PELION 164 PELLICO white eggs. The pelican sits during the night with its bill resting on its breast; and, as the hook at the extrem- ity of the bill is red, this may have given rise to the legend that the bird feeds its young with blood from its own breast. In chemistry, an alembic with a tubu- ^JSJ'^ PELICAN lated capital, from which two opposite and crooked beaks passed out, entering again at the belly of the cucurbit. In dental surgery, an instrument for ex- tracting teeth, curved at the end like the beak of a pelican. In art, the pelican is the symbol of charity. It is generally represented wounding its breast to feed its young with its own blood — a tale told in the fabulous natural history of the Middle Ages, and which made the bird the adopted symbol of the Redeemer. PELION, in ancient geography, the name of a wooded mountain range in Thessaly, extending along the E. coast. Its E. side descends in steep and rugged precipices to the sea. Further to the N., near the mouth of the Peneus, is the steep conical peaks of Ossa, which ac- cording to the classic myth, the Titans placed on the summit of Pelion in order to scale Olympus, the abode of the gods. The modern name is Zagora. FELLA, the ancient capital of Mace- donia, and the birthplace of Philip II. and Alexander the Great; situated in the midst of marshes, a few miles N. W. of Thessalonica, which stood half way be- tween it and the head of what is now the Gulf of Saloniki. Its royal castle had wall paintings by Zeuxis. PELLAGRA, a chronic disease oc- curring in many parts of the world, in- cluding the southern portions of the United States. Its cause is not certainly determined. For a long time it was thought to be due to the eating of dam- aged maize (corn). More recently Sam- bon claims to have discovered a proto- zoal organism responsible for the pella- gra symptoms which is transmitted by a small fly Simulium replans. The symp- toms of pellagrra are sore mouth, gastric and intestinal disturbance, a skin eruption in summer which disappears on the approach of cold weather and re- turns in the following spring; when the disease has lasted for four or five years the skin becomes atrophied, wrinkled, and inelastic; walking is difficult, the victim tending to fall either forward or backward. The patient's face has a characteristic expression of anxiety. In- somnia is present, with great mental de- pression, and either moroseness or irri- tability. Various forms of paralysis eventually develop. The disease may last from ten to fifteen years. Treatment. Arsenic in some form, such as atoxyl (see Sleeping Sickness), is the best remedy. PELLICO, SILVIO, an Italian patriot; born in Saluzza, in Piedmont, in 1789. In early life he gained considerable dis- tinction as a writer for the stage; and his tragedy, "Francesca da Rimini," may SILVIO PELLICO still be read with interest. In 1819 he became connected with the press, and in 1820, he was seized as a carbonaro by the Austrians at Milan, and confined in the fortress of Spielberg for 10 years. The volume on which his fame rests tells the story of his imprisonment. His
