PEREIRA DA SILVA He translated the Latin pharmacopoeia of the London college of physicians, and published Latin prescriptions under the title of Selecta e Prcescriptis. He also compiled " A General Table of Atomic Numbers," and in 1826 was appointed lecturer in chemistry in the Alders- gate street school of medicine. His lectures were published under the title of "Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics," and to this work he owed his reputation. In 1851 he became physician to the London hospital. He also published a work on "Food and Diet" (1842), and wrote a series of "Lectures on Polarized Light." PEREIRA DA SILVA, Joao Mauoel, a Brazilian historian, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1818. He studied in Paris, and became an advocate, dis- tinguished for his eloquence in defending lib- eral principles. In 1844 he was returned to the Brazilian parliament. His principal work is Historia da fundapao do imperio brazileiro (6 vols., Rio and Paris, 1864 et seq.). He has also published Plutarcho brazileiro ; Olras politicas ; and a work on Portuguese litera- ture, with an account of the Brazilian litera- ture of the present day. PEREIRA DE SOUZA. See CALDAS PEREIRA DE SOUZA. PEREIRE, Emile and Isaac, French financiers of Jewish origin, born in Bordeaux, the former Dec. 3, 1800, the latter Nov. 25, 1806. Emile died in Paris, Jan. 7, 1875. They were broth- ers, and grandsons of Jacob Rodriguez Pereira. They removed to Paris, entered into business, and became ardent votaries of St. Simonism. They wrote for various journals, and in the Journal des Debats Isaac originated a daily report of the bourse. Tinder the guarantee of the Rothschilds they obtained the contract for building the St. Germain railway, of which Emile was the originator ; and afterward un- der the same auspices they constructed the more important Northern railway. They built the Southern railway and the lateral canal on their own responsibility. The credit mobilier was founded in 1852, chiefly through their agency, and they were afterward prominently concerned in its management. (See CREDIT MOBILIER.) On its dissolution in 1867, they retired also from several other companies with which they had been connected. They were both members of the legislative assembly from 1863 to 1869. Emile was distinguished as a patron of art. PEREROP, a town of European Russia, in the government of Taurida, and on the isthmus of its name, uniting the Crimea with the mainland, 85 m. N. by W. of Simferopol ; pop. about 5,000, consisting of Russians, Arme- nians, Greeks, Tartars, and Jews. The isth- mus, which divides the waters of the Sivash or Putrid sea, an inlet of the sea of Azov, from the gulf of Perekop, is about 18 m. long and 4 m. broad in its narrowest part. The town is situated in a barren, unhealthy dis- trict, devoid of fresh water, but its position is 649 VOL. xm. 19 PEREZ 287 commercially and strategically important. The Tartars call it Or-Kapu, or Road Gate, while the Russian name, signifying trenches, is de- rived from an ancient line of defence travers- ing the isthmus, and consisting of a ditch and wall. The town, which presents a very mean appearance, is the seat of an active trade, im- mense quantities of salt being brought from the neighboring lakes to be distributed over the governments to the north. Perekop was formerly strongly fortified, commanding the entrance to the Crimea, and figured in the wars between the Turks and Russians. It was given up by the Porte in the treaty of Ku- tchuk-Kainarji in 1774, and permanently incor- porated with Russia in 1783. PEREZ, Antonio, a Spanish statesman, born at Monreal de Ariza, Aragon, about 1539, died in Paris, Nov. 3, 1611. He was a natural son of Gonzalo Perez, minister for 40 years to Charles V. and Philip II., was legitimated in his infan- cy, and educated at Louvain, Venice, and Ma- drid. On his father's death he became one of the two chief secretaries of state, and was soon the depositary of Philip's most intimate confi- dences. When the king wished to put out of the way Juan de Escovedo, Perez was employed to have him assassinated (1578). Escovedo was stabbed in the street by hired bravos, but it is now believed that Perez had a personal motive in causing his death, because Escovedo was acquainted with the minister's intrigue with the princess of Eboli, the king's mistress. Perez and the princess were arrested two months afterward, ostensibly to satisfy the de- mands of Escovedo's relatives, and the former was condemned to two years' imprisonment, eight years' exile from court, and a heavy fine. At first Philip appeared anxious to make his punishment as light as possible, but after he had obtained all the papers which might prove his own share in the murder, he sent the ex-min- ister to the fortress of Turreguano, and extorted from him on the rack a confession that he had killed Escovedo, coupled however with the dec- laration that he did it by the royal command. In July, 1590, his wife procured him the means of escape to Saragossa, where he placed him- self under the protection of ihefueros or inde- pendent jurisdiction of Aragon. The king, in violation of these constitutional privileges, or- dered him to be seized, but the people forcibly released him. Philip then caused him to be transferred to the prison of the inquisition on a charge of heresy. The populace again re- stored him to liberty, and the consequence was an armed revolt which gave Philip a long de- sired opportunity to extinguish the fueros for ever. In the mean time Perez escaped to France, and was sent by Henry IV. on a secret mission to England, during which he published a narrative of the occurrences in which he had been concerned; but he expressed himself in a guarded and enigmatical way, which has ren- dered the whole'affair one of the most myste- rious romances of history. After the accession
