PAL 



PAL 



is very ductile and very malleable ; so that 

 by the flatting mill it can be reduced 

 into thin slips, which are flexible, but not 

 very elastic. Its fracture is fibrous, and in 

 diverging strix, shewing a kind of crys- 

 taline arrangement. In hardness it is su- 

 perior to wrought iron. Its specific 

 gravity varies according to its perfect 

 fusion, and as it is more or less porous, 

 from hammering or flatting, from 10.9 

 to 11.8. It is a less perfect conductor 

 of caloric than the other metals, and is 

 also less expansible. When exposed to 

 a strong heat, its surface tarnishes a 

 little, and becomes blue, but by increas- 

 ing the heat it again becomes bright. 

 By a very great heat it is fused. It is 

 not oxided by heat ; its oxides formed 

 by the action of acids are reduced by 

 means of a high temperature. It is acted 

 upon by a number of the acids ; and 

 the solutions formed by them may be 

 decomposed by the alkalies and earths ; 

 precipitates being thrown down, which 

 are generally of a beautiful orange 

 colour. The alkalies act likewise on 

 palladium even in the metallic state : 

 the action is promoted by the contact of 

 the atmospheric air. All the metals, 

 except gold, silver, and platina, preci- 

 pitate palladium from its solution in the 

 metallic state. Palladium combines rea- 

 dily with sulphur, but not with charcoal. 

 It may be alloyed with a number of the 

 metals. A full account of the discovery 

 of palladium, with the controversy to 

 which it gave rise, will be found in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for the years 

 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805. 



PALLASIA, in botany, so named in ho- 

 nour of Peter Simon Pallas, M. D. a ge- 

 nus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frus- 

 tranea class and order. Natural order of 

 Composite Oppositifoliae. Corymbiferse, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : recepta- 

 cle, chaffy ; down none ; seeds vertical, 

 flat, margin ciliated; calyx, imbricate. 

 There is but one species, viz. P. halimi- 

 folia, a native of Lima, in Peru. 



PALLET, among painters, a little oval 

 table, or piece of wood or ivory, very 

 thin and smooth'; on, and round which, 

 the painters place the several colours 

 they have occasion for, to be ready for 

 the pencil. The middle serves to mix 

 the colours on, and to make the tints re- 

 quired in the work. It has no handle, 

 but instead thereof a hole at one end, to 

 put the thumb through to hold it. 



PALLET, among potters, crucible mak- 

 ers, &c. a wooden instrument, almost the 

 only one they use, for forming, heating, 



and rounding their works . they have se* 

 veral kinds ; the largest are oval, with a 

 handle ; others are round, or hollowed 

 triangularly ; others, in fine, are in man- 

 ner of large knives, servingtocut off'what- 

 ever is superfluous on the moulds of their 

 work. 



PALLET, in gilding, an instrument made 

 of a squirrel's tail, to take up the golden 

 leaves from the pillow, and to apply and 

 extend them on the matter to be gilt. 

 See GILDING. 



PALLET, in heraldry, is nothing but a 

 small pale, consisting of one half of it in 

 breadth, and therefore there are some- 

 times several of them upon one shield. 



PALLET is also a part belonging to the 

 balance of a watch or movement. Sec 

 WATCH. 



PALLET, in ship -building, is a room 

 within the hold, closely parted from it, in 

 which, by laying some pigs of lead, See. 

 a ship may be sufficiently ballasted, with- 

 out losing room in the hold, which, there* 

 fore, will serve for the stowing the more 

 goods. 



PALLIUM, or PALL, an archiepiscopal 

 vestment of white woollen cloth, about 

 the breadth of a border, made round, and 

 thrown over the shoulders. Upon this 

 border there are two others of the same 

 matter and form, one of which falls down 

 upon the breast, and the other upon the 

 back, each having a red cross upon it ; 

 several crosses of the same colour being 

 likewise upon the upper part of it about 

 the shoulders. The pall was part of the 

 imperial habit, and originally granted by 

 the emperors to patriarchs ; but at pre- 

 sent it is given by the Pope as a mark of 

 the apostolic power, without which nei- 

 ther the function nor title of archbishop 

 can be assumed by the bishops of his com- 

 munion. 



PALM, an ancient measure, taken from 

 the extent of the hand. The Roman palm 

 was of two kinds : the great one was 

 equal to about 8 inches English : the 

 small one to about three inches. The 

 modern palm differs in different coun- 

 tries : 



In Lines. 



At Romeitis 83$ 



At Genoa 99 



In France the same. 



The English palm . ..30. 

 PALM./E, in botany, palms. Under 

 this name Linnxus has arranged several 

 genera, which he has placed apart in an 

 appendix to the work. The same plants 

 constitute one of the seven families or 

 tribes, into which all vegetables are dis- 



