Parmmides

Parmmides, a Grecian philosopher, born in Elea in Italy about 513 B. C. He was the instructor of Empedocles and Zeno. He went to Athens at the age of 65, and Plato called him "the great," and Aristotle deemed him the chief of the Eleatics. His philosophical opinions (see Eleatio School) are embodied in a hexameter poem " On Nature," fragments of which have been published by Fiilleborn (Zurich, 1795), by Peyron (Leipsic, 1810), and by Karsten in Philosophorum Grcecorum Vete-rum Reliquim (Brussels, 1835).

Parnassus

Parnassus, in ancient geography, a mountain range of central Greece, which commenced near (Eta and Corax, and, traversing Doris and Phocis in a S. E. direction, terminated at the Corinthian gulf. In a more restricted sense the name is applied only to the highest part of the range, which lies a few miles N. of Delphi in Phocis, and culminates in Mt. Lycorea (now Liakura, 8,068 ft. high). Its sides are well wooded and abound in caverns and picturesque ravines. Snow lies on the summit the greater part of the year. Apollo and the Muses were said to make this mountain their favorite haunt, and the latter held here their assemblies. The Castalian spring, in which the Pythia used to bathe, sprang from a cleft in the rocks between two of the summits. The Corycian cave, sacred to Pan and the Muses, was on Mt. Lycorea. Parnassus was also sacred to Bacchus, and the theatre of the Bacchanalian revels of the Thyades.

Parol

Parol (Norman Fr., a spoken word), as an adjective, in law, by word of mouth, not written. (See Contract, Evidence, and .Frauds, Statute of).

Parotid Gland

See Salivary Glands.

Parry Sound

See Melville Sound.

Parry Sound #1

Parry Sound, a judicial district of Ontario, Canada, on the E. shore of Georgian bay; area, 3,420 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 1,519. It is watered by the outlet of Lake Nipissing and several other streams. Capital, Parry Sound.

Parsonstown, Or Birr

Parsonstown, Or Birr, a town of King's co., Ireland, 69 m. W. S. W. of Dublin; pop. in 1871, 4,939. It contains two national schools (one for girls and one for boys), a hospital, a reading room, and a mechanics' institute. Near it is Birr castle, the residence of the earl of Rosse, with his celebrated observatory.

Parthenon

See Athens.

Parthenope

Parthenope, in mythology, a siren, after whom the city of Neapolis in Campania (Naples) was believed to have originally borne the same name. The short-lived republic into which the French in 1799 transformed the Neapolitan kingdom was hence named the Par-thenopean.

Partridge Wood

Partridge Wood, a wood imported from South America and some parts of the West Indies for the use of cabinet makers, by whom it is prized for fine work. It is reddish, beautifully marked with parallel lines and streaks of a darker color. Its toughness also makes it valuable for umbrella sticks and similar uses. Several trees, of different families, have been credited with furnishing this wood, and it is likely that the product of two or more different trees is known in commerce under the same name. According to Guibourt, the government museums in France have- specimens under the name of low de perdrix which belong to different trees, and the wood known in the Paris market by that name appears to be different from the partridge wood of the London dealers. These woods are apparently from trees of the family of leguminosm; andira in-ermis seems to furnish one of them, but the matter is involved in much confusion.