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penile erection (physiology)
enlargement, hardening, and elevation of the male reproductive organ, the penis. Internally, the penis has three long masses of cylindrical tissue, known as erectile tissue, that are bound together by fibrous tissue. The two identical areas running along the sides of the penis are termed corpora cavernosa; the third mass, known as the corpus spongiosu...
penillion (Welsh songs)
...(and aural) art forms, including the spoken and written word and vocal music, particularly choral singing involving multiple parts and complex harmonies. The singing of penillion, simple vernacular songs, to the accompaniment of the triple harp was a feature of Welsh folk culture until the early 18th century, and efforts have been mounted to revive the......
Penington, Sir John (English naval commander)
...the neutral roadstead of the Downs. Tromp, after taking in fresh supplies of gunpowder at Calais, soon followed him there, only to be separated from him by an English squadron under the command of Sir John Penington. By October 10 the Dutch fleet was strong enough to challenge the Spaniards, and on October 21 Tromp attacked Oquendo, and Penington’s efforts at protection were of little av...
Peninj (anthropological and archaeological site, Tanzania)
The Peninj mandible is robust and deep, with tiny incisors and canines and larger premolars and molars. Only one tooth was damaged, though the rest were heavily worn. The Peninj site is also important to the study of human evolution because about 120 artifacts were unearthed near the fossil. These Stone Age implements belong to the Acheulean industry and include stone cleavers and hand axes.......
Peninj mandible (fossil)
an almost perfectly preserved fossil jaw of the hominin (of human lineage) species Paranthropus boisei containing a complete set of adult teeth. It was found in 1964 at Peninj, a locale in Tanzania to the west of Lake Natron and about 80 km (50 miles) from Olduvai Gorge, a major paleoanthropological site....
Península de Nicoya (peninsula, Costa Rica)
peninsula in western Costa Rica that is bounded on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, on the northeast by the Cordillera de Guanacaste, and on the southeast by the Gulf of Nicoya. Costa Rica’s largest peninsula, Nicoya measures about 85 miles (140 km) nort...
Península de Osa (peninsula, Costa Rica)
peninsula, southern Costa Rica, bounded on the northwest by Coronado Bay, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the east by the Gulf of Dulce. Costa Rica’s second largest peninsula, Osa measures about 20 miles (30 km) northeast-southwest and about 35 miles (5...
Península de Paraguaná (peninsula, Venezuela)
peninsula in Falcón estado (state), northwestern Venezuela. It lies between the Caribbean Sea on the east and the Gulf of Venezuela on the west. The largest peninsula in Venezuela, it is about 40 miles (60 km) from north...
Península de Yucatán (peninsula, Central America)
a northeastern projection of Central America, lying between the Gulf of Mexico to the west and north and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Encompassing some 76,300 square miles (197,600 square km), it includes the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo...
Peninsula Mountains (mountains, Sierra Leone)
...sometimes form the actual coast. The Sierra Leone Peninsula, which is the site of Freetown, is a region of thickly wooded mountains that run parallel to the sea for about 25 miles (40 km). The Peninsula Mountains rise from the coastal swamps and reach some 2,900 feet (880 metres) at Picket Hill....
Peninsula Valdez (peninsula, Argentina)
...hectares]) includes glaciated mountains, alpine lakes, rivers, and forests. To the east are isolated mountain ranges, salt flats, and salt lakes. Chubut River crosses the province west to east. The Valdés Peninsula juts into the Atlantic in northeast Chubut province, separating the San José (north) and Nuevo (south) gulfs. San José Gulf was officially decreed a wildlife......
peninsular (Latin American colonist)
any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th centuries who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called gachupin...
Peninsular Campaign (American Civil War)
(April 4–July 1, 1862), in the American Civil War, large-scale but unsuccessful Union effort to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Va., by way of the peninsula formed by the York and the James rivers. Following the engagement between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack at nearby ...
Peninsular Foreland (region, India)
The northernmost portion of the Deccan may be termed the peninsular foreland. This large, ill-defined area lies between the peninsula proper to the south (roughly demarcated by the Vindhya Range) and the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Great Indian Desert (beyond the Aravali Range) to the north....
Peninsular gneiss (geological feature, India)
...than 3-billion-year-old mafic-ultramafic associations of Kolar type with only subordinate sedimentary rocks represent the old greenstone belts that have either intrusive or tectonic contacts with Peninsular gneiss of similar age. The so-called Sargur schist belts within the Peninsular gneiss may be the oldest suture zones in the Indian subcontinent. In the Angaran platform the older (i.e.,......
Peninsular Malaysia (region, Malaysia)
region of the 13-state federation of Malaysia. It occupies the southern half of the Malay Peninsula and is separated from East Malaysia (on the island of Borneo) by the South China Sea. Formerly the Federation of Malaya (1948–63), it contains ...
peninsular pronghorn (mammal)
...great abundance with the help of dedicated conservation efforts. Today they are common game animals. Only the small desert-adapted Sonoran pronghorn of southern Arizona and northern Mexico and the peninsular pronghorn of Baja California remain endangered....
Peninsular War (European history)
(1808–14), that part of the Napoleonic Wars fought in the Iberian Peninsula, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. Napoleon’s peninsula struggle contributed considerably to his eventual downfall; but until 1813 the conflict in Spain and Portugal, though cos...
penis (anatomy)
the copulatory organ of the male of higher vertebrates that in mammals usually also provides the channel by which urine leaves the body. The corresponding structure in lower invertebrates is often called the cirrus....
penis bone (anatomy)
the penis bone of certain mammals. The baculum is one of several heterotropic skeletal elements—i.e., bones dissociated from the rest of the body skeleton. It is found in all insectivores (e.g., shrews, hedgehogs), bats, rodents, and carnivores and in all primates except humans. Such wide distribution sug...
penis case
Male sexual display at its most blatant can be seen in parts of Papua New Guinea, where the men wear penis sheaths (usually made from a dried gourd) that may be 15 inches long or in some cases even longer. The purpose is to impress both women and enemies, by showing that the warriors are more virile than their opponents. The competition between warriors has led to a great variety of additional......
penis cover
Male sexual display at its most blatant can be seen in parts of Papua New Guinea, where the men wear penis sheaths (usually made from a dried gourd) that may be 15 inches long or in some cases even longer. The purpose is to impress both women and enemies, by showing that the warriors are more virile than their opponents. The competition between warriors has led to a great variety of additional......
penis envy (psychology)
The blatantly phallocentric bias of this account, which was supplemented by a highly controversial assumption of penis envy in the already castrated female child, proved troublesome for subsequent psychoanalytic theory. Not surprisingly, later analysts of female sexuality have paid more attention to the girl’s relations with the pre-Oedipal mother than to the vicissitudes of the Oedipus......
penis pin (ornament)
Among the Toraja and Sadang (Sulawesi, Indonesia) and some Dayak groups (Borneo), many adult men wore a penis pin, knobbed on each end and averaging about 1.5 inches (4 cm) long, in a permanent perforation through the glans to increase pleasure in their sexual partners. The Alfur (Sulawesi) inserted pebbles under the skin of the glans for the same purpose....
Penitella penita (clam)
The flat-topped piddock (Penitella penita), from the Arctic Ocean to Lower California, bores into hard clay, sandstone, and cement, sometimes damaging man-made structures. Some Penitella and Diplothyra species bore into the shells of other mollusks, particularly oysters and abalone....
Penitence, Ten Days of (Judaism)
in Judaism, the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana (on Tishri 1 and 2) and Yom Kippur (on Tishri 10), in September or October. Though the Bible does not link these two major festival...
penitentes (geology)
...others are advancing. Some glacial regions have a striking feature known as ablated snow hummocks—called nieves penitentes or Büsserschnee (literally, “penitent snow”)—that give the illusion of kneeling human figures, sometimes two or three feet high; especially noticeable in the early...
penitential book (religious manual)
any of the manuals used in Europe by priests of the Western church, especially during the early Middle Ages, in administering ecclesiastical penance. (The name penance is applied to both a sacramental rite and acts performed in satisfaction for sins.) Penitentials contained (1) detailed lists of sins that the priest was to consider in assisting an individual penitent with his e...
penitentiary
an institution for the confinement of persons who have been remanded (held) in custody by a judicial authority or who have been deprived of their liberty following conviction for a crime. A person found guilty of a felony or a misdemeanour may be required to serve a prison sentence. The holding of accused persons awaiting trial remains an important function of contemporary priso...
Penitentiary Island (island, Vietnam)
town, island, and island group, southern Vietnam. The island group consists of 13 volcanic islands and islets about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of the Ca Mau Peninsula in the South China Sea. Con Son Island, which is 13 miles (21 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide, is well wooded and has an indented coast. It has also been known as Penitentiary Island because it was used for political prisoners....
Penkovsky, Oleg Vladimirovich (Soviet officer)
senior Soviet military intelligence officer who was convicted of spying for the United Kingdom and the United States. He was probably the West’s most valuable ...
Penkovsky Papers, The (work by Penkovsky)
...and sentenced to death. According to an official Soviet announcement, he was executed on May 16, 1963, though other reports have him committing suicide while in a Soviet camp. In 1965 his journal, The Penkovskiy Papers, was published in the United States, though the book’s authenticity has been questioned by some....
penlop (Bhutani political history)
...political entity about this period. La-Pha was succeeded by Doopgein Sheptoon, who consolidated Bhutan’s administrative organization through the appointment of regional penlops (governors of territories) and jungpens (governors of forts). Doopgein Sheptoon exercised both temporal and spiritual authority, but his....
Penman calculation of evaporation (Earth science)
...ones not only because the sunny day may have drier air but also because the Sun warms the evaporator and thus raises the vapour pressure at the evaporator. In fact, according to the well-known Penman calculation of evaporation (an equation that considers potential evaporation as a function of humidity, wind speed, radiation, and temperature), this loss of water is essentially determined by......
Penn, Arthur (American film director)
American motion-picture and theatre director whose films are noted for their critical examination of the darker undercurrents of American society....
Penn, Arthur Hiller (American film director)
American motion-picture and theatre director whose films are noted for their critical examination of the darker undercurrents of American society....
Penn Center (building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States)
...agreement.” Four shady, fountained squares—Logan, Franklin, Washington, and Rittenhouse—dot the quadrants. Westward from Penn Square along John F. Kennedy Boulevard is Penn Center, and the long stretch of Broad Street, north and south of Penn Square, has been called the Avenue of the Arts because of its numerous cultural attractions. The multilevel complex......
Penn Central (American railway)
one of the major American railroads that connected the East Coast with the interior. Founded in 1853, it was a consolidation of 10 small railroads that paralleled the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo; the earliest was the Mohawk and Hudson, New York state’s first railway, which opened in 1831....
Penn Central (American railway)
largest of the trunkline railroads that connected the East Coast of the United States with the interior. It was chartered in 1846 by the Pennsylvania legislature to build a line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Its first passenger train ran in 1848 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh....
Penn Central Transportation Company (American company)
American railroad operating in southern New England and New York. It was absorbed by the Penn Central Transportation Company in 1969....
Penn, Irving (American photographer)
American photographer noted for his sophisticated fashion images and incisive portraits....
Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agricultural School (school, Saint Helena’s Island, South Carolina, United States)
In September 1862 Towne and her friend Ellen Murray established the Penn School, one of the earliest freedmen’s schools, and laid down a rigorous curriculum patterned on the tradition of New England schools. It was for decades the only secondary school available to the African American population of the Sea Islands. From 1870 teacher-training courses were also offered. The school was suppor...
Penn School (school, Saint Helena’s Island, South Carolina, United States)
In September 1862 Towne and her friend Ellen Murray established the Penn School, one of the earliest freedmen’s schools, and laid down a rigorous curriculum patterned on the tradition of New England schools. It was for decades the only secondary school available to the African American population of the Sea Islands. From 1870 teacher-training courses were also offered. The school was suppor...
Penn, Sean (American actor)
American film actor and director known for his versatility and intense performances....
Penn, Sean Justin (American actor)
American film actor and director known for his versatility and intense performances....
Penn, Sir William (British admiral)
British admiral and father of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania....
Penn Square (square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States)
site in Philadelphia that is the location of the City Hall of Philadelphia and is the centre of the gridiron of streets provided for in William Penn’s original plans for the city, which called the site Center Square. Penn Square is at the intersection of Broad and Market streets. Westward from the north end of the square along John F. Kennedy Boulevard ...
Penn, Thomas (British colonist)
...tribal land between the fork of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers that extended as far as a man could walk in 1 12 days—about 40 miles. William Penn’s son Thomas Penn (1702–75), who was proprietor of Pennsylvania in 1737, hired the three fastest walkers in the colony and offered a large prize to the one who could cover the most land. The winn...
Penn, William (English Quaker leader and colonist)
English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom, who oversaw the founding of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities of Europe....
Penna, Sandro (Italian poet)
Italian poet who celebrated homosexual love, particularly pederasty, with lyrical elegance. Usually written in the form of epigrams, his moody poems often feature the tranquil, homoerotic imagery of young boys at play....
Pennacook (people)
Algonquian-speaking North American Indians whose villages were located in what are now southern and central New Hampshire, northeastern Massachusetts, and southern Maine. The Pennacook economy depended on hunting, fishing, and the cultivation of corn (maize). They were semisedentary, moving seasonally in response to the avai...
Pennamite-Yankee Wars (United States history)
The Wyoming Valley was the scene of the Pennamite-Yankee Wars (1769–84), a protracted struggle for land between colonists from Pennsylvania and Connecticut. During the American Revolution British and Indian forces slaughtered 360 settlers gathered at Forty Fort in the Wyoming Massacre (July 3, 1778). Located near Hazleton, the Eckley Miners’ Village is a restored company mining town....
pennant (heraldry)
...flag tied to a long pole or rod that extends beyond the tailboard of a truck. But the pennon served also to strike terror into the enemy and to denote rank. The streamer (now known as a pendant, or pennant) was a long, tapering flag from 60 to 18 feet (18 to 5.5 m) long and about 24 feet (7 m) broad at the hoist, ending in two points. Because of its great length, almost its only use was at sea....
pennant coralfish (fish)
...with a white-ringed, black ocellus near its tail; the spotfin butterfly fish (C. ocellatus), a western Atlantic species with yellow fins and a dark spot at the base of its dorsal fin; and the pennant coralfish, or feather-fin bull fish (Heniochus acuminatus), a black-and-white striped Indo-Pacific species with a very long spine in its dorsal fin. ...
Pennant, Thomas (Welsh naturalist)
Welsh naturalist and traveler, one of the foremost zoologists of his time....
pennant-winged nightjar (bird)
The pennant-winged nightjar (Semeiophorus vexillarius) of Africa gets its name from its boldly patterned black and white wing, which has greatly lengthened innermost primary flight feathers (50 to 70 cm [20 to 28 inches])....
Pennant’s cat (mammal)
rare North American carnivore of northern forests, trapped for its valuable brownish black fur (especially fine in the female). It is a member of the weasel family (Mustelidae). The fisher has a weasellike body, bushy tail, tapered muzzle, and low, rounded ears. Adults are usually 50–63 cm (20–25 inches) long, excluding the 33–42-centimetre tail, and weigh 1.4–6.8 kg (3...
Pennant’s marten (mammal)
rare North American carnivore of northern forests, trapped for its valuable brownish black fur (especially fine in the female). It is a member of the weasel family (Mustelidae). The fisher has a weasellike body, bushy tail, tapered muzzle, and low, rounded ears. Adults are usually 50–63 cm (20–25 inches) long, excluding the 33–42-centimetre tail, and weigh 1.4–6.8 kg (3...
pennate muscle (physiology)
...Since muscle fibres can contract about one-third of their resting length, this arrangement is suitable to an extensive and quick movement. The deltoid muscle in the human shoulder is said to be pennate; relatively short fibres attach diagonally onto a tendon that penetrates far into the muscle. The ankle muscles shown in Figure 4B are pennate muscles, but most of......
Pennatulacea (invertebrate)
any of the 300 species of the order Pennatulacea, colonial invertebrate marine animals of the class Anthozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The name sea pen derives from their resemblance to quill pens. They occur in shallow and deep waters from p...
Pennel, John Thomas (American athlete)
American pole-vaulter who was the first to jump more than 5.18 m (17 feet) and was a world-record holder (1963, 1966, 1969)....
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins (American writer)
...for American publishers. In 1884 he went to Europe and settled in London. He produced numerous books, both as an author and as an illustrator, many of them in collaboration with his wife, author Elizabeth Robins Pennell. In London his friends included many of the most notable creative figures of the day, including the writers George Bernard Shaw and Robert Louis Stevenson and the painters......
Pennell, Joseph (American artist and writer)
American etcher, lithographer, and writer who was one of the major book illustrators of his time....
Pennella balaenopterae (copepod)
Most copepods are 0.5 to 2 mm (0.02 to 0.08 inch) long. The largest species, Pennella balaenopterae, which is parasitic on the finback whale, grows to a length of 32 cm (about 13 inches). Males of Sphaeronellopsis monothrix, a parasite of marine ostracods, are among the smallest copepods, attaining lengths of only 0.11 mm....
Penner River (river, India)
river of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, southern India. The Penneru rises on the Deccan plateau 7 miles (11 km) west-southwest of Chik Ballapur in eastern Karnataka. It flows north into Andhra Pradesh state and turns east-southeast toward the Coromandel Coast, emptying into the Bay of Beng...
Penneru River (river, India)
river of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, southern India. The Penneru rises on the Deccan plateau 7 miles (11 km) west-southwest of Chik Ballapur in eastern Karnataka. It flows north into Andhra Pradesh state and turns east-southeast toward the Coromandel Coast, emptying into the Bay of Beng...
Penney, J. C. (American businessman)
merchant who established one of the largest chains of department stores in the United States....
Penney, James Cash (American businessman)
merchant who established one of the largest chains of department stores in the United States....
Penney of East Hendred, William George Penney, Baron (British physicist)
British nuclear physicist who led Britain’s development of the atomic bomb....
Penney of East Hendred, William Penney, Baron (British physicist)
British nuclear physicist who led Britain’s development of the atomic bomb....
Penney, William (British scientist)
...meeting of the Defence Subcommittee of the Cabinet in early January 1947. The construction of a first reactor to produce fissile material and associated facilities had got under way the year before. William Penney, a member of the British team at Los Alamos, N.M., U.S., during the war, was placed in charge of fabricating and testing the bomb, which was to be of a plutonium type similar to the.....
Penniman, Richard Wayne (American musician)
flamboyant American singer and pianist whose hit songs of the mid-1950s were defining moments in the development of rock and roll....
Penniman, Russell Sylvanus (American chemist)
...worked to develop nongelatinous ammonium nitrate mixtures, but nothing of value resulted, largely because ammonium nitrate is too hygroscopic; that is, it picks up moisture too readily. In 1885 R.S. Penniman, an American, found a solution to the problem by coating the ammonium nitrate with a small percentage of paraffin, or some similar substance, prior to use. With this development a series of...
Pennine Alps (mountains, Europe)
segment of the central Alps along the Italian-Swiss border, bounded by the Great St. Bernard Pass and the Mont Blanc group (southwest), by the Upper Rhône Valley (north), by Simplon Pass and the Lepontine Alps (northeast), and by the Dora Baltea River valley (south). The highest po...
Pennine Way (trail, England, United Kingdom)
...them Hawes, Muker, and Grassington. Tourism has become an important element in the economy, helped by the designation of the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, and Northumberland national parks. The Pennine Way, a footpath running along the hills of the Pennines from end to end for 250 miles (400 km), was opened in 1965....
Pennines (upland mass, England, United Kingdom)
major upland mass forming a relief “backbone,” or “spine,” in the north of England, extending southward from Northumberland into Derbyshire. The uplands have a short, steep western slope and dip gently eastward. They are surrounded on the east, west, and south by the Vale of York, the Lancashire and Cheshire plains, and the valley of the ...
Penning trap (electromagnetic device)
...1989 with the German physicist Wolfgang Paul. (The other half of the prize was awarded to the American physicist Norman F. Ramsey.) Dehmelt received his share of the prize for his development of the Penning trap, an electromagnetic device that can hold small numbers of ions (electrically charged atoms) and electrons for periods of time long enough to allow their properties to be studied with......
Pennisetum (plant genus)
genus of the grass family (Poaceae), containing about 80 species of annual and perennial plants, native to tropical and subtropical areas. Kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), a perennial sod-forming species, is grown for pasturage in Central America...
Pennisetum americanum (plant)
Pearl millet (P. glaucum), an annual species, which bears a cattaillike flower cluster, is cultivated in tropical areas for its edible grain. Napier grass, or elephant grass (P. purpureum), a tall African perennial, is cultivated for forage in Central American pastures....
Pennisetum clandestinum (plant)
The introduction of alien organisms is hazardous in that these same organisms may become pests in the new habitat. Kikuyu grass, which was introduced into California to prevent soil erosion on hillsides and roadways, soon spread into orchards, turf, and crop areas, where it became a serious weed....
Pennisetum glaucum (plant)
Pearl millet (P. glaucum), an annual species, which bears a cattaillike flower cluster, is cultivated in tropical areas for its edible grain. Napier grass, or elephant grass (P. purpureum), a tall African perennial, is cultivated for forage in Central American pastures....
Pennisetum purpureum
Pearl millet (P. glaucum), an annual species, which bears a cattaillike flower cluster, is cultivated in tropical areas for its edible grain. Napier grass, or elephant grass (P. purpureum), a tall African perennial, is cultivated for forage in Central American pastures....
Pennisetum ruppelii (plant)
...and subtropical areas. Kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), a perennial sod-forming species, is grown for pasturage in Central America. Several varieties of feathertop (P. villosum) and fountaintop, or fountain grass (P. setaceum, formerly P. ruppelii), both native to Ethiopia, are cultivated in North America as ornamentals for their arching form and feathery, coloured......
Pennisetum setaceum (plant)
...and subtropical areas. Kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), a perennial sod-forming species, is grown for pasturage in Central America. Several varieties of feathertop (P. villosum) and fountaintop, or fountain grass (P. setaceum, formerly P. ruppelii), both native to Ethiopia, are cultivated in North America as ornamentals for their arching form and feathery, coloured......
Pennisetum villosum (plant)
...perennial plants, native to tropical and subtropical areas. Kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), a perennial sod-forming species, is grown for pasturage in Central America. Several varieties of feathertop (P. villosum) and fountaintop, or fountain grass (P. setaceum, formerly P. ruppelii), both native to Ethiopia, are cultivated in North America as ornamentals for their.....
Pennock, Herb (American baseball player)
...perennial plants, native to tropical and subtropical areas. Kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), a perennial sod-forming species, is grown for pasturage in Central America. Several varieties of feathertop (P. villosum) and fountaintop, or fountain grass (P. setaceum, formerly P. ruppelii), both native to Ethiopia, are cultivated in North America as ornamentals for their.....
pennon (heraldry)
...but was rounded in the fly or had two swallow tails, both rounded. Guidons were borne by leaders in battle who were of no more than knightly rank and so not entitled to display a banner. The pennon, a small triangular flag, was carried by each knight on his lance. One purpose of the pennon was to obviate accidents in much the same way as does a red flag tied to a long pole or rod that......
Pennsylvania (United States ship)
...a French squadron firing them in the bombardment of Vera Cruz, Mexico. The U.S. Navy began installation of the new guns, including 16 eight-inch (20-cm) shell guns in the three-decker Pennsylvania, along with 104 32-pounder solid-shot guns. The British made similar installations. There was good reason for navies to proceed cautiously, as the production of shell guns at first......
Pennsylvania (state, United States)
constituent state of the United States of America, one of the original 13 American colonies. The state is approximately rectangular in shape and stretches about 350 miles (560 km) from east to west and 150 miles (240 km) from north to south. It is bounded to the north by Lake Erie and New York state; to the east by New York and New Jersey; t...
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (academy and museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States)
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest art academy and museum in the United States, founded 1805. Specializing in American painting and sculpture of the 18th to the 20th century, the Academy’s Art Museum was built betw...
Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal (canal, United States)
...the Great Lakes. Laid out in 1825 by Gen. Simon Perkins, commissioner of the Ohio Canal Fund, the town was assured substantial growth by the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1827 and of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal in 1840, linking it with Pittsburgh. Waterpower and transportation supplied by these canals led to Akron’s early development as an industrial centre. The abundant w...
Pennsylvania Avenue (avenue, Washington, District of Columbia, United States)
major thoroughfare of Washington, D.C. It runs for 7 miles (11 km) in a northwesterly direction from the District of Columbia–Maryland line over the Anacostia River (John Philip Sousa Bridge) and through Washington’s well-known central section lined with government buildings between the Capitol and the ...
Pennsylvania, Bank of (bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States)
...States, where his first important work was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, Va. (1797–98; demolished 1927). Latrobe then moved to Philadelphia and in 1798 received the commission for his Bank of Pennsylvania, whose Ionic porticoes inspired countless imitations; the building is now considered the first monument of the Greek Revival in America. It is clear, however, that Latrobe did......
Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon (law case)
...deprive the person who owned only a mine close to the surface of all use, since he could not mine without causing subsidence of the surface. (These are basically the facts of Pennsylvania Coal Co.Mahon [1922].)...
Pennsylvania College of Gettysburg (college, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States)
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. Though it is affiliated with the Lutheran church, the college maintains a policy of nonsectarian instruction. The college offers a liberal arts curriculum and awards bachelor’s degrees only. Campus facilities inc...
Pennsylvania colonial style (architecture)
...Delaware River, was of short duration but contributed the log cabin (in the sense of a structure with round logs, notched at the corners and with protruding ends) to American architecture. (4) The Pennsylvania colonial style was late in origin (the colony was not founded until 1681) and rapidly developed into a sophisticated Georgian mode, based on English precedents. A local variant, often......
Pennsylvania Dutch (people)
17th- and 18th-century German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania and their descendants. Emigrating from southern Germany (Palatinate, Bavaria, Saxony, etc.) and Switzerland, they settled primarily in the southeastern section of Pennsylvania, where they practiced any of several slightly different forms of Anabaptist faith, mostly Amish and Mennonite. Their descendants, some of who...
Pennsylvania Emancipation Act (United States history [1781])
The Pennsylvania Emancipation Act of 1781 had pledged the gradual abolition of slavery in the state. The southern boundary of Pennsylvania, ratified in 1769, was the Mason and Dixon Line, which became the dividing line between the slave and the free states before the American Civil War. Once the war broke out, Pennsylvania once again became a centre of military and political activity. At......
Pennsylvania fireplace (engineering)
type of wood-burning stove, invented by Benjamin Franklin (c. 1740), that was used to warm frontier dwellings, farmhouses, and urban homes for more than 200 years. See stove....
Pennsylvania, flag of (United States state flag)
...