings by lines in
bend sinister. It is of unfrequent
occurrence in British heraldry.
PU'RPURINE.
PURRE. See DUNLIN.

See MADDER.

PURSE-CRAB (Birgus), a genus of Crustacea, of the order Decapoda, Purpure. and suborder Anomoura (see CRAB), allied to Hermit-crabs (q. v.), but having the abdomen or tail shorter and almost orbicular, its under surface soft and membranous, its upper surface covered with strong plates, which overlap one another as in lobsters. The first pair of legs have large and powerful pincers; the pair of legs nearest the abdomen are very small, but terminated by rudimentary pincers; the pair next to them larger, with small pincers; the second and third pair of legs are terminated by a single nail. A species of P. (B. latro) is found in Mauritius and in the more eastern islands of the Indian Ocean. It is one of the largest of crustaceans, sometimes two or three feet in length when fully stretched out, and

Purse-crab (Birgus latro).

capable of erecting itself to the height of a foot
from the ground, which it readily does if irritated,
retreating backward, and exhibiting to the utmost
its powers of offence or defence. It is of a
yellowish-brown colour, its limbs covered with little
blackish projections. It is never found far from the
sea, to which it is said to pay visits, in order to
moisten its gills; but it resides on land, and often
in holes under the roots of trees, where it accumu-
lates great quantities of the fibres of the cocoa-nut
husk, as if to keep itself warm, or for a soft bed.
The Malays rob these stores to supply themselves
with junk. The gills of the P. are contained in a
very large cavity, of which they fill only a very
small part.
Its food consists of cocoa-nuts and
other nuts, which it climbs trees to procure. Its
manner of dealing with a cocoa-nut is described as
exhibiting a remarkable instinct, as it always begins
to tear off the husk at the end where the eyes are.
It is variously stated that it makes a hole through
the eye from which the nut would germinate, and
then scoops out the nut with the small pincers of its
fourth pair of legs; and that having made this hole,
it seizes the nut by one of its great pincers, and
breaks it against a stone. Both statements may
perhaps be true.

PU’RSER, in the Royal Navy, was formerly a warrant, and subsequently a commissioned officer, in charge of the provision, clothing, pay, and necessaries of a ship-of-war. His title was changed in 1844 to that of Paymaster (q. v.).

PU'RSLANE (Portulaca), a genus of plants of the natural order Portulaceae, having a bifid calyx, 4 or six petals, 8 or 16 stamens, and a capsule lividing

around the middle. COMMON P. (P. oleracea) grows in cultivated and waste grounds on the sea-shore, in almost all tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It is cultivated as a pot-herb. It is a shortlived annual, with spreading and rather procumbent stems, and obovate fleshy leaves, which, as well as The young and tender shoots are pickled in France the young shoots, are frequently used in salads. like gherkins. P. is not so common in British gardens as it once was.

PU'RSUIVANT (Fr. poursuivant, follower), the third and lowest order of heraldic officers. The office was instituted as a novitiate, or state of probation through which the offices of herald and kingat-arms were ordinarily to be attained, though it has been held that a herald or king-at-arms may be made per saltum. There are four pursuivants belonging to the English College of Arms: Rouge Croix, the oldest, so named from the Cross of St George; Blue-mantle, instituted either by Edward III. or Henry V., and named in allusion to the robes of the Order of the Garter, or perhaps to the colour of the arms of France; Rouge Dragon, deriving his title from King Henry VII.'s dexter supporter, a red dragon, assumed in allusion to his descent from Cadwaladyr; and Portcullis, named from a badge of the same monarch. There are six pursuivants in the heraldic establishment of Scotland, known by the names of Dingwall, Bute, Carrick, Ormond, Kintyre, and Unicorn-titles which, as well as those of the heralds, seem to have originated in the reign of James III. The Scottish pursuivants take precedence according to seniority in office.

In ancient times, any great nobleman might institute his own pursuivant with his own hands and by his single authority. The Dukes of Norfolk had a pursuivant, called Blanch-lyon, from the white lion in their arms; the pursuivant of the Dukes of Northumberland was styled Espérance, from the Percy motto; and Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, had a pursuivant called Egle vert. We even find Sir John Lisle, in 1442, making Thomas de Launey his pursuivant, by the title of Blanch Sanglier. The ancient costume of a pursuivant of the king was a surcoat, embroidered with the royal arms, and worn with one sleeve hanging down in front, and another behind. In 1576, Rouge Croix was severely censured for wearing his coat as a herald. In later times, however, a pursuivant's coat is worn exactly as a herald's, the latter officer being distinguished by the collar of SS.

PURÛRAVAS, a celebrated legendary king of ancient India. According to tradition, he was a son of the planet Budha, or Mercur, by Ilâ-a name of the earth, a prince renowned for liberality, devotion, magnificence, truthfulness, and personal beauty; but still more so on account of his love for the Apsaras Urvas'i. This heavenly nymph having incurred the imprecation of some gods, and there fore having been compelled to descend from heaven, saw P., and was seen by him. The king having, in consequence, fallen in love with Urvasi, she consented to return his affection, on the condition that he would never suffer two rams, which she loved as children, and always kept near her bedside, to be carried away from her, and also that he should never be seen by her undressed. To these terms the king gave his assent; but the Gandharvas, the choristers in Indra's heaven, and the husbands of the Apsarasas, being jealous of P., instigated one of their tribe to carry away one of the rams during the night; and after he had accomplished their design, other Gandharvas came and stole the second ram. Upon this P., highly incensed, and trusting that the nymph would not see his person, as it was

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24

PURVEYORS-PUSEY.

through the purveyor-in-chief to the Secretary of State for War. The departinent consists of 1 purveyor-in-chief, sitting at the War Office, 10 principal purveyors, 20 purveyors, 30 deputy-purveyors, and 26 purveyors' clerks. A purveyor-in-chief has £547 per annum, rising to £730 after long service. He ranks with a colonel in the army. All ranks above clerks hold commissions. The total annual cost of the personnel of the purveyors' department is £23,743.

PUS is a well-known product of inflammation, and occurs as a thick yellow creamy fluid, differing from all other morbid exudations in containing a large number of corpuscles, having a soft and fatty feeling when rubbed between the fingers, a peculiar odour, usually an alkaline reaction, and a specific gravity of about 1032. Like the blood, it consists of certain definite microscopic elements, and of an intercellular fluid or serum in which they swim.

The microscopic elements are: 1. The pus-corpuscles, which, both in their microscopical and chemical relations, seem to be identical with the lymph-corpuscles, or colourless blood-cells; in diameter, they range from 0·004 to 0·005 of a line, and each corpuscle consists of a cell-wall, which often appears granular, of viscid transparent contents, and of a nucleus which is adherent to the cell-wall, and which can be rendered much more apparent by the addition of acetic acid. 2. Molecular granules, and 3. Fat-globules. The serum of pus is perfectly clear, of a slightly yellow colour, and coagulates on heating into a thick white mass.

dark, rose in pursuit of the robbers. At that moment, however, the Gandharvas caused a flash of lightning to irradiate the scene, and Urvas'i beheld the king undressed. The compact was violated, and Urvas't disappeared, while the Gandharvas, abandoning the rams, departed to the sky. P. recovered the animals, but could find Urvas'? nowhere. Like one insane, the king now wandered over the world, until he saw her, at Kurukshetra, sporting with four other nymphs of heaven in a lake beautified with lotuses. Urvas'i, however, told him to keep away from her until, at the end of the year, she should be delivered of the son with whom she was pregnant by him. He obeyed; and after Ayus was born, these annual interviews between P. and Urvas'i were repeated, until she had born him five other sons-Dhimat, Amâvasu, Vis'wâvasu, S'atâyus, and S'rutâyus. But the king, now longing for an uninterrupted re-union with his wife, Urvas't endeavoured to propitiate the Gandharvas who had caused their separation. Her efforts were successful; and they taught the king how to produce by attrition, from the wood of the fig-tree, a sacrificial fire, and how to divide it into the three fires required for sacrificial acts. By this means, they enabled him then to celebrate many sacrifices, and, by virtue of these, to be transferred to the sphere where Gandharvas and Apsarasas dwell together. This legend is adverted to in the Vedas, and related with more or less detail in the Mahabharata and the Purân'as (see, for instance, Wilson's Vishnu Purân'a); it is likewise the subject of the celebrated drama of Kâlidâsa, the Vikramorvas'î, where, however, the incidents that, according to the Purân'as, cause the separation of P. and Urvas'i, are not mentioned by the poet, her disappearance being ascribed by him to a fit of jealousy, in which she trespassed on the proscribed bounds of a divine hermitage. It deserves notice, too, that, in the drama, Urvas' is transformed into a creeper, and discovered in that condition by P., when franticly roaming in search of her in the forest of Akalusha a transformation pointing to some affinity between this latter myth and that of Daphne when pursued by Apollo.-The idea, however, on which the original Hindu myth is based-apart from the semihistorical and fantastical detail by which it was overgrown-seems to have been suggested by the (supposed) motion or wanderings (Purûravas, from puru, much, and ravas, going-from ru, go, move) of the sun (Gandharva, in the Vedas, also being a personification of the fire of the sun), attracting or absorbing, and thus uniting, as it were, with the vapours floating in the sky (Apsaras-from ap, water, and saras, going, arising, hence waterborn-being originally personifications of the vapours which are attracted by the sun, and form into mists or clouds;' see Goldstücker's Sanskrit Dictionary, under · Apsaras;' and Urvas't, from uru, large, wide, and as', pervade, hence the far-pervading-being identified in one passage of the Mahabharata with the river Ganges). A Greek Dr P.'s first publication was on the State of myth of a kindred character is that of Apollo and Religion in Germany, the result of a visit to lat Daphne, and also that of Io, according to the country, which appears to have greatly influenced ingenious interpretation of it by Professor P. W. his subsequent course, and led him to devote himself Forchhammer, in the Verhandlungen der Versamm-to resist the progress of Rationalism. In 1835, he lung deutscher Philologen in Frankfurt, 1862. In his Hellenica, the same scholar has moreover shewn that, in Greek mythology, the ram is a symbol of the cloud.

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PURVEYORS, ARMY, are officers charged with superintending the civil affairs of army hospitals, as the payment of men, procuring provisions, medical comforts, bedding, &c. The purveyor acts independently of the medical officer, and is responsible

The chemical constituents of P. are water (varying from 769 to 907 in 1000 parts), albumen (from 44 to 180); fats (from 9 to 25); extractive matter (from 19 to 29); and inorganic salts (from 6 to 13); in addition to which, mucin, pyin, glycin, urea, &c., are occasionally present. Of the inorganic or mineral constituents, the soluble salts are to the insoluble in the ratio of 8 to 1, and the chloride of sodium (the chief of the soluble salts) is three times as abundant as in the serum of the blood. The mode of formation of pus is described in the article SUPPURATION.

PUSEY, REV. EDWARD BOUVERIE, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and Canon of Christ-church, a celebrated English divine, and one of the chief promoters of the High Church movement in the Church of England. He is the second son of the Honourable Philip Bouverie (younger brother of the first Earl of Radnor, who assumed the name of P.), by Lady Lucy Sherard, eldest daughter of Robert, fourth Earl of Harborough. He was born in the year 1800, was educated at Eton, and thence proceeded to Christchurch, where he obtained a first class in Classics in 1822, and gained the university prize for a Latin essay in 1824. He was afterwards elected Fellow of Oriel; and in 1828, succeeded Dr Nicoll in the Regius Professorship of Hebrew, to which a canonry at Christ-church is annexed.

became a contributor to the Tracts for the Times (in union with Messrs J. H. Newman, Keble, Williams, &c.), of which Nos. 67, 69, On Holy Baptism, and Nos. 18 and 66, On the Benefit of He was also one of the editors of the Library Fasting, were written by him (see TRACTARIANISM). of the Fathers, and of the Library of AngloCatholic Theology. In consequence of a sermon on The Holy Eucharist, a Comport to the Penitent, preached before the university in 1843, he was

PUSHKIN-PUTTY.

in their nature pustular.

It

suspended from preaching by the Vice-chancellor included under the head of 'pustular diseases,' are for three years, on the allegation that his language on the subject of the Real Presence was beyond PU’TCHUK, an aromatic root, a considerable what is sanctioned by the Formularies of the article of commerce in India, where it is used both Church of England. Dr P., however, protested as a perfume and as a medicine, and of export to against the proceeding, and appealed to the teach- China, where it is much used for incense, as it gives ing of English divines. His other principal works out a very pleasant odour when burned. are-Remarks on the Benefits of Cathedral Institu- appears to be the Costus (q. v.) of the ancients, and tions; two treatises on the Royal Supremacy in is the root of Aucklandia costus, one of the ComSpiritual Matters; a treatise on the Ancient Doctrine of the Real Presence; Letters to the Arch-posito, and not, as was once supposed, of a species of Costus, one of the Scitamineæ. bishop of Canterbury, the (late) Bishop of Oxford, Cashmere, and is called Kooth in Northern India. It grows in and the (late) Bishop of London, in Defence of Church P. is its name at Calcutta. Principles; On Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister; On the Use of Private Confession in the English Church; Translations of several foreign devotional works adapted to the use of the English Church; a Commentary on the Minor Prophets, now in progress; Lectures on the Prophet Daniel; a Catalogue of Arabic MSS. in the Bodleian Library; and numerous sermons,

PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER SERGEIVITCH, a Russian poet of good family, was born at Moscow, 26th May 1799, and educated at the imperial lyceum of Tsarskoe Selo, where he acquired more reputation for his liberal opinions than for his attention to for his liberal opinions than for his attention to study. In 1817, he entered the service of govern ment, and soon became one of the most prominent figures in fashionable society. In 1820, he published his romantic poem of Ruslan and Liudmila, which met with a flattering reception from the public. The incidents are laid in the legendary times of Vladimir, the Russian Charlemagne. During the next five years, P. led a roving sort of life, in the course of which appeared his Plennik Kavkaskoi (Prisoner of the Caucasus, 1822), which narrates the escape of a young Russian from a Circassian horde by the help of a Circassian maid; and his Fountain of Bakhtchiserai (1824), a poem of singular beauty and interest. These were followed by Tzigani (The Gipsies, 1827), a picture of wild gipsy life in Bessarabia, and Evgenii Onaegin (1828), a humorously sarcastic description of Russian society-after the fashion of Byron's Beppo. In 1829, he published his last narrative poem, Pultava, which has for its hero Mazeppa, the famous Hetman of the Cossacks. About the same time, he wrote a dramatic poem entitled Boris Godunov, one of the best of all his works; but subsequent to this he appears to have addicted himself almost wholly to prose. Another, and less commendable change, however, took place in him. From being or seeming an enthusiastic "liberal,' he passed-after his appointment to the office of imperial historiographer, with a pension of 6000 rubles-to the extreme of Russian conservatism. The chief thing he did in his official capacity was to write the life of the rebel Pugatschew. He was mortally wounded in a duel, and expired at St Petersburg, January 29 (February 10), 1837. P. is reckoned the finest poet that Russia has produced in the present century. His countrymen call him the 'Russian Byron,' and he has not a little of the bold and brilliant genius of his prototype, excelling like him in vigour of imagery and impassioned

sentiment.

PU'TLOGS, small timbers used in the construction of buildings. They lie between the wall and the poles of the scaffolding, and on them the floor of the scaffolding rests. Apertures called 'putlog. holes' are common in buildings of all ages.

PUTREFA'CTION is the term applied to the spontaneous decomposition of organic substances, when such decomposition is accompanied by an offensive odour. regarded as identical with Fermentation (q. v.). In other respects, it may be In the process of putrefaction, organic compounds of a higher order are resolved into lower organic compounds, into inorganic compounds (such as water, ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, &c.), or into simple chemical elements (such as hydrogen or nitrogen. The substances which most readily putrefy &c.) and gelatigenous tissues, glue, &c.; the only are the protein bodies (albumen, fibrine, caseine, necessary conditions being the presence of moisture and the access of air at the commencement of the process. Since animals are mainly composed of the protein bodies, they are especially liable to undergo this change; but many vegetable products, which are rich in these bodies (e. g., seeds), are also prone to this form of decomposition. is readily accounted for when the nature of the The peculiar smell resulting compounds is considered.

by a variety of conditions, amongst which may The putrefaction of organic matters is prevented be mentioned (1) exclusion of air, (2) perfect dry. ness, (3) a freezing temperature (as, e. g., in the case of the mammoths preserved in the Siberian ice), (4) a high temperature (about 250°), and (5) anti putrescent or antiseptic substances of various kinds. It is worthy of notice that all bodies susceptible of and may thus induce special changes in sugar, putrefactive decomposition may act as ferments, urea, &c., which would not have occurred except in the presence of the putrefying matter.

PUTRID FEVER. See JAIL FEVER.

PUTTING TO SILENCE, in the Law of Scotland, is the title of a suit or action of declarator, the object of which is to put an end to certain pretended claims of marriage. The most recent illustration of this action was that in Yelverton v. Yelverton. The suit corresponds to what is called in England a suit of Jactitation (q. v.).

worked into a thick paste. It is used by painters PUTTY, a composition of whiting and drying oil and glaziers-by the former for filling up holes in surfaces, previous to their being painted with oilPU'STULAR DISEASES. Under this head colours; and by the latter, for fixing panes of glass are included the cutaneous diseases which are in windows, &c. It becomes remarkably hard in characterised by pustules, or circumscribed elevations time, and fixes the glass immovably. This has of the cuticle, containing pus; they are Ecthyma, been found rather an evil in some cases, especially Impetigo, Acne, and Sycosis, all of which are where thick plate-glass is used for skylights and noticed in special articles. Pustules also occur in small-pox, and occasionally in chicken-pox, but these are on good grounds regarded as febrile diseases, in which the eruption on the skin is not the primary disorder. Boils (q. v.), although not

other roofing purposes, because it will not permit the expansion and contraction caused by the varying temperature to which the glass is exposed in such situations. Hence the addition, in such cases, has been made lately of a pound of fine Russian

PUTTY-POWDER-PYÆMIA.

tallow to every twelve pounds of the ordinary PUZZOLA'NA, a mineral substance, produced putty materials. This prevents its becoming by volcanoes, and abundant in volcanic countries. extremely hard, and insures a certain amount of It derives its name from Puzzuoli near Naples. It elasticity. is earthy in character, consisting of particles in a very loose state of aggregation, but its chemical composition agrees with that of Basalt (q. v.). It is found of various colours-brown, yellow, reddish, colours of the P. of Italy. See CEMENTS. gray. Brown and yellow are the ordinary

PUTTY-POWDER, a material, consisting of peroxide of tin, in great use for polishing stone and metal work. It is also used as a colouring material for white glass, and for the white enamels of porcelain, &c. It is made by melting tin; as the surface oxidises, the scum, which is the peroxide, is raked off, and when cold, is reduced to a fine powder, which is white in colour, and the particles are extremely hard.

PUY is the name commonly given in the highlands of Auvergne and the Cevennes to the truncated conical peaks of extinct volcanoes. It is perhaps connected with puit or puits, a well' or vent,' and may have been given in allusion to the craters of these mountains.

PUY, LE, or LE PUY-EN-VELAY, a town of PUY, LE, or LE PUY-EN-VELAY, a town of France, department of Haute-Loire, about 70 miles south-west of Lyon, is one of the most picturesque towns in Europe. It stands on the steep southern slopes of Mount Anis, from the summit of which starts up precipitously the huge basaltic mass called Rocher de Corneille, crowned by the ruins of an ancient episcopal castle. The greatest natural curiosity is the Rocher de St Michel, an obelisk of nature's own making, composed of basaltic tufa, and rising in a solitary abrupt cone from the margin of the river Borne to a height of 265 feet, with a circumference at its base of 500 feet, and at its top; of from 45 to 50 feet. The sides of this 'sugar-loaf' are almost perpendicular; but a winding stair cut along the rock conducts to the summit, which is surmounted by a little Romanesque chapel of the 10th century. The most notable buildings of Le P. are the cathedral, a splendid but heavy-looking structure of the 10th or 11th c., situated in the highest part of the town, and chiefly remarkable for a wonder-working image of the Virgin (Notre Dame du Puy). For more than 100 years, the town has furnished the carriers and muleteers of Southern France with the bells for their horses and mules. Pop. 17,015.

PUY-DE-DÔME, a large central department of France, containing an area of 5070 sq. m., and a population of 571,690. Platean and mountain occupy three-fourths of it; plain and valley the rest. Branches of the Cevennes and of the Auvergne nountains overspread the east and west of the department. The multitude of conical hills or puys, of basaltic and lava masses, and of craters, shews the volcanic nature of the soil. See AUVERGNE. The principal river is the Allier (a tributary of the Loire), which flows in a northern direction through the middle of the department; but there are umerous lesser streams. The soil is, in general, light and poor; but its volcanic character fosters vegetation; and the splendid valley of Limagne, upwards of 70 miles long, is fertile throughout, and well cultivated. The climate is uncertain; the mountains are tormented with howling storms, and more or less covered with snow for six or seven months of the year. The chief products are wheat, rye, flax, fruits (especially cherries and nuts). Some middling wine is also produced. The high pasturelands support great numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats. The principal minerals are iron, antimony, and lead. Hot and cold minerał springs are abundant; among the most frequented are those of St Myon and Chateldon. The department is subdivided into the arrondissements of Ambert, Clermont, Issoire, Riom, and Thiers.

and

PYÆ'MIA (from the Gr. pyon, pus, and hæma, blood), or purulent infection of the blood, is a disease whose exciting cause is the introduction of decomposing animal matter into the circulation. The animal matter may be decomposing pus, unhealthy secretions, putrid fluid (as from decompos ing hides, dead bodies, &c.), the fluid of glanders, &c.; and it may be introduced through an ulcer or a wound, through an imperfectly closed vein (see PHLEBITIS and PUERPERAL FEVER), or through a mucous membrane, as that which lines the nostrils. The poison in these cases, if it acts at all, is rapidly absorbed and diffused, and the blood undergoes certain changes, the nature of which chemistry has in very acute cases, there are severe shiverings, as yet failed to detect. Within twenty-four hours, headache, and giddiness, followed by heat, perspira hours more, the patient may be in a hopeless condition, and accelerated circulation. In twenty-four tion, delirious, and rapidly sinking. In less acute cases, the symptoms closely resemble those of typhoid fever, and in this form, the disease is a is only, however, when there are predisposing causes common cause of death, after surgical operations. It that the poison acts so severely. By their presence, they convert a comparatively slight local mischief into infection of the whole mass of the blood; while by their absence, they render the poisonous matter comparatively harmless. Mr Callender, whose essay on pyæmia is the most complete that has yet appeared (for the recognition of the disease by a special name is comparatively recent), signalises extreme prostration or exhaustion of the system as the chief predisposing causes-previous illness; from organic disease, from surgical complaints, or from difficult parturition; unhealthy occupations; over-indulgence in food, &c.

In association with the general symptoms which have been already stated, there are often local or secondary complications.

The disease is always accompanied with great danger. When secondary complications are present, the hope of recovery is very small. 'Practical surgeons,' observes Mr Callender, ' acknowledge that very little chance remains for the patient who, after an operation, is attacked with symptoms of this disease.' The only disease with which this disorder can be confounded is typhoid fever.

If the poison has been received into the system by an open sore, nitrate of silver should be applied freely, after which the part should be treated with soothing fomentations or poultices. The bowels should be freely acted on by a sharp purgative (as five grains of calomel and a scruple of jalap). The action of the skin should be increased by diaphoretics, and the bowels should be daily acted on by saline draughts, with the addition of bicarbonate of potash to stimulate the kidneys. By these means, the poison may be eliminated. The depression of the nervous system, which is usually very marked, must be counteracted by opium in small and repeated doses, in addition to which, a dose of Dover's Powder (ten grains) should be taken at bed-time. Stimulants, such as brandy and sherry, should be given in small but frequently-repeated doses from almost the beginning of the disease, and light nutritious food should be given as freely as the stomach

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