TUR

808 TUR

TURBAN, the head dress of the eastern nations. It consists oltwo parts, a cap and Sash of fine linen or taffety, artfully wound indivers plaits about the cap.

TURBlTll MINERAL, or YELLOW VITRIOLATEDQUICKSILVER, a medicinal precipitate obtained by cautiouslynnx ng eight parts of sulphuric acid with four of purified mer-cury ; and distilling the whole to dryness, in a retort placed in asand-furnace. The white oxide on being reduced to powder, andbrown into warm distilled water, assumes a yellow colour; andbecomes tasteless after repeated ablutions. Turbith-minerul is apowerful emetic, and lias been given with frequent success, indo<es of from one and a half to six or eight grains, to robust per-sons, who were atllicted with leprous diseases, and glandular ob-trucLions, that bail resisted the power of other medicines. It hasalso been recommended, in doses amounting from six grains to ascruple every day, incases of hydrophobia.

TURBO, Wreath ; in natural history, a genus of the vermestestacea class and order. Animal a limax ; shell univalve, spiral,solid; aperture contracted, orbicular, entire. This is a verynumerous genus, divided into sections. A. pillar-margin of theaperture dilated imperforate. B. solid imperforate. C. solidperforated. D. cancellate. E. tapering.

TURBOT, in ichthyology. See 1’leuronectes.

TURCfE, or TUIICI, supposed to be the Tusci of Ptolemy ;whom lie places between Caucasus and the Montes Ceraunii.The name is said to denote, to desolate, or lay waste.” Hero-dotus places tlicm among the wild or barbarous nations of thenorth. 1 here is a very rapid river called Turk, running into theCaspian Sea , from which some suppose the Turks to take theirname. They made no figure in the world till towards the 7thcentury ; about the beginning of which they sallied forth from thePorta: Caspite, laid waste Persia , and joined the Romans againstChosroes king of Persia. In 1042 they subdued the Persians , inwhose pay they served, anjl from whom they derived the Mo-hammedan religion : and afterwards pouring forth, over-ran Syria ,Cappadocia, and the other countries of the Hither Asia , underdistinct heads or princes, whom Ottoman subduing, united thewhole power in himseif, which to this day continues in his'family,and who fixed his seat of empire at Piusa in Bilhynia. His suc-cessors subdued all Greece, and at length took Constantinople in1453; which put a period to the Roman empire in the East, un-der Constantine XIII . There is a standing tradition among theTurks, that their empire will at length he overturned by theFranks or Chris hns.

TURCKHEIM, a town in the department of Upper Rhine,and province, of Alsace, one mile W. of Colmar , and four S. S.W. of Schleustadt. Lpn. 7. 2(5. E. Lat. 48. 5. N.

TURCOMAN IA, a province of Asiatic Turkey , comprehend-ing the ancient kingdom of Armenia, or that part of Armenia which belongs to the Turks.

1 URDUS, the Thrush; a genus of birds belonging to theorder passeres. Bill straightisli, bending towards the point,slightly notched near the end of the upper mandible; nostriloval, naked, or half covered with a membrane; corners of themouth furnished with a few slender hair;; tongue jagged. Thereare 136 species, of which 7 are British .

T. Iuacus, the Redwing, has a very near resemblance to thethrostle; hut is less: their colours are much the same; only thesides under the wings and the inner coverts in this are of a reddishorange, in the throstle yellow ; above each eye is a line of yellow-ish white, beginning at the bill, and passing towards the hind partof the head. These birds appear in Great Britain a few days be-fore the fieldfare ; they come in vast flocks, and from the samecountries as the latter.

T. Tokuuatus, or Ring-Ouzel, is superior in size to theblackbird ; the length is eleven inches, breadth seventeen. Thehill in some is wholly black, in others the upper half is yellow ;on each side the mouth are a few bristles: the head and wholeupper part of the body are dusky, edged with pale brown; thequill-feathers and the tail are black. The coverts of the wings,the upper part of the breast, and the belly, are dusky, slightlyedged with ash colour. The ring-ouzel inhabits the Highlandlulls, the north of England, and the mountains of Wales . Theynho breed in Dartmoor, in Devonshire , and on the sides ofstream';. The places of their retreat arc nE known. In Scotland

and Wales they breed in the hills, but descend to the lower partsto feed on the berries of the mountain-ash. They migrate inFrance at the latter season.

TURENNE, a town of Fiance , in the department of theCorreze, and late county of Limosin . Lon. 1, 30. E. Lat,45. !). N.

TURF, or PENT, a blackish earth used in several parts ofBritain, Holland , and Flanders, as fuel. Turf, as distinguishedfrom peat, consists of mould interwoven with the roots of vegeta-bles; when these roots are of the bulbous kind, or in a large pro-portion, they form the looser and worse kind of turf; hut whenmixed with a considerable proportion of peat, they form what iscalled stone-turf; it at first hardens, hut at last crumbles by longexposure to the air.

TURIGA, a river of Russia , which runs into the Niznei Tun-guska, in Lon. 116.30. E. Lat. 66. 12. N.

TURIN , an ancient, popular, strong, and handsome city ofItaly, capital of Piedmont, the residence of the King of Sardinia ,and an archbishop's see. It is charmingly seated on a vast plain,at the confluence of the rivers Doria and Po, 62 miles N. E. ofGenoa, 72 S. W. of Milan, and 280 N; W. of Rome. Lon. 7.45. E. Lat. 44. 50. N.

Turin , in the porcelain-manufacture, a large oval vessel, forholding broth or soup, at table. Turiiis are also sometimes madeof silver.

TURINSK, a town of Russia , in Tobolskoi, 144 miles W. ofTobolsk , 620 W. N. W. of Kolivan, and 1028 E. of Peters-burg.

TURIONES, among herbalists, denotes the first young tendershoots, which plants annually put forth.

TURKESTAN, orTARAZ, a country of Asia , in Indepen-dent Tartary; hounded on the N. by deserts, which separate itfrom Russian Tartary ; and on the E. by Chinese Tartary, andthat part of Tartary possessed by the Kalmucks.

Turkestan, a city of Asia , capital ot the above country. Lon.69. 53. E. Lat. 44. 45. N.

TURKEY , a very extensive empire, comprehending for seve-ral centuries hack some of the richest countries in Europe, Asia ,and Africa .

1. Turkey, African. In Africa, the Turkish dominionsare Egypt , and some districts of Baubaky. See these articles intheir order.

2. Turkey, Asiatic , is divided* into Eastern and Western.The Eastern comprehends Georgia, Turcomania, and Diar-bekr; and the Western, Natolia, or Asia Minor, Syria , andPalestine.

3. Turkey, European, or Turkey in Europe , is boundedon the S. by the Mediterranean ; on the N. by Croatia , Sclavo-nia, and Transylvania ; on the E. by Poland, Russia, and Asia ;and on the W. bv the Adriatic and Dalmatia . The principalcountries of European Turkey, are Romania, Bulgaria , Servia,Walachia, Moldavia, Bessarabia, Greece, Macedonia, Albania ,Thessaly, Livadia, Morca, and the Archipelago islands. Thegrand signior, or emperor of the Turks, is restrained by no lawsor compacts, the government being purely despotic ; but if lie in-dulges not the humours ofthe people, and especially of the mutinousjanisarics, he is in danger not only of being deposed, but also of be-ing put to death. Those who have offices under the government, hesqueezes, disgraces, and puts to death, upon the least suggestion oftheir disaffection or misconduct, without giving them an opportu-nity of answering for themselves, they being looked upon as moreimmediately his slaves. The Turks are generally robust and wellshaped, of a good mien, and patient of hardships, which rendersthem fit for war. They shave their heads ; hut wear their beardslong, except the military and those in the seraglio, who wear onlywhiskers. They cover their heads with a while linen-turban of anenormous size, and never pull it off hut when they sleep. Thelanguage spoken in European Turkey are the Turkish and Tarta-rian, which have a great affinity to one another ; the modernGreek, which differs widely from'the ancient, the Sclavonian, andWalachian. The Arabic is the language of the learned. Learn-ing is at a very low ebb among the Turks; however, they havesome schools, colleges, and academies; but they are on a verydifferent footing from those among us. Mohammedanism, of H> esect of Otmar, is the established religion; but Christians, Jews .