Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/419

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
363
*

TORRES VEDRAS. 3G3 TORRIGIANO. consist of tlirpe lines of fortifications, liegun by Wellington in 1S09 and behind which he retired in October, 1810, before the invading army of Mass^na. He held the lines against all the at- tempts on the part of the French, and in August, 1811, forced Massena to retreat. The first of these lines, extending from Alhandra, on the Tagus, to the mouth of the Sizandro. on the sea- coast, was 20 miles long; the second lay from to 10 miles behind the first and had a length of 24 miles: the third, situated to the southwest of Lisbon, at the very mouth of the Tagus, was very short, being intended to cover a forced embarka- tion, if that became necessary. The entire ground thus fortified was equal to 500 square miles. TOR'REY, Bradford (1843—). An Ameri- can ornithologist and author, born at Weymouth, Norfolk County, Mass. He was educated in the public schools, taught for two years, then en- tered business in Boston, and in 1880 became a member of the staff of the Youth's Companion of that city. Among his books, marked by ac- curate and discriminating observation and a happy style, are Birds in the Bush (1885), A liambler's Lease (1889), Spring Kotes from Ten- nessee (1896), and A World of Green Hills (1898). TORREY, Charles Turner (1813-46). An American reformer, born at Scituate, Mass. He graduated at Yale in 1830, studied theology, and became pastor of a Congregational church in Princeton, N. J. Later he had charge of a church at Salem, Mass., but finally gave up his pastoral duties to devote himself entirely to the abolitionist movement. He removed to Jlary- land, and in 1843, for writing an account of a slaveholders' convention held at Baltimore, he was arrested and thrown into prison. He be- came an efiicient 'official' of the vmderground railroad, and in 1844 was convicted of having at- tem])ted to help slaves to escape and was sen- tenced to a long term in the State penitentiary. Two j'Cars later he died in prison of consump- tion. His body was taken to Boston, where it was given a public funeral. Everywhere he was hailed as a martyr in the anti-slavery cause, and the words "Torrey's blood crieth out" became a watchword for the abolitionists. He wrote A Memoir of n'illiam R. l^tixlon (1838), and Home, or the Pilgrims' Faith Revived (1846), a volume of sketches wi-itten in prison. TORREY, John (1796-1873). An American botanist. He was born in New York State, grad- uated at the New Y'ork College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1818; was professor at West Point, 1824-27: in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1827-55; at Princeton, 1830-54: chief assayer in the United States Assay Office. New York. 1853-73. His best known publications are: Catalogue of Plants Growing SpontaneousUi ic-ith- in Thirty Miles of Xew York (1819) : Flora of the yorihern and Middle fitates (1824); Flora of the State of Xew York. With Prof. Asa Gray he began the publication of Flora of North America (1838-43). His valuable herbarium and botanical library he presented in 1860 to Colum- bia College, in which institution he held a pro- fessorship of chemistry at the time of his death. TORREY, .Joseph William (1828-84). An American newspaper man and merchant, born at Bath, Me. He was for a time connected with Vol. XIX— 2i. the Boston Times and the Carpet Hag. In 1853 he went to Australia, where he entered a com- mercial house, and in 1850 to China, where he became editor of the Hong Kong Times and the China Mail. He engaged in conmerce, organized the American Trading Company of Borneo, and in 1865 was recognized by the Sultan as Rajah of the Marudu and Anibong districts. He re- tained the position until 1879, when he became secretarj' of the American legation at Hangkok. He returned to the United States in 1883. TORREYA (Neo-Lat.. named in honor of John Torre;/). A small genus of the order Coniferae, somewhat resenilding the yews. They are found in North America and Eastern Asia. Torreija taxifolia. a Florida species, reaches the height of 50 feet and has a close-grained and strongly scented wood. The name Tumion has been adopted for this genus by some botanists on account of the name Torreya having been used for another plant. TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB, The. A sci- entific society in New York City, incorporated in 1871, and now one of the six associated societies forming the Scientific Alliance (q.v.). It has a valuable herbarium of several thousand speci- mens, illustrating the flora within one hundred miles of New York, exhibited at the Museum of the New Y'ork Botanical Garden, which is the home of the club. The membership in 1903 was 342, of whom 196 were active members. The club publishes the Bulletin, Torreya, and Me- moirs. TORRIANI, Maria. See Torelli-Torriani, Maria. TORRICELLI, tor're-chel'Ie, Evangelista (1608-47). An Italian mathematician and physi- cist, born at Piancaldoli, or, according to some authorities, at Modigliana, in the Romagna. From about 1628 he studied mathematics in Rome, under Benedetto Castelli (1577-1644), the favorite disciple of Galileo. Galileo's theories on force and motion especially engaged his attention, and led to his publishing a Trattato del moto (1641), a meritorious w'ork, but containing few new discoveries of consequence. He was then invited by Galileo to visit him, and aided the old philosopher, now blind, in the preparation of his Discorsi. On Galileo's death he was ap- ])ointed his successor in the chair of philosophy and mathematics at Florence. Torricelli was the first to use a column of mercury in a tube closed at one end to balance the pressure of the atmos- phere, and found that a much shorter colunni could be used than in the case of water, as in Galileo's experiment. This feat, actually i>er- formed by his assistant, Viviani, furnished him with the idea of the barometer (q.v.) in which the space above the mercury in the closed tube has since been known as a Torricellian vacuum. Torricelli also eflfccted the quadrature of the cycloid, but in this he was anticipated by Rober- val. He was also the first to construct a simple microscope and improved the telescope. TORRIGIANO, tor're-jii'n.i. Pietro (also ToRRiGiANi and ToRREOiANi) (c.1472-1522) . An Italian sculptor, born in Florence. He was a fellow student of Michelangelo in the Giardino Mediceo, and was jealous of him because of his superior talent and his intimacy with their pa- tron, Lorenzo de' Medici. The result was a