412 



PARABOLIC MIRRORS- PARAGUAY. 



tin- parabola enables us to calculate mathematically 

 the path of a projectile in free space, from the pro- 

 portionate magnitude of the two forces. Setting 

 aside the resistance of the air, it is demonstrable that 

 the path of the projectile must be a parabola, whose 

 apex is its greatest height, i. e. greatest distance from 

 the earth's centre of gravity. If the projection is 

 horizontal, the apex is then at the point where the 

 free path begins, and the body describes one leg of a 

 parabola. If the direction is between the horizontal 

 and perpendicular, the body describes one leg of a 

 parabola in its ascent, and the other in its fall ; and in 

 both cases, therefore, the path of the body is easily 

 determined. And, on the contrary, if the distance 

 and position of an object are given, it is easy to deter- 

 mine, from the force of projection, and the weight of 

 the projectile, the angle of direction which should be 

 given to the latter. The resistance of the air will 

 aftvct the direction of the projectile ; but in small 

 heavy bodies, the eflect is trifling; and in the larger, 

 such as bombs, it is easily determined on mathemati- 

 cal principles. See Projectiles, and Mechanics. 



PARABOLIC MIRRORS. See Burning Mirrors. 



PARABOLOID, in geometry, is a body generated 

 by the rotation of a parabola around its axis. 



PARACELSUS, or PHILIPPUS AUREOLUS 

 THEOPHRASTUS BOMBASTUS DE HOHEN- 

 HEIM ; a celebrated empiric and alchemist, born at 

 Kinsirdeln, near Zurich, in Switzerland, in 1493. 

 His father, a physician, is said to have been the 

 natural son of a Teutonic knight. After some edu- 

 cation at home, he visited France, Spain, Italy, and 

 Germany, with a view to improvement in medicine, 

 and the arts and sciences connected with it, especially 

 chemistry. In the course of his travels, he became 

 acquainted with some remedies not in common use 

 among the faculty (probably preparations of mer- 

 cury), by means of which he performed extraordinary 

 cures, and obtained great reputation. Returning to 

 Switzerland, he taught medicine and surgery at Basle, 

 delivering his lectures partly in the German lan- 

 guage, for want of a sufficient knowledge of the 

 Latin. At length, having cured John Lichtenfels, a 

 rich ecclesiastic, of a dangerous disease, and being 

 precluded, by a decision of the magistracy, from 

 obtaining the stipulated reward, for which he was 

 obliged to sue his patient, he svas so enraged at the 

 disappointment, that he grossly abused the judges, 

 and, becoming apprehensive of their resentment, 

 took his departure from the city. He then led a 

 wandering life in Alsatia, accompanied by his pupil 

 Oporinus, who, disgusted with his violence and in- 

 temperance, at length left him to pursue his wild 

 career alone. Paracelsus professed an utter con- 

 tempt for the practice of his medical contemporaries, 

 and boasted of an intercourse with spirits, and the 

 possession of the philosopher's stone, and the elixir 

 of life ; but he disgraced his pretensions by dying in 

 the forty-eighth year of liis age, after a few days' ill- 

 ness, at the hospital of St Sebastian at Salzburg, in 

 1541. Among the writings attributed to Paracelsus 

 are some on surgery, chemistry, and theology, many 

 of which remain unpublished. A collection of his 

 works, in eleven volumes, quarto, was printed at 

 Basle, in 1589; also one printed at Geneva, in 1658, 

 with a preface, containing an account of the author. 



PARACHUTE; a silk instrument, of an umbrella 

 shape, about twenty feet in diameter, attached to bal- 

 loons, by means of which the aeronaut may descend 

 slowly from a great height. Blanchard made the 

 first successful experiment with one in London, in 

 1795. Garnerin lias also invented a peculiar kind of 

 parachute. 



PARACLETE ^ajaxXxrj?, a counsellor, comforter); 

 in the English translation, the Comforter ; the Holy 



Ghost. Jesus promised to his disciples (John xiv. 

 16), that his Father would send them another Com 

 forter, the Spirit of truth, who should abide with 

 them for ever, and (vr. 26) teach them all things. 

 See Abelard. 



PARADISE (from the Greek word ^nt^nrof , a 

 garden, a park, by which the garden of Eden is ren- 

 dered in the Greek translation of the Old Testament 

 from the Hebrew); the garden of Eden, in which the 

 first parents of the human race were placed after their 

 creation. Here they lived in a state of innocence, 

 until they forfeited the favour of God, and were ex- 

 pelled from their happy seat, for an act of disobedi- 

 ence. Commentators are divided as to the situation 

 of Eden. 



PARADISE, BIRD OF (Paradisea, Lin.); bill 

 straight, compressed, strong, and notchless ; nostrils 

 covered with feathers of a velvety or metallic lustre; 

 plumage singular and splendid. They occur in 

 Japan, China, Persia, and various parts of India, 

 but are supposed to be originally natives of New 

 Guinea. They were formerly supposed to live on 

 dew, to be without legs, and never to alight. The 

 legs were, in fact, torn off in preparing the birds 

 for ornaments. There are several species. The 

 great bird of Paradise (P. major, Shaw ; apoda, 

 Lin.) is of a cinnamon hue ; crown luteous ; throat 

 golden green or yellow ; side feathers very long and 

 floating ; length, from the end of the bill to the end 

 of the real tail, about twelve inches ; but to the end 

 of the long hypochondroid feathers, nearly two feet. 

 This species is found in the Molucca islands, and 

 those round New Guinea, particularly Papua and 

 Aru, where they arrive with the westerly monsoon, 

 and return to New Guinea with the easterly. They 

 move in flights of thirty or forty, with a leader above 

 the rest, and preserve their light and voluminous 

 plumage in order, by always flying against the wind. 

 Sometimes, however, a sudden change of wind dis- 

 composes their feathers, so that they fall- Judging 

 from their bill and claws, it is not improbable that 

 they subsist both on animal and vegetable food. 



PARAGUAY; a republic of South America, situ- 

 ated between the Parana on the E. and S., the Para- 

 guay on the W., and Brazil, from which it is separated 

 by the Xexuy and a mountainous ridge on the N. ; 

 lat. 24 to 27 30' S.; Ion. 54 40' to 58 30' W. 

 It comprises a superficial area of about 50,000 square 

 miles, with a population differently estimated at 

 150,000, 200,000, and 300,000. 



Paraguay was discovered by Sebastian Cabot 

 (then in the service of Spain), in 1526. In 1776, it 

 formed a province of the newly established vice- 

 royalty of Buenos Ayres, previously to which it had 

 formed a sort of theocratical commonwealth, under 

 the government of the Jesuits. It was this circum- 

 stance that led to their banishment from Portugal in 

 1759, and from Spain in 1767. (See Jesuits.') At the 

 time of the abolition of the order, their state embraced 

 above forty missions (doctrinae), comprising, besides 

 Paraguay properly so called, Tucuman, Rio de la 

 Plata, and the corregimento of Tarja ; the seat of the 

 ruling provincial and his four counsellors was at Cor- 

 dova. No European was permitted to enter their ter- 

 ritory; forts were erected, an armed force main- 

 tained, and the commerce was entirely in their hands. 

 In 1752, Spain, having ceded seven of the Jesuit 

 missions to Portugal, the society, after vainly throw- 

 ing every obstacle in the way of the cession, finally 

 instigated the natives to armed resistance ; but their 

 forces were defeated by the united Spanish and Por- 

 tuguese armies (1756), and the order was expelled 

 from Paraguay. (See Southey's History of Brazil.) 

 In 1810, the junta of Buenos Ayres sent a body of 

 troops to depose the Spanish governor of the province 



