Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan

PAZ SOLDAN, MARIANO FELIPE Peruvian historian and geographer, was born at Arequipa, on Aug. 22, 1821. He studied law, and after holding some minor judicial offices, was minister to New Granada in 1853. In 186o Castilla made him director of public works. In 1861 he published his great atlas of the republic of Peru, and in 1868 the first volume of his history of Peru after the acquisition of her independence. A second volume followed, and a third, bringing the history down to 1839, was published after his death by his son. In 187o he was minister of justice and worship under President Balta, but shortly afterwards retired from public life to devote himself to his great geographical dictionary of Peru, which was published in 1877. During the disastrous war with Chile he sought refuge at Buenos Aires, where he was made professor in the National college, and where he wrote and published a history of the war, Historia de la Guerra del Pacifico (1884). He died at Lima on Dec. 31,1886.

PEA

(Pisum), a genus of the family Leguminosae, consisting of herbs with compound pinnate leaves ending in tendrils, by means of which the weak stems are enabled to support themselves, and with large leafy stipules at the base. The flowers are typically "papilionaceous" (see LEGUMINOSAE) with a "standard" or large petal above, two side petals or wings, and two front petals below forming the keel. The stamens are ten—nine united, the tenth usually free or only slightly joined to the others. This separation allows approach to the honey which is secreted at the base of the staminal tube. The ovary is prolonged into a long, thick, bent style, compressed from side to side at the tip and fringed with hairs. The fruit is a characteristic "legume" or pod, bursting when ripe into halves, which bear the large globular seeds (peas) on their edges. These seeds are on short stalks, the upper extremity of which is dilated into a shallow cup (aril) ; the two seed-leaves (cotyledons) are thick and fleshy, with a radicle bent along their edges on one side.

The genus is exceedingly close to Lathyrus, being only dis tinguished technically by the style, which in the latter genus is compressed from above downwards and not thick. It is not sur

prising, therefore, that under the general name "pea" species both of Pisum and of Lathyrus are included. The common field pea with purple flowers, tan-coloured or compressed mottled seeds and two to four leaflets is Pisum arvense, which is cultivated in all temperate parts of the globe, but which, according to the Italian botanists, is truly a native of central and southern Italy. The gar den pea, P. sativum, which has white flowers, is more tender than the preceding, and its origin is not known ; it has not been found in a wild state, and it is considered that it may be a form of P. arvense, having, however, from four to six leaflets to each leaf and globular seeds of uniform colour.

P. sativum was known to Theophrastus and De Candolle (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 329) points out that the word "pison" or its equivalent occurs in the Albanian tongue as well as in Latin, whence he concludes that the pea was known to the Aryans, and was perhaps brought by them into Greece and Italy. Peas have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings of the bronze period. The garden peas differ considerably in size, shape of pod, degree of productiveness, form and colour of seed, etc. The sugar peas are those in which the inner lining of the pod is very thin instead of being somewhat horny, so that the whole pod can be eaten. Unlike most papilionaceous plants, peaflowers are self-pollinated. The numerous varieties of peas in cultivation have been obtained by cross-fertilization, and also by selection. Peas constitute a highly nutritious article of diet from the large quantity of nitrogenous materials they contain in addition to substantial amounts of starchy and saccharine matters.

The sweet pea, cultivated for the beauty and fragrance of its flowers, is a species of the allied genus Lathyrus (L. odoratus), a native of southern Europe. The chick pea (q.v.) (Cicer arieti num), cultivated in many countries, is still farther removed from the true peas. The everlasting pea of gardens is a species of Lathyrus (L. latifolius) with very deep fleshy roots, bold foliage, and beautiful but scentless flowers.