Pickford

3731

Piedmont

 

al regiments, and at Gaines's Mill, June 27,
1862, he was so severely wounded as to be in-
capacitated for duty until late in the year. On
July 3,1863, he led his division in its magnifi-
cent charge on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg,
the failure of which decided the issue of the
battle. He commanded the Confederate in-
fantry defeated by Sheridan at Five Forks,
April i, 1865.
Pickford, Mary (1893- ), American
motion picture actress, born in Toronto, Can-
ada, and named Gladys Mary Smith. After
playing in minor parts, she was starred by
David Belasco in 1913 as Juliet in A Good Lit-
tle Demi. Her first appearance on the silver
screen was in The Violin Maker of Cremona.
Among her best known pictures are Stella
Maris* Pollvanna and Kiki. She married Doug-
las Fairbanks in 1920. She is now head of
the Mary Pickford Company, Hollywood, and
the author of Why Not Try God (1934). She
was divorced in 1935.
Pickling consists in preserving fruits or
other vegetable products in spiced vinegar.
Picquart, Georges (1854-1914), French
soldier, born at Strassburg, was appointed to
the War Office staff (1883). For his evidence
in the Esterhazy trial (1898) he was imprison-
ed. In 1906, after the reinstatement of Drey-
fus in the army, Picquart was appointed brig-
adier-general, and became Minister of War in
the cabinet of Cle*menceau. See Joseph Rein-
ach's L^3Affaire Dreyfus (1898).
Picquet.   See Piquet.
Picric Acid, trinitro-phenol (CeH_2OH)
(NOsK a product of the action of nitric acid
on many compounds containing the benzene
nucleus. It yields explosive salts by the sub-
stitution of metals for the hydrogen of the
hydroxyl group, and is used both as a dye,
and, when consolidated by fusion, as a high ex-
plosive for charging shells, under such names
as melinite and lyddite.
Picrite, a crystalline igneous rock which
consists essentially of olivine and augite, but
usually also contains iron oxides, a little feld-
spar, biotite, hornblende, and apatite. Picrites
form a subdivision of the peridotities.
Pictet, Raoul Pierre (1842-1929), Swiss
savant, born at Geneva, where he afterward
became a professor. He is chiefly known for
his work on the liquefaction of gases.
Pictor, a constellation s. of Columbia,
formed by Lacaille in 1752. The chief star is
of 3.3 magnitude and Sirian quality.
Picts, an early race inhabiting the British
Isles, ultimately merged in the succeeding Cel-

tic populations. The word was applied by the
Romans, in the sense of Latin pictus, 'a painted
man,' to those tribes who stained themselves
blue and green. The Wall of Hadrian, built to
repel their inroads, is locally known as the
Picts* Wall. But although they were specially
associated with the territory that is now called
Scotland, they had also colonies in the original
Scotia—f.e. Ireland— notably hi Ulster, The
Irish Picts suffered a great defeat in 557, at
the hands of the Owen O'Neills and another
Gaelic clan. Eventually the national life of
the Picts received its death-blow in 844, when
Kenneth MacAlpin established the Gaelic su-
premacy by his crowning victory at Stirling.
See Nicholson's Keltic Researches (1904).
Picture Post Cards. The fashion of col-
lecting picture post cards originated apparent-
ly in Germany, the originators being enterpris-
ing hotel-keepers. Then the artists took up
the subject in France, Germany, Belgium,
Holland, and Italy. The earliest English pic-
ture post card in existence bears the date
March 18,1872. Post cards were first used ex-
tensively in the United States in 1897.
Picture-Restoring, as an art, originated in
Venice, the St. Lawrence of Titian being a
noted specimen. Old pictures are best cleaned
by fluid solvents (alcohol), and new by dry
friction.
Picture-writing, or representation by pic-
tographs and etchings, is the earliest and most
natural method of communicating ideas be-
tween those who are debarred by distance or
other causes from intercourse by means of
speech or signals. Among civilized races the
pictures of objects became gradually abbre-
viated into conventional symbols in which' the
original likeness was almost lost. (For an ac-
count of such ideographs and the evolution of
letters, see hieroglyphics.)
Pidgin, Charles Felton (1844-1923), Am-
erican author, statistician, and inventor, was
born at Roxbury, Mass. Among his many in-
ventions for saving clerical work in preparing
statistics are an electric adding and tabulating
machine, an electric typewriter tabulator, and
a multiple adding or chip system.
Pidgin English, a jargon used in commer-
cial dealings with the Chinese, consisting chief-
ly of English, with some Chinese and Portu-
guese words, constructed according to Chinese
idiom.
Piedmont (Ital. Piemonte), region, N.
Italy; area, 11336 sq.m. It is traversed by the
Po and its tributaries. Its fertile plains produce
rice, hemp, chestnuts, fruits, olives, truffles*