PER 
617 
PER 
and hyems, the winter.] The ail of fpendingthe winter at 
any place. Bailey. 
PE'RI (Jacopo), a native of Florence, the principal in¬ 
venter of recitative, and the compofer of Euridice, writ¬ 
ten by Rinuccini, the firft opera that was compofed in 
flilo rapprefentiv'o. This drama, written and fet to a new 
Ypecies of mulic for the royal nuptials of Mary of Medi¬ 
ci s with Henry IV. of France in 1600, was publicly ex¬ 
hibited at Florence in the moft fplendid manner, and in 
which Peri, the compofer, performed a vocal part. Peri 
is faid by Battifta Doni to have been not only a good com¬ 
pofer in the new ftyle, but a famous finger and performer 
on keyed inftruments. Burney. 
PE'RIA, a town of Perfia, in the province of Irac ; 
ninety miles weft of Ifpahan. 
PERIAC', a town of France, in the department of the 
Aude, celebrated for its falt-works: fix miles fouth-weft 
of Narbonne. 
PERIACUL'TUM, a town of Hindooftan : thirty 
miles fputh-fouth-weft of Dindigul. 
PERIA'DA, in ancient geography, a town of Greece, 
in theifland of Euboea. Strabo. 
PER'IAGOGE, f. [from the Gr. mpi, upon, and ay a, 
to drive.] In rhetoric, a fentence or period in which fe- 
veral things are crowded together which might have been 
divided. 
PERIAGRA'RUM, a town of Hindooftan, in Coim- 
betore : three miles weft-north-weft of Erroad. 
PERIAGU'A, f. A kind of large canoe made life of in 
the Leeward iflands, South America, and the gulf of Mex¬ 
ico. It is compofed of the trunks of two trees hollowed 
and united together; and thus differs from the canoe, 
which is formed of one tree. 
PERIAM'MA,./: [from the Gr. wept, about, and an\io, 
to tie.] An amulet, fomething tied about the neck or 
other part of the body, as fuppofing it to r have virtue to 
cure fome hurt or difeafe. 
PERIAMOO'DY, a town of Hindooftan : thirty miles 
weft-fouth-weft of Dindigul. 
PER'JAN, a town of Grand Bukhara : thirty-fix miles 
eaft-fouth-eaft of Anderab. 
PERIAN'DER, a tyrant of Corinth and Corcyra, was 
the fon of Cypfelus, who before him had obtained an un¬ 
juft authority over his fellow-citizens. Periander fuc- 
ceeded him about the year B. C. 628. and, in order tofe- 
cure his power, put to death the principal perfons in Co¬ 
rinth. In almoft every other refpedt he well merited the 
title of tyrant, which has ever been attached to his name; 
but he was very inimical to that luxury which involved 
the inhabitants of the city, and he kept the country in 
peace by means of his fleet, which gave him the control 
of the lea. He is alfo applauded for not having impofed 
taxes upon his people, excepting thofe which refulted 
from the export and import of merchandife. His private 
life was ftained with enormous crimes, with a detail of 
which we will not fully our pages. He banifhed his fon 
Lycophrcn to Corcyra, for {flowing an abhorrence of the 
cruelty inflifled on his mother; but in his old age he fent 
to recall him, in order to govern Corinth in his ftead, 
while he himfelf intended to retire to Corcyra. The 
people of that ifland prevented the exchange by putting 
the prince to death. Periander took ample revenge on 
the perpetrators of the deed ; but, not contented with 
this, he indulged the moft cruel refentment on the inno¬ 
cent, by fending three hundred youths of the beft fami¬ 
lies to be made eunuchs by king Alyattes of Sardis. 
Thefe victims to royal madnefs, flopping by the way to 
Samos, were refcued by the people; and it has been af- 
ferted that the chagrin occafioned to Periander by the dis¬ 
appointment, cauled his death, at the age of 80, in the 
year B. C. 584. He was a man of great talents; and an 
infcription on his tomb at Corinth, preferved by Laertius, 
proves that his country regarded him as a wife and able 
ruler. He was traditionally reckoned among the feven 
wife men of Greece; and fome of his maxims, which are 
rather prudential than moral, feem to juftify the title. 
The maxim moft known is, “ There is nothing which pru¬ 
dence cannot accomplifh.” 
PER'IANTH, f [from the Gr. wsgs, about, and a» 9 o;, 
a flower.] In botany, the flower-cup. It is the moft 
ufual fort of calyx, and is immediately contiguous to, or 
more properly makes a part of, the flower. Such are the 
five green leaves, with their urn-lhaped bafe, in the rofe; 
and the tubular cup of a pink, including the fcales at its 
bafe. In this laft inftance the perianth may be called 
double; and is avowedly fo in moft of the mallow tribe, 
while in the fcabious it is triple. When the term calyx 
is 11 fed without any particular explanation, it means' ^ 
perianth. This part is either deciduous, as in the poppy', 
or permanent, as in the pink. In many inftances it be¬ 
comes enlarged, thickened, or hardened, crowning or 
enveloping the fruit. Its fituation is either inferior, be¬ 
low the germen, or fuperior, above that part. Its forms 
are infinitely various, on which the charafteriftic diftinC- 
tions of many genera depend. In fome inftances it is di¬ 
vided more or lefs deeply, in others undivided ; in fome 
it is of one leaf, in others of feveral. The hue of the 
perianth is ufuaily green ; but not unfrequently other- 
wife, in which laft cafe only it is technically faid to be co¬ 
loured. Many flowers have no perianth, as the tulip; 
and the narciffus, which has another kind of calyx, the 
Jpallia , or (heath. See farther under the article Botany, 
vol. iii. p. 246, 7. 
PERIAPAL', a town of Hindooftan: twenty-feven 
miles north-eaft of Coimbetore. 
PERIAPATAM', a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore : 
twenty-four miles fouth-weft of Seringapatam, and fifty- 
four north-eaft of Tellicherry. Lat. 12. 15. N. Ion. 76. 
31. E. 
PERIAPOL'LAM, a town of Hindooftan, in the Car¬ 
natic: twenty miles north-weft of Madras. 
PER'IAPT, f. [periapte, old Fr. from wspiesTrla, Gr. 
to bind around.] Amulet; charm worn as prefervative 
againft difeafes or mifchief. Iianmer. 
The regent conquers, and the Frenchmen fly: 
Now help, ye charming fpells and periapts. Shakefpeare. 
PERIBOA'CA, a river of Canada, which runs into 
the St.John’s Lake in lat. 48. 32. N. Ion. 72. 20. W. 
PERIB'OLUS, f. [from the Gr.wEp:, about, andCsaXkw, 
to throw.] The outward wall of a place; a park 5 a war¬ 
ren. Phillips. 
PERPCA, three fmall iflands in the gulf of Panama, 
lying at a little diftance from the fliore, and defending 
the road of Panama fo as to form a good harbour. 
PERICAR'DIAC, adj. [from pericardium.'] Beneficial 
to the pericardium. 
PERICAR'DIAN, adj. Belonging to the pericardium. 
PERICAR'DIARY, adj. Belonging to the worms or 
animalcules bred in the heart. 
PERICAR'DIC, adj. Belonging to the pericardium. 
Phillips. 
PERICAR'DIUM, /. [from the Gr. wspi, about, and 
the heart.] A thin membrane of a conic figure 
that refembles a purfe, and contains the heart in its ca¬ 
vity.—The life of the pericardium, is to contain a fmall 
quantity of clear water, which is feparated by fmall glands 
in it, that the furface of the heart may not dry by its con¬ 
tinual motion. Quincy .—He defired us firft of all to ob- 
ferve the pericardium, or outward cafe of the heart. 
Addifon’s Sped. N° 281.-—A man may come into the pe¬ 
ricardium, but not the heart, of truth. Brown's Chr. 
Morality. 
PERICAR'PIUM, /. [from the Gr. wsp:, about, and 
xapvro;, the fruit.] In botany, a pellicle or thin mem¬ 
brane encompaffmg the fruit or grain of a plant, or that 
part of a fruit that envelops the feed.—Befides this ufe 
of the pulp or pericarpium for the guard of the feed, it 
ferves alfo for the fuftenance of animals. Ray. 
The ufe of the pericarp is to protect the feeds till ripe, 
and 
