PARAPHERNALIA. 



PAIICENERS. 



2DO 



obtained by excavating the ground in the interior ; auJ, in this case, 

 the crest of the parapet may be ouly 3 or 4 feet above the exterior 

 ground. Such a construction is admissible, however, only when the 

 site of the work is several feet higher than the ground which the 

 enemy may occupy, since otherwise the defenders, except when close 

 behind the parapet, would be exposed to his fire. Again, should the 

 ground about the spot to be fortified be higher than that spot, the crest 

 of the parapet must have a greater height than 74 feet, in order that 

 the defenders may be sufficiently covered by it : but in general the 

 parapets of field-works cannot be raised more than 14 feet above 

 the ground; since a nmn can scarcely throw earth with a spade 

 to a greater height than 7 feet, and a greater height than 14 feet 

 would require, above ground, more than two rows of shovellers, 

 one row 7 feet above the other, besides one row, or two rows, at an 

 equal interval iu the ditch ; and it is seldom that the numerical 

 strength of a working party is sufficient to allow such a disposition to 

 be made. 



The earth used for forming the parapets should be as free as possible 

 from stones or gravel, or these should be put into the centre of the 

 mass, in order to avoid the accidents which might arise from the dis 

 persion of the stones when shot or shells strike ; and the slopes, as well 

 as the banquettes, when time permits, should be covered with turf. 



PARAPHERNA'LIA. This term comprehends the dress and orna- 

 ments of a wife which she occasionally wears, and which she is entitled, 

 under some limitations, to retain after her husband's decease. It 

 cannot be accurately stated how much a wife may claim as her para- 

 phernalia, for this will depend on the rank and fortune of the husband 

 and wife. A widow is entitled to retain as paraphernalia ornaments 

 which she has received from her husband, provided she has worn them 

 occasionally. The wife cannot give or bequeath such paraphernalia 

 during her husbanoTs life, nor can her husband bequeath such para- 

 phernalia so as to deprive her of them ; but he can sell them or give 

 them. The wife's paraphernalia are liable to the payment of the 

 husband's debts, unless the articles were given to her by a stranger 

 before marriage or after marriage : in such case the articles are con- 

 sidered as gifts to the separate use of the wife, and are accordingly 

 neither at the disposition of the husband nor liable to the claims of his 

 creditors ; but if such gifts are to be considered as the separate estate 

 of the wife, they are not properly paraphernalia. 



The widow is entitled to her paraphernalia in preference to any claim 

 of legatees ; and if specialty creditors of her husband have taken her 

 paraphernalia for payment of their debts after the personal estate is 

 exhausted, she has a right to reimburse herself out of the real estate 

 which has descended to the heir. 



The term paraphernalia is derived from the Greek puraphcrna, a 

 term which the Roman lawyers adopted to express what in their own 

 language could not be expressed by a single word, and which was 

 expressed by the periphrasis of jtricter or e^tra dotem. The parapherna 

 comprised the things which the wife brought to the husband's house, 

 and which were not part of her dot. The common practice at Rome 

 was for the woman to make out a list of such things as she used, 

 clothing, ic., which list was signed by the husband, as an acknow- 

 ledgment of receiving them, or at least of receiving them into his 

 house. This practice, derived from the Roman law, is still in use in 

 some countries of Europe. The husband did not obtain the owner- 

 ship of the things included in such list, and in case of a separation, 

 they were restored to the wife : if they were not restored, she could 

 recover them by an action framed according to the circumstances of 

 the caae. (' Dig.,' 23, tit., 3, s. 9.) It must be remembered that the 

 Roman dot is a different thing from the English dower, though some 

 English writers on law have confounded them. (Koper, ' Law of 

 Husband and Wife,' " Paraphernalia." ) [MABHI.VIJK.] 



PARAPHRASE (from the Greek rap^ptals). A paraphrase par- 

 takes of the nature both of a version, if the work paraphrased be in a 

 foreign language, and of a commentary. Its object is to express the 

 full sense contained in the words which are paraphrased, by the intro- 

 duction of circumlocutions, explanatory claused, and expansions of the 

 author's meaning. A paraphrase, if well and honestly executed, is an 

 excellent mode of giving a connected interpretation of a whole work. 

 The faults to which this sort of commentary is most liable are an 

 alteration of the author's sense, and a degree of weakness and 

 tediousness resulting from the use of unnecessary words. 



PARAPLEGIA. [PABALYSIB.] 



PAHASAN'O ('< xapa<ra-yyT)i), a Persian measure of length, which, 

 according to Herodotus (ii. 6 ; v. 53 ; vi. 42), was equal to 30 stadia 

 and if we reckon eight stadia as equal to one English mile, the parasang 

 was consequently equal to nearly four English miles. Hesychius and 

 Suidas also give the length of the parasang at 30 stadia ; and Xenophon 

 must have calculated it at the same length, as he says (' Anab./ ii. 2, 

 s. 6) that 16,050 stadia are equal to 535 parasangs (16,050-;-/135 = 30). 

 Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' vi. 30), however, informs us that the length of the 

 parasang was reckoned differently by different authors; and Strabo 

 states (xi., p. 518, Casaubon) that some reckoned it at 60, others at 40, 

 and others at 30 stadia. The Arabic geographers (see Freytag, ' Lex 

 Arab.,' nub Faraakh) reckon it equal to three miles. The Rev. O. 

 Rawlinson remarks (in a note in his edition of Herodotus, 1859), that 

 the parasang, like the farsakh, was originally a measure of time, not of 

 distance, and consequently varied according to the nature of the 



AST* AHD BCI. WV. VOL. Vr. 



country passed over. He agrees, however, in the general conclusion 

 that it averaged about three and a half to four English miles. 



Parasang is a Persian word, and is derived from the ancient farsang, 

 which is pronounced in modern Persian, ferseng. It has been changed 

 in Arabic into farsakh. Various etymologies of this word have been 

 proposed. The latter part of the word is supposed to be the Persian 

 sen'/, a stone, and the word might thus be derived from the stones 

 which were placed to mark the distances iu the road. Bohlen (quoted 

 by Rbdiger) supposes the first part of the word to be the preposition 

 fera. and compares the word with the Latin ad lapidem. 



PARATHERMIC RAYS. Photographic processes are considerably 

 expedited by the application of a gentle heat, and the active agent is 

 supposed to consist of rays which are found in and below the red and 

 orange of the solar spectrum, and which are emitted by bodies heated 

 just below redness. These parathermic rays probably bear the same 

 relation to the true calorific rays as those which produce chemical 

 phenomena do to the luminous rays. 



PARATHIONIC ACID (C 4 H a S,0,). An acid of little importance, 

 isoineric with sulphovinic or ethyl-sulphuric acid. [ETHYL.] 



PARATONNEKRE. The French term for a LIUHTXINO Cox- 

 DI-CTOB. 



PAROLE (Moipcu), the Fates, were goddesses who were supposed to 

 preside over the destinies of man. In Homer we only read of one deity, 

 Mo'ipa or A?<ra; but in Hesiod and all succeeding poets we read of three 

 Fates : Clotho (K\u9u), the " Spinster ; " Lachesis (Aaxe'ffis), the 

 " Distributor ; " and Atropos fATpoiiros), the " Unchangeable." In one 

 passage Hesiod (' Theog.,' 904) calls them the daughters of Zeus and 

 Themis; and in another (' Theog.,' 217), the daughters of Night, which 

 agrees with the statement of Cicero ('De Nat. Deor.,' iji. 17), who 

 makes them the daughters of Night and Darkness (Erebus). This 

 contradiction seems to have arisen from the different notions enter- 

 tained by the ancients respecting the relative power of Zeus and the 

 Fates, since they were sometimes represented as ruling the gods and 

 Zeus himself, and at other times as merely carrying into effect the 

 determinations of Zeus. In the ancient Greek writers, and espe- 

 cially the tragic poets, the gods themselves are represented as subject 

 to the decrees of fate ; but in later times the Fates appear to have 

 been generally regarded as subject to Zeus. Thus we learn from 

 Pausanias (v. 15, s. 4 ; x. 24, s. 4) that Zeus was worshipped both at 

 Olympia and Delphi under the name of MoipayfTijs, or ' Leader of the 

 Fates," which title was also applied to Apollo at Delphi. (Paus., x. 

 24, s. 4.) Pausanias, in describing (i. 40, s. 3) a celebrated statue of 

 Zeus at Megara, on the head of which the Fates (MoFpai) were placed, 

 remarks that this was done because destiny (r^i> Trrxpwtiiv-riv) is 

 obedient to Zeus alone. 



The Fates are usually spoken of by the Greek and Roman poets as 

 spinning the destinies of men ('Il/xx. 128; ' Od.,' vii. 197); and 

 according to mythologists, each of the three presided over ditterent 

 periods of human life : Clotho over the beginning, Atropos the end, 

 and Lachesis the general course of the life of each individual. Apu- 

 leius (' De Mundo,' p. 280, Bipont), whose opinion however can scarcely 

 be regarded as representing the popular, belief upon the subject, 

 assigns a different office to each of the Fates. Atropos he regards as 

 the Fate of past time, Lachesis of future, and Clotho of present events. 

 In Greek art tbe Fates are sometimes represented as matrons winged. 

 In some instances Atropos has a style, holds scales, or points to the 

 hour on a sun-dial, or is cutting the thread of life ; Clotho is spinning ; 

 Lachesis holds a roll, or is writing. 



There was a temple at Lacedsemon sacred to the Fates (Paus., iii. 11, 

 s. 8), and there were also altars sacred to them in the neighbourhood of 

 Sicyon. (Paus. it. 11, s. 4 ) They had also in later times a small 

 temple at Rome in the eleventh district (regio) of the city (Onuphr. 

 Panvin. apud Rosin., i, c. 13) ; but their worship seems to have pre- 

 vailed at Rome to a very small extent. 



PARCENERS, or COPARCENERS, are so called because the lands 

 of which they are parceners may be partitioned or divided among them. 

 There may l,e parceners by common law and parceners by custom. 



As to parceners by common law, if a man dies intestate seised of 

 lands in fee, and leaves only daughters, the lands will descend equally 

 to all the daughters ; or if he has no daughters and no brothers, the 

 lands will descend equally to all his sisters, if he has any ; and if there 

 are no nearer heirs, the lands will descend to his aunts. The descent 

 is the name if a man dies seised of lands in tail, except where the estate 

 tail was limited to such man and the heirs of his body, for in that case 

 the lands can only descend to those who are heirs of the body. In all 

 cases where several females take one inheritance by descent, they are 

 called parceners ; and all lands or tenements, including a rent charge, 

 may descend in this manner. If there be a title of dignity descendible 

 to heirs of the body, the lands and tenements belonging to it may 

 descend to parceners ; but the dignity itself does not descend, for all 

 the parceners only make one heir, and a title of dignity is not in its 

 nature divisible. The dignity therefore will be in abeyance. [BAKON.] 



The descent of the crown is an exception to this rule ; for if there 

 are several daughters, &c., and no male heir, the crown with all its 

 rights descends to the eldest female. In the case of the high con- 

 stableship of England, if there were parceners, the office was executed 

 by the husband of the eldest daughter, and, before her marriage, by 

 .Uputy. 



