TILEFISH 



5812 



TILES 



in 1837. After studying law he was admitted 

 to the New York bar three years later, and rap- 

 idly gained success in his field. As a mem- 

 ber of the state legislature in 1846 he encour- 

 aged the building of canals by the state. For 

 two successive 

 years Tilden was 

 a member of the 

 State Constitu- 

 tional Conven- 

 tion, and served 

 a second term in 

 the New York 

 legislature. H e 

 figured promi- 

 nently in expos- 

 ing the graft and 

 frauds of the fa- 

 mous Tweed 

 Ring (see TWEED, SAMUEL j. TILDEN 



TT7 -. >. Millions of Americans be- 



WlLLIAM MARCY), i iev e he was elected President 

 and gained such of the United States in 1876. 

 popularity that he was elected governor of 

 New York (1875-1876), and was a Democratic 

 candidate for President in 1876. 



In this election there were said to be frauds 

 in the elections of South Carolina, Florida and 

 Louisiana, and the settlement of the question 

 by an electoral committee resulted in a vote 

 of eight to seven, giving the election to Ruther- 

 ford B. Hayes, Tilden's opponent. (For full de- 

 tails of this episode see the article ELECTORAL 

 COMMISSION.) In 1880 and again in 1884 Tilden 

 was offered the Presidential nomination, but 

 he refused it on both occasions. The greater 

 part of his fortune, estimated to be $5,000,000, 

 was bequeathed as a foundation for a public 

 library in New York. The will was contested, 

 and only about $2,000,000 was used for the pur- 



Consult Bigelow's Samuel Jones Tilden; Ha- 

 worth's The Disputed Election of 1876. 



TILE 'FISH, a genus of deep-sea fish first 

 discovered in 1879 by fishermen engaged in 

 cod trawling near Nantucket. These fish were 

 seen again in 1880 and in 1881, and specimens 

 were examined with great interest by the United 

 States Fish Commission, which reported their 

 flesh to be excellent food. The name tilefish 

 is an abbreviated form of a .long scientific name, 

 meaning the crested tilus with a head like a 

 chameleon. (A comparison of the accompanying 

 illustration with that on page 1264 in the arti- 

 cle CHAMELEON will prove interesting.) Large 

 specimens are about three feet long and weigh 

 about thirty pounds. The genus was almost 



exterminated in 1882, when immense numbers 

 of dead fish appeared on the surface of the 

 water south of Long Island. It is supposed 

 they perished in cold-water currents forced 

 southward by the heavy spring gales of that 

 year. Special efforts were made to find surviv- 

 ing specimens and to propagate the fish, and as 

 a result the genus has been reestablished and 

 is increasing in numbers. 



The United States government is endeavor- 

 ing to make the capture of these fish an im- 

 portant branch of the fishing industry, because 

 of their superiority as a food fish. Fishing is 

 carried on in dories, small, strong boats which 

 are thoroughly seaworthy, and are carried by 

 larger sailing vessels. Each dory is manned by 

 two sailors, who row it out a mile from an 

 anchored buoy, to which is attached a mile of 



THE TILEFISH 



fishing line having a thousand hooks. A ton 

 and a half is considered an average catch for a 

 sailing vessel. Before they are brought to land 

 the fish are cleaned and packed in ice. 



TILES, flat, curved or tubular pieces of 

 baked clay, used for covering roofs, mantels, 

 floors and walls, as furnace linings and in the 

 construction of drainage pipes. Coarse, rough 

 clay is generally employed in making the tiles 

 for drainage pipes, and the pieces are tubular 

 or semitubular. A continuous pipe is made by 

 overlapping the separate tiles, each of which 

 has an extension at one end for the purpose. 

 Roofing tiles are of various shapes and colors, 

 and are used very effectively in modern archi- 

 tecture. Wall tiles are made of fine grades of 

 clay, and sometimes of porcelain. Very charm- 

 ing effects are attained by the use of tiles of 

 different colors, harmoniously and artistically 

 arranged. Encaustic is the trade name for 

 decorative tiles used in such a way that there 

 is a main ground of one color and an inserted 

 pattern of a contrasting color. Small, unglazed 

 tiles in plain colors, combined to form a design, 

 are called mosaics. White polished tiles are 

 popular at the present time for walls and ceil- 

 ings of kitchens and bathrooms. 



