Papier-Mache
a material composed principally of paper. The commoner varieties are prepared by pulping any kind or mixture of different kinds of paper into a homogeneous mass of a doughy consistence. Some earthy material may be mixed with the pulp, as well as chemicals, resinous substances, and glue to harden it and prevent the attacks of insects. The pulp is rolled into thick sheets, and a sufficient quantity is taken to form the article of ornament desired; this is subjected to heavy pressure between cameo and intaglio dies and afterward dried. Its surface may now be gilded, painted with oil or size colors, or varnished. The toughness and lightness of this material peculiarly adapt it for table ware, table and desk furniture, interior architectural and other ornaments.
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Papilio
a butterfly; in entomology, the typical genus of the family Papilionidæ. It has long antennæ and very short palpi. About 500 species are known, many of them from Africa and the Eastern Archipelago. PAPUA. See NEW GUINEA.
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Para
a city of Brazil. It is on the Para River, one of the mouths of the Amazon. The other mouths are obstructed by sandbars and are difficult of navigation by reason of great tidal waves. Para is sixty-five miles from the open sea, but the estuary is deep, and wharves of concrete, backed by filled land, are under way , permitting ships to tie up in thirty feet of water. Para has a unique situation. It is unlikely to have a rival on a thousand miles of coast line. It is 3,000 miles from the head of navigation of the Amazon; 3,000 miles from Buenos Ayres ; 3,000 miles from New York ; 3,000 miles from Lisbon; and 4,000 miles from London. It commands the commerce, present and future, of the greatest and possibly the most fertile river basin in the world. Para is the world's headquarters for rubber. It now fixes the price of $100,000,000 worth of crude rubber yearly, and is preparing to go into the business of vulcanizing rubber and manufacturing rubber goods. Brazil has agreed to exempt such factories from taxation. In 1909 the port of Para was entered by seven lines of steamers, six running to Europe and one to New York. About half of the rubber is exported to the United States .
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Parable
a comparison, a similitude ; specifically a fable or allegorical relation or representation of something ( real in life or nature, from which a moral is drawn for instruction. An allegorical or mystical saying or expression; a proverb.
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Parabola
in conic sections, a plane curve of such a form that if from any point in the curve one straight line be drawn to a given fixed point, the other perpendicular to a straight line given in position, these two straight lines will al ways be equal to one another.
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Paraboloid
in geometry, a volume der, such that sections made by planes bounded by a surface of the second orpassed in certain directions are common parabolas. It is a characteristic property of paraboloids that they have no centers except in the extreme cases, when they have an infinite number of centers. There are three varieties of paraboloids, elliptical, hyperbolic, and parabolic. physician, and chemist; born in Einsie
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Paraclete
the being who, both in the authorized and revised versions of the New Testament, is called the "Comforter," alternative renderings being given in the margin of the latter. Ad vocate, Helper, Helper, or Paraclete. He is "the Spirit of Truth" (John xv: 26, xvi: 13), the Holy Ghost (xiv: 26). His function with regard to the world is to convict it in respect of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ( xvi: 8-11) ( Revised Version). Montanus in the 2d century, Manes in the 3d, and Mohammed in the 7th century, each claimed to be the promised Paraclete, whom none of the three, however, identified with the Holy Ghost.
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Paradise Fish
a popular name swelling separated by large for Macropus viridiauratus ( lacépède), from the East Indian Archipelago. Its coloration is brilliant and it is frequently found in aquaria.
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Paradiseide
birds of paradise; a family of passerine birds. The family differs from the Corvidæ, to which closely allied, in the outer being shorter than the middle, and longer than the inner toe, the hind toe being very large and equaling the middle in length. In his monograph on the family, D. G. Elliot divides it into three sub-families: Paradiseinæ, Epimachinæ, and Tectonarchinæ.
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Paradox
a tenet or statement contrary to received opinion; an assertion which is contrary to appearance, and seemingly absurd, impossible, or at variance with common sense, but which may, on examination, be found to be perfectly correct and well founded.
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Paradoxes
COUNTRY OF. Holland, where the ocean is higher than land.
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Paraguay (Large river of South America)
a large river of South America, an affluent of the Paraná, rises in the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso, 9,535 feet above sea-level. Pursuing a S. W. course, and after flowing through a level country covered with thick forests, the Paraguay is joined from the W. by the Jauru, in lat. 16° 30′ S. It then continues to flow S. through the marsh of Xarayes, which, during the season when the stream rises, is an expansive waste of waters, extending from N. to S. over about 200 miles. The river still pursues a circuitous but generally S. course, forming the boundary line between Brazil and Bolivia, thence flowing S. S. W. through the territories of Paraguay to its junction with the Paraná, a few miles above the town of Corrientes. Its chief affluents are the Cuyaba, Tacoary, Mondego, and Apa on yo, and the left; and the Jauru, Pilcomayo, Vermejo on the right. The entire length of the river is estimated at 1,800 miles; it is on an average about half a mile in width, and is navigable for steamers to the mouth of the Cuyaba, 100 miles above the town of Corumba.
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Parahyba
capital of the Brazilian state of Parahyba, on the river of the same name, 10 miles from the sea. Its chief buildings are the cathedral and the government palace (formerly the Jesuit college.) A large sugar mill was erected in 1889. At the mouth of the river is a bar; but a railway (12 miles) was built in 1889 to the port of Cabedello, there terminating in a pier in deep water. The annual exports are sugar, cotton, and cottonseed, chiefly to Great Britain. Pop. (1917) 32,000. The state, the east ernmost in the republic, has an area of 28,854 square miles, pop. (1917) 682,- 350. A more important Parahyba river farther south, enters the Atlantic, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, after a course of nearly 500 miles. It is navigable for 50 miles from its mouth.
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