TUR
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appear as white in its fubftance, or more fo, than they would in their own. Augujiino Scilla, de Petrifac.
TURBAT, in ichthyology, the fame with Turbut. See the article Turbut.
TURBIT Pigeon, a particular fpecies of pigeon, remarkable for its fhort bill, and called by the Dutch cort-bek, that is, fhort-beak. Moore calls it in Latin, columla fimbrhata : And its Englifh name feems no other than a bad pronun- ciation of its Dutch one. It is a fmall and fhort-bodied pigeon, and has a beak no longer than that of a partridge ; the fhorter this is, the more the pigeon is efteemed : It has a fhort round head, and the feathers upon the breait open, and reflecl: both ways, ftanding out like the frill of the bofom of a fhirt. This is called by many, the purle, and the more the bird has of it, the more it is eftemed. The tail and back are generally of one colour, as blue, black, red, yellow or dun, and fometimes chequered. The flight feathers, and thofe of all the reft of the body, are white. They are a light nimble pigeon, and, if trained to it, will take very high flights, in the manner of the tumblers. Moore's Columbarium, p. 53.
TURBITH (Cycl.) — There is great uncertainty and confu- iion among the old writers, in regard to the drug called by this name. Avifenna, and the reft of the Arabian phyficians, all prefcribe Turbitb ; and we are apt to believe, that they mean our Turbitb-root ; but it does not appear fo either from the form or virtues of that medicine.
All the writers of later ages have placed the Turbitb-root among the things of value and ufe, brought as merchandize from the Eaft Indies ; and Garcias juftly deicribes the plant : But his defcription plainly proves, that it cannot be the Tur- bitb of the Arabians ; for all that they have faid about the Turbitb is tranflated from Diofcorides, and he has faid it of the tripolium.
The tripolium of the Greeks is therefore the Turbitb of the Arabians, and this is a very different thing from the Turbitb of our times. Mefue indeed feems to make xheTurbitb a dif- ferent thing from what all the others have made it ; he fays, that it is the root of a plant of the la&efcent kind, which had leaves like the ferula or fennel giant. This is a defcription that can by no means agree either with the tripolium of the Greeks, or the Turbitb of Garcias ; and proves, that if Mefue was right in faying it belonged to the plant, of which what hecalls Turbitb was the root, then his Turbitb is different from both the one and the other of thefe. Some other of the writers on thefe fubje&s have alfo called two roots, different from all thefe, by the names of white and black Turbitb. The black Turbitb is the pityufa-root, a kind of fpurge ; and the white Turbitb the root of the alypum.
Avifenna calls the Turbitb, terbadh. Some have fuppofed this word exprefTed a thing different from all the others ; but this is by no means the cafe, for the Turbitb, or turbadh of Avifen- na is the fame with the Turbitb of Serapion, that is, with the tripolium of Diofcorides.
From this turbadh of the Arabians, the later Greek writers have formed the word -ra^O ; but they have applied it, in a very loofe and vague manner, to feveral very different things. Neophytus makes the Turbitb a fpecies of myrobalan ; but in this he errs, no other author having ever underftood the word in that fenfe. Upon the whole, it appears, however, that there are three different plants, called Turbitb by authors, the tripolium, the pityufa, and the alypum ; but all thefe are different from the Indian Turbitb, which is the Turbitb of Garcias, and the Turbitb of our (hops. There is alfo in one part of Avifenna an account of Turbitb different from all thefe, and making it a kind of wood.
Turbith- Mineral has been ufed as a fternutatory, and is faid to have made wonderful cures in diftempers of the eyes. Mr. Boyle relates a cure of this fort, performed by the famous em- piric Adrian Glafs-maker on Mr. Vatteville, a Swifs officer of diftin&ion in the French fervice, and totally blind. This gentleman was ordered to fnuff about a grain of Turbitb up each noftril, which immediately operated in a violent manner by vomit, ftool, fweat, falivation, and the lacrymal glands, for twelve hours together ; and alfo caufed his head to fwell greatly ; but within three or four days after this fingle dofe had done working, he recovered his fight. Boyle's Works abr. vol. 1. p. 103.
TURBO, the Screw-Shell, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of fhell-fifh, the characters of which are thefe : They are univalve fhells, with a long, wide, and deprefled mouth, in fome fpecies approaching to a round fhapc, and in fome having teeth, in others not. They all grow narrow toward the bafe, and are auriculated, and terminate in a very long and fharp point. See Tab. of Shells, N°. 11. Aldrovand, and many others of the old authors, make no dif- ference between the Turbines and fcrew-fhells, though the diftinclion cf the genera is very obvious ; the fcrew-fhells having a long, large, and dentated mouth, which terminates toward the bafe in a narrower aperture than elfewhere : And the fhell itfelf always runs to a very fharp point at the end ; whereas the Turbines terminate in a lefs fharp point, and have thicker bodies, and always much wider mouths. The fcrew- fhells are indeed very eafily confounded with the buccina ; and it requires more accuracy to diftinguifh them, than has fallen
to the fhare of the generality of writers on thefe fubjecls art age or two ago. Aldrovand and Rondeletius have confounded thefe genera, and have brought in a third among them, by the epithet muricaium, which, when applied to the buccinum, is generally obferved_to bring into that family a fhell of the murex clafs, and which might have been very properly called by that fhorter name.
That thefe may be, however, morejuftly diftinguifhed for the future, it may be proper to add the genuine character of the fcrew-Jhell ; which is, that it is of a very long and flender fhape, and ends in a very fharp point. Its fpires run on im- perceptibly, without any great cavity, and the bafe is fmall and flat, as is alfo the mouth. Lifter, who was for making all the long fhells buccinums, calls the fcrew-fhell, the inter- vals of the fpires of which are deep, a long twitted buccinum, with a flat mouth. Fabius Columna has confounded yet more the genera of fhells together; he brings in the trochus into the family of the buccina ; and tells us, that the words_/?n?/K- bus, trochus, rhombus, and Turbo, which he calls the poetical name, are all fynonymous terms, and exprefs the fame fort of fhell. Lifter, Fabius Columna Aquat. & Terreftr. P. 59. p. 65. To avoid the obfeurity which muft naturally arife from fuch confufion of words, it is proper to obferve, that Turbo and Jlrombus are derivatives of the fame Greek word r^tpaj, to turn, and therefore are, properly, but one word in fenfe, and always to be accepted as fynonymous terms, and fignifyino- a long and flender fhell, whofe bafe and apex are both very fmall. Bonani Rccreat. Ment. & Occul. p. 126. The trochus has a fmall mouth, but then its bafe is large and flattifh, and its conic figure is one of the characters of its genus. Thus is this diftinguifhed from the former ; and as to the rhombus, when we have obferved, that, though the word properly fignifies a lozenge figure, it is ufed in fhells for the name of a cylindric kind ; it will appear, from the whole, that thefe four words are not all fynonymous, but that three diftin£r. genera are meant by them, the firft two only being of the fame fignification.
The moft remarkable fpecies of the Turbo or fcrew-fhelJ, is that called fcalare by Rumphius, from its fpires running up hollow, or with a fpace between them. This is a very fcarce and valuable fhell, when large, but is often found fmall in the Adriatic.
The fpecies of the Turbo are fo numerous, that it is proper to arrange them under different heads.
1. Of the Turbines which have a long and toothlefs mouth, and a wrinkled columella, thefe are the following fpecies : 1. The naiWTurbo , variegated with blue fpots. 2. The awl- Turbo, with yellow perpendicular lines. 3. The Turbo, with points difpofed in circles. 4. The fpotted and lineated need\e-Turbo. 5. The (crew-Turbo, with variegated lines and fpots. 6. The whitifh reticulated and granulated Turbo. 7. The virgated and corded Turbo.
2. Of thofe Turbines which have dentated mouths and a wrinkled columella, we have the following fpecies : 1. The fafciated confabulated Turbo. 2. The Turbo, called the child in fwadling clothes.
3. Of thofe Turbines which are of a pyramidal figure, and have deprefled mouths, we have the following fpecies; 1. The telescope-Turbo, with tranfveife furrows. 2. The whitifh Turbo, with yellow circular lines. 3. The Chinefe pyramid or obelifk Turbo. 4. The rough Turbo, with elated rows of tubercles. 5. The granulated and lineated little tower Turbo.
4. Of thofe Turbines which have long and erect: mouths, we have the following fpecies : 1. The alated borer Turbo. 2. The whitifh borer Turbo. 3. The variegated borer Turbo,
4. The lineated borer Turbo.
5. Of thofe Turbines which have a flat mouth, and are of a longer fhape, thefe are the following : 1. The confabulated and roftrated cater pillar- Turbo ; this is covered with tubercles, and has blue fpots and lines. 2. The white roftrated cater- pWhr-Turbo, with many tubercles and fpires.
6. Of thofe Turbines which have a large oval mouth, we have the following : 1. The Turbo called vitta, with black, yel- low, and red veins. 2. The claviculated and variegated agate- coloured vitta. 3. The whitifh vitta, with a variegated clavicle.
7. Of the round-mouthed Turbines, we have the following fpecies: 1. The hollowed wreathed Turbo. 2. The bone- coloured Turbo, with twenty wreaths, deprefled into feveral flnufes. 3. The yellow and white thick-wreathed Turbo. 4. The Turbo with feventeen furrowed wreaths. 5. The fcalar Turbo of Rumphius, with white lines. 6. The aurited Turbo of Rondeletius. Hift. Nat. Eclairc. p. 271.
Turbo Cochlea, in natural hiftory, a name by which fome au- thors have called the Perflan fhell, a fpecies of concha globofa or dolium.
Many have been puzzled with this fhell, not knowing in what clafs to rank it ; and Aldrovand has placed it at the end of his work, faying, that it would feem to belong to the turbinated' kinds, but that it wants the Turbo. See the article Do- lium.
TURBUT, in ichthyology, a name given by us to the fifh called by authors the bippoghjfus, pajfer major, and pajfer Britannicus*
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