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6*20 PER 
Perilla ocymoides, a folitary fpecies. Stem fimple, ftiff, 
blunt, quadrangular, rough-haired ; leaves ovate, almoft 
naked, ferrate ; on petioles the length of the leaves ; ra¬ 
cemes lateral and terminating, rough-haired, upright. 
Flowers fmall, white, folitary or by threes, rough-haired 
in the calyx, with leafy bra£les longer than the flower. 
It is an annual plant, originally obtained by Arduino 
from India. It was introduced at Kew in 1770, by M. 
Richard, where it flowers in July and Auguft. The whole 
plant has a ftrong balmy fragrance, and may be fubftitu- 
ted for the balm of the fhops. 
PERIL'LUS, an artift at Athens, who made a brazen 
bull for Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum. This machine 
was fabricated to put criminals to death by burning them 
alive, and it was fuch that their cries were like the roar¬ 
ing of a bull. But the tyrant made the firft experiment 
upon the donor, and cruelly put him to death by light¬ 
ing a flow fire under the belly of the bull. 
PER'ILOUS, adj. Dangerous; hazardous; full of 
danger.—Alterations in the fervice of God, for that they 
impair the credit of religion, are therefore perilous in 
common-weals, which have no continuance longer than 
religion hath all reverence done unto it. Hoolter. 
Dictate propitious to my duteous ear, 
What arts can captivate the changeful feer: 
For perilous the afi’ay, unheard the toil. 
To elude the prefcience of a god by guile. Pope. 
It is ufed by way of emphafis, or ludicrous exaggeration 
of any thing bad : 
Thus was the accomplifli’d fquire endu’d 
With gifts and knowledge per'lous Ihrewd. Hudibras. 
Smart; witty. In this fenfe it is applied to children, and 
probably obtained its fignification from the notion, that 
children eminent for wit do not live; a witty boy was 
therefore a perilous boy, or a boy in danger : 
’Tis a per'lous boy, 
Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable; 
He’s all the mother’s from the top to toe. Shaliefpeare. 
PER'ILOUSLY, adv. Dangeroufly.—After a man is 
fan&ified, he receiveth from God another-fipecial grace 
to raife him ; even then, when he is molt periloujly fallen. 
Profejjor Benefield's Serm. 1615. 
PER'ILOUSNESS, f . Dangeroufnefs. 
PE'RIM, a fmall ifland in the Straits of Babelmandel, 
about four miles from the coaft of Africa. It has a good 
port, but no frefli water. Lon. 12. 36. N. lat. 43. 50. E. 
PE'RIM KA'KU VAL'LI, in botany. See Mimosa. 
PE'RIM TOD'DAL. See Rhamnus. 
PERIM'ETER, f. [from the Gr. vip}, and p.{]gov, 
meafure.] In geometry, the ambit or extent that bounds 
any figure or body whatever.—The perimeters of furfaces, 
or figures, are lines: thofe of bodies are furfaces. In 
circular figures, &c. inftead of perimeter, we fay circum¬ 
ference, or periphery. Chambers. 
PF/RIN KA'RA, f. in botany. See Ei.jEOCarpus. 
PERINAL'DO, a town of Italy, in the diftridt of Mo¬ 
naco : eighteen miles eaft-north-eaft of Nice. The place 
contains 1283 inhabitants. 
PERIN'DA, a town of Hindooftan, in the county of 
Dowlatabad : twenty-three miles fouth-eaft of Carmulla, 
and 188 north-weft of Hydrabad. Lat-. 18. 33. N. Ion. 
75. 50. E. ... 
PER'INDARY, a town of Hindooftan, in Coimbetore: 
five miles fouth-weft of Erroad. 
PERINE'UM, /. [ne^va. 10;, Gr.] That part of the 
body which extends from the organs of generation in 
either fex to the fundament. The fpace in queftion is 
much longer in the male than in the female; being 
about four or five inches in the former, one inch or 
one and a half in the latter. A roughifli line, called the 
raphe, runs along the middle of it, and a few hairs are 
Scattered over it. 
PERINGIA'NO, a town of the ifland of Sardinia: 
twenty miles fouth of Villa d’lglefias. 
PERIN'GERSDORF, a town of German's in the ter¬ 
ritory of Nuremberg: three miles weft-fouth-weft of 
Lauf. 
. PERINGOO'DY, a town of Hindooftan, in Marawar: 
twenty miles north-weft of Ramanadporum. 
PERINGSKIO'LD (John), a learned Swede, was born 
in Sudermania, in 1654. He became fecretary of anti¬ 
quities and counfellor to the king of Sweden, and pro- 
feflor at Upfal. He died in 1720. His works are, 1. 
A Hiftory of the Kings of the North. 2. Hirtory of the 
Kings of Norway, two vols. folio. 3. Hiftorical and 
Chronological Tables from Adam to Jefus Chrift. 
PERINRA'PAX, one of the Laccadive Iflands in the 
Indian Sea. Lat. 11. 10. N. Ion. 71. 18. E. 
PERIN'THUS, a town of Thrace, in the Propontis, 
anciently furnamed Mygdonicu. It was afterwards called 
Heraclea, in honour of Hercules ; and now Erekli. 
PERIO'CHA,/. [from the Gr. an inclofure.] 
An argument indicating the nature and extent of a dif- 
courfe. Scott. 
PE'RIOD, f. [from the Gr.wspt, through, and 000s, a 
way.] A circuit. Time in which any thing is performed, 
fo as to begin again in the fame manner.—Tell thefe, that 
the fun is fixed in the centre, that the earth with all the 
planets roll round the fun in their feveral periods ; they 
cannot admit a fyllable of this new dodtrine. Watts. —A 
tinted number of years; a round of time, at the end of 
which the things comprifed within the calculation fhall 
return to the ftate in which they were at the beginning. 
—A cycle or period is an account of years that has a be¬ 
ginning and end, and begins again as often as it ends. 
We ftyle a lefler fpace a cycle, .and a greater by the name 
of period; and you may not improperly call the begin¬ 
ning of a large period the epocha thereof. Holder an Time. 
— The end or conclufion.—There is nothing fo fecret 
that (hall not be brought to light within the compafs of 
our world; whatfoever concerns this fublunary world in 
the whole extent of its duration, from the chaos to the laft 
period. Burnet's Theory. 
What anxious moments pafs between 
The birth of plots and their laft fatal periods ! 
Oh ! ’tis a dreadful interval of time. Addifon. 
The ftate at which anything terminates.—Light-confer- 
ving ftones muft be fet in the fun before they retain light, 
and the light will appear greater or lefler, until they come 
to their utinoft period. Digby. 
Beauty’s empires, like to greater dates. 
Have certain periods fet, and hidden fates. Suckling. 
Length of duration.—Some experiment would be made 
how by art to make plants more lading than their ordi¬ 
nary period; as to make a ftalk of wheat laft a whole year. 
Bacons Nat. Hift. —A complete fentence from one full 
flop to another.— Periods are beautiful when they are not 
too long : for fo they have their ftrength too, as in a pike 
or javelin. B. JonJ'on. 
Is this the confidence 
You gave me, brother?—Yes, and keep it Hill; 
Lean on it fafely, not a period 
Shall be unfaid for me. Milton's Comus. 
The point (.) that (hows the end of a fentence. 
To PERIOD, v. a. To bring to an end, or to a certain 
point.—The laft letter periods the bufinefs until we met 
at Tergofa in Zealand. Guardian, N° 133. 
Your honourable letter he defires 
To thofe have fhut him up 5 which failing to him, 
Periods his comfort. Shahejpearc's Timon. 
PERIODEU'TA, f . [Trspio^svl^, Gr.] A church-officer 
among the Greeks, eftablilhed by the council of Laodi- 
cea, in towns, &c. where there were no bilhops. The 
periodeutce were a kind of rural deans; fo called, accor- 
ding 
