PAR 
PAR 
sometimes forty, and sometimes fifty stadia, 
or furlongs. 
PARASITES, or Parasitical plants, in 
botany, such plants as are supported by of 
the trunk or branches of other plants, from 
whence they receive their nourishment, 
and will not grow upon the ground, as the 
misletoe, &c. 
PARCENERS, inlaw, persons holding 
lands in copartnership, and who may be 
compelled to make division. It occurs 
where lands descend to the females, who 
all take eijual shares of their deceased fa- 
ther’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, &o. The manufac- 
ture of parchment is begun by the skinner, 
and finished by the parchment-maker. The 
skin, having been stripped of its wool, and 
placed in the lime-pit, in the manner de- 
scribed under the article Shammy, the 
skinner stretches it on a kind of 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 off the flesh; he then goes over it 
again with the iron instrument, moistens it 
as before, and rubs it again with the pu- 
mice-stone without any chalk underneath : 
this smocfths and softens the flesh-side very 
considerably. He then drains it again, by 
passing over it the iron instrument as be- 
fore. The flesh-side being thus drained, by 
scraping off 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 
throws 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 by 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 sum- 
mer, (which is a calf-skin stretched in a 
frame) with a sharper instrument than that 
used by the skinner, and working 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 wdth a sack stuffed with flocks, 
which leaves the parchment in a condition 
fit for writing upon. The parings thus taken 
off the leather, are used in making glue, 
size, &c. See Glue, &c. What is called 
vellum, is only parchment made of the skins 
of abortives, or at least, sucking calves. 
This has a much finer grain, and is whiter 
and smoother than parchment ; but is pre- 
pared in the same manner, except its not 
being passed through the lime-pit. 
PARDON, is the remitting or forgiving 
a felony or oilier offence committed against 
the King. Blackstone mentions the power 
of pardoning offences to be one of the 
greatest advantages of monarchy, in gene- 
ral, above every other form of governmenr, 
and which cannot subsist in democracies. 
Its utility and necessity are defended by 
him on alt those principles which do honour 
to human nature. 
Pardons are either general or special ; 
general, as by act of Parliament, of which, 
if they are without exceptions, the court 
must take notice, ex officio ; but if there are 
exceptions therein, the party must aver, that 
he is none of the persons excepted : special 
pardons, are either of course, as to persons 
convicted of manslaughter, or se defendendo, 
and by several statutes, to those who shall 
discover their accomplices in several felo- 
nies ; or of grace, which are by the King’s 
charter, of which the court cannot take no- 
tice, ex officio, but they must be pleaded. 
A pardon may be conditional, that is, fhe 
King may extend his mercy upon what 
terms he pleases ; and may annex to his 
bounty a condition, either precedent or 
subsequent, on the performance whereof, 
the validity of the pardon will depend ; and 
this by the common law. 
All pardons must be under the great seal. 
The effect of a pardon is to make the offen- 
der a new man ; to acquit him of all corpo- 
ral penalties and forfeitures annexed to that 
offence, and to give him a new credit and 
capacity; but nothing but an act of Parlia- 
ment can restore or purify the blood after 
an attainder. 
PAREGORICS, medicines that assuage 
pain, otherwise called anodynes. See 
Pharmacy. 
PARENCHYMA of pUnts. Giew ap- 
plies the term parenchyma to the pith or 
pulp, or that inner part of a fruit or plant 
through which the juice is supposed to be 
distributed. This, when viewed with a 
microscope, appears to resemble marrow, 
or rather a sponge, being a porous, flexible, 
