also seen a coarse kind of paper made of it, at Edinburgh.'

6

"This substance,' says a correspondent of the Monthly Magazine, may be met with in great abundance, in almost every ditch and pool, especially old clay-pits, and in most slow streams. In cold weather, it is always below the surface of the water, and forms a mass of yellowish green fibres, very fine, and interlacing each other in every direction. In summer, it rises to the surface in large fleece-like masses, commonly of a deep green color, and a spongy texture, enclosing numerous globules of air, to which it owes its buoyancy. If raked out of the water, and exposed for a few days to the sun, it loses its green color, and becomes very tolerably bleached."

bottom of which is extremely fine, with the wires closely interwoven; and some examples of inferior wove paper exhibit this crossing of the wires, as plainly as the bars are perceived in that made after the old manner.

This mould is dipped horizontally into the copper containing the pulp, and immediately taken out. By means of its wooden frame, it retains just so much pulp as is wanting for the thickness of the sheet, while the superfluity returns through the interstices of the wires. A second hand, called a coucher, instantly receives it from the dipper, called a vat-man; opens the frame, and turns out the sheet (which now has shape, but not consistence) on a cloth of soft felt, which is spread on the ground to receive it. Over this is laid anLinen paper, or that made of cloth produced other piece of felt, which receives another sheet from flax, the last species to be mentioned, appears of paper; and the pile is thus increased, till forty to have been first introduced about the beginning or fifty sheets are formed. These are then removof the fourteenth century; but by whom it was ed to a large screw-press, moved by a long lever, invented is not known. The manufacture of this which forcibly squeezes the water out of them, paper, of which kind are the present sheets, is ef- and gives them immediate consistence; after fected by the following processes: after procuring which, the felt and paper are separated; and the rags from the dealers in that commodity, the first latter, which is thrown on one side, while the forand most disagreeable operation is that of sorting mer is thrown on the other, is taken up with an them. This, however, must be done with care; instrument in the form of the letter T, three sheets for upon a due selection depends, in the first in- at a time, and hung on lines to dry. It hangs for stance, the purity of the paper. The rags are a week or ten days, during which its whiteness is then put into the dusting engine, a circular wire increased; and then passes through the hands of sieve, where they are exposed to running water, women, called pickers, who, with proper instruand cleansed. They are next conveyed to the ments, remove knots, dirt, or other imperfections. mill: there they are put into a large vat or cistern, It is then sized, without which operation it would through which clear water is constantly flowing. not bear ink or any liquid. The sheets are just In this cistern is placed a cylinder, about two feet dipped into the size, and taken out again. The in length, set thick round with rows of iron spikes, exact degree of sizing is a matter of nicety, to be placed as near as may be, without touching each understood only through experience. The paper other. At the bottom of the trough are corres-is hung up to dry a second time; and when this ponding rows of spikes. The cylinder is made to whirl round with great rapidity; and the iron teeth rend and tear the rags in every possible direction. At length, with the softening assistance of the water, they are thoroughly masticated, and reduced to a fine pulp; while, by the same process, all their impurities are washed away, and they are left perfectly white. This operation is performed in about six hours. For the sake of color, a quantity of common light blue, or azure, is sometimes added, which gives the paper a bluish cast. This practice, however, was not formerly in use; and now generally is rejected, as in the paper that bears these observations.

The fine pulp is next put into a copper of warm water. This is the substance of paper, to which a form is now to be given by means of a mould. This utensil bears a general resemblance to a sieve. In the old manner, its surface was composed of wire bars, crossed with others of a finer texture, the form of which may be discovered by holding paper, made on such moulds, to the light. It is by these wires, which take from the thickness of the paper, and consequently give a transparency, that what are called the water-marks are produced; and the water-marks may be of any form, according to the wire-worker's design; as is exemplified in the modern bank-paper. The paper, however, which is called wire-wove, and that used for drawing, and which has no other mark than the maker's name, is made upon moulds, the wired

object is completed, it is taken to the finishing room, when the faulty sheets are rejected, and the perfect pressed in dry presses, which give them their ordinary degree of smoothness; counted into quires and reams; and packed for sale to the stationer, by whom they are retailed to the public. The stationer also cuts the edges, and causes it, for various purposes, to be gilt or hot-pressed; which latter operation is performed by means of heated copper plates. The whole process at the papermill occupies about three weeks. The part performed by the power of the mill itself, is that of reducing the rags to a pulp, as above described.

PAPER CURRENCY, or PAPER MONEY. A substitute for coin issued on the credit of government in the shape of bank notes, of which there was as much as twenty-five millions in circulation at one time, in England.

PAPER MAKING. An art by which fibrous and other materials are so combined as to form different kinds of paper. There are above six hundred paper mills in Great Britain, and about two and a half millions of reams made annually. This article is extensively manufactured in the United States.

PAPER MULBERRY. A plant which rarely grows more than seven feet in height, and about the thickness of four fingers: it affords clothing to

a part of the human species. The female inhabi- | balloon at a high elevation. This contrivance was tants of the island of Tongolaboo, in the South first thought of by Blanchard who at different Sea, take the tender stalks of the paper mulberry, times, by means of the parachute, let fall from his and strip the bark, and scrape off the exterior rind; balloon dogs and other animals. He ventured after which the bark is rolled up, and steeped for even to descend in this manner himself; but, some time in water; it is then beaten with a square whether from the bad construction of his parachute, instrument of wood, full of coarse grooves. After or from falling among trees, he had the misfortune repeating the operation, it is spread out to dry; to break one of his legs. Citizen Garnerin, as he the pieces being from four to six or seven feet in chooses to be called, was more successful. On length, and about half as broad. They join these the 21st of October, 1797, he ascended from the pieces together with the glutinous juice of a berry, garden de Mausseux at half past five in the and stain them with a juice extracted from the evening. Between the balloon and the car, in bark of a tree, called kokka. They proceed, which he sat, was placed the parachute, half openjoining and staining by degrees, till a piece of cloth, ed, and forming a kind of tent over the aerial travof the requisite length, is obtained. eller; and when the whole apparatus was at a considerable height, he separated the parachute and car from the balloon, the parachute unfolding itself, was, by his weight and that of the car, drawn of course towards the earth. Its fall was at first rapid and vertical; but soon afterwards it exhibited a kind of balancing or vibration, and a rotation gradually increasing, which might be compared with that of a leaf falling from a tree. The aeronaut, however, reached the ground unhurt.

PAPIST. One professing the Roman Catholic religion. Severe laws were made in England, after the Reformation, against the Papists, as they were technically termed, but they have since been repealed, as the necessity for them ceased.

PAPPOSE PLANTS. In Gardening, are all those which have a downy kind of flowers, or a sort of feathery crown of the same nature, which adheres to the seeds of many of them, as are exemplified in the lettuce, the dandelion, the sowthistle, groundsel, and some other sorts. A great many of these kinds of plants also produce compound flowers, the seeds of which are furnished with a portion of this downy substance adhering to the top part of each, so as in some degree to resemble a shuttle-cock, being naturally framed for flying, in order to spread and disseminate the seed, and transport it to considerable distances by the wind, so that it may be sown and deposited in different soils and situations, instead of being confined to a single spot.

Among this class of plants are some of the most troublesome weeds, the seeds of which are, by the means which they thus possess, carried and scattered in the gardens and fields, to the great inconvenience and trouble of the gardener and farmer.

PARABLE. Sometimes a mere simile, but usually a series of them, or a tale made up of similes. The parable differs from the allegory by the circumstance of being less symbolical. The original idea is not kept so completely out of sight. From the fable proper it differs by being taken from the province of reality. Fine parables are contained in the Old and New Testament; this mode of instruction, in fact, is very common with the Eastern nations; e. g. the parable which Nathan addressed to David, Christ's parable of the prodigal son, of the laborers in the vineyard, of the faithless steward. Herder and Krummacher have distinguished themselves among the German writers by their parables.

PARABOLA. In Conic Sections, a curve made by cutting a cone by a plane, parallel to one of its sides, or parallel to a plane that touches one side of the cone.

PARACHUTE. A kind of large and strong umbrella, contrived to break a person's fall from an air balloon, should any accident happen to the

This parachute was of cloth, and its diameter, when unfolded, about twenty-five feet. To use such instruments with success, it is necessary that the car be suspended at a considerable distance from the parachute, so as that the centre of gravity of the whole shall be vertically below the centre of resistance made by the air to the descent of the parachute; for if the car be otherwise placed, it is evident that the parachute will incline to one side, descend obliquely, oscillate, and the smallest irregularity in its figure will cause it to turn round its vertical axis.

PARADISE. Paradise is principally used for the garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed immediately upon their creation. As to this terrestrial paradise, there have been many inquiries about its situation. It has been placed in the third heaven, in the orb of the moon, in the moon itself, in the middle region of the air, above the earth, under the earth, in the place possessed by the Caspian sea, and under the arctic pole. The learned Huetius places it upon the river that is produced by the conjunction of the Tigris and Euphrates, now called the river of the Arabs, between this conjunction and the division made by the same river before it falls into the Persian sea. Other geographers have placed it in Armenia, between the sources of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxis, and the Phasis, which they suppose to be the four rivers described by Moses. But concerning the exact place we must necessarily be very uncertain, if indeed it can be thought at all to exist at present, considering the many changes which have taken place on the surface of the earth since the creation.

PARADISE, BIRD OF. The great beauty of this bird's plumage, and the deformity of its legs, have been the means of giving rise to a variety of fabulous tales. The savage inhabitants of the Molucca Islands, of which the bird of paradise is a native, perceiving the eagerness with which the Europeans purchased this favorite bird, resolved

to make it appear different from any other of the feathered race; and, by cutting off the legs with some degree of ingenuity, asserted that it lived wholly in the air; and this improbable invention was actually believed.

above country, and is extremely useful both as food and medicine. It is a middle sized tree, resembling an orange tree and tasting like mallows. The leaves are the part chiefly used. The natives make three gatherings annually; first, of the buds, before they unfold into leaves; these are reckoned best, but soonest decay: second, of the full grown leaves, at their first expansion; and third, of the leaves, when they have remained on the tree for some time after they are fully blown. These leaves Quantities to the value of £100,000 are annually exported to Peru and Chili. These trees grow naturally in the morasses on the east bank of the Paraguay; but are now dispersed and cultivated all over the country. The leaves are thus used; being dried and reduced almost to powder, they are put into a cup, with sugar and lemon juice; boiling water is then poured on, and the infusion drank. They are said to be of service in all disorders of the head, breast, and stomach; to allay hunger, and to purify all kinds of water; to preserve the miners from the noxious effect of the minerals; and to be a sovereign remedy in scurvy and putrid fevers.

Of this bird there are two kinds, the most common of which is about the size of a pigeon, and the other not larger than a lark: the head, throat, and neck, are of a pale gold color, though the hinder part of the former is of a shining green; the body and wings are a beautiful brown, inter-are roasted, and kept in pits under ground for sale. mixed with purple and gold; the upper part of the tail feathers are a pale yellow, but the under ones, which are longer, are a delicate white. Yet, what chiefly excites the observation of the curious, are two long naked feathers, which spring from the upper part of the back, near the tail: these feathers are usually three feet in length, bearded only at the beginning and end; the shaft of which is a deep black, but the feathered part is changeable, like the mallard's neck.

These birds, which for beauty exceed all others of the pie kind, associate in large flocks in the Molucca Isles: but, in the island of Aro, they are still more abundantly found: and, as the country where they breed has its tempestuous seasons, when rains and thunder continually disturb the atmosphere, they are supposed at those periods to seek a more tranquil clime, and are never seen in the air until it becomes composed.

The natives, who make a trade of killing and selling the bird of paradise to Europeans, hide themselves in those trees to which they resort, and contrive to conceal their persons, by forming a bower of the branches which are over their heads, from which they shoot at their prey with reedy arrows, that only slightly damage the beauty of their plumes; they then take out every part of their entrails, and run a hot iron up their body, which dries up the juice; and, after filling them with salts and spice, they offer them for public sale.

It is asserted by the natives, that each flock of these curious birds is under the dominion of one, that is considered as king, and that this is distinguished by a peculiar brilliance of plumage, which the natives themselves can easily discern; and if the fowlers are able to destroy their monarch, the rest of the flock quickly become their prey.

PARADOX. An opinion apparently absurd or contradictory, although sometimes true in fact.

PARALLAX. A change in the apparent place of any heavenly body when seen from different points of view.

PARALLELS. Parallels, or parallel circles, in Geography, called also parallels or circles of latitude, are lesser circles of the sphere, conceived to be drawn from west to east, through all the points of the meridian, commencing from the equator, to which they are parallel, and terminating at the poles. They are called parallels of latitude, because all places lying under the same parallel have the same latitude.

PARALLELOGRAM. In Geometry, is a quadrilateral right lined figure, whose opposite sides are parallel to each other. A parallelogram may be conceived as generated by the motion of a right line, along a plane, always parallel to itself. Parallelograms have several particular denominations, and are of several species, according to certain particular circumstances, as follow:

When the angles of the parallelogram are right ones it is called a rectangle. When the angles are right, and all its sides equal, it is a square. When the sides are equal, but the angles oblique ones, the figure is a rhombus or lozenge. And when both the sides and angles are unequal, it is a rhomboides. PARAPHERNALIA. Paraphernalia are the

PARAGAUDE. Among the Romans, a sort of wreaths, either wholly of gold, or of silk adorned with gold, which were interwoven in garments and not sewed to them. The garment was some-woman's apparel, jewels, and other things, which, times of one color, in which was woven one paragaude; others were of two colors, and had two paragaudæ; and some had three colors, and three paragaudæ. They were worn both by men and

women.

PARAGRAPH. A collection of sentences comprehended between one break and another.

PARAGUAY, or PARAGUAY TEA TREE. In Botany, a tree which grows naturally in the

in the lifetime of her husband, she wore as the ornaments of her person, to be allowed by the discretion of the court, according to the quality of her and her husband. The husband cannot devise such ornaments and jewels of his wife, though during his life he has power to dispose of them. But if she continues in the use of them till his death, she shall afterwards retain them against his executors and administrators, legatees, and all other persons, except creditors, where there is a deficiency of assets.

PARAPHRASE. The setting forth of the sense of a writing in a more clear and ample manner than is given in the original. When the original is in a foreign language, the paraphrase differs from a mere translation, in the circumstance that the object of the paraphrase is always to explain or to develope more fully the meaning of the original. A paraphrase of the Lord's prayer for instance, is a composition in which the ideas of the prayer are applied more particularly to the duties of life, or set forth more in detail.

PARASITE. Among the Ancients, a guest invited by the priest to eat of the sacrifice; a trencher friend, or hanger on at the tables of the great, who lives by flattery.

PARASOL. It appears from ancient monuments and descriptions that this well known instrument, or something exceedingly resembling it, was used among the ancients, not for the purpose so much of preservation from the rays of the sun as in religious ceremonies and processions. In the festivals of Ceres and Minerva, the young females who celebrated them bore, among other sacred instruments, the parasol: it was, in fact, one of the most ancient marks of dignity that we find indicated either by relics of art or by authors. In process of time, when the Romans began to lay aside the simple habits of their forefathers, the parasol, by a natural transition, began to be used for the purpose to which it is still applied. The matrons, particularly, used to be followed by slaves, whose office was to protect the delicacy of their charms by intercepting the solar heat by the agreeable shade of the parasols. They were constructed of wands, or twigs, disposed in such a manner as to admit of their being put up or down, in much the same way as those used at the present day. The substance employed, was often of rich stuff, such as silk, &c., of showy colors, and elegantly embroidered. In many countries, where the sun is powerful, it is well known that parasols are used by men, as well as women.

whence it was known among the Latins by the name of Pergamena. The term membrana was also applied by them to parchment. The Hebrews had books written on the skins of animals in David's time; and Herodotus relates that the Ionians, from the earliest period, wrote upon goat and sheepskin, from which the hair had merely been scraped off. These facts show that parchment was not invented at Pergamus, but it was much improved there, and first made in large quantities as an article of trade. Parchment was at first yellow; it was afterwards made white in Rome. At present any color can be given to it.

PARDON. In Law, the remitting the punishment for any felony committed against the law.

PARENTHESIS. Parenthesis is defined, certain intercalary words, inserted in a discourse, which interrupt the sense, but seem necessary for the better understanding of the subject. But this is not a definition of the parenthesis, but of the sentences included in it. Dr. Johnson's is strictly accurate. The parenthesis are often misapplied by authors and printers, by being made to enclose words at the end of a sentence, where they are quite unnecessary, and still more, when they are made to enclose clauses without which the sentence is incomplete.

PARHELIUM, or PARHELION.

A mock

sun or meteor, being a part of the heavens strongly illuminated by the image of the sun, and appearing like another sun, but often colored and drawn out to a considerable length, in the form of a tail.

The parhelia usually accompany the coronæ, or luminous circles, and are placed in the same circumference, and at the same height. Their colors resemble those of the rainbow; the red and yellow are on the side towards the sun, and the blue and violet on the other. Though there are coronæ sometimes seen entire, without any parhelia; and sometimes parhelia without coronæ.

The apparent size of parhelia is the same as that of the true sun; but they are not always round, nor always so bright as the sun; and, when several appear, some are more bright than others. They are tinged externally with colors like the rainbow, and many of them have a long fiery tail opposite to the sun, but paler towards the extremity. Some parhelia have been observed with two, and others with three tails. These tails appear for the most part in a white horizontal circle, which generally passes through all the parhelia; and, if it were entire, would go through the centre of the sun. Sometimes there are arcs of lesser circles, concentric to this, touching those colored circles which surround the sun. They are also tinged with colors, and contain other parhelia. Parhelia are generally situated in the intersections of circles; but Cassini says that those which he saw, in 1683, were on the outside of the colored circle, though the tails were in the circle that was parallel to the horizon.

PARCHMENT. Parchment, used for writing, is prepared from the skins of sheep and goats. These, after being steeped in pits impregnated with lime, are stretched upon frames, and reduced by scraping and paring with sharp instruments. Pulverized chalk is rubbed on with a pumice stone resembling a muller, which smooths and softens the skin, and improves its color. After it is reduced to something less than half its original thick ness, it is smoothed and dried for use. Vellum is a similar substance to parchment, made from the skins of very young calves. Next to the papyrus, the skins of animals, in the form of parchment and vellum, were extensively used for writing by the ancients from a remote period. When Eumenes, or Attalus, attempted to found a library at Pergamus, 200 years B. C., which should rival the famous Alexandrian library, one of the Ptolemies, then king of Egypt, jealous of his success, made a decree prohibiting the exportation of papyrus. The inhabitants of Pergamus set about manufac- PARK. In England, an enclosure stocked turing parchment as a substitute, and formed their with wild beasts of chase, which a man might have library principally of manuscripts on this material, by prescription, or the king's grant.

Toster, in his palace by the Thames, had learned many words from the passengers who took water at that place. One day, sporting on his perch, the poor bird fell into the stream, at the same time calling, as loud as he could, 'a boat! twenty pounds for a boat!' A waterman, hearing the cry, made to the place where the parrot was floating, and, taking him up, restored him to the king. As it was known the bird was a favorite, the man insist ed that he ought to have a reward rather equal to his services than his trouble; and as the parrot had cried twenty pounds, he said the king was in honor bound to grant it. The king agreed to leave it to the parrot's determination; which the bird hearing, instantly cried out, 'Give the knave a groat.'

Though some of these birds are tough and illtasted, yet the tribe of paroquets are very delicate food; but even the flavor of these is improved, or injured, according to what they may happen to eat. When the gnava is ripe, they are in high season; and, if they feed upon the acajon-seed, they imbibe a garlic taste; if upon spices, the clove and Willoughby tells us, that a parrot, belonging to cinnamon prevail; and if upon berries that are King Henry VII., who then resided at Westmin-bitter, their flesh acquires that unpleasant taste.