patch test Controlled application of biological or chemical substances to the skin to test for allergy. Small amounts of diluted test substances applied under a patch of cloth or soft paper and an impermeable mem¬ brane are left in place for 48 hours, and the skin reaction is then exam¬ ined and scored from 0 (none) to 4+ (severe blistering and redness).
Patel \p3-'tal\, Vallabhbhai (Jhaverbhai) known as Sardar Patel (b. Oct. 31, 1875, Nadiad, Gujarat, India—d. Dec. 15, 1950, Bom¬ bay) Indian statesman. Educated in India, he set up his own law office in 1900 and later studied law in Britain; he did not become involved in poli¬ tics until 1917. Like Mohandas K. Gandhi (and unlike Jawaharlal Nehru), he advocated dominion status within the British Commonwealth rather than independence for India. He opposed armed struggle on practical rather than moral grounds, and he was not interested in Hindu-Muslim unity. Patel was repeatedly a candidate for the presidency of the Indian National Congress, but his uncompromising attitude toward the Indian Muslims cost him Gandhi’s support and, ultimately, the presidency. After Indian independence (1947), he held several cabinet positions. He is remembered for achieving the peaceful integration of the princely Indian states into the Indian union and the political unification of India.
Patenier, Joachim de See Joachim Patinir
patent Government grant to an inventor of the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention, usually for a specified term. It may be granted for a process or method that is new, useful, and not obvious, or for a new use of a known process, machine, or composition of matter or material, including asexually reproduced plants and genetically engineered organ¬ isms. It may also be granted for any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. The first recorded patent for an industrial invention was granted in 1421 in Florence to the architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi. Until recently there were wide variations in the patent systems implemented by different countries. The duration of patents rec¬ ognized generally ranged from 16 to 20 years. In some countries (e.g., France), some patents were given shorter terms because the inventions had an overall general usefulness. In communist countries (e.g., the Soviet Union), patents per se were not recognized; instead, certificates were issued to inventors to ensure that they received some form of compensa¬ tion for their work. The agreement establishing the World Trade Organi¬ zation in the 1990s specifies a minimum set of exclusive rights that all patentees must be accorded and mandates a minimum patent term of 20 years from the date an application is filed. Patents are considered personal property and may be sold, assigned, or otherwise transferred.
Pater Vpa-torV, Walter (Horatio) (b. Aug. 4, 1839, Shadwell, Lon¬ don, Eng.—d. July 30, 1894, Oxford, Oxfordshire) English critic, essay¬ ist, and humanist. Elected a fellow at the University of Oxford in 1864, Pater made his reputation as a scholar and aesthete with essays collected in Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873). Written in a delicate, fastidious style, the essays introduced his influential advocacy of “art for art’s sake,” which contrasted with the prevailing emphasis on art’s moral or educational values and became a cardinal doctrine of Aestheticism. Mar¬ ius the Epicurean (1885), a philosophical romance on the ideal life, is his most substantial work.
Paterson City (pop., 2000: 149,222), northeastern New Jersey, U.S. It is located on the Passaic River, north of Newark, N.J. It was founded in 1791 as an industrial settlement by advocates of U.S. industrial indepen¬ dence from Europe. The successful enterprise, begun by Alexander Hamil¬ ton, was known as the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. In the 19th century it was a centre of cotton textile production, the silk industry, and locomotive manufacturing. It received a city charter in 1851 and was the scene of many labour disputes. By the 20th century its indus¬ tries were widely diversified.
Paterson, William (b. Dec. 24, 1745, County Antrim, Ire.—d. Sept. 9, 1806, Albany, N.Y., U.S.) Irish-born U.S. jurist. He immigrated with
his family to New Jersey in 1747. He was the state’s attorney general from 1776 to 1783. At the Constitutional Convention he played a leading role in the opposition of the small states to representation according to population in the federal legislature, submitting the New Jersey (or small- state) Plan, which called for an equal vote for all states, to counter the Virginia (or large-state) Plan, which favoured larger states. He secured ratification of the Constitution of the United States in New Jersey and was elected one of the state’s first U.S. senators (1789-90). He served as gov¬ ernor of New Jersey from 1790 to 1793 and as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1793 to 1806.
Pa than See Pashtun
Pathe \pa-'ta,\ English \pa-'tha\, Charles (b. Dec. 25, 1863, Paris, France—d. Dec. 26, 1957, Monte-Carlo, Mon.) French film executive. In 1896 he and his brother Emile founded Pathe Freres, which distributed Thomas Alva Edison’s Kinetoscope viewing device to French theatres. The firm entered film production using the camera developed by the Lumiere brothers. Pathe Freres filmed numerous short subjects, the majority of which are sensational criminal adventures, melodramatic love stories, and comic anecdotes. In 1909 Pathe produced his first “long film,” Les Mis- erables, a four-reel screen version of the novel by Victor Hugo, and launched the Pathe Gazette , an internationally popular newsreel that ran until 1956. In 1914 Pathe Freres released the first episodes of The Perils of Pauline, one of the earliest screen serials. With facilities throughout the world, Pathe Freres dominated the film market in the early 20th century, and it remained a film distributor after Charles’s retirement in 1929.
pathology Medical specialty dealing with causes of disease and struc¬ tural and functional changes in abnormal conditions. As autopsies, initially prohibited for religious reasons, became more accepted in the late Middle Ages, people learned more about the causes of death. In 1761 Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682-1771) published the first book to locate disease in individual organs. In the mid-19th century the humoral theories of infection were replaced first by cell-based theories (see Rudolf Virchow) and then by the bacteriologic theories of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur. Today pathologists work mostly in the laboratory and consult with a patient’s physician after examining specimens including surgically removed body parts, blood and other fluids, urine, feces, and discharges. Culturing of infectious organisms, staining, fibre-optic endoscopy, and electron microscopy have greatly expanded the information available to the pathologist.
patina See desert varnish
Patinir X.pa-to-'nhA, Joachim (de) or Joachim de Patinier or Joachim de Patenier \,pa-t9-'ner\ (b. c. 1485, Bouvignes, Namur—d. Oct. 5, 1524, Antwerp) Netherlandish painter. Nothing is known of his early life, but his work reflects knowledge of the paintings of Gerard David. He is the first Western artist known to have specialized in land¬ scape painting, though his work has a nominal religious subject and he never painted pure landscapes. His novelty lay in the fact that the reli¬ gious motif in such works as Flight into Egypt (1515-20) was overshad¬ owed by the phenomena of the natural world. He apparently made a practice of supplying landscape settings for figure compositions painted by other Flemish masters. His landscapes combine realistic detail with a sense of fantasy that suggests his familiarity with the works of Hierony¬ mus Bosch.
patio In Spanish and Latin American architecture, a courtyard open to the sky within a building. A Spanish development of the Roman atrium, it is comparable to the Italian cortile but provides more seclusion, possibly due to Moorish custom. The patio of the contemporary U.S. house is a paved outdoor area adjoining or partially enclosed by the building and often used for outdoor dining.