PAN 
fif aliens of the spadix ; female, stigmas two ; 
fruit compound. Tliere is but one species, 
viz. P. odoratissimus, sweet scented panda- 
mis. It is a native of the warmer parts of 
Asia, where it is much used for hedges; it 
grows readily from branches ; the tender 
white leaves of the flowers yield that most 
delightful fragrance, for which they are so 
generally esteemed. Of all the perfumes it 
is by far the richest and most powerful ; the 
lower yellow pulpy part of the drupe is^ 
sometimes eaten by the natives in times of 
scarcity and famine ; also the tender white 
base of the leaves, either raw or boiled. 
PANDECTS, in the civil law, collec- 
tions made by Justinian’s order, of five 
hundred and thirty-four decisions of the an- 
cient lawyers, on so many questions occur- 
ring in the civil law ; to w'hich that Em- 
peror gave the force and authority of law, 
by an epistle prefixed to them. The pan- 
dects consist of fifty books, and make the 
first part of the body of the civil law. 
PANIC, denotes an ill-grounded terror 
or fright. The origin of the phrase is from 
Pan, one of the captains of Bacchus, who, 
with a few men, put a numerous army to 
rout, by a noise which his soldiers raised in 
a rocky valley favoured with a great num- 
ber of echoes ; for this stratagem making 
their numbers appear much greater than it 
really was, the enemy quitted a very com- 
modious encampment, and fled, pfence 
all ill-grounded fears have been called pa- 
nics, or panic fears. 
PANICLE, in botany, denotes a soft 
woolly beard, on which the seeds of some 
plants, as millet, reeds, &c. hang. 
PANICULA, in botany, a mode of flow- 
ering in which flie fructifications are dis- 
persed upon footstalks variously subdi- 
vided. It is a sort of branching or dilfused 
spike, composed of a number of small spikes 
that are attached along a common foot- 
stalk. The term is exemplified in oats, 
panic-grass, &c. 
PANICUM, in botany, panic-gross, a ge- 
nus of the Triandria Digynia class and order. 
Natural order of Gramina, Gramineae, or 
Grasses. Essential character: calyx two- 
valved, the third valve very small. There 
are seventy-nine species. For an account of 
this very numerous gentis, we refer the reader 
to Martyn’s edition of Miller’s Botany. 
PANIERS, baskets used in fortification. 
In military affairs the term is expressive of 
a man dangerous to society, of one who 
ought to be gtiarded against where confi- 
dence and discretion are necessary. 
PAP 
P.ANEL, in law, an oblong piece of 
parchment, containing The names of the 
jurors, annexed to the writ of ventre facias, 
and returned by the Sheriff to the court 
from whence the process issued. From 
this the jury is often called the panel, and 
are said to be impanelled. 
PANNAGE, or Pawnage, in law, the 
fruit of trees, as acorns, crabs, nuts, mast 
of beech, &c. which the swine feed upon 
in the woods, and which in some places 
the inhabitants take as a right of common. 
PANNEL, in joinery, is a tympanum, 
or square piece of thin wood, sometimes 
carved, framed, or grooved in a larger 
piece, between two upright pieces and two 
cross-pieces. 
PANORPA, in natural history, a genus 
of insects of the order Neuroptera: mouth 
lengthened into a cylindrical horny pro- 
boscis ; feelers four, nearly equal ; stem- 
mata three ; antennas filiform, longer than 
the thora.x ; tail of the male armed with a 
chelate appendage : of the female unarmed. 
There are nine species, the most familiar is, 
as its name imports, P. communis, an insect 
very frequently seen in meadows during 
the early part of the summer. It is a 
longish bodied fly of moderate size, with 
four transparent wings, elegantly variegated 
with deep brown spots; the tail of the 
male insect, which is generally carried in 
an upright position, is furnished with a for- 
ceps, somewhat in the manner of a lob- 
ster’s claw. P. coa, inhabits the Greek 
islands : upper wings spotted with brown, 
lower ones extremely narrow, and as long 
again as the upper pair, alternately brown 
and yellowish. It is much larger than the 
communis, and is distinguished by its beau- 
tiful colours. 
PANTOMETER, the name of an instru- 
ment used to take all sorts of angles, dis- 
tances, and elevations''. 
P.4PAVER, in botany, poppy, a genus 
of the Polyandria Monogynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Rhoeadeae. Papa- 
veracete, Jussieu. Essential character : ca- 
lyx two leaved ; corolla four-pelalled ; cap- 
sule one-celled, opening by holes under the 
permanent stigma. There arq nine species. 
See Poppy. 
PAPER, sheets of a thin matter, made 
of some vegetable substance. The mate- 
rials on which mankind have, in different 
ages, contrived to write their sentiments, 
have been extremely variotis; in tlie early 
ages they made use of stones, and tables of 
wood, wax, ivory, &c. Paper, with regard 
