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Jews passed their children through the fire to Moloch, god of the Ammonites. The name Tophet is from the Hebrew word for drum, because a drum was used to drown the cries of the victims. The valley was watered by the brooks Kedron and Siloam, and, being a fertile and agreeable spot, was at one time occupied with gardens, whence the propriety of Milton's expression:

The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence, And black Gehenna called.

It was, at a later period, shunned as unclean, by the Jews, and made the receptacle of the filth of the city. The Aceldama (q. v.) was adjoining it. The Gehenna of the New Testament is rendered hell in the English version; and with the Mohammedans it is the name of one of the circles of the fiery pit.

TOPICAL, in medicine (from ronos, place), is used of remedies applied externally to the suffering part, and intended to have an effect there only, such as ointments, cataplasms, &c.

TOPICS. The ancient Greek and Roman teachers of rhetoric designated by this word (derived from Toños, place, passage) a systematic representation of certain general notions and propositions, which, as they thought, might be advantageously used, by public speakers, in the selection and invention of arguments. They distinguished the loci argumentorum (sources of proofs), and the loci communes (common places). Under the first, they comprised general notions, from which the orator might deduce proofs by comparing with them the case in question, e. g. the similar, the dissimilar, the opposite, cause and effect, genus and species, &c. Common places were general propositions, formed by transferring the proofs, which were deduced from the loci argumentorum, and applicable only to the special case, again to the genus. Such a common place, in the forensic discourses of the ancients, was the position, All legal causes are so far of equal importance as the question is. What is just and right? Compare Aristotle's Rhetoric (lib. i, particularly chap. 2, 3); the author of the rhetorical work Ad Herennium (1st, 2d, 3d book); Cicero De Inventione (lib. i, chap. 6-15; chap. 24-52; and lib. ii.); Cicero's Topica and Partitiones Oratoria (chap. 1,2,3,9-15); also De Oratore (lib. ii, chap. 30 et seq.); Quintilian's work Institutiones Oratoria (lib. v.). The ancients applied topics exclusively to political and forensic oratory; but some mod

erns, especially Germans, have employed them for pulpit oratory, and call them, in this case, homeletic topics. They used topics and topology also to signify a theory of the principles which the theologian should follow, in selecting and applying the various passages of the Bible, to prove important doctrines, or to judge of those which are generally used for this purpose.

TOPOGRAPHY (from Tónos, place, and

γράφω,

I write); the accurate description of a country, place, &c., going into details into which geography does not enter. Rivers, rivulets, mountains, hills, forests, rocks, roads, particularly inhabited places, bridges, &c., are proper subjects for topography. Topographical maps are such as treat of all these subjects, and even show the variety of soils, &c. The angle of declination of elevated plains, mountains, &c., forms a particularly important subject of topographical surveys. Lehmann (q. v.) has invented a very excellent mode of preparing topographical maps.

TORA (Hebrew, the law) signifies the five books of Moses, in which the written law of the Hebrews is contained. (See Hebrew Literature.) In the synagogues, tora is used for the parchment roll which contains these five books, and from which portions are read or sung on the Sabbath. The tora is contradistinguished to the cabala (q. v.), or oral law, which is contained in the Talmud. (q. v.)

TORBAY; a bay in the English channel, on the east coast of Devonshire, and a celebrated rendezvous for the English navy. It is about twelve miles in compass, and is secure against westerly winds; but a south or south-east wind sometimes forces ships out to sea. Lon. 3° 28′ W.; lat. 50° 26 N.; five miles north-east of Dartmouth.

TORCH-DANCE.. Dancing and music were, even with the Greeks and Romans, essential to a well-ordered festival; and they were especially important at wedding feasts, which ended by conducting the bride to the house of the bridegroom, when a youth, who personated Hymen, preceded them with the wedding torch, and hymns were sung in honor of the god. The Romans, who had borrowed this ceremony from the Greeks, mingled with it their Fescennine games. This seems to have been the origin of the torchdance, which was introduced by Constantine at his court, after it was transferred from Rome to Byzantium. It was known to the Christian emperors in the fourth century, as a court and ceremonial dance.

In later times, it was connected with the tournaments, with which emperors and kings celebrated their marriages. At the tournaments given by Henry the Fowler, the successful knight danced alone, with the lady who presented him with the reward of victory, by the light of torches, which were borne before and after them. After tournaments ceased to be celebrated, the torch-dance was revived as a relic of the chivalric ages; and it is used, in our times, at the marriages of royal personages, when it is performed with great splendor, at the conclusion of the wedding, when the married pair are conducted to their apartment.

TORCH-RACE. (See Lampadephori.) TOREUTICS (from the Greek TopEUTIKN, the art of making work in relief) is sometimes used in a narrower sense, sometimes in a wider. Ernesti, in his Archæologia literaria (5th chap.), treats it as almost equivalent to plastics (q. v.) in general. He says the Greeks call TopcUTov and yurov that which is worked by the chisel. Winckelmann, on the other hand, says toreutics signified the art of making raised work in silver and bronze, while raised work in gems was called avayλupov. Eschenburg and Heyne understand by it castings; and, according to Schneider's Greek Lexicon, ropew and rоpcuμa were applied only to raised work in metal, produced by casting, not by engraving. The later Greeks, as Pausanias, applied the term also to entire figures. Pliny understood by toreutice, statuary in bronze in general. Veltheim and others have considered the term as used, also, to express the finishing of casts by the chisel.

ble above the horizon at midnight. In 1736 and 1737, Tornea was visited by Maupertuis and other French savans, in company with the Swedish astronomer Celsius, to make observations to ascertain the exact figure of the earth.

TORPEDO; a machine invented by Robert Fulton, and intended to blow up the largest ships. The principal part of the apparatus is a copper box, enclosing a certain quantity of gunpowder, and prepared with a spring which sets fire to the powder. The whole is enclosed in cork, or some light substance. It was intended to be placed under the keel of the vessel to be destroyed, by means of a harpoon directed against the side.

TORPEDO; a well-known electrical fish. (See Appendix, end of this volume.), Torpid State Of Animals. (See Dormant State.)

TORQUEMADA. (See Inquisition.) TORRE (in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, tower) appears in many geographical and family names.

Torre del GrECO; a town in Naples, five miles south-east of Capua, nine eastsouth-east of Naples; population, 16,766. It is situated on the sea-coast, at the foot of mount Vesuvius. The inhabitants are mostly employed in fishing, navigation, and the culture of the vine. This town was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in 1794; yet the inhabitants, after the eruption, returned, and rebuilt the town on the same spot.

TORRES VEDRAS, LINES OF; so called from a small village lying on the road from Lisbon to Coimbra, twenty-four miles north-west of the former. These stupendous works, constructed by lord TORGAU, an important fortress on the Wellington in 1810, consisted of two lines, Elbe, in the government of Merseburg, the one extending from Alhandra, on Prussian province of Saxony, belonged to the Tagus, to the mouth of the Zizandra, the kingdom of Saxony till 1815. It has on the Atlantic ocean, twenty-nine miles 4000 inhabitants and 700 houses. Torgau in length, and the other, in the rear of the has suffered much in various wars. Here former, reaching from Quintella, on the Luther and his friends wrote his Articles Tagus, to the mouth of the Lorenza, on of Torgau, the foundation of the Augs- the ocean, twenty-four miles in extent, burg Confession; and the Book of Torgau, forming an impregnable barrier between against Crypto-Calvinists, was signed here the enemy and Lisbon. Fifty miles of by more than eight thousand clergymen. fortifications, bristling with six hundred pieces of artillery, and one hundred and fifty forts, flanked with abattis and breastworks, and presenting, in some places, high hills artificially scarped, in others, deep and narrow passes carefully choked, and artificial pools or marshes inade by damming up the streams, were defended by 70,000 disposable men. The French force under Masséna, which had been much superior to that of the English, be

TORNEA; a town of Finland, belonging, since 1809, to Russia, on a small island in the river Tornea, at its entrance into the north extremity of the gulf of Bothnia; lon. 24° 6 E.; lat. 66° 51' N.; population, 666. It is a central place for the imports and exports of a wild and thinly peopled country. The climate is less severe than might be expected in so high a latitude. In June, the sun is visi

men.

fore Wellington had concentrated in the
lines the Portuguese troops and the ma-
rines, amounted, also, to about 70,000
The English were plentifully sup-
plied with provisions, by the Tagus and
the sea, and enjoyed perfect security in
their rear.
The French, on the other
hand, were suffering from want, in a coun-
try where Wellington had laid waste and
destroyed every thing which could be
useful to an enemy, and were harassed
by the attacks of the inhabitants. Mas-
sena was, therefore, finally obliged to re-
treat, by hunger (March 4, 1811), after hav-
ing made some ineffectual attacks upon
the works. The lines of Torres Vedras
thus saved Lisbon, annihilated a well-ap-
pointed French army, and gave Welling-
ton a fair opportunity to enter upon offen-
sive operations.

TORRICELLI, Evangelista, an illustrious mathematician and philosopher, born at Faenza, in Italy, in 1608, was instructed in Greek and Latin by his uncle, a monk, probably with a view to his obtaining preferment in the church; but his genius induced him to devote himself to the study of mathematics, which he did for some time without a master; but at the age of twenty, he went to Rome, and prosecuted his studies under father Benedict Castelli. Torricelli, thus assisted, made great improvement, and, having read Galilei's Dialogues, composed a treatise concerning Motion, according to his principles. Castelli, astonished at the ability displayed in this piece, took it to Galilei at Florence, who conceived a high opinion of the author, and engaged him as his amanuensis. He entered on this office in October, 1641; but, Galilei dying three months after, Torricelli was about to return to Rome, when the grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II, engaged him to continue at Florence, giving him the title of ducal mathematician, and the promise of a professorship in the university, on the first vacancy. Here he applied himself closely to study, and made many improvements and some discoveries in mathematics, physics, and astronomy. He improved the construction of microscopes and telescopes, and first ascertained the gravity of the air, by means of mercury in a glass tube, whence resulted the barometer. (See Barometer.) He was cut off prematurely, after a few days' illness, in 1647. He published, in 1644, a volume entitled Opera Geometrica; and his academical lectures were printed in 1715.

TORRICELLIAN VACUUM, and TORRI

CELLIAN TUBE. (See Barometer, and
Torricelli.)

TORRIGIANO, Pietro; a Florentine artist of great eminence, who flourished towards the close of the fifteenth and the commencement of the succeeding century. He was born in 1472, and, while yet a lad, gave evidence of that genius for sculpture which time only was wanting to bring to perfection. Being, at the time, a fellow-student with the famous Michael Angelo Buonaroti, a dispute, arising from a jealousy with respect to their comparative proficiency, terminated in blows; one of which, from the hand of Torrigiano, broke the bridge of his antagonist's nose, and inflicted a mark which he carried to his grave. While in the zenith of his reputation, he went to England, which he afterwards quitted for Spain, and there fell into the hands of the holy office, being denounced as guilty of impiety and sacrilege, in breaking to pieces a statue of the virgin, which he had himself executed for a hidalgo, who afterwards refused to pay him an adequate price. He was condemned to the stake, but avoided the torture of a public execution, by starving himself, pre"viously to the celebration of the auto da fè, in 1522. The beautiful tomb of Henry VII, in the chapel erected by that monarch in Westminster abbey, is by him.

One

TORSO (Italian) signifies originally the core of an apple, pear, &c.; secondly, the trunk of a statue, of which the head and the extremities are wanting. has become particularly celebrated, and is often called the torso, by way of excellence. It is the torso of Hercules, in the Belvedere of the Vatican (q. v.), at Rome, considered, by connoisseurs, one of the finest works of art remaining from antiquity. "Mutilated in the greatest degree," says Winckelmann, in his History of Art, "without head, arms, and legs, as this statue is, it yet discloses to those who are able to penetrate the secrets of art, the splendor of its former beauty. The artist has formed, in this Hercules, a high ideal of a body of more than natural perfection, in the prime of adult age. The figure was, as we may judge from the remaining part, seated, with a supported and upturned head. This Hercules may be said to approach nearer to the noblest period of art than even the Apollo." A Greek inscription ascribes it to the artist Apollonius. It was found, towards the end of the 15th century, in Rome.

TORSTENSON, Leonard, a Swedish general, born at Torstena, in 1603, died at Stockholm, in 1651, was one of the most distinguished pupils of the school of Gustavus Adolphus. He served under that king, and under Baner, in the thirty years' war, and was made prisoner in the attack on Wallenstein's camp at Nuremberg, in 1632. He returned to Sweden in 1639, and, in 1641, on the death of Baner, was appointed to the command-inchief of the Swedish forces in Germany. The position of the Swedish affairs was most discouraging; but the activity of Torstenson soon recovered them. He defeated the imperial forces at Schweidnitz (May 21, 1642), and, after being obliged to retreat before a superior force, at Breitenfeld (Nov. 2). A rupture having taken place between Denmark and Sweden, the Swedish commander hastened from Silesia to Holstein (a distance of 400 miles), by forced marches, and reduced nearly the whole of that province. This bold enterprise contributed to produce the peace of Bromsebro, between Denmark and Sweden, on terms highly advantageous to the latter. The imperial general Gallas, who had closely pursued the Swedes, was now obliged to retire to Bohemia, with great loss. Torstenson penetrated into that country, formed a junction with Rakotsky, prince of Transylvania, routed the imperial forces at Jankow, or Jankowitz (Feb. 24, 1645), and threatened Vienna. But the gout soon after compelled him to resign (1646), and retire to Sweden, where he was created count. Torstenson has left behind him the reputation of a great and successful general, and of a friend and patron of the arts and sciences. (See Thirty Years' War.)

TORT, in law, denotes injustice or injury. The word is French. Actions upon torts or wrongs are all personal actions for trespasses, nuisances, assaults, defamatory words, and the like.

TORTOISE (testudo). These reptiles are distinguished by having the body enclosed between two shields or shells, so that the head, neck, legs, and tail, only appear externally; and these are capable of being retracted in a greater or less degree. The upper shell is formed by the ribs, which are enlarged, flattened, and closely united by sutures; the under shell is the sternum, or breast bone; and the vertebræ of the neck and tail only are movable. In consequence of this conformation, the muscular system is invertel, in many respects, as with insects and

crustacea; and to this circumstance these. animals owe their great strength. Tortoises have no teeth; and the margin of the mandibles is covered with horn, as in the beak of birds. They are very tenacious of life, and will move weeks after being deprived of the head; and this last will continue to bite long after it is severed from the body. They can remain months, and even years, without food. The eggs have a hard shell, and are deposited in the sand. The land tortoises are distinguished by the convexity of their upper shell, and their short toes, enveloped in the common integument, nearly to the nails. They pass their lives altogether upon land, and perish if thrown into the water. Some of them attain a very great size. The gopher, or large land tortoise of the U. States (T. Carolina), inhabits the pine forests of Georgia and Florida, and is not found north of the Savannah river. It digs large and deep holes, discoverable by the mound of earth at the orifice, and rarely ventures out, except at night. The shell exceeds a foot in length. The flesh is eatable, and is often sold in the markets. Our common land tortoise, or box tortoise (testudo clausa), is found in all parts of the U. States. It is remarkable for the hinge of the sternum, by means of which the animal can close the shell, in such a manner as to conceal perfectly every part of the body. The colors are yellow and brown, but the markings vary in different individuals. The shell does not exceed six inches in length. The fresh water tortoises (emys) have the upper shell more flattened, the nails longer, the toes more deeply divided, and their intervals occupied by a membrane, which assists the animal in swimming. We have numerous species in the U. States. The largest is the E. Floridana of Le Conte, which inhabits the St. John's river of East Florida. The shell of this species exceeds a foot in length, and is more convex than usual. The red-bellied terrapin (E. rubriventris, Lec.) is next in size. The shell is nearly a foot in length, and, more or less distinctly, longitudinally striated. The margin of the mandibles is usually worn away by use, and the bone presents a serrated or jagged edge. It inhabits the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac, and is often brought to the Philadelphia market. The flesh is esteemed. E. reticulata is a southern species, hitherto not found north of the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude. It is remarkable for the extraordinary length of the neck. E. serrata

is also a southern species, distinguished from the preceding by a carina or keel along the middle of the back. It is found as far north as the Chesapeake. E. concinna inhabits the upper and rocky parts of the rivers of Carolina and Georgia. The shell is perfectly smooth, but, in other respects, it bears a general resemblance to the red-bellied terrapin. E. geographica of Lesueur, so called from the pale, reticular or map-like lines on the back, inhabits the lakes and the western rivers. E. insculpta (Lec.) is found in the Northern and Middle States, but is rather rare. The back is carinate; the plates of the upper shell are concentrically furtowed, somewhat prominent, with radiating yellow lines. It differs somewhat in its aspect from the other fresh water tortoises; is observed to be more fond of leaving the water, and will remain for months uninjured in a dry place. E. Muhlenbergii is also rare. It is found in clear streams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is readily distinguished by two large, irregular, orange spots on the back part of the head. The common terrapin (E. palustris) is well known in the Atlantic states south of New York, as an article of luxury. It is found exclusively in the salt water-a remarkable circumstance in this genus-and always in the neighborhood of marshes. It occurs along the coast, from New York to Florida, and even in the West Indies. The plates of the upper shell are concentrically furrowed. Immense quantities are brought to market. E. picta is found only in Canada and the Northern and Middle States. The shell is flattened and very smooth, and the plates are bordered with a yellow margin. It is fond of basking in the sun, upon rocks and logs, and instantly takes refuge in the water on the approach of danger. The common spotted tortoise (E. guttata) is found in all parts of the U. States. The color of the upper shell is black, with rounded yellow spots; the sternum is yellow, with large, dusky blotches. E. Pennsylvanica and odorata differ from the preceding in having the sternum divided into two or three pieces, by ligamentous hinges, admitting a slight degree of motion. They are of small size, of a brown color, or dusky, frequent ditches and muddy water, emit a strong and musky odor, and are very troublesome to anglers, as they bite readily at the hook. The snapper (E. serpentina) has been separated by some authors from emys, on account of the small size of the sternum, which serves very imper

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fectly to conceal the head and members. It is found from New England to Florida; prefers muddy waters, is very voracious, and destroys great quantities of fish. The shell is more or less tri-carinate; the head, neck, limbs and tail are very large, the latter strongly crested. From the form of its body, it is called, in the Southern States, alligator tortoise. It bites severely, and will seize any thing presented to it, and sometimes will not let go its hold even after the head is severed from the body. It is sought after as an article of food, but, when old, the flesh is rank and disagreeable, and, at all times, it exhales a strong, musky odor. It attains large dimensions: individuals have been met with exceeding four feet and a half in total length. The soft-shelled tortoises (trionyr) differ much in appearance from the preceding. The shell is covered with a soft, cartilaginous skin. The nose is prolonged into a snout. The feet are palmated, and provided with only three nails. The tail is short. They live in fresh waters; and the flexible border of the shell assists them in swimming. T feror is found in the lakes and the waters of the Mississippi, but not in the Atlantic states north of the Savannah river. The Mohawk river, however, should be excepted, into which these animals have found their way, probably from lake Ontario. Notwithstanding its name, it is not more inclined to bite than usual. Of all the tortoises, it furnishes the most wholesome and delicious food. It attains large dimensions, and is usually speared or shot. T. muticus of Lesueur strongly resembles the preceding, and, indeed, has not been very clearly distinguished. The only marked difference seems to consist in the perfectly smooth shell. It is found in the western rivers. The great softshelled tortoise of Florida is known only from the figure of Bartram. The head and neck are described as being provided with long retractile tubercles, and the figure has five claws on each foot-if correct, a remarkable anomaly in this genus. There is, however, sufficient evidence of the existence of this animal. tortoises (chelonia) far surpass the others in size, and are found chiefly within the tropics. The head and limbs are but slightly retractile, and the toes are entirely united and enveloped in the common integuments, forming a sort of flipper or paddle, as in the seals. They feed on sea-weed at the bottom, but, at a certain season, visit the shore, for the purpose of depositing their eggs in the sand. The

The sea

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