Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/151

LEFT FABA 107 PARACELSUS hosus, or Pangorei, is manufactured into Indian mats; also in literature, rolls of papyrus with writings on them consti- tuting an ancient book. PARA, a state of Brazil, in the N. E., bounded by the Guianas, Maranhao, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, Amazonas, and the Atlantic. The estuary of the Amazon, also called Para, covers a large part of the state, which rises by series of plateaus to an elevation of 26,000 feet. The thick forests are rich in rubber, and cereals and tobacco are raised in the plains. Cocoa, nuts, leather, and rubber are the principal exports. The area totals 443,- 789 square miles, and is rich in unde- veloped minerals. Capital, Para. Pop. about 660,000. PARA (official name Belem), a thriv- ing city and seaport of Brazil, capital of the state of the same name, on the E. bank of the Para river, 70 miles from its mouth, on a point of land formed by the entrance of the Guandu. The harbor is nearly landlocked by wooded islands, and admits vessels of large size. Tram cars and telephones are in general use, and there is a railway to Braggan^a (108 miles). The principal buildings are the theater, the government building, custom house, and cathedral (1720). The city contains a small fort and botanic gar- dens. The place is not unhealthy, though the wet season extends over nearly two-thirds of the year. Para is the emporium of the Amazon river trade, supplying the towns of the interior with foreign goods, and exporting india-rub- ber, cacao, Brazil nuts, the piraiicu fish, etc. The annual value of the exports exceeds. Pop. about 285,000. PARA, the name which the Tocantins river receives in its lower course, from Cameta downward (138 miles). It is 20 miles broad opposite the city of Para, and 40 miles broad at its mouth. The Paranan, an arm of the Amazon, which cuts off Maraj6 Island from the main- land, pours into it part of the waters of the gTeat river. PARABLE, a comparison, a simili- tude; specifically a fable or allegorical relation or representation of something real in life or nature, from which a moral is drawn for instruction. An al- legorical or mystical saying or expres- sion; a proverb, PARABOLA, in conic sections, a plane curve pi such a form that if from any point in the curve one straight line be drawn to a given fixed point, the other perpendicular to a straight line given in position, these two straight lines will al- ways be equal to one another. PARABOLOID, in geometry, a volume bounded by a surface of the second or- der, such that sections made by planes passed in certain directions are common parabolas. It is a characteristic prop- erty of paraboloids that they have no centers except in the extreme cases, when they have an infinite number of centers. There are three varieties of paraboloids, elliptical, hyperbolic, and parabolic. PARACELSUS, a German theosophist, physician, and chemist; born in Einsie- deln, near Zurich, Switzerland, in 1493. His real name was Philip Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, but he assumed the high-sounding name of PARACELSUS Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus. He learned the rudiments of alchemy, as- trology, and medicine from his father, and then became a wandering scholar, visiting almost all parts of Europe. He made some fortunate cures, and an- nounced that he had discovered an elixir which would prolong life indefinitely; whereby he made himself, for a time, an immense reputation of physic and surgery in the University of Basle. But his arrogance, language, drunken- ness and debauchery, soon destroyed his fame and influence, and he lost his pro- fessorship, and left Basle in 1527. The rest of his life was spent in roving, prac- ticing medicine, indulging in low habits,