PAR 



PAR 



Ibe lateral edges of both bodies appear 

 bright. They may also be seen some- 

 times lying on one another alternately, at 

 others adhering by the middle They 

 will live many months in the same water 

 \vithout its being renewed They are 

 found in the beginning of summer, in 

 those ditches in which duck-weed 

 abounds. P. chrysalis is found plenti- 

 fully in salt water. 



PARAPET, in fortification, an eleva- 

 tion of earth designed tor covering the 

 soldiers from the enemies' cannon or 

 small shot. The thickness of the para- 

 pet is from eighteen to twenty feet ; its 

 height is six feet on the inside, and four 

 or five on the outside. It is raised on the 

 rampart, and has a slope above called the 

 superior talus, and sometimes the glacis, 

 of the parapet. The exterior talus of the 

 parapet is the slope facing the country : 

 tta-re is a banqueue or two for the sol- 

 dier* who defend the parapet to mount 

 upon, that they mav the better discover 

 the country, fosse, and counterscarpe, and 

 fire as they find occasion. Parapet of the 

 covert-way, or corridor, is what covers 

 that way from the sight of the enemy, 

 which renders it the most dangerous 

 place tor the besiegers, because of the 

 neighbourhood of the faces, flanks, and 

 curtins of the place. 



PARAPET is also a little wall raised 

 breast high, on the banks of bridges, 

 keys, or high buildings, to serve as a stay, 

 and prevent people's tailing over. 



PARAPHRASE, an explanation of 

 some text, in clearer and more ample 

 terms, whereby is supplied what the au- 

 thor might have said or thought on the 

 subject; such are esteemed Erasmus's 

 Paraphrase on the New Testament, the 

 Chaldee Paraphrase on the Penta- 

 teuch, &c- 



PARASANG, an ancient Persian mea- 

 sure, different at different times, and in 

 different places ; being sometimes thirty, 

 sometimes forty, and sometimes titty sta- 

 dia, 01 furlongs. 



PARASITES, or Parasitical plants, in 

 botany, such plants as are supported by 

 the trunk or branches of other plants, 

 from whence they receive their nourish- 

 ment, and will not grow upon the ground, 

 as the misletoe, &c. 



PARCENERS, in law, persons holding 

 lands in copartnership, and who may be 

 compelled to make division. It occurs 

 where lands descend to the females, who 

 all take equal shares of their deceased 

 father's lands. 



PARCHMENT, in commerce, the 



skins of sheep or goats, prepared after 

 such a manner as to render it proper for 

 writing upon, covering books, &c. The 

 manutacture of parchment is begun by 

 the skinner, and finished by the parch- 

 ment-maker. The skin, having been 

 stripped of its wool, and placed m the lime- 

 pn, in the manner described under the 

 article SHAMMY, the hkinner stretches it 

 on a kind ot frame, and pares off' the flesh 

 with an iron instrument ; this done it is 

 moistened with a rag, and powdered 

 chalk being spread over it, the skinner 

 takes a large pumice-stone, flat at bottom, 

 and rubs over the skin, and thus scowers 

 oft the flesh ; he then goes over it again 

 with the iron instrument, moistens it as 

 betore, arid rubs it again with the pumice- 

 stone without any chalk underneath : this 

 smooths and softens the flesh-side very 

 considerably. He then drains it again, by 

 passing over it the iron instrument as be- 

 tore. The flesh-side being thus drained, 

 by scraping oft' the moisture, he in the 

 same manner passes the iron over the 

 wool or hair side : then stretches it tight 

 on a frame, and scrapes the flesh -side 

 again : this finishes its draining : and the 

 more it is drained, the whiter it becomes. 

 The skinner now ihiows on more chalk, 

 sweeping it over with a piece of lamb- 

 skin that has the wool on, and this 

 smooths it still further. It is now left to 

 dry, and when dried, taken off" the frame 

 b> cutting it all round. The skin, thus 

 far prepared by the skinner, is taken out 

 of his hands by the parchment-maker, 

 who first, while it is dry, pares it on a 

 summer, (which is a calf-skin stretched 

 in a tramt) with a sharper instrument 

 than that used by the skinner, and work- 

 ing with the arm, from the top to the 

 bottom of the skin, takes away about one 

 half of its thickness. The skin, thus 

 equally pared on the flesh side, is again 

 rendered smooth, by being rubbed with 

 the pumice-stone, on a bench covered 

 with a sack stuffed with flocks, \v inch 

 leaves the parchment in a condition fit for 

 writing upon. The parings thus taken 

 oft' the leather, are used in making glue, 

 size, &.c. See GLUE, &c. What iJ called 

 vellum, is only parchment made of the 

 skins of abortives, or at least sucking 

 calves. This has a much finer g--ain, und 

 is whiter and smoother than parchment; 

 but is prepared in the same manner, ex- 

 cept its not being passed through the 

 lime-pit. 



PARDON, is the remitting or forgiv- 

 ing a felony or other whence committed 

 against the King. Biackstone menuons 



