414 



PARALYSIS PARDON. 



PARALYSIS. See A//.*//. 



PARAMATTA. See OBMTMfcrv. 



PARANA RIVER. See Plata, La. 



PARANYMPH. See Marriage. 



PARAPET, in fortification ; an elevation of earth 

 designed for covering the soldiers from the enemy's 

 cannon or small shot. 



PARAPH ; a particular character or flourish added 

 to the signature of a person, to render the counter- 

 feiting of it more difficult. With some nations they 

 have gone out of use. With others (e. g. the Span- 

 iards) they are as customary, and take as much room 

 as in the middle ages ; indeed, they often affix the 

 paraph, without the name, to official papers. 



PARAPHERNALIA are the woman's apparel, 

 jewels, and other things, which, in the lifetime of her 

 husband, she wore as the ornaments of her person, 

 to be allowed by the discretion of the court, accord- 

 ing to the quality of her and her husband. The 

 husband cannot devise such ornaments and jewels of 

 his wife, though, during his life, he has power to dis- 

 pose of them. But if she continues in the use of 

 them till his death, she shall afterwards retain them 

 against his executors and administrators, legatees, 

 and all other persons, except creditors, where there 

 is a deficiency of assets. 



PARAPHRASE; the setting forth of the sense of 

 a writing in a more clear and ample manner than it 

 is given in the original. When the original is in a 

 foreign language, the paraphrase differs from a mere 

 translation, in the circumstance, that the object of the 

 paraphrase is always to explain or to develop more 

 fully the meaning of the original. A paraphrase of 

 the Lord's prayer, for instance, is a composition in 

 which the ideas of the prayer are applied more par- 

 ticularly to the duties of life, or set forth more in 

 detail. 



PAR A SANG; an ancient Persian measure, differ- 

 ent at different times, and in different places, being 

 sometimes thirty, sometimes forty, and sometimes 

 fifty stadia, or furlongs. 



PARASELENE; a mock moon, seen usually in a 

 ring round the moon. See Optics. 



PARASUTES, or PARASITICAL PLANTS, in 

 botany; such plants as are produced out of the trunk 

 or brunches of other plants, from whence they re- 

 ceive their nourishment, and will not grow on the 

 ground ; as the misletoe, &c. 



PARASOL. It appears, from ancient monuments 

 and descriptions, that this well known instrument, or 

 something exceedingly resembling it, was used among 

 the ancients, not for the purpose so much of preserva- 

 tion from the rays of the sun as in religious ceremo- 

 nies and processions. In the festivals of Ceres and 

 Minerva, the young females who celebrated them 

 bore, among other sacred instruments, the parasol : 

 it was, in fact, one of the most ancient marks of 

 dignity that we find indicated either by relics of art 

 or by authors. In process of time, when the Romans 

 began to lay aside the simple habits of their fore- 

 fathers, the parasol, by a natural transition, began to 

 be used for the purpose to which it is still applied. 

 The matrons, particularly, used to be followed by 

 slaves, whose office was to protect the delicacy of 

 their charms by intercepting the solar heat by the 

 agreeable shade of the parasols. They were con- 

 structed of wands, or twigs, disposed in such a man- 

 ner as to admit of their being put up or down, in 

 much the same way as those used at the present day. 

 The substance employed was often of rich stuff, such 

 as silk, &c., of showy colours, and elegantly embroi- 

 dered. In many countries, where the sun is power- 

 ful, it is well known that parasols are used by men, 

 as \vell as women. 



FAItC/E. See Fates. 



PARCHMENT, used for writing, is prepared from 

 the skins of sheep and goats. These, after being 

 steeped in pits impregnated with lime, are stretched 

 upon frames, and reduced by scraping and paring 

 with sharp instruments. Pulverized chalk is rubbed 

 on with a pumice-stone resembling a muller, which 

 smooths and softens the skin, and improves its colour. 

 After it is reduced to something less than half its 

 original thickness, it is smoothed and dried for use. 

 Vellum is a similar substance to parchment, made 

 from the skins of very young calves. Next to the 

 papyrus, the skins of animals, in the form of parch- 

 ment and vellum, were extensively used for writing 

 by the ancients from a remote period. When Eu- 

 menes, or Attalus, attempted to found a library at 

 Pergamus, 200 years B. C., which should rival the 

 famous Alexandrian library, one of the Ptolemies, 

 then king of Egypt, jealous of his success, made a 

 decree prohibiting the exportation of papyrus. The 

 inhabitants of Pergamus set about manufacturing 

 parchment as a substitute, and formed their library 

 principally of manuscripts on this material, whence 

 it was known among the Latins by the name of Per- 

 gamena. The term membrana was also applied by 

 them to parchment. The Hebrews had books writ- 

 ten on the skins of animals in David's time ; and 

 Herodotus relates that the lonians, from the earliest 

 period, wrote upon goat and sheepskin, from which 

 the hair had merely been scraped off. These facts 

 show that parchment was not invented at Pergamus, 

 but it was much improved there, and first made in 

 large quantities as an article of trade. Parchment 

 was at first yellow ; ik was afterwards made white in 

 Rome. At present any colour can be given to it. 



PARDO, EL ; a pleasure-palace of the kings of 

 Spain, three leagues N.W. of Madrid. It was built 

 in the reign of Charles V., and is adorned with fres- 

 coes, pictures, and statues. It contains apartments 

 for all the royal family, a chapel, and a theatre, and 

 has fine gardens attached to it. The forest of the 

 Pardo is fifteen leagues in circuit 



PARDON. In England, in all cases of crimes, 

 except where there is an impeachment, a pardon from 

 the crown may be granted before a trial, as well as 

 after ; and it stops further progress in the inquiry 

 and prosecution at whatever time it is granted. In 

 cases of impeachment, no pardon can now be 

 granted by the king while the prosecution is pend- 

 ing ; but, after conviction of the offender, it may be 

 granted, as in other cases. This is in virtue of the 

 act of settlement of the crown, 12 and 13 William 

 III., ch. 2. In America, the constitution provides, 

 that the president " shall have power to grant re- 

 prieves and pardons for offences against the United 

 States, except in cases of impeachment." The sen- 

 ate has the whole power of trying impeachments. It 

 is presumed, therefore, that an act of congress only 

 can give the benefit of a pardon in cases of impeach- 

 ments, if such power exists in any department of the 

 government. By the same constitution, "judgment, 

 in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further 

 than to removal from office, and disqualification to 

 hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit, 

 under the United States." The party remains, 

 nevertheless, liable to indictment and punishment for 

 the offence, by the common law tribunals, as in other 

 cases. Similar provisions exist generally in the state 

 constitutions, or state laws, throughout the Union. 

 In German jurisprudence, the word abolition is used 

 to signify an act of mercy on the part of the sove- 

 reign, releasing some one from a deserved punish- 

 ment without examination, or putting an end to a 

 trial already commenced, before a judgment, deter- 

 mining the guilt or innocence of the accused, has 

 been pronounced. This prerogative of the sovereign 



