Paris council. The council discusses and votes the budget of the city. At the head are the prefect of the Seine and the prefect of police. The water supply of the city is derived from the Seine and the Marne, from the Ourcq Canal, from artesian wells, and from springs. Streets, Boulevards, etc.-The houses of Paris are almost all built of white calcareous stone, and their general height is from five to six stories, arranged in separate tenements. Many of the modern street buildings have mansard roofs, and are highly enriched in the Renaissance manner. In the older parts of the city Paris Denis and Porte St. Martin, the former of which is 72 feet in height. On the south side of the Seine the boulevards are neither so numerous nor so extensive, the best known being the Boulevard St. Germain, which extends from Pont Sully to the Pont de la Concorde. The exterior boulevards are so named because they are outside the old mur d'octroi; and the military boulevards, still farther out, extend round the fortifications. After the boulevards the most famous line of streets is the Rue de Rivoli, with its somewhat irregular extension in the magnificent Champs Elysées. A second is the Avenue PARIS. The Place de la Concorde and Montmartre, from the Chamber of Deputies. the streets are narrow and irregular, but de la Grande Armée and the Rue St. in the newer districts the avenues are Antoine. These traverse a great part straight, wide, and well paved. What are known as the boulevards' include the interior, exterior, and military. That which is specifically called The Boulevard extends, in an irregular arc on the north side of the Seine, from the Place de la Bastille in the east to the Place de la Madeleine in the west. It includes the Boulevards du Temple, St. Martin, St. Denis, des Italiens, Capuchins, Madeleine, etc., and its length of nearly 3 miles forms the most stirring part of the city. Here may be noted also the mag aificent triumphal arches of Porte St. of the city from s. E. to N. w. The Champs Elysées, a driveway about 13 miles long, and the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne constitute the most fashionable promenades of the city. Other important streets are the Rue Castiglione, Rue de la Paix, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, the Rue des Pyramides, and the twelve fine avenues radiating from the Place de l'Etoile. There are six passenger stations for the railways to the various parts of the country, and a railway around the city (the ceinture), by means of which interchange of traffic between the differ Paris ent lines is effected. There are also tramway lines to Versailles, St. Cloud, and other places in the suburbs.. Squares, Parks, etc.- The most notable public squares or places are the Place de la Concorde, one of the largest and most elegant squares in Europe, surrounded by fine buildings and adorned by an Egyptian obelisk, fountains, and statues; Place de l'Etoile, in which is situated the Arc de Triomphe, a splendid structure 152 feet in height; the Place Vendôme, with column to Napoleon I; Place des Victoires, with equestrian statue of Louis XIV; Place de la Bastille, with the Column of July; Place de la République, with colossal statue of the Republic, etc. Within the city are situated the gardens of the Tuileries, which are adorned with numerous statues and fountains; the gardens of the Luxembourg, in which are fine conservatories of rare plants; the Jardin des Plantes, in which are the zoological gardens, hothouses, museums, laboratories, etc., which have made this scientific institution famous; the Buttes-Chaumont Gardens, in which an extensive old quarry has been turned to good account in enhancing the beauty of the situation; the Parc Monceaux; and the Champs Elysées, the latter being a favorite holiday resort of all classes. But the most extensive parks are outside the city. Of these the Bois de Boulogne, on the west, covers an area of 2150 acres, gives an extensive view towards St. Cloud and Mont Valérien, comprises the race-courses of Longchamps and Auteuil, and in it are situated lakes, an aquarium, conservatories, etc. The Bois de Vincennes, on the east, even larger, is similarly adorned with artificial lakes and streams, and its high plateau offers a fine, view over the surrounding country. The most celebrated and extensive cemetery in Paris is Père la Chaise (1062 acres), finely situated and having many important monuments. The Catacombs are cient quarries which extend under a portion of the southern part of the city, and in them are deposited the bones removed from old cemeteries now built over. an Churches. Of the churches of Paris the most celebrated is the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, situated on one of the islands of the Seine, called the Île de la Cité. It is a vast cruciform structure, with a lofty west front flanked by two square towers, the walls sustained by many flying buttresses, and the eastern end octagonal. The whole length of the church is 426 feet, its breadth 164 feet, The foundation of Nôtre Dame belongs to the sixth century; the present edifice Paris dates from 1163; but was restored in 1845. The interior decorations are all modern. The Church of La Madeleine, a modern structure in the style of a great Roman temple, entirely surrounded by massive Corinthian columns, stands on an elevated basement fronting the north end of the Rue Royale; the Church of St. Geneviève, built about the close of the eighteenth century, was after its completion set apart, under the title of the Panthéon, as the burying-place of illustrious Frenchmen; St. Eustache (1532-1637), a strange mixture of degenerate Gothic and Renaissance architecture; St. Germain l'Auxerrois, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; St. Gervais; St. Roch; St. Sulpice; Nôtre Dame de Lorette; St. Vincent de Paul, etc. On Paris which comprises splendid collections of sculpture, paintings, engravings, bronzes, pottery, Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, etc. (see Louvre); the palace of the Tuileries, the main front of which was destroyed in 1871 by the Communists, has since been restored, with the exception of its principal façade, the ruins of which have been removed and its site converted into a garden; the Palais du Luxembourg, on the south side of the river, has very extensive gardens attached to it, and contains the Musée du Luxembourg, appropriated to the works of modern French artists; the Palais Royal (which see), is a famed resort; the Palais de l'Elysées, situated in the Rue St. Honoré, with a large garden, is now the residence of the president of the republic; the Palais du Corps Législatif, or Chambre des Députés, is the building in which the chamber of deputies meets; the Palais de l'Industrie, built for the first international exhibition in 1855, is used for the annual salon of modern paintings, etc. The Hôtel de Ville is sitaated in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, formerly Place de Grève, on the right bank of the river. It was destroyed by the Communists in 1871, but has now been reërected on the same site with even greater magnificence. It is a very rich example of Renaissance architecture. The Hôtel des Invalides, built in 1670, with a lofty dome, is now used as a retreat for disabled soldiers and is capable of accommodating 5000. It contains the burial place of the first Napoleon. The Palais de Justice is an irregular mass of buildings occupying the greater part of the western extremity of the Île de la Cité. Opposite the Palais de Justice is the Tribunal de Commerce, a quadrangular building enclosing a large court roofed with glass. The Mint (Hôtel des Monnaies) fronts the Quai Conti, on the south side of the Seine, and contains an immense collection of coins and medals. The other principal government buildings are the Treasury (Hôtel des Finances), in the Rue de Rivoli; the Record Office (Hôtel des Archives Nationales). The Exchange (La Bourse) was completed in 1826; it is in the form of a parallelogram, 212 feet by 126 feet, surrounded by a range of sixty-six columns. Α distinctive eature are the extensive markets, among the most important of which are the Halles Centrales, where fish, poultry, butcher-meat and garden produce are sold. A notable and unique structure is the Eiffel Tower, built in connection with the Paris Exhibition of 1889. It is a structure of iron latice-work 984 feet high, and having three Paris stages or platforms (more than 400 feet higher than the Washington Monument). It is as yet the highest structure in the world. Education, Libraries, etc.-The chief institution of higher education is the academy of the Sorbonne, where are the university faculties' (see France, sec tion Education) of literature and science, while those of law and of medicine are in separate buildings. There are, besides, numerous courses of lectures in science, philology, and philosophy delivered in the Collège de France, and courses of chemistry, natural history, etc., in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. Among other Parisian schools are the secondary schools or lycées, the most important of which are Descartes (formerly Louis le Grand), St. Louis, Corneille (formerly Collège Henri IV), Charlemagne, Fontanes,(formerly Condorcet), De Vanves; the Ecole Polytechnique for military and civil engineers, etc.; Ecole des Beaux Arts; School of Oriental Languages; Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, and the Conservatoire de Musique. Of the libraries the most important is the Bibliothèque Nationale, the largest in the world. The number of printed volumes which it contains is estimated at 2,500,000, besides 3,000,000 pamphlets, manuscript volumes, historical documents, etc. The other libraries are those of the Arsenal, St. Geneviève, Mazarin, De la Ville, De l'Institut, and De l'Université (the Sorbonne). There are also libraries subsidized by the municipality in all the arrondissements. Among museums, besides the Louvre and the Luxembourg, there may be noted the Musée d'Artillerie, in the Hôtel des Invalides, containing suits of ancient armor, arms, etc.; the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers; the Trocadéro Palace, containing curiosities brought home by French travelers, casts from choice speci mens of architecture, etc.; the new palaces of the Fine Arts, erected 1897-1900; and the Cluny Museum, containing an extensive collection of the products of the art and artistic handicrafts of the middle ages. The chief of the learned societies is the Institute of France (which see). Hospitals, etc.-There are many hospitals in Paris devoted to the gratuitous treatment of the indigent sick and injured; and also numerous establishments of a benevolent nature, such as the Hôtel des Invalides, or asylum for old soldiers, the lunatic asylum (Maison des Aliénés, Charenton), blind asylums; the deaf and dumb institute (Institution des SourdsMuets); two hospitals at Vincennes for Parallax Parallels of Latitude pink circle round the neck. The Alexan- Parallel Lines (par'el-el), in geomdrine parakeet (P. Alexandri) of India etry, straight lines is a nearly allied species. These birds in the same plane which never meet, no may be taught to speak with distinctness. matter how far produced. The ground parakeets of Australia live Parallel Motion, a mechanical con amongst the reeds and grass of swamps, trivance emgenerally in solitary pairs. The common ployed by Watt to communicate the alground parakeet of Australia (Pezop- ternate pushes and pulls of the piston-rod orus formosus) possesses a green and of a steam engine to the end of a vi black plumage, the tail being simi- brating beam, and which prevents the larly colored, and the body-feathers action of forces tending to destroy the right-line motion of the piston-rod. The motion given to the end of the rod is not accurately in a straight line, but it is Rose-ringed Parakeet (Palæornis torquatus). having each a band of dark-brown hue. The grass parakeets of Australia, of which the small warbling parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) is a good example, inhabit the central flat lands of Australia, and feed on the seeds of the grasses covering the plains. They perch on the eucalypti or gum-trees during the day, and the nests are situated in the hollows of these trees. Contrary to most parrots, they have an agreeable voice. Parallax (par'a-laks), the apparent change of place which bodies undergo by being viewed from different points. Thus an observer at A sees an object B in line with an object C, but when he moves to D it is in line with E, and seems to have gone backwards. The c term has become technical in astronomy, and implies the difference of the apparent positions of any celestial object when viewed from the surface of the earth and from the center of either the earth or the sun. The term 'parallax is also employed to denote the non-coincidence of the crossfibers in a telescope with the focus of the eyeglass. Part of Beam of Condensing Engine. a b c d, Parallel motion. e, Piston- very nearly so. Watt's parallel motion in military operations, are izude. |