PALISSY 



4461 



PALM 



PALISSY, palese', BERNARD (1510-15901, a 

 great French potter, whose perseverance in the 

 face of poverty and almost insurmountable 

 obstacles serves as an inspiration to all who 

 would succeed despite the discouraging ele- 

 ments besetting every worth-while career. A 

 chance sight of an enameled cup made Palissy 

 resolve to discover how to make enamels. 

 For sixteen years he devoted himself to ex- 

 periments which exhausted his resources. For 

 want of money to buy fuel, he was forced to 

 burn the tables and the flooring of his home. 

 Still he kept on with his work, ignoring the 

 mockery of his family and friends. He achieved 

 success and fortune in 1557, when his enameled 

 pottery and sculptures in clay became recog- 

 nized as works of art. He soon located in 

 . where he devoted himself to his art as 

 well as to the field of science; his scientific lec- 

 > aroused an interest only secondary to his 

 art. He suffered persecution as a Huguenot, 

 was arrested in 1589 and thrown into the Bas- 

 tille, where he died. 



PALLADIUM, pa la' di urn, a silver- white 

 metal discovered by an English chemist, Wil- 

 liam H. Wollaston, in 1803. It was named for 

 the planetoid Pallas, identified the previous 

 year. Palladium occurs chiefly in platinum 

 ores, but is also found in combination witli 

 gold and silver. It can be drawn into a wire 

 or be hammered into sheets (see DUCTILITY; 

 MAI. INABILITY), melts at a temperature of about 

 2315 F., and has a specific gravity of about 

 12. Its symbol is Pd, and its atomic weight 

 106.7 (see CHEMISTRY). Palladium bears a 

 general resemblance to platinum, but is harder 

 and lighter. Because of its capacity for ab- 

 sorbing hydrogen it is used in chemical analy- 

 sis; because of its hardness, lightness and re- 

 sistance to tarnish it is employed in the con- 

 struction of scientific instruments. Palladium 

 alloys are valued in making hair springs for 

 watches because their elasticity does not vary 

 with the temperature. The total production of 

 palladium in the United States in 1914 was 

 2,635 Troy ounces; in that year the average 

 of the refined metal was $44 per ounce, 

 as compared with $45 for platinum. 



PALLADIUM, a famous statue < 

 made of olive wood, said in the Greek myths 

 to have fallen from heaven' and to have pi 

 safety to the city of Troy, 

 During the Trojan War Ulysses and Diomedcs 

 undertook to carry away the image. They 

 went secretly at night, and Ulysses, who 1 

 up his companion so that he could climb over 



the walls, was unable to get in himself, as 

 Diomedes refused to assist him. When they 

 were returning in safety, Diomedes carrying 

 the image, Ulysses tried to slay his compan- 

 ion and take the palladium. A glint of moon- 

 light on his sword betrayed his purpose, and 

 Diomedes compelled the disappointed Ulysses 

 to march in front all the way back, hurried 

 by slaps from the sword of his companion. 



Different stories are told of the fate of the 

 image. The Greeks are said to have obtained 

 an imitation only, while the real statue was 

 taken to Rome by Aeneas, where it was pre- 

 served in the temple of Vesta. Another legend 

 placed the true image in the Parthenon at 

 Athens. See TROY. 



PALLAS ATHENE, pal' as athe'ne, a name 

 given by the Greeks to the goddess whom the 

 Romans called Minerva (which see). 



PALM. "Useful as well as ornamental," is a 

 phrase to which the tree family of palms has 

 a stronger claim than any other plant group. 

 Palms come second to the grasses in economic 

 importance, but enjoy the distinction of being 

 applied to a far greater variety of everyday 

 human needs. It is otimah.l. for in-i 

 that the palmyra palm has 800 different uses. 

 The palm is to the native of tropical lands. 

 where it grows abundantly, what the seal is 

 to the Eskimo of North America the source 

 of the prime necessities of life. 



A Numerous and Ancient Family. Geologists 

 have found palm fossils which prove that the 

 family was once a great deal larger and more 

 cosmopolitan than it is to-day (see FOSSIL). 

 In the infancy of the earth, palms grew luxu- 

 riantly as far north as Upper Canada and 

 Greenland; now they are confined chiefly to 

 tropical regions, although some varieties grow 

 in more northern climates. Though it is on 

 the decline, the family is still large, numbering 

 about 1,100 different species. They are divided 

 into two great classes; one is the fan palm, 

 with leaves looking like huge palm-loaf fans 

 split into slender strips often forty feet in 

 length, the other, tho fxitln-r palm, with leaves 

 resembling uncurled ostrich plumes, sometimes 

 as long as twenty feet. Among tho fan palms 

 the most familiar are the cabbage palmetto of 

 South Carolina, the Washington palm of the 

 California deserts and the palmyra palm of In- 

 dia and Ceylon. The cocoanut palm ami date 

 palm are the commonest types of thr feathery- 

 leafed class. The name palm itself comes from 

 ii it the leaf of the fan palm looks lik. 

 the outspread hand. 



