The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 339

PARAGUAY RIVER, a South American river 1800 m. long, the chief tributary of the Parana, rises in some lakes near Matto Grosso, Brazil, and flows southward through marshy country till it forms the boundary between Brazil and Bolivia, then traversing Paraguay, it becomes the boundary between that State and the Argentine Republic, and finally enters the Parana above Corrientes; it receives many affluents, and is navigable by ocean steamers almost to its source.

PARAKLETE, the Holy Spirit which Christ promised to His disciples would take His place as their teacher and guide after He left them. Also the name of the monastery founded by Abelard near Nogent-sur-Seine, and of which HELOSE (q. v.) was abbess.

PARALLAX, an astronomical term to denote an apparent change in the position of a heavenly body due to a change in the position or a.s.sumed position of the observer.

PARAMAR'IBO (24), the capital of Dutch Guiana, on the Surinam, 10 m.

from the sea, and the centre of the trade of the colony.

PARAMO, the name given to an elevated track of desert on the Andes.

PARANa RIVER, a great river of South America, formed by the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Paranahyba, in SE. Brazil, flows SW.

through Brazil and round the SE. border of Paraguay, then receiving the Paraguay River, turns S. through the Argentine, then E. till the junction of the Uruguay forms the estuary of the Plate. The river is broad and rapid, 2000 m. long, more than half of it navigable from the sea; at the confluence of the Ygua.s.su it enters a narrow gorge, and for 100 m. forms one of the most remarkable rapids in the world; the chief towns on its banks are in the Argentine, viz. Corrientes, Santa Fe, and Rosario.

PARCae, the Roman name of the THREE FATES (q. v.), derived from "pars," a part, as apportioning to every individual his destiny.

PARCHMENT consists of skins specially prepared for writing on, and is so called from a king of Pergamos, who introduced it when the export of papyrus from Egypt was stopped; the skins used are of sheep, for fine parchment or vellum, of calves, goats, and lambs; parchment for drumheads is made from calves' and a.s.ses' skins.

PARCS-AUX-CERFS, the French name for clearings to provide hunting fields for the French aristocracy prior to the Revolution.

PARe, AMBROISE, great French surgeon, born at Laval; was from the improved methods he introduced in the treatment of surgical cases ent.i.tled to be called, as he has been, the father of modern surgery, for his success as an operator, in particular the tying of divided arteries and the treatment of gunshot wounds; he was in the habit of saying of any patient he had successfully operated upon, "I cared for him; G.o.d healed him"; his writings exercised a beneficent influence on the treatment of surgical cases in all lands (1517-1590).

PARIAH, a Hindu of the lowest cla.s.s, and of no caste; of the cla.s.s they are of various grades, but all are outcast, and treated as such.

PARIS (2,448), the capital of France, in the centre of the northern half of the country, on both banks of the Seine, and on two islands (La Cite and St. Louis) in the middle, 110 m. from the sea; is the largest city on the Continent, and one of the most beautiful in the world. No city has finer or gayer streets, or so many n.o.ble buildings. The Hotel de Cluny and the Hotel de Sens are rare specimens of 15th-century civic architecture. The Palace of the Tuileries, on the right bank of the Seine, dates from the 16th century, and was the royal residence till the Revolution. Connected with it is the Louvre, a series of galleries of painting, sculpture, and antiquities, whose contents form one of the richest collections existing, and include the peerless "Venus de Milo."

The Palais Royal encloses a large public garden, and consists of shops, restaurants, the Theatre Francais, and the Royal Palace of the Orleans family. South of the river is the Luxembourg, where the Senate meets, and on the Ile de la Cite stands the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie, one of the oldest Paris prisons. St.-Germain-des-Pres is the most ancient church, but the most important is the cathedral of Notre Dame, 12th century, which might tell the whole history of France could it speak.

Saint-Chapelle is said to be the finest Gothic masterpiece extant. The Pantheon, originally meant for a church, is the burial-place of the great men of the country, where lie the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Carnot. The oldest hospitals are the Hotel Dieu, La Charite, and La Pitie. The University Schools in the Quartier Latin attract the youth of all France; the chief are the Schools of Medicine and Law, the Scotch College, the College of France, and the Sorbonne, the seat of the faculties of letters, science, and Protestant theology. Triumphal arches are prominent in the city. There are many museums and charitable inst.i.tutions; the Bibliotheque Nationale, in the Rue Richelieu, rivals the British Museum in numbers of books and ma.n.u.scripts. The Palace of Industry and the Eiffel Tower commemorate the exhibitions of 1854 and 1889 respectively. Great market-places stand in various parts of the city. The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix, Rue du Faubourg St.-Honore, and the Rue Royale are among the chief streets; beautiful squares are numerous, the most noted being the Place de la Concorde, between the Champs Elysees and the Gardens of the Tuileries, in the centre of which the Obelisk of Luxor stands on the site of the guillotine at which Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Philippe Egalite, Danton, and Robespierre died. Boulevards lined with trees run to the outskirts of the city. The many roads, railways, ca.n.a.ls, and rivers which converge on Paris have made it the most important trading centre in France, and the concourse of wealthy men of all nations has given it a high place in the financial world. It is a manufacturing city, producing jewellery, ornamental furniture, and all sorts of artistic "articles de Paris." The centre of French, and indeed European, fas.h.i.+on, it is noted for its pleasure and gaiety. The concentration of Government makes it the abode of countless officials. It is strongly fortified, being surrounded by a ring of forts, and a wall 22 m. long, at the 56 gates of which the octroi dues are levied. The Prefect of the Seine, appointed by the Government, and advised by a large council, is the head of the munic.i.p.ality, of the police and fire brigades, cleansing, draining, and water-supply departments. The history of Paris is the history of France, for the national life has been, and is, in an extraordinary degree centred in the capital. It was the scene of the great tragic drama of the Revolution, and of the minor struggles of 1830 and 1849. In recent times its great humiliation was its siege and capture by the Germans in 1870-71.

PARIS, the second son of Priam and Hecuba; was exposed on Mount Ida at his birth; brought up by a shepherd; distinguished himself by his prowess, by which his parentage was revealed; married OENONe (q. v.); appealed to to decide to whom the "apple of discord" belonged, gave it to Aphrodite in preference to her two rivals Hera and Athena; was promised in return that he should receive the most beautiful woman in the world to wife, Helen of Sparta, whom he carried off to Greece, and which led to the TROJAN WAR (q. v.); slew Achilles, and was mortally wounded by the poisoned arrows of Hercules.

PARIS, MATTHEW, English chronicler; a Benedictine monk of St.

Albans; author of "Chronica Majora," which contains a history written in Latin of England from the Conquest to the year in which he died (1195-1259).

PARK, MUNGO, African traveller, born at Fouls.h.i.+els, near Selkirk; was apprenticed to a surgeon, and studied medicine at Edinburgh; 1791-93 he spent in a voyage to Sumatra, and in 1795 went for the first time to Africa under the auspices of the African a.s.sociation of London; starting from the Gambia he penetrated eastward to the Niger, then westward to Kamalia, where illness seized him; conveyed to his starting-point by a slave-trader, he returned to England and published "Travels in the Interior of Africa," 1799; he married and settled to practice at Peebles, but he was not happy till in 1805 he set out for Africa again at Government expense; starting from Pisania he reached the Niger, and sending back his journals attempted to descend the river in a canoe, but, attacked by natives, the canoe overturned; and he and his companions were drowned (1771-1805).

PARKER, JOHN HENRY, archaeologist and writer on architecture; originally a London publisher, his chief work the "Archaeology of Rome,"

in nine vols., a subject to which he devoted much study (1800-1884).

PARKER, JOSEPH, an eminent Nonconformist divine, born in Hexham; minister of the City Temple; a vigorous and popular preacher, and the author of numerous works bearing upon biblical theology and the defence of it; his _magnum opus_ is the "People's Bible," of which 25 vols. are already complete; _b_. 1830.

PARKER, MATTHEW, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Norwich; was a Fellow of Cambridge; embraced the Protestant doctrines; became Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; was chaplain to Anne Boleyn, and made Dean of Ely by Edward VI.; was deprived of his offices under Mary, but made Primate under Elizabeth, and the Bishop's Bible was translated and issued under his auspices (1504-1575).

PARKER, THEODORE, an American preacher and lecturer; adopted and professed the Unitarian creed, but discarded it, like Emerson, for a still more liberal; distinguished himself in the propagation of it by his lectures as well as his writings; was a vigorous anti-slavery agitator, and in general a champion of freedom; died at Florence while on a tour for his health (1810-1860).

PARKMAN, FRANCIS, American historian, born in Boston; his writings valuable, particularly in their bearing on the dominion of the French in America, its rise, decline, and fall (1823-1893).

PARLEMENT, the name given to the local courts of justice in France prior to the Revolution, in which the edicts of the king required to be registered before they became laws; given by pre-eminence to the one in Paris, composed of lawyers, or gentlemen of the long robe, as they were called, whose action the rest uniformly endorsed, and which played an important part on the eve of the Revolution, and contributed to further the outbreak of it, to its own dissolution in the end.

PARLIAMENT is the name of the great legislative council of Britain representing the three estates of the realm--Clergy, Lords, and Commons.

The Clergy are represented in the Upper House by the archbishops and bishops of sees founded prior to 1846, in number 26; the rest of the Upper House comprises the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons of the peerage of Great Britain who sit in virtue of their t.i.tles, and representatives of the Scotch and Irish peerages elected for life; the total members.h.i.+p is over 550; the House of Lords may initiate any bill not a money bill, it does not deal with financial measures at all except to give its formal a.s.sent; it also revises bills pa.s.sed by the Commons, and may reject these. Of late years this veto has come to be exercised only in cases where it seems likely that the Commons do not retain the confidence of the people, having thus the effect of referring the question for the decision of the const.i.tuencies. The Lords const.i.tute the final court of appeal in all legal questions, but in exercising this function only those who hold or have held high judicial office take part.

The House of Commons comprises 670 representatives of the people; its members represent counties, divisions of counties, burghs, wards of burghs, and universities, and are elected by owners of land and by occupiers of land or buildings of 10 annual rental who are commoners, males, of age, and not disqualified by unsoundness of mind, conviction for crime, or receipt of parochial relief. The Commons initiates most of the legislation, deals with bills already initiated and pa.s.sed by the Lords, inquires into all matters of public concern, discusses and determines imperial questions, and exercises the sole right to vote supplies of money. To become law bills must pa.s.s the successive stages of first and second reading, committee, and third reading in both Houses, and receive the a.s.sent of the sovereign, which has not been refused for nearly two centuries.

PARLIAMENT, THE LONG, the name given to the last English Parliament convoked by Charles I. in 1640, dissolved by Cromwell in 1653, and recalled twice after the death of the Protector before it finally gave up the ghost.

PARLIAMENT OF DUNCES, name given to a parliament held at Coventry by Henry IV. in 1494, because no lawyer was allowed to sit in it.

PARLIAMENTARIAN, one who, in the English Civil War, supported the cause of the Parliament against the king.

PARMA (44), a cathedral and university town in N. Italy, on the Parma, a tributary of the Po, 70 m. NE. of Genoa; is rich in art treasures, has a school of music, picture-gallery, and museum of antiquities; it manufactures pianofortes, silks, and woollens, and has a cattle and grain market; Parma was formerly the capital of the duchy of that name; it was the residence of Correggio as well as the birthplace of Parmigiano.

PARMENION, an able and much-esteemed Macedonian general, distinguished as second in command at Granicus, Issus, and Arbela, but whom Alexander in some fit of jealousy and under unfounded suspicion caused to be a.s.sa.s.sinated in Media.

PARMENIDES, a distinguished Greek philosopher of the Eleatic school, who flourished in the 5th century B.C.; his system was developed by him in the form of an epic poem, in which he demonstrates the existence of an Absolute which is unthinkable, because it is without limits, and which he identifies with thought, as the one in the many.

PARMIGIANO, a Lombard painter whose proper name was Girolamo Mazzola, born at Parma; went to Rome when 19 and obtained the patronage of Clement VII.; after the storming of the city in 1527, during which he sat at work in his studio, he went to Bologna, and four years later returned to his native city; failing to implement a contract to paint frescoes he was imprisoned, and on his release retired to Casalmaggiore, where he died; in style he followed Correggio, and is best known by his "Cupid shaping a Bow" (1504-1540).

PARNa.s.sUS, a mountain in Phocis, 10 m. N. of the Gulf of Corinth, 8000 ft. high, one of the chief seats of Apollo and the Muses, and an inspiring source of poetry and song, with the oracle of Delphi and the Castalian spring on its slopes; it was conceived of by the Greeks as in the centre of the earth.

PARNELL, CHARLES STUART, Irish Home-Ruler, born at Avondale, in Wicklow; was practically the dictator of his party for a time and carried matters with a high hand, but at the height of his popularity he suffered a fall, and his death, which was sudden, happened soon after (1846-1891).