PERCY PERFECTIBILITY. 



463 



icai mixture that kindles by percussion. This per- 

 cussion is produced by the cock, which therefore re- 

 quires a very strong spring. The powder is made in 

 various ways, and of different materials ; among 

 others, of mercury, purified nitric acid, and spirit of 

 wine freed from water. The copper caps in which 

 this chemical powder is placed are two and a half 

 lines long and two lines wide. Sometimes the powder 

 is also formed in pills, and then a somewhat different 

 contrivance is required to place the pills, covered 

 with a little wax, to protect them from moisture, in 

 the small tube. The advantages of a percussion 

 lock are great : 1. Provided the spring of the cock 

 is strong, and the chemical powder good, the gun 

 cannot miss fire (as to the latter, the sportsman must 

 choose a good chemist) ; while common locks are 

 exposed to miss fire from many causes bad flints, 

 bad steel, bad priming, and weak springs. 2. The 

 chemical powder explodes much more rapidly and 

 forcibly than common powder, and therefore ex- 

 plodes the powder in the gun itself more forcibly, so 

 as to produce a prompter and more effectual dis- 

 charge. 3. The moisture of the air has hardly any 

 influence : in a violent rain, the lock is as sure to 

 give fire as in the driest day. 4. The danger of an 

 unintentional discharge is avoided : as long as the 

 copper cap is not placed on the little tube, the gun 

 cannot go off, even if the cock is snapped by mistake ; 

 while, with other guns, there is always danger, even 

 when no priming has been put in the pan, because 

 some grains may always escape through the touch- 

 hole, and the cock may always be accidentally snap- 

 ped. The caps or pills which the sportsman must 

 carry with him are not dangerous, because it requires 

 a very strong percussion to explode the powder. (For 

 its manufacture, see Mercury.) Percussion locks 

 have come very much into use, and attempts have 

 even been made to introduce them into armies, 

 though the expense of the chemical powder may be 

 an objection. 



PERCY, THOMAS, bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, 

 a descendant of the family of Northumberland, was 

 born in Bridgenorth, in 1728, and was graduated at 

 Christ-church, Oxford, in 1753. In 1769, he was 

 appointed chaplain to the king, and, in 1778, raised 

 to the deanery of Carlisle, which he resigned four 

 years after for the Irish bishopric of Dromore. The 

 most popular of his works are his Reliques of Ancient 

 English Poetry (in 3 vols., 8vo), and a poem, the 

 Hermit of Warkworth. He was well skilled in the 

 Icelandic and several of the Oriental languages, 

 especially the Chinese, from which he made some 

 translations. His other writings are a Key to the 

 New Testament, a new version of Solomon's Song, 

 with translations of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, 

 and of some pieces of Icelandic poetry. He also 

 published a curious domestic record, long extant in 

 the Percy family, and known as the Northumberland 

 Household-Book, a document valuable for the light 

 it throws on manners. His death took place at 

 Dromore, Sept. 30, 1811. 



PERDICC AS ; the name of several kings of Ma- 

 cedonia, and, at a later period, of the most distin- 

 guished general of Alexander, a noble Macedonian, 

 who attended him on his campaign to Asia, and en- 

 joyed his confidence above all others. Alexander, 

 just before his death, gave him his signet-ring, the 

 emblem of regal power, and, by this action, seemed 

 to fix upon him as his successor to the throne. Per- 

 diccas was ambitious enough to desire this elevation; 

 but the influence of his enemies and rivals prevented 

 him from receiving a higher rank than that of guar- 

 dian of the heir to the throne. He succeeded, how- 

 ever, in making himself second only to the king. 

 But he aspired still higher, and was engaged in 



war with his rival Ptolemy, when his soldiers muti- 

 nied, partly owing to his own arrogance. He was 

 assassinated by his soldiers in Egypt, B.C. 321, 

 three years after he had been appointed guardian to 

 the successor of Alexander. 



PERE DE LACHAISE. See Lachaise. 



PEREGRINUS PROTEUS, a notorious charac- 

 ter, who flourished in the first half of the second 

 century, was boni at Parium, in Mysia. After many 

 excesses, he was charged with parricide, and was 

 obliged to flee. He went to Palestine, became a 

 Christian, and, by his zeal, which brought him to a 

 dungeon, gained the name of a martyr. He re- 

 ceived support and sympathy from every quarter, 

 till the prefect of Syria set him at liberty. He now 

 recommenced his wanderings, was excluded from 

 the church for his vices, and then gave himself up 

 to the most disgraceful excesses. An object of uni- 

 versal abhorrence, he desired at least to finish his 

 career in an extraordinary manner. He accordingly 

 gave out that he should burn himself alive at the 

 Olympic games. This he did, in presence of an 

 immense multitude, A. D. 168. Much interest has 

 been given to the history of this singular character 

 by the romance of Wieland. 



PERENNIAL, in botany, is applied to those 

 plants whose roots will abide many years, whether 

 they retain their leaves in winter or not. Those 

 which retain their leaves are called evergreens; but 

 such as cast their leaves are called deciduous. 



PERFECTIBILITY; the capacity of being made 

 perfect. It is a word used in philosophy, religious 

 and moral, with reference to individuals and to so- 

 ciety, to the present and the future state. Moral 

 duties include not only the duties which we owe to 

 others, but also the great duty which we owe to our- 

 selves, to strive uninterruptedly for the improvement 

 of our mental and moral faculties. This supposes 

 that our own improvement is in our own power, 

 which has been doubted by certain philosophers, 

 materialists, and others, who make our whole moral 

 condition dependent upon causes beyond our control, 

 thus denying, in fact, a moral condition. The ques- 

 tion whether we can ever attain on earth to a state 

 of perfection, resolves itself into this, whether we 

 can ever, in this world, acquire a perfect knowledge 

 of our duties, and a perfect will to perform them. 

 The consideration of the hinderances to such a will 

 and knowledge belongs to the great question of the 

 origin of evil. But, however imperfect may be all 

 the attainments that we can make in this world, on 

 which point everyone's own conscience will satisfy 

 him better than the most elaborate reasoning, no one 

 should be deprived by such considerations from 

 striving for all the improvement within his power. 

 To stop, or to go backwards, is to be wretched. 



Secondly, as to the perfectibility of society. It was 

 loudly maintained by some French writers, at the 

 beginning of the revolution of the last century, that 

 society was making a progress which must ulti- 

 mately end in a perfect state. Whether they meant 

 that the individuals composing society would become 

 perfect, or referred to some unintelligible perfection 

 in the social system, distinct from the individuals 

 composing it, history and the experience of every 

 reflecting man sufficiently prove the notion to be 

 visionary. For some centuries, the European races 

 seem to have been improving in several respects; in 

 others, however, they have essentially retrograded ; 

 and, however great the improvement, on the whole, 

 may be, few, we believe, think that die state of hu- 

 man society will ever become perfect; but this is no 

 more discouraging than the corresponding imperfec- 

 tion in the case of the individual. See Civilization. 



Thirdly, as to perfectibility in a future state. Of 



