Norfolk Island, but in 1858 two families chose to return, and their example was afterwards followed by a few others. Visited in 1873 and 1878 the colony was found in excellent order, but by the end of the century It was stated that intermarriage was bringing a deterioration of intellect, morals and energy, and that the islanders would probably drift into imbecility. Later accounts made it appear that this was an exaggeration, although the standard of morality was unquestionably low on the whole.
In religion the islanders are Seventh Day Adventists. “They have adopted an extraordinary patois, derived from the language of the Tahitian women who accompanied the mutineers of the “Bounty” to Pitcairn Island, although most of the adults can speak the English language fairly well” (R. T. Simons, Report, 1905). The island is a British colony by settlement, and is within the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (since 1898). There is a governing body chosen from among the islanders, the constitution of which has been altered more than once owing to internal jealousies, &c. The island produces sweet potatoes, yams, melons, bananas and other fruits, arrowroot and coffee. Goats and chickens run wild. Some trade is carried on with Mangareva in a vessel owned by the islanders. The population is about 170.
Bibliography.—J. Shillibeer, The “Briton’s” Voyage to Pitcairn’s Island (London, 1818); F. W. Beechey, Voyage to the Pacific (London, 1831); Sir J. Barrow, History of the Mutiny of the “Bounty” (London, 1831); W. Brodie, Pitcairn’s Island . . . in 1850 (London, 1851); C. E. Meinicke, Die Insel Pitcairn (Prenzlau, 1858); T. B. Murray, Pitcairn (London, 1860), revised to date by C. C. Elcum (1885); Lady Belcher, The Mutineers of the “Bounty” (London, 1870); J. A. Brown, “Stone Implements from Pitcairn Island, ” in Journ. Anthropol. Instit. (1900), xxx.; R. A. Hermann, “Die Bevolkerung der Insel Pitcairn,” in Petermanns Mitteilungen (1901), xlvii; Parliamentary Papers C. 9148, and Cd. 754 (London, 1899, 1901), Cd. 2397 (lb1d., 1905; Mr R. T. Simon's report).
PITCAIRNE, ARCHIBALD (1652–1713), Scottish physician, was born at Edinburgh on the 25th of December 1652. After obtaining some classical education at the school of Dalkeith, Pitcairne entered Edinburgh University in 1668, and took his degree of M.A. in 1671. Having been sent to France for the benefit of his health, he was induced at Paris to begin the study of medicine, and after courses at Edinburgh and Paris he obtained in 1680 the degree of M.D. at Rheims. He began practice at Edinburgh, and in a short time acquired so great a reputation that in 1692 he was appointed professor of medicine at Leiden. Among his pupils were Richard Mead and H. Boerhaave, and both of them attributed much of their skill to what they had learned from Pitcairne. In 1693 Pitcairne returned to Scotland to marry a daughter of Sir Archibald Stevenson, an eminent physician in Edinburgh. The family objected to her going abroad, so he did not return to Leiden, but settled once more in Edinburgh. He rose to be the first physician in Scotland, and was frequently called into consultation both in England and Holland. Soon after his return to Edinburgh, feeling the great want of the means of anatomical study, he importuned the town council to permit himself and certain of his medical friends to treat without fee the sick paupers in “ Paul's Work, ” on condition of being allowed to dissect such of the bodies as were unclaimed by their relatives, and therefore had to be buried at the town's expense. Strangely enough this proposal was strongly opposed by the chief surgeons of the place, but ultimately the town council had the good sense to comply with Pitcairne's request, and in this way he may be said to have the credit of laying the foundation of the great Edinburgh school of medicine.
Pitcairne's medical opinions are chiefly contained in a volume of Dissertationes medicae which he published in 1701 (2nd ed. 1713). In these he discusses the application of geometry to physic, the circulation of the blood in the smaller vessels, the difference in the quantity of the blood contained in the lungs of animals in the womb and of the same animals after birth, the motions by which food becomes fit to supply the blood, the question as to inventors in medicine (in which he repels the idea of certain medical discoveries of modern times having been known to the ancients, especially vindicating for Harvey the discovery of the circulation of the blood, and refuting the view that it was known to Hippocrates), the cure of fevers by evacuating medicines, and the effects of acids and alkalis in medicine. Pitcairne was a good classical scholar, and wrote Latin verses, occasionally with something more than mere imitative cleverness and skill. He was supposed to be the author of a comedy, The Assembly, or Scotch Reformation, and of a satirical poem Babel, containing witty sketches of prominent Presbyterian divines of the time, whom, as a loudly avowed Jacobite, he strongly disliked. He was prone to irreverent and ribald jests, and thus gained the reputation of being an unbeliever and an atheist, though he was a professed deist. The stories about his over-indulgence in drink are probably exaggerated. He was repeatedly involved in violent quarrels with his medical brethren and others, and once or twice got into scrapes with the government on account of his indiscreet political utterances. Among his friends, however, he was evidently well liked, and he is known to have acted with great kindness and generosity to deserving men who needed his help. Thomas Ruddiman, the Scottish scholar, for example, was rescued from a life of obscurity by his encouragement and assistance, and by no one was his memory more gratefully cherished. Mead, too. appears never to have forgotten what he owed to his old teacher at Leiden. A son of Pitcairne's had gone out in the rebellion of 1715, and, having been condemned to death, was saved by the earnest interposition of Mead with Sir Robert Walpole. He pleaded, very artfully, that if Walpole's health had been bettered by his skill, or if members of the royal family were preserved by his care, it was owing to the instruction he had received from Dr Pitcairne. Pitcairne died in Edinburgh on the 20th of October 1713. He had been a great collector of books, and his library, which is said to have been of considerable value, was, through the influence of Ruddiman, disposed of to Peter the Great of Russia.
PITCH. (1) (O. Eng. pic, an adaptation of Lat. pix, picis, Gr. πίσσα, πίττα, allied with Gr. πίτυς, pine-tree, Lat. pinus),
the name of various substances of dark colour and of extremely
viscid and tenacious consistency when subjected to heat.
Strictly the term is applied to the resinous substance obtained
as a solid residuum by the distillation of wood-tar (see Tar),
or the non-resinous substance similarly produced from Coal-tar
(q.v.). The name is also applied to the natural mineral substances,
i.e. asphalt or bitumen (qq.v.). (2) A noun of various
meanings which are somewhat difficult to connect with the
verb from which they apparently must be derived. “ To
pitch ” means primarily to thrust in or fix a stake or other
pointed object into the ground, hence to place in a fixed
position, set in order, cast or throw, hence to incline or slope.
The etymology is obscure, but it appears in Northern dialects
as “pick,” of which it may be a variant; there is some difficulty in connecting this form with “pick,” variant of “pike” (q. v.).
PITCH, MUSICAL. The pitch of a musical sound is aurally defined by its absolute position in the scale and by its relative position with regard to other musical sounds. It is precisely defined by a vibration number recording the frequency of the pulsations of a tense string, a column of air, or other vibrator, in a second of time. In Great Britain and America the complete vibration to and fro (swing both ways of a pendulum) is taken as the unit; elsewhere the vibration in one direction only (swing one way of the pendulum). The only official standard is the French, dating from 1859, preserved by a tuning-fork vibrating 870·9 (double vib. 435·45) at a temperature of 15° Centigrade (59° Fahr.) in a second. The vibration number stated in the edict establishing the Diapason Normal is 870 (435), which for comparison will be here adhered to. The natural basis for a standard musical pitch is the voice, particularly the male voice, which has been of greater importance historically. There is no reason to suppose the human voice has varied, during the period of which we have evidence, more than other physical attributes. The only difference to be reckoned with may be in recent tendencies of solo vocalists to sing for effect, and so to
