others—and became one of the leaders of the rationalistic party, and one of the chief contributors to Nicolai’s Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek. Teller was not long in making use of his freer position in Berlin. In 1772 appeared the most popular of his books, Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament (6th ed., 1805). The object of this work is to recast the language and ideas of the New Testament and give them the form of 18th-century illuminism. Thus Heb. xiii. 8 signifies the permanence of Christ’s teaching, and, as the New Testament has no word for Christianity, "Christ" may mean sometimes His person and at others His doctrine or the Christian religion ; Col. i. 15 signifies the priority of Christ to all other Christians. By this lexicon Teller had put himself amongst the most advanced rationalists, and his opponents charged him with the design of overthrowing positive Christianity altogether. The edict of Wöllner (1788), and Teller’s manly action as consistorialrath in defiance of it, led the Prussian Government to pass upon him the sentence of suspension for three months, with forfeiture of his stipend. He was not, however, to be moved by such means, and (1792) issued his work Die Religion der Vollkommeneren, an exposition of his theological position, in which he advocated at length the idea, subsequently often urged, of "the perfectibility of Christianity,"—that is, of the ultimate transformation of Christianity into a scheme of simple morality, with a complete rejection of all specifically Christian ideas and methods. This book represents the culminating point of German illuminism, and is separated by a long process of development from the author’s Lehrbuch, Teller died on 9th December 1804. In addition to the above works he wrote Anleitung zur Religion überhaupt und zum Allgemeinen des Christenthums insbesondere (1792); and, besides his contributions to the Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, he edited a popular and practically useful Magazin für Prediger (1792-1801).
See Gass, Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik, iv. pp. 206-222; Tholuck, art. "Teller," in Herzog-Plitt’s ; Realencykl.; Döring, Deutsche Kanzelredner des 18ten und 19ten Jahrh., p. 506 sq.; Pusey, Causes of the Late Rationalistic Character of German Theology (1828), p. 150.
TELLEZ, Gabriel (c. 1570–1648), Spanish dramatist, better known as Tirso de Molina (his nom de plume), was born about the year 1570, and about 1613 entered the order of the Brothers of Charity at Toledo. In 1645 he became prior of the monastery of the order at Soria, where he died in 1648.
His dramatic works are said to have numbered nearly 300, but of these only a small proportion are now extant. A selection of the best of them was edited by Hartzenbusch in 1839-42 (Madrid, 12 vols.). See Drama, vol. vii. p. 421, and Spanish Literature, vol. xxii. p. 359.
TELLICHERRI, a seaport town of India, in Malabar district of Madras, situated in 11° 44' 53" N. lat. and 75° 31' 38" E. long. It is a healthy and picturesque town, built upon a group of wooded hills running down to the sea, and is protected by a natural breakwater of rock. The town with its suburbs occupies about 5 square miles, and was at one time defended by a strong mud wall. The citadel or castle still stands to the north of the town. The East India Company established a factory here in 1683 for the pepper and cardamom trade. For two years (1780-82) the town withstood a siege by Hyder’s general Sardár Khán, and in the subsequent wars with Mysore Tellicherri was the base of operations for the ascent of the Gháts from the west coast. In 1881 the population was 26,410.
TELLURIUM. See Selenium and Tellurium.
TELPHERAGE. See Traction.
TEMESVÁR, a royal free city and capital of the county of Temes, is the chief town of south-eastern Hungary. It lies on the navigable Béga Canal and the river Béga, in 45° 47' N. lat. and 21° 14' E. long. The inner town is fortified and separated from the suburbs by a glacis, now partly converted into a park. Temesvár is the seat of the Roman Catholic bishop of Csanád and of a Greek bishop, as also of several Government departments of great importance, and of one of the fifteen army corps of the Austrian-Hungarian army. The majority of the inhabitants follow industrial and commercial pursuits, and carry on a brisk trade in grain, flour, spirits, fruits, flax, and hemp with the neighbouring districts and with Roumania and Servia, by means of the Arad-Temesvár and the Austrian-Hungarian State Railways, as well as by the Béga Canal and by road. The town possesses many charitable and educational establishments, and is a favourite place of residence on account of its neatness and cleanliness. It has been lighted by electricity since 1883. Among the buildings specially worthy of notice are some fine old churches, a new theatre, and a synagogue in the Byzantine style. Temesvár played an important part in the Turkish wars and in that of 1848-49. The population was 37,500 in 1886.
TEMMINCK, Konrad Jacob (1778–1857), keeper of the Leyden museum of natural history, was especially distinguished as an ornithologist, and was the author of many magnificently illustrated systematic works. See Ornithology, vol. xviii. p. 11 sq.
TEMPE. See Thessaly.
TEMPERA, or Distemper,[1] is a method of painting in which solid pigments are employed, mixed with a water medium [2] in which some kind of gum or gelatinous substance is dissolved to prevent the colours from scaling off. Tempera is called in Italy "fresco a secco," as distinguished from "fresco buono," or true fresco, painted on freshly laid patches of stucco. The peculiarities of true fresco are described in vol. ix. p. 769 sq. The disadvantages of tempera painting are that it will not bear exposure to the weather; the pigments merely lie on the surface and do not sink into the stucco, as is the case with true fresco pigments; moreover, the medium used, being soluble in water, will not stand the rain. Its advantages are that the painter can work at leisure, and can also transfer or sketch his whole design on the dry finished surface; while in fresco work each portion of the design is hidden piecemeal as each new patch of stucco is applied (see Raphael, vol. XX. p. 279). Another important point is that a far greater variety of pigments can be used in tempera painting, as they are not subjected to the caustic action of wet lime. Lastly, tempera painting can be applied to any substance, such as dry plaster, wood, stone, terracotta, vellum, and paper. [3] Various media have been used for tempera work, such as the glutinous sap of the fig and other trees, various gums which are soluble in water, and size made by boiling down fish-bones, parchment, and animals’ hoofs. In more recent times a mixture of egg and vinegar has been found to make a good medium, especially when it is desirable to apply the colours in considerable body or impasto. Painting in tempera is probably the oldest method of all, and was used in ancient Egypt very largely, as can be seen by an examination of the many existing examples on papyrus or wood and stone thinly coated with a skin of fine plaster (gesso). Other ancient examples have been found in Babylon and Nineveh, and for internal work it appears to have been much employed by the Greeks. To some extent tempera was used by the Romans, though in most cases a combination of fresco and encaustic (hot wax) was employed for their mural decoration (see vol. xvii. p. 42).
- ↑ For some account of tempera painting in classical and mediæval times, see Mural Decoration, vol. xvii. pp. 39–47.
- ↑ Hence it used to be called "water-work"; see Shakespeare, Hen. IV., part ii., act ii. sc. 1.
- ↑ Miniatures and illuminated letters in mediaeval MSS. were painted with very finely ground colours mixed with a tempera medium.
