Pulcheria

“ At the same time the situation at the court, upon which Dioscurus depended, was completely changed by the fall of Chrysaphius and the death of Theodosius. Pulcheria, his sister, and Marcian, her husband, succeeded to the throne, both adherents of the Antiochian party, and opposed to the ecclesiastical aspirations of Dioscurus. A new synod was now called by Marcian at Chalcedon, a suburb of Constantinople. Dioscurus was deposed, as well as Eutyches, but Ibas and Theodoret were restored after an examination of their teaching. A definition was drawn up in harmony with the Tome of Leo. ”

“ MARCIAN (c. 390–457) , emperor of the East (450–457) , was born in Thrace or Illyria, and spent his early life as an obscure soldier. He subsequently served for nineteen years under Ardaburius and Aspar, and took part in the wars against the Persians and Vandals. Through the influence of these generals he became a captain of the guards, and was later raised to the rank of tribune and senator. On the death of Theodosius II. he was chosen as consort by the latter’s sister and successor, Pulcheria, and called upon to govern an empire greatly humbled and impoverished by the ravages of the Huns. ”

“ The first stretches for six or eight miles, and is given up almost entirely to the culture of pulqui.
It is pitiful to see these miles and miles of acres surrendered to this pestiferous production. Yet it is pleasant to look upon, as was the fruit Eve tasted and Adam ate, man being generally greedier in crime than woman. The fields are laid out with mathematical exactness. The maguey plant, for that is the name of the pulqui bearer, is a large aloe, with grand, broad green leaves, very broad and very green. ”

“ To assist in its fermentation, however, a little old pulque, Madre pulque, as it is called, which has fermented for many days, is added to it, and in twenty-four hours after it leaves the plant, you may imbibe it in all its perfection. It is said to be the most wholesome drink in the world, and remarkably agreeable when one has overcome the first shock occasioned by its rancid odor. At all events, the maguey is a source of unfailing profit, the consumption of pulque being enormous, so that many of the richest families in the capital owe their fortune entirely to the produce of their magueys. ”

“ In private houses, the puchero, or that which corresponds to the puchero, is constantly made to serve as a domestic and favourite gratification. The ladies seledt the flowers, and free them from the sandy and seminal particles, which are apt to soil, and are devoid of scent; such as the yellow at the extremity of the orange-flower, the fibrils of which give out an amber stain, in common with those of the daisy and rose-bud, and of the blossoms of the medlar, apple, and smaller fruits. ”

“ Pulquerias have no written sign, but over each door is a plaited awning of green maguey leaves which has all the power that an{225} electric lamp has to swarms of night insects. At one cent a drink, even the paupers can get gloriously inflated, and it takes half the police force to drag off those who find the streets too narrow for their new style of perambulating.
The ordinary simon pure pulque is just liquid filth, no more, no less. Private families remove the Limburger essence by means of a harmless chemical and add sugar and orange juice, but the dealer at the pulque joint knows better ”

“ Very many species of Puccinia have already been found associated with a corresponding Trichobasis, and of Phragmidium with a relative Lecythea, but it may be open to grave doubt whether some of the very many species associated by authors are not so classed upon suspicion rather than observation. We are ready to admit that the evidence is strong in favour of the dimorphism of a large number of species—it may be in all, but this awaits proof, or substantial presumption on good grounds. ”

“ To the Pulicidæ belongs also a native of the West Indies and South America, the Pulex penetrans, variously named in the countries where it is found, Chigoe, Jigger, Nigua, Tungua, and Pique. According to Stedman, this “is a kind of small sand-flea, which gets in between the skin and the flesh without being felt, and generally under the nails of the toes, where, while it feeds, it keeps growing till it becomes of the size of a pea, causing no further pain than a disagreeable itching. ”

“ For a long time it was believed that Uredo linearis and Puccinia graminis were so many distinct species, but it is now known that there are only three successive phases of the developmental stages of a single species—that, as a matter of fact, puccinia presents the phenomenon of alternation of generations, that is, that the complete development of the fungus is only effected by its transference from one plant to another. ”

“ I have no doubt that, making allowance for the age in which he lived, Pulci was an excellent Christian. His orthodoxy, it is true, was not the orthodoxy of the times of Dante or St. Dominic, nor yet of that of the Council of Trent. His opinions respecting the mystery of the Trinity appear to have been more like those of Sir Isaac Newton than of Archdeacon Travis. And assuredly he agreed with Origen respecting eternal punishment, rather than with Calvin and Mr. Toplady. But a man may accord with Newton, and yet be thought not unworthy of the "starry spheres." ”

“ What will become of us?”
“My dear lady,” said Ignatius, “the Lord is merciful; we have soldiers and plenty of powder; I have cleaned the cannon. We may repulse this Pougatcheff. If the Lord is with us, the wolf will eat no one here.”
“Who is Pougatcheff?” asked the Commandant’s wife.
Ignatius saw that he had gone too far, and he bit his tongue. But it was too late. Basilia constrained him to tell her all, having given her word to keep the secret. She kept her word, and indeed told no one except Accoulina, whose cow was still on the steppe and might be carried off by the brigands. ”

“ My aunt says that these earth pucerons draw the juices from the roots of plants, as the other species do from the stem and branches. It is imagined by some people, that they are only the common pucerons, which in winter creep into the earth to shelter themselves: but this is not the case, as they are usually met with in places distant from the trees or plants on which they might before have fed. And she says, that though many may be killed by the{247} cold, yet numbers escape, and are found early in spring, sucking the buds of the peach and other trees. ”

“ At the railway stations, as we descended into the great valley wherein Mexico City lies, Indian women handed up little brown pitchers of pulque, fresh pulque new tapped. Sweet and cool and delicious it was, as mild as lemonade (in this unfermented condition it is called agua miel, honey water) . The thirsty passengers reached out of the car windows and gladly paid the cinco centavos (five cents) and drank it at leisure as the train rolled on. Through miles and miles we [Pg 71] traversed plantations of the maguey plant from which the pulque is extracted. ”

“ In the Pucciniæi the distinctive features of the genera are based upon the more or less complex nature of the pseudospores, which are bilocular in Puccinia, trilocular in Triphragmium, multilocular in Phragmidium, &c. In the curious genus Podisoma the septate [128] pseudospores are involved in a gelatinous element. The diffusion of these fruits is more or less complete according to their compact or pulverulent nature. In some species of Puccinia the sori are so compact that they remain attached to the leaves long after they are dead and fallen. ”

“ But no sooner did Puccia open her lips, than a shower of toads fell from them, at the sight of which her mother added the fire of rage to the snow of envy, sending forth flame and smoke through nose and mouth. ”

“ Pugatchéf's eyes flashed.
"Who among my people would dare to harm an orphan?" cried he. "Were he ever so brazen-faced, he should never escape my vengeance! Speak, who is the guilty one?"
"Chvabrine," replied I; "he keeps in durance the same young girl whom you saw with the priest's wife, and he wants to force her to become his wife."
"I'll give him a lesson, Master Chvabrine!" cried Pugatchéf, with a fierce air. "He shall learn what it is to do as he pleases under me, and to oppress my people. I'll hang him."
"Bid me speak a word," broke in Khlopúsha, in a hoarse voice. ”

“ The difficulty of finding certain information regarding any thing here, where the usual answer to inquiry is a shrug and a "Quien sabe?" has kept us from finding definitely the facts regarding pulque-making up to the present time. The plant, after from six to eight years' growth, develops in the centre a large circular cone, which, if allowed to increase, would become a thick stalk, bearing the blossom atop. The cone being removed at this early stage, leaves a deep, bowl-like hollow, into which the juice pours at the rate of four to six quarts daily for two or three months. ”

“ Upon the floor, in a coarse peasant's dress, sat Marya, pale and thin, with her hair unbound. Before her stood a jug of water and a bit of bread. At the sight of me she trembled and gave a piercing cry. I cannot say what I felt. Pugatchéf looked sidelong at Chvabrine, and said to him with a bitter smile—
"Your hospital is well-ordered!" Then, approaching Marya, "Tell me, my little dove, why your husband punishes you thus?"
"My husband!" rejoined she; "he is not my husband. Never will I be his wife. I am resolved rather to die, and I shall die if I be not delivered." ”

“ The road I had to follow passed before the little village of Berd, held by Pugatchéf. This road was deep in snow, and nearly hidden; but across the steppe were to be seen tracks of horses each day renewed.
I was trotting. Savéliitch could hardly keep up with me, and cried to me every minute—
"Not so fast, sir, in heaven's name not so fast! My confounded 'garron' cannot catch up your long-legged devil. Why are you in such a hurry? Are we bound to a feast? Rather have we our necks under the axe. Petr' Andréjïtch! Oh! my father, Petr' Andréjïtch! ”

“ Go to Akoulina Pamphilovna's; I shall be there in a minute."
I obeyed and went to Father Garasim's house.
The pope and his wife hastened to meet me. Savéliitch had already told them all that had happened.
"Good-day, Petr' Andréjïtch," the pope's wife said to me; "here has God so ruled that we meet again. How are you? We have talked about you every day. And Marya Ivánofna, what has she not suffered anent you, my pigeon? But tell me, my father, how did you get out of the difficulty with Pugatchéf? How was it that he did not kill you? ”

“ In the Cæomacei, Ustilaginei, and Æcidiacei the pseudospores are pulverulent, as in some species of Puccinia, and are easily diffused by the motion of the leaves in the wind, or the contact of passing bodies. Their diffusion in the atmosphere seems to be much less than in the case of the Hyphomycetes. By what means such a species as Puccinia malvacearum, which has very compact sori, has become within so short a period diffused over such a wide area, is a problem which in the present state of our knowledge must remain unsolved. It may be through minute and plentiful secondary spores. ”

“ The human flea (Pulex irritans) appears to occupy an isolated position. The genus Pulex which Linnæus established has now been reduced until it contains one species only. The human flea belongs to the group with eyes and without combs. In some [63] respects it is the most specialized of all the Pulicidæ. The chigoes (Sarcopsyllidæ) resemble it and are doubtless derived from the Pulicidæ. The chief structural character of this interesting insect is the greatly reduced thorax. ”

“ Among the spores are numerous barren filaments or paraphyses.
Puccin ́ia gram ́inis (Pl. VII. fig. 16) is to be found everywhere upon damp rotting straw, and upon grasses. It forms sooty irregular streaks, consisting of densely crowded, one-partitioned (uniseptate) spores (fig. 17) , which appear brown under the microscope. This Fungus is sometimes called “mildew.” There are numerous other species of Puccinia which occur upon common plants.{102}
Urédo seg ́etum is the “smut” of wheat, barley, and oats—a fungus too well known to the farmer. ”

“ Elytra nearly linear, covering the abdomen, obtusely rounded in common at the tip; scarcely broader than the greatest breadth of prothorax, and singly more than three times so long as broad; intricately stippled and pubescent (as well as the scutellum) , and hence rather opaque; blackish- brown, with the tip paler. Legs ferruginous, femora rather darker. Narrower and not longer than Trich. curta. The very brief character given of Tr. pulchella, Alibert, contains nothing to distinguish it from our insect, but its size is considerably greater ”

“ Fleas differ much in size, according to the places which they inhabit. Dugès, of Montpellier, gives us a curious instance of this. He devoted himself to researches on the zoological characters of this genus, studying the four species which are the best known, the Pulex irritans of man, Pulex canis of the dog, Pulex musculus of the mouse, and Pulex vespertilionis of the bat. ”

“ There it ferments and becomes pulque, a vile-smelling liquid which is said to taste like stale buttermilk; it is almost always repulsive to the stranger, and sometimes one who comes within smelling distance of pulque for the first time is made ill by it. A good maguey yields from eight to fifteen pints daily, and continues to do so for three or four months; and a good estate of maguey plants is more certain in the revenue it brings to the owner than any other enterprise. The plants thrive in the poorest soil where hardly anything else can live. ”