More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Paganini
Aiton's Encyclopedia: pa-ga-nee'nee (1784-1840), an Italian violinist. A native of Genoa. Paganini is considered the most wonderful violinist of Italy or any country. Aside from real talent he developed ability to do astonishing feats in technique. For instance, he would remove all but the G string from his violin and render pieces too difficult for anybody else to play with all the strings. He exhibited in the cities of Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and Great Britain . Monarchs and courts loaded him with favors. He retired in wealth to a villa near Parma. Of his compositions the most noted is The Carnival of Venice. See Violin ; Bull ; Ole
Collier's New Encyclopedia: NICOLO, an Italian violist born in Genoa, 1784. His father was a distinguished musical amateur. From 1813, when he went to Milan, dates his marvelous performance on a string which later amazed great audiences in Germany, France, and England. He realized large sums of money by his playing which were gambled away. His last years were spent at his villa near Parma. Died in Nice in 1840.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Pain
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a sensation, carried by a nerve to the brain, of injury done to some part of the body. Though varying from mere discomfort to intense agony, pain is essential as a means of calling attention to the need of movement. Were it not for pain, one might hold his hand in the fire until it was burned to a crisp without knowing it. The pain from an injury to a nerve in any part of its course seems to originate at the end. Soldiers whose limbs have been amputated say that irritation of the stump seems at first to give pain to their lost fingers or toes. See Nervous System
Collier's New Encyclopedia: an uneasy sensation of body, resulting from particular impressions made on the extremities of the nerves transmitted to the brain. It is often of great service in aiding the physician at arriving at a correct diagnosis of a disease, and still more obviously in frequently being the only intimation which a patient has of the fact of there being a disease which demands a remedy.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Palamedes
1000 Classical Characters: A Grecian chief, son of Nauplius, king of Euboea, and Clymene. He was sent by the Greek princes, who were going to the Trojan war, to bring Ulysses to the camp, who, to withdraw himself from the expedition, had pretended to be insane. Palamedes soon penetrated the deception, and Ulysses was obliged to join in the war, but an inveterate enmity arose between the two, and by an unworthy artifice Ulysses procured the death of Palamedes. Palamedes is accredited with the invention of dice, backgammon, and other games. 2026 Editor's Note: Palamedes is associated with the invention of dice, numbers, and letters in Greek mythology. The name was later used in Arthurian legend for Sir Palamedes , a Saracen Knight of the Round Table. (Ed: BR 2026-06-09)
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a Grecian hero, the son of Nauplius, King of Eubœa.
Covered by 1000 Classical Characters and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Palimpsest
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a piece of parchment whose original writing has been removed to fit it for a subsequent record.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Parchment
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Pallas
Collier's New Encyclopedia: in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom. Her attributes and character were similar to those of the Roman Minerva.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Athene
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Palmetto
Aiton's Encyclopedia: palm trees, chiefly of the West Indies , Florida, and the Carolinas. There are several species, but the name is restricted usually to the palmetto tree, twenty to eighty feet in height. Instead of a clean palm trunk, the first leaves break off a foot or two from the stem. Their adhering bases give the lower ten to twenty feet of the trunk a peculiar bristly, ragged appearance. The crown terminal bud of the palmetto is a substitute for cabbage. The leaves are cut for palm-leaf fans. The trunk is used for wharf piling on account of its ability to withstand the attacks of the dreaded teredo or borer. The trunks are used also in constructing temporary fortifications. A cannon ball buries itself harmlessly in the pithy, cork-like wood of the logs, without throwing splinters or dislodging them. Palmetto hats are made from the stripped leaves of another, the palmyra palm. South Carolina is called the Palmetto State.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a fan palm growing in part of the United States. Its leaves the West Indies, Bermuda, and the S. are woven into hats, like those made of chip. The trunks form good stockades, and were used for the purpose during the War of Independence. Also Chamærops humilis, a palm from southern Europe.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Pampas
Collier's New Encyclopedia: properly treeless pasture land covered with grass, but used more comprehensively for the whole table-land of South America, from the boundary of Brazil, where the regular seasons of the tropics cease, across the states of La Plata and Patagonia nearly to Cape Horn. It may be divided into three botanical zones: the Interior Northwestern Chanar-steppe, the True Pampas, and the Southern Plains of Patagonia. PAMPAS GRASS (Gynerium argenteum), a grass which grows in the pampas in the S. parts of South America. It has been introduced into Europe as an ornamental plant.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: pam'paz, certain open grassy plains of South America . The term is synonymous with llanos. From the uplands of Patagonia they run northward through Argentina, embracing an area of 300,000 square miles. As a whole, the district is lacking in moisture for agricultural purposes, but is admirably adapted to grazing. Cattle and sheep live on the grasses the year around, without other feed or shelter. See Llanos ; Steppe
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Panther
Collier's New Encyclopedia: one of the Felidæ or cat tribe, of a yellow color, diversified with roundish black spots, a native of Asia and Africa. The name panther (in vulgar language painter) is given to the puma in America.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Cougar The panther of Old World literature is the leopard.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Parachute
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a device by which a descent is made from a balloon or an eminence. It is a light structure, and affords a large area of resistance to the atmosphere. It is usually in shape like an umbrella, 20 to 25 feet in diameter. It remains closed like an umbrella wter the balloon to which it is attached is ascending, opening as soon as the descent begins, the expanded top serving to moderate its velocity. It was sometimes used by aviators during the World War (1914-1918) to escape from damaged aeroplanes. Every observation balloon used in the war was equipped with parachutes.
American Watchmaker and Jeweler: A mechanical contrivance used in some of the older watches, by which the endstone was held against the hole jewel by a spring sufficiently weak that if the watch received an extraordinary shock the endstones would yield and thus save the pivot from harm. Said to be the invention of Breguet.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and American Watchmaker and Jeweler