The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 341

PASTEUR, LOUIS, an eminent French chemist, born at Dole, in dep. of Jura, celebrated for his studies and discoveries in fermentation, and also for his researches in hydrophobia and his suggestion of inoculation as a cure; the Pasteur Inst.i.tute in Paris was the scene of his researches from 1886 (1822-1895).

PASTON LETTERS, a series of letters and papers, over a thousand in number, belonging to a Norfolk family of the name, and published by Sir John Fenn over a century ago, dating from the reign of Henry V. to the close of the reign of Henry VII.; of importance in connection with the political and social history of the period.

PASTORAL STAFF, a bishop's staff with a crooked head, symbolical of his authority and function as a shepherd in spiritual matters of the souls in his diocese.

PATAGONIA is the territory at the extreme S. of South America, lying between the Rio Colorado and the Strait of Magellan. Chilian Patagonia is a narrow strip W. of the Andes, with a broken coast-line, many rocky islands and peninsulas. Its climate is temperate but very rainy, and much of it is covered with dense forests which yield valuable timber; coal is found at Punta Arenas on the Strait. The population (3) consists chiefly of migratory Araucanian Indians and the Chilian settlers at Punta Arenas.

Eastern or Argentine Patagonia is an extensive stretch of undulating plateaux intersected by ravines, swept by cold W. winds, and rainless for eight months of the year. The base of the Andes is fertile and forest-clad, the river valleys can be cultivated, but most of the plains are covered with coa.r.s.e gra.s.s or spa.r.s.e scrub, and there are some utterly desolate regions. Lagoons abound, and there are many rivers running eastward from the Andes. Herds of horses and cattle are bred on the pampas. The Indians of this region (7) are among the tallest races of the world. There are 2000 settlers at Patagones on the Rio Negro, and a Welsh colony on the Chubut.

PATANJALI is the name of two ancient Indian authors, of whom one is the author of the "Yoga," a theistic system of philosophy, and the other of a criticism on the Sanskrit grammarian Panini.

PATCHOULI, a perfume with a strong odour, derived from the dried roots of an Indian plant introduced into the country in 1844.

PATER, WALTER HORATIO, an English prose-writer, specially studious of word, phrase, and style, born in London; studied at Oxford, and became a Fellow of Brasenose College; lived chiefly in London; wrote studies in the "History of the Renaissance," "Marcus the Epicurean," "Imaginary Portraits," "Appreciations," along with an essay on "Style"; literary criticism was his forte (1839-1894).

PATERCULUS, MARCUS VELLEIUS, a Latin historian of the 1st century, author of an epitome, especially of Roman history, rather disfigured by undue flattery of Tiberius his patron, as well as of Caesar and Augustus.

PATERSON, ROBERT, the original of Scott's "Old Mortality," a stone-mason, born near Hawick; devoted 40 years of his life to restoring and erecting monumental stones to the memory of the Scotch Covenanters (1712-1801).

PATERSON, WILLIAM, a famous financier, born in Tinwald parish, Dumfriess.h.i.+re; originated the Bank of England, projected the ill-fated Darien scheme, and lost all in the venture, though he recovered compensation afterwards, an indemnity for his losses of 18,000; he was a long-headed Scot, skilful in finance and in matters of trade (1658-1719).

PATHOS, the name given to an expression of deep feeling, and calculated to excite similar feelings in others.

PATLOCK, ROBERT, English novelist, author of "Peter Wilkins," an exquisite production; the heroine, the flying girl Youwarkee (1697-1767).

PATMORE, COVENTRY, English poet, born in Ess.e.x, best known as the author of "The Angel in the House," a poem in praise of domestic bliss, succeeded by others, superior in some respects, of which "The Unknown Eros" is by many much admired; he was a Roman Catholic by religious profession (1823-1896).

PATMOS, a barren rocky island in the aegean Sea, S. of Samos, 28 m.

in circuit, where St. John suffered exile, and where it is said he wrote the Apocalypse.

PATNA (165), the seventh city of India, in Bengal, at the junction of the Son, the Gandak, and the Ganges; is admirably situated for commerce; has excellent railway communication, and trades largely in cotton, oil-seeds, and salt. It is a poor city with narrow streets, and except the Government buildings, Patna College, a Roman Catholic cathedral, and a mosque, has scarcely any good buildings. At Dinapur, its military station, 6 m. to the W., mutiny broke out in 1857. It is famous for its rice, but this is largely a re-export.

PATOIS, a name the French give to a corrupt dialect of a language spoken in a remote province of a country.

PATON, JOHN GIBSON, missionary to the New Hebrides, son of a stocking-weaver of Kirkmahoe, Dumfriess.h.i.+re; after some work in Glasgow City Mission was ordained by the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and laboured in Tanna and Aniwa for twenty-five years; his account of his work was published in 1890; _b_. 1824.

PATON SIR JOSEPH NOEL, poet and painter, born at Dunfermline; became a pattern designer, but afterwards studied in Edinburgh and London, and devoted himself to art; his early subjects were mythical and legendary, later they have been chiefly religious; he was appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland in 1865, knighted in 1867, and in 1876 received his LL.D.

from Edinburgh University; his "Quarrel" and "Reconciliation of Oberon and t.i.tania" are in the National Gallery, Edinburgh; the ill.u.s.trations of the "Dowie Dens o' Yarrow," and the series of religious allegories, "Pursuit of Pleasure," "Lux in Tenebris," "Faith and Reason," &c., are familiar through the engravings; "Poems by a Painter" appeared in 1861; _b_. 1821.

PATRAS (37), on the NW. corner of the Morean Peninsula, on the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Patras; has a fine harbour; is the chief western port of Greece, s.h.i.+pping currants, olive-oil, and wine, and importing textiles, machinery, and coal; it is a handsome city, in the present century rebuilt and fortified.

PATRIARCH, in Church history is the name given originally to the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, and later to those also of Constantinople and Jerusalem, who held a higher rank than other bishops, and exercised a certain authority over the bishops in their districts.

The t.i.tle is in vogue in the Greek, Syrian, Armenian, and other Churches.

It was originally given to the chief of a race or clan, the members of which were called after him.

PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS, the two cla.s.ses into which, from the earliest times, the population of the Roman State was divided, the former of which possessed rights and privileges not conceded to the latter, and stood to them as patrons to clients, like the baron of the Middle Ages to the va.s.sals. This inequality gave rise to repeated and often protracted struggles in the commonalty, during which the latter gradually encroached on the rights of the former till the barrier in civic status, and even in social to some extent, was as good as abolished, and members of the plebeian cla.s.s were eligible to the highest offices and dignities of the State.

PATRICK, ORDER OF ST., an Irish order of knighthood, founded in 1783 by George III., comprising the sovereign, the Lord-Lieutenant, and twenty-two knights, and indicated by the initial letters K.P.

PATRICK, ST., the apostle and patron saint of Ireland; his birthplace uncertain; flourished in the 5th century; his mission, which extended over great part of Ireland, and over thirty or forty years of time, was eminently successful, and at the end of it he was buried in Downpatrick, henceforth a spot regarded as a sacred one. Various miracles are ascribed to him, and among the number the extirpation from the soil of all venomous reptiles.

PATRICK, SIMON, English prelate; distinguished himself, when he was rector of St. Paul's, by his self-denying devotion during the Plague of London; became bishop in succession of Chichester and Ely, and was the author of a number of expository works (1652-1707).

PATRISTIC LITERATURE, the name given to the writings of the early Fathers of the Christian Church.

PATROCLUS, a friend of Achilles, who accompanied him to the Trojan War, and whose death by the hand of Hector roused Achilles out of his sullenness, and provoked him to avenge the deed in the death of Hector.

PATTESON, JOHN COLERIDGE, bishop of Melanesia, grand-nephew of Coleridge; a devoted bishop, in material things no less than spiritual, among the Melanesian islanders; was murdered, presumably through mistake, by the natives of one of the Santa Cruz groups (1827-1871).

PATTI, ADELINA, prima donna, born in Madrid, of Italian extraction; made her first appearance at New York in 1859, and in London at Covent Garden, as Amina in "La Somnambula," in 1861, and has since made the round once and again of the Continent and America, North and South; has been married three times, being divorced by her first husband, and lives at Craig-y-nos Castle, near Swansea, Wales; _b_. 1843.

PATTISON, MARK, a distinguished English scholar, born at Hornby, Yorks.h.i.+re; studied at Oxford, and was for a time carried away with the Tractarian Movement, but when his interest in it died out he gave himself to literature and philosophy; wrote in the famous "Essays and Reviews" a paper on "The Tendency of Religious Thought in England"; became rector of Lincoln College, Oxford; wrote his chief literary work, a "Life of Isaac Casaubon," a mere fragment of what it lay in him to do, and left an autobiography, which revealed a wounded spirit which no vulnerary known to him provided by the pharmacopoeia of earth or heaven could heal (1813-1889).

PATTISON'S PROCESS, the name of a process for desilverising lead, dependent on the fact that lead which has least silver in it solidifies first on liquefaction.

PAU (31), chief town of the French province of Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees, on the Gave de Pau, 60 m. E. of Bayonne; is situated amid magnificent mountain scenery, and is a favourite winter resort for the English; linen and chocolate are manufactured; it was the capital of Navarre, and has a magnificent castle; it stands on the edge of a high plateau, and commands a majestic view of the Pyrenees on the S.

PAUILLAC, a port for Bordeaux, on the left bank of the Gironde.