PALISSY PALLADIUM 13 for the coast of Guinea in 1786, and was the first naturalist to explore the kingdom of Benin. His health having broken down, he went in 1788 to Santo Domingo, and in 1790 obtained a place in the colonial council. In 1791 he was sent on an unsuccessful mission to Phila- delphia for assistance against the revolted ne- groes of Santo Domingo, and on his return to the colony in June, 1793, he was imprisoned and barely escaped being murdered by them. He reached Philadelphia in great destitution, and supported himself as a teacher of music and languages; but the French charge^ d'affaires enabled nim to make a botanical excursion through some of the United States. Permitted to return to France in 1798, after having been proscribed during the revolution, he became in 1806 a member of the institute, and in 1815 of the council of the university. Among his illus- trated works are : Flore d? Oware et de Benin (2 vols., Paris, 1804-'21); Insectes recueillies en Afrique et en Amerique (1805-'21) ; and Mus- cologie, ou traite sur les mousses (1822). PALISSY, Bernard, a French potter, born at Capelle-Biron, near Agen, about 1510, died in Paris in 1590. He was first employed, as we learn from himself, in "portraiture and vitri- f action," which probably means that he paint- ed on glass; and being acquainted with geom- etry, he was occasionally employed in survey- ing and in drawing maps. Having seen some ornamented pottery from Nuremberg as some think, or as others suppose from Italy, he re- solved to discover the method of enamelling which had been brought to such perfection in the latter country. Regardless of expense, la- bor, disappointment, and hardship, he reduced himself and family to poverty rather than give up his undertaking, and about 1555 succeeded after 16 years of exertion. Having in the mean time become a Protestant, he was imprisoned at Bordeaux during the reign of Henry II. ; but through the intervention of some of the nobility, among others the constable de Mont- morency, he was released, and appointed "ma- ker of the king's rustic potteries" (rustiques figulines). He removed to Paris, and resided in the neighborhood known as the Tuileries. On the building of the palace of the Tuileries he had charge of the decoration of the gar- dens. This post saved him from the massacre of St. Bartholomew. He improved his dis- covery, and manufactured earthen figures and ornaments, .which in artistic perfection rival- led those of Faenza or Oastel Durante, and were generally used in the decoration of castles and palaces. His other works, such as vases, jugs, ewers, and salvers, were eagerly sought for, and are still highly valued. Meanwhile he was engaged in scientific pursuits, and it has been appropriately said that he was to chem- istry what Lord Bacon was to philosophy, and that his Traite de Vart de terre is the Novum Organum of the science. In his other treatises, De la marne, De la nature des eaux etfontaines, &c., anticipating modern scientific discoveries, he expounded a method of taking soundings, and gave the theory of artesian wells and strat- ifications. Toward the end of the reign of Henry III. he was again involved in serious difficulties on account of his religion. Proba- bly through the enmity of the leaguers, he was arrested in 1588 and confined in the Bastile, where he died. The name of Palissy, scarcely noticed by his contemporaries and completely ignored during the 17th century, was brought again to light by Fontenelle, Buffon, and others, who pointed out the value of his scientific re- searches. Being ignorant of Greek and Latin, he wrote altogether in French. An edition of his works was published in 1777 by Faujas de St. Fond and Gobet, and reprinted in part in 1844 by A. Cap (Paris). J. Salles has written Mude sur la me et les travaux de B. Palissy (8vo, Nimes, 1855), and his life has also been written by H. Morley (2 vols., London, 1852). Specimens of his art are preserved in the mu- seums of the Louvre, of Sevres, of the hotel Cluny in Paris, and of the Favorite near Mu- nich. His oven, with some other relics, was discovered in 1865 in the place du Carrousel. PALE STRAIT. See CEYLON. PALL, or Palla. See PALLIUM. PALLADIO, Andrea, an Italian architect, born in Yicenza, Nov. 30, 1518, died there in August, 1580. He was brought into notice by his de- sign for the loggie or open porticoes surround- ing three sides of the palazzo della Ragione at Vicenza, after which he was for many years busily employed in the construction of private mansions, developing the still popular Palladian style. The most famous is the Rotonda Capra, known as Palladio's villa, just outside of Vi- cenza. After a time he was invited to Venice, where he designed two churches, San Giorgio Maggiore and II Santissimo Redentore, as well as the atrium for the convent della Carita and the facade of San Francesco della Vigna. He also designed the Palazzo Barbaro at Maser in the Trevigiano, and a palace at Montagnana for Francesco Pisano. His last work was the Tea- tro Olimpico at Vicenza, which has been the subject of very conflicting criticisms ; it was not finished until after his death. He wrote a treatise on architecture (fol., Venice, l70), several times reprinted in costly style. PALLADIUM, in Greek legends, a wooden im- age of Pallas or Minerva, thrown down to earth by Jupiter. It fell in the neighborhood of Troy, where Ilus the founder of that city, who had just prayed for favorable omens, re- garding it in that light, took possession of it and built for it a sanctuary. It was a tradition that Troy could never be taken while this im- age remained in the city, and therefore Ulysses and Diomedes were commissioned to steal it, and succeeded. There are numerous other ac- counts of its fate. PALLADIUM, a metal of the platinum group, discovered by Wollaston in 1803. It is some- times found pure in small quantities in the form of octahedrons, mixed with grains of platinum
