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PYLONS 388 PYRAMID and Salt" (1887): "Otto of the Silver Hand" (1888); Buccaneers and Ma- rooners of America" (1891); "Jack Bal- lister's Fortunes"; "The Garden Behind the Moon" (1895) ; "Story of Launcelot" (1907); "Story of the Grail" (1910). Died 1911. PYLONS, in Egyptian architecture, the name given to towers or masses of masonry, somewhat resembling trun- cated pyramids, placed one on each side at the entrance of temples. PYLORUS, the small and contracted end of the stomach leading into the small intestines. PYM, JOHN, an English statesman, born in Somersetshire, England, in 1584. He studied at Oxford and became famous as a lawyer. He entered Parliament in 1614, and during the reign of James he attained great influence by his opposi- tion to the arbitrary measures of the king. In 1626 he took part in the im- peachment of Buckingham and was im- prisoned. In the Short Parliament of 1640 Pym and Hampden were exceeding- ly active as leaders of the popular party. Pym impeached Strafford and at his trial appeared as accuser. He was the main author of the Grand Remonstrance, the final appeal presented in 1641, and one of the five members to arrest whom the king went to the House of Commons in January, 1642. When civil war be- came inevitable Pym was appointed one of the committee of safety. He died in 1643. gogue" (1652) ; "How the First Sabbath was Ordained" (1654). He died in Wraysbury, England, Oct. 29, 1662. PYORRHCEA ALVEOLARIS, a dis- ease of the sockets of the teeth, also called Rigg's Disease. The symptoms are pains in chewing, and redness of the gums combined with a tendency to re- cede, so that the teeth eventually loosen and fall out. The treatment consists in the removal of deposits and the working out of the pus sockets. The disease in a chronic state deleteriously affects the digestion. PYRAMID, in Egyptian antiquities, a solid structure substantially invariable in form, viz., a simple mass resting on a square or sometimes approximately square base, with the sides facing with slight deviations toward the four princi- pal winds, and tapering off gradually to- ward the top to a point or to a flat sur- face, as a substitute for an apex. The pyramids were constructed in platforms, and then reveted or coated with blocks or slabs of granite. The interior of these massive structures contains narrow I>assages, and some totally dark halls or chambers, and probably served as the burial places of the kings who had caused them to be constructed. The pyramids of Egypt begin immediately S. of Cairo, and continue S. at varying intervals for nearly 70 miles. The largest is that of Cheops, at Ghizeh, standing on a base each side of which was originally 764 feet long, but owing to the removal of the coating is now only PYRAMIDS, EGYPT PYNCHON, WILLIAM, an American colonist; born in Springfield, England, about 1590. He emigrated to New Eng- land and founded the town of Spring- field, Mass. In 1650 he published "The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption," opposing the Calvinistic view of atone- ment. The book was denounced as her- etical, and the author was compelled to return to England to avoid persecution. His other works are: "The Jewes Syna- 746 feet. The principal chamber, the so-called Crowning Hall or King's Cham- ber, is 34 feet, 3 inches long, and 17 feet, 1 inch wide. In Mexican antiquities, the Teocallis, or Houses of the Gods, which have come down from Aztec times, are four-sided pyramids rising by terraces to a consid- erable height. A group of such erec- tions still exist at Teotihuacan, about 20 miles N. E. of the City of Mexico.