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 PARAMOUNT (Anglo-Fr. paramont, up above, par à mont, up or on top of the mountain), superior, supreme, holding the highest authority, or being of the greatest importance. The word was first used, as a term of feudal law, of the lord, the “lord paramount,” who held his fief from no superior lord, and was thus opposed to “mesne lord,” one who held from a superior. To those who held their fiefs from one who was not a “lord paramount” was given the correlative term “paravail,” par à val, in the valley. The word was confused by English lawyers with “avail,” help, assistance, profit, and applied to the actual working tenant of the land, the lowest tenant or occupier.

PARANÁ, a state of southern Brazil, bounded N. by São Paulo, E. by the Atlantic, S. by Santa Catharina and the republic of Argentina, and W. by Matto Grosso and the republic of Paraguay, with the Paraná river as its western boundary line. Area, 85,451 sq. m.; pop. (1890), 249,491; (1900), 327,136. It includes two dissimilar regions—a narrow coastal zone, thickly wooded, swampy, and semi-tropical in character, and a high plateau (2500 to 3000 ft.) whose precipitous, deeply eroded eastern escarpments are known as the Serra do Mar, or Serra do Cubatão. The southern part of the state is densely forested and has large tracts of Paraguay tea (Ilex paraguayensis), known in Brazil as herva maté, or matte. The plateau slopes westward to the Paraná river, is well watered and moderately fertile, and has a remarkably uniform climate of a mild temperate character. The larger rivers of the state comprise the Paranapanema and its tributaries the Cinza and Tibagy, the Ivahy, Piquiry, Jejuy-guassú, and the Iguassú with its principal tributary the Rio Negro. The Paranapanema and a small tributary, the Itarare, form the boundary line with São Paulo west of the Serra do Mar, and the Iguassú and Negro, the boundary line with Santa Catharina and Argentina—both streams having their sources in the Serra do Mar and flowing westward to the Paraná. The other streams have shorter courses, and all are obstructed by falls and rapids. Twenty miles above the mouth of the Iguassú are the Iguassú Falls, 215 ft. high, broken into twenty or more falls separated by rocks and islands, and surrounded by a wild, unsettled and wooded country. The falls are reached by occasional light-draught steamers on the Paraná between Posadas (Argentina) and the mouth of the Iguassú, and thence by canoe to the vicinity of the falls. The surface of the plateau is undulating and the greater part is adapted to agricultural and pastoral purposes. There are two railway systems—the Paranagua to Curityba (69 m.) with an extension to Ponta Grossa (118 m.) and branches to Rio Negro (55 m.), Porto Amazonas (6 m.) and Antonina (10 m.); and the São Paulo & Rio Grande, which crosses the state from north-east to south-west from Porto União da Victoria, on the Iguassú, to a junction with the Sorocabana line of São Paulo at Itarare. The upper Paraná is navigable between the Guayrá, or Sete Quedas, and the Urubu-punga Falls. The chief export of Paraná is Paraguay tea (a forest product). There is a large foreign element in the population owing to the immigrant colonies established on the uplands, and considerable progress has been made in small farming and education. Besides the capital, Curityba, the principal towns are Paranaguá; Antonina, at the head of the Bay of Paranaguá, with a population of 7739 in 1890; Campo Largo, 20 m. west of Curityba (pop. 10,642 in 1890); Castro, N.N.W. of the capital on the São Paulo & Rio Grande line (pop. of the municipio, 10,319 in 1890); and Ponta Grossa (pop. of municipio, 4774 in 1890), north-west of Curityba at the junction of the two railway systems of the state.

Paraná was settled by gold prospectors from São Paulo and formed part of that captaincy and province down to 1853, when it was made an independent province. The first missions of the Jesuits on the Paraná were situated just above the Guayrá Falls in this state and had reached a highly prosperous condition when the Indian slave hunters of São Paulo (called Mamelucos) compelled them to leave their settlements and emigrate in mass to what is now the Argentine territory of Misiones. The ruins of their principal mission, known as Ciudad Real, are overgrown with forest.

PARANÁ, a city and port of Argentina, capital of the province of Entre Rios, and the see of a bishopric, situated on the left bank of the Paraná river, 410 m. by navigable channels (about 240 m. direct) N.W. of Buenos Aires. Pop. (1895), 24,261; (1904, estimate), 27,000. The city occupies a gently rolling site 120 ft. above the river and about 2 m. from its riverside port of Bajada Grande, with which it is connected by railway, tramway and highway. It is classed as a seaport, and oceangoing vessels of not over 12 ft. draught can ascend to Bajada. There is also a daily ferry service across the river to Santa Fé (7 m. distant), which is connected by railway with Rosario and Buenos Aires. Paraná is also the western terminus of a provincial railway system, which connects with Concepción and Concordia, on the Uruguay river, and with other important towns of the province. The mean annual temperature is about 66° F. and the climate is bracing and healthful. Its port of Bajada Grande, on the river shore below the bluffs, has the custom-house and a fine wharf for the accommodation of the Entre Rios railway and river craft. Paraná was founded in 1730 by colonists from Santa Fé and was at first known as Bajada (a landing place). It was made the capital of the province by General Mansilla in 1821 (Concepción had previously been the capital), but in 1861 General Urquiza restored the seat of government to Concepción, where it remained until 1882, when Paraná again became the capital. Paraná was also the capital of the Argentine Confederation from 1852 to 1861.

 PARANAGUÁ, a seaport of the state of Paraná, Brazil, on the southern shore of the Bay of Paranaguá, about 9 m. from the bar of the main channel. Pop. of the municipality (1890), 11,794, of which a little more than one half belonged to the town. Paranaguá is the principal port of the state, and is a port of call for steamers in the coast wise trade. It is the coastal terminus of a railway running to Curityba, the capital (69 m.), with extensions to other inland towns and a branch to Antonina, at the head of the bay, 10½ m. west of Paranaguá by water. Its exports consist chiefly of maté, or Paraguay tea. The town was founded in 1560.

The Bay of Paranaguá opens into the Atlantic in lat. 25° 32′ S. through three channels and extends westward from the bar about 19 m. It is irregular in outline, receives the waters of a large number of small streams, and is comparatively shallow. Light-draught steamers can ascend to Antonina at the head of the bay. The broad entrance to the bay, which is the gateway to the state of Paraná is nearly filled by the large Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) on which stands an antiquated fort commanding the only practicable channel.

PARANDHAR, a hill fort of British India, in Poona district, Bombay, 4472 ft. above the sea, 20 m. S.E. of Poona: pop. (1901), 944. It figures repeatedly in the rising of Sivaji against the Mahommedans, and was the favourite stronghold of the Peshwas whenever the unwalled city of Poona was threatened. It gave its name to a treaty with the Mahrattas, signed in 1776 but never carried into effect. It is now utilized as a sanatorium for British soldiers.

PARANOIA (Gr., beyond, and , to understand), a chronic mental disease, of which systematized delusions with or without hallucinations of the senses are the prominent characteristics. The delusions may take the form of ideas of persecution or of grandeur and ambition; these may exist separately or run concurrently in the same individual, or they may become transformed in the course of the patient's life from a persecutor to an ambitious character. The disease may begin during adolescence, but the great majority of the subjects manifest no symptoms of the affection until full adult life.

The prominent and distinguishing symptom of paranoia is the delusion which is gradually organized out of a mass of original but erroneous beliefs or convictions until it forms an integral part of the ordinary mental processes of the subject and becomes fused with his personality. This slow process of the growth of a false idea is technically known as “systematization,”