Pasternak, Boris (Leonidovich) (b. Feb. 10, 1890, Moscow, Russia—d. May 30, 1960, Peredelkino, near Moscow) Russian poet and prose writer. He studied music and philosophy and after the Russian Revo¬ lution of 1917 worked in the library of the Soviet commissariat of educa¬ tion. His early poetry, though avant-garde, was successful, but in the 1930s a gap widened between his work and officially approved literary modes, and he supported himself by doing translations. The novel Doctor Zhivago (1957; film, 1965), an epic of wandering, spiritual isolation, and love amid the harshness of the revolution and its aftermath, was a best-seller in the West but until 1987 circulated only in secrecy in the Soviet Union. Paster¬ nak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, but he was forced to decline it because of Soviet opposition to his work.
Pasteur \pas-'t9r\, Louis (b. Dec. 27, 1822, Dole, France—d. Sept. 28, 1895, Saint-Cloud, near Paris) French chemist and microbiologist. Early in his career, after studies at the Ecole Normale Superieure, he researched the effects of polarized light on chemical compounds. In 1857 he became director of scientific studies at the Ecole. His studies of fermentation of alcohol and milk (souring) showed that yeast could reproduce without free oxygen (the Pasteur effect); he deduced that fermentation and food spoil¬ age were due to the activity of microorganisms and could be prevented by excluding or destroying them. His work overturned the concept of spontaneous generation (life arising from nonliving matter) and led to heat pasteurization, allowing vinegar, wine, and beer to be produced and trans¬ ported without spoiling. He saved the French silk industry by his work on silkworm diseases. In 1881 he perfected a way to isolate and weaken germs, and he went on to develop vaccines against anthrax in sheep and cholera in chickens, following Edward Jenner’s example. He turned his attention to researching rabies, and in 1885 his inoculating with a weak¬ ened virus saved the life of a boy bitten by a rabid dog. In 1888 he founded the Pasteur Institute for rabies research, prevention, and treatment.
Pasteurella X.pas-chs-'rel-oV Genus (named after Louis Pasteur) of rod¬ shaped bacteria that cause several serious diseases in domestic animals and milder infections in humans. Members are gram-negative (see gram stain), do not move, and do not require oxygen. The widespread infections they cause, referred to by the general term pasteurelloses, are transmitted by direct contact and, in some cases, by ticks and fleas. Control by vaccine is variable, as is treatment with penicillin and other antibiotics.
pasteurization Partial sterilization of a substance, especially milk or other beverages, by using heat to destroy microorganisms while leaving its chemical makeup unaltered. The process is named for Louis Pasteur, its
originator. Pasteurization of milk requires temperatures of about 145 °F (63 °C) for about 30 minutes, or higher temperatures for shorter periods. The treatment destroys any disease-causing organisms (principally Myco¬ bacterium tuberculosis ) as well as organisms that cause spoilage. See also FOOD PRESERVATION.
r
Pastor, Tony orig. Antonio Pastor (b. May 28, 1837, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 26, 1908, Elm¬ hurst, N.Y.) U.S. impresario and comic singer. He appeared at P.T.
Barnum’s American Museum as a child prodigy and first performed in a variety show in 1861. After man¬ aging a series of New York City the¬ atres, he opened the Fourteenth Street Theatre in 1881. Though vari¬ ety shows of the time featured coarse humour and were considered unsuit¬ able for ladies, he advertised his the¬ atre as “the first specialty and vaudeville theatre of America, cater¬ ing to polite tastes.” His unexpected success spurred other theatre manag¬ ers to follow suit and led to the cre¬ ation of vaudeville. See also music hall
AND VARIETY THEATRE.
pastoral \,pas-t3-'ral\ Literary T on y Pastor work dealing in a usually artificial culver pictures manner with shepherds or rural life,
typically contrasting the innocence and serenity of the simple life with the misery and corruption of city or court life. The characters are often the vehicles for the author’s moral, social, or literary views. The poet and his friends are often presented as shepherds and shepherdesses; two or more shepherds sometimes contend in “singing matches.” The conven¬ tions of pastoral poetry were largely established by Theocritus, whose bucolics are its earliest examples. Virgil’s Eclogues were influential as well, as was Edmund Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender in the Renaissance. The idea of pastoral as meaning a simpler world that somehow mirrors a more complex one also appears in novelists as different as Fyodor Dos¬ toyevsky, Lewis Carroll, and William Faulkner. See also eclogue.
Pastoureaux \,pas-t6r-'6\ (French: “shepherds”) Participants in two outbreaks of mob violence in medieval France. The first Pastoureaux were peasants in northeastern France aroused by news in 1251 of the reverses suffered by King Louis IX while on his Crusade. Accusing the nobles, clergy, and bourgeoisie of indifference to the king’s fate, they began pil¬ laging churches and towns and attacking clerics, the rich, and Jews. The second Pastoureaux converged on Paris in 1320 to punish Philip V for failing to undertake a Crusade he had called. They sacked the city, opened the prisons, and marched into the countryside, where they carried out pogroms against Jews and lepers before being suppressed.
Pasupata Vpa-shu-.po-to, .pa-shu-'ps-toN Early Hindu sect that wor¬ shiped Shiva as the supreme deity. Numerous subsects flourished in north¬ ern and northwestern India until at least the 12th century and spread to Java and Cambodia. Pasupata teachings were believed to have originated with Shiva himself, reincarnated as the teacher Lakulin. The sect’s rise is dated roughly between the 2nd century bc and the 2nd century ad. The ascetic practices adopted by the Pasupatas included smearing their bod¬ ies thrice-daily with ashes. Out of Pasupata doctrine developed two extreme schools, Kapauka and Kalamukha, as well as one moderate sect, Shaivism.
Patagonia Semiarid scrub plateau, southern Argentina. It is the larg¬ est desert region in the Americas, with an area of about 260,000 sq mi (673,000 sq km). Its approximate boundaries are the Colorado River in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Strait of Magellan in the south, and the Andes Mountains in the west. A region of vast and virtu¬ ally treeless plains, it has a variety of wildlife, including llamas, pumas, and eagles. Natural resources include petroleum, iron ore, copper, ura¬ nium, and manganese.
Patarine or Patarene Vpa-t3-ren\ Member of a group of craftsmen, tradesmen, and peasants, as well as some members of the clergy, that appeared in Milan c. 1058 to call for reform of the church. Named for the Pataria, the ragpickers’ quarter of Milan where they assembled, the Patar-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
patch test ► patio process I 1457
ines attacked simony and clerical concubinage and marriage and opposed the clergy’s moral corruption. They also encouraged greater participation by the laity in religious life and drew support from the Gregorian Reform popes, including Alexander II and Gregory VII. The Patarines formed part of the broader movement for church reform in the 11th century, and the resignation of their rival, the archbishop of Milan, led to a schism in the city that would help bring about the Investiture Controversy. In the later 12th century, the name Patarine was used as a general label for all her¬ etics, particularly the Cathari.