Perga
An ancient and important city of Pamphylia. It was the first place in Asia Minor visited by the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey. 2026 Editor's Note: Located in modern-day Antalya, Turkey, Perga was the birthplace of the mathematician Apollonius of Perga , renowned for his foundational work on conic sections. The city's ruins are notable for a unique Roman water system featuring a long central channel with cascading pools that cooled the main street. (Ed: BR 2026-06-23)
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Peri
according to the mythical lore of the East, a being begotten by fallen spirits, which spends its life in all imaginable delights, is immortal, but is forever excluded from the joys of Paradise. It takes an intermediate place between angels and demons, and is either male or female. The Peris live in constant warfare with the Devs. Otherwise, they are of the most innocuous character to mankind, and are just like the fairies. They belong to the great family of genii, or Jinn.
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Periander
one of the seven reputed sages of Greece, a tyrant of Corinth, who succeeded his father, Cypselus, 625 B. c., and died with the reputation of an able ruler, 585 B. C. He was a man of licentious manners, and, in the latter part of his reign, became a cruel ruler.
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Perianth
the envelope surrounding the reproductive organs in a flower, when the calyx and corolla are not easily discriminated. Example, the petaloid or dition against Sicyon and Acarnania; colored portion of a lily.
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Peridote
a name given by jewelers to the green transparent varieties of olivine. It is usually some shade of olive-green or leek-green. Peridote is found in Brazil, Ceylon, Egypt, and Pegu. It is a very soft gem stone, difficult to polish, and, when polished, liable to lose its luster and to suffer by wear.
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Perihelion
or PERIHELIUM, the part of a planet's or comet's orbit where it is nearest the sun, as opposed to aphelion. One of these is said to be in perihelion when it is at the extremity of the major axis of the elliptical orbit nearest the focus occupied by the sun.
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Perim
a barren island, and coaling and telegraph station, belonging to Great Britain, in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, at the S. entrance to the Red Sea, 97 miles W. of Aden. It is about 3½ miles long by 2½ wide, and crescent shaped, the two horns embracing a deep and spacious harbor. The island was held by the British in 1799-1800, and was again occupied in 1857. In 1883 it was made a coaling station, and soon began to be a rival to Aden. the
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Perimeter
in geometry, bounds or limits of any figure or body. The perimeters of surfaces or figures are lines; those of bodies are surfaces.
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Period (Geology one of the largest)
in geology, one of the largest divisions of geological time. In this sense there are at least three periods, the Primary, the Secondary, and the Tertiary periods, to which a fourth or Quaternary one is sometimes added; also subdivisions; as, the Glacial period. In mathematics, a number of figures considered together; one of two or more sets of figures or terms marked off by points or commas placed regularly after a certain number, as in numeration, in circulating decimals, or in the extraction of roots. In music, two or more phrases ending with a perfect cadence. In pathology, an interval more or less fixed in point of time at which the paroxysms of In printing, the full a fever, etc., recur. stop (.) which marks the end of a sensto tence in punctuating, or indicates an abbreviation, as Mr., Mr., Jan., B. C., etc. In rhetoric, a complete sentence from one full stop to another; a sentence so constructed as to have all its parts mutually dependent.
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Periodicity
the disposition of cerin decaying wood. Several species are tain things or phenomena to recur at known, from the West Indies, the Cape of stated periods. It denotes the regular Good Hope, South America, and New or nearly regular recurrence of certain Zealand. phenomena of animal life, such as sleep PERIPHERY. See CIRCUMFERENCE.
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Periophthalmus
a Gobiidæ, from the coasts of the Indoits most elementary form it is a tube in Pacific, remarkable for their prominent each end of which are reflecting surfaces retractile eyes, which enable them to see set parallel to each other at an angle of in the air as well as in the water, and for 45° with the axis of the tube. This form their strong ventral and pectoral fins, by of periscope, with the addition of a simple the aid of which they can hop freely over lens, was much used for observation purthe ground, when they leave the water, poses in the trenches during the World as is their habit at ebb tide, to hunt War. small crustaceans. The species are few HOOD in number; but P. koelreuteri is one of (A)OBJECTIVE the commonest fishes of the Indian (PL) PRISM
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Periosteum
a dense lining mem- (9) LENS brane covering the whole surface of bone, except the articulations, which have (U)LENS thin cartilaginous layer. As long single portion tion of periosteum INNER TUBE remains alive alive bone is capable of being (U2) LENS OUTER TUBE
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Periostitis
inflammation of the periosteum, a painful ailment frequently (B)210 1 GEARING brought on by sudden exposure to cold
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Peripatetic
the name given to (02) LENS the followers of the Aristotelian philosophy. Aristotle partly adopted the re- (PA) LENS AND sults of Plato, and made them available ERECTING PRISM for the world. Both teachers admitted that science could only be formed from Universals, but Aristotle took the view WHEEL FOR afterward called Nominalist, and con- ROTATING tended that such Universals were noth TUBE ing more than inductions from particular EYE (02) PIECE facts. He thus made experience the basis of all science. In the Middle Ages, DIAGRAM OF PERISCOPE Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) did much to spread the Peripatetic philosophy, as The principle of the periscope of a well as the ethical and physical writings submarine is essentially the same-reof Aristotle, and his pupil, St. Thomas flecting prisms and several lenses are Aquinas (1227-1274), the greatest of the used, and a collecting eye piece is placed Scholastics, was much influenced by at the lower end. This type of periscope them. The study of the works of Arisis protected by a casing tube and head. totle was greatly revived in the 19th cen- A system of gears is used to turn the tury, and those of St. Thomas Aquinas inner tube, in order that it may be were specially recommended to clerical trained upon a desired point. students by Pope Leo XIII. Although the periscope in some form has been known for centuries, its development into an efficient instrument has been comparatively recent.
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