PERJURY, in law, is defined by Sir Edward Coke to be a crime committed when a lawful oath is administered, in some judicial proceeding, to a person who swears wilfully, absolutely, and falsely, in a matter material to the issue or point in question. In ancient times it was in some places punished with death; in others it made the false swearer liable to the punishment due to the crime he had charged the innocent person with; in others a pecuniary mulct was imposed. PERIWIG, n. s. & v. a. Fr. perruque. False hair worn by way of ornament or concealment of baldness: to dress in false hair. Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow; Shakspeare. It offends me to hear a robusteous periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to split the ears of the groundlings. Id. Now when the winter's keener breath began To crystallise the Baltic Ocean, To glaze the lakes, to bridle up the floods, The sun's Dishevelled beams and scattered fires Serve but for ladies periwigs and tires In lovers' sonnets. Sylvester. Donne. Id. Miscellanies. PER'IWINKLE, n. s. Barb. Lat. pervinca (from its winding shape.) A small shell-fish; a fish snail; also a winding plant, the clematis. Thetis is represented by a lady of a brownish complexion, her hair dishevelled about her shoulders, upon her head a coronet of periwinkle and escalop shells. Peacham. There are in use, for the prevention of the cramp, bands of green periwinkle tied about the calf of the leg. Bacon. The common simples with us are comfry, bugle, ladies' mantle, and periwinkle. Wiseman's Surgery. PERIZONIUS (James), a learned and laborius writer, born at Dam in 1651. He became professor of history and eloquence at the university of Franekir, when, by his merit and learning, he made that university flourish. However, in 1693, he went to Leyden, where he was made professor of history, eloquence, and Greek; in which employment he continued till his death, in 1715. He wrote many learned and curious works, particularly Origines Babylonicæ et Egyptiaca, 2 vols. 8vo., &c. But his work most generally known is the Notes upon Sancta Minerva. PERIZZITES, ancient inhabitants of Palestine, mingled with the Canaanites. They did not inhabit any certain portion of the land of Canaan; there were some of them on both sides the river Jordan, in the mountains, and the plains. PERK, v. n., v. a. & adj. From perch, Skinner. To hold up the head with affected briskness; assume airs; dress smartly or proudly: pert; brisk; proud. My ragged ronts Wont in the wind, and wag their wriggle tails, And range with humble livers in content, Shakspeare. Henry VIII. PERKINISM, in medicine, is a late and already exploded method of curing head-aches, rheumatisms, quinsies, gouts, lumbagos, cramps, contusions, sprains, tumors, burns, scalds, erysipelas, palsies, and various other diseases and pains in all parts of the body, by drawing metallic tractors over the parts affected; invented by a Dr. Perkins of America. These tractors were made of silver, brass, copper, iron, lead, or zinc; and even of ivory or ebony; and supposed to act as mechanical stimuli, or as galvanic conductors of electricity. Experiments are said to have been made with success in this way by other physicians and surgeons, particularly Dr. J. C. Tode, physician to the king of Denmark, and professors Herholdt and Rafn, of Copenhagen, who published a Treatise on Perkinism, and first made use of the term. PER'LOUS, adj. Corrupted from perilous. Dangerous; hazardous. A perlous passage lies, Where many maremaids haunt, making false melodies. Spenser. Late he fared In Phædria's fleet bark over the perlous shard. Id. PERM, an extensive government, situated chiefly in European, but partly in Asiatic Russia, adjacent to that of Viatka on the west, and Tobolsk on the east; extending from 56° to 62° of N. lat. Its area is 116,000 square miles, or double that of England, while its population does not exceed 1,100,000. It is intersected from north to south by a part of the great Ural chain, and is in general hilly, covered with vast and impenetrable forests. It is divided into twelve districts or circles. Those situated in the south-east are tolerably cultivated, but the rest of the country is fit only for pasture; and an annual import of corn is generally necessary. The exports are cattle, and the copper, iron, and salt of the mines. The inhabitants are a mixed race, partly Russian, and partly Finnish and Tartar. The annual export of metal is computed at 2000 tons of copper, and 70,000 tons of iron. The sea being remote both on the north and south of the rivers; those on the west side of the Ural chain flow into the Kama, which joins the Wolga; those on the east side fall, for the The most part, into the Oby, the outlet of which is in the Frozen Ocean. The forests contain various animals, which are hunted for their furs. inhabitants are partly Christians, partly Mahometans, and, in no inconsiderable degree, Pagans. The ancestors of those of the country between the White Sea and the Ural Mountains are described as a wealthy and powerful nation; but after falling, in the middle ages, under the sway of the republic of Novgorod, they were gradually incorporated into the Russian empire. PERM, the chief place of the preceding government, is situated on the river Kama, and has some neat public buildings, a public school, and an hospital. It carries on an active traffic with the provinces both to east and west, in the metals of the surrounding country. Population 3800 910 miles east by south of St. Petersburg, and 720 E. N. E. of Moscow. Lat. permanens, permaneo. Duration; abidance; consis PERMACOIL, a town and fortress of the Carnatic, south of India. The fort is situated on a rock from 200 to 300 feet high, and from 400 to 500 yards in breadth. It was first taken by the British in 1760, then made over to the nabob of Arcot, and in the year 1782 was captured by the united forces of Hyder Aly and the French. It remained with them till the end of the war, when it was dismantled, and the fortifications blown up. Long. 79° 52′ E., lat. 12° 13′ N. PERMANENCE, or PERMANENCY, n. s. PERMANENT, adj. PERMANENTLY, adv. tency; continuity of PERMAN'SION, n.s. state: permanent is lasting; durable; unchanged; the adverb corresponding permansion (obsolete), continuance. If the authority of the maker do prove unchangeableness in the laws which God hath made, then must all laws which he hath made be necessarily for ever permanent, though they be but of circumstance only. Should I dispute whether there be any such material being that hath such a permanence or fixedness in being? Hooker. Hale. Although we allow that hares may exchange their sex sometimes, yet not in that vicissitude it is presumed; from female into male, and from male to female again, and so in a circle without a permansion in either. Brown's Vulgar Errours. That eternal duration should be at once is utterly unconceivable, and that one permanent instant should be commensurate or rather equal to all successions of ages. More. Salt, they say, is the basis of solidity and permanency in compound bodies, without which the other four elements might be variously blended together, but would remain uncompacted. Boyle. It does, like a compact or consistent body, deny to mingle permanently with the contiguous liquor. Id. His meaning is, that in these, and in such other light injuries, which either leave no permanent effect or only such as may be borne without any great prejudice, we should exercise our patience. a legal excise ticket of sufferance, or allowance for goods to pass from a place, having paid the duty imposed on them: permissible is allowable; what may be permitted: permission and permittance, allowance; forbearance of opposition; grant of liberty: permissive, granting liberty; not hindering; allowing without upbraiding: permissively, by way of allowance or forbearance to hinder; by bare allowance. Women keep silence in the churches, for it is not 1 Cor. xiv. 34. permitted unto them to speak, What things God doth neither command nor forbid, the same he permitteth with approbation either to be done or left undone. Hooker. With thy permission then, and thus forewarned, The willinger I go. Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone Milton. By his permissive will, through heaven and earth. Id. Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest, Live well; how long, how short, permit to heaven. Id. Addison. Let us not aggravate our sorrows, But to the gods permit the events of things. When this system of air comes, by divine permittance, to be corrupted by poisonous acrimonious steams, what havock is made in all living creatures! Derham's Physico- Theology. After men have acquired as much as the laws permit them, they have nothing to do but to take care of the publick. Swift. The officers, in their permits for removing exciseable goods, shall express as well the time for which they shall be in force for removing such goods, as the time within which they shall be received into stock by the person to whom they are sent; and if not removed within the time limited (unavoidable accidents excepted), or, in default of such removing, if the permit shall not be returned to the officer who granted the same, the person procuring the permit shall forfeit treble value of the goods: and if not received into stock, within the time limited, by the person to whom they were permitted to be sent, they shall be deemed goods removed without a permit. 21 Geo. III. c. 55. PERMUTATION, n. s. Fr. permutation; Lat. permutatio. Exchange of one for another. Gold and silver, by their rarity, are wonderfully fitted for the use of permutation for all sorts of commodities. Ray. A permutation of number is frequent in languages. Bentley. PERNAMBUCO, a province of Brasil, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean north and east, south by Bahia, and east by a desert territory. It is about 470 miles in extent from north to south, and about 370 from east to west; abounding in sugar-cane, cotton, and Brasil wood. The climate is in the interior hot and moist. Hides, cocoa-nuts, ipecacuanha, and a few other drugs, are sent hence; but its chief exports are cotton and sugar. The imports are manufactured goods, earthenware, and other articles of necessity among civilised people. Vessels from the United States arrive at Recife annually, bringing flour, of which great quantities are now consumed, furniture for dwelling houses, and other kinds of lumber; and carrying away sugar, molasses, and rum. The trade to the coast of Africa for slaves is also considerable. During the war between the United States and England, which interrupted this trade, Recife was sometimes distressed for wheat-flour, but a supply was received from Rio Grande. PERNAMBUCO, or St. Antonio do Recife, a town of Brasil, capital of the province of this name. It consists of three divisions, Recife, St. Antonio, and Boa Vista; the first two of which are situated on two sand-banks, surrounded by the sea, and connected together by a bridge of stone and wood lined with shops; this renders it so narrow that two carriages cannot pass abreast. The harbour of Recife, called the Mosqueiro, situated on the outward bank, is formed by a reef of rocks which runs parallel with the town, at a small distance. The lower harbour, for vessels of 400 tons and upwards, called the Poco, is dangerous, as it is open to the sea; and the beach opposite is very steep. The port has two entrances: the tide does not rise more than five feet and a half. The principal defence of the town consists in the forts Do Buraco and Do Brum, both built of stone, and situated upon the sands opposite to the two entrances. There is likewise the small fort of Bom Jezus, near to the archway and church of the same name; and upon the south-east point of the sand-bank of St. Antonio stands the large stone fort of Cinco Pontas, but they all are said to be out of order. The division of Recife, which is that nearest the sea, stands on a long narrow neck of land, which stretches southward from the foot of the hill on which the town of Olinda, about a league distant, is built. In front of this bank runs a reef of rocks. At full tide the waves roll over it; but, being checked by this barrier, they strike the quays and buildings of the town with diminished strength. The second sand-bank, on which is placed the division called St. Antonio, is connected with Boa Vista, situated on the continent, by a narrow wooden bridge. Buildings have only been raised within the protection of the reef. The tide enters between the bridges, and encircles the middle compartment. The view from the houses that look on these waters is very extensive and beautiful; the opposite banks being covered with trees and white-washed cottages, varied by small open spaces and lofty cocoa trees. The Recife division of the town is composed of brick houses, of from three to five stories in height; most of the streets are narrow, but they are paved. In the square is the custom house, a low and shabby building; the sugar-inspection house; a large church, and a coffee-house, in which the merchants assemble to transact commercial affairs. There are two churches in use, one of which is built over the stone arch-way leading from the town to Olinda. Near to this is a small fort, close to the water side, which commands it. To the north is the residence of the port-admiral, with the government timber-yards. The cotton-market, warehouses, &c., are also in this part of the town. St. Antonio, or the middle town, is composed chiefly of large lofty houses and broad streets. The ground floors are appropriated to shops, warehouses, &c., without windows, the only light they have being admitted from the door; and there exists very little distinction of trades. Here is the governor's palace, once the Jesuits' convent; the treasury; town-hall, and prison; the barracks; the Franciscan, Carmelite, and Penha convents, and several churches, handsomely ornamented. The principal street of Boa Vista is broad and handsome. The rest of this third division consists chiefly of small Others armed with hard shells, others with prickles, the rest that have no such armature endued with great swiftness or pernicity. Ray on the Creation. PERNIO, a kibe or chilblain, is a little ulcer, occasioned by cold in the hands, feet, heels, nose, and lips. It will come on when warm parts are too suddenly exposed to cold, or when parts from being too cool are suddenly exposed to a considerable warmth; and has always a tendency to gangrene, in which it frequently terminates. It most commonly attacks children of a sanguine habit and delicate constitution; and may be prevented or removed by such remedies as invigorate the system, and are capable of removing any tendency to gangrene in the constitution. PERONES, a sort of high shoes which in early times were worn even by senators; but at last were confined to ploughmen and laborers. They were very rudely formed, consisting only of hides undressed, and reaching to the middle of the leg. Virgil mentions the perones as worn by a company of rustic soldiers on one foot only. PERORATION, n. s. Lat. peroratio. conclusion of an oration. The PERORATION, in rhetoric, consists of two parts. 1. Recapitulation; wherein the substance of what was diffused throughout the whole speech" is collected briefly and cursorily, and summed up with new force and weight. 2. The moving the passions; which is so peculiar to the peroration that the masters of the art' call this part sedes affectuum. See ORATORY. PEROTIS, in botany, a genus of the digynia order, belonging to the triandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the fourth order, gramina. There is no calyx: the corolla consists of a bivalvular glume; the valves are oblong, acute, somewhat unequal, and terminating in a sharp beard: it has three capillary stamina; the antheræ incumbent; the style capillary, and shorter than the corolla; the stigma feathery and divaricated. The corolla serves as a perianthium, including a single seed of an oblong linear shape. Of this there is only one species; viz. P. plumosus, a native of America. PEROUSE (John Francis Galaup, de la) a French navigator, distinguished for his mysterious fate, was born at Albi, in Languedoc, in 1741, and entered at an early age into the naval service. During the American war he had the command of an expedition to Hudson's Bay; and, on the restoration of peace, the French government having determined on a voyage of discovery, M. de la Perouse was fixed on to command it. Two vessels, the Boussole and the Astrolabe, were placed under his direction; and, leaving France in 1785, proceeded to the South Sea. Having visited the coast of California, he crossed the Pacific, to continue his researches on the coasts and islands of Asia. In April, 1787, he sailed from Manilla towards the north; and at length, on the 6th of September, arrived at the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, Kamtschatcha. Here he stayed to refit the ships, and experienced the utmost hospitality from the local authorities. The commander had also the satisfaction to receive letters from France, informing him that he had been promoted to the rank of commodore, which event the governor of Kamtschatcha celebrated by a salute of artillery. From St. Peter and St. Paul Perouse sent copies of his journals, &c., to France, by M. de Lesseps, who proceeded over land across Siberia; and on the 30th of September the vessels sailed. They crossed the equinoctial line, without meeting with any land till the 6th of December, when they saw the Navigators' Islands, and a few days after landed at Maouna. Here M. de Langle, the captain of the Astrolabe, Lamanon, the naturalist attached to the expedition, and ten other persons, were killed in an unprovoked attack of the natives. After this Perouse visited Oyolava, and then steered for the coast of New Holland; and, on the 26th January, 1788, anchored in Botany Bay, at the time governor Philip, with the whole of the colonists, was sailing out to Port Jackson. The French did not leave Botany Bay until March, when the commodore wrote, stating his intention to continue his researches till December, when he expected to arrive at the Isle of France. This was the latest direct intelligence received of him; and M. d'Entrecasteaux, who was despatched by the French government, in 1791, in search of Perouse, was unable to trace the course he had taken. Recently, however, a notice has been published by the French minister of marine, purporting that an American captain had declared that he had seen, in the hands of one of the natives of an island between Louisiade and New Caledonia, a cross of the order of St. Louis, and some medals, which appeared to have been procured from La Perouse's vessels. In consequence of this information, the commander of a vessel which sailed from Toulon, in April 1826, received orders to make researches in the quarter specified. Other intelligence, relative to the wreck of two large vessels, on two different islands of the New Hebrides, was obtained by our captain Dillon at Tucopia, in his passage from Valparaiso to Pondicherry, in May 1826, in consequence of which that officer has been despatched to the New Hebrides to ascertain the authenticity of the report he received. The voyage of La Perouse was published in French at Paris, 1797, vols. 4to; and an English translation, in 3 vols. 8vo., appeared in 1798. PERPEND', v. a. Lat. perpendo. To weigh exactly; weigh in the mind; consider attentively. Thus it remains and the remainder thus ; Perpend. Shakspeare. Hamlet. Perpend, my princess, and give ear. Shakspeare. Consider the different conceits of men, and duly perpend the imperfection of their discoveries. Browne. Unto reasonable perpensions it hath no place in some sciences. Browne's Vulgar Errours. PERPENDICULAR, adj. Fr. perpendiPERPENDICULARLY, adv. culaire ; Lat. PERPENDICULAR'ITY, n. s. perpendicularis. Crossing at right angles; particularly crossing the horizon at right angles: perpendicularity is the state of being perpendicular. Ten masts attacht make not the altitude, Which thou hast perpendicularly fallen. Some define the perpendicular altitude of the high est mountains to be four miles. Shakspeare. Browne. Irons refrigerated north and south, not only acquire a directive faculty, but if cooled upright and perpendicularly, they will also obtain the same. Browne's Vulgar Errours. Shoot up an arrow perpendicularly from the earth, the arrow will return to your foot again. More. All weights naturally move perpendicularly downward. Ray. The angle of incidence, is that angle which the line, described by the incident ray, contains with the perpendicular to the reflecting or refracting surface at the point of incidence. Newton's Opticks. Though the quantity of water thus rising and falling, be nearly constant as to the whole, yet it varies in the several parts of the globe; by reason that the vapours float in the atmosphere, and are not restored down again in a perpendicular upon the same precise tract of land. Woodward. The meeting of two lines is the primary essential mode or difference of an angle; the perpendicularity of these lines is the difference of a right angle. VOL. XVII. Watts's Logic. Than one that's sick o' the gout, since he had rather Shakspeare. Cymbeline. Bacon. The strokes of divine vengeance, or of men's own consciences, always attend injurious perpetrations. King Charles. A perpetual screw hath the motion of a wheel and the force of a screw, being both infinite. Wilkins's Mathematical Magick. Within those banks rivers now Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. Milton. Nourishing hair upon the moles of the face is the perpetuation of a very ancient custom. Browne. There can be no other assurance of the perpetuity of this church, but what we have from him that built Pearson. C it. |