American Journ. of Science (June 1896); “Le Pithecanthropus et
l’origine de l’homme,” in Bull. de la soc. d’anthrop. de Paris (1896), pp. 460–67; L. Manouvrier, “Discussion du pithecanthropus erectus
comme précurseur de l’homme,” in Bull. soc. d’anthrop. de Paris
(1895), pp. 13–47 and 216–220; L. Manouvrier, Bull. soc. d’anthrop. (1896), p. 419 sqq.; “The Trinil Femur contrasted with the Femora
of various savage and civilized races,” in Journal of Anat. and
Physiol. (1896), xxxi. 1 seq., Virchow, “Über den Pithecanthropus erectus Dubois” in Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie (1895), pp. 336, 435, 648.
PITHIVIERS, a town of north central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Loiret, 28 m. N.N.E. of Orleans, on the railway to Malesherbes. Pop. (1906), 5676. The church of St Solomon, chiefly in the Renaissance style, and remains of the ancient ramparts are of interest. Statues have been erected of the mathematician Denis Poisson (d. 1840), and of the physician and agriculturist Duhamel de Monceau (d. 1782), natives of Pithiviers. The town is an agricultural market, and an important centre for the saffron of the region of Gatinaris the cultivation of which, originally introduced by the Jews of Avignon in the 12th century was fostered by Louis XIV. The shrine of St Solomon in the 9th century and that of St Gregory, an Armenian bishop, in the 10th, formed the nuclei of the town; and the donjon built at the end of the 10th century for Héloise, lady of Pithiviers, was one of the finest of the period.
PITHOM, one of the “treasure cities” stated to have been built for Pharaoh by the Hebrews in Goshen during the Oppression (Exod i. 11). We have here the Hebraized form of the Egyptian Petōm “House of (the sun-god) Etōm,” in Greek, Patūmos, capital of the 8th nome of Lower Egypt and situated in the Wadi Tumilat on the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. Succoth (Egyptian Thuket) was identical with it or was in its
immediate neighborhood. The site, now Tell el Maskhuta,
has yielded several important monuments, including the best preserved of the trilingual stelae of Darius which commemorated his work on the canal. The earliest name yet found is that of Rameses II. of the XIXth Dynasty, but in one case he has
usurped earlier work, apparently of the XIIth Dynasty (a
sphinx), and the city was evidently very ancient. Several of
the monuments from Pithom have been removed to Ismailia
on the Suez Canal.
See Ed. Naville, The Store City of Pithom and the route of the Exodus (London, 1885), W. M. F. Petrie, Tanis, pt i. (London, 1885), W Golénischeff, “Stèle de Darius” in Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et l’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes, xiii. 99, and the article Rameses. (F. Ll. G)
PITHOU, PIERRE (1539–1596), French lawyer and scholar, was born at Troyes on the 1st of November 1539. His taste for literature was early seen, and his father Pierre (1496–1556) cultivated it to the utmost. He was called to the Paris bar in 1560. On the outbreak of the second war of religion in 1567, Pithou, who was a Calvinist, withdrew to Sedan and afterwards to Basel, whence be returned to France on the publication of the edict of pacification. Soon afterwards he accompanied the duc de Montmorency on his embassy to England, returning shortly before the massacre of St Bartholomew, in which he narrowly escaped with his life. Newt year lie followed the example of Henry of Navarre by abjuring the Protestant faith. Henry, shortly after his own
accession to the throne of France, recognized Pithou’s talents and services by bestowing upon him various legal appointments. The most important work of his life was his co-operation in the production of the Satire Ménzppée (1593), which did so much to damage the cause of the League; the harangue of the Sieur d’Aubray is usually attributed to his pen. He died at Nogent-sur-Seine
on the first of November 1596. His valuable library, specially rich in MSS., was for the most part transferred to what is now the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Pithou wrote a great number of legal and historical books, besides preparing editions of several ancient authors His earliest publication was Adveisariorum subsectiorum lib II. (1565). Perhaps his edition of the Leges Visigothorum (1579) was his most valuable contribution to historical science; in the same line he edited the Capuula of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, and Charles the Bald in 1588, and he also assisted his brother François in preparing an edition of the Corpus juris canonici (1687). His Libertés de l’église gallicane (1594) is reprinted in his Opera sacra juridica his orzoa miscellanea collecta (1609) In classical literature he was the first who made the world acquainted with the Fables of Phaedrus (1596); he also edited the Pervigilium Veneris (1587), and Juvenal and Persius (1585).
Three of Pithou’s brothers acquired distinction as jurists: Jean (1524–1602), author of Traité de police et du gouvernement des républiques, and, in collaboration with his twin brother Nicolas (1524–1598), of Institution du manage chrétzen; and François (1543–1621), author of Glossarium ad libros capitularium (1588), Traité de l’excommunication et de l’interdit, &c. (1587).
PITIGLIANO, a town in Italy, province of Grossetto. Pop.
(1901), 4416. It is the cathedral city of the bishopric named
after the neighbouring town of Sovana, and possesses a 16th-century
cathedral and a church of the 11th–15th centuries,
Pitigliano was originally a fief of the count ship of Sovana,
which in 1293 came by marriage into the possession of the
Orsini. In 1410 Sovana was taken by the Siennese, but by the
terms of a peace concluded in 1417 the Orsini retained Pitigliano,
Gentile Orsini (assassinated 1434) assuming the title of count of
Pitigliano. The most famous of the line of counts was Niccolo
III. (1442–1510), a celebrated condottiere. Under his successors
Pitigliano became the scene of ceaseless family feuds culminating
in assassinations. In 1562 the Medici of Florence seized
part of their territories, and acquired the rest by exchange in
1580. The Orsini stronghold still stands in the town.
PITLOCHRY, a village of Perthshire, Scotland, 2812 m. N.W.
of Perth by the Highland railway. Pop. (1901), 1541. It lies
on the left bank of the Tummel, a little below the confluence
of that river and the Garry, 350 ft. above the sea. It is a
favourite health resort and tourist centre. Among the immediate
attractions are the pass of Killiecrankie, the falls of
Tummel, the exquisite prospect called “Queen’s View” (named
after Queen Victoria) and Loch Tummel, 8 m. to the west.
One m. S E. of the village is the Black Spout, a waterfall of
80 ft. formed by the Edradour.
PITMAN, SIR ISAAC (1813–1897), English phonographer, was born at Trowbridge, W1ltshire, on the 4th of January 1813, and was educated at the local grammar school. He started in life as a clerk in a cloth factory, but in 1831 he was sent to the Normal College of the British and Foreign School Society in London. Between 1832 and 1839 he held masterships at Barton-on-Humber and Wotton-under-Edge, but he was dismissed
by the authorities when he became a Swedenborgian,
and from 1839 to 1843 he conducted a private school of his own at Bath. In 1829 he took up Samuel Taylor’s system of shorthand, and from that time he became an enthusiast in developing the art of phonograph. In 1837 he drew up a manual of Taylor’s system and offered it to Samuel Bagster (1771–1852). The publisher did not accept the work, but suggested that Pitman should invent a new system (see Shorthand) of his own. The result was his Stenographic Soundhand (1837). Bagster’s friendship and active help had been secured by Pitman’s undertaking to verify the half-million references in the Comprehensive Bible, and he published the inventor’s books at a cheap rate, thus helping to bring the system within the reach of all. Pitman devoted himself to perfecting phonograph and propagating its use, and established at Bath a Phonetic Institute and a Phonetic Journal for this purpose; he printed in shorthand a number of standard works, and his book with the title Phonography (1840) went through many editions. He was an enthusiastic spelling reformer, and adopted a phonetic system which he tried to bring into general use. Pitman was twice married, his first wife dying in 1857, and his second, whom he married in 1861, surviving him. In 1894 he was knighted, and on the 22nd of January 1897 he died at Bath. Sir Isaac Pitman popularized shorthand at a time when the advance of the newspaper press and modern business methods were making it a matter of great commercial importance. His system adapted itself readily to the needs of journalism, and its use revolutionized the work of reporting. He was a non-smoker, a vegetarian, and advocated temperance principles.
His Life was written by Alfred Baker (1908) and (1902) by his brother, Benn Pitman (1822–1911).
