P I N
P I N
In Solon's time there were only four tribes, each of which elected an hundred fenators ; fo that the Areopagus corififtetf of four hundred members : but the number of tribes being after- wards encreafed, the number of fenators was confequeritly aug- mented by fome hundreds; b t the maimer of cleft-ion re- mained the fame. Pott. Archaeol. Grace. T. I. p. 97. See the article Areopagus, Cycl.
PINARII amonff the Romans, an order of under-pnefts be- longing to Hercules, who offered facrifices to that god morn- ing and evening. They were only fervants to the patitii. Danet. in voc. See the article Potitii,
PINCHING (Cycl.) — P/nching, in horfemanfhip, a term ufed to exprefs a method of trying a horfe's mettle, or vigour, and offhewing it to a purchafer when the creature is onfale. The whole method is, when the rider is on his back, he keeps him Branding ftill, and keeping him faft with the bridle- hand, he applies the fpurs to the hair of the fides. If the horfe is impatient under this, and draws himfclf up, and wants to 20 forward, it is a fign of vigour and mettle. But the pur- chafer ought to try the thing himfelf on the horfe's back ; for the jockies have the art of making the dull eft horfe feem to have mettle in thefe trials. The purchafer muft alfo diflin- guifii between the reftlefsnefs of the horfe under this treatment that arifes from vigour, and that which arifes from the horfe's being ticldifh, and which goes off immediately. See the article Mettled.
PiNDAlBA, in botany, the name ufed by fome authors for the tree which produces the cubebs of the {hops. Pifo, p. 1 44.
PllsE-tree, pinus, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the amenta- ceous kind, being compofed of a great number of ftamina, but it is barren: the embryo fruit appear in other parts of the tree, and finally become a fort of cone; between the feveral fcales of which, eachhaving two hollows, there are found two feeds contained in a ftony hufk, which is frequently alated. To this it is to be added, that the leaves grow more than one out of the fame theca.
The fpecies of pine, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : I. The common manured pine. 2. The common wild mountain pine. 3. The tender fruited wild pine, called cam- hro. 4. The mountain pine, called by authors mugho. 5. The wild (en-pine, with the cones growing firmly to the branches. 6. The Ideean fez-pine. 7. The fmall fez-pina/ler. 8. The dwarf pine, with pale or greenilh juli. 9. The dwarf pine, with purple juli. And, 10. The pine with erect cones, called by fome the Auftrian pinajler. Tonm. Inft. p. 585. The leaves and tender tops of pine and fir are ufed for diet- drinks, and allowed to he antifcorbutic and diuretic. The refinous exfudations of pines and firs are an important branch in the materia medica, and not only ufeful in the pre- fcriptions of phyficians, hut have alfo been thought otherwife conducive to health. Pl'tny tells us, that wines, in the time of the old Romans, were medicated with pitch and refin. And Jonftonus, in his dendrographia, obferves, that it is wholefome to walk in groves of^ms-trces, which impregnate the air with balfamic particles. It is known that all turpen- tines and refins are good for the lungs, aga'inft gravel alio, and obftructions : and it is faid, that the medicinal properties of thofe drugs are found in tar-water, which operate without heating the blood or difordering the ftomach. See the article TAR-water.
Pitch, tar, rofin, and turpentine, are all made from thefe trees by a very familiar procefs. In the fpring time, when the fap is molt free in running, they pare off the bark of the pine-tree, to make the fap run down into a hole which they cut at the bottom to receive it ; in the way, as it runs dawn, it leaves a white matter like cream, but a little thicker : this is very different from all the kinds of refin and turpentine in life, and it is generally fold to be ufed in the making of flam- beaux, Inftead of white bees-wax. The matter that is receiv- ed in the hole at the bottom, is taken up with ladles, and put into a large bafket; a great part of this immediately runs thro', and this is the common turpentine. This is received into ftone or earthen pots, and is ready for fale. The thicker matter, which remains in the bafket, they put into a common alembic, and adding a large quantity of water, they diftil this fo lono- as any oil is feen fvvimm'ing upon the water; this oil they feparate from the furfaee in large quantities, and this is the common oil or fpirit of turpentine : the remaining matter at the bottom of the (fill, is common yellow refin. When they have thus obtained all that they can from the fap of the tree, they cut it down, and hewing the wood into bil- lets, they fill a pit dug in the earth with thefe billets ; and fet- ting them on fire, there runs from them while they are burning, a black thick matter : this naturally falls to the bottom of the pit, and this is the tar. The top of the pit is covered with tiles, to keep in the heat; and there is at the bottom a little hole, out at which the tar runs like oil: if this hole be made too large, it fets the whole quantity of the tar on fire ; but if fmall enough, it runs quietly out. The tar being thus made, is put up in barrels ; and if it be to be made into pitch, they put it into large boiling veffels, with- out adding any thing to it : it is then fuffered to boil a while,
and being then let out, is found, when cold, to be what wc call pitch. Phil. Tranf. N w . 243. p. 291.
Silver Pine, in botany. A branch of this tree being brought from the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. GodJard, and prefented to the royal fociety, Dr. Sloane gave the following account of it : The twig of this tree had a great many leaves fet round it, very clofe to one another, fo as to hide the twig itftlf there where they grow ; each of the largeft being about four inches long, and three quarters of an inch broad in the middle where broadeff, from whence they decreafe towards both extremes, ending in a point ; being like thofe of the ofier willow, only broader, and all covered over with the thickeft, findf, and longeft, white filken hair, or down, that ever any plant the doctor remembers to have feen. 'I he cones are of the big- nefs of thofe of" the cedars of Lebanon, and of the fame (hape; The cuticula, or fmall (kin of each fcale, being covered over with a white fhort down or wool, finning alfo like 1:1k. Be- tween the fcales is lodged the feed, whi' h is almoft as large as the pine nut, near the fame lhape, of a dark brown colour, and having a rifing eminent line or belly- running through the middle of it from end to end. This feed lies in a thin, reddifh. brown membrane, which has on its top four feathers, like thofe belonging to the feed of the clematitis ; which being between the fcales, and rifing above them, adds a very great beauty to the cone, and may likewife ferve for wings, by means of the wind, to loofen or carry the feed to diftan't places, thereby propagating itfelf. Dr. Plucknet calls it leu- eodendros. Phil. Tranf. N J . 198.
Spunge-leaved Fine, in botany. A branch of this tree being brought from the Cape of Good Hope by Mr. Goddard, and prefented to the royal fociety, Dr. Sloane gave the following defcriptbn of it : The bark was of a brown colour and fmooth; its wood whitifh and hard, with only a fmall pith; the leaves were round it, without any order, very thick fet, having no foot-ftalks ; being about two inches and an half long, and about one third of an inch broad near the farther end, where broadeft ; fmooth, hard, and of a brownifh or dirty green colour : on the top of the branch comes the fruit, which is furrounded by three or four twigs overtopping it, and with their leaves almoft hid in it : it is about five inches long, and is made up of many fcales, hard and red, inclofi g oneanother; the lowermoli and outwaidmoft being very fhort, the innermoft four inches long, each of them ending in a point; fome fcales, having on their outfides a gummy piece; In the middle of thefe fcales were the firft rudiments of many feeds, the fame not being fully ripe; each of which is fet about with a great quantity of yellow, fine, filken down, about three quarters of an inch long, having a ftylus, or firing, two inches long, and yellowifh membranes inclofing the ftylus and tomentum ; being feathered at top for their better difper- fion, in order to propagate themfelves. Philof. Tranf. N°. 198.
FiNE-appie, a delicious fruit, called by authors a?ianas. See the article Ananas.
There are feveral varieties of it, but the principal are five : 1. The oval p/«*-apple, with white flefh. 2 The pyramidal kind, with yellow flefh. 3. The fmooth-Ieave.i kind. 4. The Ihining-leaved kind, with fcarce any fpines on its edges. And, 5. The pyramidal olive coloured kind, with yellow flefh. There are a multitude of other varieties of lefs note,
1 and probably there might, by proper management in the fow- ing, be raifed as many kinds as we have oi apples and pears in our orchards.
The plant grows wild in vaft abundance in many parts of Af- rica, and has been long cultivated in the hotter iilands of the Weft Indies, where they are now very plentiful and very fine. It is now fome time alfo finre it has been introduced into the gardens of Europe, where, with proper management, it fuc- ceeds very well. There is an opinion, that there are none raifed fo good from the American plants, as from thofe origi- nally propagated by M. la Cour of Leyden, the firft who ever fucceeded in the fringing it to fruit in Europe ; but this is an error, occafioned by fome of the indirlerent kinds having been at firft frequently fent over from America ; but of late we have had much finer from thence than ever M. la Cour knew. The firft fort is the moft common in Europe, but the fecond is greatly preferable to it ; being much larger and better flavour- ed, and the juice being lefs aftringent, the fruit may be eaten with lefs danger in large quantities. This ufually produces fix or feven fuckers alfo under the fruit, from whence it may be propagated, and therefore is the moft fit for culture of any. The third fort is propagated merely as a curiofity, the fruit being much inferior to that of the others. The fifth is the moft valuable of all, and is had from Barbadocs and Montfer- rat. The fourth is what is called in America, the king-pine, they are propagated by planting the heads or fuckers : thefe are to be fet in pots of five or fix inches over at the top, filled with good frefh light earth, mixed with a little rotten dung; this mixture muft be often turned, to make it mix the more perfectly, and the plants, when fet, muft have a little water, to fettle the earth to their roots; and the pot then plunged into a well-tempered bed of tanners bark. See the article Hot-bed.
They
