PAR 
dilatable substance. Its pores are innume* 
rable and exceedingly small, receiving as 
much humour as is requisite to fill and ex- 
tend them, which disposition of pores it is 
that is supposed to fit the plant for vegeta- 
tion and growth. 
PARENTS and CHILDREN, in law. 
If parents run away, and leave their chil- 
dren at the charge of the parish, the church- 
wardens and overseers, by order of the jus- 
tices, may seize the rents, goods, and chat- 
tels of such pei-sons, and dispose thereof to- 
wards their children’s maintenance. A pa- 
rent may lawfully correct his child, being 
under age, in a reasonable manner ; but the 
legal power of the father over the persons 
of his children ceases at the age of twenty- 
one. 
PARENTHESIS, in grammar, certain 
intercalary words, inserted in a discourse, 
which interrupt the sense, or thread, but 
seem necessary for the better understand- 
ing of the subject. The proper character- 
istic of a parenthesis is, that it may be ei- 
ther taken in or left out, the sense and the 
grammar remaining entire. In speaking, 
the parenthesis is to be pronounced in a 
different lone ; and in writing, it is enclosed 
between ( ), called also a parenthesis, but 
commonly a bracket, or crotchet, to distin- 
guish it from the rest of the discourse. The 
politest of our modern writers avoid all pa- 
renthesis, as keeping the mind in suspense, 
embarrassing it, and rendering the discourse 
less clear, uniform, and agreeable. 
PARHELIUM, or Parhelion, in phy- 
siology, a mock sun, or meteor, in form of a 
very bright light, appearing on one side of 
the sun. The parhelia are formed by the 
reflection of the sun’s beams on a cloud pro- 
perly posited. They usually accompany 
the corbn®, or luminous circles, and are 
placed in the same circumference, and at 
the same height. Their colours resemble 
that of the rainbow, the red and yellow are 
on the side towards the sun, and the blue 
and violet on the other. There are coronae 
sometimes seen without parhelia, and vke 
versa. Parhelia are double, triple, &c. and 
in 1629, a parhelion of five suns was seen at 
Rome ; and in 1666, another at Arles of 
six. M. Mariotte accounts for parhelia 
from an infinity of little particles of ice 
floating in the air, that multiply the image 
of the sun by refraction or reflection ; and 
by a geometrical calculus he has deter- 
mined the precise figure of these little ici- 
cles, tlieir situation in the air, and the size 
of the coronas of circle* wliich accompany 
PAR 
the parhelia, and the colours wherewith 
they are painted. M. Huygens accounts 
for the formation of a parhelion in the same 
manner as for that of the halo. 
PARIAN chronicle. See Arundelian 
piarbles. 
PARIAN A, in botany, a genus of the 
Monoecia Polyandria class and order. Es- 
sential character ; male, flowers in whorls, 
forming spikes j calyx two-valved ; corolla 
two-valved, larger than the calyx ; filamenls 
forty ; female, flowers solitary in each 
whorl ; calyx two-valved ; corolla two-valv- 
ed, less than the calyx ; stigmas two ; seed 
three-cornered, inclosed. There is but one 
species, viz. P. campestris, a native of the 
woods in the island of Cayenne. 
PARIET.ARIA, in botany, pellitory, a 
genus of the Polygamia Monoecia class and 
order. Natural order of Scabridoe. Urti- 
cae, Jussieu. Essential character; two her- 
maphrodite flowers, and one female flower 
in a flat sixleaved involucre; calyx four- 
cleft ; corolla none ; style one ; seed one, 
superior, elongated : hermaphrodite, stami- 
na four : female, stamina none. There are 
ten species. 
PARIS, in botany, a genus of the Octan- 
dria Tetragynia class and order. Natural 
order of Sarmentace®. Asparagi, Jussieu.^ 
Essential character : calyx four-leaved ; pe- 
tals four, narrower; berry four-celled. 
There is but one species, viz. P. qtiadrifo- 
lia, herb Paris, true-love, or one-berry. 
PARISH, signifies the precinct of a 
parish church, and the particular charge of 
a secular priest. Formerly a parish was 
synonymous with diocese, and the tythes 
were paid to any priest whom the party 
chose, but it was found convenient to allot 
a certain district for each priest, that he 
alone might receive the tythe. It is very 
doubtful when they originated. Some place 
the division of parishes in A. D. 630, others 
in 1179. A parish may contain one or 
more vills, but it is presumed to contain 
only one, and anciently was co-extensive 
with the manor. Money given by will to a 
parish is given to the poor. These districts 
are computed to be nearly ten thousand in 
number. 
Parish clerk. In every parish the parson, 
vicar, &c. hath a parish clerk under him, 
who is the lowest officer of the church. 
These were formerly clerks in orders, and 
their business at first was to officiate at the 
altar, for which they had a competent main- 
tenance by offerings; but now they are 
laymen, and have certain fees with the par- 
