574 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



tracts of surface are found in the northwestern 

 cantons of Berne, Basle, and Zurich, where they 

 form a series of mountain-locked vales', backed 

 by the Jura Range on the French border. The 

 chief valley is that of the Rhone in the south 

 embracing the canton of Yalais. with rich 

 tillable tracts and fertile pastures extending on 

 either hand towards the bases of the Bernese 

 and Pennine Alps. The principal rivers. ;t ll 

 rapid and unnavigable, are the Rhone, Rhine, 

 Ticino. Reuss, Aar, etc.. with their affluents. 

 The Swiss lakes, notably numerous and pic- 

 turesquely located, as well as of great depth, 

 comprise those of Geneva, Constance, Lucerne, 

 Neufchatel. Zurich, Thun, Bienne, Wallen- 

 stadt, and Brienz. Forests cover about one- 

 sixth of the entire surface of Switzerland. Agri- 

 culture is carried on chiefly in the valleys, where 

 the cereals, along with flax, hemp, and tobacco, 

 are raised. The mountain slopes, occupying 

 fully two-fifths of the territorial area, afford 

 excellent pasturage, and furnish dairy produce, 

 tallow, hides, etc., in quantities enough for 

 exportation. Fruits of the hardier varieties 

 grow well and profitably. In the western can- 

 tons, the vine flourishes; while the orchards of 

 the Thurgau and other northern districts supply 

 ample material for the manufacture of cider, 

 a IK! of Kirschenwasser and other liquors. The 

 national industry (other than rural) is largely 

 developed in important manufactures, of which 

 those of textile fabrics, leather goods, pottery, 

 sugar, watches, jewelry, etc., constitute the 

 staple items. The chief cities and towns are: 

 Geneva, Zurich, Berne, the capital, Basle, 

 Lausanne, La Chaux de Fonds, St. Gall, Lucerne, 

 Neufchatel, and Freiburg. 



Taj Mahal, or Mehal ("Gem of Build- 

 ings"), a famous mausoleum, erected at Agra, 

 India, by Shah Jehan for his favorite wife. It 

 is 186 feet square with the corners cut off, the 

 whole surmounted by a dome fifty-eight feet in 

 diameter and about 210 feet in height, flanked 

 by four octagonal kiosks. The interior is di- 

 vided into four domed chambers in the corners, 

 and a large central arcaded octagon, all con- 

 nected by corridors. The central octagon con- 

 tains two cenotaphs surrounded by a very 

 noticeable openwork marble rail. The only 

 light admitted enters through the delicately 

 pierced marble screens of the windows. The 

 decoration is especially noticeable for the stone 

 mosaics of flower themes and arabesques, much 

 of them in agate, jasper, and bloodstone. The 

 entire structure stands on a white marble plat- 

 form eighteen feet high and 313 feet square, 

 with tapering cylindrical minarets 133 feet high 

 at the corners. The whole Koran is said to be 

 written in mosaics of precious stones on the 

 interior walls. In the construction of this 

 magnificent building, which, as Bayard Taylor 

 says alone repays a visit to India, 20,000 men 

 were employed twenty years. Although the 

 labor cost nothing, over $20,000,000 were ex- 

 pended in its construction. The doors are of 

 solid silver, and an enormous diamond was 

 placed upon the tomb itself. 



Thames, the most important river of Great 

 Britain; usually said to rise about three miles 

 southwest of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, 



near a bridge over the Thames and Severn Canal, 

 called Thameshead Bridge, but is more properly 

 formed by the Isis, Churn, Colne, and Leach , 

 which have their sources on the east side of the 

 Cotswold Hills, and unite near Lechlade. Its 

 total course is estimated at LV>() miles. Its tribu- 

 taries include the ^'indrush, rhenvell, Thame, 

 Colne, Brent, Lea. and Roding. on the left; 

 the Kennet, Loddon, Wey, and Mole, on the 

 right. Thameshead Bridge is 376 feet above 

 sea level; the junction of the Colne above 

 Lechlade is 243 feet. At London Bridge the 

 width of the river is 266 yards, at \\ool\vich, 

 490 yards, at Gravesend, 800 yards, and three 

 miles below, 1,290 yards. The depth of the 

 river in the fair way above Greenwich to Lon- 

 don Bridge is twelve to thirteen feet, while its 

 tides have a mean range of seventeen feet and 

 an extreme rise of twenty-two feet. By means 

 of numerous canals immediate access is given 

 from its basin to those of all the great rivers of 

 England. 



Thunder, the dazzling light emitted by 

 the electric spark when it shoots from clouds 

 | charged with electricity is called lightning. In 

 the lower regions of the atmosphere the li^ht 

 is white, but in the higher regions, where the 

 air is more rarefied, it takes a violet tint ; as 

 does the spark of the electrical machine in a 

 rarefied medium. The flashes of lightning are 

 ; sometimes several leagues in length; they 

 I generally pass through the atmosphere in a zig- 

 zag direction a phenomenon ascribed to the 

 resistance offered by the air condensed by the 

 passage of a strong discharge. The spark then 

 diverges from a right line, and takes the direc- 

 tion of least resistance. In vacuo electricity 

 passes in a straight line. The sound which 

 accompanies lightning is called thunder. It is 

 due to the sudden disturbance of the air in the 

 vicinity of the line in which the spark passes. 

 It is generally a long rolling sound rising and 

 falling in intensity. The duration of the thunder 

 peal is generally attributed to the re-echoing of 

 the sound produced at various places. 



Tiber, a river of Italy celebrated in ancient 

 Roman history, rises in the Apennines, in the 

 province of Arezzo, Tuscany; rapid and turbid 

 in its upper course, but navigable 100 miles up- 

 wards from its mouth; flows generally in a 

 southern direction, and after a course of about 

 260 miles enters the Mediterranean about fifteen 

 miles below Rome. 



Tides, the rising and falling of the water 

 of the sea, which occurs periodically, as ob- 

 served at places on the coasts. The tide ap- 

 pears as a general wave of water, which grad- 

 ually elevates itself to a certain height, then as 

 gradually sinks till its surface is about as much 

 below the medium level as it was before above 

 it. From that time the wave again begins to 

 rise; and this reciprocating motion of the waters 

 continues constantly, with certain variations 

 in the height and in the times of attaining the 

 greatest degree of height and of depression. 

 The alternate rising and falling of tne tide- 

 wave are observed to take place generally twice 

 in the course of a lunar day, or of twenty-four 

 hours, forty-nine minutes of mean solar time, 

 on most of the shores of the ocean, and in the 



