of the substance itself, and no human art can change them. Yet there are those who pretend to invent non-explosive naphtha stoves and lamps, a thing that never was and never can be invented; there are those who manufacture and sell kerosene containing naphtha, and others who purchase the two, mix them, and sell them. The victims are generally women and helpless children. Good kerosene is always safe under all conditions attending its use. It is naphtha that injures the quality of kerosene, and naphtha is never safe under any circumstances. So alarmingly frequent have these accidents become, and so disastrous have been the results, that in all civilized countries very stringent laws have been enacted, restraining and regulating the sale and storage of petroleum and its products. Nearly every state in the Union has passed similar laws, and in many sections of the country kerosene may be purchased with comparative safety, as the different kinds of naphtha are regarded as dangerous, and are sold under proper restrictions. Yet notwithstanding these laws, and the general recognition of the fact that poor oils are very unsafe, a great deal of bad kerosene is burned every year, particularly in our large cities, and at the same time much property is destroyed and many lives are lost. All lamps are safe with good oil, and the quality of any oil can be ascertained easily by the following test: Take a pint tin cup, fill it nearly full of water warmed so that a thermometer immersed in it will show 120°, pour a small quantity of oil on the water, stir a little, then pass a lighted match quickly but closely over the surface of the oil once; if it ignites, the oil is unsafe. If purchases are made of from three to five gallons at a time, and this test is made, people can protect themselves.
PETROMYZON. See Lamprey.
PETRONIUS ARBITER, the author of Petronii Arbitri Satyricon, a work of no certain date, in prose and verse, describing the adventures of several young debauchees in the south of Italy, particularly Naples and its environs. It has been maintained that he was the Caius Petronius spoken of by Tacitus (Ann. xvi. 18, 19) as the most elegant voluptuary of the days of Nero, the arbiter elegantiæ of that monarch. His life being threatened by the jealousy of Tigellinus, he opened his veins, and, occasionally checking the flow of blood by bandages, sank so gradually that his death seemed to be the result of natural causes. The best edition of the extant fragments of the Satyricon is that of Burmann (2 vols. 4to, Amsterdam, 1743), and there are English translations.
PETROPAVLOVSK. I. A town of Asiatic Russia, in the littoral province (Primorsk), on the S. E. coast of the peninsula of Kamtchatka, in lat. 53° 1′ N., lon. 158° 43′ E.; pop. in 1867, 479, exclusive of the garrison. It is the capital and principal military station of the district of the same name, formerly province of Kamtchatka. The harbor, in Avatcha bay, is good, has a lighthouse, and is defended by two forts. The town contains large stores of the Russo-American commercial society. Large quantities of dried fish are exported. II. A town of Siberia, in the province of Akmolinsk, on the river Ishim, 175 m. W. N. W. of Omsk, on the great post road of Siberia; pop. in 1867, 8,220. It is an important military post, and has a cannon foundery. A large trade is carried on with other parts of Siberia, Turkistan, and the W. part of China, Petropavlovsk being a station for the caravans from Bokhara, Khiva, and the Kirghiz steppe.
PETROZAVODSK, a fortified town of Russia, capital of the government of Olonetz, on the W. shore of Lake Onega, 185 m. N. E. of St. Petersburg; pop. in 1867, 10,910. It contains six churches, a gymnasium, an imperial cannon foundery, where anchors are also cast for the navy, two extensive docks for lake vessels, a lighthouse, and various manufactories. Large vessels navigate the rivers and lakes between this town and St. Petersburg.
PETRUS LOMBARDUS. See Lombard, Peter.
PETTENKOFER, Max von, a German chemist, born at Lichtenheim, Bavaria, Dec. 3, 1818. He studied at Munich, was employed in the Bavarian mint from 1845 to 1847, and was afterward professor of medicine. In 1865 he became one of the editors of the Zeitschrift für Biologie. Among his writings are: Die atmospherische Luft in Wohngebäuden (Brunswick, 1858); Ueber Oehlfarbe und Conservirung der Gemäldegalerien durch Regeneration der Bilder (1870; 2d ed., 1872); and Die Verbreitungsart der Cholera in Indien (1871).
PETTER, Anton, a German painter, born in Vienna, April 12, 1783, died there in 1858. He visited Rome in 1808, and won several prizes at the academy of Vienna, to which he was admitted in 1814 in reward for his “Meleager murdered by his Mother in the Arms of his Wife.” In 1820 he became professor, and in 1828 director of that institution. Among his best works are the “Meeting of Maximilian with his Bride, Mary of Burgundy,” “Rudolph of Hapsburg,” “Queen Joan beside the Coffin of her Husband Philip,” and “Charles V. visiting his Prisoner, Francis I.”
PETTIS, a W. central county of Missouri, drained by La Mine river and branches; area, about 600 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 18,706, of whom 2,126 were colored. It has an undulating surface with extensive prairies and forests, and the soil is fertile. The Missouri Pacific railroad and the Lexington branch pass through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 270,245 bushels of wheat, 920,178 of Indian corn, 312,416 of oats, 55,250 of potatoes, 146,905 lbs. of butter, 48,989 of wool, and 10,817 tons of hay. There were 7,060 horses, 2,012 mules and asses, 5,376 milch cows, 7,245 other cattle, 17,928 sheep, and 25,726 swine; 2 manufactories of boots and shoes, 5 of carriages and wagons, 1 of patent medicines, 4 of saddlery and harness, 1 brewery, and 5 flour mills. Capital, Sedalia.
