Defn: The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue.
2. (a) (Zoöl.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.) The spinal cord; the marrow.
3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith. Enterprises of great pith and moment. Shak. Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice.
PITH
Pith, v. t. (Physiol.)
Defn: To destroy the central nervous system of (an animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal.
PITHECANTHROPUS
Pith`e*can*thro"pus, n. [NL.; Gr. ape + man.]
1. A hypothetical genus of primates intermediate between man and the anthropoid apes. Haeckel.
2. A genus consisting of an primate (P. erectus) apparently intermediate between man and the existing anthropoid apes, known from bones of a single individual found in Java (hence called Java man) in 1891-92. These bones include a thigh bone of the human type, two molar teeth intermediate between those of man and the anthropoids, and the calvaria of the skull, indicating a brain capacity of about 900 cubic centimeters, and resembling in form that of the Neanderthal man. Also [pl. -thropi],
Defn: an animal of this genus. —Pith`e*can"thrope (#), n. —
Pith`e*can"thro*poid (#), a.
PITHECI
Pi*the"ci, n. pl. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. (Zoöl.)