PERMIAN PERIOD 



I5SS 



PERRAULT 



port that Perley could have any office he chose 

 in the new Borden Ministry, a report which is 

 no less a tribute to his personal popularity than 

 to his recognized ability and political influ- 

 ence. He preferred, however, to act as Minis- 

 ter without Portfolio, a position he retained un- 

 til 1913, when he succeeded Lord Strathcona in 

 London. 



PERMIAN, pur' mi an, PERIOD, the last di- 

 vision of time in the Paleozoic Era, and extend- 

 ing from the Carboniferous Period to the Tri- 

 assic Period in the Cenozoic Era. The article 

 GEOLOGY presents a graphic illustration which 

 makes its location quite clear. The period was 

 characterized in North America by a general 

 rise of the land, so that large areas formerly 

 covered by the sea became dry land. The form- 

 ing of the Appalachian Mountains was com- 

 pleted and the Ouachita Mountains appeared. 

 Extensive Permian formations are found in the 

 central part of the United States and in the 

 staked plains of Texas. The rocks are chiefly 

 limestone, sandstone and shale. In the early 

 part of the period deposits of coal were formed 

 in Pennsylvania. 



The great geographic changes of the period 

 had a disastrous effect upon both plant and 

 animal life, and Permian rocks contain but few 

 fossils. Those that have been found show a 

 decline in the plants of the Carboniferous Pe- 

 riod and an approach to those with which we 

 are familiar. There were trees resembling the 

 cone-bearing trees of the present, and ferns simi- 

 lar to those now common have left their im- 

 pression on the rocks. 



Reptiles appeared for the first time. In 

 Texas, Kansas and Illinois skeletons of lizards 

 from three to ten feet large have been found. 

 Fossils of fish in both fresh and salt water 

 show that they were not totally destroyed in 

 the changes that followed the Devonian Period. 



In the Old World the Permian system is 

 more extensive than in America. Formations 

 occur in Europe, Africa and Australia, and in 

 Africa animal life was developed more fully 

 than elsewhere. In Cape Colony skeletons of 

 large animals which seem to form the connect- 

 ing link between reptiles and mammals have 

 been found. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Geology (illustration on Carboniferous Period 



page 2439) Triassic System 



PERNAMBUCO, pernahmboo'ko, the capi- 

 tal of the state of Pernambuco, and the most 

 important sugar market in Brazil. It occupies 



the most eastern point of the Brazilian coast 

 and of the South American continent, and con- 

 sists of three distinct sections. Recife, built on 

 a sandy peninsula which is joined to the main- 

 hind by an isthmus, is the seat of commerce. 

 Suo Antonio, on the island of the same name, 

 and connected with the mainland by several 

 bridges, has many of the public buildings. Boa 

 Vista, on the mainland, is the fashionable resi- 

 dence district. Because of several river chan- 

 nels within the city, Pernambuco is sometimes 

 called the "Venice of America." 



It is a modern, progressive city, with hand- 

 some public buildings and churches and many 

 excellent charitable and educational institutions. 

 In the residence section are wide avenues and 

 beautiful gardens. The city has about fifty 

 sugar factories, and is an important outlet for 

 sugar, cotton, coffee, cacao and other products 

 of Brazil. The inner harbor, which is protected 

 by a long outer reef or rock, is being improved 

 to make it accessible for the largest ocean ves- 

 sels. Pernambuco is nearer European ports 

 than any other South American city of impor- 

 tance, being 4,144 miles from London, as com- 

 pared with 5,204 for Rio de Janeiro and 6,294 

 for Buenos Aires. In 1913 its population was 

 estimated to be 180,000. 



PEROXIDE OF HYDROGEN, per ox' sid, hi' 

 drojen. See HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. 



PERPETUAL MOTION, the name applied to 

 a mechanical device which its would-be inven- 

 tor alleges will operate continuously by its own 

 power. The idea that a machine can be op- 

 erated by the energy it itself creates is false, 

 because energy (which see) cannot be created. 

 By means of a water wheel and a dynamo elec- 

 tric machine the energy in falling water may be 

 transformed into electrical energy that will op- 

 erate machinery or perform other work, but 

 the electric motor cannot generate the current 

 by which it is operated, neither can the steam 

 engine produce the steam necessary to run it. 

 What is true of these machines is true of all 

 others ; a moment spent in clear thinking should 

 convince any sober-minded person of the fal- 

 lacy underlying the perpetual motion idea. 

 Nevertheless, men have sunk fortunes and lost 

 their minds in pursuit of this will-o'-the-wisp. 



PERRAULT, pehro', CHARLES (1628-1703), 

 a writer of fanciful fairy stories that have grown 

 in popularity for two hundred years, and have 

 been endlessly retold, changed and colored to 

 suit the taste of the countries which adopted 

 them. He put into readable form Little Red 

 Riding-Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, 



