Primarily, a statue of the goddess Pallas, which represented her as sitting with a pike in her right hand, and in her left a distaff and spindle. On the preservation of this statue depended the safety of Troy. Hence,

Something that affords effectual defense, protection and safety; as when we say, the trial by jury is the palladium of our civil rights.

A metal found in very small grains, of a steel gray color and fibrous structure, in auriferous and platiniferous sand. It is infusible by ordinary heat, and when native, is alloyed with a litter platina and iridium.