TAB 



TAB 



tcftimony, and its lid or cover, called the mercy-feat, de- 

 icribed Exod. xxv. lo — 21. See Ark of the Covenant. 



The learned Spencer (De Leg. Hebr. dilT. i.) fuggctls, 

 that Mofes projetled the tabernacle, with its furniture and 

 appurtenances, after the fafhion of a fimilar ftrufture, which 

 he had obferved in Egypt, and which was in ufe among 

 other nations ; or, at leaft, that God directed it to be made 

 with a view of indulging the Ifrachtes in a compliance with 

 their cuftoms and modes of worlhip, fo far as there was 

 nothing in them really finful : and he alleges evidence of 

 fuch portable temples among the heathens, in which they 

 depofited themoft valuable facred or religious utenfils. But 

 it has been replied to this conjefture, that it is not probable. 

 But, on the other hand, it (hould feem more likely, that the 

 heathens took thefe things from the Jews, who derived the 

 whole of their religion from God, than that the Jews, or rather 

 that God (hould take them from the heathens : and, befides, 

 the Jewifh tabernacle was ordered to be direttly the reverfe of 

 the heathen tabernacles, both in its form, which was capable 

 of being taken to pieces, whereas theirs was carried about 

 entire ; and in its fituation, which was accommodated to 

 the people's worlhipping towards the Weft ; whereas it was 

 the general praftice of the heathens to worfhip with their 

 faces towards the Eall. (See Ezek. viii. 16. and Virgil 

 ^neid. xii. 1. 172 — 174.) The value of the gold and filver 

 only, ufed for the work of the tabernacle ( Exod. xxxviii. 

 34, 25.), amounted, according to bifliop Cumberland's re- 

 duftion of Jewifh talents and (hekels to Englifh coin, to up- 

 wards of one hundred and eighty-two thoufand five hundred 

 and fsxty-eight pounds. Jennings's Jewifh Ant. vol. ii. b. 2. 

 C. I. Anc. Univ. Hift. vol. i. partii. p. 651, &c. folio. 



We have alfo an account of two other tabernacles before 

 the building of Solomon's temple, befides that above de- 

 fcribed. One of thefe was erefted by Mofes for himfelf ; 

 in which he gave audienee, heard caufes, and inquired of 

 God ; and, perhaps, alfo the public offices of religious wor- 

 fhip were performed in it for fome time ; whence it was 

 called the tabernacle of the congregation (Exod. xxxiii. 7.) 

 The other was that which David erefted in his own city, 

 for the reception of the ark, when he received it from the 

 houfe of Obededom. 2 Sam. vi. 17. i Chron. xvi. i. 



Tabernacles, Feafl of. See Scenopegia. 



Tabernacle is alfo ufed, of late, for a place of religious 

 worftiip, appropriated to the ufe of thofe that are called 

 Methodifts. 



Tabernacle, in /IrchiteSure, an ornamented cheft, gene- 

 rally made of precious wood, metal, or marble, and placed 

 upon Roman Catholic altars, as a receptacle for the cibo- 

 rium and pyxis. 



Tabernacle, in Pointed Archtfe^ure, a niche furmounted 

 by a canopy of tracery work. 



TABERNiEMONTANA, in Botany, was fo called by 

 Plumier, in memory of one of the fathers of modern botany, 

 .Tames Theodore, furnamcd Tabernaeraontanus, that being 

 the latinized appellation of Berg Zabern, a town in the 

 diftriA of Deux-Ponts, where he was born. He died at 

 Heidelberg in 1590, having publifhed a ponderous and 

 learned German Kreuterbuch, or Herbal, the wooden figures 

 of which were fubfequently printed by themfelves, under the 

 title o{ Taberncsmontani Eicones, in long quarto. — Linn. Gen. 

 118. Schreb. 165. WiUd. Sp. PI. v. i. 1244. Mart. 

 Mill. Did. V. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 71. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 535. Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 467. Plum. 

 Gen. 18. t. 30. JuiT. 14J. Lamarck Di£l. v. 7. 527. 

 Jlluftr, t. 170. — Clafs and order, Pentandria Monogynia. 

 Nat, Ord. CtMorte, l,inn, Afocince, Jufl". Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, fniall, m 

 five acute converging fegments, permanent. Cor. of one 

 petal, falver-lhaped ; tube cylindrical, many times longer 

 than the calyx, tumid at the bafe ; limb horizontal, in iivc 

 deep, oblong, obtufe, obhquely twifted fegments, fcarcely 

 fo long as the tube. Ncftary of five cloven glands, fur- 

 rounding the germen. Stain. Filaments five, fmall, inlerted 

 into the middle of the tube ; anthers creft, aTow-ihaped, 

 converging, generally cnclofed in the tube. Pifl. Germciu 

 two, fimple ; llyle folitary, central, thread-lhaped ; lligma 

 oblong, capitate, cloven, dilated at the bafe. Peric. t'ol- 

 hcles two, horizontally fpreading, tumid, pointed, each of 

 one cell and one valve. Seeds numerous, ovate-oblong, ob- 

 tufe, rugged, imbricated, imbedded in pulp. 



EIT. Ch. Corolla falver-fhaped ; its limb obhquely twifted, 

 in five deep fegments. Anthers arrow-(haped, within the 

 tube. Follicles two, tumid, divaricated. Seeds imbedded 

 in pulp. 



" A genus of ftirubs, with oppofite fimple leaves. SlipuUu 

 between the footftalks, connedted below, loofe above. 

 Cymes fomewhat forked. Calyx permanent." — Brov/n, by 

 whofe remarks we have profited in fome of the abore 

 charaAers. The fpecies are all of tropical origin, and con- 

 tain more or lefs of an acrid milky juice. The Jlo'wers are 

 white or yellow, moftly fragrant and ornamental. Two 

 North American herbaceous fpecies, with alternate leavest 

 and blueifti flowers, one of them, 7". Amfonia of Linnxus, 

 having a funnel-fhaped corolla, and no pulp in thc/rarf, are 

 well (eparated by Walter, Michaux, and other late writers, 

 under the generic name of Amfonia. 



1. T. citrifolia. Citron-leaved Tabernaemontana. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 308. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Jacq. Amer. 38. 

 t. 175. f. 13. (T. laftefcens, citri foliis undulatis ; Plum. 

 Ic. 246. t. 248. f. 2. T. n. I ; Browne Jam. 182.)— 

 Leaves elliptical, pointed. Panicles axillary, ftalked, cy- 



mofe, of few flowers Native of the Weft Indies. Jacquin 



obferved it in Martinico ; Browne in Jamaica. The French 

 in the former ifland call it Bois laiteux, from the milky juice 

 with which every part abounds. Theflem is (hrubby, ere<ft, 

 branched, from five to eight feet high, fmooth hke every other 

 part. Leaves oppofite, ftalked, from four to fix inches 

 long, and from two to three and a half broad, of a fine 

 fhining pellucid green ; paler beneath ; wavy at the edges ; 

 furniflied with a central rib, and many ftrong, curved, nearly 

 oppofite, tranfverfe ones. Floiuers white, with a light agree- 

 able fcent, in oppofite, axillary, fomewhat umbellate, ftalked 

 panicles, about twice or thrice the length of the foolfialis. 

 Jacquin defcribcs the follicles as always green, acute, filled 

 with foft orange pulp, enveloping the brown rugged feeds. 



2. T. laurifoUa. Laurel-leaved Tabernxmontaiia. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 308. Willd. n. 2. Ait. n. 2. Jacq. Amer. 39. 

 (Nerium arboreum, folio latiore obtufo, flore lutco minore ; 

 Sloane Jam. v. 2. 62. t. 186. f. 2.)— Leaves elliptical, 

 bluntifti. Panicles axillary, nearly feffile, cymofe, fmooth, 

 Ihorter than the footftalks.— Native of banks of rivers in 

 Ja:naica. We have feen no fpecimen. Sloane defcribes 

 this as 3. tree, whofe trunk is as thick as one's leg, fifteen feet 

 high, with long crooked branches, leafy at the end. The 

 leaves appear to be rather lefs pointed than in the former, 

 and of a darker green. Floiuers yellow, very fweet-fcented ; 

 the tube of their corolla half an inch only in length ; in the 

 firft fpecies it meafures full an inch. The fower-ftalks are 

 fmooth, not fcaly. Linnxus erroneoufly refers Browne's 

 plant to this fpecies, on the authority of Solandcr, who 

 marked the original fpecimen 2". laurifoUa. 



■\. T.fquamofa- Scaly-ftalkedTabcrujcmontana. — Leaves 



ovate, 



