PERKENIER.S 



PERMIAN SYSTEM 



57 



committed. Moreover, it is necessary, in proving 

 the crime, that at least two persons should oe able 

 to testify to the falsehood of the matter, so that 

 there might be a majority of oaths on the matter 

 there being then two oaths to one. But this rule 

 is satisfied though both witnesses <lo not testify to 

 one point. The perjury must also have taken 

 place before some court or tribunal which had 

 power to administer the oath (see'OATH). Though 

 in some courts affirmations are allowed instead of 

 oaths, yet the punishment for false affirmation is 

 made precisely the same as for false swearing. The 

 |iiiiiNimcnt for perjury was, before the Conquest, 

 sometimes death or cutting out the tongue ; per- 

 jury is now a misdemeanour, punishable by im- 

 prisonment with hard labour. The crime of Subor- 

 nation of Perjury i.e. the persuading or procuring 

 a person to give false evidence is also punishable 

 as a distinct offence ; if the false evidence is not 

 given the crime is incitement. In many states of 

 t lie American Union the crime of false swearing, 

 recognised by common law, is further particularly 

 denned by statute. The violation of an oath of 

 office is not perjury ; nor is a false affidavit to an 

 account rendered to an administrator technically 

 perjury, nor false evidence in depositions taken by 

 consent by unauthorised persons. 



Perkeniers. See MOLUCCAS. 



P*rlebTff, a town of the Prussian province of 

 Krand.-nlmrg, 80 miles NW. of Berlin. Pop. 7825. 



Perlitic Structure, in Petrography, is a 

 structure seen in some vitreous rocks. These 

 nicks seem as if made up of little pearly or 

 enamel-like spheroids, each of which is subdivided 

 into a number of concentric coats by curved cracks, 

 roughly parallel to its boundary. The spheroids 

 usually lie packed between rectilinear or curved 

 li-sures that traverse the rock in all directions. 

 Perlite is the name given to rocks showing this 

 structure. 



Perm, a town of Itussia, on the Kama, by 

 which it is 685 miles NK. of Kazan. It is the 

 liii-f seat of the extensive transit trade between 

 European Russia and Silii-iia, ami has a cathedral, 

 tanneries, distilleries, Hour-mill!), and oil-works, 

 and a government arsenal and cannon-foundry. 

 I'op. 4.">,403. Tin- if"'' i'n a" nl has an area of 

 128,21 1 sq. in. and a pop. ( 1HH7 ) of 3,003,208, and is 

 zeaptionally rich in minerals. 



Permian System. In Britain this series of 

 strata rests unconforiiiably upon the Carboniferous 

 nxrk. It consists of the following groups : 



UPPER RED SANDSTONES, clays and gypa-im (50 to 100 feet 

 H. irk in east >( England; west uf Pennine chain, 600 feet 

 thick). 



M Anx ESIAX LIMESTONE ( 600 to 600 feet , = Zechsteln of 

 <itTnianjr. 



MARL SLATE (about 60 feet) Kupferschiefer. 



LOWER BED AND MOTTLED SANDSTONES, with conglomerates 

 and breccias ( 3000 feet in Cumberland ; in the east of England 

 not over 250 feet ) = Rothliegende of Germany. 



The Lower Red Bandstonet arc greatly developed 

 in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and the 

 Vale of Eden in Westmorland and Cumlierland. 

 Small areas also occur in the valleys of the Nith 

 and Annan and in Ayrshire ; and similar areas 

 appear in the districts of Down, Tyrone, and 

 Armagh in Ireland. The breccias met with in 

 this group often contain erratics, and have the 

 "/'noral aspect of glacial accumulations ; and Sir A. 

 Ramsay thought they probably indicate the 

 re of a glacial episode in the Permian 

 In the Scottish area the rocks contain 

 of lava-form rocks and tuffs, associated with 

 which are many small filled-up volcanic vents or 

 ' s. The most important member of the over- 

 lying groups is the Magnesian limestone, which is 

 the chief repository of Permian fossils. Many of 



its beds assume curious concretionary forms, as is 

 well seen on the coast of Durham. 



In Germany the Permian consists of an upper 

 and lower group hence the system is often termed 

 Dyas the Zeclistein and Kupferschiefer forming 

 the upper, and the Rothliegende the lower group. 

 Volcanic rocks are associated with the latter. The 

 Kupferschiefer has long been famous for its ores of 

 copper and other metals, and fossil fishes ; while 

 associated with the Zeclistein are beds of anhydrite, 

 gypsum, rock-salt, and bituminous shales. In 

 Russia the system occupies an area of more than 

 15,000 sq. m. between Moscow and the Urals. It 

 is well developed in the government of Perm, from 

 which it derives it name. While the German Dyas 

 presents the same general features as the Permian 

 of Durham and the east of England, the Russian 

 development resembles the Permians of the Midlands 

 and north-west of England limestone being quite a 

 subordinate formation, and often wanting. Although 

 there is commonly an unconformity between the 

 Permian and the Carboniferous, yet in some places, 

 as at Autun in the heart of France, a conformable 

 passage is traced from the coal-measures into the 

 Permian. The same is the case in North America, 

 where in the western part of that continent no 

 hard and fast line can lie drawn between the two 

 systems the Carboniferous graduating upwards 

 into the Permian. 



Life of the Period. The Permian strata as a 

 whole are not rich in fossils the red sandstones 

 which form so large a portion of the system being 

 for the most part barren. As contrasted with the 

 flora of the Carboniferous period that of the 

 Permian is poor and meagre. But that poverty 

 may be only apparent the conditions for its 

 preservation "not having been so favourable as 

 during Carboniferous times. It may Tje considered 

 as an impoverished continuation of the Carbonifer- 

 ous flora. The most common plants are ferns 

 both herbaceous and arborescent many of the 

 genera being Carboniferous, while others, such as 

 Callipteris, are not known as Carboniferous forms. 

 Conifers were likewise numerous, especially the 

 yew-like Walchia and the cone-l>earing Ullmannia. 

 Traces of what some suppose to have been cycads 

 (Nojggerathia) are met with in Permian strata. 

 Finally, it may be noted that many characteristic 

 Palit-oxoic types died out in Permian times, such 

 as the Lepidodendroids, Sigillarioids, and Cala- 

 mites. The animal life of the period is some- 

 what better represented ; but it too appears im- 

 poverished when contrasted with that which 

 flourished in the preceding Carboniferous period. 

 We note that rugose corals, so abundant in the 

 older Palaeozoic rocks, are very sparingly met 

 with in Permian strata ; even tabulate forms are 

 feebly represented. Polyzoa are fairly numerous 

 in the Magnesian limestone. Amongst braehio- 

 pods the more abundant types are survivals from 

 the Carboniferous, as Producta, Spirifera, Stropha- 

 losia. Lamellibranchs are somewhat more numerous 

 than brachiopods, common forms being Schizodus, 

 Bakevellia, Gervillia, &c. Gasteropods (Murchi- 

 sonia, Pleurotomaria) are feebly represented, and 

 the same is the case with the cephalopoda ( Nautilus, 

 Orthoceras, Cyrtoceras). It is worthy of note that 

 the trilobites are represented by one form 

 ( Phillipsia ) the last appearance of that emi- 

 nently Palteozoic order. Among the fishes the 

 principal genera are Palaeoniscus and Platysomus. 

 Amphibians seem to have abounded ; they are all 

 labyrinthodonts ( Archegosaiirus, Branchiosaurus, 

 Felosaurus ). At this horizon true reptiles (Pro- 

 terosaurus) make their earliest appearance. 



In most parts of Europe where Permian strata 

 are developed they rest unconforiiiably on Carbon- 

 iferous and other rocks, from which it is evident 



