whose angle at the object is the parallax. The parallax is of particular importance in astronomy for the calculation of the distance of heavenly bodies. These may be observed from very different points on the globe, and appear accordingly, and according to their distance at different places in the heavens. The astronomer, however, considers himself at the centre of the globe, calculates the place of the heavenly body with reference to this imaginary place of observation, and calls the place thus found the true or mean, in contradistinction to the apparent place, observed from the surface of the globe. If the heavenly body were seen precisely in the horizon, and if we suppose,at the same time, another line of view drawn from the centre of the earth to the same body, these two lines of view would include, with the radius of the globe, a right-angled triangle, in which the angle at the heavenly body would be its horizontal parallax, and the hypothenuse the distance of the star from the centre of the earth. From this horizontal parallax, therefore, we may calculate the distance of the heavenly body according to trigonometrical laws. The horizontal parallax, it is true, cannot be observed directly, but the parallax of altitude can be so observed. This expression designates the angle at the star, when elevated above the horizon. From the parallax of altitude follows the horizontal parallax, and hence the distance. See Bode's Introduction to Astronomy, 3d edit. (Berlin, 1808, vol. i, § 542 et seq.).-It ought to be added, that this parallax is called the daily, in contradistinction to the annual, by which, in general, is understood the difference of the place of a heavenly body as seen from the earth and from the sun; particularly, however, the angle formed by two lines from the ends of the diameter of the earth's orbit to a fixed star, which angle, on account of the immense distance of the fixed stars, is too small to be ascertained. (See Fixed Stars.)

PARALLELISM OF THE EARTH'S AXIS is used to denote that invariable position of the terrestrial axis by which it always points to the same point in the heavens, abstracting the trifling effect of nutation, &c. (See Nutation.)

PARALLEL LINES, in mathematics; two lines which, continued ad infinitum, never approach, or remain always at the same distance. The theory of parallels is of the highest importance in mathematics, being an essential element of most demonstrations; yet, though every thing asserted of them in mathematics is evident, the

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strict demonstration of the theory has given mathematicians great trouble, and not a few have lost much time, and some even their reason, in the attempt. In this respect, the theory of parallel lines is somewhat like that of the squaring of the circle.-Parallel is often used metaphorically, to denote the continued compar ison of two objects, particularly in histo ry. Thus we speak of drawing a historical parallel between ages, countries or men. Plutarch wrote biographical parallels. Parallel passages signifies passages which agree in import; as, for instance, the parallel passages in the Bible.-Parallelism, in Hebrew poetry, is the correspondence of two successive lines in imagery, sense or grammatical construction.-Parallel circles, or circles of latitude, are those circles which run parallel to the equator, and become therefore smaller and smaller towards the pole. (See Latitude.) Parallel lines, in sieges, are those trenches which generally run parallel with the outlines of the fortress. They serve as places for concentrating the forces to be directed against the fortress, and are usually three feet deep, from nine to twelve feet wide, and of a length adapted to the circumstances of the case. Generally three parallel lines are requisite before a breach is made, the most distant of which is from 600 to 900 paces from the covered way of the fortress; and the last receives the apparatus destined to effect the breach, and is made on the glacis itself. The communication from one to the other is effected by means of ditches. Vauban first made use of them in 1763, at the siege of Maestricht.

PARALLELOGRAM OF FORCES is a term used to denote the composition of forces, or the finding a single force that shall be equivalent to two or more given forces when acting in given directions.

PARALLELOPIPED, in geometry; a regu ́lar solid, comprehended under six sides or parallelograms, the opposite ones of which are similar, parallel, and equal to each other.

PARALLEL SAILING, in navigation, is the sailing under a parallel of latitude. (See Navigation.)

PARALOGISM, in logic; a false reu soning, or a fault committed in demonstra tion, when a consequence is drawn from principles that are false, or, though true, are not proved; or when a proposition is passed over that should have been proved by the way.

PARALYSIS. (See Palsy.)
PARAMATTA. (See Observatory.)

PARANA RIVER. (See Plata, La.) PARANYMPH. (See Marriage.) PARAPET, in fortification; an elevation of earth, designed for covering the soldiers from the enemy's cannon or small shot. PARAPH; a particular character or flourish, added to the signature of a person to render the counterfeiting of it more difficult. With some nations they have gone out of use. With others (e. g. the Spaniards) they are as custoinary and take as much room as in the middle ages; indeed, they often affix the paraph, without the name, to official papers.

PARAPHERNALIA are the woman's apparel, jewels, and other things, which, in the life-time of her husband, she wore as the ornaments of her person, to be allowed by the discretion of the court, according to the quality of her and her husband. The husband cannot devise such ornaments and jewels of his wife, though during his life he has power to dispose of them. But if she continues in the use of them till his death, she shall afterwards retain them against his executors and administrators, legatees, and all other persons, except creditors, where there is a deficiency of as

sets.

PARAPHRASE; the setting forth of the sense of a writing in a more clear and ample manner than it is given in the original. When the original is in a foreign language, the paraphrase differs from a mere translation, in the circumstance that the object of the paraphrase is always to explain or to develope more fully the meaning of the original. A paraphrase of the Lord's prayer, for instance, is a composition in which the ideas of the prayer are applied more particularly to the duties of life, or set forth more in detail.

PARASANG; an ancient Persian measure, different at different times and in different places, being sometimes thirty, sometimes forty, and sometimes fifty stadia, or furlongs.

PARASELENE; a mock moon, seen usually in a ring round the moon. (See Optics.) PARASITES, or PARASITICAL PLANTS, in botany; such plants as are produced out of the trunk or branches of other plants, from whence they receive their nourishment, and will not grow on the ground; as the mistletoe, &c.

PARASOL. It appears from ancient monuments and descriptions that this wellKnown instrument, or something exceedingly resembling it, was used among the ancients, not for the purpose so much of preservation from the rays of the sun as in religious ceremonies and processions.

In the festivals of Ceres and Minerva, the young females who celebrated them bore, among other sacred instruments, the parasol: it was, in fact, one of the most ancient marks of dignity that we find indicated either by relics of art or by authors. In process of time, when the Romans began to lay aside the simple habits of their forefathers, the parasol, by a natural transition, began to be used for the purpose to which it is still applied. The matrons, particularly, used to be followed by slaves, whose office was to protect the delicacy of their charms by intercepting the solar heat by the agreeable shade of the parasols. They were constructed of wands, or twigs, disposed in such a manner as to admit of their being put up or down, in much the same way as those used at the present day. The substance employed was often of rich stuff, such as silk, &c., of showy colors, and elegantly embroidered. In many countries, where the sun is powerful, it is well known that parasols are used by men, as well as women. PARCE. (See Fates.)

PARCHMENT, used for writing, is prepar ed from the skins of sheep and goats. These, after being steeped in pits impregnated with lime, are stretched upon frames, and reduced by scraping and paring with sharp instruments. Pulverized chalk is rubbed on with a pumice-stone resembling a muller, which smooths and softens the skin, and improves its color. After it is reduced to something less than half its original thickness, it is smoothed and dried for use. Vellum is a similar substance to parchment, made from the skins of very young calves. Next to the papyrus, the skins of animals, in the form of parchment and vellum, were extensively used for writing by the ancients from a remote period. When Eumenes, or Attalus, attempted to found a library at Pergamus, 200 years B. C., which should rival the famous Alexandrian library, one of the Ptolemies, then king of Egypt, jealous of his success, made a decree prohibiting the exportation of papyrus. The inhabitants of Pergamus set about manufacturing parchment as a substitute, and formed their library principally of manuscripts on this material, whence it was known among the Latins by the name of Pergamena. The term membrana was also applied by them to parchment. The Hebrews had books written on the skins of animals in David's time; and Herodotus relates that the Ionians, from the earliest period, wrote upon goat and sheepskin, from which the hair had merely been scraped

of. These facts show that parchment wa not invented at Pergamus, but it was mus improved there, and first made in larg quantities as an article of trade. Parchment was at first yellow; it was afterwards made white in Rome. At present any color can be given to it. PARDO, EL; a pleasure-palace of the kings of Spain, three leagues N. W. of Madrid. It was built in the reign of Charles V, and is adorned with frescoes, pictures and statues. It contains apartments for all the royal family, a chapel, and a theatre, and has fine gardens attached to it. The forest of the Pardo is 15 leagues in circuit.

PARDON. In England, in all cases of crimes, except where there is an impeachment, a pardon from the crown may be granted before a trial, as well as after; and it stops further progress in the inquiry and prosecution at whatever time it is granted. In cases of impeachment, no pardon can now be granted by the king while the prosecution is pending; but after conviction of the offender, it may be granted, as in other cases. This is in virtue of the act of settlement of the crown, 12 and 13 William III, ch. 2. In America, the constitution provides that the president "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the U. States, except in cases of impeachment." The senate has the whole power of trying impeachments. It is presumed, therefore, that an act of congress only can give the benefit of a pardon in cases of impeachinents, if such power exists in any department of the government. By the same constitution, "judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the U. States." The party remains, nevertheless, liable to indictment and punishment for the of fence, by the common law tribunals, as in other cases. Similar provisions exist generally in the state constitutions, or state laws, throughout the Union. In German jurisprudence, the word abolition is used to signify an act of mercy, on the part of the sovereign, releasing some one from a deserved punishment, without examination, or putting an end to a trial already commenced, before a judgment, determining the guilt or innocence of the accused, has been pronounced. This prerogative of the sovereign is limited, in several states, by the constitution, particularly in cases of public impeachment against officers of the state; for instance, in Würtemberg. In

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Bavaria, abolition, after the trial has com menced, is, in all cases, unconstitutional. In several countries, the prince has the right of stopping a process already commenced, for an uncertain time, and keeping it undecided, which is called Sistirung. The king of Prussia availed himself of this arbitrary power but a few years ago, in the case of an action brought by a citizen against one of his officers for slander.

PARÉ, Ambroise, the father of French surgery, born in the beginning of the sixteenth century, at Laval, studied at Paris. In 1536, he accompanied René de Mont Jean during his campaign in Italy, and, in 1552, became surgeon to Henry II, under whose successors (Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III) he held the same post. His enemies were numerous among the physicians, who accused him of having poisoned Francis II; but Paré, having cured Charles IX of a dangerous wound, established himself so strongly in the favor of the court, that Charles allowed him, though a Protestant, to escape the massacre of St. Bartholomew, by taking refuge in his own apartments. He died at Paris, in 1590. We are indebted to him for improvements in the treatment of gun-shot wounds, and in the operation of trepanning. He also restored the practice of tying up divided arteries, operated on articular concretions, &c. His works appeared in French, in 1561; in Latin, in 1582.

PAREGORIC ELIXIR (tinctura camphora opiata, Pharm. U. States). Paregoric is a preparation of opium, and has different names in the pharmacopoeias of different nations. It is quite a popular medicine, and is much used by nurses as a palliative in many of the lighter, but more or less painful maladies of infants. As, however, there is some uncertainty about the effects of opium, in all cases, and as there is much in the constitution of infants to increase this uncertainty, in the use of this and almost all medicines, it is the safest course never to give paregoric, or any other preparation of opium, in their diseases, unless under the direction of a physi

trato; and the laws of some modern countries restrain the right of the parent in disposing of his property by will, or during his life, so as to defeat the inheritance of his children. The laws of England, and those of the U. States (whose code is founded upon the common law of England), only require the parents to maintain the child during his minority, or until he arrives at the age of twenty-one years, or such other age as is fixed upon as that of majority, unless afterwards the child is unable to maintain himself, in which case the laws more generally, if not universally, in civilized states, impose upon the parents, or other relatives, the duty of maintaining him; and so, vice versa, in case of the parents being unable to maintain themselves, the law imposes the duty upon the children. This law, enjoining the duty of maintenance reciprocally between parents and children, and extending it, in certain cases, to other relatives, is founded partly on the motive of exonerating the public from this charge. Such is the ground of the provision in those countries and states in which the common law of England is the foundation of the system of jurisprudence. But in many countries, of which the legal system is engrafted on the civil law, the regulations are extended more minutely to the mutual rights and obligations of members of the same family. The father has the right of custody and control of his children, and is entitled to their service and obedience, unless he is insane, or, by some act or circumstance specified by the laws, forfeits, or is deprived of these rights; for the child, though to many purposes under the dominion of the father until the age of majority, is not absolutely so; on the contrary, the law recognises the existence of the child, and extends protection to it, not only from the time of the birth, but even before; for a child may inherit an estate that descends during the time of the mother's gestation. In case of the gross abuse of the parental authority, or egregious disqualification of the parent for the office of guardian, the law extends its protection to the child by the appointment of another guardian. All systems of laws do not agree as to what circumstances give proper occasion for the substitution of another guardian in the place of the parent. The insanity or idiocy of the parent, which divests him of all moral or legal capacity or responsibility, will, of course, under all laws, exempt the child from all duty of obedience. The dws also usually make provision for

decision of impartial merchants on litigated points, concerning which parties wish to know their opinions.

PARGA; a seaport on the coast of Albania, opposite the southern point of Corfu. At the time of the fall of the Roman empire, this city was built on a rock washed on three sides by the sea, and forming in the rear a steep cliff, the summit of which was crowned by an almost impregnable citadel. The city lies at the mouth of a river (the Acheron of the ancients). It is surrounded with walls, and contains two harbors, formed by a small island, and protected by a battery. The prospect from the citadel is magnificent. The neighboring country is fertile, and the district belonging to the city is separated from the limits of Albania by a chain of elevated mountains. Parga is hardly mentioned in history till 1401, when it entered into an alliance with Venice, which continued till the fall of Venice, in 1797. Being independent of Ali Pacha, the tyrant of Albania, it was the asylum of all who sought to escape his fury, and became the seat of frequent intrigues against his government. Ali Pacha therefore desired to get possession of it. In 1798, he found means to reduce Prevesa and the other fortresses on the neighboring coast; but Parga set bis arms at defiance. The Pargiots repelled his attacks till 1814, when they applied to the English in Corfu, and received a garrison from them, with the expectation of being incorporated with the republic of the Ionian islands; but the British government refused to receive the submission of the Pargiots. They did not overlook the importance of Parga to Corfu; but the dread of constant hostilities with the Albanians led them to enter on negotiations with Ali; and he was put in possession of Parga on condition of his paying a pecuniary indemnity to those inhabitants who should choose to change their residence. The population consisted of about 5000 Albanian Greeks. The surrender to Ali took place in 1819, and almost all the inhabitants emigrated to the Ionian islands, after having burned even the bones of their ancestors.

PARHELIA. (See Optics, division Natural Phenomena.)

PARIAN CHRONICLE. (See Arundelian Marbles.)

PARIAS; Hindoos of the impure castes of the Sutas, Vaidehas and Chandalas, so numerous a class that Menu (q. v.), in his tenth chapter, has not even taken the trouble to enumerate them. The fourth caste, or Sudras, is widely separated from

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the three privileged ones (see Caste,; but still further removed and more degraded are the mixed and impure classes, the number of which, according to some, amounts to eighty-four. The three castes above named are the only ones called Parias in the code of Menu (x, 26); they are prohibited from all approach to any thing pure, as if they were infected with leprosy. (See Hindoos.) Heeren thinks that the difference of color between these Parias and the higher classes shows them to have been the original inhabitants of the country, the Helots of the Indians, and deprived of all rights for defending their independence. (See Delavigne.)

PARINI, Giuseppe, one of the most celebrated Italian poets of recent times, born at Busisio, a village of the Milanese, in 1729, studied polite literature and science at Milan, and devoted himself, in compliance with the wishes of his father, but contrary to his own inclination, to theology. In spite of narrow circumstances and a feeble constitution, he labored assiduously in his studies, and early made some essays in poetry. To relieve his wants, he published a collection of these youthful productions, under the name of Ripano Eupilino, in 1752. It was successful, and. he was admitted a member of the acado my of the Arcadians at Rome. Having been appointed preceptor in the Borromeo and Serbelloni families, he was now ena bled to apply himself more exclusively to his favorite studies. His familiarity with the manners of the great led him to at tempt a delineation of them in a species of didactic and dramatic satire, entitled Il Gorno (the Day) The Mattino (Morning) ap peared in 1763, and the Mezzogiorno (Noon) two years later. This poem extended his reputation, and he was made professor of rhetoric in the gymnasium of the Brera. His lectures on the belles-lettres have been printed. The completion of the Giorno was often interrupted by the troubled state of Italy, but was finally effected un der the title of Il Vespero (Evening) and La Notte (Night). He died in 1799. His works have been published in six volumes (1801-1804).

PARIS; the capital of France, the second city in Europe for population, and the fourth for extent, in the northern part of the kingdom, on both banks and two islands of the Seine; lat. 48° 50′ 14" N., lon. 2° 20′ 15′′ E. of Greenwich, 20° E. of Ferro. It is 112 miles S. E. of Havre, at the mouth of the Seine; 472 N. W. of Marseilles; 304 N. E. of Bordeaux. 225 S. E. of London. The environs do rot