PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH, a patois that is not, as some erroneously suppose, a corruption of German, originating in Pennsylvania, but a South-German dialect, brought from Europe, and due to a mixture of forms existing on the upper Rhine in Rhenish Bavaria, Baden, Darmstadt, Württemberg, German Switzerland, and Alsace. In the United States, chiefly in Pennsylvania, the dialect has taken up an English element. A more correct name would be Pennsylvania German.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in State College, Pa.; founded in 1855; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 350; students, 3,065; volumes in the library, 74,000; productive funds, $567,000; income, $1,165,877; president, Edwin Erle Sparks, Ph. D., LL. D.
PENNSYLVANIA, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Philadelphia, Pa.; founded in 1740; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 935; students, 9,921; volumes in the library, 481,000; productive funds, $10,802,420; income, $472,886; provost, Edgar Fahs Smith, Ph. D.
PENNY, a British coin (formerly of copper, since 1860 of bronze) and money of account, the 12th part of a shilling. It was at first a silver coin weighing about 22½ grains troy, or the 240th part of a Saxon pound. Till the time of Edward I. it was so deeply indented by a cross mark that it could be broken into halves (thence called half-penny) or quarters (fourthings or farthings). Its weight was steadily decreased till at last, in the reign of Elizabeth, it was fixed at 7 grains, or the 62d part of an ounce of silver. Copper pennies were first coined in 1797, but copper half-pennies and farthings had been in use from 1672. The old Scotch penny was only a 12th of a penny sterling in value, the pound being equal to 20 pennies sterling.
In the United States the term penny is commonly used for “cent,” the 100th part of a dollar. It consists of 95 per cent. of copper and 5 per cent. tin and zinc. There are 1,000,000,000 pennies in circulation throughout the country and the Philadelphia mint is turning them out at the rate of 4,000,000 a month to keep up the supply. Copper blank sheets are bought by the government large enough to cut 100 cents from. On reaching the mint the sheets are cut into strips, from which the round blanks called planchets are punched, and these run directly through the stamping machines. Then they go to an automatic weighing machine, which throws out all the imperfect coins. In 1897 Pennsylvania took the most pennies, 11,000,000. New York came next with a demand for 9,000,000, and in New Mexico, where the penny is little used, only 4,000 were asked for. It is estimated that 100,000 pennies a year are lost in various ways.
PENNYPACKER, SAMUEL WHITAKER. Born 1843 at Phœnixville, Pa. died Sept. 2, 1916. After graduating at Gettysburg University in 1863 he took up the practice of law, becoming in 1889 judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. From 1896-1902 he was president-judge of the same court. In 1903 he was elected governor of Pennsylvania. Governor Pennypacker was later a member of important railroad and historical commissions of the State, and for many years was president of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.
PENNYROYAL (Mentha pulegium), a species of mint, a native of Europe and western Asia, abundant in England and in some parts of Ireland, not found wild in Scotland, though sometimes grown there in gardens for its reputed medicinal qualities. It enjoys a high popular reputation as an emmenagogue, but no dependence may be placed in its efficacy. The name pennyroyal is given in North America to a small plant, hedeoma pulegioides, allied to the mints, and having, like them, a pleasant aromatic smell and a warm pungent taste. It is much in use in domestic medicine, in the form of a warm infusion, to promote perspiration and as an emmenagogue.
PENNYWEIGHT, a Troy weight, containing 24 grains, each grain being equal to a grain of wheat from the middle of the ear, well dried. Twenty pennyweights make one ounce Troy weight. The name is derived from its having been originally the weight of the silver penny.
PENNYWORT, a trailing herb (Linaria cymbalaria), with roundish reniform leaves, often cultivated in hanging baskets. Marsh or water pennywort is a name used for any species of the umbelliferous genus hydrocotyle, low herbs with roundish leaves, growing in marshy places.
PENOBSCOT, a river of Maine, having two branches. The W. branch rises near the Canadian frontier, and flows E. and S. E. to where it meets the E. branch or Seboois river. Afterward its course is S. S. W. to Penobscot Bay, a broad and sheltered inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, 35
