play an important part as spinners of the thread of life. Among the Greeks the conception of the iloira; is somewhat difl'erent. The name in the singular denotes the portion of life al- lotted to each man at his Wrth, with the in- evitable death at the appointed moment. In Homer iloira is the goddess who allots this por- tion to man, though it is often hard to tell whether the word is a projier name or a common noun, destiny. Here we find, however, Moira or Aisa as a spinner of a thread of destiny for everj' man at his birth, or in one place associated with the Klothes, or spinners, who work under her direction. From this idea of the spinner of the thread of life developed the conception of two or three goddesses who begin, control, and end this thread, but the Moirw are only once named in Homer, and their development in the cult is of a later date. In Hesiod they appear as the three daughters of Zeus and Themis — Clotho, the spinner : Lachesis. the assigner of the lot ; Atropos, the inflexible, who cuts the thread. They were worshiped in Athens, Corinth, Sicyon, Sparta, Thebes, and elsewhere. They are gloomy, invisible goddesses, who know the future and at times reveal it. Their cult was in some places without images, and their offerings those appro- priate to chthonic divinities. To them honors were paid not only in connection with birth and death, but at any important epoch in human life. To a later period belongs the close division of functions between the three sisters, which does not appear in art till Roman times. In the ear- lier art they are not distinguished as individuals, but are only represented as fully draped female figures of 3'outhful dignity. The so-called Fates of the Parthenon pediment are not certainly identified. Later Clotho is retrularly indicated by the spindle, Lachesis with a globe on which she traces the fate or little rods from which she draws the lot of man, and Atropos by a roll or tablet in which she records man's fate, or the sun-dial to which she points. The relation of the JIoiriE to the gods is not always clearly defined. In Homer the decree of iloira is in accord with the will of Zeus, and once determined cannot be altered. Later writers, while keeping the con- nection with Zeus, seem at times to regard the Moira> as binding even the gods. Later philo- sophical speculation naturally gave much atten- tion to the Fates, and even in popular belief they held a high place among the gods.
PARCELS. See Baggage ; Carrieb, Common.
PARCENARY (OF. parcenerie, from par-
cener, partner, from ML. partiorwrius, having a
share, from Lat. partitio, share, from par.i, por-
tion). In law. the state or estate of two or more
persons, called parceners, who hold title to lands
that have descended to them as equal heirs, so
that though the estate is undivided each has a
right to a separate share of it, and, therefore,
with no benefit of survivorship. See Coparcenary.
PARCHE, piir'sha'. One of the small, beau-
tiful coral-fishes or butterlly-fishes [Cha-todnn
capistratiis) conininn in West Indian waters. The
name 'parch6' is sometimes applied to all the but-
terfly-fishes. See Plate of Coral-Fish.
PARCHIM, piirKlm. A town in the Grand
Ducliy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, situ-
ated on the Elde, about 20 miles southeast of
Schwerin (llap: Germanv. D 2). It lias a monu-
ment to Field-Marshal Von Moltke, a native of
the to«-n, a gymnasium, and manufactures of
cloth, chicory, celluloid, etc. Parchim is one of
the richest cities of ilecklenburg, owning a good
deal of the surrounding land. Population, in
lUOO, 10,242, chietly Protestants.
PARCHMENT (OF., Fr. parchemin, from
Lat. prrriuniiua, peryamena, from Gk. TTeiiya/iqvii,
parchment, from Hepyafirivo^, Pergiimvnos, re-
lating to Pergamus, from Uipya/ioc, Pcrgamos,
nipya/zov, I'ergamon, a city of Mysia in Asia
Jlinor, whence parchment was originally brought),
and Vellum (from OF. velin, Fr. veiin, vellum,
from ML. vitulinu^, relating to a calf, from
Lat. Vilnius, calf; connected with Gk. ZraXii,
italus, Skt. vatsa, calf, from vatsa, Gk. trof,
etos, year). Parchment is one of the oldest
of writing materials, known at least as early
as B.C. 500. Herodotus speaks of books written
upon skins in his time. Pliny, without good
grounds, places the invention as late as B.C.
106, stating that it was made at Pergamum
in the reign of Eumenes II., in consequence of
Ptolemy of Egypt having prohibited the exporta-
tion of papyrus. Possibly the Pergamian mven-
tion was an improvement in the preparation of
skins, which had certainly been used centuries
before. The manufacture rose to great impor-
tance in Rome about the first century B.C., and
its use spread over all Europe, and retained its
preeminence until the invention of paper from
rags.
Parchment is prepared from the skins of sheep and goats; vellum, from that of calves, kids, and dead-born lambs; the thick, common kinds, for drums, tamborines, battledores, etc., from those of old goats and in Xorthem Europe from wolves; and a peculiar kind is made from asses' skins, the surface of which is enameled. It is used for tablets, as black-lead writing can be readily removed from it by moisture. The method of making parchment is at first the same as in dressing skins for leather. The skins are limed in the lime-pit until the hair is easily removed. They are then stretched tightly and equally upon a square wooden frame called a herse. "The ilesh side is dressed as in currying, until a perfectly smooth surface is obtained. It is next ground by rubbing over it a flat piece of pumice stone, previously dressing the flesh side only with powdered chalk, and slaked lime sprinkled over it. It is next allowed to dry. still tightly stretched on the frame. The drying process is an important one and nuist l>e rather slowly carried on, for which purpose it must be in the shade. Sometimes these processes have to be reneated several times, in order to insure an excellent quality, and much depends upon the skill with which the pumice stone is used, and also upon the fineness of the pumice itself. Vellum is prepared with the finest pu- mice. When quite dried the lime and chalk are removed by rubbing with a soft lambskin with the wo<»l on.
PARCHMENT, Vegetable, or PARcnME.NT Paper. When pure unsized paper is dipped into a mixture of one ])art of water and six parts of sulphuric acid, and then washed carefully until every trace of acid is removed, a product is obtained in which the cellulose of the paper has changed into amyloid or hydro-cellulose, which forms a gelatinous coating over the swollen fibres, and acts as a sizing. The parchment-like
