Plantain
the Musa paradisiaca, a small tree closely akin to the banana from which it differs in not having purple spots on its stem. The fruit also is larger and more angular. It is extensively cultivated throughout India, where its leaf is used for dressing blistered wounds and as a rest for the eye in ophthalmia. Powdered and dried, it is used to stop bleeding at the nose. The fruit is delicious and thoroughly wholesome. When unripe it is cooling and astringent, and very useful in diabetes. The root is anthelmintic, and the sap is given to allay thirst in cholera.
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Plantain Eaters
Musophagidæ, a family of birds, of African distribution, arboreal habits, and vegetarian diet. The species of Musophaga are bluish black, the Turacous (Turacus) are light green with carmine wingfeathers. This occurrence of a green pigment, as distinguished from a green color, is unique among birds, and the carmine pigment is also interesting because it seems to be partially washed out during the rainy season.
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Plantation
ATION, a term formerly used to designate a colony. The term was latterly applied to an estate or tract of land in the Southern States, the West Indies, etc., cultivated chiefly by negroes or other non-European laborers. In the Southern States the term planter is specially applied to a person who grows cotton, sugar, rice, or tobacco. 18
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Plantigrada
in zoölogy, a section of the Carnivora, embracing those which apply the whole or nearly the whole of the sole of the foot to the ground in progressive motion. Example, the bears, the badgers.
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Plasencia
a town of Spain, in Estremadura, 130 miles W. by S. of Madrid and 43 N. E. of Caceres, surrounded with double walls (1197), has a fine Gothic cathedral (1498). The monastery of San Yuste, to which Charles V. retired after his abdication, lies 24 miles to the E. of Plasencia.
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Plasma
a bright to leek-green variety of chalcedony, sometimes almost emerald-green; feebly translucent; luster, somewhat oily; fracture, sub-vitreous, probably due to a small amount of opal-silica present. It is rather rare, and was much esteemed by the ancients for engraving on.
the viscous material of a cell from which the new developments take place; formless, elementary matter.
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Plassey
a battlefield on the Bhagirathi river, 96 miles N. of Calcutta. The river has now eaten away the scene of the struggle. Plassey is celebrated in the history of India for the great victory gained by Clive over Suraj ud Dowlah, subahdar of Bengal, June 23, 1757, a victory which really laid the foundation of British supremacy in India.
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Plaster
calcined gypsum or sulphate of lime, used, when mixed with water ornaments, for, finishing casts, luting walls,, cement for molds, etc., Also a composition of lime, sand, and water, with or without hair as a bond, and used to cover walls and ceilings. In pharmacy, an unctuous compound, united either to a powder or some metallic oxide, and spread on linen, silk, or leather, for convenience of external application.
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Plaster of Paris
the name given to gypsum when ground and used for taking casts, etc.
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Plaster-cast
To take a plaster-cast of any figure, bust, medal, etc., it is only necessary to obtain a mould by pressing some soft substance upon it, which when it has hardened may be filled with plaster; the latter soon hardens, and a representation of the original is obtained. The substances used for forming such moulds are various: for some objects a composition of beeswax, rosin, and pitch may be poured round it; for very small objects, wax alone, or the crumbs of new bread, will answer; but for larger ones it is necessary to provide moulds of the plaster itself, or clay may be substituted. A cast of a person's face is obtained by first securing the hair at the back, inserting paper tubes at the nostrils for breathing, and oiling the face, the person lying on his back. The thin plaster is then carefully spread one-fourth inch thick all over, taken away when set, and used for obtaining a clay model, from which to make a plaster-mould, which serves as the matrix for the final cast, and which must be divided at suitable places for easy withdrawal from the face. See STATUE-FOUNDING.
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Plastering
the art of covering the surface of masonry or wood work with a plastic material in order to give it a smooth and uniform surface, and generally in interiors to fit them for painting or decoration.
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Plastic Surgery
or reparatory surgery, dates back to ancient Hindu medicine, but its present extensive application originated in needs growing out of the World War. Its principles are simply those of general surgery, but a high degree of specialization has brought about marvelous results not thought possible before. Prejudices against the remodeling of nature, which in mediaeval times led even to the excommunicating of physicians practicing plastic arts, are not of course applicable in any degree to the work of removing injuries and disfigurements acquired by soldiers wounded in service, and many able surgeons have devoted themselves almost wholly to this work since the World War. Muscle cells, once destroyed, do not grow again, their place being filled by connective tissue; but when the skin can be drawn together over a scar, the latter may often be largely hidden, since the outer skin, unlike muscle tissue, does have the power of growth and renewal. In the case of wounds caused by shrapnel and shells, often healing only slowly on account of poison gases, the scars so formed may cover wide areas or may afterward contract and distort the whole countenance. By various methods of excision and replacement, renewal of parts such as noses or ears, skin-grafting and skillful concealment of scars, thousands of men have already been fitted to return to normal ways of life. A large part of this work for American soldiers has been done at the Walter Reed Hospital, Washington.
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Plastic Wood
a made of wood meal and collodion which, preparation when soft, may be handled and moulded like putty, but which sets hard and may then be cut and turned like wood. It is capable of being finished with sandpaper, and nails may be driven into it without cracking it.
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