by which each of those philosophers respectively explained their position and motions. The purpose of a system is to classify the individual subjects of our knowledge in such a way as to enable us readily to retain and employ them, and at the same time to illustrate each by showing its connexion with all; and although it may appear that a mere arrangement of facts already possessed, implies no addition to our former knowledge, yet it is, nevertheless, true that a simple and judicious classification may suggest new views and point out new relations of things. The constituent parts of a system are a fundamental principle, which serves as a basis for the whole, and a large collection of facts, from which the various laws are to be deduced, which themselves all flow together into the common principle.

SYSTEM, in music. (See Tone.)

SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE; a certain arrangement of the several parts of the universe, fixed stars, planets and comets, by which their appearances and motions are explained. We know little of the universe by actual inspection: its infinity escapes the grasp of our limited vision; but reasoning leads us to conclusions be yond the reach of sense. (See Astronomy.) We first become acquainted with our own globe, and with the other planets revolving with it round the sun, by observation; and from this little corner of the universe we draw our inferences as to the rest. In our own system, we see the sun forming a fixed centre, about which the earth and the other planets, with their moons, regularly revolve. Our earth we know to be the residence of organized, sensitive and thinking beings: observation teaches us that the other planets of the solar system resemble the earth in many respects; and we therefore conclude that they are the residences of sensitive and rational beings. Further observation makes it probable that the fixed stars are bodies like our sun, since they shine by their own light, and never change their relative positions. From this we are led to conjecture that each of them has its train of planets like our earth, and that there are as many solar systems as fixed stars. Then, as observation proves to us, that all the bodies of our system are mutually related to each other, we may conjecture that the different solar systems are not entirely disconnected with each other. Wherever we turn our eyes, we see connexion, order and stability; and we suppose these laws to embrace the whole universe,

which thus forms a harmoniously framed whole. New observations confirm our reasonings on this point: they teach us that the fixed stars, which were formerly considered absolutely stationary, have a common motion, which becomes perceptible only in long periods; and we are led to the hypothesis that the whole host of stars, with all their planetary trains, revolve around some common centre, a central sun, which some astronomers suppose to be Sirius. The system of the universe is therefore the same, on a great scale, as the solar system is in miniature. This vast thought seems beyond our comprehension; and the innumerable motions of these millions of worlds in infinite space elude our conception. Here are perpetual motion and perpetual order, produced by the common principle of attraction which binds the universe together. All things appear to be balanced against each other; but the Unsearchable holds the scales in his almighty hand. There are three systems of the world, or explanations of the solar system, which have acquired most celebrity: 1. That of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy (q. v.), who conceived the earth to lie immovable in the centre of the universe, while the heavenly bodies revolved about it in solid circles: this is called the Ptolemaic system. 2. The Tychonic system, proposed by Tycho de Brahe (see Tycho), was an attempt to improve the former. It supposed the earth stationary in the centre of the universe, with the sun and moon revolving around it, while the other planets revolved round the sun. 3. The Copernican system is that which is now received, and is demonstrated mathematically to be correct. (See Copernicus, Solar System, Fixed Stars, Planets, and Astronomy.)

SYZYGY; the conjunction or opposition of any two of the heavenly bodies. (See Moon.) SZENT; Hungarian for saint; found in many geographical names, as Szent Ianos (St. John).

SZIGETH, vár (properly Nagyszigeth, or Frontier-Szigeth, to distinguish it from two places of the same name in Hungary), is of historical importance on account of its heroic defence by count Nicholas Zrinyi. (q. v.) Szigeth is, at present, a market town, on a low island, formed by the Almas, and belongs to the county of Schümeg. It is fortified. It contains one Greek and two Roman Catholie churches (of which one was erected for a mosque), one Franciscan monastery, and the castle of count von Festetics. The inhabitants are partly Magyars, partly Ger

ט

noted 300, and 300,000. The of the Hebrews signified 9; and with two points placed horizontally over it, thus, ö, it denoted 9000. Sometimes the acute accent over this or any one of the first nine letters multiplied its value a thousand times. T, on French coins, denotes the mint of Nantes. When the Roman tribunes approved of senatorial decrees, they subscribed a T. In music, T signifies tenor, also tace, to indicate silence; and in concerts it is likewise the sign of tutti, a direction to the whole band to play after a solo. It also stands for trillo, a shake. The word T is used also to denote things of this form, as a T bandage, in surgery, one consisting of two bands which cross each other; or the T palace in Mantua. (q. v. For the use of T in modern abbreviations, see Abbreviations.

TA (great); a Chinese word, used in many geographical names, as Ta-chan (great mountain).

TAAUT. (See Hermes Trismegistus.) TABARD (now corrupted into Talbot); an inn in the borough of Southwark (London), from which Chaucer and his companions set out on their pilgrimage to Canterbury. Over the entrance is this inscription: "This is the inn where Geoffrey Chaucer, knight, and nine and twenty pilgrims, lodged, in their journey to Canterbury, in 1383." In the yard is a picture representing their entrance into Canterbury. The original house was, however, burnt down in 1676, when the present building was erected on its site.

TABBY, in commerce; a kind of rich silk which has undergone the operation of tabbying, or being passed through a calender, the rolls of which are made of iron or copper, variously engraven, which, bearing unequally on the stuff, renders the surface unequal, so as to reflect the rays of light differently, making the representation of waves thereon.

TABERNACLE (Latin, tabernaculum, a tent) is used in the Hebrew writings for the tent, or sanctuary, in which the sacred utensils were kept during the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert. It was always placed in the middle of the camp, and borne by Levites. It was fixed at Shiloh. After the temple (q. v.) was erected, the holy instruments were removed thither. The feast of tabernacles was a Jewish festival, designed to commemorate the nomadic period of the national history, when the people dwelt in tents. The feast continued eight days, during which booths were erected and occupied by those engaged in celebrating the cere

monies.-Tabernacle is also used to signify the box in which the host is kept on the altar in Roman churches, and for the niche or cabinet in which the sacred relics, images, &c., are preserved. The Methodists often call their meeting-houses tabernacles.

TABLATURE; a word formerly applied to the collection of signs used in a musical composition; so that to understand the notes, clefs, and other marks, in such a way as to be able to sing at sight, was to be skilled in the tablature. The chief signs were letters, ciphers, and, at a later period, the lines indicating the octave in which a note was to be performed. Letters were used until the eleventh century, when the proper notes were introduced. (See Note.) As the latter are an Italian invention, they were called the Italian tablature; which name, however, soon went out of use; and the old signs alone are now understood by tablature.

TABLE, in perspective, denotes a plane surface, supposed to be transparent, and perpendicular to the horizon. It is always imagined to be placed at a certain distance between the eye and the objects, for the objects to be represented thereon, by means of the visual rays passing from every point thereof through the table to the eye; whence it is called perspective plane.-Table, among the jewellers. A table-diamond, or other precious stone, is that whose upper surface is quite flat, and the sides cut in angles; in which sense, a diamond cut tablewise is used in opposition to a rose-diamond.-Table, in mathematics; systems of numbers, used for expediting astronomical, geometrical, and other operations; thus we say tables of the stars; tables of sines, tangents, and secants; tables of logarithms, rhumbs, &c.; sexagenary tables.

TABLE MOUNTAIN, in Pendleton district, South Carolina, is about 4000 feet above the sea, and 3138 above the valley at its base. It presents, on one side, a tremendous precipice of solid rock, about 300 feet nearly perpendicular. Some have estimated its height to be even three times as great; and we have no measurement of it that can be relied on. At the bottom of the precipice, a dismal valley is sunk far below the surrounding country. The precipice, viewed from this valley, appears like a mighty wall raised to the heavens. The summit of the mountain is often enveloped in the clouds.

TABLE, ROUND. (See Round Table.)
TABLES, TWELVE. (See Twelve Ta

bles.)

TABLEAUX VIVANTS. Living.)

(See Pictures, TABOO. This word, significant of a peculiar custom prevalent among the South sea islanders, is used, in general, to denote something consecrated, sacred, forbidden to be touched, or set aside for particular uses or persons. It is applied both to persons and things, and both to the object prohibited and to the persons against whom the prohibition extends. Thus a consecrated piece of ground is taboo; the act of consecrating it is called taboo, and the persons who are excluded from entering are also said to be taboocd. A particular article of food is sometimes tabooed at a certain season, in order to preserve it against a season of scarcity, &c. The object of the institution seems to have been the imposition of certain restraints upon a rude and lawless people, like the establishment of the cities of refuge, sanctuaries, &c., in the rude ages of European society.

TABOR, the mount of transfiguration, is situated in Galilee, about fifty miles from Jerusalem. (See Galilee, and Transfiguration.)

TABORITES. (See Hussites.)

TABULAR SPAR, or TABLE SPAR (Schaalstein of Werner); a massive mineral, whose primary form is regarded as a doubly-oblique prism. The cleavage in the direction of two faces, intersecting each other at angles of 95° 25', is easily obtained, though in one direction it is more easily effected than in the other. The remaining cleavages are with difficulty distinguished; lustre vitreous, inclining to pearly, particularly upon the perfect faces of cleavage; color white, inclining to gray, yellow, red and brown; streak white; semi-transparent to translucent; rather brittle; hardness about that of apatite; specific gravity 2.8; composition lamellar, generally longish, and strongly coherent. It is composed of Silex, Lime,

Mechanical admixtures,

51.60 46.41 1.11

99.12

Before the blow-pipe, it melts on the edges into a semi-transparent colorless enamel. By fusing lime and silex in the requisite proportions, cleavable masses of the present species have been obtained. It was first found at Cziklowa, near Prawitza, in the Bannat of Temeswar, in several copper mines. In Finland, it occurs in limestone, at Edinburgh in greenstone at Castle hill, and in Ceylon along with gar

net. In the U. States, at Willsborough, New York, upon lake Champlain, a vein of it, mixed with garnet, several feet in width, appears to cross a mountain of gneiss. It has been found abundantly near Grenville, in Canada, and at Easton, in Pennsylvania. A variety of the present species, from Capo di Bove, near Rome, was first called Woollastonite, but is now known to belong to tabular spar.

TACHYGRAPHY, or TACHEOGRAPHY. (See Stenography.)

TACITUS, Caius Cornelius, was descended from a plebeian branch of the celebrated Cornelian family, and was probably born at the close of the reign of Claudius, or in the beginning of that of Nero. Of his education and early life we know little. He seems to have been first appointed to public office in the reign of Vespasian, when, according to a statement of the elder Pliny, he was named procurator of Belgic Gaul. On his return to Rome, he was treated with distinguished favor by Titus, and was created questor or edile. He himself alludes to this circumstance, but in very general terms, in his works. In the reign of Domitian, he became pretor (A. D. 88), and one of the quindecemviral college, whose duty it was to superintend the sacrifices. Disgusted with the tyranny of Domitian, Tacitus left Rome on the death of his father-in-law Julius Agricola, but again returned, after the murder of that monster, to live under the mild government of Nerva. The latter rewarded his services with the consulship, A. D. 97. He lived in the closest intimacy with the younger Pliny, and had a very extensive practice in the profession of law, acquiring a high reputation as an orator. His domestic circumstances were no less favorable: his wife, the daughter of Julius Agricola, was distinguished among the Roman ladies of the time for her virtues; and it seems probable that the emperor Tacitus was a descendant of the great historian. The time of his death is uncertain; but it probably took place during the reign of Adrian. We have four historical works from his pen. His Annals contain an account of the principal events from the death of Augustus to that of Nero, a period of fifty-four years. Books 6th to 10th inclusive are lost: the first five books were discovered only 300 years ago, by the treasurer of Leo X, in the monastery of Corvey. His History (of which only four books, and a part of the fifth, are extant) begins with the year 69