PARSONSTOWN 



PARTHENON 



Parsonstown OR BIER. Urban 

 dist. and market town of King's 

 co., Ireland. It stands on the Little 

 Brosna river, 89 m. from Dublin, 

 with a station on the G.S. & W. 

 Rly. S. Brendane's is the chief 

 church. There are some manufac- 

 tures, and a trade in agricultural 

 produce. Known at first as Birr, 

 its other name was given to it 

 after it became the property of the 

 family of Parsons, earls of Rosse, 

 about 1610. The earl's seat is Birr 

 Castle, and the town contains a 

 statue of the 3rd earl, the astrono- 

 mer. In Cumberland Square there 

 is also a statue of the duke of Cum- 

 berland. Market day, Sat. Pop. 

 5,400. 



Part. Musical term with several 

 applications : (1) That portion of 

 a concerted composition which is 

 allotted to any component voice 

 or instrument. Thus, there are 

 four parts in the ordinary hymn- 

 tune, for soprano, alto, tenor, and 

 bass respectively. By analogy, 

 contrapuntal music, such as fugues, 

 etc., which are derived from vocal 

 forms, is also said to be in parts, 

 even though it is performed upon 

 a single instrument, as the piano- 

 forte or the organ. (2) The equiva- 

 lent in oratorios, cantatas, etc., of 

 "act" in opera. (3) A certain 

 portion of a composition which is 

 in binary or ternary form. 



Partabgarh. Native state and 

 town of Rajputana, India. The 

 hilly N.W. of the state is peopled 

 chiefly by Bhils, and the rest is 

 open country with no large rivers. 

 There is a trade in grain and 

 locally made cloth. The rainfall is 

 31 ins. annually. The town is 120 

 m. N.W. of Indore and is noted 

 for its enamelled work. Area, 

 886 sq. m. Pop., state, 62,700; 

 town, 8,300. 



Partabgarh. Dist. of the 

 United Provinces, India, in Fyza- 

 bad division. The dist. is situated 

 N. of Allahabad dist., with the 

 Ganges in the S.W. The annual 

 rainfall is 38 ins. The chief crops 

 are rice, wheat, barley, and millet. 

 The capital is Bela, sometimes 

 known as Partabgarh. Area, 

 1,443 sq. m. Pop., dist., 900,000 ; 

 town, 6,300. 



Part-book. Book containing 

 the different parts for the per- 

 formers of a vocal or instrumental 

 piece of music. In medieval times, 

 composers seldom issued their 

 works in score (q.v. ), but used in- 

 stead separate part-books, gener- 

 ally one for each voice. Some- 

 times, however, the parts were 

 written out separately, but side 

 by side, or one above another on 

 the double page of one book, so 

 that all the singers could use it 

 simultaneously. A variation of 



this was to arrange the four parts 

 in the following manner : 



smut) 

 Bassus 



In this way the performers on 

 opposite sides of a table were 

 enabled to read from the book. 



Parthenogenesis ( Gr. parthe- 

 nos, virgin ; genesis, generation). 

 Biological term to express a mode 

 of reproduction in which impreg- 

 nation of the female germ-cell by 

 the male element is absent. Some 

 species, e.g. many gall-flies and 

 saw-flies, consist entirely of fe- 

 males, and these virgin females 

 produce offspring. There are other 

 examples of the same process 

 occurring among insects, rotifers, 

 crustaceans, and some plants, in 

 which the ova, though never fer- 

 tilised, develop into individuals. 

 Plant lice develop in the same way. 

 From the unfertilised eggs of the 

 queen bee only males result. 



There is evidence that partheno- 

 genesis is, to a certain extent, in- 

 fluenced by external environment, 

 because in the case of the Aphides, 

 or plant lice, the parthenogenetic 

 process occurs in the warmer 

 months of the year, and the result 

 is an extraordinarily rapid multi- 

 plication of the lice. The last eggs 

 laid in the autumn by this species, 

 however, are fertilised. They re- 

 main undeveloped during the win- 

 ter, and upon the advent of spring 

 develop into females. In the ab- 

 sence of the males they develop 

 without fertilisation, but when the 

 temperature falls in autumn the 

 last generation of eggs deposited 

 are both male and female. See 

 Biology ; Life ; Sex. 



Parthenon, THE (Gr., Virgin's 

 chamber). Temple of Athena, on 

 the Acropolis. Athens. It was built 



between 447 and 438 B.C., and was 

 opened on the occasion of the 

 Panathenaic Festival in the latter 

 year ; the cult of Athena having 

 been previously practised in an 

 older temple on the Acropolis, near 

 the site of the Parthenon itself. 

 The architects were Ictinus and 

 Callicrates, and the structure, 

 which is of the Doric order, con- 

 sisted entirely of Pentelic marble. 

 In plan the Parthenon is a paral- 

 lelogram, the cella or nave, 194 

 ft. long, being divided into two 

 main parts, viz. the Hekatompe- 

 dos to the east, where Pheidias' 

 great statue was placed, and the 

 Opisthodomos to the west, where 

 the offerings were made. There 

 were eight outside columns at each 

 end, and 17 on each side. The 

 portico at either end was double, 

 i.e. there was an inner line of six 

 columns behind the outer line of 

 eight. Strictly speaking, the 

 Opisthodomos, where the virgin 

 priestess received the offerings, was 

 the Parthenon proper, a title later 

 extended to the whole building. 



Architecturally, the Parthenon 

 is the crowning instance of the 

 subtlety involved in the apparent 

 simplicity of Greek construction. 

 F. C. Penrose discovered that the 

 horizontal lines are imperceptibly 

 curved, and that the perpendicular 

 lines incline very slightly towards 

 the centre of the temple. The ap- 

 parently flat floor is slightly higher 

 towards the centre than at the 

 edges ; the columns not only taper 

 towards the summit, but are of 

 greater girth at the centre than 

 they are at the base. Little vari- 

 ations of height and thickness 

 occur in the corner columns, ac- 

 cording to the intensity of the 

 light that fell upon them, and the 

 fluting is studied with an eye to its 

 relationship with the light. 



The chief glory of the Parthenon 

 was the decorative sculpture by 

 Pheidias (q.v.) and his school. Of 

 the metopes (q.v. ) attributed to 



Parthenon, Athens. Rains of the ancient temple of Athena, from the north-west 



