Geology of a region at any given time in the distant past. Paleogeologic reconstructions in map form show not only the ancient topography of a region but also the distribution of rocks beneath the surface and such structural features as fa...

Permanent magnetism in rocks, resulting from the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at the time of rock formation in a past geologic age. It is a source of information for the paleomagnetic studies of polar wandering and plate tecto...

Paleopathology is the study of the evidence of trauma, disease, and congenital defects in human remains. Archaeologists, geneticists, and physical-anthropologists, conduct paleopathology studies in order to evaluate the effects of disease ...

Region, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It extends east to the Jordan River, north to the border between Israel and Lebanon, west to the Mediterranean, and south to the Negev desert, reaching the Gulf of Aqaba. The political s...

Pali is the archaic Prakrit language in which the Theravada canonical texts were orally transmitted from the time of the Buddha's death (486 BCE) until they were first written down in Sri Lanka by Sinhala monastic scribes around 100...

A genetic palindrome refers to a sequence of nucleotides within a strand of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) or RNA (ribonucleic acid) that contains the same series of nitrogenous bases regardless from which direction the strand is analyzed. Ak...

Palliative care is a philosophy of care, which insures the greatest emotional, physical, and spiritual comfort for terminally ill clients when aggressive treatment is no longer desirable or appropriate. In our community, we have a variety...

The Palm-Wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads’ Town by Amos Tutuola Born in 1929 in western Nigeria, Amos Tutuola achieved only a sixth-grade education due to financial constraints following his father’s d...

Palynology is the study of plant pollen, spores, and certain microscopic planktonic organisms (collectively termed palynomorphs) in both living and fossil form. Botanists use living pollen and spores (actuopalynology) in the study of plant...

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson is among the most unlikely masters of English literature. He was born in 1688 in London and apprenticed to a printer at the age of 17. He worked hard, married his master�...

High mountain region, Central Asia. Located mostly in Tajikistan, it also borders parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan. It includes many peaks that are higher than 20,000 ft (6,100 m) in elevation, as well as many glaciers...

in Greek mythology, a fertility deity, more or less bestial in form. He was associated by the Romans with Faunus. Originally an Arcadian deity, his name is a Doric contraction of paon (“pasturer”) but was commonly supposed in a...

Country, Central America. It is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Area: 28,973 sq mi (75,040 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 3,140,000. Capital: Panama City. Most of the people are of mixed herit...

In Greek religion, an Athenian festival of great antiquity. Originally an annual event, it was eventually celebrated every fourth year, probably in deliberate rivalry to the Olympic Games. It consisted of the sacrifices and rites proper to...

The Pancasila, or Five Pillars, contained in the preamble of the Indonesian constitution, have formed the foundation on which the Indonesian state ideology has been based since its independence. They comprise (1) belief in one God, (2) jus...

Compound gland functioning as both an exocrine (secreting through a duct) and an endocrine (ductless) gland. It continuously secretes pancreatic juice (containing water, bicarbonate, and enzymes needed to digest carbohydrates, fat, and pro...

inflammation of the pancreas, either acute or chronic. The disorder is most commonly caused by excessive intake of alcohol, trauma, and obstruction of pancreatic ducts by gallstones. Inflammation is caused by the escape of pancreatic enzym...

Pandya was an Indian dynasty ruling much of the southern Tamil-speaking area in ancient times. The dynasty was first mentioned in the fourth century BCE by the Sanskrit grammarian Katyayana and rose to influence in the sixth century CE. Th...

(1874) Treaty between the British government and Malay chiefs, named for the island where it was signed. In return for British backing in a complicated Perak succession dispute, Raja Abdullah accepted a British resident (adviser) with broa...

United States 1873 After the economic devastation wrought by the panic of 1837, unions remained unable to regain their former power for several decades. Although scattered national unions took root during the 1850s, they faded quickly dur...

(from Greek pan, “all”; psychē, “soul”), a philosophical theory asserting that a plurality of separate and distinct psychic beings or minds constitute reality. Panpsychism is distinguished from hylozoism (all ...

the doctrine that the universe conceived of as a whole is God and, conversely, that there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe. The cognate doctrine of panentheism asserts that...

Organic compound, essential in animal metabolism. The nature of the bound form was clarified through the discovery and synthesis (1947–50) of the compound pantetheine, which contains pantothenic acid combined with the compound thioet...

In 1937 the invention of spinnable nylon made sheer, durable stockings affordable for the average woman, but in the 1960s, pantyhose, a convenient one-piece garment consisting of nylon-spandex stretchable stockings and underpants, made tra...

1397-1482 Italian physician, mapmaker, and astrologer who suggested to Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) that he could reach Asia by sailing westward. In 1433 Toscanelli observed a comet and accurately depicted its position in relation to t...