PESHITO (i. e. simple), a version of the Bible in Syriac, executed not later than the middle of the 2nd century for Judaic Christians in the Syrian Church, the version of the Old Testament being executed direct from the Hebrew and that of the New being the first translation of the Greek of it into a foreign tongue, and both of value in questions affecting exegesis and the original text; the New Testament version contains all the books now included except the Apocalypse, Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John.

PESSIMISM, a name given now to a habit of feeling, now to a system of opinion; as the former it denotes a tendency to dwell on the dark or gloomy side of things, culminating in a sense of their vanity and nothingness, while in the latter it is applied to all systems of opinion which lay the finger on some black spot in the structure of the life of the world or of the universe, which so long as it remains is thought to render it unworthy of existence.

PESTALOZZI, JOHANN HEINRICH, a celebrated educationist, born at Zurich; founder of a natural system of education, beginning with childhood, and who, however unsuccessful in the working of it himself from his want of administrative faculty, persuaded others by his writings to adopt it, especially in Germany, and to adopt it both enthusiastically and successfully; his method, which he derived from Rousseau, was based on the study of human nature as we find it born in the child, and it aimed at the harmonious development of all its innate capabilities, beginning with the most rudimentary (1745-1827).

PESTH or BUDAPEST (492), on the left bank of the Danube, forming one municipality with Buda on the right, is the capital of Hungary, and 173 m. by rail E. of Vienna; Pesth is built on a plain, joined to Buda by three bridges, the last on the Danube, and is a thriving modern city, with picture galleries, parliament house, library, university, science schools, many baths, and public gardens; it makes machinery, agricultural implements, cutlery, flour, &c., and does a great trade in corn, wool, hides, wines, and bacon.

PETALISM, banishment in Sparta similar to ostracism in Athens, procured by writing the name on an olive leaf.

PETARD, a cone-shaped explosive machine for bursting open gates, barriers, &c., made of iron and filled with powder and ball.

PETASUS, the winged-cap of the god Mercury.

PETCHORA, the largest river in Northern Russia, rises in the Ural Mountains and flows N. through Vologda and Archangel, then westward and N. again, entering the Arctic Ocean by a large, island-studded estuary, after a course of 1000 m. through sombre forests and wild, sombre scenery.