830 PRICE PRIDEAUX PRICE, Thomas, a Welsh scholar, born at Pen- caerelin, Brecknockshire, Oct. 2, 1787, died at Cwmdu, Nov. 7, 1848. He was curate of various parishes from 1812 to 1825, when he was appointed vicar of Owradu. He was an accomplished harpist and draughtsman. His principal work in Welsh is the " History of Wales and the Welsh Nation from the Early Ages to the Death of Llewelyn ap Gruff ydd," when Wales was annexed to England (1836- '42). He was an enthusiastic promoter of the eisteddfods and of Welsh literature. He also wrote " Geographical Progress of Empire and Civilization" (Llandovery, 1847-' 8). His mi- nor writings are collected in vol. i. of the u Literary Remains of the Rev. Thomas Price, with a Memoir," by Jane Williams (2 vols., Llandovery, 1854-'5), viz. : " Tour through Brittany;" an "Essay on the Comparative Merits of the Remains of Ancient Literature in the Welsh, Irish, and Gaelic Languages;" " An Essay on the Influence which the Welsh Traditions have had on the Literature of Eu- rope;" and "A Critical Essay on the Lan- guage and Literature of Wales from the Time of Gruffydd ap Oynand and Meilyr in the llth Century to that of Sir Gruffydd Llwyd and Gwilyn Ddu in the 14th Century." PRICE, Sir Lvodalc, an English author, born at Foxley, Herefordshire, in 1747, died there, Sept. 11, 1829. He was educated at Oxford, and in 1780 appeared as the translator of Pau- sanias, in " An Account of the Statues, Pic- tures, and Temples in Greece." His fame rests upon his "Essay on the Picturesque, as compared with the Sublime and Beautiful, and on the Use of Studying Pictures for the pur- pose of improving Real Landscapes" (1794). In 1828 he was made a baronet. PRICHARD, James Cowles, an English ethnol- ogist, born at Ross, Herefordshire, Feb. 11, 1786, died in London, Dec. 22, 1848. He graduated M. D. at Edinburgh, settled as a physician in Bristol in 1810, and in 1813 pub- lished " Researches into the Physical History of Man," which was translated into French and German, and in 1826 a second and greatly enlarged edition. In 1845 he was appointed commissioner of lunacy, and removed to Lon- don, where he brought out the third edition of the " Researches " (5 vols. 8vo., 1841 -'7). He is also the author of a resume of his " Phys- ical History," " Natural History of Man " (2 vols., 1843 ; new ed. by E. Norris, 1855), and " The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations " (1831 ; new ed. by R. G. Latham, 1857). PRICKLY ASH, one of the common names for xanthoxylum Americanum (Gr. %avQ6q, yellow, and %vk6v, wood), a shrub belonging to the rue family (rutacece), and quite common through- out the northern states ; its prickly stems and pinnate leaves have given it the name by which it is best known, and it is also called toothache tree and yellow-wood, the last being a name applied to several quite distinct plants. It is a shrub 5 to 10 ft. high, with prickly stems and compound leaves having four or five pairs of leaflets and an odd one, marked by pellucid dots which contain an aromatic oil. The small, greenish, axillary flowers are dioecious, and Prickly Ash (Xanthoxylum Americanum). 1. Pistillate flowers and leaves of the natural size at flowering 1 time. 2. Fruit of natural size. 3. Pistillate flower en- larged. 4. Staminate flower enlarged. appear before the leaves; they have four or five sepals and petals, and the sterile flowers the same number of stamens; the fertile flowers have two to five separate pistils, with their styles slightly united, ripening into fleshy two- valved pods with one or two seeds. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic, the leaves and fruit having a very strong lemon- like odor ; the bark, which in the dried state is kept in the shops, has when chewed a sweet and aromatic taste, which soon becomes very acrid, and excites a copious flow of saliva. A peculiar principle called xanthopicrite is said to have been separated from it. It is an ac- tive stimulant, increasing the perspiration and other excretions, and a tincture of the bark and berries has long been a domestic remedy for chronic rheumatism ; the scraped bark has been used as a stimulant application to indolent ulcers, and the bark is sometimes chewed to relieve toothache. The southern prickly ash is X. Carolinianum, found on the coast from Virginia southward; it has very sharp prickles, shining leaves, and flowers in a terminal cyme. Its properties are quite sim- ilar to the preceding. Other species are found in Florida and the West Indies, which have much the same taste and smell. The stems of X. clava Herculis, one of the several trees called Hercules's club, have strong prickles, and are frequently brought from the West Indies as walking sticks. There are several oriental species, the berries of one of which are used for intoxicating fish. PRICKLY PEAR. See CACTUS. PRIDEAUX, Humphrey, an English clergyman, born at Padstow, Cornwall, May 3, 1648,
