PAR 
PAR 
double motion ; the one round the fun, the other round 
its own axis. It is to this parallelifm that we owe the 
viciflitudes of feafons, and the inequality of day and 
night.—Speaking of the parallelifm of the axis of the 
earth, I demand, whether it be better to have the axis 
of the earth Heady and perpetually parallel to itfelf, or 
to have it carelefsly tumble this way and that way ? Ray 
mi the Creation. 
PAR'ALLELLY, adv. With parallelifm.—The bony 
matter of the teeth confifts of a number of layers which 
are difpofed parallellij in refpefl to the pulp and to each 
other. Scott's Outlines of Anatomy. 
PARALLEL'OGRAM, f. [from the Gr. wctpjeXXiAof, 
parallel, and y^oiypa., a figure.] A quadrangular plain 
figure whofe oppofite fides are parallel and equal ; an ob¬ 
long.—We may have a clear idea of the area of a paralle¬ 
logram, without knowing what relation it bears to the 
area of a triangle. Watts's Logic. 
PARALLELOGRAM'MIC, or Parallelogrami- 
Cal, adj. Having the properties of a parallelogram. 
PARALLELOPI'PED f. [from parallel, and nov;, Gr. 
foot.] A folid figure contained under fix parallelograms, 
the oppofites of which are equal and parallel ; or it is a 
prifm, whofe bafe is a parallelogram : it is always triple 
to a pyramid of the fame bafe and height. Harris. —Two 
prifms, alike in fhape, I tied fo, that, their axes and oppo¬ 
fite fides being parallel, they compofed a parallelopided. 
Newton's Optics. —Cryftals" that hold lead are yellowilh, 
and of a cubic or parallelopipcd figure. Woodward. 
PARALLELOPI'PED, adj. Belonging to a prifm 
whofe bafe is a parallelogram. 
PARALLELOPLEU'RON, f. [from parallel, and ^rAsy- 
goe, a fide.] A term ufed by fome writers for an imperfect 
parallelogram, or a kind of trapezium, having unequal 
angles and fides, but which obferve a certain regularity 
and proportion. 
To PARAL'OGISE, v.n. [from paralogy.] To argue 
fophiftically. Scott. 
PARAL'OGISM, f. [from paralogy.'] A falfe argu¬ 
ment.—If a fyllogifm agree with the rules given for the 
conftrucSfion of it, it is called a true argument ; if it dif- 
agree with thefe rules, it is a paralogijm, or falfe argu¬ 
ment. Watts. 
PARAL'OGY, /’. [from the Gr. 7rapa, againft, and 
Xoyoc, reafon.] Falfe reafoning.—That Methufelah was the 
longelt liver of all the pofterity of Adam, we quietly be¬ 
lieve ; but that he mult needs be fo, is perhaps below pa¬ 
ralogy to deny. Brown. 
To PAR'ALYSE, v. a. [from paralyfis.] To ftrike as it 
were with the palfy ; to render ulelefs. A modern word. 
Or has taxation chill’d theaguifli land, 
And paralys'd Britannia’s bounteous hand j 
London Cries, or Pictures of Tumult, fyc. 1805. 
PAR AL'YSIS, f. [Cireek.] A palfy. 
PARALYT'IC,/! One ftruck by a palfy.—The para¬ 
lytic was with much labour letdown through the roof to 
our Saviour’s cure. Bp. Hall's Rem. —If a nerve be cut 
or ftreightly bound, that goes to any mufcle, that mufcle 
Ihall immediately lofe its motion ; which is the cafe of pa¬ 
ralytics. Derham. 
PARALYT'IC, or Paralytical, adj. Palfied ; in¬ 
clined to palfy.—The difficulties of breathing and fal¬ 
lowing, without any tumour, after long difeafes, proceed 
commonly from a refolution or paralytical difpofition of 
the parts. Arhuthnot. 
Nought (hall it profit, that the charming fair, 
Angelic, fofteft work of heaven, draws near 
To the cold fiiaking paralytic hand, 
Senfelefs of beauty. Prior. 
PARAMARIBO!)',, a town of South America, and 
capital of Surinam, lituated on the weft coaft of the Suri¬ 
nam river, and about eighteen miles from the fea, with a 
good harbour. The number of houfes is about 1400., 
415 
chiefly built of timber, and 5000 inhabitants. It con¬ 
tains two churches, and two Jewifh fynagogues. The 
ftreets are all perfectly ftraight, and lined with trees, fuch 
as oranges, lemons, (haddocks, and tamarinds. Lat. 5. 48. 
N. Ion. 55. 11. W. 
PARAM'BAH, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar: fe- 
venteen miles eaft of Bahar. 
PARAME'CIUM, f. in helminthology, a genus of 
vermes of the order infuforia, or worms generated in in- 
fufions. Generic characters—Body very Ample, pellucid,, 
flat, oblong ; invilible to the naked eye. There are eight 
fpecies, five of which have been flightly noticed under 
the article Animalcule, vol. i. p. 720. 
1. Paramecia aurelia : comprefled, longitudinally plait¬ 
ed towards the fore part, behind it is acute. This, fays 
Mr. Adams, is rather a large animalculum, four times 
longer than broad; the fore part is obtufe, tranfparent, 
and apparently without inteftines ; the hind part is filled 
with molecules of various fizes. The fold that goes from 
the middle to the apex is a ftriking charaCteriftic of the 
fpecies, forming a kind of triangular aperture, and giv¬ 
ing it fomewhat the appearance of a gimblet. Its mo¬ 
tion is reftilinear, reeling, or daggering, and generally 
vehement. This fpecies is frequently found in ditch-wa¬ 
ter, and in infufions, cohering lengthwife; the lateral 
edges of both bodies appear bright. They may fometimes 
be feen lying on one another alternately, at others adhe¬ 
ring by the middle. They will live many months in the 
fame water, without its being renewed. 
2. Paramecium chryfalis: has been defcribed and 
figured under the article Helminthology, vol. ix, p. 362. 
3. Paramecium oviferum: deprelfed, with large oval 
molecules within : the body is oval, pellucid, with black 
grains towards one end. This is reprefented, magnified, 
from Adams’s Hift. of the Microfcope, on the preceding 
engraving of Paradisea, at fig. 4. 
4. Paramecium marginatum: deprelfed, grey, with a 
double margin. It is one of the iargeft of the genus; 
flat, elliptical, and in every part filled with molecules, 
except at the lower end, where there is a pellucid veficle. 
It is furrounded by a broad double margin ; and, at the 
moment of its expiring, a bright fpiral inteftine is obfer- 
vable. See fig. 5 of the fame plate. 
5. Paramecium caudatum : pointed at both ends ; the 
middle broader, and filled with molecules. It is found 
in waters among duck-weed ; its motion is very flow. 
6. Paramecium anceps: tail two-edged, head obtufe. 
The motion of this animalculum is very flow. It is 
found in the water in which the plant hydrocharis is pro¬ 
duced. 
7. Paramecium acutum: tail two-edged, head acute; 
inhabits ftagnant water; is flow in its motions, but con¬ 
tinually agitating its tail. 
8. Paramecium verfutum. This fpecies, mentioned by 
Adams, but not by Gmelin, is cylindrical; the lower 
part thick, and both ends very obtufe. It has an oblong 
green gelatinous body, filled with molecules ; the lower 
part is thick, the fore part is fmaller, both ends are ob¬ 
tufe, and they may be feen to propagate by divifion. It 
is found in ditches. 
PAR'AMENT, f. [French.] An ornament for an al¬ 
tar; robes of ftate. Chaucer. —A hunting term ; the red' 
flelh under the Ikin of a deer.—In mafonry, a uniform 
courfe of ftones. 
PARA'MES, a town of New Jerfey : fifteen miles north 
of Newark. 
PARAME'SE or Paramesos, ./! in the ancient mulic, 
the ninth chord or found in the fcale. The word is 
Greek, and fignifies “ next to the middle;” its fituation, 
in the firft ftate of the Icale, being next above the meje, 
or middle chord, which anfwers to a-la-mi-re of Guido’s 
fcale. 
The fame word is ufed by fome to exprefs the ring-fin¬ 
ger, that next the middle. 
PARAMESWA'RA, a name given to the Hindoo 
4. deity. 
