PEMPHIGUS, or POM'PHOLYX, belongs to that order of skin-diseases which is charac terized by an eruption of large vesicles, filled with serous fluid, and known as Mice. The disease occurs both in the acute and in the chronic form. In a mild case of acute pcmphigus, bullre, or blisters, from the size of a pea to that of a chestnut appear in sue cession (chiefly on the extremities), and having continued three or four days, break, form a thin scab, and soon heal, unaccompanied with febrile or inflammatory symptoMs. In severe cases, there is considerable constitutional disturbance; the bullet are larger, and the scabs heal with difficulty. The chronic form differs mainly frcm the acute by its prolonged continuance. The acute variety chiefly affects children, and has been ascribed to dentition, errors of diet. etc. ; while the chronic form chiefly attacks aged persons, and is probably due to debility and impaired nutrition. The acute form usually requires nothing but cooling medicines and diet, and mild local dressings, such as simple cerate, to protect the raw surfaces from exposure to the air. In the chronic form, a nutritious diet, with the judicious use of tonics (iron, bark, etc.), is most commonly successful. In obstinate cases, arsenic is sometimes of use.
PEN, an instrument for writing with a fluid. In ancient times, a kind Of reed (Lat. ealanzus) was chiefly used, though sometimes the letters were painted with a fine hair pencil, as among the Chinese at the present day. Quill pens (see QUILLS) probably came into use after the introduction of modern paper. The English name pen is from Lat. penny, a feather; but the old form of penny was pesna or petna (= Gr. peteron), from the root pet, to fly; and just as Lat. peel is identical with Eng. foot (see letter F), so petna or peteron corresponds to feather (Ger. Feder). During last century, many efforts were made to improve the quill pen, the great defect of which was its speedy injury from use, and the consequent trouble of frequent mending; moreover, even the most skillful maker could not insure uniformity of quality, and any variation affected the writer's work. These efforts were chiefly directed to fitting small metal or even ruby points to the nib of the quill-pen; but the delicacy of fitting was so great that but very little success attended the experiments. At the beginning of this century pens began to be made wholly ametal; they consisted of a barrel of very thin steel, and were cut and slit sons to resemble the quill pen as closely as possible. They were, however, very indifferent., and being dear (the retail price at first was half-a-crown, and subsequently sixpence), they made but little way; their chief fault was hardness, which produced a disagreeable scratching of the paper. In 1820, Mr. Joseph Gillott, who dealt in the metal pens then made, hit upon an improvement, which, by removing this great defect, gave a stimulus to the manufacture, which has caused it to be developed lo an extent truly marvelous.. This consisted in making three slits instead of the single one formerly used, and by this means much greater softness and flexibility were acquired. Mr. Gillott also introduced machinery for the purpose of carrying out his improvements, and thereby so reduced the cost of production that he was enabled to sell his improved pens in 1821 at £7, 4s. per gross, which was then considered a remarkable success. Better pens are now sold at twopence per gross by the same manufacturer; or. in other words, 864 pens for the same price as one pen in 1821. Nor-is this to be wondered at, when we are acquainted the wonderful ingenuity of the machinery by which it is effected. The low-' est-priced pens are made almost entirely by machinery, but the better ones require much hand labor for their completion; nevertheless, in the works of Mr. Gillott alone, who is only one of several large manufacturers in Birmingham, the an nual production is now nearly 150,000,000 pens, requiring a supply of five tons per week of the fine shee•steel made for the purpose in Sheffield, a portion of which is returned as scrap or waste for re-manufacture. From Sheffield the steel is sent in sheets about 8 ft. long by 3 ft. broad; it is prepared from the best iron, generally Swedish bloom, The manufac turer then prepares it by dipping for a short time in dilute sulphuric acid, which removes the scale or black surface; the acid itself is also carefully remold by immersion in clean water; the sheets are then passed backwards and forwards through a rolling-mill with smooth rollers, which reduces the steel to the exact thickness required, and gives it greater compactness; it is next slit into strips of various widths ae enrding, to the kiwi of pen to be made; for the ordinary kind its width is seen in fig. 1. This is then passed through a cutting-machine, which rapidly punches out pieces of the shape shown in fig. 2, and in the order shown in fig. 1, which is a portion of the strip with the pieces or blanks, as they are called, cut out; that which is represented is the waste or scrap previously referred to. The blanks are now passed through a succession of operations, each conducted by a separate person: women or girls are chiefly employed. The first process is called slitting ; they are passed one by One into a cutting-machine worked by a small hand-lever, which makes the two side-slits, as seen in fig. 3. The second process, called piercing, is performed by a similar machine
or hand-press, in which, however, only one punch acts, and that cuts out the small hole seen in fig. 4. The repeated rolling and stamping of the metal has by this time made it hard and brittle, and it is necessary to anneal it, for which purpose some thousands of the slit and pierced blanks are put into an iron box, and placed in the fire for a time. which softens them considerably; this is the third process. When cold, another operator receives them, and with another hand-press and a punch stamp3or marks, tit it is called, the name of the maker, fig. 5, which constitutes the fourth process. The fifth is some what similar, and is sometimes omitted; it consists in placing it under another press, which has a punch and die for embossing any ornamental mark. The sixth process, called raising, consists in passing it into another press, which has a sinker and grooved die, as in fig. 6. The fiat blank a is pushed under the sinker c, is pressed by the action of the lever into the groove d, and comes out with its edges curved up, as in b. The seventh process consists in hardening, which is done by placing the pens in an iron box or muffle, and when they are at a red heat, throwing them into oil; this renders them exceedingly brittle and hard, too much so, indeed, for they have now to pass through the eighth or tempering process, which brings them to the required temper or hardness and elasticity. The ninth operation is scouring; this consists in putting a large number into a tin cylinder, which is kept revolving by machinery; sand, and coarse emery-pow •der are mixed with them; and the friction of these materials and of the pens themselves cleanses them from all impurities, and brings out the natural color of the metal. The tenth and eleventh processes consist in grinding the outside of the nib, first lengthwise, -and then crosswise, which are done by different persons at separate' grinding-wheels. Next follows the most important operation, constituting the twelfth process or slitting— that is, making the central slit, upon the nicety of which the whole value of the pen depends. This is done in a hand-press similar to the others, but the cutting part con " sists of two chisels, one fixed on the table, the other coming down upon the depression of the lever, and so accurately adjusted as to just clear each other. The operator then skillfully holds the pen lengthwise on the fixed chisel, and brings down the moveable one, so as to effect the beautifully clean cut which constitutes so important a I'ature in the manufacture. Two other processes, the thirteenth and fourteenth, finish the series! the first is coloring, by heating them in a revolving cylinder over a charcoal stove, which gives them a blue or yellowish color, according to the time employed; and the last is varnishing them with a varnish composed of lac and naphtha. In the works of Messrs. Gillott, from inspection of which we have gathered these facts, there are 400 women and 100 men employed, and the daily produce is enormous: a clever girl will cut out 14.000 pens per day, and a good slitter will slit 28,000. Besides the kind specially described above, many other forms are made, especially the large and small.harrel pens; but the processes arc all the same, or are modifications of those described. Gold pens are exten sively made in Birmingham, and as they resist the corrosive action of the ink, they are very durable: their durability is also greatly increased by the ingenious but difficult pro cess of soldering on to the points of the' nib of iridium, which, from their extreme hardness, resist wear for ninny yeat7. The manufacture of iridium pointed pens is extensively carried on in the city of New York, where the process is said to have been first brought to perfection.
PEN (ante). The number of manufactories of steel pens in the United States in 1870 was three, to which others have been added. The American manufacture has greatly improved of late years, and is gradually filling the position of the Birmingham pens. In gold pens the American manufacture is altogether the hest. Hawkins, an American residing in England, first made the iridium-pointed pens, and solved gold pen prob lem; though there were not many made on this plan until 1835-40, when Mr. Levi Brown engaged in the business, at first in Detroit, Mich., and afterwards in New York. With him was associated Mr. John Rendell, who became the inventor of a number of machines and processes by which the manufacture was simplified and Unproved. Bagley, Spen cer, Fairchild, and Morton, became celebrated for their make of gold pens. In 1870 there were in the United States 21 gold-pen and pencil manufactories, employing 242 hands, producing the value of.half a million dollars annually. This product has been more than quadrupled in the ten years following the taking of the 9th census. Fountain pens have been in the market for a number of years, but have only recently become pop ular, on account of improvements in the manufacture. Among those in use are the `• Protean," invented by the rev. Mr. Prince, "McKinnon's," " Stylographic," "Calli graphic,"etc. The stylus form is employed in some of these instruments; others, a proper pen; and they supply ink sufficient to last for steady writing at least six or seven hours.