pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
PARADOX, ναζοοδοfy>ν, in philosophy, is a proposition seemingly absurd, as being contrary to received opinions, but yet true in fact.

The vulgar and illiterate take almost every thing, even the most important, upon the authority of others, without ever examining it themselves. But although this implicit confidence is seldom attended with any bad consequences in the common affairs of life, it has nevertheless, in other things, been much abused; and in political and religious matters it has produced fatal effects. On the other hand, knowing that learned men, in order to avoid this weakness, have fallen into the contrary extreme, some of them believe every thing to be unreasonable or impossible that appears so to their first apprehension; not adverting to the narrow limits of the human understanding, and the infinite variety of objects, with their mutual operations, combinations, and affections, which may be presented to it.

It must be owned that credulity has produced more mischief in the world than incredulity ever has done, or ever will do; because the influences of the latter extend only to such as have some share of literature, or affect the reputation of knowledge. And since the human mind is not necessarily impelled, without evidence, either to belief or unbelief, but may suspend its assent to or dissent from any proposition, till after a thorough examination, it is to be wished that men of learning, especially philosophers, would not hastily, and from the first appearances, determine themselves with respect to the truth or falsehood, possibility or impossibility, of things. *

A person who has made but little progress in the mathematics, though in other respects learned and judicious, would be apt to pronounce it impossible that two lines, which were nowhere two inches asunder, may continually approach towards each other, and yet never meet, though continued to infinity; and yet the truth of this proposition [7:17:57]may be easily demonstrated. In fact, no science abounds more with paradoxes than geometry.
PARADOXI, a sort of mimes or buffoons amongst the ancients, who entertained the people with extempore effusions of drollery.
PARAGAUDAE, amongst the Romans, were wreaths of gold, or of silk and gold, interwoven in, not sewed to, their garments.
PARAGOGUE, in Grammar, a figure by which a letter or syllable is added to the end of a word.
PARAGONG, a town of Northern Hindustan, in the province of Bootan. It is the capital of a district of the same name, and carries on an extensive manufacture in swords, daggers, arrows, and molten images of Buddha. The governor of the district has his residence here, dwelling in a well fortified palace, which is also a handsome building. Long. 89. 21. E. Lat. 27. 43. N.
PARALIPOMENA, in matters of literature, denotes a supplement of things omitted in a preceding work.
PARALLAX, in Astronomy, is the difference between the places of any celestial object, as seen from the surface and from the centre of the earth at the same instant. See Astronomy. Parallax is also used to denote the change of place in any object arising from viewing it obliquely with respect to another object. Thus, the minute hand of a watch is said to have a parallax when it is viewed obliquely; and the difference between the instants shown by it when viewed directly and obliquely is the quantity of parallax in time.
PARALLEL, in Geometry, an appellation given to lines, surfaces, and bodies, which are everywhere equidistant from each other.

Parallel Sphere, that situation of the sphere in which the equator coincides with the horizon, and the poles with the zenith and nadir.

Parallel Sailing. See the article Navigation. Parallels of Latitude, in Astronomy, are lesser circles of the sphere, parallel to the ecliptic, and imagined to pass through every degree and minute of the colures.

Parallels of Altitude, or Almucantars, are circles parallel to the horizon, imagined to pass through every degree and minute of the meridian between the horizon and zenith, and having their poles in the zenith.

Parallels of Declination, in Astronomy, are the same with parallels of latitude in geography.
PARALLELOPIPED, in Geometry, is a regular solid, comprehended under six parallelograms, the opposite ones of which are similar, parallel, and equal to each other.
PARALOGISM, in Logie, a sophism in reasoning, or a fault committed in demonstration, when a consequence is drawn from principles which are false, or, though true, are not proved; or when a proposition is passed over which should have been proved by the way.
PARAMARIBO, the principal town of Dutch Guiana, and capital of the province of Surinam. It is situated on the right bank of the beautiful river Surinam, about eighteen miles from its embouchure. It is about one mile and a half in length by about three quarters of a mile in breadth, and is built in the form of an oblong square. The streets are regularly laid out, and lined with orange, shaddock, tamarind, and lemon trees, which appear in perpetual bloom; whilst their branches are, at the same time, weighed down with fruit. The walks are covered with fine gravel and sea-shells, and not paved with large stones. The houses, which are generally of two stories in height, are sumptuously furnished. The rooms are seldom papered or plastered, but wainscoated with’ cedar, Brazilian, or mahogany wood. The town-hall is an elegant edifice, covered with tiles, the other buildings being for the most part roofed with thin split boards called shingles. In this hall the different courts are held; and underneath are the prisons for European delinquents. There is a Protestant church, a Lutheran chapel, and two Jewish synagogues, the one German, and the other Portuguese. Although not fortified, the town is defended by Fort Zelandia on the east, and by the natural defences of the river on the south-east, a large savannah on the west, and an impenetrable wood on the north-east. The citadel is separated from the town by a large esplanade, where the troops parade. There is a large and commodious military hospital. Opposite to the town the river Surinam is about a mile in breadth, and thus affords a noble road for shipping. The commerce of this town, although now surpassed by that carried on in British Guiana, is considerable; and the Dutch have made great and successful exertions to improve it. The exports are coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton, and indigo; the imports are flour, beef, pork, herrings, salted mackerel, spermaceti candles, horses, lumber, and European manufactures. The number of inhabitants may be estimated at from 18,000 to 20,000.
PARANYMPH, amongst the ancients, the person who waited on the bridegroom, and directed the nuptial solemnities, and who was also called pronubus and auspex, because the ceremonies began by taking auspicia. As the paranymph officiated only on the part of the bridegroom, a woman called pronuba officiated on the part of the bride.
PARAPET, in Fortification, an elevation of earth designed for covering the soldiers from the enemy’s cannon or small shot.
PARAPHERNALIA, or Parapiierna, in the civil law, those goods which a wife brings her husband besides her dower, and which are still to remain at her disposal, exclusive of her husband, unless there is some provision made to the contrary in the marriage-contract.
PARAPHRASE, an explanation of some text in clearer and more ample terms, by which is supplied what the author might have said or thought on the subject. Such are esteemed Erasmus’s Paraphrase on the New Testament, the Chaldee Paraphrase on the Pentateuch, and other works of this kind.
PARAPHROSYNE, a word employed by medical writers to denote a delirium, or an alienation of mind in fevers, or from whatever other cause.
PARASANG, an ancient Persian measure, which differed at different times and in different places, being usually thirty, sometimes forty, and occasionally fifty stadia or furlongs. The word, according to Littleton, is formed from parasch angarius, that is, the space a postman rides from one station or angaria to another.
PARASCENIUM, in the Grecian and Roman theatres, was a place behind the scenes, whither the actors withdrew to dress and undress themselves. The Romans more frequently called it Postscenium.
PARASELENE, in Natural Philosophy, a mock moon; a meteor or phenomenon encompassing or adjacent to the moon, in form of a luminous ring; in which are observed sometimes one and sometimes two or more images of the moon.
PARASEMON, amongst the Greeks, was the figure carved on the prow of a ship, to distinguish it from others. This figure was generally that of a bull, lion, or other animal; sometimes the representation of a mountain, tree, flower, or other object.
PARASITE, amongst the Greeks, was originally a very reputable title, the parasites being a kind of priests, or at least ministers, of the gods, in the same manner as the epulones were at Rome. They took care of the sacred corn, or the corn destined for the service of the temples and the gods, viz. sacrifices and feasts; and they had even the superintendence of sacrifices, taking care that these were duly performed. At Athens there was a kind of college of twelve parasites; each tribe of Attica furnishing one, who was always chosen out of the best families. Polybius adds, that a parasite was also an honourable title amongst the ancient Gauls, and was given to their poets. But it has [7:17:68]degenerated into a term of reproach, and is now used to signify a flatterer, sycophant, or mean dependent.
PARASITES, or Parasitical Plants, in 2Jotawy, such plants as are produced out of the trunk or branches of other plants, whence they receive their nourishment, and are incapable of growing on the ground. Such are the misletoe, some kinds of fungi, and others.
PARBUNCLE, in a ship, the name of a rope almost like a pair of slings. It is seized both ends together, and then put almost double about any heavy thing that is to be hoisted in or out of the ship; having the hook of the runner hitched into it to hoist it up by.
PARCAE, in heathen mythology, goddesses who were supposed to preside over the accidents and events, and to determine the date or period, of human life. The Parcae were three, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; because, forsooth, all things have their beginning, progress, and end. Hence the poets tell us that the Parcae spun the thread of men’s lives; that Clotho held the distaff’, and drew the thread; that Lachesis twirled the spindle, and spun it; and that Atropos cut it. “Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, Atropos secat.”

But the ancients represent the Parcae differently. Lucian delineates them in the shape of three poor old women, having large locks of wool, mixed with daffodils, on their heads; one of them holding a distaff, the other a wheel, and the third a pair of scissars, wherewith to cut the thread of life. Others represent Clotho as appearing in a long robe of variegated colours, wearing a crown upon her head adorned with seven stars, and holding a distaff in her hand; whilst Lachesis appears in a robe beset with stars, with several spindles in her hand, and Atropos clad in black, cutting the thread with a pair of large scissars. The ancients imagined that the Parcae employed white wool for a long and happy life, and black for a short and unfortunate one.
PARCHMENT, the skins of sheep or goats prepared after such a manner as to render them proper for being written upon, or used in covering books.

The word comes from the Latin pergamena, the ancient name of this manufacture, which is said to have been taken from the city of Pergamus, to Eumenes, the king of which, its invention is usually ascribed; although, in reality, that prince appears rather to have been the improver than the inventor of parchment. According to Diodorus, the Persians of old wrote all their records on skins; and the ancient Ioniaus, as we learn from Herodotus, made use of sheep and goat skins in writing, many ages before the time of Eumenes. Nor need we doubt that such skins were dressed for the purpose, after a manner not unlike that in which our parchment is prepared, though probably not so artificially.

The manufacture of parchment is begun by the skinner, and finished by the parchment-maker. The skin having been stripped of its wool, and placed in the lime-pit, the skinner stretches it on a kind of frame, and pares off the flesh with an iron instrument. This being done, it is moistened with a rag; and powderedchalk being spread over it, the skinner takes a large pumice-stone, flat at the bottom, rubs over the skin, and thus scours off the flesh: he then goes over it again with an iron instrument, moistens it as before, and rubs it again with the pumice-stone without any chalk underneath, by which means the flesh side is very considerably smoothed and softened. He then drains it again, by passing over it the iron instrument as before. The flesh side being thus drained, by scraping off the moisture, he in the same manner passes the iron over the woolly or hairy side, and then stretches it on a frame, and scrapes the flesh side again. This finishes its draining; and the more it is drained the whiter it becomes. The skinner now throws on more chalk,sweeping it overwith a piece of lamb-skin which has the wool on; and this smooths it still farther. It is then left to dry, and when dried, taken off the frame by cutting it all round. The skin, being thus far prepared by the skinner, is taken out of his hands by the parchmentmaker, who first, whilst it is dry, pares it on a summer, or calf-skin stretched in a frame, with a sharper instrument than that used by the skinner; and, working with the arm from the top to the bottom of the skin, takes away about one half of its thickness. The skin, being thus equally pared on the flesh side, is again rendered smooth by being rubbed with the pumice-stone on a bench covered with a sack stuffed with flocks, which leaves the parchment in a condition fit for writing upon. The parings thus taken off the leather are used in making glue, size, and the like.

What is called vellum is only parchment made of the skins of abortives, or at least sucking calves. This has a much finer grain, and is whiter and smoother than parchment; but it is prepared in the same manner, except that it is not passed through the lime-pit.
PARDIES, Ignatius Gaston, an ingenious and learned French Jesuit, was born at Paris in 1636. He taught polite literature for several years, during which he composed, with peculiar delicacy of thought and style, small pieces both in prose and verse. At length he devoted himself entirely to mathematicsand natural philosophy, and read all authors, ancient as well as modern, in those branches of knowledge. He died in the year 1673, of an infectious disorder contracted by confessing and preaching to the prisoners in the Bicêtre during the Easter holidays. Pardies published several works; but his Elements of Geometry are best known in this country, where a translation of them has gone through several editions. In 1672 he had a dispute with Sir Isaac Newton respecting the theory of light and colours, of which an account may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions for that year.
PAREENUGGUR, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Cutch, and district of Parkur. It was formerly a place of great consequence, and celebrated for its temples, which were dedicated to Buddha. It now contains only 300 [7:17:70]houses, chiefly inhabited by Sodah Rajpoots; its ancient inhabitants having long ago left it, on account of the turbulent state of the country, and migrated for safety to Noanagur and other places. The town is not fortified; and when it is attacked, the inhabitants fly for refuge to a neighbouring mountain, which is represented as rising to a great elevation. During the era of its prosperity, which was at a remote period, it was inhabited by numerous families of Banyans, whose temples were famous for elegance and sanctity, and were resorted to from every quarter for the purposes of devotion. The idol of stone, Goreecha, was an object of adoration to multitudes, who resorted thither from all quarters.
PAREGORICS, in Pharmacy, medicines that assuage pain, and are otherwise called Anodynes.
PARELCON, in Grammar, a figure by which a word or syllable is added to the end of another.
PAREMBOLE, in Rhetoric, a figure in which something relating to the subject is inserted in the middle of a period. According to Vossius, all the difference between the parembole and parenthesis is, that the former relates to the subject in hand, whereas the latter is foreign to it.
PARENTALIA, in Antiquity, funeral obsequies, or the last duties paid by children to their deceased parents.
PARENTHESIS, in Grammar, means certain intercalary words inserted in a discourse, which interrupt the sense, but nevertheless seem necessary for the better understanding of the subject.
PARGA, a town of Greece, situated on the coast of Albania, fourteen miles from Cape Bianco, and ten from Paxos. It is built on a conical rock about 250 feet above the level of the sea, which surrounds it on three sides, and, with a fortress on the narrow neck which joins it to the main, forms a strong post. The territory around extends two or three miles in a circle, and till 1818 was inhabited by a population of from 3000 to 4000 persons, who had cultivated the soil with equal care and success. They were mostly persons who bad established themselves there in opposition to Ali Pasha, who reigned absolute master of Albania, under the nominal authority of the Grand Signior. These people wished to place themselves under the protection of the British government; but the terms upon which they stood with Ali prevented an honourable acceptance of their proposal. After some warlike demonstrations, which were followed by negotiations, Ali agreed, on the place being given up to him, to pay the large sum of L.200,000 to the inhabitants, and give them permission to leave the territory. This most of them embraced, and were removed to the islands where British protection afforded them security. Long. 20. 23. 30. E. Lat. 39. 16. 15. Ν.
PARIAN Chronicle. See Arundelian Marbles.
PARIAS, or Pariahs, a tribe of Hindus, so peculiarly distinguished from all others, that they live by themselves in the outskirts of towns; and, in the country, build their houses apart from the villages, or rather have villages of their own, furnished with wells. They dare not so much as fetch water from those which other families make use of; and, lest the latter should inadvertently go to one of theirs, they are obliged to scatter the bones of dead cattle about their wells, that they may be known. See Hindustan.
PARINACOCHAS, a province of Peru, in the department of Ayachucho. It has an elevated situation in that part of the chain of the Andes which sweeps down in a circular form towards Arequipa. The temperature therefore is throughout cold, with the exception of some hollows amongst the mountains, where it is comparatively mild; and grain, herbs, and fruits, are produced in abundance. The mountains abound in mines of silver and of gold. The pasture of this province is plentiful, and of excellent quality; and numerous herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats, are reared in the plains and the valleys. In the more elevated parts there are abundance of guanucas, or Peruvian camels. The chief occupations of the inhabitants consist in superintending their live stock, and manufacturing woollen cloths. In this province there is a lake called Parinaco-cha, seven leagues in length by about one in breadth, and in which a white bird of the name of panuira breeds. This name has been corrupted into Parina, and the word cocha or lake being added, has given rise to the designation of the province. The chief town is called Pausa, but it does not appear to be a place of any importance. The population, about 12,000 souls, is dispersed in some thirty settlements.
PARKUR, a small district of Hindustan, situated about the twenty-fourth degree of north latitude. This part of the country has been seldom visited by Europeans, but is described by the natives as of a sandy and rocky nature, ill supplied with water. It has to the north the sandy desert, to the south Cutch, to the east Gujerat, and to the west the province of Sinde. There is no cultivation, except by means of irrigation from wells or tanks. The territory is said to contain between forty and fifty villages.
PARLEY, a conference with an enemy. To beat or to sound a parley is therefore to give a signal for holding such a conference, by beat of drum or sound of trumpet.
PARMIGIANO, a celebrated painter, whose true name was Francesco Mazzuoli; but he received that of Parmigiano from the city of Parma, where he was born in 1504. He was brought up under his two uncles, and was an eminent painter when but sixteen years of age. He was famous all over Italy at nineteen; and at twenty-three he performed such wonders, that when the general of the Emperor Charles V. took Rome by storm, some of the common soldiers, having broken into his apartments, found him intent upon his work, and were so struck with the beauty of his pieces, that instead of involving him in the plunder and destruction in which they were then employed, they resolved to protect him from all manner of violence. His works are distinguished by the beauty of the colouring, the invention, and the drawing. His figures are spirited and graceful, particularly in respect to the choice of attitude, and the arrangement of drapery. He also excelled in music, in which he much delighted.

In large compositions Parmigiano did not always reach a high degree of excellence; but in his holy families, and other similar subjects, the gracefulness of his heads, and the elegance of his attitudes, are peculiarly remarkable. For the, celebrity of his name he appears to have been chiefly indebted to his numerous drawings and etchings. As his life was short, and a great part of it consumed in the idle study of alchemy, and in the seducing avocations of music and gambling, but little time remained for application to the laborious part of his business. His paintings in oil are few in number, and held in high esteem; as are likewise his drawings and etchings. Good impressions of the last, however, are very rarely to be found. He was the first who practised the art of etching in Italy; and probably he did not at first know that it had been for some years practised in Germany. His principal works are at Parma, where he died poor in 1540.
PARNELL, Dr Thomas, an ingenious divine and an elegant poet. He was archdeacon of Clogher, and the intimate friend of Pope, who published his works, with a copy of recommendatory verses prefixed. He died in 1718, at the age of thirty-nine. “The life of Dr Parnell,” says Johnson, “is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has been lately written by Goldsmith, a man of such variety of powers, and such facility of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness. What such an author has told, who would tell again? I have made an extract from his larger narrative; and shall have this gratification from my attempt, that it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to the memory of a departed genius.

To yαg yεgας ἐστι ϑαvovτων.

“The general character of Parnell is not great extent of comprehension, or fertility of mind. Of the little that appears, still less is his own. His praise must be derived from the easy sweetness of his diction. In his verses there is more happiness than pains; he is sprightly without effort, and always delights though he never ravishes; everything is proper, yet everything seems casual. If there is some appearance of elaboration in the Hermit, the narrative, as it is less airy, is less pleasing. Of his other compositions, it is impossible to say whether they are the productions of nature so excellent as not to want the help of art, or of art so refined as to resemble nature.”