Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/468

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
410
*

TRANI. 410 TRANSCENDENTALISM. Tards. The twelfth-century cathedral has a very liigh tower and magnificent bronze doors. The Santa Maria Immaculata is a beautiful church. The Gothic palace (the seat of a priests' semi- nary) and the old castle (now a prison) are both interesting. Excellent building stone is quarried. Trani first came into notice when it submitted to the Normans in 1073. During the Crusades it carried on a heavy trade with the Levant. Population (commune) , in 1881, 25,647 ; in 1901, 31.800. TRANSBAIKALIA, trans'bi-ka'le-a. A ter- ritorj' of Eastern Siberia, bounded by the Terri- tory of Yakutsk on the north, the Territory of Amur and Manchuria on the east, Mongolia on the south, and Lake Baikal and Irkutsk on the west (Map: Asia, L 3). Area, 236,868 square miles. The region is divided by the Yablonoi Mountains, a part of the Stanovoi (q.v.) chain, into two parts, of which the western has the char- acter of an elevated plateau intersected by a deep valley that extends from Lake Baikal to the Uda River and is used by the chief liighways as well as by the Trans-Siberian Railway. The portion east, of the Yablonoi chain is lower than the western part, and is traversed in the southeast by the Xertchinsk Mountains. The region is watered by the Argun and Shilka, which unite to form theAnuir, the Vitim, a tributary of the Lena, and the Selenga (q.v.), a tributary of Lake Baikal. Of the numerous lakes the principal is Lake Baikal (q.v.). The climate is continental and very severe, the temperature being occasion- ally as low as — 58°. Transbaikalia is one of the most highly mineralized regions of Siberia. Gold is found especially in the Nertchinsk Mountains, where there are also rich deposits of silver and lead. Coal is found near the southeastern shore of Lake Baikal, and iron in many parts. The mining industry. however, is of little importance, and only the gold output (3882 kilograms in 1897) is of any importance. The mines are owned to a large extent by the State and worked by convict labor, the centre of the mining industries being the Nertchinsk (q.v.) region. Agriculture is confined chieHy to the south, where the natural conditions are more favorable. Stock-raising is extensively carried on, and hunting is still of considerable importance. The chief manufactures are leather, spirits, and flour. The transit trade with Mongolia through Kiakhta (q.v.) is large. Population, in 1897. 0G4.O71. of whom the Cos- sacks numbered about one-third. The aborigines, mostly Buryats and some Tungiises, have still in the main preserved their clan organization, al- though many of them have been assimilated with the Russians. Capital, Tchjta (q.v.). TRANSCAS'PIA. A Russian territory in Western Asia, bounded by the Territory of Ural on the north, Khiva and Bokhara on the east, Afghanistan and Persia on the south, and the Caspian Sea on the west (Map: Asia, Central, G 2). Area, estimated at from 214,000 to 220,000 square miles. In its general features the region resembles Turkestan, of which it may be con- sidered a western continuation. The larger part of the north consists of elevated table lands with some nioimtains in the peninsula of Manghishlak in the northwest, and a deep depression near the Khivan frontier in the east. The central part is lower and is practically a desert with shifting sands and dricd-up river courses. The southern part is traversed by a mountain chain which separates the sandy deserts of Turkestan from the highlands of Northern Persia, and from its structure and direction appears to be a continua- tion of the Caucasus system. This region is watered by the Atrek, which flows along the soutlicrn boundary to the Caspian and by the Tejcnd and the Jlurghab. The whole region is scantily watered. Irrigation is practiced. The coast is indented by a number of deep inlets, of which that of Kara Bugas is noted for its ex- treme salinity. The climate is hot and dry. and the precipitation extremely meagre. The region contains rich mineral deposits, of which salt, naphtha, ozocerite, and gypsum are mined to some extent. Agriculture is developing in the southern part, which is more favorably situated with regard to irrigation. The principal prod- ucts are wheat, sorghum, rice, and barlej'. Cot- ton is also successfully cultivated. The natives have extensive herds of sheep and other stock, and export skins and wool. A number of house- hold industries, such as rug-weaving and the production of various articles of felt, are more or less developed. The chief medium of transporta- tion is the Transcaspian Railway, which traverses the southern part of the territory. Population, in 1897, 372,193, of whom the Turcomans con- stituted about two-thirds. Capital, Askhabad (q.v.). TRANS'CAUCA'SIA. The southern part of the Caucasus (q.v.), comprising the governments of Tiiiis, Baku, Yelizavetpol, Erivan, and Kutais and the territories of Daghestan and Kars. Area, about 92,400 sijuare miles. Population, in 1897, 5,461,911. TRANSCENDENTAL, TRANSCENDENT (from triinfircndcnt, from Lat. transcenilcus. pres, part, of Lat. transccndere, to surpass, from trans, across, through + scandere, to climb, Skt. skniid. to spring, ascend). Words employed by various schoolmen, in particular Duns Scotus, to de- scribe the conceptions that, by their universality, rise above or transcend the ten Aristotelian cate- gories. (See Categort.) Thus, according to Scotus, ens, or being, because it is predicable of substance and accident alike, of God as well as of the world, is raised above these by including or comprehending them. Between the liitherto convertible terms tran- scendental and tran.scendent Kant drew a dis- tinction, of considerable importance in under- standing his own system. By the word 'transcendental' he designates the various forms, categories, or ideas assumed to be constitutive or regulative elements of human experience: al- though they are manifested only in experience, they are not products of experience. Among such transcendental elements are space and time, causality, and substantiality. The knowledge that these elements are not of empirical origin is called transcendental knowledge. The word 'transcendent' Kant reserves for those objects tliat lie in the world of things in themselves, entirely inaccessible to experience, and for any pretended knnwlcdge of such objects. TRANSCENDENTALISM. A term applied in philosophy to Kant's system and to those like it in maintaining that there can be knowledge of transcendental elements. On account of the lit- erary reputation of Emerson and of his col- leagues in the Transcendental Club (organized