Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/258

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PERUVIAN BARK 202 PESTALOZZI Salvador, in South America. In phar- macy, is used as a stimulant and expec- torant in chronic bronchitis, rheumatism, also to arrest excessive discharges from the urethra, and as an external applica- tion to stimulate bedsores and ulcers. PERUVIAN BARK. See Bark, Peruvian. PESARO, ancient Pisaurum, a town of Italy, on the right bank of the Foglia, here crossed by a bridge of Trajan's age, 1 mile from the Adriatic and 37 miles N. W. of Ancona. Its streets are broad, and adorned with palaces and churches, and the town is surrounded with walls and defended by a citadel (1474) and a fort. It is a bishop's seat; there are two cathedrals, new and old. Silks, pottery, iron, and leather are manufactured; and trade is carried on in wine, olive oil, and fruits. The city is associated with the name of Tasso, some of his MSS. being preserved in one of the town museums; it is also the birthplace of Rossini. Made a Roman colony in 184 b. c, it was destroyed _ by the Goths; then, having been rebuilt by Belisarius, it became one of the Pentapolis. From 755 to 1285 it belonged to the Popes, then to the Mala- testas till 1445, then to the Sforzas and Delle Roveres, in 1631 again to the Popes, and finally in 1860 to Italy. Pop. of town (1915) 28,483. Of the department of Pesaro and Urbine, 270,696. PESCHIERA, a fortress of Italy, a member of the Quadrilateral, stands partly on an island in the Mincio and partly on the right bank of that river, at its outlet from the Lake of Garda. Be- sides a strong citadel and an arsenal, there is a fortified camp. The fortress has played a prominent part in warlike events, especially after the Napoleonic wars began dov/n to 1859. PESHAWAR, or PESHAWUR, a town of India, 10 ^/^ miles from the en- trance of the Khyber Pass, 190 E. by S. of Kabul, and 276 N. W. of Lahore. Though a frontier town and occupying a strategic position of the utmost impor- tance, its only defenses are a mud wall aiid a small fort; but 2 miles W. of the city are the cantonments, with a garri- son of six regiments and a battery of Royal Artillery. Peshawar is the seat of extensive commerce between Afghanis- tan and India; gold, silver, lace, hides (from Bokhara), horses, mules, fruits, woolen and skin coats (from Kabul) being exchanged for tea, English piece-goods, wheat, salt, rice, butter, oil, and sugar. PESO, a silver coin and money of ac- count used in Mexico and other parts of Spanish America, and often considered equivalent to a dollar. PESSIMISM, that mental attitude which induces one to give preponderat- ing importance to the evils and sorrows of existence ; the habit of taking a gloomy and desponding view of things. Alsi the name given to the system of philoso- phy denounced by Schopenhauer (1788- 1860) in "The World as Will and Idea" (of which the first volume was pub- lished in 1819, and the second some 25 years after), and by Von Hartman in his "Philosophy of the Unconscious" (1860), It was at the beginning of the 19th cen- tury that pessimism began to create a lit- erature of its own. As examples may be cited Byron's "Euthanasia" and Heine's "Fragen." The adherents of this phi- losophy have for the most part belonged to the German races, Leopardi (1798- 1837) being the sole Latin writer of note who has advocated pessimist theories. PESTALOZZI, JOHANN HEINRICH, a Swiss philanthropist and educational reformer; born in 1746; first studied the- ology, then law. Afterward he devoted his time and substance to the children of paupers, whom he collected in large numbers in his own house, and this good work he carried on for over 20 years without outside aid or even sympathy. The want of means at last compelled him JOHANN PESTALOZZI to abandon his gratuitous institution, and to seek pupils who could pay for their maintenance and instruction. He opened a school in the Castle of Yverdun (can- ton Vaud), which the government had placed at his disposal. His novel "Lien- hardt and Gertrud" (1781-1789), ex- erted a powerful moral influence, while his educational treatises laid the foun- dation for the more rational system of elementary instruction which now ob-