Parchi, Estori ben-Moses, a noted Hebrew schol- ar, was a native of Provence, and belonged to those ex- iles who were driven from France in the year 1306, un- der Philip IV, the Fair, one of the most rapacious, per- haps the most cruel sovereign who ever sat on the throne of France. At the time of the expulsion Parchi must have been a j'oung man yet, for in the introduction to his work he gives us a description of the miseries which he had to undergo in the following words : " They drove me out from the college ; naked I had to leave my fa- ther's house, as a young man, and was obliged to wan- der from country to country, from people to people, whose languages were foreign to me." Parchi found a resting-place in Palestine, where he wrote his "iinSS rrnBI. which treats on the topography of Palestine, and is especially valuable for the geography of the Holy Scriptures, the Talmud, and the Middle Ages, for numis- matics and chronology. It was first published at Ven- ice, 1549, and has been edited with a verj' valuable in- troduction by H. Edelmann (Berlin, 184G and 1852). See Furst, Jiibl. Jud. 1, 259; Zunz, in Asher's Itiner- ary of Benjamin of Tudela (London, 1841), ii, 393-448; Griitz, Gesch. d. .luden, vii, 2G8 ; Frankel's Monatsschrift, 1851, 1852, p. 52G; .lost, Gesch. d. Judenth. v. s. Sekten, iii, 62; Zunz, Zur Geschichte u, Literatur, p. 4G2, 535, 53G. (B. P.)
Parchment is the rendering in the A.V. at 2 Tim, iv, 13 of the Greek fitf-ifipdva, a skin, from which the English membrane is derive^- The apostle Paul in this passage directs Timothy to bring with him to Rome, whither he charges him to repair speedily, certain things, "but especially the parchments;" what these parchments were to which so much importance seems to be attached can only at this time be matter of con- jecture.
Parchment is prepared from the skins of animals, generally sheep, in an untanned state. It " is one of the oldest inventions of writing materials, and was known at least as early as 500 years B.C. Herodotus speaks of books written upon skins in his time. Pliny, with- out good grounds, places the invention as late as 19G B.C., stating that it was made at Pergamos (hence the name Peryamea, corrupted into English parchment) in the reign of Eumenius II, in consequence of Ptolemy of Egypt having prohibited the exportation of papyrus. Possiljly the Pergamian invention was an improvement in the preparation of skins, which had certainly been used centuries before. The manufacture rose to great importance in Rome about a century B.C., and parch- ment soon became the chief material for writing on ; and its use spread all over Europe, and retained its pre-eminence until the invention of paper from rags, which from its great durabilif}' proved a fortunate cir- cumstance for literature" (Chambers). Parchment is now rarely used except for literary diplomas and such
PARCHOX
G68
PARDES
documents as arc destined for special permanence. See Writing.
Parclion, Salomon ben-Abraham, one of the ear- liest Jewish grammarians and lexicographers, who flour- ished about 1 130 at Calatajud, in Aragon. He afterwards emigrated to the peninsula of Salerno, where he most probably died about 1180. Being anxious to furnish his co-religionists in Southern Italy with the results of the grammatical and exegetical labors of his brethren in Spain, Parchon compiled, in the year 1160, a Hebrew lexicon, entitled ~Tn"n n~zn"3. Though it is sub- stantially a translation of Ibn-Ganach's celebrated lexi- con [see Ibn-Ganach], j'ct Parchon also introduces in it the labors of Chajug, Jehudah Ha-Levi, Ibn-Ezra, etc., and explains many words by tlie aid of passages from the Targums, the Mishna, Tosefta, and the Tal- mud. The work is divido<l into two parts ; the first containing a grammar of the Hebrew language, and the second a lexicon. It has been published by Stern (Presburg, 1844), with a valuable introduction by Rap- paport, in wlilch this erudite scholar gives a succinct history of the study of the Hebrew language, and of the ditferent periods in which the great grammarians lived. Parchon also wrote a commentary on the Proph- ets and Hagiographa, which has not as yet come to light (comp. Steinschneider, Bibliof/rap/iisches Iland- huch [Leipsic, 1859J, p. 108 ; Flirst, BiUiotlieca Judaica, iii, GG).— Kitto.
Parcloses (or Percloses) is an architectural term applied to enclosures, railings, or screens, such as may be used to protect a tomb, to separate a chapel from the main body of the church (especially those at the east end of the aisle); also to form the front of a gallery, or for other similar purposes. It is either of open work or close. A distinct chapel is often formed in this manner, e.g. a chantry chapel. See Chapkl.
Pardee, Kichard Gay, one of the most noted Sun- day-school workers of our day, and one of the most re- markable of American lay-workers in the interests of the Christian Cliurch, was born at Sharon, Conn., Oct. 12, 1811, and was the oldest of .a family of twelve chil- dren. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm, upon Sharon Mountain, and Kichard attended the com- mon district school. This was the only scliooling he ever had. At the age of seventeen he went to Seneca Falls, N. Y., to live with an uncle, and was engaged for a time as a clerk in the post-office, but afterwards learn- ed the dry-goods business. He was at this time strong- ly inclined to a life of gayety; but about 1831 he was converted, and ever after he most faithfully serv^ed the Church and his God. He became at once active in Sunday-school work, and being of a quick, perceptive turn of mind he fathomed the imperfections of Sundav- school training as it prevailed at that time, and applied himself to bring about improvements. While living in Palmyra, N. Y., where lie had engaged in business^ he became intimate with Mr. L. 15. Tousley, the well-known children's missionary of that region, and the two friends made frequent missionary tours together through the western part of the state, addressing large meetings of children, teachers, and friends of Sunday-schools. Pardee was at tliat time a Presbyterian older, and superintendent of the Sunday-school of tlie church to which he belonged, and also corresponding secretary of the " Wayne County Sunday-school Union." From 18,')1 to 18.^3" he resided at (ieneva, N. Y., and then removed to New York Citv to cuter the service of the "New York Sunday-school Union." As the agent of that organization, iiis busi- ness was to jiromote in every legitimate way a healthy activity in the cause of Sunday-schools, but especially to secure the establishment of mission-schools. The agent was well suited to the task assigned him, and the work accomplished became at once a spur and a model for Christian workers in this line of effort in other cities. The mission-schools of the New York Sundaj'-school Union becatne a notable feature in the religious move-