he regard of all scholars down to the present time; they have
often been translated (34-62).

PERTH (30), the county-town of Perthshire, on the Tay, 22 m. W. of
Dundee: is a beautifully situated town, with fine buildings, the only
old one being the restored St. John's Church. Its industries are dyeing
and ink-making. At Scone, 2 m. distant, the kings of Scotland were
crowned; and the murder of James I., the Gowrie conspiracy, and the
battle of Tippermuir are but a few of its many historical associations.
"The Five Articles of Perth," adopted by a General Assembly held there in
1618, did much to precipitate the conflict between the Royal power and
the Scottish Church; they enjoined kneeling at the Lord's Supper,
observance of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost,
confirmation, and the private administration of the sacraments.

PERTH (8), the capital of West Australia, on the Swan River.

PERTHSHIRE (122), the most beautiful and varied county in Scotland,
occupies the whole of the Tay Valley and part of the Forth, and is
bounded by nine other counties. The N. and W. are mountainous, with many
rivers and lakes, and much of the finest scenery in Scotland; the
Trossachs and Loch Katrine are world famed. In the E. is extensive
woodland and the Carse of Gowrie, one of the most fertile of Scottish
plains. Ben Lawers is the highest mountain, Loch Tay the largest lake.
Much of the soil is good only for sheep farms, deer forests, and grouse
moors; the county is visited annually by thousands of tourists and
sportsmen.

PERTINAX, HELVIUS, Roman emperor in succession to Commodus; rose
from the ranks by his military services to the imperial dignity, which he
was pressed to accept against his will, and was assassinated by the
Praetorian Guards less than three months after, in consequence of the
reforms he projected in order to restore the ancient discipline of the
army (126-193).

PERTURBATIONS, name given to irregularities or slight deviations in
the movement of a heavenly body, due chiefly to the neighbourhood of
another point in its orbit.

PERU (3,000), a country in the W. of South America, twice the size
of Austro-Hungary, lies between Brazil and Bolivia and the Pacific, with
Ecuador on the N. and Chile on the S.; it consists of a seaboard plain,
hot and rainless, but intersected by rich river courses, in which sugar,
cotton, and coffee are grown; the Andes chains, snow-tipped and
presenting every kind