401 



PERIPHERY. 



PERJURY. 



H 



preceptor of Plutarch, was taught with great purity. After that it 

 was divided into two sects, consisting respectively of those who wished 

 to adhere strictly to Arutotle, and those who were disposed to amalga- 

 mate his doctrines with those of other schools. Julius Cu-w and 

 Augustus itronised the Peripatetic philosophy. Under Tiberius, 

 Caligula, and Claudius, its adherents, in common with those of other 

 sects, were either banished or obliged to remain silent on the subject 

 of their peculiar tenets. This was the case also during the greater 

 part of the reign of Nero, although during the early part of it philo- 

 sophy was favoured. The chief Peripatetics in the first century of the 

 Roman empire were Sosigmes of Egypt, who wrote a commentary on 

 Aristotle's treatise ' De Coslo,' Boethus of Sidon, who is mentioned by 

 Strabo as baring been his fellow-student in the Aristotelian philosophy, 

 and SicoUus of Damascus in Syria. 



Ammonius the Peripatetic made great exertions to extend the 

 authority of Aristotle ; but about his time the Platonists began to 

 study his writings, and prepared the way for the establishment of 

 the Eclectic Peripatetics under Ammonius Saccas, who flourished 

 about a century subsequent to Ammonius the Peripatetic. Even after 

 this period however some were still found who adhered exclusively to 

 Aristotle. The most celebrated of these was Alexander of Aphrodi- 

 sias, who was a public professor of the Peripatetic philosophy, under 

 Septimius Severua, in Alexandria or in Athens. Many of the Eclectic 

 Aristotelians wrote commentaries on his works, some of which ore still 

 extant The principal of these writers were Themistius, who flourished 

 during the reigns of Constantius and Theodosius the Great ; Olympic- 

 dorus, who lived about a century later : and Simplicius Cilix, in the 

 time of the emperor Justinian. 



After this period, philosophy in general languished. But in that 

 mixture of ancient opinions with theological dogmas which constituted 

 the philosophy of the middle age, the system of Aristotle undoubtedly 

 predominated. About the 12th century it had many adherents among 

 the Saracens and Jews, particularly in Spain ; and at the same period 

 also it began to be diligently studied, though not without much oppo- 

 sition, among the ecclesiastics of the Christian church. Out of this 

 latter circumstance gradually arose the Scholastic philosophy, which 

 took it* tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, and which 

 continued long to perplex the minds of men with its frivolous though 

 subtile speculations. The authority of Aristotle received a severe 

 shock at the Reformation, but it survived the fall of the Scholastic 

 system. His opinions were patronised by the Roman Catholic church, 

 on account of their supposed favourable bearing on certain doctrines of 

 faith ; and although Luther and others of the Reformers determinedly 

 opposed them, they were maintained by such men as Melancthon, who 

 himself commented on certain portions of the works of the Stagiritc. 

 Many individuals distinguished for their genius and learning exerted 

 themselves to revive the Peripatetic philosophy in its primitive purity, 

 nor did it cease to have numerous illustrious supporters until the time 

 of Bacon, Grotius, and Des Cartes. 



PERl'PHERY, the Greek word for circumference; term applied 

 both to rectilinear and curvilinear figures. 



PEKIPJf EUMOXY. [Lusos, DISEASES OF THE.] 



PEKIPTEKAL or PEKIPTEROS. [TEMPLE.] 



PERI'SCII (whose shadows move round). lu those latitudes which 

 are high enough to have the sun for twenty-four hours together, the 

 shadows make complete revolutions ; whence the inhabitants may be 

 called Periacii (ncpitricioi). 



PERISCOPIC SPECTACLES. [SPECTACLES.] 



PERITONITIS is an inflammation of the peritoneum. It may 

 exist either as an acute or as a chronic disease. The chief symptoms 

 of the acute form are pain, swelling, and tenderness of the abdomen, 

 accompanied with fever and a frequent, small, and hard pulse. The 

 pain in peritonitis is usually much more severe than that of any other 

 inflammatory disease of the intestines or other abdominal organs. It is 

 acute and cutting, and sometimes occurs in paroxysms ; it is generally 

 diffused, but occasionally it is almost confined to a single part of the 

 abdomen ; but its most distinguishing character is that it is greatly 

 increased by pressure, so that in a severe case the patient cannot 

 support so much as the weight of the bed-clothes, but lies on his back 

 with his knees drawn up, and breathes quickly and lightly, moving the 

 diaphragm as little as possible, so as to avoid the pain which its 

 pressure would excite in the inflamed parts. The bowels in cases of 

 peritonitis are usually, but by no means constantly, constipated ; 

 commonly also there are present nausea, vomiting, and hiccup, and 

 almost always excessive thirst and prostration of strength. If not 

 checked in lU course, acute peritonitis usually terminates fatally in 

 from five to ten days ; the patient becoming more and more depressed, 

 and all the symptoms regularly increasing till within a short time of 

 death, when the pain commonly ceases, and a deceptive improvement 

 in many of the other suns of the disease takes place. 



The usual morbid effects of peritonitis are the effusion of serum with 

 lymph or pus into the cavity of the abdomen, and adhesions of the 

 opposite surfaces of the several organs within it. After death from 

 acute peritonitis, the walls of the abdomen and the surfaces of the 

 organs chiefly or alone affected, are found thickened, swollen, and 

 vascular, covered with blotches of dilated blood-vessels, and more or 

 less firmly adhering together by the lymph which is effused between 

 them, and which, if the patient survives for a certain length of time, 



becomes vascular, and is converted into the usual tissue of adhesions 

 or false membranes. [INFLAMMATION.] 



The causes of peritonitis are various. Like other acute inflamma- 

 tions, it may occur after exposure to cold, or the other common 

 excitants of disease ; but it is more certainly produced by injuries of 

 the peritoneum, as by tumours developed within the abdomen, by the 

 obstructions which occur in strangulated hernia, and intussusception, 

 of which it is a constant consequence, by the spreading of disease from 

 the adjacent viscera, by heavy blows and falls on the abdomen, by 

 penetrating wounds inflicted in operations for hernia or in other 

 circumstances, by the passage of foreign bodies into the cavity nf the 

 abdomen, and especially by the uloerative perforation or accidental 

 rupture of any of the organs contained within it, and the escape of 

 iln-ir contents, circumstances which are productive of the most cer- 

 tainly and rapidly fatal form of the disease. 



From these causes acute peritonitis may occur at all periods of life, 

 Inn it more frequently affects persons of the middle age than any 

 others. Women in child-bed are peculiarly liable to it. They may be 

 attacked either with common peritonitis, presenting no remarkably 

 peculiar symptoms or effects ; or they may have that which is especially 

 called puerperal peritonitis. In eases of the latter <V*>. however, the 

 peritonitis is not always the most important symptom, but must 

 be regarded merely as one of the coincidents of the peculiar f evi r I y 

 which the patient is affected, and which often assumes the character of 

 an epidemic. 



The treatment of peritonitis may commence with local bleeding by 

 the application of leeches to the abdomen. General bleeding may be 

 had recourse to where the symptoms are severe and the patient's 

 strength will boar it. Hot fomentations should be assiduously applied 

 to the abdomen. Of internal medicines the most effectual is calomel, 

 of which three or four doses of five grains or more, with one or two 

 grains of opium, should be given at intervals of about four hours, and 

 afterwards smaller doses till a slight salivation is produced. During 

 all the time of the treatment, the lowest diet only should be allowed, 

 unless the patient is evidently sinking. In that case, and generally iu 

 the later stages of the disease, a more nutritious diet may be given, 

 but there is perhaps no affection in which relapses are so liable to 

 occur in consequence of the early or injudicious use of stimulating 

 food. 



Acute peritonitis sometimes, after fifteen or twenty days' con- 

 tinuance, assumes a chronic form. Sometimes peritonitis from its 

 commencement U of slow progress ; the pain being but slight or dis- 

 coverable only by considerable pressure, and the swelling or tension of 

 the abdomen occurring only at a late period of the disease. Its more 

 important symptoms are the low fever, the constant thirst, the hectic 

 flushings of the face, the emaciation, languor, and regularly increasing 

 debility by which it is accompanied. It rarely proves fatal till after 

 many months have elapsed ; and its effects are found after death to be 

 thickening and increased density of all the peritoneal coverings, in- 

 creased vascularity or blackness of their surfaces, which in many cases 

 are beset with vast numbers of minute grayish-white tubercles, and 

 effusions of serum with lymph or pus wherever the adjacent organs are 

 not connected together by the adhesions. The chronic form of disease 

 is always the result of a scrofulous state of the body and is seldom 

 cured. The treatment of chronic peritonitis is usually unsatisfactory 

 and of doubtful benefit. Local bleedings should be employed, and 

 blisters or other counter-irritants should be applied over the abdomen. 

 The diet should be light and nutritious, and, as often as they seem 

 necessary, mild purgatives may be administered. Frictions of oint- 

 ments containing mercury or iodine are also useful, and iodine should 

 be administered internally when the patient is of a scrofulous con- 

 stitution. 



PERJURY, by the common law of England, is the offence of falsely 

 swearing to facts in a judicial proceeding. To constitute this offence 

 the party must have been lawfully sworn to speak the truth by some 

 court, judge, or officer, having authority to administer on oath ; and, 

 under the oath so administered, he must wilfully assert a falsehood in 

 a judicial proceeding respecting some fact material to the subject of 

 inquiry in that proceeding. In a legal sense therefore the term has 

 a much narrower import than it has in its popular acceptation. It 

 is said by Sir Edward Coke (3 ' Inst.,' 166) that "the deposition 

 must be direct and absolute, and not ut putat, nor ticut meminit, 

 nor ut credit," ic. ; but this doctrine has been long since exploded; 

 and it is now clear that a person may commit perjury by swearing 

 that he btlievet a fact to be true which he l-noirt to be false. It 

 is immaterial, with reference to the offence of perjury, whether 

 the false statement has received credit or not, or whether any 

 injury has been sustained by an individual in consequence of it. 

 The characteristic of this offence therefore, by the law of England, 

 is not the violation of the religious sanction of an oath, nor the 

 wrong done to the person or property of another, but the injury 

 done to the administration of justice by false testimony or informa- 

 tion in a judicial proceeding. 



The history of perjury at common law is entirely dependent upon 

 the history of the trial by jury. Where it in mentioned by Bracton 

 and Fleta, these ancient authors allude exclusively to the offence of 

 jurors in giving a wilfully false verdict ; and as the jury appear to 

 nave been originally merely witnesses, speaking from their personal 



