P H A 
article Greece, vol. viii. p. 843.) As lie went to Italy, 
he was Ihipwrecked on the coali, and carried to Ihore by a 
dolphin; and for that reafon there was a dolphin placed 
near his ftatue in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. He 
received divine honors after death. 
PHAL'ANX, f [Gr. and Lat. it retains the Latin 
plural.] A troop of men clofely embodied.—I’ll fpeak no¬ 
thing but guns, and glaves, and ftaves, and phalanges, and 
fquadrons. Brewer's Lingua. 
The Grecian phalanx, movelefs as a tow’r, 
On all Tides batter’d, yet refills his pow’r. Pope. 
The Grecian phalanx was a fquare compact battalion, 
formed of infantry, fet clofe with their Ihields joined, and 
pikes turned acrofs. It confided of 8000 men ; and Livy 
fays it was invented by the Macedonians ; and hence 
called the Macedonian phalanx. 
According to Mauvillon, in his Effaifur VInfluence de 
la Poudre a Canon dans VArt de la Guerre moderne, a com¬ 
plete phalanx confided of 16,384, drawn up in fixteen 
ranks, and each rank containing 1024 files. This phalanx, 
in order of battle, occupied 3072 feet in front, and 48 in 
depth. Mauvillon defcribes the ancient phalanx as hav¬ 
ing been executed in three different ways : The Macedo¬ 
nian phalanx, by the leading file coming to the right 
about, and remaining fiationary ; the other files moved 
behind him by the right, and as foon as they had marched 
a given number of paces, in order to arrive at a proper 
difiance, they dood in their original order, after having 
faced about. 
The fecond kind of phalanx was called the Laeedcemo- 
nian, and was thought preferable to the fird; becaufe here 
the phalanx, infiead of filing to the rear, marched for¬ 
wards to the direction where it was to face. The leading 
file, in facing, marched by thofe that were in his rear; 
and they, as their turn came, alfo faced and followed their 
leading files. When the head file had thus gone over 
twice the depth.of ground that was occupied by the pha¬ 
lanx, it halted. The clofe file came to the right about, 
and the whole dood in their proper direction. 
The third evolution, which was called the Cretan, Per- 
fian, or Chorceus, was performed in this manner: the lead¬ 
ing file faced to the right, and countermarched ; each 
fucceeding file did the fame, turning upon their own 
ground ; and, when they had marched over the depth of 
ground which was occupied by the phalanx, and dood 
where the clofe files had been dationed, the whole halted, 
and the evolution was thus completed. This was rec¬ 
koned the bed mode, becaufe, in addition to all the ad¬ 
vantages of the Lacedaemonian, it was executed in half 
the time that was necefiary to the other two. James's Mil. 
DiB. 
Phalanx, in anatomy, is a name applied to the bones of 
the fingers and toes, which are didinguifhed by the nu¬ 
merical terms, fird, fecond, and third, reckoning from 
the metacarpus and metatarfus. The two rows of carpal 
bones are alfo called phalanges; the fird or radial, the 
fecond or metacarpal. 
Phalanx, in mineralogy, a term ufed by Dr. Wood¬ 
ward, and fome other writers on fodils, to exprefs an ar¬ 
rangement of the columns of that fort of foflil coralloid 
body found frequently in Wales, called lithof ration. The 
lithodrotion, or general congeries of thefe phalanges of 
columns, is commonly found immerfed in a grey done, 
and occurs on the tops of the rocky cliffs about Milford 
in Wales. It is ufually ereX, though fomewhat inclining 
in fome fpecimens, but never lies horizontal. This fol- 
fil takes an elegant polifh, and makes in that dale a very 
beautiful appearance, being of the hardnefs of the com¬ 
mon white marble, and carrying the elegant ftruXure 
vifible in the fmalled lineaments. Woodward's Coll, of 
Foffils. 
PHAL'ARATED, adj. [from the Lat. phalaratus.~\ 
Adorned with trappings. Cole. 
PHALARI'CA,/. A javelin, or long dart, of a parti- 
P H A 47 
cular conllruXion, which was formerly ufed by the inha¬ 
bitants of Saguntum, when they fo valiantly dood the 
fiege of it. This weapon was very thick, and had a (harp 
piece of iron, four feet long, attached to it. It was ufed 
either as_a weapon of clofe attack and defence, or as a fire¬ 
arm; being, in the latter cafe, wrapped up in tow and 
pitch, and, when fet fire to, cad out of the balida againd 
the enemy’s wooden towers and other machines, for the 
purpofe of confuming them. They were fent with fo 
much force, that they pierced through armed bodies of, 
men, and rendered all attempts to extinguilh the flames' 
ufelefs and unavailing. It is alfo mentioned by Virgil as 
a pike or dart to be thrown by the hand. James's Mil. 
Did. 
PHAL'ARIS, tyrant of Agrigentum in Sicily, ren¬ 
dered his name celebrated in antiquity by his cruelties ; 
but very little is recorded of his genuine hiltory. He is 
faid to have been born at Adypalea in Crete, and to have 
been banifhed from that ifland on account of his political 
intrigues. He went to Sicily, and by his abilities was 
enabled to obtain the fovereignty of Agrigentum about 
571 B. C. Like mod ufurpers, he found it neceffary to 
maintain by feverity the place to which he had rifen by 
force or fraud ; and he became one of the mod deteded 
of tyrants. The mod famous indance of his cruelty is his 
punilhment by the brazen bull. See Perillus. At 
length, after a reign of 16 years, (Eufebius fays 28,) the 
people of Agrigentum, no longer able to endure his ty¬ 
ranny, rofe and put him to death. There is extant a fe- 
ries of letters under the names of Phalaris and Abaris, 
the genuinenefs of which was the fubjeX of much contro- 
verfy about the end of the 17th century, between the Hon. 
Charles Boyle, aflifled by fome fcholars of Chrid-Church, 
Oxford, and the eminent critic Bentley. Boyle, who 
gave an edition of thofe Epidles with a new Latin veriion, 
Oxford, 1695, made fome reflexions upon the conduX of 
Bentley in his Preface, which induced the critic to un¬ 
dertake to prove that the letters were fpurious, and, con- 
fequently, the labour bedowed upon them ufelefs. Al¬ 
though a condellation of wits appeared on the other fide, 
yet folid learning and acutenefs prevailed in the end, and 
the lpurioufnefs of the Epidles of Phalaris is now gene¬ 
rally admitted. Several circumfiancesof his life deduced 
from them of courfe lofe their authority. Ananotiymous 
Frenchman gave a hiflory of Phalaris in 1726 ; entitled, 
“ L’Utilite du Pouvoir Monarchique, &c.” which is for 
the mod part an abfolute romance. The lated edition 
of the Epidles is that of Valkenaer, Groning. 4to. 1777. 
PHAL'ARIS, , f- [from the Gr. p«Ao?, fliining.] Ca¬ 
nary Grass ; in botany, a genus of the clafs triandri3, 
order digynia, natural order of gramina, or grades. Ge¬ 
neric charaXers—Calyx : double, one-flowered. Outer 
glume two-vaived, comprefled ; valves boat-lhaped, com- 
prefled, keeled, acute, almod equal, with the edges 
firaight, converging parallelly. Inner tvvo-valved : valves 
lanceolate, acute, pubefcent, fmall, incumbent on the 
back of the corolla at the bafe. Corolla: tvvo-valved, 
lefs than the calyx: valves oblong, concave, acute : the 
innir fmaller. NeXary two-leaved; leaflets lanceolate, 
acuminate, hyaline, gibbous at the bafe. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments three, capillary. Anthers oblong, forked. Pif- 
tillum: germ ovate ; llyles two, capillary, connate at the 
bafe; fligmas villofe. Pericarpium : none; the corolla 
grows round the feed like a crufl, and does not open. 
Seed Angle, ovate-oblong, acuminate, fmooth.— EJJential 
Charaaer. Calyx two-valved, keeled, the valves equal in 
length, inclofing the corolla. There are twelve fpecies. 
1. Phalaris Canarienfis, or cultivated Canary-grafs: 
panicle awnlefs, fubovate, fpike-lhaped ; calycine glumes 
boat-lhaped, entire; corolla four-valved; outer valves 
lanceolate fmooth, inner villofe. Root annual. Culm 
from a foot to eighteen inches in height, upright, round, 
flriated, fwelling a little at the joints, and at the lower 
ones often branching. Leaves almod half an inch in 
breadth, of a lively green, with fomethingof a glaucous. 
huej 
