PIMPLES, eruptions of the skin, of which several varieties are distinguished by special names, but various causes may transform one of these into another. The typical pimple is a slight swelling with an inflamed base. The papule is a solid elevation, apparently contain ing no fluid, and either of the natural skin color, or bluish, blackish, etc. The vesicle is an elevation of about the same size, containing a clear or milky fluid; by alteration of its con tents to yellow pus it becomes a pustule. A bleb or bulla is a larger vesicle or pustule, and may be as large as a hen's egg. A large papule is called a tubercle, and wheal is the term applied when the raised skin is of greater extent than elevation.
PIN, a small piece of brass or steel wire, sharp at one end and furnished with a head at the other, used chiefly for the toilet for tempo rarily securing portions of the dress, and gen erally by seamstresses and tailors for fastening their work together. The need of little utensils of this sort has been met from ancient times by various devices. The original pin must have been slit from the shaft of a bird's feather, as the root word, Latin pins, means feather. In the Egyptian tombs they are found much more elaborate and costly than the pins of the present time. They vary in length up to seven or eight inches, and are furnished sometimes with large gold heads, and sometimes with a band of gold around the upper end, those of the latter kind having probably been used for securing the hair. The ancient Mexicans found in the thorns of the agave convenient substitutes for metallic pins; and even the English, up to the middle of the 16th century, made use of rude skewers of wood, though they also made others of gold, silver and brass to serve as pins. To that time they had depended upon the manufacturers on the Continent for their sup plies of the better sorts of pins, and this im portation appears to have been established previous to 1483, when it was interrupted by a prohibitory statute. In 1543 an act of Parlia ment provided no person shall put to sale any pins but only such as be double-headed and have the head soldered fast to the shank of the pin, well smoothed, the shank well shaven, the point well and roundly filed, canted and sharp ened.' Within three years from this time the manufacture was so much improved that the statute was of no importance. In Gloucester the
business of pin making was introduced in 1626, and soon proved so prosperous that it gave em ployment to 1,500 persons. It was established in London in 1636, and afterward in Birming ham, which became the chief seat in England of this and other manufacturing operations of similar character.
In the United States pins were first made in Rhode Island during the Revolution by Jere miah Wilkinson, the heads being made by twisting fine wires firmly at one end. Samuel Slocum at about the same time commenced in Providence in the same line. In 1824 a machine for making solid-headed pins was invented by Lemuel W. Wright, of New Hampshire, which was soon after introduced into England, patents also being granted there. It was, however, crude compared with those of later construc tion, and did not complete all the operations of pin making. In 1831 the first machine for mak ing perfect solid-headed pins like those now in use was invented by John Ireland Howe a physician of Bellevue Hospital, New York City, and in the next year a company was started in that city. Six years later the business was re moved to Derby, Conn., where it is still carried on. In 1835 another company was formed by Dr. Howe, which continued its operations under his charge till 1865. many improvements being made. Samuel Slocum, an ingenious Con necticut man, invented a pin-sticking machine, which was used in Howe's factory in 1841, and was in 1843, he and Slocum becom ing joint owners of the two patents.
The manufacture of pins has become such an industry in the United States that the mills of this country practically supply the world with this article. In 1900 the 75,000,000 people in the United States used 60,000,000 gross of com mon pins, which is equal to 8,600,000,000 pins, or an average of about 113 pins for every man, woman and child in the country. This is the highest average reached anywhere in the use of pins. In 1890 we used only about 72 pins each. Assuming that the present consumption is 125 per individual, the 110,000,000 people of the United States in 1918 used about 10,375,000,000 pins. The census lumps together the makers of pins, needles, hooks and eyes, so exact statistics are no longer available. It appears, however, that more than half the pins are made in the State of Connecticut, where there are eight factories, employing 3,000 people.