Single-source entries: P (10)

Parama-Hamsas

(See India .)

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Parapet

in architecture, a wall raised breast high; the upper part of a house which is above the springing of a roof and guards the gutter; the upper part of a well, a bridge, a terrace, or balcony, etc. Parapets around the flat roofs of houses in the East are of very ancient date. Also a breast-high defense of earth or stone around a work for shielding troops from the enemy's fire. It is so formed that the earth of the excavation is sufficient for the ramparts and parapets. Inside is the body of the place; outside are the ditch, glacis, etc.

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Paraphrase

a free translation or rendering of a passage; a restatement of a passage, sentence, or work, in which the sense of the original is retained, but expressed in other words, and generally more fully, for the purpose of clearer and fuller explanation; a setting forth in ampler and clearer terms of the signification of a text, passage, or word. In Scotland it is applied specially to 67 versifications of Scripture passages used with psalms and hymns in divine worship.

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Parasang

a Persian measure of length, varying in different places from 30 to 60 stadia. According to Herodotus it was 30 stadia, i. e., about 3% English miles. Used to denote a long distance, as we say a mile.

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Pardo Bazan

EMILIA, COUNT- ESS OF. Spanish novelist. She was born at La Coruña, Galicia, in 1851, and after marrying José Quiroga, lived in Madrid, later journeying in several European countries. She edited a journal in Madrid, "Nuevo Teatro Crítico," and wrote essays voluminously. Her books made her a considerable figure early and she was eventually made a countess and given a responsible position in Public Instruction. Her works include: "Pascuel López"; "Un Viaje de Novios"; "Los Pazos de Ulloa"; "El Cisne de Vilamorta"; "La Madre Naturaleza"; some of them translated into English. PARDON. The pardoning power is a prerogative of the sovereign power in a state, whether representative or monarchical. In the United States the pardoning power for offenses against the general government is vested in the President, the authority being delegated by the people through the medium of the Constitution of the country. For offenses against the States the pardoning power is vested in the several governors, or as in a few cases, the governor and State legislature conjointly. The signification of pardon is to be differentiated from that of amnesty, which latter is the obliteration of a peculiar line of offenses arising on a special occasion, and does not bar prosecution for offenses other than those specified, while pardon includes all offenses of which a person may have up to date been guilty and absolves the offender entirely.

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Pardubitz

a town of Czecho- Slovakia, at the junction of the Chrudimka and the Elbe rivers. Prior to the World War it was in a province of Bohemia and part of the former Austro- Hungarian empire. It has a palace, several churches and public institutions. Before the war there were manufactories of spirits, sugar, agricultural implements, lumber and flour. Pop. (1910) 20,419.

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Parent

a term of relationship applicable to those from whom we immediately receive our being. Parents, by the law of the land, as well as by the law of nature, are bound to educate, maintain, and defend their children, over whom they have a legal as well as a natural power; they likewise have interests in the profits of their children's labor, during their nonage, in case the children live with and are provided for by them; yet the parent has no interest in the real or personal estate of a child, otherwise than as his guardian.

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Parenthesis

a sentence or part of a sentence inserted in the middle of another sentence, with the subject of which it is cognate, but from which it may be omitted without impairing the grammatical construction or the substantial meaning. It is commonly marked off by upright curved lines ( ), but frequently also by dashes

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Paresis

a form of paralysis, called softening of the brain, characterized by chronic progressive psychosis, affecting the nervous system in early adult life, with increasing mental degeneration, ending in death. The indication of the disorder is first shown in the moods of the patient, who becomes irritable, slovenly, and distrait. Detail loses attraction for him, and he is full of grandiose plans, new in him, and beyond his ordinary capacity. With increasing incapacity a sense of his own importance is gradually developed, and he revels in

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Paria

GULF imaginary magnificence, either anticipatory or retrospective. Meanwhile his physical condition is lowered, and he becomes increasingly unable to attend to his own wants. His irritability may lead him into unrestrained profanity of language or indecency of behavior. There are strong emotional periods. His limbs and features tremble, articulation becomes impaired, as well as the power of writing. Finally, after a period seldom extending over five years, paralysis and convulsions bring death from exhaustion, though a complication of diseases is apt to hasten the process. The disease is much more frequent in men than in women, and is apt to first show itself in the late thirties or the forties. The almost invariable cause is now believed to be syphilis, aggravated by alcoholic or similar excess, sunstroke, and injury to the nervous system. In the early stages rest, diversion, diet and hydropathic treatment will help the patient. In the later stages constant attendance at home or in a hospital becomes imperative.

GULF OF, an inlet of the Atlantic on the N. E. coast of South America, between the island of Trinidad and mainland of Venezuela, inclosed on the N. by the Peninsula of Paria. It possesses good anchorage, and receives some arms of the Orinoco.

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Pariah

in southern India, one of that section of the community with which even the lowest recognized castes will not eat, though there are Hindus inferior even to the pariahs. The latter are Turanian, and originally constituted that section of the aborigines of the S. of India who submitted to the Aryan and other conquerors during the successive invasions of the land. Many pariahs are servants of Europeans, s, hence more civilized than the castes above them; and a number of them have embraced Christianity.

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