TIRESIAS TISSOT. 



pensable in armies. They are of the greatest ser- 

 vice both in attack and defence, and generally a 

 great part of a battle at the present day consists of 

 the skirmishes of tirailleurs, particularly when the 

 enemy is to be kept distant from the columns, or, 

 in general, to be checked, or where, from the na- 

 ture of the ground, columns cannot act, as in the 

 defence of woods, morasses, villages, gardens. It 

 is evident that the use of tirailleurs has essentially 

 changed tactics, as well as the system of war in 

 general. Sometimes the tirailleurs form a separate 

 company in each battalion, as was formerly the case 

 with the French ; sometimes the third line of the 

 whole battalion consists of tirailleurs alone ; but in 

 case of necessity, every soldier has to act as such, 

 as in the Prussian army. 



TIRESIAS, in mythology ; a celebrated prophet 

 of Thebes, son of Everus and Chariclo. He lived 

 nine generations of men. In his youth he found 

 two serpents in the act of copulation, and, having 

 struck them with a stick to separate them, he found 

 himself suddenly changed into a girl. Seven years 

 after, he found some serpents together in the same 

 manner, and recovered his original sex by striking 

 them with his wand. Jupiter and Juno, therefore, 

 referred to his decision the question, which of the 

 sexes received greater pleasure from the connubial 

 state. Tiresias declared that the pleasure which 

 the female received was ten times greater than that 

 of the male. Juno, who supported a different opi- 

 nion, punished Tiresias by depriving him of his eye- 

 sight. Other accounts say that his blindness was 

 inflicted on him because he had seen Minerva bath- 

 ing. Chariclo complained of the severity with 

 which her son was treated ; and the goddess, who 

 knew that, his sight was irrevocable, alleviated the 

 misfortunes of Tiresias by making him acquainted 

 with futurity, and giving him a staff which could 

 conduct his steps. He drew his prophecies from 

 the flight or the language of birds, in which he was 

 assisted by his daughter Manto, and sometimes 

 evoked the manes from the infernal regions with 

 mystical ceremonies. He was buried with great 

 pomp by the Thebans, and honoured as a god. His 

 oracle at Orchomenus was in universal esteem. 

 Homer represents Ulysses as going to the infernal 

 regions to consult Tiresias concerning his return to 

 Ithaca. 



TIREE, an island of the Hebrides. See Hebri- 

 des. 



TIRLEMONT ; a town of Belgium, South Bra- 

 bant, called by the people of the country Tienen ; 

 nine miles south-east of Louvain ; population, 7788. 

 It was anciently one of the principal cities of Bra- 

 bunt. It has been a very flourishing and populous 

 city, and many vestiges of its grandeur are yet visi- 

 ble ; but it has suffered much by war and other 

 calamities. In November, 1792, the Austrians 

 were defeated here by the French ; and, in April, 

 1793, the French were defeated by the Austrians, 

 with the loss of 7000 men, and thirty-three pieces 

 of cannon. 



TIROL. See Tyrol. 



TIRONIAN NOTES (Nota Tironiana). See 

 A bbreviaticns. 



TISAN, OR PTISAN (from T-, to decorti- 

 cate, bruise, or pound): 1. barley deprived of its 

 husks, pounded, ar.d made into balls. 2. A drink 

 is so called by the French made mostly of farinace- 

 ous substances, as barley, rice, grits, and the like, 

 boiled with water, and sweetened to the palate. 

 This is prcsciibcd by the French physicians in al- 



most all complaints, being the common mode of 

 putting a patient on a low diet, just as gruel is a 

 common prescription of British physicians in like 

 cases. 



TISCHBEIN; a German family, distinguished 

 in the fine arts, of whom we shall mention only 

 John Henry, born at Heyna, in Hesse, in 1722, 

 died at Cassel, in l'<89, and John Henry William, 

 born at Heyna, in 1751. The latter was appointed, 

 in 1790, director of the academy of painting at 

 Naples, where he did much for the fine arts. The 

 troubles towards the end of the last century caused 

 him to return to Germany. He passed the rest of 

 his life chiefly at Eutin. *Je painted many pictures 

 of great beauty, and was fond of comparing the 

 physiognomies of men with those of certain animals, 

 to which he may have been led by his connexion 

 with Lavater. He published Tctes de differens 

 Animaux dessinees d'apres Nature pour donner une 

 Idee plus exacts de leurs Caracteres (Naples, 1796, 

 2 vols., fol.) : the moral disposition of each animal, 

 if we may be allowed the expression, is given here 

 with admirable truth : also Sir William Hamilton's 

 Collection of Engravings from antique Vases, the 

 greater Part of Grecian Fabric, found in ancient 

 Tombs in the Two Sicilies, in the Years 1789 and 

 1790, with the Remarks of the Proprietor, pub- 

 lished by W. Tischbein (Naples, 17901809, 4 

 vols., fol.), which contains 240 outlines of vases. 

 The originals were lost in a shipwreck. He like- 

 wise published Homer, illustrated by Drawings 

 from Antiques, by W. Tischbein, &c., with illus- 

 trations by Ch. Theophilus Heyne, 1 G numbers 

 (Gottingen, 1801 4), and 7 11 numbers (1821 

 23, Stuttg.), with illustrations by doctor T. 

 Schorn. Homer occupied him almost throughout 

 his life ; he sought for every antique with which 

 the poetry of Homer was in any way connected, 

 and made a rich collection of drawings of antiques, 

 given to the world in the above-mentioned work, 

 the publication of which has been unfortunately 

 interrupted. 



TISIPHONE ; one of the Furies. See Furies. 



TISSOT, SIMON ANDREW, an eminent physician, 

 born in the Pays de Vaud, in 1728, studied at 

 Geneva and Montpellier, and settled at Lausanne. 

 The success with which he treated the confluent 

 small-pox, by means of fresh air and a cooling diet, 

 at a period when stimulants and sudorifics were 

 generally adopted, fixed on the young practitioner 

 the public attention. He published a tract in fav- 

 our of inoculation, in 1750, and Ai-is au Peuple 

 sur sa Santc (1761, translated into English by 

 doctor Kirkpatrick) ; Avis aux Gens de Lettres et 

 aux Personnes svdentaires sur leur Sante (Paris, 

 1768) ; Essai sur les Maladies dcs Gens du Monde 

 (Lyons, 1770, 12mo.) ; and Tentamen de Morbis ex 

 Manustupratione ortis. Tissot refused advantage- 

 ous offers made him by the kings of Poland and 

 England, to induce him to quit Lausanne, but ac- 

 cepted of a professorship in the university of Pavia. 

 This office, however, he relinquished after three 

 years, and returned to Lausanne, where his death 

 took place in 1797. The principal works of Tissot 

 were published together at Paris, 1809 (8 vols., 

 8vo.), with the notes of professor Halle. 



TISSOT, CLEMENT JOSEPH, a relative of the 

 preceding, born in 1750, studied at Besanfon. He 

 published a treatise entitled Gymnast ique Medicate 

 (1781). He was appointed adjunct physician to 

 the household of the duke of Orleans, After the 

 revolution, he wiis surgoon-in chief in various corps 

 . 2 R2 



