He was consequently compelled to resign his pastorate, and for some years occupied himself by urging the claims of a liberal Christianity. In 1879 he conducted a general inspection of primary education for the French government, and several similar missions followed. His fame chiefly rests in his successful organization of the training school for women teachers at Fontenoy-aux-Roses, to which he devoted fifteen years of ceaseless toil. He died on the 31st of July 1898.
A summary of his educational views is given in his Public Education and National Life (1897).
PECCARY, the name of the New World representatives of the swine (Suidae) of the E. hemisphere, of which they constitute the sub-family Dicotylinae (or Tagassuinae). (See Artiodactyla and Swine.)
The Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu).
The teeth of the peccaries differ from those of the typical Old World pigs (Sus), numerically, in wanting the upper outer incisor and the anterior premolar on each side of each jaw, the dental formula being i. 23, c. 11, p. 33, m. 33, total 38. From those of all Old World swine or Suinae, the upper canines, or tusks, differ in having their points directed downwards, not outwards or upwards; these being very sharp, with cutting hinder edges, and completely covered with enamel until worn. The lower canines are large and directed upwards and outwards, and slightly curved backwards. The cheek-teeth form a continuous series, gradually increasing in size from the first to the last: the molars having square four-cusped crowns. The stomach is much more complex than in the true pigs, almost approaching that of a ruminant. In the feet the two middle (third and fourth) metacarpal and metatarsal bones, which are completely separate in the pigs, are united at their upper ends. On the fore-foot the two (second and fifth) outer toes are equally developed as in pigs, but on the hind-foot, although the inner (or second) is present, the outer or fifth toe is entirely wanting. As in all Suidae the snout is truncated, and the nostrils are situated in its flat, expanded, disk-like termination. The ears are rather small, ovate and erect; and there is no external appearance of a tail.
Peccaries, which range from New Mexico and Texas to Patagonia, are represented by two main types, of which the first is the collared peccary, Dicotyles (or Tagassu) tajacu, which has an extensive range in South America. Generally it is found singly or in pairs, or at most in small herds of from eight to ten, and is not inclined to attack other animals or human beings. Its colour is dark grey, with a white or whitish band passing across the chest from shoulder to shoulder. The length of the head and body is about 36 in. The second form is typified by the white-lipped peccary or warri, D. (or T.) labiatus, or pecari, representing the sub-genus Olidosus. Typically it is rather larger than the collared species, being about 40 in. in length, of a blackish colour, with the lips and lower jaw white. It is not found farther north than Guatemala, or south of Paraguay. Generally met with in large droves of from fifty to a hundred, it is of a more pugnacious disposition than the former species, and a hunter who encounters a herd in a forest has often to climb a tree as his only chance of safety. Peccaries are omnivorous, living on roots. fallen fruits, worms and carrion, and often inflict great devastation upon crops. Both types are so nearly allied that they will breed together freely in captivity. Unlike pigs, they never appear to produce more than two young ones at a birth
Remains of extinct peccaries referable to the modern genus occur in the caverns and superficial deposits of South America, but not in the earlier formations. This, coupled with the occurrence of earlier types in North America, indicates that the group is a northern one. Of the extinct North American peccaries, the typical Dicotyles occur in the Pliocene while the Miocene Bothriolabis, which has tusks of the peccary type, approximates in the structure of its cheek-teeth to the European Miocene genus among the Suinae. From this it may be inferred that the ancestral peccaries entered America in the Upper Oligocene. Platygonus is an aberrant type which died out in the Pleistocene. (R. L.*)
PECHLIN, KARL FREDRIK (1720–1796), Swedish politician and demagogue, son of the Holstein minister at Stockholm, was educated in Sweden, and entered the Swedish army. He rose to the rank of major-general, but became famous by being the type par excellence of the corrupt and egoistic Swedish parliamentarian of the final period of the Frihetstiden (see Sweden: History); he received for many years the sobriquet of “General of the Riksdag.” Pechlin first appears prominently in Swedish politics in 1760, when by suddenly changing sides he contrived to save the “Hats” from impeachment. Enraged at being thus excluded from power by their former friend, the “Caps” procured Pechlin's expulsion from the two following Riksdags. In 1769 Pechlin sold the “Hats” as he had formerly sold the “Caps,” and was largely instrumental in preventing the projected indispensable reform of the Swedish constitution. During the revolution of 1772 he escaped from Stockholm and kept quietly in the background. In 1786, when the opposition against Gustavus III. was gathering strength, Pechlin reappeared in the Riksdag as one of the leaders of the malcontents, and is said to have been at the same time in the pay of the Russian court. In 1789 he was one of the deputies whom Gustavus III. kept under lock and key till he had changed the government into a semi-absolute monarchy. It is fairly certain that Pechlin was at the bottom of the plot for murdering Gustavus in 1792. On the eve of the assassination (March 16) the principal conspirators met at his house to make their final preparations and discuss the form of government which should be adopted after the king's death. Pechlin undertook to crowd the fatal masquerade with accomplices, but took care not to be there personally. He was arrested on the 17th of March, but nothing definite could ever be proved against him. Nevertheless he was condemned to imprisonment in the fortress of Varberg, where he died four years later.
See R. N. Bain, Gustavus III. and his Contemporaries (London, 1905). (R. N. B.)
PECHORA, a river of N. Russia, rising in the Urals, almost on 62° N., in the government of Perm. It flows W. for a short distance, then turns N. and maintains that direction up to about 66° 20′ N. It then describes a double loop, to N. and to S., and after that resumes its N. course, finally emptying into the Gulf of Pechora, situated between the White Sea and the Kara Sea. Its total length is 970 m. At its mouth it forms an elongated delta. Although frozen in its upper reaches for 190 days in the year and for 138 days in its lower reaches, it is navigable throughout the greater part of its course. Its drainage basin covers an area of 127,200 sq. m. The principal tributaries are, on the right, the Ilych and the Usa, and on the left the Izhma, the Tsylma and the Sula.
PECK, a dry measure of capacity, especially used for grain. It contains 8 quarts or 2 gallons, and is ¼ of a bushel. The
