The American Cyclopaedia Vol9 | by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana

The American Cyclopaedia - Popular Dictionary Of General Knowledge. Vol9

Title	The American Cyclopaedia
Author	George Ripley And Charles A. Dana
Publisher	D. Appleton And Company
Year	1873
Copyright	1873, D. Appleton And Company
Amazon	The New American Cyclopædia. 16 volumes complete.

The American Cyclopædia

Edited By George Ripley And Charles A. Dana.

Other spellings could be: Cyclopaedia, Cyclopedia, Encyclopædia, Encyclopaedia, Encyclopedia

New Zealand: New Zealand, a British colony consisting of three islands in the South Pacific ocean, called respectively North island or New Ulster, South island or New Munster, and Stewart island or New Leinster, a...

Newark: Newark, a port of entry and the chief city of New Jersey, capital of Essex co., situated on theW. bank of the Passaic river, 4 m. hove its entrance into Newark bay, and 9 in. W. of New York; pop. in 1...

Newark (2): Newark, a city and the capital of Licking co., Ohio, at the confluence of three branches of the Licking river, on the Ohio canal and on the Baltimore and Ohio and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. L...

Newburgh: Newburgh, a city and one of the county seats of Orange co., New York, on the W. bank of the Hudson river, 61 m. by the river N. of New York, and 84 m. S. of Albany; pop. in 1870, 17,014, of whom 4,346...

Newburyport: Newburyport, a city, port of entry, and one of the shire towns of Essex co., Massachusetts, situated on the S. bank of the Merrimack river, 3 m. from its mouth, and 34 m. N N. of Boston, in lat. 42 48...

Newcastle: I. William Cavendish William Cavendish, duke of, an English general, born in 1592, died Dec. 25, 1676. He was the nephew of William Cavendish, founder of the ducal house of Devonshire, succeeded in 1...

Newcastle, Or Newcastle-Under-Lyme: I. Thomas Holies Pelhani Thomas Holies Pelhani, duke of, an English statesman, born in 1693 or 1694, died Nov. 17,1768. He was the son and successor of Thomas Pelham, first Baron Pelham, and in 1711 ...

Newcastle-Lpon-Tyne: Newcastle-Lpon-Tyne (anc. Pons Aelii, afterward Monkchester), a municipal and parliamentary borough and river port of England, the chief town of Northumberland, on the left bank of the Tyne, 8 m. from...

Newcome Cappe: Newcome Cappe, an English clergyman, born in Leeds, Feb. 21, 1732, died in York, Dec. 24, 1800. His early education was conducted by his father, a dissenting clergyman of Leeds. In 1749 he entered the...

Newell: I. Samnel Samnel, an American missionary, born in Durham, Me., July 24, 1784, died in Bombay, India, March 30,1821. He graduated at Harvard college in 1807, studied theology at Andover, was ordained ...

Newfoundland: Newfoundland, a British North American colony, comprising the island of the same name, and the coast of Labrador from Blanc Sablon bay (lat. 51 25' N., lon. 57 9' W.), at the W. entrance of ...

Newman: I. John Henry John Henry, an English clergyman, born in London, Feb. 21, 1801. He graduated at Trinity college, Oxford, in 1820, was elected a fellow of Oriel college in 1822, and there assisted Dr. ...

Newman Hall: Newman Hall, an English clergyman, born in 1816. He studied at Totteridge and at Highbury college, and took the degree of A. B. at the London university; and in 1855 he took that of LL. B. and won the...

Newmarket: Newmarket, a market town of England. consisting mainly of one long street, wide and well lighted, the N. side of which is in Suffolk and the S. side in Cambridgeshire, 13 m. E. by N. of Cambridge, and...

Newport: Newport, a S. E. county of Rhode Island, consisting of a small portion of the mainland and several islands, including Rhode, Canonicut, and Prudence islands in Narragansett bay, and Block island, S. W...

Newport (2): Newport, a city of Campbell co., Kentucky, on the Ohio river, immediately above the mouth of the Licking, and opposite Cincinnati, 63 m. N. N. E. of Frankfort; pop. in 1850, 5,895; in 1800, 10,040; in...

Newspapers: Newspapers, printed sheets published at stated intervals, chiefly devoted to intelligence on current events. Newspapers were preceded in antiquity by the Roman Acta Diurna, which were daily, official,...

Newstead Abbey: Newstead Abbey, the family seat of Lord Byron, situated on the verge of Sherwood forest. England, 8½ m. W. of Nottingham. The building was originally a priory of black canons, founded in 1170 by Henry...

Newton: Newton, the name of counties in six of the United States. I. A Central County Of Georgia A Central County Of Georgia, bounded S. W. by South river, and intersected by Yellow and Ulcofauhachee rivers...

Ney: I. Michel Michel, duke of Elchingen and prince of the Moskva, a French soldier, born at Saar-lonis, Jan. 10, 1769, executed in Paris, Dec. 7, 1815. He enlisted in the army at the age of 18, and when ...

Nez Perce: Nez Perce, a N. county of Idaho, bounded N. by the Clearwater river, E. by Montana, S. by Salmon river, and W. by Oregon and Washington territory, from which it is separated by the Snake river; area, ...

Ngami: Ngami, a lake of South Africa, supposed to be from 50 to 70 m. long, and from 7 to 9 m. wide. Its situation may be roughly stated as in lat. 20 28' S., lon. 22 50' E., and it extends from E....

Niagara: Niagara, a river of the United States and Canada, flowing N. 33 m. from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, between the state of New York and the province of Ontario, and having in its course the most celebrat...

Niagara (2): Niagara, a W. county of New York, bounded N. by Lake Ontario, S. by Tonawanda creek, and W. by Niagara river; area, about 500 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 50,437. The surface is un-lulating, except on the bo...

Nicaragia: Nicaragia, a republic of Central America, lying between lat. 10 45' and 14 55' N., and lon. 83 15' and 87 38' W., bounded N. by Honduras, E. by the Caribbean sea, S. by Costa Rica,...

Nicator Seleucus I: Nicator Seleucus I., the founder of the Syrian monarchy, and of the dynasty of the Seleuci-dae, born about 358 B. C, assassinated at Ly-simachia in 280. He was the son of Antiochus, one of the general...

Niccolo Machiavelli: Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman, born in Florence, May 3, 1469, died there, June 22, 1527. His father, Bernardo Machia-velli, was a lawyer who traced back his ancestry to Hugo, marquis of Tu...

Nice (Ital. Nizza): I. A Former Administrative Division Of The Kingdom Of Sardinia A Former Administrative Division Of The Kingdom Of Sardinia, bounded N. and E. by Piedmont, S. E. by the Mediterranean, and W. and S. W....

Nice, Or Nicaea (Now Isnik): Nice, Or NicaeA (Now Isnik), an ancient city of Asia Minor, in Bithynia, situated on the E. shore of Lake Ascania, 54 m.-S. E. of Byzantium or Constantinople. It was said to have been colonized by Bot...

Nicholas: I. A Central County Of West Virginia A Central County Of West Virginia, intersected by the Gauley river, a branch of the Great Kanawha, and drained by Meadow river and Buffalo creek; area, 880 sq. m....

Nicholas Biddle: Nicholas Biddle, an American naval commander, born in Philadelphia, Sept. 10, 1750, killed at sea March 7, 1778. In 1765, on a voyage to the West Indies, he was left with two others on an uninhabited ...

Nicholas Brown: Nicholas Brown, the principal patron of Brown university, born in Providence, R. I., April 4, 1769, died Oct. 27,1841. He was liberally educated at the Rhode Island college, at the age of 22 inherited...

Nicholas I. (Nikolai Pavlovitcii): Nicholas I. (Nikolai Pavlovitcii), emperor of Russia, born in St. Petersburg, July 6, 1796, died there, March 2, 1855. lie was the third son of Paul I. by his second wife, a daughter of the duke Eugen...

Nicholas Longworth: Nicholas Longworth, an American horticulturist, born in Newark, N. J., Jan. 16, 1782, died in Cincinnati, Feb. 10,1863. In his youth he was clerk in the store of an elder brother in South Carolina. At...

Nicholas Murray: Nicholas Murray, an American clergvman, born in Ireland, Dec. 25, 1803, died in Eliza-bethtown, X.J.. Feb. 4,1861. In 1818 he came to America, and became an apprentice in the printing establishment of...

Nicholas Ridley: Nicholas Ridley, an English bishop, born at Wilmontswick, Northumberland, about 1500, burned at the stake in Oxford, Oct. 16, 1555. He graduated at Pembroke hall, Cambridge, in 1518, and in 1524 took ...

Nicholas Snethen: Nicholas Snethen, an American clergyman, born at Fresh Pond (now Glen Cove), Long Island, N. Y., Nov. 15, 1769, died in Princeton, Ind., May 30, 1845. In 1794 he entered the itinerant ministry of the ...

Nicholas Wiseman: Nicholas Wiseman, an English cardinal, born in Seville, Spain, Aug. 2, 1802, died in London, Feb. 15, 1865. He received his early education in England, and in 1818 he went to Rome, where he entered th...

Nicias: Nicias, an Athenian general of the latter part of the 5th century B. C. He was several times associated with Pericles in command, gaining a reputation for prudence and incorruptibility; and on the dea...

Nicoio Jomelli: Nicoio Jomelli, an Italian composer, born in Aversa, near Naples, in 1714, died in Naples, Aug. 28, 1774. He was a pupil of Leonardo Leo. His Errore amoroso and Odoardo, produced in Naples before he w...

Nicola Gabrini Rienzi: Nicola Gabrini Rienzi, commonly called Cola di Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes, born in Rome about 1312, assassinated Oct. 8, 1354. He was a notary, but claimed illegitimate descent from the ...

Nicolaas Hartsoeker: Nicolaas Hartsoeker, a Dutch philosopher, born in Gouda, March 20, 1656, died Dec. 10, 1725. He was intended for the church, but devoted himself to scientific pursuits. One of his earliest inventions ...

Nicolai Alexeyevitch Polevoi: Nicolai Alexeyevitch Polevoi, a Russian author, born in Irkutsk, Siberia, July 4, 1796, died in St. Petersburg, March 6,1846. He was the son of a manufacturer and brandy distiller, was educated at hom...

Nicolai Frederik Severin Grindtvig: Nicolai Frederik Severin Grindtvig, a Danish writer, born at Udby, Seeland, Sept. 8, 1783, died in Copenhagen, Sept. 2, 1872. He studied theology at Copenhagen, and in 1810 began to preach in that cit...

Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier: Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier, a French general, born at Autun, April 20, 1703. He was educated at the military school of St. Cyr, served as a lieutenant in the campaign of 1823 in Spain, and fina...

Nicolas Armand Carrel: Nicolas Armand Carrel, a French journalist, born at Rouen, May 8, 1800, died at St. Mande, near Paris, July 24, 1836. The son of a merchant, he was educated at St. Cyr, and entered the army as sub-lie...

Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux: Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, a French didactic and satirical poet and critic, born in or near Paris, Nov. 1, 1636, died there, March 13, 1711. His mother, Anne de Nielle, who died in his infancy, was th...

Nicolas Bravo: Nicolas Bravo, a Mexican soldier and statesman, born at Chilpancingo about 1790, died there, April 22, 1854. He took part in the first revolution in 1810, and served in all the actions till 1814. Havi...

Nicolas Chervin: Nicolas Chervin, a French physician, celebrated for his researches into the nature and treatment of yellow fever, born at St. Laurent d'Oingt, near Lyons, Oct. 6,1783, died at Bour-bonne-les-Bains in ...

Nicolas Jean De Dieu Soult: Nicolas Jean De Dieu Soult, duke of Dalmatia, a French soldier, born at St. Amans-la-Bastide, Guienne, March 29, 1769, died there, Nov. 26, 1851. He enlisted in 1785, became a captain in 1793, and rea...

Nicolas Jean Hugon Or Hudson De Bassviille, Or Basseville: Bassviille, Or Basseville, Nicolas Jean Hugon Or Hudson De, a French writer and diplomatist, assassinated in Rome, Jan. 13, 1793. Previors to being appointed in 1792 as secretary of legation at Naples...

Nicolas Joseph Von Jacquin: Nicolas Joseph Von Jacquin, baron, an Austrian botanist, born in Leyden, Feb. 16, 1727, died in Vienna, Oct. 24, 1817. He was descended from a French family who had emigrated to Holland, was a friend ...

Nicolas Lemery: Nicolas Lemery, a French chemist, born in Rouen, Nov. 17, 1645, died in Paris, June 19, 1715. His chemical lectures in Montpellier, and subsequently in Paris, were very popular. He stripped the scienc...

Nicolas Louis De La Caille: Nicolas Louis De La Caille. See La Caille. Nicolas Louis De La Caille #1 Nicolas Louis De La Caille, a French astronomer, born at Rumigny, near Rheims, March 15, 1713, died in Paris, March 21, 1762....

Nicolas Malebranche: Nicolas Malebranche, a French metaphysician, born in Paris, Aug. 6, 1638, died there, Oct. 13, 1715. In his childhood he was feeble, and was educated at home with great care. Intended for the priestho...

Nicolas Tonssaint Charlet: Nicolas Tonssaint Charlet, a French artist, born in Paris in 1792, died there in 1845. His father was a poor soldier, and he received but a scanty education; but while employed in registering recruits...

Nicolo Paganini: Nicolò Paganini, an Italian musician, born in Genoa, Feb. 18, 1784, died in Nice, May 27, 1840. He was subjected by his father to a very severe training. At six years of * age he was a violinist, and ...

Nicolo Porpora: Nicolo Porpora, an Italian composer, born in Naples about 1686, died there in 1767. He was instructed by Scarlatti, and first brought himself into notice at Vienna, where he gained the approbation of ...

Nicolo Tommaseo: Nicolo Tommaseo, an Italian author, born in Sebenico, Dalmatia, about 1803, died in Florence, May 1, 1874. He resided several years in Florence, wrote for the patriotic Antologia, went as an exile to ...

Nicomachus: I. A Painter Of Thebes, Greece Greece A Painter Of Thebes, who flourished in the middle of the 4th century B. C. Cicero ranks him with Apelles and Protogenes, and Plutarch extols his genius. Pliny sa...

Nicotia, Or Nicotine: Nicotia, Or Nicotine (C10H14N2), a volatile alkaloid, the active principle of tobacco, discovered by Vauquelin in 1809, and obtained by Posselt and Reimann in 1828 in a state of comparative purity. It...

Niemen: Niemen, a river of Europe, rising in the Russian government of Minsk, and flowing W. to the town of Grodno, through the governments of Wilna and Grodno, then N. between those of Wilna and Suwalki to K...

Nieolo And Antonio Zeno: Nieolo And Antonio Zeno, two Italian navigators, born about the middle of the 14th century. They were members of one of the noblest Venetian families, and brothers of Carlo Zeno, grand admiral of Veni...

Niger, Or Qaorra: Niger, Or Qaorra, a river of western Africa, which falls into the gulf of Guinea by several mouths, between the bights of Benin and Bi-afra. The Niger is formed by two principal rivers, the Benoowe or...

Night Heron: Night Heron, the common name of the division nycticoraceoe of the family ardeidce or herons. The common night heron of America is the nyeticorax ncevius (Bodd.), or nyctiardea Oardeni (Baird); the bil...

Nightingale: Nightingale (Imcinia philomela, Bonap.; the philomela of the ancients and rossignol of the French), one of the finest of European singing birds, whose melody has been celebrated from time immemorial'....

Nightmare, Or Incubus: Nightmare, Or Incubus, an affection coming on during sleep, in which there is a sense of great pressure upon the chest accompanied by inability to move. It is well known that uneasy or painful sensati...

Nightshade: Nightshade (Ang. Sax. niht-scada), a name applied to several plants, but especially to solarium nigrum, the common or black nightshade. This is a much-branched, spreading annual herb, 1 to 2 ft. high,...

Nikolai Gogol: Nikolai Gogol, a Russian author, born about 1809, died in Moscow, March 4, 1852. He is said to have failed as an actor, and afterward to have attempted in vain to obtain a position under the governmen...

Nikolaus Copernicus (Polish Kopernik): Nikolaus Copernicus (Polish Kopernik), a Polish or German astronomer, discoverer of the system of planetary revolutions, born at Thorn, in Prussia, Feb. 19, 1473, a few years after the annexation of t...

Nikolayev, Or Nicolaiev: Nikolayev, Or Nicolaiev, a town of Russia, in the government and 36 m. N. W. of the city of Kherson, near the confluence of the rivers Bog and Ingul; pop. in 1807, 07,972. It occupies a large extent o...

Nimes, Or Nismes: Nimes, Or Nismes (anc. Nemausus), a city of France, in Languedoc, capital of the department of Gard, 27 m. N. E. of Montpellier and 62 m. N. W. of Marseilles; pop. in 1872, 63,-394. The city proper is...

Nimrod: Nimrod, a son of Cush and grandson of Ham, the events of whose life are briefly recorded in the book of Genesis (x. 8-12). It is there said of him, he began to be a mighty one in the earth; and it ...

Nimwegen, Or Nijmegen Nimeguen: Nimwegen, Or Nijmegen Nimeguen (anc. Novio-magus), a fortified frontier town of the Netherlands, in Gelderland, on the left bank of the Waal, 10 m. S. by W. of Arnhem and 13 m. N. W. of Cleves, Prussi...

Nineyeh: Nineyeh (Gr. mvog; Lat. Ninus; Assyrian Ninua), an ancient city of Asia, the capital of the Assyrian empire, situated on the E. bank of the Tigris, opposite the present city of Mosul, and about 220 m....

Ningpo: Ningpo, a city of China, in the province of Chekiang, on the Takia or Ningpo river, near its mouth in the harbor of Chusan, 100 m. S. of Shanghai; lat. 29 51' N., Ion. 121 32' E.; pop. in 18...

Ninon Or Anne De Lenclos: Ninon Or Anne De L'Enclos, a French lady of pleasure, born in Paris, probably May 15, 1616, died there, Oct. 17, 1706. Her father, a gentleman of Touraine, trained her by precept and example to a life...

Niomedes: Niomedes, the name of three kings of Bithynia. - Niconiedes I. succeeded his father Zipcetes in 278 B. C, and one of his first acts was to assassinate two of his younger brothers. Another brother, Zip...

Nipissing: Nipissing, a judicial district in the N. part of (Ontario, Canada, lying along the W. bank of the Ottawa river; area, 14,650 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 1,791. It contains Nipissing and various other lakes,...

Nippon, Or Niphon: Nippon, Or Niphon, the name improperly given by Europeans to the principal island of the Japanese empire. The Japanese call the whole empire Dai Nippon, but had no separate name for the main island ti...

Nirro ("Sunny Splendor"): Nirro (Sunny Splendor), the name of a range of mountains in the province of Shi-motsuke, on the main island of Japan, about 100 m. N. of Tokio, famous for its scenery, and for being the burial place...

Nisard: I. Jean Marie Napoleon Desire Jean Marie Napoleon Desire, a French author, born in Chatillon-sur-Seine, March 20, 1806. At the age of 20 he became a regular contributor to the Journal des Débats, but...

Nitrates: Nitrates, salts formed by the combination of nitric acid with bases. Some of these are natural products, as the nitrates of potash, soda, lime, and magnesia; and others are artificially formed, as the...

Nitric Acid, Or Hydric Nitrate: Nitric Acid, Or Hydric Nitrate, the most important compound of oxygen and nitrogen, formed by the union of nitric anhydride or anhydrous nitric acid (see Nitrogen) and water. It was formerly called aq...

Nitrites: Nitrites, salts produced by the union of nitrous acid with bases; general formula, MNOa. The principal metallic salts are those of potassium, sodium, barium, ammonium, cop-lead, and nickel. The nitrit...

Nitro-Mriatic Acid: Nitro-Mriatic Acid, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids, called by the alche-mists aqua regia, because it possesses the power of dissolving the king of metals, gold. Both platinum and gold ar...

Nitrogen: Nitrogen (Gr. v, nitre, and yew&eiv, to generate), an elementary gaseous body, forming about four fifths of the bulk of the atmosphere. It derives its name from being also an essential constituent of ...

Nitrous Oxide: Nitrous Oxide (X,()), formerly called protoxide of nitrogen or laughing gas, a chemical compound which may be prepared by the action of equal parts of nitric and sulphuric acid, diluted with ten parts...

Nixlificatioiv: Nixlificatioiv, the refusal of. a state to permit an act of the federal congress to be executed within its limits. The Kentucky resolutions of 1798 declared the constitution to be a compact; that to ...

Nizhni Novgorod, Or Lower Novgorod: I. A Government Of Central Russia (Called Also Nizhecorod) A Government Of Central Russia (Called Also Nizhecorod), bordering on Kostroma, Viatka, Ka-an, Simbirsk, Penza, Tambov, and Vladimir; rea, 1...

Noah: Noah, a patriarch in Biblical history, son of the second Laniech, and the tenth in descent from Adam. It is related that he was chosen by the Lord on account of his piety to be the father of the new r...

Noah Porter: Noah Porter, an American scholar, eleventh president of Yale college, born in Farmington, Conn., Dec. 14, 1811. He graduated at Yale college in 1831, taught school in New Haven for two years, and then...

Noah Webster: Noah Webster, an American philologist, born in that part of Hartford, Conn., now forming the town of West Hartford, Oct. 16, 1758, died in New Haven, May 28,1843. He entered Yale college in 1774, serv...

Noailles: Noailles, a French family, called after a village of that name in the ancient province of Limousin and the present department of Cor-reze, and which traces its origin to the 10th century. The followin...

Noble: I. A S. E. County Of Ohio A S. E. County Of Ohio, drained by Wills, Seneca, and Duck creeks; area, about 400 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 19,949. It has an undulating and hilly surface, and is well timbered...

Nobunaga: Nobunaga, a Japanese warrior and legislator, often mentioned in the letters of the Jesuit fathers from Japan, born in 1533, died in 1582. His family name was Ota. He was the lineal descendant of the p...

Noddy: Noddy, the common name of the birds of the tern family included in the genus anoüs (Leach). The bill is longer than the head, strong, with the culm en curved gradually to the acute tip, and a distinct...

Noetiaivs: Noetiaivs, a heretical sect which originated in the earlier part of the 3d century. Its founder, foetus, was a native of Asia Minor, and had embraced the Monarchian doctrine that there is no distincti...

Nolle Prosequi: Nolle Prosequi (Lat., to be unwilling to prosecute), a law term derived, as most law terms are, from those ancient days when all law proceedings and records were in Latin. It meant that the plaintiff ...

Nonconformists: Nonconformists, a name sometimes given to dissenters from the church of England, but more particularly applied to the clergymen who gave up their livings on the passage of the act of uniformity in 1G6...

Nonsuit: Nonsuit (L. Fr. nonsve, non mist, modern Fr. non suit, Lat. non seqvitur, he does not pursue), in law, a judgment given against a plaintiff in default of evidence, or for neglect to proceed with a cau...

Nootkas, Or Ahts: Nootkas, Or Ahts, a family of tribes on Vancouver island and the mainland near it, embracing the Ahts proper (of whom the Moouchaht are the tribe called Nootkas by Capt. Cook and others since), on the...

Norborne Berkeley Botetourt: Norborne Berkeley Botetourt, baron, an English statesman, born about 1717, died at Williamsburg, Ya., Oct. 15, 1770. He was summoned to parliament as Baron Botetourt (the peerage having been in abeyan...

Nordhaisen: Nordhaisen, a town of Prussia, in tin province of Saxony, 38 m. N. W. of Erfurt, an the S. extremity of the Hartz mountains; pop. in 1871, 21,273. It consists of an old or upper town, a new or lower t...

Norfolk: I. An E. County Of Massachusetts An E. County Of Massachusetts, having Massachusetts bay on the N. E. and Rhode Island on the S. W.; area estimated at 450 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 89,444. It is watered ...

Norfolk Island: Norfolk Island, a dependency of New South Wales, in the S. Pacific ocean, about 1,000 m. N. E. of Sydney, in lat. 28 58' S., and lon. 167 46' E. It is the largest and most delightful of a sm...

Noricoi: Noricoi, a province of the Roman empire, in S. E. Germany, bounded N. by the Danube, E. by Mt. Cetius (now Wiener Wald), which separated it from Pannonia, S. by the Savus (Save) and the Carnic Alps, a...

Normal Schools: Normal Schools (Lat. norma, a carpenter's square; hence, a rule or pattern), establishments for the education of teachers. The first normal school was organized in Stettin, Prussia, in 1735. Frederick...

Norman Macleod: Norman Macleod, a Scottish clergyman, born near Edinburgh, June 3, 1812, died in Glasgow, June 16, 1872. He studied at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and in Germany, and in 1838 became minister at Loudoun, Ayrsh...

Normandy: Normandy, an ancient N. W. province of France, extending along the English channel, from a point S. of the mouth of the Somme to the bay of Cancale, bounded N. and W. by the English channel, E. by Pic...

Norristown: Norristown, a borough and the capital of Montgomery co., Pennsylvania, on the N. bank of the Schuylkill river, and on the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown railroad, 16 m. N. W. of Philadelphia...

Norrkoping: Norrkoping, a town of Sweden, in the province of Linkoping, at the mouth of the Motala in the Braviken, an inlet of the Baltic, 85 m. S. W. of Stockholm, with which it is connected by railway; pop. in...

North: I. Franeis Lord Guilford Franeis, an English jurist, son of the fourth Baron North, bom Oct, 22, 1637, died Sept. 5, 1685. He studied at St. John's college, Cambridge, and was called to the bar at th...

North And South Concan: North And South Concan, a maritime tract of the Bombay presidency, British India, extending from the Portuguese settlement of Goa on the south to the river Damaun on the north, bounded W. by the India...

North Carolina: North Carolina, one of the original states of the American Union, situated between lat. 33 53' and 36 33' N., and Ion. 75 25' and 84 30' W.; extreme length 490 m. from E. to W., ex...

North Sea, Or German Ocean: North Sea, Or German Ocean (called the West sea by the Danes), an extensive arm of the Atlantic, which lies between Great Britain and the continent of Europe, extending from lat. 51 to 62 N....

Northampton: I. An E. County Of Pennsylvania An E. County Of Pennsylvania, bounded E. by the Delaware river, which separates it from New Jersey, and intersected toward the south by the Lehigh river; area, 370 sq....

Northern Circars: Northern Circars, an old division of the presidency of Madras, British India, on the E. coast of the peninsula, between lat. 15 40' and 20 17' N., and lon. 79 12' and 85 20' E., bo...

Northmen: Northmen, and Normans, names usually given, the former especially, to the ancient and mediaeval inhabitants of Scandinavia, or Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and the latter to that portion of them who c...

Northumberland: I. An E. Central County Of Pennsylvania An E. Central County Of Pennsylvania, bounded W. by the Susquehanna river and its W. branch, and intersected by the N. branch; area, about 500 sq. m.; pop. in ...

Northwest Provinces: Northwest Provinces, a political division of British India, comprising a long and irregular strip of territory lying between lat. 23 51' and 31 10' N., and Ion. 77 and 84 45' E., immedi...

Northwest Territories: Northwest Territories, a portion of the Dominion of Canada, comprising the greater part of the former Hudson Bay territory, bounded N. by the Arctic ocean and Hudson strait, and E. by the portion of L...

Northwestern University: Northwestern University, an institution of learning situated at Evanston, 111., 12 m. N. of Chicago. The university grounds consist of about 30 acres on the shore of Lake Michigan. The principal build...

Norton: Norton, a N. W. county of Kansas, bordering on Nebraska, and intersected by the N. fork of Solomon river and affluents of the Republican river; area, 900 sq. m. It is not included in the census of 187...

Norwalk: Norwalk, a town and borough of Fairfield co., Connecticut, on Long Island sound, at the terminus of the Banbury and Norwalk rail road, and on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroad, 60 m. S. W...

Norway: Norway (Norw. and Dan. Norge; Swed. Norrige), a kingdom of northern Europe, occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, and lying between lat. 57 57' and 71 11' N., and lon....

Norwich: Norwich, a town and city, and one of the county seats of New London co., Connecticut, situated at the head of the Thames river, 15 m. from Long Island sound, and 35 m. S. E. of Hartford; pop. in 1860,...

Nose: Nose, the organ of the sense of smell in vertebrated animals, and in the three highest, classes connected with the respiratory function. Of the 14 bones which enter into the composition of the cavitie...

Notary Public: Notary Public, an officer appointed to draw up and attest deeds and contracts, and perform other similar functions. The name and office of notary are of Roman origin. The notarii, so called from the n...

Notchatel, Or Nenehatd: Notchatel, Or Nenehatd (Ger. Neuenburg). I.A.W Canton Of Switzerland A.W Canton Of Switzerland, consisting of the former principality of Ncufchatel and the county of Valengin or Valendis, bounded N....

Notornis: Notornis (Gr. vór south, and bpvig, bird), a large bird of the rail family, established by Owen in 1848, on a nearly entire skull sent with those of the dinornis from New Zealand. The natives had trad...

Nottingham: Nottingham, a town of England, capital of Nottinghamshire, and a county in itself, situated on the river Leen near its junction with the Trent, and on the Nottingham canal and the Midland railway, 108...

Nottinghamshire, Or Notts: Nottinghamshire, Or Notts, an inland county of England, bordering on the counties of York, Lincoln, Leicester, and Derby; area, 822 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 319,956. The face of the country is generally ...

Nottoway: Nottoway, a S. E. county of Virginia, bounded S. by the Nottoway river; area, about 300 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,291, of whom 7,050 were colored. The Richmond, Danville, and Petersburg, and the Atlanti...

Noureddin: Noureddin (Malek al-Adel Nun ed-Din Maiimoud), a Mohammedan ruler of Syria and Egypt, born in Damascus about 1116, died there in 1173 or 1174. He succeeded his father Zen-ghi, of the Atabek dynasty, i...

Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia, a province of the Dominion of Canada, situated between lat. 43 26' and 47 5' N., and lon. 59 40' and 66 25' W. It consists of the peninsula of Nova Scotia and the isla...

Nova Zembla: Nova Zembla (Russ. Novaya Zcmlya, new land), several closely contiguous islands in the Arctic ocean, directly N. of the boundary line between Europe and Asia, and stretching N. N. E. and S. S. W. betw...

Novara: I. A N. W. Province Of Italy A N. W. Province Of Italy, in Piedmont, bordering on Switzerland, bounded E. by the Lago Maggiore and the river Ticino, S. E. by the province of Pavia, S. by the Po, whic...

Novatiajvs: Novatiajvs, a schismatical sect which originated in the 3d centurv, so called from their founder Novatian (Novatianus). He was a priest at Rome, who by his learning and eloquence won a high reputation...

Novation: Novation, a law term introduced recently into use by English and American lawyers, from the Roman civil law. It may be defined as the creation of a new debt or contract in substitution for an old one....

Novello: I. Vincent Vincent, an English organist and composer, of Italian descent, born in London, Sept. 6, 1781, died in Nice in September, 1861. At the age of 16 he became organist of the Portuguese chapel ...

Novgorod: I. A N. W. Government Of European Russia A N. W. Government Of European Russia, bordering on Olonetz, Vologda, Yaroslav, Tver, Pskov, and St. Petersburg; area, 46,312 sq. m.; pop. in 1867, 1,016,414....

Novice: Novice, a candidate for admission into a religious order who has not yet taken the vows, but is passing through a period of probation. Novices must have attained the age of puberty, else the vows take...

Noyon: Noyon (anc. Noviomagus), a town of France, in the department of Oise, 55 m. N. E. of Paris; pop. in 1866, 6,498. It is a place of great antiquity, and was the birthplace of Calvin. The cathedral of No...

Nubia: Nubia, a country of Africa and dependency of Egypt, comprehending in its widest sense all that territory which is bounded N. by Upper Egypt, E. by the Red sea, S. E. and S. by Abyssinia and the Dinka ...

Nubia Pompilius: Nubia Pompilius, an ante-historical king of Rome. After the death of Romulus there was an interregnum of a year, each of the senators in turn enjoying the regal prerogative; but the people soon demand...

Nucleobranchiates: Nucleobranchiates, an order of gasteropod mollusks, so named by De Blainville because the respiratory and digestive organs form a kind of nucleus on the posterior part of the bark; they have been call...

Nuelles, Or Nivelle: Nuelles, Or Nivelle (Flem. Nyvel), a town 3f Belgium, in the province of Brabant, 17 m. 3. of Brussels; pop. in 1866, 9,050. The place its irregularly and poorly built, but there are two pleasant publ...

Nuestra Senora De La Asuncion, Or Assumption Asuncion: Nuestra Senora De La Asuncion, Or Assumption Asuncion, the capital of the republic of Paraguay, on the E. bank of the river Paraguay, in lat. 25 16' S., lon. 57 42'W., 650 m. N. of Buenos Ay...

Nuevo Leon: Nuevo Leon, an inland state of Mexico, bordering on Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosi; area, 14,363 sq. m.; pop. in 1869, 174,000, but reported by the governor in 1872 at 178,871. The surface ...

Nuisance: Nuisance (formerly written misance; law Fr. nosaunce, noysavnee, from noier, modern Fr. nuire, to injure; Lat. nocumentum, from noceo, annoyance, anything that works hurt, inconvenience, or damage). N...

Numidia: Numidia, an ancient country of northern Africa, corresponding nearly to the modern Algeria. In early times the country was occupied by tribes from whose nomadic mode of life it is supposed to have rec...

Numismatics: Numismatics (Lat. numisma, a coin), the science of coins and medals. It has no relation to the value of coins as a circulating medium, but only to the history of coins and medals in all ages and count...

Nuremberg: Nuremberg (Ger. Nürnberg), a city of Bavaria, in the district of Middle Franconia, on the river Pegnitz and on the Ludwig's canal, 92 m. N. by W. of Munich, and 74 m. N. of Augsburg; pop. in 1871, 82,...

Nutcracker: Nutcracker, a conirostral bird of the crow family, and genus nucifraga (Briss.). The bill is longer than the head, strong, with cul-men elevated and sloping to the entire tip; the lateral margins stra...

Nuthatch: Nuthatch, a subfamily of tenuirostral birds of the creeper family, scattered over North America, Europe, and India and its archipelago. In the typical genus sitta (Linn.) the bill is entire, about as ...

Nutmeg: Nutmeg (Fr. noix muscade), the seed of the tree myristica fragrans, which has also been called M. moschata, M. officinalis, etc. The genus myristica is now placed in an order by itself, the myristicec...

Nutrition: Nutrition, the growth and reparation of living organisms, animal and vegetable. Animal nutrition in its most extended sense includes the various complex processes of digestion, chylification, sanguifi...

Nux Vomica: Nux Vomica, a name formerly given to some other seeds, but now applied to a drug which is the produce of strychnos nux-vomica, a tree of the family Loganiacece. It is a small tree with opposite, three...

Nyam-Niam: Nyam-Niam, a negro tribe in N. central Africa, whose territory extends from lat. 4 to 6 N., and from Ion. 24 to 29 E., and is bounded N. by the country of the Bongos, E. by that of...

Nyanza: N'Yanza, a word used by the natives of central Africa to designate large bodies of water, but especially applied to the two great equatorial fresh-water lakes which are now believed to be the proximat...

Nyassa: Nyassa, a lake in S. E. Africa, with its S. extremity situated about 350 m. W. of the town of Mozambique, in lat. 14 25' S., lon. 35 10' E., whence its waters are known to extend northward u...

Nyctalopia: Nyctalopia (Gr., night, a privative, and p eye), night blindness. The disease varies in intensity; in mild and recent cases there being only a greater or less indistinctness of vision after sunset, wh...

Nymph: See Chrysalis. Nymphs #1 Nymphs (Gr. vv/utfai), in Greek and Roman mythology, inferior female divinities, presiding over various departments of nature. The Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, and the Ne...

O: THE 15th letter and the 4th vowel of the English alphabet. Phonetically it occupies a position between A and U, with both of which it is sometimes interchanged. O and U appear indeed to have had a com...

Oadu: Oadu, one of the Hawaiian islands, the fourth of the group in size, in Ion. 158 \V., and between lat, 21 and 22 N.; pop. in 1872, 20,671, of whom 3,129 were foreigners. The island is ro...

Oajaca: I. A Maritime State Of Mexico A Maritime State Of Mexico, bounded N. W. by Puebla, K E. by Vera Cruz, S. E. by Chiapas, S. by the Pacific ocean, and W. by Guerrero; area, 27,389 sq. m.; pop. in 1869,...

Oak: Oak (Ang. Sax. ac), the English name of trees of the genus quercus. Some botanists place all the trees and shrubs which have their unisexual flowers in catkins in one family, the amentacem, while othe...

Oakland: Oakland, a S. E. county of Michigan, drained by branches of the Clinton and Huron rivers and other streams; area, 900 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 40,876. The surface is undulating and in the north hilly, an...

Oar Apple: Oar Apple, the popular name applied to certain large excrescences or galls found upon the leaf, stems, or tender twigs of different oaks, produced by the action of insects. The oak apple of Europe, to...

Oasis: Oasis, a name given by the ancients to the fertile spots in the Libyan desert, and now become a general term for those situated in any desert, it is derived from an Egyptian word preserved in the Copt...

Oat: Oat (Ang. Sax. ata, a word which formerly meant food), a grass of the genus arena., ana especially the cultivated arena satira, the common oat. The genus, which is the type of a sub-tribe of grasses, ...

Oath: Oath, a solemn act by which one calls God to witness the truth of an affirmation or the sincerity of a promise. In all times and among all nations men have agreed in reposing singular trust in declara...

Ober-Ammergau: Ober-Ammergau, a village of Upper Bavaria, in the valley of the Ammer, 46 m. S. W. of Munich; pop. about 1,100, who are chiefly engaged in carving on wood. It is celebrated for the decennial performan...

Oberlix: Oberlix, a village of Lorain co., Ohio, on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad, 105 m. N. N. E. of Columbus, and 34 m. by rail W. S. \V. of Cleveland; pop. in 1870, 2,888. It is principally ...

Oblates: Oblates (Lat. oblatus, offered), two congregations of priests and one of nuns in the Roman Catholic church. I. Oblates Of St. Charles Oblates Of St. Charles, founded in Milan by St. Charles Borromeo...

Observatory: E for making observa upon any e ss of natural phenom- ! three kinds: niag-... for observing the; lena of ter- _:. - met _ 1. for ol ser- ._ the phenomena t atmospheric changes:?tr nomical. ...

Obstetrics: Obstetrics (Lat. obstetrix, a midwife), the art and science of midwifery. It has a double mission: 1, to render possible, easy, and regular, exempt from all abnormal suffering and all danger, the acco...

Occam, Or Ockham, William Of: Occam, Or Ockham, William Of, an English scholastic philosopher, born at Occam in Surrey about 1270, died in Munich, April 7, 1347. He was of humble parentage, was educated at Merton college, Oxford, ...

Ocean: Ocean, the great body of salt water which surrounds the continents and covers more than three fifths of the whole surface of the globe. By the configuration of the lands which rise above its surface, ...

Ocelot: Ocelot, an American group of medium-sized cats, of slender and elegant proportions, without tufts to the ears, and with more or less elongated and connected spots diverging in longitudinal rows backwa...

Ochre: Ochre, earthy oxide of iron employed with oil as a paint. When obtained as a native product it is intermixed with argillaceous or calcareous earth; and it is also prepared by the decomposition and oxi...

Oconee: Oconee, the N. W. county of South Carolina, bounded 1ST. by North Carolina, E. by the Keo-wee river, and separated from Georgia on the west by the Chattooga and Tugaloo rivers; area, about 550 sq. m.;...

Octavia: Octavia, sister of the emperor Augustus and wife of Mark Antony, died in 11 B. C. She was married to Claudius Marcellus, from whom Julius Cresar was anxious to have her divorced, that she might marry ...

Octavia Walton Le Vert: Octavia Walton Le Vert, an American authoress, born near Augusta, Ga., about 1810. She is a granddaughter of George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her father removed to...

Octopis, Or Ponlpe: Octopis, Or Ponlpe, a cephalopod mollusk, having a round purse-like body, without fins, and eight arms united at the base by a web, by opening and shutting which it swims backward, after the' manner o...

Odeon: Odeon (Gr. udelov, from, song), a kind of public building used by the ancient Greeks for musical contests, and occasionally for other purposes. In its general plan it resembled the theatre, and someti...

Odescalchi: Odescalchi, a noble Italian family, originally from Como. - Maec' Axtoxio, born in Como about 1620, was a cousin of Pope Innocent XI. (Benedetto Odescalchi). He entered the priesthood, and after his c...

Odessa: Odessa, a city of Russia, in the government of Kherson, on the shore of a bay in the N. W. part of the Black sea, between the mouths of the rivers Dniester and Dnieper, 90 m. W. by S. of Kherson, and ...

Odin: Odin, the principal god of Scandinavian mythology. He is said to dwell in Asgard, with the twelve Aesir, many of whom are his children. He rules the heavens; the clouds and the wind are subject to him...

Odoacer: Odoacer, king of Italy, put to death A. D. 493. He was the son of Edecon, a minister of Attila and chief of a tribe of Scyrri. Having led a roving life in Pannonia and Nori-cum, Odoacer went to Italy,...

Oedekbirg: Oedekbirg (Hung. Soprony). I. A County Of W. Hungary A County Of W. Hungary, bordering on Lower Austria and the counties of Wieselburg, Raab, Vesz-prem, and Eisenburg; area, 1,277 sq. m.; pop. in 18...

Oedema: Oedema(Gr., from to swell), a swelling occasioned, by the infiltration of serum into the areolar tissue of a portion of the body. The term oedema generally refers to cases in which the serous infiltra...

Oedipus: Oedipus, a mythological king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta. An oracle having informed Laius that he should be killed by his son, the infant was exposed on Mt. Cithaeron with his feet pierced and...

Oels: Oels, a town of Prussian Silesia, in a valley on the Oelsa, 10 m. N. E. of Breslau; pop. in 1871, 8,124. It contains a media)val castle, in a park surrounded by a wall and moat, with gardens and a pic...

Oenothera: Oenothera (Gr., wine, and, a hunt, the roots of some species being supposed to provoke a relish for wine), a genus of plants known as evening primrose, and belonging to the family onagraceoe. The fami...

Oettfagen: Oettfagen, a mediatized county of Germany, which existed in the Eiesgau, Swabia, as early as the 13th century, and is divided at present between the Spielberg and Wallerstein lines, the territory belo...

Officolampadius, Or Oekojampad, Johannes: Officolampadius, Or Oekojampad, Johannes, a German reformer, whose real name was IIuss-gen or Heussgen, born at Weinsberg, Swabia, in 1482, died in Basel, Nov. 23, 1531. His father was a merchant, He ...

Ogdexsburg: Ogdexsburg, a city of St. Lawrence co., New York, port of entry of the district of Os-wegatchie, situated on the St. Lawrence river, at the mouth of the Oswegatchio, 72 m. below Lake Ontario and 4 m. ...

Ogobay, Or Ogowai: Ogobay, Or Ogowai, a large river of Avestern Africa, near lat, 1 S., flowing into the Atlantic through an extensive delta, of which the principal branches are the Nazareth, with its inouth in lat...

Ohio: Ohio, one of the central states of the American Union, the fourth admitted under the constitution, lying between lat. 38 27' and 41 57' N., and'ion. 80 34' and 84 49' W.; greatest ...

Ohio III: Ohio III, a German emperor, son of the preceding, born in 980, died at Paterno, near Viterbo, Jan. 23, 1002. When three years old he was crowned king of Germany, and during his minority the government...

Ohio River: Ohio River, the largest branch of the Mississippi river from the east, known to the early French settlers as la telle riviere, and famed for the uniform smoothness of its current as well as for the be...

Ohio Wesleyan University: Ohio Wesleyan University, an institution of learning at Delaware, Delaware co., Ohio. In 1842 the citizens of Delaware purchased the property known as the Sulphur Springs, a watering place of some not...

Ohm: I. Georg Simon Georg Simon, a German physicist, born in Erlangen, March 16, 1787, died in Munich, July 7, 1854. He was the son of a locksmith, and in his boyhood worked in his father's shop. He studi...

Oidnot: I. Nicolas Charles Nicolas Charles, duke of Reggio, a French soldier, born in Bar-sur-Ornain, April 26, 1767, died in Paris, Sept. 13, 1847. He early enlisted, but retired from the army in 1787. In 1...

Oils And Fats: Oils And Fats, an important natural group of organic compounds found in the various parts of plants, particularly the seeds, and in animals, principally in the adipose tissues. (See Adipose Substances...

Oise: Oise (anc. Isara and Fsia), a river of France, which rises in the province of Hainaut in Belgium, near the French frontier, flows S. W. through the departments of Le Nord, Aisne, Oise, and Seine-et-Oi...

Ojibwais, Or Chippewas: Ojibwais, Or Chippewas, a tribe of the great Algonquin family, living in scattered bands on the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, La Pointe being the central point. They became known to the Fren...

Okra: Okra, the common name for hibiscus escu-lentus, a plant of the mallow family. Some regard it as a native of the East Indies, hut De Candolle thinks the common name, also given okkoro, okro, and ockra,...

Old Catholics: Old Catholics, the name assumed in 1870 (after the precedent of the Jansenists of Holland) by members of the Roman Catholic church who denied the oecumenical character of the Vatican council and rejec...

Old Point Comfort: Old Point Comfort, a post village and watering place of Elizabeth City co., Va., situated on James river, at the entrance of Hampton roads, 12 m. N. of Norfolk. It is much resorted to in summer for se...

Oldenburg: I. A Grand Duchy Of Germany A Grand Duchy Of Germany, comprising three separate territories, which have the following areas and population: DIVISIONS. Area in sq. m. Pop. in 1871. ...

Oldham: Oldham, a N. county of Kentucky, separated from Indiana by the Ohio river; area, about 200 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,027, of whom 2,810 were colored. The surface near the Ohio is hilly; the rest of the ...

Ole Bornemann Bull: Ole Bornemann Bull, a Norwegian violinist, born at Bergen, Feb. 5, 1810. His father, a chemist, who had destined him for the church, steadily repressed his passion for music. At the age of 18 he was p...

Oleander: Oleander (Fr. oléandre, from low Lat. lorandrum, a corruption of rhodendrum), the name of plants of the genus nerium. Though derived from the French, the common name in that language is laurier-rose o...

Oleic Acid: Oleic Acid, an organic, monatomic acid, found in combination with glycerine in oils and fats, as oleine, or oleate of glycerine. It is obtained by the saponification of oleine, the most fluid constitu...

Oleo-Margarine: Oleo-Margarine, a substance produced from tallow and resembling butter, so called by Mége-Mouriez, according to the idea that, as asserted by Chevreul, butter contains margarine; but this opinion has ...

Olive: Olive (Lat. oliva), the name of plants of the genus olea, and of the fruit of 0. Europoea. The olive family consists of trees and shrubs without milky juice, distinguished from other monopetalous plan...

Oliver: I. Andrew Andrew, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, born in Boston, March 28, 1706, died there, March 3, 1774. He graduated at Harvard college in 1724, and became a member of the general court, a...

Oliver Evans: Oliver Evans, an American inventor, born in Newport, Del., in 1755, died in New York, April 21, 1819. He was apprenticed to a wheelwright, and before he had reached the age of manhood the construction...

Oliver Goldsmith: Oliver Goldsmith, an English author, born in the hamlet of Pallas or Pallasmore, county Longford, Ireland, Nov. 10, 1728, died in London, April 4, 1774. His father was a clergyman of the established c...

Oliver Otis Howard: Oliver Otis Howard, an American soldier, born at Leeds, Maine, Nov. 8,1830. He graduated at Bowdoin college in 1850, and at West Point in 1854, and became instructor in mathematics there in 1857. He r...

Oliver Wendell Holmes: Oliver Wendell Holmes, an American author, son of the Rev. Abiel Holmes, born in Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 29, 1809. He graduated at Harvard college in 1829, and entered upon the study of the law, which ...

Olivier Charles Camille Emmanuel De Rouge: Olivier Charles Camille Emmanuel De Rouge, viscount, a French Egyptologist, born in Paris, April 11, 1811, died there in December, 1872, or January, 1873. He was professor of archaeology in the collég...

Olmutz: Olmutz (Slav. Holomauc), a town of Austria, formerly the capital of Moravia, now one of the principal fortresses of the empire, situated on an island of the March or Morawa, 103 m. N. N. E. of Vienna;...

Olonetz: Olonetz, a N. W. government of Russia, bordering on the governments of Archangel, Vologda, Novgorod, and St. Petersburg, and on Lake Ladoga and Finland; area (exclusive of lakes), 50,495 sq. m.; pop. ...

Olympia: Olympia, a city, capital of Washington territory, and of Thurston co., situated at the head of Budd's inlet, the southern projection of Pu-get sound, 045 m. N. of San Francisco, 105 m. N. by W. of Por...

Olympia Fnlvia Morata: Olympia Fnlvia Morata, a learned Italian woman, daughter of the poet Fulvius Peregri-nus Moratus, born in Ferrara in 1526, died in Heidelberg, Oct. 26, 1555. She received a careful and extended classi...

Olympic Games: Olympic Games, the most ancient and famous of the four great national festivals of the Greeks, celebrated once in four years at Olympia. Their origin, like that of the other Hellenic games, was probab...

Omaha: Omaha, the largest city of Nebraska, capital of Douglas co., on the Missouri river, opposite-Council Bluffs, la., 50 m. N. E. of Lincoln, and 490 m. by rail W. by S. of Chicago; pop. in 1860, 1,883; i...

Oman: Oman, a country of S. E. Arabia, comprising the coast from Abu Debi, on the Persian gulf, lon. 54 40' E., to the vicinity of Merbat on the Indian ocean; area, about 80,000 sq. m.; pop. estimated ...

Omar I. (Abu Hafsah Ibn Al-Khattab): Omar I. (Abu Hafsah Ibn Al-Khattab), the second of the caliphs, third cousin of Ab-dallah, the father of Mohammed, born about 581, assassinated in 644. Originally an enemy of the prophet, he set out f...

Omejv: Omejv (Lat.), a sign believed to be an intimation from a superior power prognosticating a future event. Suetonius mentions that Csesar, on landing at Hadrumetum in Africa, fell on his face, which woul...

Omer Pasha (Michael Lattas): Omer Pasha (Michael Lattas), a Turkish soldier, born at Plaski, Croatia, in 1806, died in Constantinople, April 18, 1871. The son of an Austrian official, he became a cadet in a frontier regiment, but...

Ommiyades: Ommiyades, the second dynasty of oriental caliphs, beginning with Moawiyah, the son of Abu Sofian, in 661, and continuing until 750. They derived their name from Ommiyah, an ancestor of Moawiyah. The ...

Onderdonk: I. Henry Ustiek Henry Ustiek, an American bishop, born in New York in March, 1789, died in Philadelphia, Dec. 6, 1858. He graduated at Columbia college in 1805, studied medicine in New York and Edinb...

Oneida: I. A Central County Of New York A Central County Of New York, drained by the Mohawk and Black rivers and their tributaries; area, 1,127 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 110,008. through the central part of the ...

Onion: Onion (from unio, the Latin name for a large kind of onion), the common name of the plant allium cepa. The genus allium (the ancient name for garlic) includes, besides several wild species, the cultiv...

Onondagas: Onondagas (Men of the Mountain), one of the five Iroquois tribes in the state of New York. They were the head of the confederacy, the atotarlio, its great sachem, being the first of the 14 sachems o...

Ononydaga: Ononydaga, a central county of New York, bounded N. E. by Oneida lake, and watered by the Oswego, Seneca, and Oneida rivers, and various creeks; area, 812 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 104,183. Its surface is...

Ontario: Ontario, a W. county of New York, drained by the Honeoye outlet, a tributary of the Genesee, Canandaigua outlet, and Mud creek, tributaries of the Clyde; area, 606 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 45,108. Its su...

Ontario (2): Ontario (formerly Upper Canada or Canada West), a province of the Dominion of Canada, situated between lat. 41 30' and 50 30' N., and lon. 74 25' and 90 30 W.; area, according to t...

Onyx: Onyx, a variety of quartz, analogous to agate and other cryptocrystalline varieties, such as carnelian, jasper, chrysoprase, and bloodstone. It is composed of layers of different-colored carnelian, mu...

Oolite: Oolite (Gr., an, and?., a stone), limestone composed of rounded particles, like the roe or eggs of a fish. Each of the grains has usually a small fragment of sand as a nucleus, around which concentric...

Opal: Opal, a mineral composed principally of silicic acid combined with from 5 to 13 per cent, of water. The finest varieties have the most delicately resplendent play of iridescent colors, with a peculiar...

Opera: Opera, a species of drama in which airs, recitatives, choruses, etc, with orchestral accompaniments and the ordinary stage accessories, supply the place of spoken words. This is the true opera as foun...

Ophir, A Name Applied First: A Name Applied First Ophir (Gen. x. 29) to one of the sons of Joktan, and secondly to a region from which the fleet of Solomon brought gold and precious stones. The precise situation of Ophir is a mat...

Ophthalmia: Ophthalmia (Gr. bmiuia, from b^al/wg, an eye), inflammation of the eyes. Under the head of ophthalmia maybe included inflammation of all the various structures that enter into the formation of the eye...

Ophurans (Ophiurida): Ophurans (Ophiurida), a family of star fishes in which the five rays are long, slender, flexible, and snake-like, whence the name; in some the arms are very fragile; the common name of the genus ophiu...

Opie: I. John John, an English painter, born at St. Agnes, near Truro, Cornwall, in 1761, died in London, April 9, 1807. He pursued his studies without instruction, and had acquired some skill when he attr...

Opium: Opium, a medicinal drug, the inspissated juice of the capsules of the white poppy, papaver somniferum, and its varieties. (See Poppy.) The medicinal qualities of the poppy were known in early times, a...

Oporto, Or Porto: Oporto, Or Porto (Port. 0 Porto, the port), a city of Portugal, in the province of Minho, on the right bank of the Douro, about 3 m. from the sea, and 173 m. N. by E. of Lisbon; lat. 41 8' N., lo...

Opossum: Opossum, the general name of the family di-delpMdm of the order of marsupials, the sarigue of the French. They are confined to America, extending from the middle states to Buenos Ayres on the south, a...

Optics: Optics, the science which treats of the nature of light, and of the laws of the phenomena of light and vision. For the theories of light, and other branches of the subject, see the articles Aberration...

Or, Margaret Of Angouleme Margaret Titular Queen Of Navarre: Or, Margaret Of Angouleme Margaret Titular Queen Of Navarre, born in Angouleme April 11, 1492, died at the chateau of Odos, in Bigorre, Dec. 21, 1549. She was the daughter and eldest child of Charles ...

Or, Savannahs Yemassees Yamassees: Or, Savannahs Yemassees Yamassees, a tribe of American Indians figuring in South Carolina history, and apparently comprising some or all of the bands of southern or. Spanish Shawnees. They were in Flo...

Or, Wiclif, John De Wicliffe Wickliffe: Or, Wiclif, John De Wicliffe Wickliffe, an English reformer, born probably in a village which bears his name, near Eichmond, Yorkshire, about 1324, died at Lutterworth, Dec. 31, 1384. He was educated ...

Oracle: Oracle (Lat. oraculum, from orare, to speak), in ancient religion, a revelation believed to be made by some divinity in reply to the questions of men; applied also to the place where such revelations ...

Orajvge: Orajvge, the name of counties in seven of the United States. I. An E. County Of Vermont An E. County Of Vermont, bordering on the Connecticut river, and watered by various small streams; area, about...

Oran: I. A Province Of Algeria A Province Of Algeria, on the Mediterranean, extending along the coast 180 m. from a point E. of the mouth of the Shelliff to near the mouth of the Muluia, and bounded N. E. ...

Orang-Outang: Orang-Outang (pithecus, Geoffr., or simia, Linn, and Illig.), the common name of the large tailless anthropoid apes of S. E. Asia and the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Some details have been given re...

Orange: Orange (Lat. aurantium), the fruit of citrus aurantium and other species or varieties. The genus citrus and a few other allied genera were formerly grouped together as the orange family (auraniiacece)...

Orange (2): Orange, a city of Essex co., New Jersey, on the Morris and Essex division of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western railroad, 8 m. N. W. of Newark, and 12 m. W. of New York; pop. in 1870, 9,348. As oft...

Orangemen: Orangemen, a secret political society of the British empire, whose official designation in its own records is The Loyal Orange Institution. It is composed exclusively of Protestants, and its profes...

Oratorims: I. A Religious Society Founded By St. Philip Neri (See Neri, Filippo de'.) In 1551 Neri associated with himself several young priests, and gradually matured the plan of the Congregation of the Orat...

Oratorio: Oratorio (Lat. oratorium, a small chapel), a sacred musical composition, consisting of airs, recitatives, duets, trios, choruses, etc, with full orchestral accompaniment. The subject is generally take...

Oratory: Oratory, the art of public speaking. Aristotle distinguished three kinds of oratory: demonstrative, deliberative, and judicial. The first included panegyrics, invectives, and academic discourses; the ...

Orbigjvy: I. Aleide Dessalilines D' Aleide Dessalilines D', a French naturalist, born at Coueron, Loire-Inferieure, Sept. 6, 1802, died at Pierrefitte, near Paris, June 30, 1857. He was educated at La Ro-chell...

Orcagna, Or Orgagna (Andrea Di Cioxe): Orcagna, Or Orgagna (Andrea Di Cioxe), an Italian artist, born in Florence in the early part of the 14th century, died in 1375 or 1389. He was the son of a Florentine sculptor and goldsmith named Cion...

Orchestra: Orchestra (Gr., from to dance), that part of the Greek theatre in which the chorus performed its dances and evolutions. It was circular, except that a segment was appropriated to the stage, in front o...

Orchids: Orchids, a large family of plants (orchida-cece), the typical genus of which is orchis (the ancient name of the plant). Popularly any plant of the family, of whatever genus, is called an orchis. The o...

Orciiomenus: Orciiomenus, a city of ancient Greece, in N. W. Bceotia, at the mouth of the Cephis-sus in Lake Copais, not far from the site of the modern village of Skripu. It was said to have been the capital of t...

Ordeal: Ordeal (Ang. Sax. ordoel, from or, primitive, and doel, judgment; Ger. Urtheil), an ancient form of trial for persons accused of crime, designed to determine their guilt or innocence by a supposed ref...

Order Of Preachers Dominicans, Or Friars Preachers (Lat: Order Of Preachers Dominicans, Or Friars Preachers (Lat. Fratres Proedicatores; Fr. Freres-Precheurs), a Roman Catholic monastic order, founded by St. Dominic. (See Dominic.) When in 1215 Dominic and ...

Order Of The Thistle: Order Of The Thistle (also called the order of St. Andrew), a Scottish order of knighthood, reputed on very insufficient grounds to be of great antiquity. The thistle is mentioned as the national embl...

Ordinary: Ordinary (Roman law, judex ordinarius), in its proper sense, or that which it bore in the Roman law, a judge who took cognizance of causes in the regular course and proper right of his office, and not...

Ordination: Ordination, the act of conferring holy orders, or of initiating a person into the ministry of religion, or setting him apart for performing ecelesiastical rights and duties. All the Christian denomina...

Oregon: Oregon, a N W. state of the American Union, on the Pacific coast, the 20th admitted under the constitution, situated between lat. 42 and 46 20' X., and lon. 110 40' and 124 35' W.;...

Orel: I. A Central Government Of Russia A Central Government Of Russia, bordering on the governments of Kaluga, Tula, Tambov, Voronezh, Kursk, Tchernigov, and Smolensk; area, 18,034 sq. m.; pop. in 1867, 1...

Orenburg: I. A Government Of Russia A Government Of Russia, partly in Europe and partly in Asia, consisting of two separated parts, and bordering on Perm, Tobolsk, the Kirghiz steppes (province of Turgai), the...

Orense: I. A N. W. Province Of Spain A N. W. Province Of Spain, in Galicia, bordering on Pontevedra, Lugo, Leon, and Portugal; area, 2,739 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 402,796. It is traversed by the Can-tabrian mo...

Orestes: Orestes, a Greek legendary hero, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. He is represented as the avenger of his father, and the deliverer of his sister Electra, through the murder of his mother. The tragi...

Organ: Organ (Gr. bpyavov, an instrument), a name applied to several musical instruments closely allied in construction and principle, but more distinctly to the church and concert hall organ, a wind instrum...

Origen: Origen (Gr. '), a father of the church, born as conjectured in Alexandria, Egypt, about 185, died probably in Tyre in 254. The surname of Adamantius was bestowed on him by early writers on account of ...

Originally A Species O Macaronic Poetry: Originally A Species O Macaronic Poetry, f verse in which words of a modern language furnished with Latin terminations were intermingled; afterward, in general, any verses exhibiting a medley of langu...

Originally A Variegated Onyx Cameo, Or Other Parti-Colored Stone: Originally A Variegated Onyx Cameo, Or Other Parti-Colored Stone, on which figures and landscapes appeared, and more commonly applied to a gem in different-colored layers, carved in relief with figure...

Originally The Different Portions Of The Breviary Or Divine Office In The Roman Catholic And Greek Churches Canonical Hours: Originally The Different Portions Of The Breviary Or Divine Office In The Roman Catholic And Greek Churches Canonical Hours, arranged for use at certain hours of the day, but not now strictly adhered ...

Orinoco: Orinoco, a river of Venezuela, South America, which falls into the Atlantic by numerous mouths between lat. 8 40' and 10 N, after a course of about 1,500 m. It rises in the Sierra de Parima,...

Oriole: Oriole, the name of a subfamily of denti-rostral birds of the thrush family, characterized by a bill as long as the head, broad at the base, compressed on the sides, with elevated and curved culmen an...

Orion: Orion, a Greek mythical hero, son of Hy-rieus, of Hyria in Beeotia, called by the Boeotians Candaon. He was a giant, strong and handsome, and, coming once to Chios, fell in love with Aero or Merope, t...

Orissa: Orissa, an ancient province of India, now forming a commissionership of Bengal, extending about 250 m. along the W. side of the bay of Bengal, and bounded S. by Madras and W. by the Central Provinces;...

Orizaba: Orizaba, an inland city of Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, 160 m. E.S. E. of Mexico; pop. about 20,000. It is on a delightful plain 3,975 ft. above the sea. It has good streets and some fine houses...

Orkney Islands: Orkney Islands (Norse, Orkneyar, from ork, whale, and eyar, islands; Lat. Orcades), a compact group lying off the N. coast of Scotland, separated from it by Pentland frith, between lat, 58 44' an...

Orleans: I. A N. County Of Vermont A N. County Of Vermont, bordering on Canada, watered by the Black, Barton, Clyde, Lamoille, and Missisque rivers; area, 700 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 13,364. It has an uneven su...

Orloff: Orloff, the name of a Russian family which rose into consequence early in the 18th century. I. Ivan Ivan, the founder of the family, was one of the corps of strelitzes who in 1689 were induced by th...

Ormiz, Or Horninz: Ormiz, Or Horninz, an island of Persia, on the N. side of the strait of the same name, leading from the Arabian sea to the Persian gulf, about 5 m. from the coast; lat. 27 5' N, lon. 56 29' ...

Ormsby Mackniglit Mitchel: Ormsby Mackniglit Mitchel, an American astronomer, born in Union co., Ky., Aug. 28, 1810, died at Beaufort, S. C, Oct. 30, 1862. At 12 years of age, with a good knowledge of Latin and Greek and the el...

Ormuzd, Or Ahura Mazda: Ormuzd, Or Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity of the ancient Persians. He is the god of the firmament, the representative of goodness and truth, and the creator of the universe and of the beneficent spiri...

Ornithology: Ornithology (Gr., bird, and, discourse), the department of zoology which treats of the structure, habits, and classification of birds, the second class of vertebrated animals. Fur their structure see ...

Ornithorhynchus: Ornithorhynchus (Gr , a bird, and , a beak), a genus of implacental mammals of the order monotremata, which seem to form a connecting link between mammals and birds, and in some respects having a...

Orpheus: Orpheus, a mythical Greek personage, the chief of a circle of poets, embracing Linus, Musaeus, Eumolpus, and others, to whom were attributed various hymns and poems inculcating religious conceptions d...

Orsini: Orsini, an Italian family, conspicuous in the middle ages. Their ancestors were distinguished at Rome as early as the first half of the 12th century. Giordano, for his services to the pope as a soldie...

Orthoceras: Orthoceras (Gr. straight, and, horn), a fossil tetrabranchiate cephalopod, confined to the palaeozoic and early mesozoic periods, in which it played the part now taken by the carnivorous cattle fish. ...

Ortolan, Or Ortulan: Ortolan, Or Ortulan, a bunting of the genus emberiza (Linn.). The bill is small, acute, and conical, and the palate is furnished with a prominent bony knob; the wings are moderate, the tail lengthened...

Oruro: I. A W. Department Of Bolivia A W. Department Of Bolivia, occupying a large proportion of the great plain of its own name, sometimes also called the valley of the Desaguadero, bordering on Peru; area...

Orvieto: Orvieto, a town of Italy, in the province of Perugia, on the right bank of the Paglia, at the confluence of the Chiana, 60 m. N. N. W. of Rome; pop. about 8,000; of the commune, about 15,000. It has b...

Orville Dewey: Orville Dewey, D.D.,an American clergyman, born at Sheffield, Mass., March 28, 1794. He graduated at Williams college in 1814, studied divinity at Andover from 1816 to 1819, was for eight months agent...

Osage: I. A Central County Of Missouri A Central County Of Missouri, bounded N. by the Missouri river and N. W. by the Osage, and intersected by the Gasconade; area, about 850 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 10,793, ...

Osage Orange: Osage Orange, the name in general use for a tree of the genus Madura, closely allied to the mulberry (morus); it is the M. aurantiaca. The tree having been first found in the country of the Osage Indi...

Osceola: I. A N. W. Central County Of The S. Peninsula Of Michigan A N. W. Central County Of The S. Peninsula Of Michigan, drained by Muskegon river and branches of the Manistee; area, 576 sq. m.; pop. in 187...

Oshkosh: Oshkosh, a city and the capital of Winnebago co., Wisconsin, on the W. shore of Lake Winnebago, at the mouth of the Upper Fox river, and on the Chicago and Northwestern and the Oshkosh and Mississippi...

Osier: Osier (Fr. osier; Gr. olcoc), the name of those willows the long and pliant shoots of which are used for basket making. In England the basket makers use the name exclusively for the rods of the white ...

Osiris: Osiris, one of the principal divinities of ancient Egypt. The inscriptions speak of him as king of life, king of gods, lord of innumerable days, and ruler of eternity. He is represented as hav...

Osmon Clcander Bakek: Osmon Clcander Bakek, D. D., an American clergyman, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, born in Marlow, N. H., July 30, 1812, died Dec. 20, 1871. At the age of 15 he entered Wilbraham academy, a...

Osmum: Osmum, a metal belonging to the platinum group, discovered by Tennant in 1803 in platinum ore, associated with iridium, ruthenium, and small quantities of rhodium, as an alloy called osmiridium or iri...

Osmunda: Osmunda, a genus of ferns popularly known as flowering ferns. With one other genus they form the suborder Osmundaceoe, in which the spore cases are naked, globose, and each with a short pedicel or sta...

Osnabruck: Osnabruck (commonly called in English Os-naburg), a city of Prussia, in the province of Hanover, capital of a district, on the Hase, 71 m. W. of Hanover; pop. in 1871, 23,308. It is surrounded with ol...

Ossian: Ossian, a Celtic bard, who is supposed to have flourished in the 2d or 3d century of the Christian era, and whose compositions in the Celtic language were for many ages preserved among the Scottish an...

Ostade: I. Adrian Van Adrian Van, a Dutch painter, born inLubeck in 1610, died in Amsterdam in 1685. He studied at Haarlem, and is said to have been a pupil of Rembrandt. His pictures generally represent Dut...

Ostend: Ostend, a town of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, on the North sea, 66 m. W. N. TV. of Brussels; pop. in 1871, 15,963. Next to Antwerp it is the principal port of Belgium, and it is one of ...

Ostia: Ostia, a city of Latium, at the mouth of the Tiber, on the left bank of its southern arm, 16 m. S. W. of Rome by the Via Ostiensis. It was founded by Ancus Marcius, who established salt works there; a...

Ostracism: Ostracism (Gr., a fragment of tile, a shell), in Athenian history, the banishing from the state for a limited period of a person deemed dangerous to the republic. Grote defends ostracism as a wise mea...

Ostrich: Ostrich, the type of a group of terrestrial rasorial birds, with the cassowary, apteryx, dinornis and its extinct congeners, constituting the family struthionidoe. The genus struthio (Linn.) has a bro...

Ostrich Fern: Ostrich Fern (struthiopteris), a genus of ferns, so called on account of the plume-like appearance of the fertile fronds. There is but one species in this country, S. Germanica, which is also a native...

Osuna, Or Ossuna, Pedro Tellez Y Giroii: Osuna, Or Ossuna, Pedro Tellez Y Giroii, duke of, viceroy of Naples, born in Valladolid in 1579, died in 1624. He spent his childhood with his grandfather, who was viceroy in Naples, and subsequently ...

Oswego: Oswego, a N. W. county of New York, bounded N. W. by Lake Ontario, intersected by Oswego river, and drained by a number of streams falling into the lake; area, 1,038 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 77,941. It h...

Oswego (2): Oswego, a city, port of entry, and the capital of Oswego co., New York, on the S. E. shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Oswego river, 220 m. N. W. of New York and 145 in. W. N. W. of Albany; ...

Othman Ibn Affan: Othman Ibn Affan, the third of the caliphs, killed in Medina in 655. He was one of the earliest followers of Mohammed, whom he accompanied in his flight from Mecca to Medina, and on his return became ...

Othman, Or Osman: Othman, Or Osman, surnamed the Conqueror, the founder of the Ottoman empire, and of the present reigning dynasty of Turkey, horn in Bithynia in 1259, died in 1326. He is said to have been the son of...

Othniel Charles Marsh: Othniel Charles Marsh, an American naturalist, born in Lockport, N. Y., Oct. 29. 1831. He studied at Phillips academy, Andover. Mass., and at Yale college, where he graduated in 1860, and spent the ne...

Otho I: Otho I, the Great, a German emperor, born in 912, died at Memleben, Thuringia, May 7, 973. In spite of strong opposition to him in his own family, he succeeded his father, Henry the Fowler, and was cr...

Otho II: Otho II, a German emperor, son of the preceding, born in 955, died in Rome, Dec. 7, 983. He was crowned king of Rome during the lifetime of his father (961). He ruled Germany for a time under the guar...

Otho IV: Otho IV, a German emperor, born in 1174, died May 19, 1218. He was the son of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria, and of Matilda, sister of Richard Coeur de Lion. His youth was passed at the c...

Otiio I. (Otto Friedrich Ludwig): Otiio I. (Otto Friedrich Ludwig), king of Greece, second son of Louis L, king of Bavaria, born in Salzburg, June 1, 1815, died in Bamberg, July 26, 1807. In his 17th year he was invited by the Greeks,...

Otomis, Or Othoims: Otomis, Or Othoims, an Indian tribe in Mexico, inhabiting the state of Querétaro and most of Guanajuato, and numerous in the state of Mexico, with bands in Vera Cruz, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Michoacan, and ...

Otsego: I. A Central County Of New York A Central County Of New York, bounded W. by the Unadilla river, and watered by the Susquehanna river and Wharton, Butternut, Otego, Schenevas, and other creeks; area, ...

Ottavio Piccolomini: Ottavio Piccolomini, an Austrian general, born in 1599, died in Vienna in 1656. He was a descendant of a sister of Pope Pius II. He early entered the Spanish army at Milan, served under the emperor Fe...

Ottawa: I. A N. County Of Ohio A N. County Of Ohio, bounded N. E. by Lake Erie and S. E. by Sandusky bay, and intersected by Portage river; area, about 350 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 13,364. It includes several i...

Ottawa (2): Ottawa, a city and port of entry of the province of Ontario, capital of Carleton co. and of the Dominion of Canada, on the south bank of Ottawa river, at the mouth of the Rideau, 97 m. above the St. L...

Ottawa, Or Grand: Ottawa, Or Grand, a river of Canada, rising in the X. W. portion of the province of Quebec, in about lat. 47 N. and lon. 7G 30' W. It flows first N. W., then W., in a tortuous course through...

Otter: Otter, the name of several species of carnivorous mammals, of the subfamily lutrinoe, and family rnustelidoe or weasels. The subfamily includes the four genera lutra (Linn.), pte-ronura (Gray) or pter...

Otto Frcderik Muller: Otto Frcderik Muller, a Danish naturalist, born in Copenhagen in March, 1730, died Dec 26, 1784. He was educated for the church became tutor to a young nobleman, and after several years' travel with h...

Ottocar II: Ottocar II, king of Bohemia, born about 1230, killed in battle, Aug. 26, 1278. During his youth he headed an insurrection of the Bohemian nobles against his father, King Wen-ceslas L, which resulted f...

Ouachita: I. A N. Parish Of Louisiana A N. Parish Of Louisiana, intersected by the Washita river; area, about 650 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 11,582, of whom 7,823 were colored. Pine, oak, and hickory are very abund...

Oude, Or Ondh: Oude, Or Ondh (Sanskrit, Ayodhya, invincible). I. A Province Of British India A Province Of British India, formerly a native kingdom of Hindostan, lying between lat. 25 34' and 29 6' N., a...

Ounce: Ounce (fells vncia, Buffon; Icopardus vn-cia, Gray), a medium-sized cat of the old world, smaller than the leopard, inhabiting the mountainous regions of Asia. Buffon distinguishes it from the panther...

Ouro Preto, Or Villarica: Ouro Preto, Or Villarica, an inland city of Brazil, capital of the province of Minas Geraes, and of a district of the same name, 170 m. N. by W. of Rio de Janeiro; pop. about4,000. It is situated on s...

Ouseley: I. Sir William Sir William, an English orientalist, born in Monmouthshire in 1771, died in 1842. In 1788 he became cornet of dragoons, but left the army in 1794, and went to the university of Leyden,...

Outlawry: Outlawry, the process by which one is excluded from the protection of the law, partly in respect to his property, and partly in respect to his person. The outlaw, says Brac-ton, forfeits home and coun...

Ouzel: Ouzel, a genus of birds of the thrush family, hydrobata (Vieill.) or cinclus (Bechst.). The bill is without bristles at the base, moderate, slender, slightly bent upward, with culmen nearly straight, ...

Oven Bird: Oven Bird, the popular name of a group of tenuirostral birds of the subfamily furnarinm and the family of creepers, inhabiting the warm parts of South America and the West Indies. In the typical genus...

Overyssel, Or Overussel: Overyssel, Or Overussel, an E. province of the Netherlands, bordering on Friesland, Drenthe, Prussia, Gelderland, and the Zuyder Zee; area, 1,282 sq. m.; pop. in 1873, 260,543. The surface is generall...

Ovid: Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso), a Roman poet, born at Sulmo in the country of the Pc-ligni, March 20, 43 B. C, died at Tomi on the Euxine, S. of the mouth of the Danube, A. D. 18, He was of an ancient eq...

Oviedo: Oviedo, a city of Spain, capital of a province of the same name (see Asturias), 15 m. S. W. of the seaport Gijon on the coast of the bay of Biscay, and 230 m. N. W. of Madrid, near the Nalon river and...

Owego: Owego, a town and village, capital of Tioga co., New York, on the Susquehanna river, here crossed by a bridge 240 ft. long, at the mouth of Owego creek, on the Erie and Southern Central railroads, and...

Owen: I. A N. County Of Kentucky A N. County Of Kentucky, bounded W. by the Kentucky river and N. by Fade creek; area, about 300 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 14,309, of whom 1,176 were colored. It has an undulati...

Owen (2): I. Robert Robert, an English social reformer, born in Newtown, North Wales, March 14, 1771, died there, Nov. 19, 1858. The son of poor parents, when 14 years old he procured a situation in London, an...

Owen Jokes: Owen Jokes, an English architect, born in Wales in 1809, died in London, April 19, 1874. He was the only son of Owen Jones, a Welsh tradesman, whose Myvyrian Archaeology of Wales, published under th...

Owl: Owl, the general name of the nocturnal birds of prey constituting the family of strigidoe, of which there are 5 subfamilies, 13 genera, and about 150 species, more than 40 of which inhabit America. Ow...

Owl Parrot: Owl Parrot, a singular bird of the cockatoo family, of the genus strigops (Gray), found in New Zealand. In the only species described (V. habroptilwt, Gray), the bill is high and short, grooved on the...

Ox: Ox, a general name for bovine animals of all kinds, though primarily signifying only the male. The family bovinm contains the genera bos, ovibos (musk ox), biibahts (buffalo), bibos, bison, and poëpha...

Ox Gall: Ox Gall, the bile of the ox, a viscid green or greenish yellow fluid, of bitter and slightly sweetish taste, found chiefly in a membranous bag in the ox. It varies in consistency, sometimes being very...

Oxalis: Oxalis (Gr., sour, the foliage containing an acid, watery juice), a genus of plants of which the common wood sorrel is a familiar representative. This and a few other genera formerly composed the fami...

Oxalic Acid: Oxalic Acid, an important and powerful acid discovered by Scheele in 1770, or as claimed by some by Bergman; symbol, H2C2O4, 2H20; chemical equivalent, 126. It occurs in vegetables, animals, and rarel...

Oxenstiern: Oxenstiern (Swed. Oxenstjerna), Axel, count, a Swedish statesman, born at Fanö, in Upland, June 16,1583, died in Stockholm, Aug. 28, 1654. He studied at the universities of Rostock, Wittenberg, and J...

Oxford: Oxford, a S. W. county of Maine, bordering on New Hampshire, watered by the Androscoggin, Saco, and other rivers; area, about 1,700 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 33,488. Its surface is in some parts broken an...

Oxfordshire: Oxfordshire, a S. county of England, bordered S. and S. W. for 70 m. by the river Thames or Isis, and enclosed by the counties of Warwick, Northampton, Buckingham, Berks, and Gloucester; area, 735 sq....

Oxides: Oxides, a general term applied to the compounds of oxygen with other bodies, particularly the binary compounds with the other elements. Their number and variety are very great, for oxygen is the most ...

Oxpecrer: Oxpecrer, a bird of the starling family, and the genus buphaga (Linn.), inhabiting the warm parts of Africa; it is also called beefeater. The bill is pincer-like, stout and broad at the base, with d...

Oxus: Oxus, the classical and still common name of the Amoo Darya or Jihoon, an important river of western Asia. It has its source about 15,600 ft. above the sea, in the Sir-i-Kol (Lake Sir), or Lake Victor...

Oxygen: Oxygen (Gr., acid, and yewdeiv, to generate), the most abundant of all elementary substances, having when free a gaseous form, which has never been reduced to a liquid. Its symbol is O, its atomic wei...

Oyer: Oyer (law Fr., a hearing, from Lat. audire, to hear). When one party declares on or otherwise pleads a deed, and founds his claim or rests his defence upon it, he must generally make profert of it, or...

Oyerbecr: I. Fricdrkh Fricdrkh, a German painter, born in Lübeck, July 3, 1789, died in Rome, Nov. 12, 18G9. He commenced his artistic education in Vienna in 1800, and in 1810 repaired to Rome, where he became...

Oyster: Oyster, a marine acephalous mollusk, of the lamellibranchiate order and genus ostrea (Linn.). The shells are very irregular, inequi-valve, and lamellated, the right or upper shell being the smaller an...

Oyster Catcher: Oyster Catcher, a wading bird of the genus hamatopus (Linn.). The bill is twice as long as the head, and is strong, straight, much compressed, sharp-edged, and truncated at the end; wings long and poi...

Oyster Green: Oyster Green, a name given to marine algae of the genus ulva, which are also called green laver and sea lettuce. The ulvas belong to the ehlorospermous class of seaweeds, distinguished by their green ...

Oyster Plant: Oyster Plant, one of the names for trago-pogon porrifolius, which is also called salsify ( Fr. sahifs). The genus tragopogon (Gr. -yog, a goat, and rruytjv, beard) belongs to that division of the comp...

Ozaka: Ozaka, a city of Japan, in the S. W. part of the main island, on and near the mouth of the Yodogawa, 25 m. S. W. of Kioto; pop. in 1872, 530,885. It is one of the three fu or imperial cities, and is i...

Ozoxe: Ozoxe (Gr., to smell), an allotropic and particularly active condition of oxygen. Van Marum, toward the end of the last century, while experimenting with a powerful electrical machine, made the first ...

P: THE 16th letter and the 12th consonant of the English alphabet. It is the leading'or most prominent of the labial mutes, and is pronounced by closely compressing the lips until the breath is collected...

Paaeontology: Paaeontology (Gr., ancient, bvra, beings, and?.6yog, discourse; i. e., the study of ancient beings), the science which treats of the evidences of organic life upon the earth during the different past ...

Paca: Paca, a rodent of the agouti family, the only well determined species of the genus coelo-genys (111.). In this genus the zygomatic arch is enormously developed, the superior maxillary portion presenti...

Pachydermia: Pachydermia (Gr., thick, and, skin), the name given by Cuvier to a group of herbivorous mammals, generally large and unwieldy, with a thick skin, naked or sparingly covered with hair. Among its living...

Pacific Ocean: Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on the globe, bounded E. by the American continent, N. by the same and by the chain of the Aleutian islands (Behring sea not being properly oceanic in its character), ...

Padua: Padua (It. Padova). I. A Province Of Italy A Province Of Italy, in Venetia, bordering on Vicenza, Treviso, Venice, Rovigo, and Verona; area, 755 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 364,430. The surface generally ...

Paducah: Paducah, a city and the capital of McCrack-en co., Kentucky, on the Ohio river, just below the mouth of the Tennessee, 47 m. above the Mississippi and 322 m. below Louisville, and on the Louisville, P...

Paeony, Or Peony: Paeony, Or Peony (also written piony, and sometimes in popular language reduced to piny), the common name for plants of the genus Poeonia, which is said to have been so called in honor of Paeon or Pae...

Paestum: Paestum (originally Posidonia, city of Poseidon or Neptune), an ancient city of southern Italy, situated in the N. W. extremity of Lucania, about 4 m. S. E. of the mouth of the Silarus (Selo), and on ...

Page: I. A N. E. County Of Virginia A N. E. County Of Virginia, bordered E. by the Blue Ridge, and intersected by the Shenandoah river; area, about 250 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 8,462, of whom 986 were colored...

Pagoda: Pagoda, a kind of temple common in China and Indo-China, and especially in Burmah. Chinese pagodas are generally towers nine stories high. The most celebrated of these was the porcelain tower at Nank...

Pailists: Pailists, a society of missionary priests of the Roman Catholic church, founded in New York in 1858 by Isaac Thomas Hecker. Father Hecker and his first associates belonged to the order of Redemptorist...

Paine: I. Robert Treat Robert Treat, an American statesman, born in Boston, March 11,1731, died there, May 11, 1814. He graduated at Harvard college in 1749, studied theology, and acted in 1755 as chaplain ...

Paints: Paints, coloring substances prepared so that they may be spread with a brush, to color or preserve surfaces.. The term is usually applied to mixtures of pigments with oil, but may include those with w...

Palaeotherioi: Palaeotherioi (Cuv.; Gr. 7rahn6c, ancient, and, animal), the type of a tribe of fossil ungulates belonging to the family of perissodactyla (Owen), or those having an uneven number of toes, intermediat...

Palasologus Constantine XIII: Palasologus Constantine XIII., the last emperor of the East, born in 1394, killed at the taking of Constantinople, May 29, 1453. He was the son of Manuel and brother of John Palseologus, emperors of C...

Palate: Palate, the bony and muscular partition which separates the mouth in vertebrate animals from the anterior and posterior nasal cavities. The bony or hard palate forms the roof of the mouth, and consist...

Palembaxg: I. A Dutch Province In The S. E. Part Of The Island Of Sumatra A Dutch Province In The S. E. Part Of The Island Of Sumatra, between the strait of Banca and the province of Bencoolen; area, 61,911 sq....

Palermo: I. A N. W. Province Of Sicily A N. W. Province Of Sicily, bordering on the Mediterranean and the provinces of Messina, Catania, Caltanisetta, Gir-genti, and Trapani; area, 1,964 sq. m.; pop. in 1872,...

Palestine: Palestine (Gr. , derived from the Heb. Pelesheth, Philistia), a country of western Asia, now forming a part of the Turkish empire, bounded N. by the Lebanon mountains, which separate it from Coele-...

Palexcia: I. A N. Province Of Spain A N. Province Of Spain, in Old Castile, bordering on Santander, Burgos, Valladolid, and Leon; area, 3,125 sq. m.; pop. in 1870,184,668. It is watered'by the Carrion, Cueza, ...

Paley: I. William William, an English theologian, born in Peterborough in July, 1743, died May 25, 1805. He graduated at Christ's college, Cambridge, as senior wrangler, in 1763, and after teaching for thre...

Palgrave: I. Sir Francis Sir Francis, an English author, born in London in July, 1788, died at Hamp-stead, July 6, 1861. He belonged to a Jewish family named Cohen, which name he exchanged for that of Palgrave...

Palimpsest: Palimpsest (Gr. , from , again, and , to rub), a parchment which has been written upon twice or oftener, the prior writing having been erased and the surface prepared for the new by rubbing. ...

Palladius: I. Surnamed Sophista Or Iatro-Sophista Surnamed Sophista Or Iatro-Sophista, a Greek medical writer, of whose life nothing is known except that he must have flourished between the 2d and 9th centuries...

Palladium: Palladium, in Greek legends, a wooden image of Pallas or Minerva, thrown down to earth by Jupiter. It fell in the neighborhood of Troy, where Ilus the founder of that city, who had just prayed for fav...

Pallium, Or Palla: Pallium, Or Palla, an outer garment worn by both sexes among the Greeks, and occasionally among the Romans. It was a square or rectangular piece of woollen, linen, or cotton cloth, varying in color, t...

Palm: Palm (Lat. palma, the ancient name of the date tree), the general name of plants of the palmacecR or palm family. The species of palms number nearly 1,000, which are distributed in more than 50 genera...

Palm Oil: Palm Oil, a fatty oil of the consistence of butter, of a rich orange color, sweetish taste, and odor like that of violets or orris root. It is the product of the fibrous fleshy coat of the drupe or st...

Palma: Palma, the capital of the Spanish island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean, in lat. 39 34' N., Ion. 2 45' E.; pop. about 50,000. It is situated on the S. W. coast, at the head of the bay of P...

Palmer: I. Roundell, Lord Selborne Lord Selborne Roundell, an English statesman, born at Mixbury, Oxfordshire, Nov. 27, 1812. He was educated first at Rugby and Winchester, and graduated at Trinity college, ...

Palmetto: Palmetto, the common name of the four species of palm indigenous to the United States, belonging to two genera of the tribe coryphi-neoe. (See Palm.) The largest species is the tall palmetto or cabbag...

Palming: Palming, the art of representing objects by means of light and shade or color upon a smooth surface. Whatever importance such objects possess for the purposes of science, to the painter they present f...

Palmyra: Palmyra, an ancient city in an oasis in the Syrian desert, about 120 m. N. E. of Damascus. It is supposed to be the Tadmor founded or (according to Josephus) enlarged by Solomon, and its Hebrew name, ...

Palo Alto: Palo Alto, a N. W. county of Iowa, drained by the Des Moines river and its tributaries; area, 576 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 1,336. The surface is generally level and the soil fertile. The chief production...

Pamfilo De Narvaez: Pamfilo De Narvaez, a Spanish explorer, born in Valladolid about 1480, perished off the southern coast of Louisiana in 1528. He came to America apparently as early as 1501, served in Santo Domingo, an...

Pampas: Pampas, the great plains of South America, stretching from lat. 50 S. in Patagonia northward through the Argentine Republic to the Bolivian frontier, about 27 degrees of latitude, and covering an...

Pampas Grass: Pampas Grass (gynerium argenteum), a large perennial grass from the plains of South America. It is dioecious, and the generic name (Gr. i female, and , wool, hair) is derived from the fact that...

Pamphilus: Pamphilus, a Greek painter, born in Am-phipolis, flourished between 390 and 350 B. C. Not more than four or five of his pictures are specified by ancient authors, but Quintilian says he was one of the...

Pamphylia: Pamphylia (Gr. , all, and , tribe), an ancient division of Asia Minor, on its S. coast, now comprised in the Turkish vilayet of Konieh. It is said to have been first called Mopsopia, from Mopsus...

Pamplona, Or Pampeluna (Anc. Pompelon): Pamplona, Or Pampeluna (Anc. Pompelon), a fortified city of Spain, capital of the province of Navarre, on the left bank of the Arga, 197 m. N. E. of Madrid; pop. about 23,000. It stands in a plain fla...

Pan: Pan, in Grecian mythology, the god of flocks and shepherds. He was the son of Mercury by Callisto, Dryops, (Eneis, or Penelope, or according to some authorities of Penelope by Ulysses or by all her su...

Panathenjea: Panathenjea, the most splendid of the Athenian festivals, celebrated in honor of Athena (Minerva) Polias, protectress of the city. According to tradition, it was instituted by Erich-thonius under the ...

Panckoucke: I. Charles Joseph Charles Joseph, a French editor, born in Lille, Nov. 26, 1736, died in Paris, Dec. 19, 1798. His father, Andee Joseph Paxckotjcke (1700-53), a publisher, was a prominent Jansenist a...

Pancreas: Pancreas, a single, non-symmetrical glandular organ, situated in man transversely across the upper part of the abdomen, about on the level of the last dorsal vertebra; it is behind the peritoneum, at ...

Pancreatine: Pancreatine, a name given to various preparations representing the activity of the pancreatic juice, and containing its peculiar ferment in greater or less purity. The processes by which pancreatine i...

Panda: Panda, a carnivorous plantigrade mammal, of the genus ailurus (F. Cuv.), which seems to connect the bears with the civets; by some authors it is placed with the civets. The teeth resemble those of the...

Pandanus: Pandanus (Malayan, pan-dang), the generic name of the screw pines, so called not because of their resemblance to the pines proper, but from the leaves, which are arranged spirally, somewhat like those...

Pandora: Pandora (Gr. , all, and , a gift), in Grecian legends, the first created woman. According to Hesiod, Jupiter, angry because Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven, ordered Vulcan to make a beaut...

Pangolin, Or Scaly Ant-Eater: Pangolin, Or Scaly Ant-Eater, a burrowing edentate mammal of the old world, whose species constitute the genus manis (Linn.). These animals have the long pointed snout, toothless mouth, and extensile ...

Panl Diaries Morphy: Panl Diaries Morphy, an American lawyer, celebrated as a chess player, born in New Orleans. La., June 22. 1837. He early exhibited a fondness for the game of chess, and at the age of 12 had encountere...

Pannonia: Pannonia, a province of the Roman empire, bounded N. and E. by the Danube, which separated it from Germany and Dacia, S. by the Save (Savus), separating it from Illyria, and W. by the Julian Alps and ...

Panola: I. A N. W. County Of Mississippi A N. W. County Of Mississippi, intersected by the Tallahatchie river; area, about 750 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 20,754, of whom 12,585 were colored. Its surface is genera...

Pantheon: Pantheon (Gr. , all, and , a god), literally, a temple dedicated to all the gods. The most famous structure of this kind is that in Rome, erected by M. Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus, 26 B....

Panther: Panther (felts pardus, Linn.), a large African spotted cat, considered by Temminck and most modern naturalists as a variety of the leopard (F. leopardus, Linn, or L. varius, Gray), but regarded by Cuv...

Paoli: I. Pasquale Pasquale, a Corsican patriot, born near Morosaglia in 1726, died in London, Feb. 5, 1807. His father Giacinto was a leader of the Corsicans in their struggles against the Genoese and the ...

Paolo Sarpi: Paolo Sarpi (commonly known as Fra Paolo), an Italian historian, born in Venice, Aug. 14, 1552, died there, Jan. 14, 1623. He studied for 12 years in a convent of Servites, became a member of that ord...

Papagos: Papagos, a tribe of Indians in Arizona, belonging to the Pima family, and calling themselves Papapootam. They were enemies of the Apaches and friendly to the Spaniards from an early period, and Jesuit...

Papal Bull: Papal Bull (L. Lat. oulla, a seal), one of the forms in which the pope issues his ordinances. It differs from a brief in that the latter, though of equal authority, is issued with less solemnity. Brie...

Papal States, Or States Of The Chnrcb: Papal States, Or States Of The Chnrcb, the name formerly given to a territory of central Italy subject to the pope. In 1859, before the annexation of most of the territory to the dominions of Victor E...

Papaw: Papaw (Fr. papayer), a name applied to two very different trees and their fruits, the one purely tropical, the other North American, and especially belonging to the middle states. The common papaw of ...

Paper: Paper (Gr. , papyrus), a material made in thin sheets from a pulp prepared from vegetable fibre and cellular tissue. - Materials. The first paper was probably made in Egypt from papyrus, a species ...

Paper Hangings: Paper Hangings, a covering for interior walls of buildings, made of paper and usually printed with figures and devices, as a substitute for hangings of tapestry or cloth. They came into use in Europe ...

Paphlagonia: Paphlagonia, in ancient geography, a country in the north of Asia Minor, bounded N. by the Euxine sea, E. by Pontus, from which it was separated by the river Halys (the modern Kizil Irmak), S. by Gala...

Papier Mache: Papier Mache, the pulp of paper mixed with glue or gum arabic, moulded, and dried, or paper pasted in sheets upon models. The cheaper articles of papier mache are made of white or brown paper mashed i...

Papirius Cursor: See Papirius. Papirius Cursor #1 Papirius Cursor, a Roman family of the Papiria gens, supposed to have derived its name from the fleetness of foot of its founder. The following are its chief members...

Papua, Or Flfew Guinea: Papua, Or Flfew Guinea, the largest island in the world, with the exception of Australia and possibly Borneo. It is included in the Australasian division of Oceania, and lies between lat. 0 6' an...

Papuan Race And Languages: The Papuans are the original inhabitants of the islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans, but, driven out or extirpated from the coasts by the Malayo-Polynesian races, they are generally in possession...

Papyrus: Papyrus, the ancient name for paper, and for the plant which furnished the material from which it was made. The papyrus plant or paper reed belongs to the family of cyperacea or sedges, nearly related...

Para, Or Grao Parft: Para, Or Grao Parft, a N. E. province of Brazil, bounded N. by Guiana, N. E. by the Atlantic, S. E. by Maranhao and Goyaz, S. by Mat-to Grosso, and W. by Amazonas; area, 460,-000 sq. m.; pop. in 1871,...

Paracelsus: Paracelsus (Philipptjs Aureolus Theopheastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim), a Swiss alchemist, born at Einsiedeln, Schwytz, in 1493, died in Salzburg, Sept. 23,1541. He was the son of a physician, from who...

Paradise: Paradise (Sans, para-dega, a foreign country; Heb. pardes, park; Arab. firdaus; Gr. ), literally, a garden or pleasure ground planted with trees and flowers, whence the term is used metaphorically...

Paraffine: Paraffine (Lat. parum affinis, of weak affinity), a white, waxy substance, which was discovered in 1830 by Reichenbach among the products of the distillation of wood. It has since been produced by the...

Paraguay: Paraguay, a republic of South America, extending from lat. 21 57' to 27 30' S., and from Ion. 54 33' to 58 40' W., bounded K and N. E. by Brazil, S. E., S., and S. W. by the Argent...

Parahyba: I. A K E. Province Of Brazil A K E. Province Of Brazil, bounded N. by Rio Grande do Norte, E. by the Atlantic, S. by Pernambuco, and W. by Ceara; area, 31,500 sq. m.; pop. in 1871 (estimated), 280,0...

Parallax: Parallax, the apparent displacement of a heavenly body arising from a change of the observer's position. The angle subtended at the body by the line joining the two stations is the measure of the para...

Paralysis, Or Palsy (Gr: Paralysis, Or Palsy (Gr. , relaxation), a loss of the power of motion in any part of the body. As the contractile power of the muscles depends upon their healthy organization and the integrity of t...

Paramaribo: Paramaribo, a maritime city, capital of Dutch Guiana, on the left bank of the Surinam, 20 m. from the sea; lat. 5 50' N., Ion. 55 13' W.; pop. about 18,000, half of whom are blacks. Three ca...

Parana: Parana, a river of South America, formed by the union of the Paranahyba and Grande, both from the mountains of Minas Geraes in Brazil. From the point of junction of these rivers, about lat. 20 S....

Paraphernalia: Paraphernalia (Gr. , besides, and , dowry), in law, all the personal apparel and ornaments of the wife, which she possesses, and which are suitable to her condition in life. The word was borrowe...

Paray-Le-Monial: Paray-Le-Monial, a town of Burgundy, France, in the department of Saone-et-Loire, 35 m. W. N. W. of Macon, and 180 m. S. E. of Paris; pop. about 3,500. It has a remarkable church and a Benedictine abb...

Parcae (Gr. Molpai), Or Fates: Parcae (Gr. Molpai), Or Fates, in Grecian and Roman mythology, daughters of Erebus and Night or of Jupiter and Themis. They had control over the universe, and particularly human destinies, presided ov...

Parchment: Parchment (Lat. pergamena), the skins of sheep and other animals, prepared in sheets to render them fit for being written upon. Parchment was known at a very early period, and the manufacture of it is...

Pardon: Pardon, in its proper sense, the act of grace by which the sovereign declares that the guilty shall be regarded as innocent. In human political societies, this effect is accomplished, not by absolving...

Paris: Paris, the capital of France, and the second city in Europe in point of population, on both banks of the Seine and on two islands in that river, 111 m. from its mouth; lat. of the observatory, 48...

Parish: Parish (law Latin, parochia). In English ecclesiastical law, this word has always meant a certain extent of territory, or circuit of ground, committed to the spiritual charge of one parson, or vica...

Park Benjamin: Park Benjamin, an American poet and journalist, born in Demerara, British Guiana, Aug. 14, 1809, died in New York, Sept. 12, 1864. His father was of Welsh descent, but was born in Connecticut, whence ...

Parke Godwin: Parke Godwin, an American journalist, born in Paterson, N. J., Feb. 25, 1816. He graduated at Princeton college in 1834, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky, but did not practise. Fro...

Parker Cleaveland: Parker Cleaveland, an American mineralogist, born at Rowley, Mass., Jan. 15, 1780, died at Brunswick, Me., Oct. 15, 1858. He graduated at Harvard college in 1799, and then passed three years in teachi...

Parkersburg: Parkersburg, a port of delivery and the capital of Wood co., West Virginia, the second city in the state in population, on the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Little Kanawha, 92 m. below Wheeling, and...

Parliament: Parliament (low Lat. parlamentum; Fr. parlement, fromparler, to speak), originally a meeting or assembly for conference or deliberation; afterward applied in France to the principal judicial courts,...

Parliamentary Law And Privileges: In the gradual establishment of parliamentary government in England the customary methods of doing business by the two houses have resulted in rules of procedure which constitute a common law of parli...

Parma: Parma, a S. E. province of Brazil, bounded N. by Matto Grosso and Sao Paulo, E. by the Atlantic and Santa Oatharina, S. by the latter province and that of Sao Pedro or Rio Grande do Sul, and W. by Par...

Parma (2): I. A N. Province Of Italy A N. Province Of Italy, in the Emilia, separated N. by the Po from Cremona, E. by the Enza from Reggio, S. by the Apennines from Massa e Carrara and Genoa, and bounded N. W....

Parmigiano, Or Parmigianino: Parmigiano, Or Parmigianino, an Italian painter, whose real name was Francesco Mazzuola, or Mazzola, born in Parma in 1503 or 1504, died in Oasal Maggiore, Aug. 24,1540. In his 16th year he produced a...

Paropamisan Mountains, Or Paropamisns: Paropamisan Mountains, Or Paropamisns, a name formerly generally applied to a western portion of the Hindoo Koosh range in central Asia. (See Hindoo Koosh.) It is of very ancient origin, having been u...

Paroquet, Or Parrakeet: Paroquet, Or Parrakeet, the common name of many old-world parrots of the subfamily pezoporinw. They all have a moderate bill, the tail long, broad, and more or less graduated, with the ends of the fea...

Paros, Or Paro: Paros, Or Paro, an island of Greece, in the Archipelago, one of the Oyclades, separated from Naxos or Naxia on the east by a strait 5 m. wide; length N. E. and S. W. 14 m., greatest breadth 11 m.; are...

Parr: Parr, a space of ground used for public or private recreation, differing from a garden in its spaciousness and the broad,. simple, and natural character of its scenery, and from a wood in the more s...

Parrhasius: Parrhasius, a Greek painter, born in Ephe-sus, flourished about 400 B. C. He was the son and pupil of Evenor, and, although belonging to the Ionian school of art, passed the greater part of his life i...

Parrot: Parrot, the general name of the psittacidce, a family of scansorial birds, remarkable for the elegance of their form, the brilliancy of their plumage, and their docility and power of imitating the hum...

Parrot Fish: Parrot Fish, the common name of the numerous cyclolabroid fishes of the genus scarus (Forsk.); the name is derived from the beaklike form of their jaws; they also present the same brilliancy and varie...

Parsees: Parsees (i. e., inhabitants of Fars or Persia), the modern followers of Zoroaster, mostly dwelling in Yezd and neighboring towns in Persia, and in Bombay and a few other places in India. While in Pers...

Parsley: Parsley, a common umbelliferous garden plant which has been in cultivation for centuries. The old English authors wrote the word percely, evidently from the Fr. persil, that being derived from the Lat...

Parsnip: Parsnip (pastinaca sativa), an umbelliferous plant, cultivated for its edible root. The name was written pastnip by the old herbalists, from pastinaca, the ancient Latin name. The parsnip is found wil...

Parsons: Parsons, a city of Labette co., Kansas, at the junction of the Sedalia branch of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad with the main line extending from Junction City to Denison, Texas, 120 m. S. b...

Parthenogenesis: Parthenogenesis (Gr. , virgin, and , birth), a name given to the phenomenon in the organic world, believed by many to occur, though still questioned by others, of a production of successive gen...

Parthia: Parthia, an ancient country of Asia, which for several hundred years was the seat of an extensive and powerful empire. Parthia proper was a territory S. E. of the Caspian sen, now embraced in the nort...

Partition: Partition, in law, the severance of common or undivided interests. It is particularly applied to interests in realty. At common law lands held by two or more persons were held by them either in joint ...

Partnership: Partnership, in law, exists when two or more persons combine their property, labor, or skill, or one or more of these, for the transaction of business for their common profit. It may be confined to a ...

Parton: I. James James, an American author, born in Canterbury, England, Feb. 9,1822. At five years of age he was brought to New York, and at 19 he became a teacher in an academy at White Plains, Westchester...

Partridge: Partridge, the popular name of the family of perdicidce, which includes also the quails. They differ from the grouse in having the legs bare and the nostrils protected by a naked hard scale; they are ...

Partridge Kerry: Partridge Kerry, a name sometimes applied to the common plant Gaultheriaprocum-hens (see Wintergreen), but which properly belongs and should be restricted to Mitchella repens. This genus was named by ...

Party Wall: Party Wall, in law, a dividing wall between lands of different proprietors, used in common for the support of structures on both sides. At the common law an owner who has occasion to build on the line...

Pas-De-Calais: Pas-De-Calais, a N. department of France, formed principally from the old province of Artois, bordering on the strait of Dover (Fr. Pas de Calais) and the departments of Le Nord and Somme; area, 2,550...

Pasargadae, Or Pasargada: Pasargadae, Or Pasargada, the capital of ancient Persia under Cyrus and Cambyses. Its name is translated by Stephen of Byzantium, the encampment of all the Persians. Its site is not known. There are...

Pascagoula: Pascagoula, a river of Mississippi, formed by the junction of the Leaf and Chickasahay in Greene co. It flows southerly through Jackson co. into Mississippi sound, through two mouths, its embouchure f...

Paschal Grousset: Paschal Grousset, a French communist, born in Corsica about 1845. He is the son of the president of a college, and early went to Paris to study medicine, but became a journalist, and eventually joined...

Paschal II: Paschal II, pope (Ranieri of Bieda), born in Tuscany, died Jan. 21, 1118. He was a monk of the order of Cluny, and was made cardinal by Pope Gregory VII. He was elected pope on Aug. 13, 1099, and almo...

Pascual Madoz: Pascual Madoz, a Spanish author, born in Pamplona, May 17, 1806, died in 1870. His studies at Saragossa were interrupted in 1823 by his part in the defence of the castle of Mon-zon against the French ...

Pasha, Or Bashaw: Pasha, Or Bashaw, in Turkey, a title given to a governor of a province, a minister, or a naval and military commander of high rank. Pashas of the first rank are called pashas of three tails, that numb...

Pasquier Quesnel: Pasquier Quesnel, a French theologian, born in Paris, July 14, 1634, died in Amsterdam, Dec. 2, 1719. He studied in the Sorbonne, became a member of the French congregation of the Oratory in 1657, and...

Pasquin: Pasquin, the name given to a mutilated statue in Rome, standing at the end of the Braschi palace near the piazza Navona. In its immediate neighborhood, in the latter half of the 15th century, was the ...

Passaic: Passaic, a N. county of New Jersey, bordering on New York, bounded S. W. by the Pe-quannock and intersected by the Ringwood, Ramapo, and Passaic rivers; area, about 220 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 46,416. ...

Passau: Passau (anc. Batava Castro), a town of Bavaria, at the confluence of the Inn and the Danube, 92 m. E. N. E. of Munich; pop. in 1871, 13,389. It is divided by the rivers into three parts, the central o...

Passenger Pigeon, Or Wild Pigeon: Passenger Pigeon, Or Wild Pigeon (ectopistes migratoria, Swains.), a well known columbine species peculiar to North America, where it exists in immense numbers. The family characters are given under P...

Passion Flower (Passiflora): Passion Flower (Passiflora), a genus of plants so named because the early Spanish missionaries regarded them as emblematic of the passion or crucifixion of Christ and its attendant circumstances. It c...

Passionists: Passionists, an order of regular clerks in the Roman Catholic church, founded in 1720 by Paolo Francesco Danei, known as St. Paul of the Cross. He was born Jan. 3, 1694, at Ovada, near Genoa, and died...

Passover: Passover (Heb. pesa 'h, from pasa 'A, to leap over, to pass by; Aram, pas 'ha; Sept. naoxa; Vul. pascha), a Hebrew festival, instituted by Moses in commemoration of the Israelites remaining intact on ...

Passport: Passport, a document given by the author- . ized officer of a state, which permits a person or persons therein named to pass or travel either generally, or through a country named, or on certain route...

Patagonia: Patagonia, a territory of South America, extending from lat. 38 42' to 53 52' S., and from Ion. 63 9' to 75 30' W. It is bounded N. by the Argentine Republic, from which it is sepa...

Patchouli: Patchouli, a perfume, the name of which is said to be from patchey elley, the East Indian name for the leaves of patchey. About the year 1825 there appeared in commerce the dried and broken leaves of ...

Pate De Foie Gras: Pate De Foie Gras (Fr.), literally, a pie of fat liver, made generally of the liver of the goose, and in Nerac, France, of the liver of the musk duck. Strasburg and Toulouse are famous for goose-liver...

Paterson: Paterson, a city and the capital of Passaic co., New Jersey, on the Passaic river, at the falls, and on the Morris canal and the Erie, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, and the New Jersey Midland...

Patmos: Patmos (now Patmo), an island of the group called the Sporades in the Grecian archipelago, about 20 m. S. of the S. W. extremity of Sa-mos, and about 30 m. W. of the coast of Asia Minor; pop. about 4,...

Patna: I. A Division Of Bengal, British India British India A Division Of Bengal, comprising the districts of Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, and Sarun, S. of the Ganges, and Tirhoot and Chumparun, N. of that river;...

Patras: Patras (anc. Patrce), a fortified seaport town of Greece, in the N. W. part of the Morea, on the gulf of the same name, 107 m. W. N. W. of Athens, capital of the nomarchy of Achaia and Elis; pop. in 1...

Patriarch: Patriarch (Gr. , chief of a race), a title applied to the fathers or heads of generations mentioned by the sacred writers from Adam to Jacob. After the destruction of Jerusalem it was the title of ...

Patricians: Patricians (Lat. pa-tricii, from pater, a father), the members and descendants, by blood or adoption, of the original houses of which the populus Roma-nus was wholly composed until the establishment o...

Patrick: Patrick, a S. county of Virginia, bordering on North Carolina, and drained by the Dan, Smith's, and North and South Mayo rivers, all of which have their sources in the Blue Ridge, which forms its N. W...

Patrick Henry: Patrick Henry, an American orator and statesman, born at Studley, Hanover co., Va., May 29, 1736, died at Red Hill, Charlotte co., June 6, 1799. His father, John Henry, was a native of Aberdeen, Scotl...

Patrick Meson Lynch: Patrick Meson Lynch, an American bishop, born at Cheraw, S. C, March 10, 1817. After studying under the direction of Bishop England in the diocesan seminary of Charleston, he went to Rome in 1834, and...

Patripassins: Patripassins (Lat. pater, father, and pas-sio, suffering), the name given to those Christians of the 2d and 3d centuries who attributed the sufferings of the incarnate Son to the Father. This doctrine...

Patron: Patron (Lat. patronus, from pater, a father), an appellation given by the Romans to a patrician who had plebeians, called clients (see Client), under his protection, or to a master who had freed his s...

Patrons Of Husbandry: Patrons Of Husbandry, an organization of agriculturists in the United States. Its origin is attributed to Mr. O. H. Kelley, a native of Boston, who in 1866, being then connected with the department of...

Patti: I. Adelina Maria Clorinda Adelina Maria Clorinda, an operatic singer, born in Madrid, April 9, 1843. Both her father and mother were professional singers, and from birth she was surrounded with music...

Pau: Pau, a town of France, capital of the department of Basses-Pyren6es, on the right bank of the Gave de Pau, 410 m. S. by W. of Paris; pop. in 1872, 24,800. It is delightfully situated on a precipitous ...

Paul: Paul, the name of five popes, of whom the most important are the following. I. Paul III. (Alessandro Faenese) Paul III. (Alessandro Faenese), born at Canino, Feb. 28, 1468, died in Rome, Nov. 10, 15...

Paul Belloni Du Chaillu: Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, an American traveller, born in Paris, July 31, 1835. He early went to live in the French settlement at the mouth of the Gaboon, on the west coast of Africa, where his father w...

Paul Cullejv: Paul Cullejv, an Irish Catholic prelate, born in the county Carlow, April 27, 1803. His parents sent him at an early age to Rome, where he was educated at the college of the Propaganda, and was after ...

Paul Delaroche: Paul Delaroche (originally a familiar abbreviation of Hippolyte, his real name), a French historical painter, born in Paris, July 17, 1797, died there, Nov. 4, 1856. He at first studied landscape, but...

Paul Falconer Poole: Paul Falconer Poole, an English painter, born in Bristol in 1810. His first exhibition in the academy was The Well, a Scene at Naples (1830), and he was elected an associate in 1846, and an academ...

Paul Francois Jean Nicolas Barras: Paul Francois Jean Nicolas Barras, count de, a French revolutionist, horn at Fox-Amphoux, Provence, June 30, 1755, died at Chaillot, near Paris, Jan. 29, 182!). He served in the East Indies, in the ar...

Paul Gustave Dore: Paul Gustave Dore, a French artist, born in Strasburg, Jan. 10, 1833. He early showed a passion for drawing, and his father sent him to the lyceums of Strasburg and Bourg. When only 11 years of age he...

Paul Hamilton Hayne: Paul Hamilton Hayne, an American poet, born in Charleston, S. C., Jan. 1, 1831. He was educated in Charleston, and became a frequent contributor to the Southern Literary Messenger and other periodic...

Paul Harmens Rembrandt Van Ryn: Paul Harmens Rembrandt Van Ryn, a Dutch painter, born in Leyden, July 15, 1607, died in Amsterdam, Oct. 8, 1669. He was the son of a miller, and the suffix van Ryn was derived from his birth in a wind...

Paul Henri Millet: Paul Henri Millet, a Swiss historian, born in Geneva, Aug. 20, 1730, died there, Feb. 8, ] 807. After completing his education he went to ('openhagen, where he was appointed regius professor of belles...

Paul Louis Courier De Mere: Paul Louis Courier De Mere, a French scholar and publicist, born in Paris about 1773, murdered near Veretz (Indre-et-Loire), April 10, 1825. He served in the army of Italy, and denounced in his privat...

Paul Of Samosata: Paul Of Samosata, a heresiarch of the 3d century. He became patriarch of Antioch in 260, and by extortion and bribery acquired great wealth. He affected extraordinary pomp, caused the hymns of the chu...

Paul Potter: Paul Potter, a Dutch painter, born at Enk-huysen in 1625, died in Amsterdam, Jan. 15, 1654. He studied under his father Pieter Potter, and in his 15th year had so great a reputation that he could with...

Paul Revere: Paul Revere, an American patriot, born in Boston, Jan. 1, 1735, died there, May 10, 1818. He was of Huguenot descent, and was brought up to his father's trade of goldsmith. In 1756 he was a lieutenant...

Paul Scarron: Paul Scarron, a French author, born in Paris in 1610, died in October, 1660. He led a gay and dissolute life in his youth, but the death of his father left him penniless, and disease distorted his who...

Paulding: I. A N. W. County Of Georgia A N. W. County Of Georgia, drained by branches of the Chattahoochee, Tallapoosa, and Etowah rivers; area, about 300 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 7,639, of whom 556 were colored....

Paulicians: Paulicians, a sect of eastern Christians, of obscure origin. It probably originated in the middle of the 7th century, its founder being Constantine, a Marcionite preacher of Mana-nalis, near Samosata ...

Pauline Lucca: Pauline Lucca, a German vocalist, born in Vienna, April 25, 1842. Her parents were poor Jews, and when 14 years old she was placed in the chorus of the Karnthnerthor theatre. At 17 she accepted an eng...

Paulinus: I. Pontius Mesopins Anicius, Saint Saint Pontius Mesopins Anicius, bishop of Nola in Campania, born in Bordeaux about 353, died June 22, 431. He was descended from an ancient senatorial family, and h...

Paulownia: Paulownia, the generic and common name (given in honor of the princess royal Anna Paulovna of the Netherlands, afterward queen) of an ornamental tree introduced from Japan in 1840; in this country it ...

Paulus Orosius: Paulus Orosius, a Spanish theologian, born in Tarragona about the end of the 4th century, died probably in Africa. He went to Africa about A. D. 414 to consult St. Augustine on points of doctrine, bec...

Paulus Stephanas Selig Cassel: Paulus Stephanas Selig Cassel, a German clergyman and author, born of Jewish parentage in Glogau, Silesia, Feb. 27, 1827. He was educated in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant gymnasia of Schweidn...

Pauperism: Pauperism, that degree of poverty for which public relief is provided. Extreme poverty must always have existed, and among communities in any degree civilized has been provided for by law and social c...

Pausanias: Pausanias, a Spartan general, son of Cleom-brotus and nephew of Leonidas, of the Agid branch of the royal family, died about 468 B. C. He succeeded his father as guardian of the young king Plistarchus...

Pavement: Pavement (Lat. pavimentum, from pavire, to beat or ram down), a covering of stone or other hard material for roads, walks, and floors of houses. The earliest mention of paved highways is of those prep...

Pavia: I. A N.. Province Of Italy A N.. Province Of Italy, in Lom-bardy, comprising the districts of Pavia, Bob-bio, Lomellina, and Voghera; area, 1,292 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 448,435. It is watered by the P...

Pawn: Pawn (Lat. pignus), any article of personal property given in pledge, or by way of security for the payment of a debt or the discharge of an obligation. The word is also used as a verb, and signifies ...

Pawnbroker: Pawnbroker, one who lends money, at a certain rate of interest, on the security of goods deposited with him, having power to sell the goods if the principal and interest of the money lent be not repai...

Pawnee: I. A S. E. County Of Nebraska A S. E. County Of Nebraska, bordering on Kansas; area, 432 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 4,171. The Atchison and Nebraska railroad crosses the N. E. corner. The surface is diver...

Pawtucket: Pawtucket, a town of Providence co., Rhode Island, on both sides of Pawtucket river, here navigable and spanned by a stone and three iron bridges, and on the Boston and Providence and Providence and W...

Pax: Pax (Lat., peace), an instrument anciently used in the Roman Catholic church, and retained for some time in the church of England. In the early ages of Christianity it was customary for the faithful a...

Payment: Payment, in law, the discharge of a debt by a delivery of the amount due. The party entitled to receive the money may give notice to him who should pay it, that he requires the payment to be made dire...

Pea: Pea (Lat. pisum; Celt, pis; Fr. pois), a common name for the fruit and plant of pisum sativum, and with a qualifying adjective for numerous related plants of the leguminosce or pulse family. Pease, as...

Peach: Peach (Fr. peche; Lat. persica), a fruit tree widely cultivated in all countries where the climate is not too severe. It belongs to the rose family (rosacea), and was formerly called Persica vulgaris....

Peacock: Peacock, a gallinaceous bird of the pheasant family, and subfamily pavonince, which includes, according to Gray, the genera pavo (Linn.), polyplectron (Temni.), and crossoptilon (Hodgs.), all natives ...

Peale: I. Charles Wilson Charles Wilson, an American painter, born in Chesterton, Md., April 16, 1741, died in Philadelphia, Feb. 22,1827. He was by turns a saddler and harness maker, watch and clock maker,...

Peanut: Peanut, a leguminous plant, arachis hypo-gcea, also called ground pea and ground nut, and in some of the southern states known as pindar and gouber; by the French it is called arachide and pistache de...

Pear: Pear (It. and Span, pera; Fr. poire; Lat. pyrus) a well known fruit and fruit tree (py-rus communis) of temperate climates, belonging to the tribe pomece of the rosacea or rose family, and closely rel...

Pearl: Pearl, a concretion, consisting chiefly of carbonate of lime, found in several bivalve mol-lusks, but especially in the avicula rnargari-tifera (meleagrina margaritifera, Lamarck), or true pearl oyste...

Peasants War: Peasants' War, a revolutionary movement in southern and central Germany, which accompanied the reformation of Luther and Zwingli. It was preceded by many isolated insurrections. In 1476 Hans Boheim, c...

Peat: Peat, the partially decomposed remains of vegetation that accumulate in localities which are at all times wet or damp. The mass consists of matted roots, leaves, and stems of plants, the forms of whic...

Pecan: Pecan (Fr. pacanier), a species of hickory (Carya olivaeformis), abundant in the southwestern states, and extending along rivers as far north as Illinois, but not known except in cultivation in the At...

Peccary: Peccary, a mammal of the hog family, and genus dicotyles (Cuv.), peculiar to America. In this genus the incisors are 4/6; the canines (1-1)/(1-1), not projecting beyond the lips as in the wild boar, b...

Peck: I. George George, an American clergyman, born in Middlefield, N. Y., Aug. 8, 1797. He united with the Genesee conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1816, and in 1824 was appointed presiding...

Pedro Alvarez De Cabral: Pedro Alvarez De Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, died about 1526. In March, 1500, he was placed in command of the expedition of 15 vessels fitted out by Emanuel, king of Portugal, after the discovery ...

Pedro Calderon De La Barca: Pedro Calderon De La Barca, a Spanish dramatist, and next to Shakespeare the greatest of modern playwrights, born in Madrid, Jan. 17, 1600, died there, May 28, 1681. The name of his mother, Henao y Ri...

Pedro Caro Y Sureda Romana: Pedro Caro Y Sureda Romana, marquis de la, a Spanish soldier, born in Palma, island of Majorca, in 1761, died in Cartaxo, Portugal, in 1811. He entered the naval service, and in 1782 participated in t...

Pedro De Luna: Pedro De Luna, a Spanish ecclesiastic, anti-pope under the name of Benedict XIII., born in Aragon in 1334, died in Peniscola, Valencia, in 1424. He belonged to an old family of Spanish grandees, and d...

Pedro I: Pedro I (de Aloantara) of Brazil, and IV. of Portugal, born in the palace of Queluz, near Lisbon, Oct. 12, 1798, died there, Sept. 24, 1834. On the invasion of Portugal by the French in 1807, the roya...

Pedro II: Pedro II (de Aloantara), emperor of Brazil, son of the preceding, born in Rio de Janeiro, Dec. 2, 1825. In his sixth year his father abdicated the crown in his favor. During his minority the country w...

Pedro Menendez De Aviles: Pedro Menendez De Aviles, a Spanish admiral, colonizer of Florida, born at Aviles in 1519, died in Santander, Sept. 17, 1574. He cruised for many years against French corsairs, on his own account and ...

Pedro The Cruel: Pedro The Cruel, king of Castile and Leon, born in Burgos, Aug. 30, 1334, killed March 14,1369. He succeeded his father Alfonso XI. in 1350, and in 1353 married Blanche de Bourbon, sister of the king ...

Peel (2): I. Sir Robert Sir Robert, an English manufacturer, born at Peel's Cross, near Lancaster, April 25,1750, died at Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, May 3,1830. He inherited a moderate property from his fat...

Peer: Peer (Lat. par, equal; Fr. pair), a term originally applied, in the feudal law, to all the vassals of the same lord, because, whatever might be their relative condition, they were all equally his vass...

Peerskill: Peerskill, a village in the town of Cortland, Westchester co., New York, on the E. bank of the Hudson river, 43 m. above New York city; pop. in 1870, 6,560. There are frequent trains on the Hudson Riv...

Pegu: I. A Division Of British Burmah A Division Of British Burmah, including the districts of Rangoon, Bassein, Mya-noung, Prome, and Toungoo, bounded N. by the Burmese empire and the division of Ara-can,...

Pei-Ho, Or North River: Pei-Ho, Or North River, a river of China, which rises near the Mongolian frontier, about lat. 41 N., Ion. 115 30' E., and after a general S. E. course of about 350 m. flows into the gulf of ...

Peine Forte Et Dure: Formerly, in England, when a prisoner indicted for a capital felony or petit treason stood mute, as the phrase was, upon his arraignment, that is, refused to plead and so to put himself upon his trial...

Pekin: Pekin, a city and the county seat of Tazewell co., Illinois, on the left bank of the Illinois river, navigable by steamboats for eight months of the year, 55 m. N. of Springfield; pop. in 1850, 1,678;...

Peking, Or Pekin: Peking, Or Pekin (Chinese, Pe-ching, northern capital), the capital of the Chinese empire and of the province of Chihli, near the river Tunghui, a small tributary of the Pei-ho, in lat. 39 56' K,...

Pelagius: Pelagius, the founder of the religious system called Pelagianism. Little is known of his life, but he is supposed to have been a British monk whose real name was Morgan. He went to Rome about 409, whe...

Pelasgians: Pelasgians (Gr. ), a people spoken of by the ancient Greeks as the early inhabitants of the Grecian peninsula, the islands and coasts of the AEgean, and portions of Asia Minor and Italy. Our knowle...

Pelew Islands: Pelew Islands, a chain of islands in the K. Pacific ocean, forming part and situated at the W. extremity of the Caroline archipelago, between lat. 6 50' and 8 20' K, and Ion. 134 and 13...

Pelican: Pelican, a genus of large, web-footed birds (pelecanus, Linn.). The bill is very long, nearly straight, and much depressed; the upper mandible has an elevated ridge, becoming flat toward the end, the ...

Pellegrino Rossi: Pellegrino Rossi, count, an Italian statesman, born in Carrara, July 13, 1787, assassinated in Rome, Nov. 15, 1848. Until the overthrow of the French rule in Italy he taught law at Bologna. Removing t...

Pelops: Pelops, in Grecian mythology, the son of Tantalus and grandson of Zeus. His father, having invited the gods to a banquet, killed Pelops, and served up his remains at table. Ceres ate a piece of the sh...

Pelopidas: Pelopidas, a Theban general, killed at the battle of Cynoscephalse, in Thessaly, in 364 (according to Grote probably in 363) B. C. He inherited great possessions from his father Hippoclus, of which he...

Pelopomesis: Pelopomesis (Gr. the island of Pelops, so called by the Greeks because King Pelops was supposed to have settled a colony there), a peninsula forming the southern division of Greece; area, 8,288 sq....

Pelvis: Pelvis (Lat., a basin), in anatomy, the lowest of the three great divisions of the trunk, the upper being the thorax and the middle division the abdomen. The term pelvis is generally used to designate...

Pen: Pen, an instrument for writing with a fluid. Pens of some sort have been in use from very ancient times, adapted to the material upon which the written characters were to be impressed. Upon stone or m...

Penance: Penance (Lat. pcenitentia, penitence), a penalty accepted or self-imposed by way of satisfaction and token of sorrow for sin. Ecclesiastical penances were inflicted under the Jewish dispensation, and ...

Penates: Penates (Lat. penus, inmost), the household gods of the Romans, who dwelt in the innermost parts of the house, and were the guardians of the family (either the private family, or the state as the grea...

Pencil: Pencil, a name applied to instruments of various forms and material for writing, drawing, and painting. The first form of pencil is supposed to have been made of earth or chalk, and used by the early ...

Pendleton: I. A N. E. County Of West Virginia A N. E. County Of West Virginia, bordering on Virginia, enclosed between two ranges of the Alleghanies, and intersected by the3 S. branch of the Potomac and two of ...

Penelope: Penelope, the wife of Ulysses and mother of Telemachus. She was the daughter of Ica-rius, and having many suitors, her father promised to give her to the one who should conquer in a foot race. The vic...

Penguin: Penguin, a subfamily of web-footed, imperfectly winged birds, inhabiting the seas around the rocky coasts, islands, and ice fields of the southern Pacific ocean, and the extreme portions of South Amer...

Penn Ian: Penn Ian, a village and the capital of Yates co., New York, on the outlet of Keuka (formerly Crooked) lake, 1 m. from its foot and 6 m. TV. of Seneca lake, 170 m. TV. of Albany and 95 m. E. by S. of B...

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania, one of the thirteen original states of the American Union, included in the middle states, and now the second in wealth and population. As it was the seventh in geographical order of the ...

Penny: Penny, an English coin and money of account, equal to 1/2 of a shilling. It was the only coin generally current among the Anglo-Saxons, and the most ancient except the sceat-ta. The name seems to be t...

Pennyroyal: Pennyroyal (Lat. puleium regium). I. A Species Of Mint A Species Of Mint, rnentha pulegium, having the general characters of the genus (see Mint), but with smaller leaves than in any other useful sp...

Penobscot: Penobscot, the principal river of Maine, formed by the junction near the centre of the state, in the E. part of Penobscot co., of two chief branches. The western and larger rises near the Canada borde...

Pensacola: Pensacola, a city, port of entry, and the capital of Escambia co., Florida, situated on the N. W. side of the bay of the same name, about 10 m. from the gulf of Mexico, 180 m. W. of Tallahassee, and 5...

Pensacola Bay: Pensacola Bay, an arm of the gulf of Mexico, in the western part of Florida, extending inland about 30 or 35 m. in a N. E. direction. At a little more than half this distance from the sea it separates...

Pension: Pension, a regular allowance of money paid to an individual by a sovereign or government, in consideration of services rendered or in recognition of merit, civil or military. Most foreign coun...

Pentateuch: Pentateuch (Gr. , from , five, and , book), the collective name of the first five books of the Old Testament, which seems to have been first used by Origen. The Jews called it Torah (the Law)...

Pentecost: Pentecost (Gr. ., fiftieth), one of the three principal festivals of the Jews, so called in Greek and modern languages because it was celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the passover, but...

Penza: I. A Central Government Of European Russia A Central Government Of European Russia, bordering on the governments of Mzhegorod, Simbirsk, Saratov, and Tambov; area, 15,035 sq. m.; pop. in 1867,1,197,-...

Peoria: Peoria, a N. central county of Illinois, bounded S. E. by the Illinois river and Peoria lake, and drained by Spoon river and Kickapoo, Elbow, and Copperas creeks; area, 650 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 47,54...

Pepin: Pepin, a W. county of Wisconsin, separated S. W. from Minnesota by the Mississippi river, and partly bounded E. and partly intersected by Chippewa river; area, 250 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 4,659. The sur...

Pepin I: Pepin I, king of Aquitania, born about 802, died in 838. The second son of Louis le De-bonnaire by his first wife, he received from him in 817 the kingdom of Aquitania, while his youngest brother Loui...

Pepper: Pepper (Lat. piper), the pungent fruit of a climbing shrub, piper nigrum, a native of the forests of Malabar and Travancore, and cultivated in various parts of the East and in the West Indies. The gen...

Pepper Grass: Pepper Grass, the name in this country of a garden annual (lepidium sativum) which in England is called cress; though both names are given in our seed catalogues, that first mentioned is the one in mo...

Pepper Tree: Pepper Tree, the popular name on the Pacific coast for schinus molle, a South American tree much cultivated in California and elsewhere. The genus schinus (the Greek name for the mastic tree, and appl...

Pepsin: Pepsin, the substance contained in the gastric juice and in the mucous membrane of the stomach to which, in addition to its acidity, the gastric juice owes its power of converting the albuminoid const...

Pequots, Or Pequods: Pequots, Or Pequods, a tribe of Indians of the Algonquin family, occupying at the time of the settlement of the country a tract of 30 by 15 or 20 in., extending from Niantic river to We-capaug in Rhod...

Perch: Perch, a name properly restricted to the percidce, a very extensive family of acanthop-terous fishes, characterized by a covering of ctenoid scales, the freedom and small size of the infra-orbital bon...

Percy: Percy, the name of an English historical family, descended from William de Percy, who derived his name from the village of Percy in lower Normandy. He accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1...

Perdiccas: Perdiccas, a general of Alexander the Great, assassinated near Memphis in 321 B. C. He was descended probably from the royal house of Orestis, a Macedonian province, and early attached himself to the ...

Pererop: Pererop, a town of European Russia, in the government of Taurida, and on the isthmus of its name, uniting the Crimea with the mainland, 85 m. N. by W. of Simferopol; pop. about 5,000, consisting of Ru...

Perfume: Perfume, a term applied to the scent arising from odoriferous bodies, and also to these bodies themselves when they are prepared especially for the sake of their agreeable odor. The art of preparing t...

Pergamus, Or Pergamum: I. The Name Of The Citadel Of Troy The Name Of The Citadel Of Troy, frequently used by poets for that city itself. II. An Ancient City Of Asia Minor An Ancient City Of Asia Minor, in the Mysian dis...

Pergolesi, Or Pergolese, Giovanni Battista: Pergolesi, Or Pergolese, Giovanni Battista, an Italian composer, born in Jesi, Jan. 3, 1710, died at Torre del Greco, near Naples, March 16,1736. He entered the Neapolitan conservatory dei poveri in G...

Periander: Periander, tyrant of Corinth, succeeded his father Cypselus probably about 625 B. C, died about 585. At first his reign was mild, but afterward it became exceedingly oppressive. Herodotus says that Pe...

Pericles: Pericles, an Athenian statesman, born in Athens about 495 B. 0., died there in 429. He was of an ancient and noble family; his father was Xanthippus, who, with the Spartan general Leotychides, defeate...

Perier: I. Casimir Casimir, a French statesman, born in Grenoble, Oct. 21, 1777, died in Paris, May 16, 1832. He was a son of one of the founders of the bank of France, and retired from the army to join his ...

Perim: Perim (Arab. Mehun), an island belonging to Great Britain, in the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, at the entrance of the Red sea, about 90 m. W. of Aden; area, 7 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 211. It divides the str...

Periodical Literature: Periodical Literature, as the term is usually applied, comprises those serial publications the principal object of which is not the conveyance of news, but the circulation of interesting essays, tales...

Peripneumonia Pneumonia, Or Lung Fever: Peripneumonia Pneumonia, Or Lung Fever, inflammation of the proper substance of the lungs. Pneumonia is one of the most frequent forms of inflammation, and is common to all ages. It prevails more freq...

Peritoneum: Peritoneum (Gr. around, and to stretch), the thin, transparent serous membrane which lines the abdominal cavity of man and vertebrates, reflected upon most of its contained organs, and more or...

Peritonitis: Peritonitis, inflammation of the peritoneum. Systematic writers treat of acute, general, and partial peritonitis, of chronic peritonitis, and an epidemic form occurring in childbed fever called puerpe...

Periwinkle: Periwinkle, in zoology, a pectinibranchiate gasteropod shell, of the genus littorina (Ferus-sac). The shell is univalve, with a few spiral whorls, the horny operculum made up also of a few spiral turn...

Perjury: Perjury, the crime of false swearing. He commits perjury who, under oath lawfully administered in a judicial proceeding or course of justice, wilfully gives false testimony material to the issue or po...

Perkin Warbeck: Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England in the reign of Henry VII., born in London, hanged at Tyburn, Nov. 23, 1499. He is said to have been the son of a Jew of Tournay, to which place he...

Perm: I. A Government Of Russia A Government Of Russia, lying partly in Europe and partly in Asia, though officially wholly included in Europe, and bordering on Vologda, Tobolsk, Orenburg, Ufa, and Viatka;...

Pernambuco: I. An Eastern Province Of Brazil An Eastern Province Of Brazil, bounded 1ST. by Ceara and Parahyba, E. by the Atlantic, S. by Alagoas, Bahia (from which it is separated by the Rio Sao Francisco), and...

Perpetual Motion: Perpetual Motion, in mechanics, a machine which when set in motion would continue to move without the aid of external force and without the loss of momentum, until its parts became deranged or worn ou...

Perpignan: Perpignan, a city of S. France, capital of the department of Pyrenees-Orientales, on the right bank of the Tet, at its confluence with the Basse, 6 m. from the Mediterranean, 34 m. S. of Narbonne, and...

Perry: Perry, the name of counties in ten of the United States. I. A S. County Of Pennsylvania A S. County Of Pennsylvania, bounded E. by the Susquehanna, and intersected toward the north by the Juniata ri...

Persepolis: Persepolis (Gr., city of the Persians; Pers. Istakhr), one of the ancient capitals of Persia. It stood 35 m. N. E. of Shiraz, on a spacious plain now called Merdasht, near the confluence of the Medu...

Perseus: Perseus, a Grecian legendary hero, the son of Jupiter and Danae. Acrisius of Argos, the father of Danae, having been warned that his daughter's son would cause his death, ordered the mother and child ...

Perseus, Or Perses: Perseus, Or Perses, the last king of Mace-don, reigned from 179 to 168 B. 0. He was the son of Philip V., whom he persuaded to put to death a younger son Demetrius, suspected of ambitious designs. Imm...

Persia: Persia (Pers. Iran), a country of western Asia, extending from Turkey eastward to Afghanistan and Beloochistan, and from the Caspian sea southward to the Persian gulf. The western portion of its north...

Persian Gulf: Persian Gulf, an arm of the Indian ocean, between Persia and Arabia, extending mainly from lat. 24 to 30 N., and from Ion. 48 to 56 30' E.; extreme length 550 m., breadth from 40 t...

Persian Powder: Persian Powder, a substance consisting of the dried and pulverized flowers of the py-rethrum carneum and P. roseum, which is reputed to be very efficacious in destroying insects, and is extensively us...

Personal Equation: Personal Equation, a term used to designate the amount of correction which it is necessary to make in the recorded results of scientific observations, in order to compensate for errors arising from pe...

Persons, Or Parsons, Robert: Persons, Or Parsons, Robert, an English theologian, born at Nether Stowey, Somersetshire, June 24, 1546, died in Rome, April 18, 1610. He was educated at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, and Balliol college, ...

Perspiration: Perspiration (Lat. per, through, and spi-rare, to breathe), the watery secretion exhaled by the perspiratory glands of the skin. These glands consist of one or more cylindrical tubes, lined with gland...

Perth: Perth, a S. W. county of Ontario, Canada, drained by the Thames and Maitland rivers; area, 842 1/2 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 38,083, of whom 16,575 were of Irish, 11,183 of English, 10,042 of Scotch, and ...

Perth Amboy: Perth Amboy, a city and port of entry of Middlesex co., New Jersey, at the head of Rar-itan bay and at the mouth of Raritan river, 36 m. N. E. of Trenton and 21 m. S. W. of New York; pop. in 1870, 2,8...

Perthes: I. Friedrich Christoph Friedrich Christoph, a German publisher, born in Rudolstadt, April 21, 1772, died in Gotha, March 18, 1843. He was early employed in book stores in Leipsic and Hamburg, where i...

Perthshire: Perthshire, a central county of Scotland, bordering on the counties of Inverness, Aberdeen, Forfar, Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan, Stirling, and Argyle; area (including two small detached portions, one o...

Peru: Peru, a city and the capital of Miami co., Indiana, on the Wabash river and canal, and on the Toledo, Wabash, and Western, and the Indianapolis, Peru, and Chicago railroads, 67 m. N. of Indianapolis; ...

Peru (2): Peru (Span. Peru), an independent republic of South America, extending from lat. 3 20' to 22 20' S., and from about Ion. 67 to 81 26' W. It is bounded N. by Ecuador, from which it ...

Perugia: I. A Central Province Of Italy A Central Province Of Italy, also called Umbria, formerly a delegation of the Papal States, bordering on Arezzo, Pesaro ed Urbino, Ancona, Macerata, Ascoli-Piceno, Aqui...

Peruvian Or Jesuits Bark Cinchona: Peruvian Or Jesuits Bark Cinchona, named in honor of the countess of Chinchon, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, who, having been herself cured thereby, is said to have first carried the bark to Europe...

Peshawer, Or Peshawnr: I. A District Of British India A District Of British India, in the Punjaub, occupying the N. W. extremity of the Indian empire, bordering on Cashmere, Lahore, and the Afghan province of Jelalabad; ar...

Pesth (Hung. Pest): I. A Central County Of Hungary A Central County Of Hungary, bounded W. in part by the Danube, and E. in part by the Theiss; area, 4,196 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 775,030, chiefly Magyars, Germans, Slovak...

Petau: Petau (Lat. Petavius), Denis, a French chro-nologist, born in Orleans, Aug. 21, 1583, died in Paris, Dec. 11, 1652. He was trained from childhood to speak Greek and Latin, besides acquiring Hebrew and...

Peters: I. Christian Henry Frederick Christian Henry Frederick, a German American astronomer, born at Colden-biittel, Schleswig, Sept. 19, 1813. After graduating at the university of Berlin he spent several ...

Peter Andreas Hansen: Peter Andreas Hansen, a German astronomer, born in Tondern, Schleswig, Dec. 8, 1795, died in Gotha, March 28, 1874. He early excelled in astronomical studies, and in 1825 became director of the Seeber...

Peter Bagration: Peter Bagration, prince, a Russian general of the Georgian Bagratide family, born about 1765, died Oct. 7, 1812. He entered the Russian army as a common soldier, and first served in the wars against t...

Peter Bayne: Peter Bayne, a Scottish author and critic, born in Aberdeenshire in 1829. He was educated at Marischal college, Aberdeen, and afterward studied theology at Edinburgh, and philosophy under Sir William ...

Peter Buel Porter: Peter Buel Porter, an American soldier, born in Salisbury, Conn., Aug. 14,1773, died at Niagara Falls, March 20, 1844, He graduated at Yale college in 1791, studied at the Litchfield law school, and i...

Peter Cartwright: Peter Cartwright, an American clergyman, born in Amherst co., Ya., Sept. 1, 1785, died near Pleasant Plains, Sangamon co., 111., Sept. 25, 1872. His parents removed in his childhood to Kentucky, where...

Peter Claver: Peter Claver, a Jesuit missionary, born in Catalonia in 1582, died in Cartagena, New Granada, Sept. 8, 1654. He entered the society of Jesus at Tarragona in 1602, and in 1610, at his own urgent solici...

Peter Collinson: Peter Collinson, an English botanist, born at Hugall Hall, Westmoreland, Jan. 14, 1693, died Aug. 11, 1768. He was a member of the society of Friends, and a merchant in London. His studies in natural ...

Peter Cooper: Peter Cooper, an American philanthropist, born in New York, Feb. 12, 1791. His maternal grandfather, John Campbell, was an alderman of New York and deputy quartermaster general during the revolutionar...

Peter Daniel Amadeus Atterbmi: Peter Daniel Amadeus Atterbmi, a Swedish poet, born Jan. 19, 1790, died in Upsal, July 21, 1855. At the university of Upsal he was one of several students who formed the Aurora association, with the...

Peter De Bruys, Or Bruis: Bruys, Or Bruis, Peter De, a priest of southern France, the founder of a sect called from him the Petrobrussians, burnt at St. Gilles (according to Neander) in 1120. He is supposed to have been a pupi...

Peter Dillon: Peter Dillon, a British navigator, born about 1755, died in 1847. He early entered the merchant service, and barely escaped being murdered by the Feejee islanders while lieutenant of an East Indian sh...

Peter Elmsley: Peter Elmsley, an English scholar, born in 1773, died March 8, 1825. He was educated at Westminster school, and at Merton college, Oxford. He officiated for a time in a small chapelry in Little Horkes...

Peter Henrik Ling: Peter Henrik Ling, a Swedish poet, the founder of curative gymnastics, born in Ljunga, Smaland, Nov. 15, 1776, died in Stockholm, May 3, 1839. He was educated at the schools of Wexio, and in 1797 pass...

Peter I (Alexeyevitch): Peter I (Alexeyevitch), surnamed the Great, emperor of Russia, born near Moscow, June 10, 1672, died in St. Petersburg, Feb. 8, 1725. His father Alexis died in 1676, and was succeeded by Feodor, who d...

Peter III: Peter III, emperor of Russia, born in Kiel, Feb. 21, 1728, died at Ropsha, July 17, 1762. He was the son of the duke Charles Frederick of Holstein and of Anna Petrovna, a daughter of Peter the Great, ...

Peter John De Smet: Peter John De Smet, an American missionary, born in Dendermonde, Belgium, Dec. 31, 1801, died in St. Louis, May 23, 1873. He arrived in Philadelphia in August, 1821, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Wh...

Peter Of Blois, Or Petrus Bleseosis: Peter Of Blois, Or Petrus Bleseosis, an ecclesiastical writer, born in Blois, France, about 1130, died in England about 1200. He studied at Paris and Bologna, and was afterward a pupil of John of Sali...

Peter Parker: Peter Parker, an American missionary, born in Framingham, Mass., June 18,1804. He graduated at Yale college in 1831, studied theology and medicine there, and was ordained and went to China in 1834. He...

Peter Paul Rubens: Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish painter, born at Siegen, Germany, June 29, 1577, died in Antwerp, May 30, 1640. His father, John Rubens, was the secretary of William the Silent, who on discovering his in...

Peter Pierre De La Ramee (Ramus): Peter Pierre De La Ramee (Ramus), a French logician, born at Cuth, Picardy, in 1515 or 1502, killed in the massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, Aug. 24, 1572. At the age of 12 he entered the college ...

Peter Simon Pallas: Peter Simon Pallas, a German naturalist, born in Berlin, Sept. 22,1741, died there, Sept. 8, 1811. He studied medicine, but afterward devoted himself to natural history, and after a year's residence i...

Peter Stephen Duponceau: Peter Stephen Duponceau, an American lawyer and scholar, born in the Isle of Re, France, June 3, 1760, died in Philadelphia, April 1, 1844. After studying at colleges in St. Jean d'Angely and Bressuir...

Peter Thacher: Peter Thacher, an American clergyman, born in Milton, Mass., March 21, 1752, died in Savannah, Ga., Dec. 16, 1802. He graduated at Harvard college in 1769, and settled at Maiden, Mass., in 1770. He so...

Peter The Hermit: Peter The Hermit, the apostle of 'the first crusade, born of good family in the diocese of Amiens, France, about the middle of the 11th century, died in a monastery near Huy in 1115. After trying seve...

Peter Von Cornelius: Peter Von Cornelius, a German painter, born in Dusseldorf, Sept. 16, 1787, died in Berlin, March 6, 1867. His father was inspector of the Dusseldorf gallery, since removed to Munich, and died in somew...

Peter Von Koppen: Peter Von Koppen, a Russian archaeologist, born in Kharkov, Feb. 19, 1793, died at Kara-bagh, Crimea, June 4, 1864. He studied in the university of Kharkov, and devoted himself at once to researches o...

Peterborough: I. An E. Central County Of Ontario, Canada Canada An E. Central County Of Ontario, watered by the. Otonabee; area, 2,485 sq. m..; pop. in 1871, 30,473, of whom 15,287 were of Irish, 7,949 of English,...

Peters, Or Peter, Hugh: Peters, Or Peter, Hugh, an English dissenting clergyman, born at Fowey, Cornwall, in 1599, executed in London, Oct. 16, 1660. He graduated at Trinity college, Cambridge, in 1622, took holy orders, and...

Petersburg: Petersburg, a city and port of entry of Dinwiddie co., Virginia, on the S. bank of the Appomattox river, 12 m. above its entrance into the James at City Point, and 23 m. S. of Richmond; pop. in 1850, ...

Peterwardein: Peterwardein (Hung. Petervdrad), a fortress of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, called the Hungarian Gibraltar, in the Slavonian portion of the former Military Frontier, on the right bank of the Danu...

Petion (Anne Alexandre Sabes): Petion (Anne Alexandre Sabes), first president of the republic of Hayti, born in Port-au-Prince, April 2, 1770, died there, March 29, 1818. His father was Pascal Sabes, a wealthy colonist, and his mot...

Petra: Petra, an ancient city of Edom, 50 m. S. of the Dead sea, on the mountain ridge E. of the wady el-Arabah, and a few miles E. of Mt. Hor. The entrance to the ruins through the sik or ravine of the wady...

Petrarch: Petrarch (It. Petrarca or Petrarcha), Francesco, an Italian poet, born in Arezzo, July 20, 1304, died at Arqua, near Padua, July 18, 1374. His father, Pietro or Petracco (whence the surname of the son...

Petrel: Petrel, the common name of the web-footed oceanic birds constituting the subfamily procellarinm, characterized by tubular nostrils, placed on the basal portion of the culmen and opened in front; the b...

Petrns Stuyvesant: Petrns Stuyvesant, the last Dutch director general of New Netherland (New York), born in Holland in 1602, died in New York city in August, 1682. He served in the war in the West Indies, was director o...

Petroleum: Petroleum (Lat. petra, a rock, and oleum, oil), rock oil, a natural product of certain geological formations, sometimes rising to the surface through natural channels, forming springs, but chiefly obt...

Petroleum Products: The manufacture of commercial products from petroleum dates from the discovery of the crude material in large quantities in Pennsylvania. From the time the wells of that region first attracted attenti...

Petropavlovsk: I. A Town Of Asiatic Russia A Town Of Asiatic Russia, in the littoral province (Primorsk), on the S. E. coast of the peninsula of Kamtchatka, in lat. 53 1' N., Ion. 158 43' E.; pop. in 1867...

Petros De, Or Pietro Delle Vigne Vineis: Petros De, Or Pietro Delle Vigne Vineis, an Italian jurist, born in Capua, committed suicide in Pisa in 1249. He was educated at Bologna, and became known by accident to the emperor Frederick II., who...

Petrovitdi Paul I: Petrovitdi Paul I., emperor of Russia, born Oct. 12,1754, assassinated March 23,1801. He was the son of Peter III. and Catharine II., and when, after the assassination of Peter, Catharine assumed the ...

Petrus Canisius: Petrus Canisius, a Dutch Jesuit, born at Nimeguen, May 8, 1521, died at Fribourg in Switzerland, Dec. 21, 1597. He Latinized his original name of De Hondt (the dog). He took a prominent part in the co...

Petunia: Petunia, the botanical as well as the garden name for an ornamental plant, from petun, a name used by South American Indians for tobacco, and applied to this related genus of so-lanacece. The plants a...

Pewee: Pewee, a name given to several species of American flycatchers of the subfamily tyran-ninm. The common pewee, or Phoebe bird (sayornis fuscus, Baird), is 7 in. long and 9 1/2 in alar extent; the gener...

Pewter: Pewter, an alloy of tin with other metals, such as lead, bismuth, antimony, copper, and zinc, in varying proportions. The English pewterers recognize three kinds, called plate, trifle, and ley pewter;...

Peyton Randolph: Peyton Randolph, an American patriot, president of the first congress, born in Virginia in 1723, died in Philadelphia, Oct. 22, 1775. He Was the second son of Sir John Randolph, and after graduating a...

Phalanger: Phalanger, a genus of marsupial mammals, the type of the family of phalangistidce, so called from having the second and third toes of the hind foot united in a common integument. They are expert climb...

Phalarope: Phalarope, a family of wading birds, coming near the snipes, embracing the genus phalaro-pus (Briss.), subdivided into three by modern naturalists. In this family the bill is as long as or longer than...

Phallic Worship: Phallic Worship, the adoration of the generative organs as symbols of the creative power of nature. In early ages the sexual emblems were adored as most sacred objects, and in the several polytheistic...

Pharisees: Pharisees (generally derived from Heb. pe-rushim, the separated), a sect of the Jews, mentioned first by Josephus as an established religious party during the priesthood of Jonathan, about 150 B. C. T...

Pharsalus: Pharsalus (now Phersala), a city of Thes-saly, in Thessaliotis, near the left bank of the Enipeus, and at the foot of Mt. Narthacius. In 455 B. 0. it was unsuccessfully besieged by the Athenian genera...

Pharynx: Pharynx, that part of the alimentary canal situated behind and below the mouth and above the oesophagus, with which it is continuous. It is a musculo-membranous sac, conical or pyriform, with its base...

Phascogale, Or Pouched Mouse: Phascogale, Or Pouched Mouse, a genus of small marsupial mammals of the dasyurus family, inhabiting Australia and Tasmania. The dental formula is: incisors -, the two anterior in each jaw larger...

Phasis: Phasis, the ancient name of the Rion or Faz, a river of western Asia, in Transcaucasia, which rises at the foot of Mt. Pasmta in the western division of the Caucasus, flows S. W. and W. for about 50 m...

Phcenicia: Phcenicia (Gr. from a palm tree, or from the same word as signifying red), the name given by the Greek and Roman writers to the narrow region between the hills of northern Palestine and the Leba...

Phcenixville: Phcenixville, a borough of Chester co., Pennsylvania, on the right bank of the Schuylkill river, here crossed by two fine bridges, at the mouth of French creek, and on the Philadelphia and Reading and...

Pheasant: Pheasant, an extensive family of gallinaceous birds, comprising the subfamilies paxoni-nce or peacocks, gallince or jungle fowls, pha-sianince or pheasants proper, lophophorince or monauls, and meleag...

Phelps: I. A S. Central County Of Nebraska A S. Central County Of Nebraska, bounded N. by the Platte river; area, about 550 sq. m. It has been recently formed, and is not included in the census of 1870. II....

Pherae: Pherae, a city of ancient Thessaly, near the S. E. limits of Pelasgiotis, about 10 m. W. of its port Pagasse on the Pagassean gulf (the modern gulf of Volo). Its site is that of the modern Velestino, ...

Phidias: Phidias, a Greek sculptor, born in Athens, probably between 490 and 488 B. C, died there about 432. The dates of the most important events in his career can only be approximately ascertained. He is su...

Philadelphia: Philadelphia (Gr. , brotherly love). I. An Ancient Town Of Lydia An Ancient Town Of Lydia, on the site of the present Ala-Shehr, 27 m. E. S. E. of Sardis. It was founded by Attalus Phila-delphus ...

Philadelphia (2): Philadelphia, the chief city of Pennsylvania, and the second of the United States in population, coextensive with the county of the same name, situated on the Delaware river, at the mouth of the Schuy...

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