TEC

700 TEL

seen in it an instrument which he made and used for finding theshadow at noon, and determining the latitude.

TEA , the dried leaves of the tea-plant. See Thea. It isgenerally said, that it was first imported from Holland to England,in 1666, by the lords Arlington and Ossory, who brought it intofashion among people of quality. But it was used in Coffee-houses before this period, as appears from an act of parliamentmade in 1660 ; in which a duty of Sd. was laid on every gallonof the infusion sold in these places. In 1666, it was sold in Lon-don for 60s. per pound, though it did not cost more than 2s. 6 d.or 3s. 6d. at Balavia. It continued at this price till 1707. In 1715,green tea began to be used ; and as great quantities were then im-ported, the price was lessened, and the practice of drinking teadescended to the lower ranks. In 1720, the French began to sendit to us by a clandestine commerce. Since that period the de-mand has been increasing yearly, and it has become almost anecessary of life in several parts of Europe , and among the lowestas well as the highest ranks. The quantity of tea imported annuallyinto Great Britain and Ireland from 1717 to the beginning of theFrench Revolution , is as follows:

From 1717 to 1720. 700,000 lbs.

1732 to 1742. 1,200,000

1755 near. 4,000,008

1766. 6,000,000

1785 about.12,000,000

1794 from.16 to 20,000,000

Since 1794, the importation has very considerably increased.Besides these immense quantities imported into Britain and Ire-land, much has been brought to Europe by other nations. In1766, the whole tea imported into Europe from China amountedto 17 millions of pounds; in 1785, it was computed to be about19 millions of pounds. In this country, teas are generally dividedinto three kinds of green, and five of bohea: the former areI. Imperial or bloom lea, with a large loose leaf, light greencolour, and a faint delicate smell. 2. Hyson, so called from themerchant who first imported it; the leaves of which are closely-curled and small, of a green colour, verging to a blue : and, 3,Singlo tea, from the name of the place where it is cultivated.The boheas are, 1. Souchong, which imparts a yellow green co-lour by infusion. 2. Cambo, so called from the place where it ismade; a fragrant tea, with a violet-smell : its infusion pale. 3.Congo , which has a larger leaf than the following, and its infusionsomewhat deeper, resembling common bohea in the colour ofthe leaf. 4. Pekoe tea is known by the appearance of small whiteflowers mixed with it. 5. Common bohea, whose leaves are ofone colour. There are other varieties, particularly a kind ofgreen tea, done up in roundish balls, called gunpowder-tea.

TEARS, a lymph or aqueous humour, which is limpid, and alittle saltish: it is separated from the arterial blood by the lachrymalglands and small glandulous grains on the inside of the eye-lids.

TEASEL, a plant cultivated in the W. of England for the useof clothiers. See Dipsacus.

TEA-TREA a moveable board, with a raised border, gene-rally pierced, made of metal, mahogany, or other wood ; for hold-ing the tea-apparatus.

TEBESSA, orTEBESTA, an ancient town of Tunis , at thefoot of a mountain, on the borders of Algiers , 130 miles S. S. W.of Tunis . Len. 8.5. E. Lat. 34. 51. N.

TEBETI1, the 10th month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and4th of the civil. It answers to December.

TEBZA, a strong town of Morocco , capital of a province sonamed. It has a good trade. Lon. 4. 55. VV. Lat. 32. 50. N.

TECHNICAL relating to arts and sciences. It is alsoparticularly applied to a kind of verses wherein are containedthe rules or precepts of any art, thus digested to help the me-mory to retain them.

TECKLENBURG, a county of Germany , in the circle ofWestphalia , subject to the king of Prussia, who bought it in 1707.The soil is fertile in corn and pasture ; the rivers abound in fish ;linen is the chief manufacture.

Tecklenbcrg, the capital of the above county. Lon. 8. 2.W. Lat. 52. 20. N.

r I ECOANTAPEQUE, a sea-port-town of Mexico , in Guax-aca, at the foot of a volcano, 160 miles $. E. of Acapulco . Lon.99. 10. W. Lat. 15. 2. N.

TECORT, an ancient and strong town of Morocco , capital ofa kingdom, so named, in Biledulgerid. Lon. 7. 55. E. Lat. 29.

TECTONA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the classpentandria, and order monogynia. Stigma dentate; fruit a dryspongy plum within an inflated calyx ; nucleus three-celled. Thereis only one species, viz.

T. Grandis, Indian Oak, or Teak Wood, a native of India .

TECTOSAGiE, or TECTOSAGES, an ancient nation ofGallia Narbonensis , so named because, sagis tegerentur, they wereprotected by sorcerers.

TECULET, a sea-port-town of Morocco , 45 miles W. ofMorocco . Lon. 9. 5. W. Lat. 30. 45. N.

TEDELEZ, a strong town of Algiers , in a province so named,50 miles N. E. of Algiers . Lon.. 3. 5. E. Lat. 47. 5. N.

TEES, a river of England, which rises on the confines of Cum-berland, and running eastward, divides the county of Durhamfrom Yorkshire , and tails into the German sea below Stockton.

TEETH , the bones placed in the jaws for chewing food,that it may be the more easily digested in the stomach. For theanatomical structure of these, see Anatomy . The diseases towhich they are liable, with the most successful remedies, are fullydetailed under Medicine and Surgery. Quacks and mountebanksuse various washes for the teeth, the sudden effects of which, incleaning and whitening the teeth, surprise and please people ; butthe effects are very pernicious. All the strong acid spirits will dothis. The best mixture is the following; take plantane-water, anounce, honey ofroses, twodrachms, muriatic acid, ten drops; mixthe whole, and rub the teeth with a piece of linen-rag dipped inthis every day till they are whitened. The mouth ought to bewell washed with cold water after the use of this or any other acidliquor; and indeed the best of all washes is cold water, with orwithout a little salt. Or for cleansing and preserving the teeth,burnt bread, or bark, applied by the small finger, or on a piece ofcalico, will be found a safe and useful dentrifrice. Lord Dun-donakl recommends, for this purpose, a weak solution of Soda.

TEFF, in botany, a kind ot grain, sown all over Abyssinia, fromwhich is made the bread commonly used throughout the country.

TEFFLIS, or TIFFLIS, a city of Asia , the capital of Georgia,125 miles W. of Terki. Lon. 63. 3. E. Lat. 41.59. N.

TE-GAN, a city of China , of the 1st rank, capital of the pro-vince ofHou-quang. Lon. 112. 31. E. Lat.31.0.N.

TEGAZA, a town of Africa , in Zaara, capital of a district sonamed. Lon. 6. 30. E. Lat. 21 . 40. N.

TEIGNMOUTH, a sea-port-town of Devonshire, 12 milesS. of Exeter, and 280 VV. by S. of London . Lon. 3. 29. W.Lat. 50. 32 N.

TEIL-TREE, in botany. SeeTiLiA.

TEINTS, and SEMITEINTS, in painting, denote the severalcolours used in a picture, considered as more or less high, bright,deep, thin, or weakened and diminished, &c. to give the properrelievo, softness, or distance, &c. of the several objects.

TELEGRAPH, [from far off, and ygafw, to write,] thename very properly given to an instrument, by means of which in-formation may be almost instantaneously conveyed to a consider-able distance. The telegraph, though it has been generally knownand used by the moderns only for a few years, is perhaps not en-tirely a modern invention. There is reason to believe that amongstthe Greeks there was some sort of telegraph in use. The burningof Troy is said to have been known in Greece very soon afterit happened, and before any person had returned from thence.But we have no certainty of this. The Chinese , when they sendcouriers on the great canal, or when any great man travels there,make signals by fire from one day’s journey to another, to haveevery thing prepared ; and most of the barbarous nations usedformerly to give the alarm of war by fires lighted on the hills orrising grounds. Polybius calls the different instruments used bythe ancients for communicating information nvtcritai, pyrsiae, be*cause the signals were always made by fire. The most ingeniousof the moderns had not thought of such a machine as a telegraphtill 1663, when the Marquis of Worcester , in his Century of In-ventions, affirmed that he had discovered “ a method by which,at a window, as far as eye can discover black from white, a nianmay hold discourse with his correspondent, without noise made ornotice taken, being according to occasion given, or means afford-ed,