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THYME, Thymus, in botany, &V. See the article Thymus.
THYMELiEA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confiff s of one leaf, and is funnel-fhaped, and cut into four fegments at the edges ; from the bottom of this there arifes a piftil, which fi- nally becomes an oval fruit ; which in fome fpecies is fuccu- lent, and in others is dry ; but in all contains oblong feeds. The fpecies of Thymelesa, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: I. The flax-leaved Thynelesa. 2. The African flax- leaved Thymelesa, with pale-coloured, and very fweet-fcented flowers. 3. The African flax-leaved Thymelesa, with broad, obtufe, and mining leaves. 4. The African flax-leaved Thy- melesa, with flowers collected into duffers. 5. The dwarf alpine flax-leaved Thymelesa, with purple fweet-fcented flowers. 6. The dwarf alpine flax-leaved Thymelesa, with fweet- fcented white flowers. 7. The fmall hairy knot-grafs-leaved Portugal Thymelesa. 8. The common toad-flax- leaved Thy- melesa. 9. The Spanifh Thymelesa, with toad -flax- leaves. 10. The African Thymelesa, with very narrow, and fhort rofemary-like leaves, ji. The Africaa. Thymelaa, with long and narrow rofemary-like leaves. 12. The rofemary-leaved African Thyr/iclesa, with long flowers. 13. The white- flowered fhrubby African Thymelesa, with rofemary leaves. 14. The Spanifh Thymelesa, with broad olive-like leaves. 15. The Italian filvery olive-leaved Thymelesa. 16. The olive- leaved rock Thymelesa. 17. The white-flowered alpine Thy- melesa, with leaves hoary on both fides. 18. The fmooth Thy?nelesa, with leaves like the polygala. ig. The hairy Thymelesa, with polygala-lcaves. 20. The cbamelaea-leaved Thymelesa, with fhort hairy leaves. 21. The woolly kali- leaved Thymelesa. 22. The juniper-leaved Thymelesa, with procumbent branches. 23. The Pyrenean juniper- leaved Thymelsea, with erecl branches. 24. The African Thyme- lesa, with narrow heath-like leaves. 25. The Thymelesa, with white, foft, and filky leaves. 26. The African Thyme- lesa, with tufted flowers. 27. The woolly Thymelesa, with fmall houfeleek leaves. 28. The Spanifh Thymelesa, with hoary myrtle-like leaves. 29. The African Thymelesa, with butcher's-broom leaves. 30. The fhrubby African Thymelaa, with milkwort-like leaves and jafmine flowers. 31. The narrow-leaved jafmine-flowcred African Thymelesa. 32. The nepa-leaved prickly African Thymelesa, with fmall purple powers. 33. The ever-green bay-leaved Thymelesa, called the laureola mas, or male fpurge-laurel. 34 The bay-leaved Thymelesa, with deciduous leaves, called the female fpurge- laurel. And 35. The bay-leaved Tbymehea, with deciduous leaves, with white flowers and yellow fruit, Tourn. Inft.
P" 494- . .
Thymeljeje Radix, in the materia medica, the dried root of the Thymelesa fbliis tint of Tournefort and other authors. It is a light root of different fizes, of a reddiffi colour without, and greyith within, woody, and full of fibres, and taftes fweet At firft, but is hot as fire when it has been held a little time in the mouth. It lofes however both this fiery tafte, and its acrid quality, in long keeping, and with them its virtues. It is to be ehofen new, well fed, and not worm-eaten. The fruit of this plant is the granum cnidium of the fhops. They are both of an acrid quality, and are not in ufe in the fhops at prefent. Pomet's Hift. of Drugs, p. 46.
Thymel^ea is alfo a name by which fome authors have called thelaureola, or fpurge-laurel, an ever-green fhrub, common in our woods : But it is more ufually made the name of the me- zereon, or fpurge-olive, and, with many, is understood only as the name of the fpurge-flax. Tourn. Inft. p. 415. Boer- haave^s Index, vol. 2. p. 213.
THYMELE, in the antient theatre, a kind of pulpit, where the fingers called ihymelici performed. See the articles Thy- melici and Logeum.
THYMELI CI, among the Romans, were muficians, whofung in the interludes, or who danced and kept time with their geftures. The place where they performed was called Thy- mele, whence Juvenal, VI. 66.
Attendit thymcle, thymele nunc ruflica difcat.
THYMIAMA, ©v^a^a, in antiquity, an offering of incenfe to God. See the article Incense, Cyel.
Thymiama, in the materia medica, a name by which fome authors have called the cajcarilla hark ; called by fome cortex thuris, or Indian bark. Rafs. Hift. PI. vol. 2. p. 1841.
Thymiamata, a kind of fumigations among the antients, the ingredients of which were fovarious, that it appears they always xronfulted utility as well as pleafure, in their compofition of them. Many of the ingredients, named in the oldeff. prefcriptions for the making them, being the names of things not fweet-fcented, the commentators have fuppofed that the antients exprefTed other things by thofe words, and not thofe which we at pre- sent mean by them ; but all this is founded on the error of fuppofmg thefe things intended only as fweet-fcented prepara- tions.
We find the gum ammoniacum of the antients ufed in them : And Neophytus reconciles the ufe of it in this manner very eafily, by alledging, that it had the fmell of coriander- feeds, which, as he obferves juftly, is an agreeable fcenc, and might do very well in mixture with others of this kind. It is pretty certain, that the ammoniacum of the antiests was not the
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fame gum which we now know by that name ; but as the ac- count of N eophytus, as to its fmell, comes from an older Greek author, Diofcondes, we are to refer to him for the certainty of the expreflion ; and by this it appears that Neo- phytus errs greatly, in attributing to ammoniacum the' fmell of coriander-feeds ; for that the word ufed by Diofcorides and which he has tranflated coriander, is *o e ; s ; and this, as we find by many other paffages of the fame author, is an abbre- viation of the word eu floret, xas-ofia.
The fmell of caftor is'alfo attributed to ammoniacum by The- ophraftus and others ; whence it is evident that the antients ufed falutiferous as well as fweet-fcented things in thefe fumi- gations. Galbanum is a worfe fmell than ammoniacum, and yet this alfo we find, together with myrrh, and other gums, is made an ingredient in thcoldeft prefcriptions of this kind. And Pliny mentions the ammoniacum with the febamanth, and other fwects ufed for this purpofe.
THYMOXALME, in the materia medica of the antients, was a compofition ufed externally in the gout, and many difor- ders of the limbs, and was given inwardly in diftemperatures of the ftomach, a quarter of a pint for a dofe. It operated as a purge, and was prepared in the following manner : Take two ounces of bruii'ed thyme, as much fait, a little meal, rue, and penny-royal. Thefe were to be put into a pot, and three pints of water, and fourteen ounces of vinegar are to be poured upon them ; after which they are to be covered with a coarfe cloth, and fet in the fun for fome time. Diofcorides, 1. c c. 24.
THYMUS, Thyme, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind : The upper lip is erefl, and ufually bifid, and the lower is divided into three fegments. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower, aiid fin-rounded by four embryos, which afterwards become as many feeds, and ripen in the cup of the flower. To thefe marks it may be added, that the ftalks are ufually hard and woody, and the flowers collected into heads.
The fpecies of Thyme, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The common-headed Thyme. 2. The common broadcr-leaved Thyme. 3. The common narrow-leaved Thyme. 4. The white narrow-leaved ftrong-fcentcd Thyme. 5. The white procumbent fweet I'cented Thyme. 6. The fcentlefs Thyme. 7. The (mall-headed Thyme. 8. The Portugal Thyme, with narrow hairy leaves, and large long purple heads. 9. 1 he Portugal Thyme, with narrow hairy leaves, and round heads of purple flowers. 10. The great-headed Portugal Thyme. 11. The fmall-headed Portugal Thyme. 12. The headed Portugal Thyme, with large fcales. Tourn. Inft. p. 196.
We have three or four fpecies of this plant propagated in our gardens, partly for ufe in the kitchen, and partly for curiolity. They are propagated either by fowing, or by parting the roots, both which fhould be done in March.
The feeds fhould be fowed on a bed of light earth, and muff, not be buried too deep. When they come up, they muft be kept clear of weeds, and watered at times ; and in June they fhould be thinned, leaving the plants at about fix inches afunder. After this they will grow very faft, and will require no farther care.
If they are to be propagated the other way, the roots fhould be taken up, and parted into as many flips as can be, and each planted at fix or eight inches difrance, on beds of light earth, watering and fhading them till they have taken root. The common garden Thyme is a cephalic. It alfo is good in all obff ructions of the vifcera, in the rheumatifm, and in fla- tulencies.
The ferpillum, or wild mother of Thyme, is one of the greateft nervous fimples of our own growth. An infufion of it alone will do wonders in tremors, lownefs of fpirits, and headachs. It makes a very agreeable liquor, drank in the manner of tea, and this, continued for fome time, has prov- ed a remedy in many cafes where every thing elfe has failed. It is almoft infallible in the cure of that troublefome diforder the nightmare.
Thymus, (Cyel.) in anatomy. Dr. Pozzi fays, that the Thy- mus of a calf, foftened by maceration, difcovers a lobe, from which a milky liquor runs out when wounded j and if air is afterwards blown into it, the whole Thymus is diftended, and may be dried, when it plainly appears to be compofed of cells communicating with each other ; upon the fides of which mufcular fibres are to be feen : From which ftructure he con- cludes, that the Thymus in fcetufes fupplies the ufe of the lungs, fetving as a receptacle for the chyle to be prepared in. Med. Eff. Edinb.
The Thymus is thought by fome to furnifh the liquor found in the thorax of fcetufes. See Mem. de PAcad. des Scienc. Par. 1733.
THYNNIA, e»m», in antiquity, a facrifice offered to Nep- tune by the fifhermen, after a plentiful draught. The word comes from ©[/»,©., a tunny, that being the facri- fice offered.
THYNNUS, in ichthyography, the name of a fifh called in Englifh the tunny, or Spanifh macktel, common in the Me- diterranean,
