125 



TORINUS, ALBANUS. 



TOItRKNTIUS, L^VIN'JS. 



128 



4to, Hafuiso, 1777. (Peter Suhm, Smaae Slcrifter og Afhandlinger, 

 Kibbeuhavn, 1788; Kber, BMiographisches Lexicon, Leipzig, 1819; 

 Ali'jcmcines Historisches Lexicon, Leipzig, 1747.) 



TORl'NUS, ALBA'NUS, the Latinised name of ALBAN THORER, a 

 Swiss physician, who was born in 1489 at Winterthur, in the canton of 

 Zurich. He studied polite literature at Basel with zeal and assiduity, 

 and, after teaching rhetoric for some years, he at last determined ou 

 taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Montpellier. Upon his 

 return, to Basel, in 1537, he was appointed professor of practical 

 medicine, and soon acquired an extensive practice. He died February 

 23, 1550, at the age of sixty-one. Like several of his contemporaries, 

 he employed himself in translating the works of the Greek medical 

 writers into Latin, of which he published the following : ' Polybi 

 Opuscula aliquot nunc priinum o Grseco in Latinum conversa nempe 

 de Tueuda Valetudine, sive de Ratione Victus Sanorum, lib. i., Do 

 Seminis Human! Natura lib. !., De Morbis, &ive Affectibus Corporis 

 libri ii.,' 4to, Basil., 1544. Alexander Tralliauus, Lat., folio, Basil., 

 1533. The first Latin translation of Paulus ^Egineta, folio, Basil.} 

 1532, which was afterwards improved and several times reprinted. 

 This translation was severely criticised by Winther of Andernach 

 (" Guiuterus Andernacus'), which drew from Thorer a very angry and 

 somewhat abusive answer entitled ' Epistola Apologetica, qua Calom- 

 nias Impudentissimas refellit,' 8vo, Basil., 1539. The first Latin trans- 

 lation of two works of Theopbilus Protospathtirius, with the title, 

 'Philareti de Pulsuum Scieutia Libellus, item Theophili de Exacta 

 Retrimentorum Vesicce Cognitione Commentariolus,' &c., 8vo, Basil., 

 1553. In his translation of Theophilus 'De Urinis,' he is charged by 

 Guidot (Not. in Theoph. ' De Urin./ p. 234 ; et ' Alloq. ad Lect'.) with 

 having altogether omitted the pious epilogue to the work, and with 

 having altered two other passages (in the Preface, and in cap. 8) so as 

 to destroy the acknowledgment of our Lord's Divinity contained in 

 them. Fabricius mentions also (' Biblioth. Graca,' vol. xiii., p. 44, ed. 

 Vet.) a translation of Theophilus's ' Commentary on the Aphorisms of 

 Hippocrates,' but this is probably a mistake. (See Fabric., ' Biblioth. 

 Gracca,' vol. xii., p. 649, ed. Vet.; Choulant, 'Handbuch der Biicher- 

 kunde fur die Aeltere Medicin.') He also retouched the old Latin 

 translation of Yahia Ibn Serapion Ben Ibrahim [SERAPION], and pub- 

 lished it with the title ' Jani Damasceni Therapeutics Methodi libri 

 vii., partim Albano Torino, partim Gerardo Cremonensi Metaphraste,' 

 folio, Basil., 1543. He published a Greek edition, in one volume, of 

 several of Hippocrates's works, viz., ' Prognost.,' ' De Nat. Horn.,' 

 'De Loc. in Horn.,' 'Jusjur.,' 8vo, Basil., 1536, and prefixed a Life of 

 the author. He inserted a Latin translation of the Letter of Diocles 

 Carystius to King Antiochus, ' De Secunda Valetudine Tuenda,' in the 

 second edition of his translation of Alexander Trallianus, folio, Basil, 

 1541. He also edited a collection of medical works with the following 

 title : 'De Re Medica huic Volumini insunt, Sorani-Ephesii Peripate- 

 tic! in Artem Medeudi Isngoge hactenus non visa. Oribasii Sardiani 

 Fragmentum de Victus Ratione, quolibeb Anni Tempore Utili, autea 

 nunquam editum. C. Plinii Secundi de Re Medica libri v. accuratius 

 Recogniti, et Nothis ac Pseudepigraphis Semotis, ab Innumeris Men- 

 daruru Millibua Fide Vetustissimi Codicis Repurgati. Lc. Apuleji 

 Madauren^is, Philosophi Platonici, de Herbarum Virtutibus Historia. 

 Accessit his Libsllus Utilissimus de Betonica, quern quidam Antonio 

 MUSBO, nonnulli Lc. Apulejo adscribendum autumant, nuper Excusus,' 

 folio, Basil., 1525. Besides these medical works he edited also Apicius, 

 'De Re Culinaria,' 4to, Basil., 1541 ; S. Epiphanius, 'De Prophetarum 

 Vitis,' 4to, Easily 1529; Agapeti 'Scheda llegia,' Lat., 8vo, Basil, 

 1541, at the end of Onosandri ' Strategicus ; ' and Emmanuel Chryso 

 lora?, 'Epitome GrammaticesGrsecze.' (See Fabric., Bibliotheca Grceca, 

 vol. xiii., p. 44, ed vet. ; Biogr. Med. ; Choulant, Handb. der Bilcher- 

 Tcurtdefiir die Aeltere Medicin.) 



TORPORLEY, NATHANIEL, was born about 1573, was entered at 

 Christchurch, Oxford, and after taking his degree was in France for 

 several years. Wood says it is notorious that during that time he 

 was amanuensis to the celebrated mathematician Francis Vieta. This 

 fact has been mentioned by the French historians, in speaking of 

 Harriot, when hard pressed to defend Des Cartes from the imputation 

 of being Harriot's plagiarist ; and the idea seems to be that as Tor- 

 porley was afterwards under the patronage and in the house of Henry 

 Percy, earl of Northumberland, as also were Harriot and others, he 

 must have been in habits of intimate communication with Harriot, to 

 whom he might have taught what he learnt from Vieta. With regard 

 to the fact itself, it is almost certain, for not only does Wood mention 

 it as notorious, but Sherburne, in the list at the end of his ' Manilius ' 

 (1675), published before Wood wrote, says that Torporlty was " some- 

 time amanuensis to the famous Vieta." Nothing is more likely than 

 that Harriot learnt from Torporley many ideas of Vieta; but Harriot's 

 discoveries in algebra most distinctly bear the mark of a new mind. 

 Torporley afterwards wrote his 'Diclides Ccolometrice, seu Valvse 

 Universales,' &c., London, 1602, and other works which we have never 

 seen. Wood also says he wrote something against Vieta, under the 

 name of Poulterey, a transposition (not, perfect however) of his own 

 name, but which he (Wood) had never seen. In looking through the 

 ' Diclides,' &c., which is mostly on spherical trigonometry, we only 

 found two very slight notices of Vieta's name, which looks as if there 

 had been a coolness between them ; but we found, to our surprise, 

 that Torporley had preceded Napier by twelve years in the publication 



of the greater part of the rula of Circular Parts, not indeed in Napier's 

 convenient form, but with a complete reduction of the six cases to 

 two, and rules, such as they were, by which to assimilate the con- 

 nected cases. For more account of Torporley's process, which is the 

 jreatest burlesque on mnemonics we ever saw, we refer to the 

 Philosophical Magazine ' for May, 1843. We have only to add that 

 Torporley obtained church preferment, was a member of Sion College 

 [to which he left his books and manuscripts), and died in April, 

 1632. In the Catalogue of Sion Library it is said he was a chemist 

 who left a large number of chemical and other books ; but we cannot 

 find one of his works in the second catalogue, and we have not had the 

 opportunity of examining the first. The firo of London occurred 

 between the publication of the two, and the books which were theu 

 consumed are not mentioned in the second. 



TORRE, FILIPPO DEL, born at Cividale in the Friuli, in 1657, 

 studied at Padua, and afterwards went to Rome in 1687, where he 

 was employed in several offices, and at last was appointed bishop of 

 Adria by Clement XL, in 1702. He died in 1717. While at Rome he 

 published a work of great research on the antiquities of Antium, 

 ' Monumenta veteris Antii,' which was much esteemed by the learned. 

 He wrote some other works in illustration of ancient medals, and 

 also upon subjects of natural history. Girolamo Lioni wrote a 

 biography of Filippo del Torre. 



TORRE, FILOMARI'NO, DUKE EELLA, a Neapolitan noble- 

 man who lived in the second half of the 18th century, and applied 

 himself strenuously to the study of physics. His name is known in 

 history chiefly for hid melancholy end. In the first insurrection of 

 the populace of Naples, who, being forsaken by the king and court 

 and all the principal authorities on the advance of the French invad- 

 ing army, rose tumultuously in January 1799 to defend the town 

 and at the same time to destroy those whom they suspected of being 

 favourably inclined towards the French, the Duke della Torre, who 

 lived in great retirement and does not appear to have meddled with 

 politics, was denounced to the popular committee by a menial who 

 had seen a letter written to the duke by a noble relative of his at 

 Rome, informing him that he had recommended him to the French 

 general for protection in the event of Naples being stormed by the 

 French army. This was sufficient to persuade the ignorant lazzaroui 

 that the duke was a secret Jacobin, and his doom was fixed at once. 

 The mob went to his palace, pillaged it, destroyed his library, his 

 collection of natural history, and his cabinet of physics, threw the 

 furniture out of the window, seized the duke and his brother the 

 Cavaliere Clemente Filomarino, known for his poetical talent, and 

 dragged them to the Marina of the Carmine, where they killed both of 

 them. At the same time it must be observed that the leaders of the 

 mob showed some regard for the women and children ; they ordered 

 one of the duke's carriages out, put the duke's wife and her children in 

 it, and told them to drive to some friend's or relative's, after which 

 they set fire to the palace. The two brothers Filomarino were tho 

 most distinguished victims of the first or Lazzaroni insurrection of 

 1799. (Colletta, Storia del Reame di Napoli; Cuoco, Saggio Storico 

 sulla Rivoluzione di Napoli; Sketches of Popular Tumults, 1837.) 



TORRE, GIAMMARFA DELLA, was born at Rome of a Genoese 

 family, at the beginning of the 18th century. After studying in the 

 college Nazareno, he entered the order of the Somaschi, and having 

 shown great aptitude for physical and mathematical studies, was suc- 

 cessively professor in several colleges at Rome, Venice, and Naples. 

 At Naples he became known to King Charles V. of Naples (afterwards 

 Charles III. of Spain), who employed him in several scientific experi- 

 ments, and made him his head librarian and keeper of the Museum of 

 Capo di Monte. He published a history of Vesuvius, ' Storia e Feno- 

 meni del Vesuvio esposti dal P. Gio. Maria della Torre, Somasco,' fol., 

 Naples, 1755. He also wrote a ' Course of Physics,' in Italian and 

 Latin, which has gone through several editions ; a volume of micro- 

 scopical observations, and numerous memoirs on scientific subjects. 

 He applied himself particularly to improve the microscope. He also 

 contributed to illustrate the newly discovered towns of Herculaneum 

 and Pompeii. He was one of the most distinguished members of the 

 Academy of Sciences of Naples, and was also corresponding member 

 of the Academies of Sciences of Paris and Berlin, and of the Royal 

 Society of London. Father della Torre died at a very advanced age, 

 in March 1782. (Lombardi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana nel 

 Secolo X VIII.) 



TORRE'NTIUS, LJEVI'NUS, whose original name was VAN DEU 

 BEKEN, was born at Ghent in 1525. He studied at LouvaSn, and was 

 in the town when it was besieged by the celebrated Martin van 

 Rossem. To commemorate the successful defence of the inhabitants, 

 Torrentius composed a Latin poem, which was highly thought of at 

 the time. He subsequently travelled to Italy, and spent some time a.t 

 Bologna; at Rome however he remained many years, and studied 

 Roman antiquities there with great diligence. He enjoyed the friend- 

 ship of the Cardinal Baronius, Antonius Augustinus, Fulvius Ursiuus, 

 and other celebrated scholars during his residence at Rome ; and he 

 also made there a fine collection of ancient coins and works of art. 

 On his return to the Netherlands, Torrentius filled successively 

 various ecclesiastical dignities, and was at length appointed to the 

 bishopric of Antwerp, where he laboured with great zeal in discharging 

 the duties of his office. He is said to have been also employed in 



