PAR 



PAR 



what resembling an umbrella, annexed 

 to a balloon, or used separately, to pre- 

 vent, by its expansion and buoyant pro- 

 perties, the too rapid descent of a heavy 

 body. Aeronauts have descended from 

 great heights, without injury, by means 

 of parachutes. 



PARACROS'TIC. A poetical composition 

 in which the first verse contains in order 

 all the letters which commence the suc- 

 ceeding verses. 



PAR'ADIOM. ITajaSf/yfta. Example 

 or instance of something done or said, 

 as an example of a verb conjugated in the 

 several moods, tenses, and persons. 



PARADISE'A. Birds of Paradise. A 

 genus of birds, natives of New Guinea, 

 and of the adjoining islands ; said to live 

 on fruits, and to be particularly fond of 

 aromatics : order, Passerines : family, 

 Conirostres. The great bird of paradise, 

 the P. apoda, Lin., is of the size of a 

 thrush ; head and neck yellow, circum- 

 ference of the throat and beak of an eme- 

 rald green ; male distinguished by those 

 elegant long bundles of yellowish feathers 

 employed by the ladies as plumes. 



PARADOXC'RUS. A genus established 

 in the order Carnaria and family Car- 

 nivora by Fred. Cuvier, to receive the 

 poueoun6, a semi-digitigrade and semi- 

 palmate animal of India, agreeing in 

 most of its characters with the genets ; 

 but particularly distinguished by the 

 spiral inclination of the tail, which is not 

 prehensile : whence the name from 

 Tfa*!/, a paradox, and ov^a., a tail. 



PARAF'FIXE. A substance discovered 

 by M. Keichenbach of Blansko, in the tar 

 obtained by the distillation of various sub- 

 stances, both animal and vegetable, but 

 especially in the tar of the beech- tree. 

 If beech tar be distilled to dryness, the 

 receiver will be found to contain three 

 liquids, a light oil swimming upon the 

 top; below it an aqueous liquid having 

 an acid taste ; and a heavy oil at the bot- 

 tom. This last being distilled a second 

 time, pyr^laine passes over, in which will 

 be observed numerous scales of paraffine. 

 These scales are separated and purified 

 by a laborious process, to obtain the 

 paraffine in a state of purity, which is 

 then a colourless crystalline mass, trans- 

 parent like glass, scarcely flexible, and 

 destitute of taste and smell, and with 

 nearly the feel of cetine. Melting point 

 110F. Sp.gr. 0'87. It is a bicarburet of 

 hydrogen ; and if any process shall be in- 

 vented for procuring it in a sufficient 

 quantity, and sufficiently cheap, it will 

 supersede all other substances for candles. 

 It takes its name from its little tendency 

 to combine with other bodies panim 

 affinis. It is the same substance which 

 !r Christison called prtrolim, having ob- 



tained it from the petroleum of Rangoon 

 without any knowledge of M. Keichen- 

 bach's discovery. Both discoveries were 

 made about the same time. 



PARA'GICM, Lat. par, equal. In feudal 

 jurisprudence, the body of nobles was so 

 termed. 



PARAGRAN'DIKE. An invention to avert 

 hail-stones, which, on some parts of the 

 continent, are reckoned the most severe 

 scourge of the husbandman. The whole 

 machinery consists of numerous metallic 

 points and straw ropes, bound together 

 by hempen threads, and erected over the 

 fields to be protected. 



PAR'AGCAY TEA. The leaves of a species 

 of holly, the Hex paraguaiensis , a tree 

 which grows in different parts of South 

 America, especially in Paraguay and the 

 interior of Brazil, where it is called yerra 

 matt. (It was named malt by the Abo- 

 rigines, and yerra or yerba by the Span- 

 iards.) It rises to the height of an orange- 

 tree; the leaves are opposite, shining, 

 oblong, and serrated, and are used almost 

 universally in South America as tea is 

 with us. "When the infusion of Paraguay 

 tea is taken in moderation, it acts as a 

 stimulant ; but when taken in excess, it 

 occasions intoxication, and a kind of 

 delirium tremens. 



PARALIPOM'ENA. (Gr.) Things left out; 

 a term applied to works of a supplemen- 

 tary character. 



PARALLAC'TIC. Pertaining to the paral- 

 lax of a heavenly body. 



PAR'ALLAX. ILx*aAA|/?. Variation ; 

 an astronomical term for the arc of the 

 heavens intercepted between the true 

 and apparent place of any heavenly body 

 as viewed from the earth, i.e. between its 

 place as viewed from the centre of the 

 earth, and from some point on its surface. 

 Thus the true place of a star beiua: P or 

 P', if viewed from the surface of the 



earth will appear at p or p' , and the arc 

 Pp or P'/)' is the parallax of such star. 

 When the star is on the horizon as atp, 

 the parallax is greatest, and continually 

 diminishes till it reaches the zenith P", 

 when it is nothing, as appears from the 

 figure. The parallaxes receive different 

 denominations according to the etrclw 



