PALAEOLOGUS, the name of a Byzantine family, several members of which attained imperial dignity, the last of the dynasty dying in 1453; they came into prominence in the 11th century.

PALAEONTOLOGY, the name given to the study of fossil remains, a branch of geology.

PALAFOX, DON JOSEPH, a Spanish soldier, born of a noble Aragonese family, who immortalised himself by his heroic defence of Saragossa against the French in 1808-9; on the fall of the place was taken to France and imprisoned till 1813; on his release was created Duke of Saragossa and promoted to other high honours at home (1780-1847).

PALAIS ROYAL, a pile of buildings in Paris, of which the nucleus was a palace built in 1629 by Lemercier for Richelieu, and known afterwards as the Palais Cardinal, and which at length by gift of Louis XIV. became the town residence of the Orleans family; these buildings suffered much damage in 1848 and in 1871, but have been restored since 1873.

PALAMEDES, one of the chiefs of the Greeks at the siege of Troy, a man of inventive genius; discovered the assumed madness of Ulysses, but incurred his resentment in consequence, which procured his death.

PALANQUIN, in India and China a covered conveyance for one person borne on the shoulders of men.

PALATINATE, the name of two States, originally one, of the old German empire, one called the Lower Palatinate or the Palatinate of the Rhine, partitioned in 1815 among the States of Baden, Bavaria, Prussia, and Hesse-Darmstadt, and the other called the Upper Palatinate, now nearly all included in Bavaria; the former has for principal towns Spires and Landau, and the latter Ratisbon.

PALATINE, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome, and, according to tradition, the first to be occupied, and forming the nucleus of the city; it became one of the most aristocratic quarters of the city, and was chosen by the first emperors for their imperial residence.

PALATINE COUNT, a judicial functionary of high rank under the early Frankish kings over what was called a palatinate.

PALATINE COUNTIES, certain frontier counties in England, such as Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, which possess royal privileges and rights.

PALE, THE, that part of Ireland in which after the invasion of 1172 the supremacy of English rule and law was acknowledged, the limits of which differed at different times, but which generally included all the eastern counties extending 40 or 50 m. inland.

PALENQUE, a town in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, discovered in 1760, buried under a dense forest with extensive structures in ruins.

PALERMO (273), capital of Sicily, picturesquely situated in the midst of a beautiful and fertile valley called the Golden Shell; is a handsome town, with many public buildings and nearly 300 churches in Moorish and Byzantine architecture, a university, art school, museum, and libraries; industries are unimportant, but a busy trade is done with Britain, France, and the United States, exporting fruits, wine, sulphur, &c., and importing textiles, coals, machinery, and grain.