PITHO, (fab. hist.) the goddess of persuasion among the Romans. She was supposed to be the daughter of Mercury and Venus, and was represented with a diadem on her head, to intimate her influence over the hearts of man. One of her arms appeared raised as in the attitude of an orator haranguing in a public assembly; and with the other she holds a thunderbolt and fetters, made with flowers, to signify the powers of reasoning and the attractions of eloquence. A caduceus, as a symbol of persuasion, appears at her feet, with the writings of Demosthenes and Cicero, the two most celebrated among the ancients, who understood how to command the attention of their audience, and to rouse and animate their various passions.—A Roman courtesan. She received this name on account of the allurements which her charms possessed, and of her winning expressions.
(a) De diversa mole qua sanguis fluit per pulmones.
(n) De circulatione sanguinis per vasa minima.
(l) De circulatione sanguinis in animalibus genitis et non genitis.
(x) Elementa Medicinæ, lib. i. cap. 21. et passim.
(z) The first medical publication which distinguished this country, after Dr Pitecarne's, was that of the Edinburgh Medical Essays, in the year 1732. Vid. the article MONRO.
(m) Patet (says he) medicinam esse memoriam eorum quæ cuilibet morbo usus ostendit fuisse utilia. Nam notas non esse corporum intra venas fluentium aut consistentium naturas, adeoque sola observatione innotescere quid cuique morbo conveniat, postquam sæpius eadem eidem morbo profuisse comperimus. De Div. Morb.