PENANCE 167 PENCIL Britain, or in any of the British domin- ions beyond the seas. PENANCE, in Roman theology and ritual: 1. The virtue which inclines the soul to detest sin for its own sake — that is, because it is an offense against God. 2. The outward acts by which sorrow for sin is evinced. 3. The satisfaction which a priest imposes on the penitent before giving absolution, often called sacra- mental penance. 4. A sacrament of the New Law, whereby sins, whether mortal or venial, committed after baptism, are forgiven. The Council of Trent defines that the form of the sacrament consists in the words, "Ego te absolvo," etc., the "quasi materia" in the acts of the peni- tent — contrition, confession and satisfac- tion. The minister of the sacrament is a priest with ordinary or delegated power to absolve, and the subjects those who have received baptism. It is not of obli- gation to confess venial sins, but mortal sins committed after baptism must be confessed. P E N A N G, PULO-PENANG, or PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, an is- land belonging to Great Britain, lying at the N. entrance of the Straits of Ma- lacca, off the W. coast of the Malay Pen- insula, from which it is separated by a channel 2 to 5 miles across; area, 107 square miles. Two-fifths of Penang is plain, and the rest hills, which rise to a height of 2,734 feet in the peak now used as a sanatorium. The climate is hot, but very healthy. The scenery is charming. The island produces cocoanuts and areca nuts, nutmegs and cloves, rice, sugar, coffee, and pepper. Georgetown, or Pe- nang, the capital and port (Pop. 1915 about 105,000) has a large commerce. The harbor is the strait between island and mainland. Penang was made over by treaty to the East India Company in 1786 by the Rajah of Quedah, and with province Wellesley, a long strip of the Malay Peninsula opposite (area, 270 square miles), it forms one of the Straits Settlements, having a resident councillor to control administration. Pop. (1915) 294,858. PENATES, the Roman gods of the storeroom and kitchen. The family hearth, which formerly stood in the at- rium, and their altar, and on it their im- ages, two in number, were placed, with the image of the Lar between them. These penates were represented danc- ing and elevating a drinking horn in token of joy and plenty. The calends, nones, and ides of each month were set apart for their worship, as were the car- istia (Feb. 22) and the saturnalia. Each family had its own penates, and the state had its public penates. The worship of these gods was closely con- nected with that of Vesta, in whose temple the public penates were at one time worshipped, though they had a temple of their own near the Forum. PENCIL, a name applied to instru- ments for writing, drawing, or painting, differing as much in their construction as in the use to which they are applied. There are now in use the following kinds of pencils : Hair pencils, black lead pen- cils, chalk pencils, and slate pencils. The first are used for painting or writ- ing with fluid colors, either oil or water, and in China and Japan ai'e employed almost entirely instead of pens for writ- ing; the color used being the black or brown pigment obtained from various species of sepia or cuttle fish. The well- known black lead pencil is made by cut- ting black lead or plumbago. Some pen- cils are filled with colored chalk instead of black lead. The ever-pointed pencil is an instru- ment for using cylindrical pieces of black lead, which are forced forward in the pencil just so far as to allow them to be used without breaking. The pencils for using liquid colors or paints are made of hog's bristles, camel's hair, fitch, sable, etc. Those of a large and com- mon kind are described under Brush (q. v.). The soft pencils for artists are made as follows: The tail of the animal (sable, badger, marten, etc.) is scoured in a solution of alum; then steeped for several hours in lukewarm water; then dried in linen cloths; and finally combed out regularly. The hairs are seized with pincers, and cut off near the skin, and the little parcels of hair are sorted into groups according to their length. A few hairs are then taken — enough for one pencil — and placed in a little receptacle, which holds them while a thread is bound round near the roots. The base of the pencil is then trimmed flat by scissors. The hairs thus prepared are fitted either into quills or into tin tubes. The quills are those of swans, geese, ducks, lap- wings, pigeons, or larks, according to the size of the pencil. Each quill is softened and swelled in hot water; and the bunch of hairs is introduced at the larger end, and pulled forward by a simple appa- ratus to the smaller end, where the shrinking of the quill binds the hairs closely. Women are generally more suc- cessful than men in preparing the small and delicate pencils. Slate pencils, for writing on slate, are made either by cut- ting slate into thin sticks, and rounding them, or by cutting it into fine square
