Peace Corps U.S. government agency of volunteers, formed in 1961 by Pres. John F. Kennedy. Its purpose is to assist other countries in their development efforts by providing skilled workers in the fields of educa¬ tion, agriculture, health, trade, technology, and community development. Volunteers are expected to serve for two years as good neighbours in the host country, to speak its language, and to live on a level comparable to that of the local residents. By the early 21st century, more than 165,000 volunteers had served in the corps.
Peace of God Movement within the medieval Roman Catholic church in response to the breakdown of public order. The movement began at a council at Le Puy in 975, but other, more important councils occured in southern and central France in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. Regional lay and religious authorities attended the councils to ensure God’s peace, and they were often joined by large crowds who came to venerate the relics displayed at the meetings. The peace decrees forbade, under pain of excommunication, private warfare or violence against churches, clerics, pilgrims, merchants, women, peasants, and cattle. Par¬ ticipants at the councils took oaths on sacred relics to uphold the deci¬ sions made at those councils. The peace was also decreed at the councils of Charoux (c. 989), Limoges (994 and 1031), Poitiers (c. 1000), and Bourges (1038).
peace pipe See calumet
Peace River River, western Canada. Formed by the confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, it flows east across the border of Alberta to join the Slave River just north of its outlet from Lake Athabasca. It is 1,195 mi (1,923 km) long. It was explored by Alexander Mackenzie in 1792-93 and became a major fur¬ trading route. It is an important source of hydroelectric power.
Peace River River, west-central Florida, U.S. It rises in Polk county and flows south and southwest into Charlotte Harbor on the southwest¬ ern coast. It is about 85 mi (135 km) long.
peach Small to medium-sized fruit tree ( Prunus persica) of the rose family, grown throughout the warmer temperate regions of both hemispheres, and the fruit it pro¬ duces. It probably originated in China and spread westward. Peach trees are intolerant of severe cold but require winter chilling to induce spring growth. The long, pointed leaves are glossy green and lance¬ shaped. Pink or white flowers grow singly or clustered. The fleshy, juicy exterior of the fruit is edible; the hard interior is called the stone or pit. In freestone types, stones separate eas¬ ily from ripe flesh; in clingstone types, the flesh adheres firmly to the stone. Thousands of varieties have been developed. Peach skin is downy or fuzzy; smooth-skinned peaches are nectarines. Peaches are widely eaten fresh and are baked in desserts. Canned peaches are a staple commodity in many regions. Related plants include almond, plum, and cherry.
peacock Any of three species (family Phasianidae) of resplendent birds of open lowland forests. Blue, or Indian (Pavo cristatus), and green, or Javanese (P. muticus), peacock males are 35-50 in. (90-130 cm) long and have a 60-in. (150-cm) train of metallic green tail feathers tipped with an iridescent eyespot ringed with blue and bronze. The train is erected,
Pea (Pisum sativum)
WALTER CHANDOHA
Peach (Prunus persica).
GRANT HEILMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1462 I Peacock ► Pearson
fanned out, and vibrated during courtship. Females (peahens) are duller and have no train. The male forms a harem of two to five hens, which lay their eggs in a depression in the ground. The blue and green male Congo peacock {Afropavo congensis ) has a short rounded tail; the reddish and brown hen has a topknot.
Peacock, Thomas Love (b. Oct. 18, 1785, Weymouth, Dorset, Eng.—d. Jan. 23, 1866, Lower Halliford, Middlesex) English novelist and poet. For most of his life Peacock worked for the East India Co. He was a close friend of Percy B. Shelley, who greatly inspired his writing. His best verse is interspersed in his novels, which are dominated by the con¬ versations of their characters and satirize the intellectual currents of the day. His best-known work, Nightmare Abbey (1818), satirizes romantic melancholy and includes characters based on Shelley, Samuel Taylor Col¬ eridge, and Lord Byron.
Peale, Charles Willson (b. April 15, 1741, Queen Anne's county, Md.—d. Feb. 22, 1827, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. painter, inventor, and naturalist. He began his career by exchanging a saddle for painting les¬ sons. He later went to London to study with Benjamin West. On his return he became the preeminent portrait painter of the middle colonies. He damaged his professional career by entering enthusiastically into the revo¬ lutionary movement. In 1786 he founded an institution in Philadelphia for the study of natural law and display of natural history and technological objects; the Peale Museum, the first major U.S. museum, was widely imi¬ tated by other museums of the period and later by P.T. Barnum. Peale is best remembered for his portraits of the leading figures of the American Revolution.
Peale, Norman Vincent (b. May 31, 1898, Bowersville, Ohio, U.S.—d. Dec. 24, 1993, Pawling, N.Y.) U.S. Protestant clergyman. The son of a Methodist preacher, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University and was ordained a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal church. After leading congregations in Brooklyn and Syracuse, N.Y., in 1933 he became pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, where he remained for the rest of his career. In 1937 he cofounded the Religio-Psychiatric Clinic, which combined religion and psychiatry in the interests of mental health. He gained fame through radio and television sermons and through his books, including the best-selling Power of Positive Thinking (1952). In 1969 he was elected president of the Reformed Church in America.
Peale, Rembrandt (b. Feb. 22, 1778, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, U.S.—d. Oct. 3, 1860, Philadelphia, Penn.) U.S. painter and writer. A son of Charles Willson Peale, he studied with his father at the Royal Academy in London. In Paris 1808-10 he was offered the post of court painter to Napoleon I. His early portrait of Thomas Jefferson (1805) was his master¬ piece. Following his father’s example, he opened a museum and portrait gallery in Baltimore, where he established the first illuminating gasworks. When he resumed painting, he turned to formal subject pieces (e.g., The Court of Death, 1820) before returning to portraiture, continuing a series of portraits of George Washington.
peanut or groundnut Annual legume ( Arachis hypogaea) and its edible seeds, which have the peculiar habit of ripening underground in pods. Native to tropical South America, peanuts were introduced early into the Old World tropics. Each pod contains one to three oblong seeds with whitish to dark-purple seed coats. Pound for pound, peanuts have more protein, minerals, and vitamins than beef liver, more fat than heavy cream, and more calories than sugar. They are pressed for edible oil, ground into peanut butter, eaten as snacks, and used in cooking. The plant is fed to livestock.
pear Any of several species of trees of the genus Pyrus, especially P communis, of the rose family, which is one of the most important fruit trees in the world and is cultivated in all temperate-zone countries of both hemispheres. The thousands of vari¬ eties include Bartlett (by far the most widely grown), Beurre Bose, and Beurre d'Anjou. In the U.S., much of the crop is canned; in Europe, pears are more commonly eaten fresh or used for perry (fermented pear juice). The tree is taller and more
upright than the apple tree; pear fruits are sweeter and softer than apples. Hard cells (grit, or stone cells) dot the flesh.
pearl Concretion formed by a mollusk and consisting of the same mate¬ rial (called nacre, or mother-of- pearl) as the mollusk's shell. Long treasured as gemstones, pearls are valued for their translucence and lus¬ tre and for the delicate play of sur¬ face colour. The more perfect a pearl’s shape and the deeper its lus¬ tre, the greater its value. The colour varies with the mollusk and its envi¬ ronment. Jewelers of the 16th—17th centuries often used irregularly shaped (baroque) pearls, formed from muscular tissue, to form the bodies of animals and other figures.