T A L 



The Talmud then contains the traditions of the Jews, 

 their polity, duftrino, and tercmonics, which they obforvc 

 as rcligioufly as the law of God itfelf : they would never 

 put them in writing till they were compelled to it by the de- 

 ftruftion of Jerufalem, and till they faw themfclves difperfed 

 throughout the werld. 



They had two famous fchools ; the one at Babylon, and 

 the otlier at Jerufalem : in thefe they made two feveral col- 

 feftions of thofe traditions ; the firft at Jerufalem, the other 

 at Babylon ; but both called Talmud, both exceedingly re- 

 verenced, efpecially the Babylonian, though full of extra- 

 vagancies. This was compiled by tlie Jews of Mefopotamia, 

 about 500 years after Chrift, according to Buxtorf : but 

 Father Morinus offers feveral reafons to prove that it was 

 not finiihed till the year 700. The laft edition of this Tal- 

 mud, at Amltcrdam, is in twelve folios. 



The Talmud of Jerufalem is the Icaft efleemed. It was 

 compiled by tiie Jews of that city, and particularly by 

 Rabbi Jochanan, rcftor of the academy at Tiberias, about 

 300 years after Chrift, according to Buxtorf; but Father 

 Morinus, in his " Excrcitationes Biblica:," lib. ii. exerc. 6. 

 judges, from feveral bai-barous terms found in it, of Vnndalic 

 or Gothic extraction, that it did not appear till the fifth 

 century. This is publllhed in one large folio. 



The Babylonian Talmud confifts of two parts : the one 

 tlic text, the other the glofs or comment : the comment, 

 called the Gemara, contains the decifion of the Jewilh doc- 

 tors, and their expofitions of the text. — This we find 

 ftuffed with dreams and chimeras; together with much ig- 

 norance, and many impertinent queftions and difputations : 

 the ftyle is alfo very coarfe. On the contrary, the text 

 called the Mtfchna, is written in a tolerably pure ftyle, and 

 the reafonings generally much more folid. 



The Jews pretend that this was compofed by Rabbi Juda, 

 fornamed the Saint ; and that God revealed to him the doc- 

 trine, and the chief myfteries of it. But this is only to 

 be underftood of the Mifchna, not of the Gemara, the 

 compilation of which was' not begun till the fixth century, 

 after the dcftru&ion of the fecond temple. 



Rabbi Juda is faid to have compofed the Mifchna under 

 the empire of Antoninus, in the fecond century ; but they 

 do not all agree about this antiquity, fome carrying it back 

 much farther. 



It is the Talmud of Babylon that is ufually read, and moft 

 frequently confulted, among the Je%vs ; fo that when tliey 

 fay fimply " the Talmud," they always meant this ; never 

 quoting the other without the addition of Jerufalem. 



Maimonidcs has made an abridgment of the Talmud, 

 which Scaliger prefers to the Talmud itfelf ; as being purged 

 of many of the fables of which the other is full. It is a 

 fyftem of the laws and cuftoms of the Jews, both of their 

 civil and their canon law, ajid the beft of their traditions. 



About the year 1236, a Jew of Rochelle, well verfed in 

 the Hebrew, becoming Chriftian, made a journey to pope 

 Gregory IX., and difcovered to him a number of errors in 

 the Talmud : thefe the pope fent, in thirty-nine articles, to the 

 archbilhops of France, with a letter, appointing them to feize 

 the books of the Jens, and to burn all fuch as ftiould con- 

 tain thofe errors : in confequence of which order, about 

 twenty cart-loads of Hebrew books were burnt. He vrrote 

 to the fame effeft to the kin^s of England, France, Ara- 

 gon, Caftile, &c. 



His fucceflbr. Innocent IV., giving commiflion to his 

 legate, Eudes de Chateauroux, to examine the Talmud, 

 and other Jewifti books, more carefully, and to tolerate fuch 

 errors as were not contrary to the Cluiftian religion ; the 

 legate wrote to the pope, that to tolerate them was to ap- 



T A L 



prove them ; and the 1 5th of May, 1 248, he alfo conderan^d 

 them juridically to the flames ; and Pa\d IV. ordered 12,000- 

 volumes of the Talmud to be confumed ; and Clement VIII. 

 ordered all the talmudic books that could be found to be de- 

 ftroyed ; a zeal worthy of the Papal fee ! See MiscHNA, 

 Gemara, Caraites, and Rabbixists. 



TALO-CHAN, in Geography, a fmall ifland near tlic 

 coaft of China. N. lat. 29° 57'. E. long. 122° 4'. 



TALOIRE, a town of France, in the department of 

 Mont Blanc ; 8 miles S.S.E. of Annecy. 



TALON, in Ornithology, the claw of a bird. 



Talos, in ArchiteHure, a kind of moulding, confifting^ 

 of a cymatium, crowned with a fquare fillet ; frequently 

 found to terminate ornaments of joiners' work, as thofe of 

 doors, &c. 



The word is French, and literally Cgnifies heel. 



The talon, more properly fo called, is a moulding con- 

 cave at the bottom, and convex at top ; haN-ing an effeft juft 

 oppofite to the doucine. 



\\'hen the concave part is at top, it is called an inverted 

 talon. 



The talon is ufually called by our Englifli workmen ogee, 

 or O.G. and by authors an upright or in-verted cymatium. 



TALOO,in Geography, a harbour on the N. coaft of Ri' 

 meo ; which fee. 



TALOVKA, a river of Ruffia, which unites OTth the 

 Analik, and runs with it into the Irgis, 32 miles E. of 

 Vollk, in the government of Saratov. 



TALPA, the Mole, in Zoology, a genus of the Mam- 

 malia Ferae, the charaAers of which are, that the front 

 teeth in the upper jaw are fix and unequal, thofe in the lower 

 jaw are eight ; the canine teeth are one on each fide, the 

 upper ones being the largeft ; and that the grinders are feven 

 in the upper jaw, and fix in the lower. Gmelin enumerates 

 four fpecies, befides feveral varieties. 



Species. 



EuroPjEA ; Common Mole. Has a (hort tail, and pen- 

 tadaclylous or five-toed feet. The body is thick and cy- 

 Hndric ; the fnout flender, but very ftrong and tendinous ; 

 the head not diftinguifhed from the body by any appearance 

 of neck ; the legs fo extremely fhort, as fcarcely to projeft 

 perceptibly from the body ; the fore-feet fituated obliquely 

 outwards, exceflively ftrong and broad, and fumifhed with 

 very large and ftout claws, fo as to give the animal the power 

 of working under the furface with the utmoft eafe and readi- 

 nefs ; the hind-feet are fmall in proportion to the fore-feet, 

 and are calculated for throwing back with eafe the mould 

 from behind the creatiu-e, during his fubterraneous progrefs ; 

 the tail is fhort and fmall ; the fkin is much thicker aiid 

 tougher in proportion than in other quadrupeds, and the fur 

 with which it is covered equally furpaffes that of other ani- 

 mals in finenefs and foftnefs. The mufcular ftrength of the 

 mole is very great, and it is enabled to force itfelf into the 

 ground with an extraordinary degree of celerity. The ge- 

 neral length of the mole is about five inches and three quar- 

 ters, exclufive of the tail, which meafures one inch. This 

 animal is fuppofed to pofTefs the power of hearing in an ex- 

 quifite degree ; and if at any time it emerges from a fub- 

 terraneous retreat, inftantly difappears on the approach of 

 any danger. When firft taken, either by digging it out or 

 otherwife, it utters a fhrill fcream, and prepares for defence by 

 exerting the ftrength of its claws and teeth. According to 

 the count de Buffon, fo hvcly and reciprocal an attachment 

 fi'bfifts between the male and female, that they feem to dread 

 or difrclifti all other fociety. 



It has been doubted whether the mole has eyes adapted to 



▼ifion. 



