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order of vermes. This order comprehends all the shell-fish ar-ranged by Linnaus under 36 genera. The genera classed underthe several divisions of this order are, A. Multivalves; chiton,lepas,' phloas. B. Bivalves ; mya, solen, tellina, cardium maetra,donax, venus, spondylus, chama, area, ostrea, anomia, mytiilus,pinna. C. Univalves with a regular spire ; argonauta, nautilus,conus, cypraea, bulla, voluta, buccinum, strombus, murex, trochus,turbo, helix, nerita, haliotis. D. Univalves without a regularspire; patella, dentalium, serpula, teredo, sabella.

TESTACEOUS, in medicine, all preparations of shells, andsubstances of the like nature, are called testaceous. Such arepowders of crabs’ claws and eyes, pearl, &c.

TESTAMENT, or LAST WILL, according to the oldRoman lawyers is, voluntatis nostrs justa sententia de eo, quodquis post mortem suam fieri velit: which may be thus rendered inEnglish , “ the legal declaration of a man’s intentions, which Ifewills to be performed after his death.” It is called sententia , todenote the circumspection and prudence with which it is sup-posed to be made: it is voluntatis nostra: sententia , because itsefficacy depends on its declaring the testator’s intention, whencein English it is emphatically styled his will ; it is justa sententia;that is, drawn, attested, and published, with all due solemnitiesand forms of law ; it is de eo, quod quis post mortem suam fierivelit, because a testament is of no.force till after the death of thetestator. These testaments are divided into two sorts; written,and verbal or nuncupative, being declared by the testator in ex-tremis, before a sufficient number of witnesses, and afterwards re-duced to writing. But as nuncupative wills and codicils (which weremore in use than at present when the art of writing is becomemore general) are liable to great impositions, and may occasionmany perjuries, the statute of frauds, 29 Car. II. c. 3, enacts,

1. 1 hat no written will shall be revoked or altered by a subse-quent nuncupative one, except the same be in the lifetime of thetestator reduced to writing, and read over to him, and approved ;and unless the same be proved to have been so done by the oathsof three witnesses at the least, who, by statute 4 and 5 Anne, c.16, must be such as are admissible upon trials at common law.

2. That no nuncupative will shall in any wise be good, where theestate bequeathed exceeds 30/. unless proved by three such wit-nesses, present at the making thereof, (the Roman law requiringseven), and unless they, or some of them, were especially requiredto bear witness thereto by the testator himself; and unless it wasmade in his last sickness, in his own habitation or dwelling-house,or where he had been previously resident ten days at the least,except he be surprised with sickness on a journey, or from home,and dies without returning to his dwelling. 3. That no nuncupa-tive shall be proved by the witnesses alter six months from themaking, unless-it were put in writing within six days. Nor shallit be proved till fourteen days after the death of the testator, nortill process hath first issued to call in the widow, .or next of kin, tocontest it if they think proper. As to written wills, they need notany witness of their publication.

r I ES I Ell, or TES I ON, the name of a coin struck in France by Lewis XII. in 1513, and in Scotland in the time of Francis II. and Mary Queen of Scotland , so called from the head of theking, which was engraved upon it. The silver it contained was 11demers 18 grains, its weight 7 deniers 11-j grains, and its value 10sols.

TESTES , in anatomy, the testicles of any animal. See Ana-tomy.

TESTICLE , [testis, Lat.] a double part in animals of themale kind, serving for the office of generation. See Anatomy.

TESTIMONY. See Logic , and Metaphysics.

Testimony, in law. See Evidence.

TESTUDO, the Tortoise, in zoology, a genus belongingto the class amphibia, and order reptilia. Body'tailed, coveredabove and beneath, defended by a bony covering, covered by ahorny, scaly, or coriaceous integument; a bony mouth, withoutdistinct teeth, and the upper mandible closing over the lower.These animals feed on sea-weeds or on worms, are extremelyprolific, but in the stale of eggs, and while very young, are theprey of various animals. Their movements are slow ; they arecapable of being tamed, and will in that state eat almost any thingpresented to them. They exist long in such air as would be de-structive to other animals of the same size, aud have such lena-

ciousness of life, that it is stated they will exhibit convulsivemovements for several days after their bodies have been opened,and even after their heads have been cut off. In cold lati-tudes the land-tortoise is torpid during the winter. There are35 species.

T. Midas, the Common Sea-Turtle, is the most re-markable. It is found in the island of Ascension and other placesin the South Sea. The shell is so very strong that it can carry-more than 6001bs. on its back, or as many men as can stand on itloaded. It digs round holes in the sand, in which it lays a vastnumber of eggs yearly, to the amount of 1000, it is said. Itbroods on them during the night. Its flesh is of a greenish colour,makes excellent food, and is the favourite dish of sailors as well asof epicures. It lives on cuttle and shell fish, and grows to a prodi-gious size, some having been found to weigh 4S01bs. The Ame-ricans find so good account in catching turtle, that they have madethemselves very expert at it; they watch them from their nestson shore, in moon-light nights, and, before they reach the sea,turn them on their backs, and leave them till morning; when theyare sure to find them, since they are utterly unable to recover theirformer posture; at other times they hunt them in boats, with apeculiar kind of spear, striking them with it through the shell;and as their is a cord fastened to the spear, they are taken muchin the same manner as the whales.

Testuoo in antiquity, was particularly used among the poets,&c. for the ancient lyre; because it was originally made by itsinventor Mercury, of the back or hollow of the testudo aquatica,or sea-torloise, which he accidently found on the backs of theriver Nile. See Lyre .

Testudo, in the military art of the ancients, was a kind ofcover or screen which the soldiers, e. g. a whole company, madethemselves of their bucklers, by holding them up over their headsand standing close to each other.

Testudo was also a kind of large wooden tower which movedon several wheels, and was covered with bullock-hides, servingto shelter the soldiers when they approached the walls to minethem, or batter them with rams.

TETANUS, a dreadful spasmodic disorder, in which the wholebody becomes rigid and inflexible. It most commonly provesmortal. See Medicine.

TETBURY, a town of England, in Gloucestershire , 25 milesN. E. of Bristol, and 99 W. of London . Lon. 1. 8. W. Lat.51. 38. N.

TETERSKOI, a town of Russia , in Tunguskoi, on the Pod-kamenskaia. Lon. 101.25. E. Lat. 59. 54. N.

TET11EROA, or TETHUROA, an island of the SouthPacific Ocean . It lies low, in Lon. 149. 30. W. Lat. 17. 4. S.

TETIIYS, in the mythology, the greatest of all the sea-god-desses, the daughter of Cocius or Uranus , and Terra, andthe wife of Oceanus , and mother of the river gods, the sea-nymphs, &c.

Tethys, in entomology, a genus of insects belonging to theclass vermes, and order moilusca. Body oblong, fleshy, withoutfeet; mouth with a cylindrical proboscis under the duplicature ofa lip; foramina two, at the left side of the neck. The species aretwo, both inhabitants of the ocean.

TETRACERA, a genus of plants of the class polyandria, andorder tetragynia. Calyx six-leaved ; capsules four. There are12 species, shrubs of South America .

TEIRACIIORI), in music, (from the Greek,) a concord inthe music of the ancients consisting of three degrees, or intervals,and four terms, or sounds; called by the Greeks also diatessaron,and by us a fourth.

TETllADIAPASON, the Greek appellation of the quadrupleoctave, which we also call the 29th.

TET11ADYNAM1A, [ntro-rejif, four, and,Jvv«|Wif, power,] fourpowers; the fiftieth class of Linnams’s Sexual System, consistingof plants with hermaphrodite flowers, having six stamina, four ofwhich are long, and two short; it corresponds to the siliquosse ofRav, and cruciformes of Tonrnefort. All the species are distin-guished by cruciform flowers. It comprehends two orders, gym-nospermia, those plants which have naked seeds, being four innumber (except phryma, which is monospermous); and angio*spermia, which contains those plants, the seeds of which are en-closed in a capsule.

TETRAEDRON,