T A X 



made- his eldcft fon a knight ; whon he married his cldeft 

 daughter to a gentleman ; and wlien he made the voyage ot 



the Holy Land. r , ■ i • j r . 



Naude (liews the extravagant rife of this kind of taxes : 

 thofe, he obferves, which under diaries V I . only amounted to 

 the fum of 40,000 livres, were increafed under Charles VU. 

 to the fum of 1,800,000; under Louis XL to 4,740,000; 

 under Charles VIIL to 6,000,000 ; and under Louis XU. 



to 7,640,000 livres. , r > 



Taxes were dillinguifhed into free, which were thole due, 

 in the four cafes, by freemen, or thofe who held free lands ; 

 and fervih and b.ife', which were thofe due from perfons ot 



bafe condition. ,- 7 rr. 



They were alfo diftinguidied into real and perfonal. 1 he 



perfonal were impofed on the head of the fervant or man in 



mainmort, and fo followed him wherever he went. 



TAXA, in Geography, one of the fmall Weftern illands, 



near the fouth-eaft coaft of Hay. N. lat. 55" 43'. W. long. 



6° 3'. 



TAXAMALCA, a town of Mexico ; 60 miles S. of 



Mexico. 



TAXAMARCA, a town of Mexico, in the province 

 of Mechoacan ; 40 miles E. of Mechoacan. 



TAXANTHEMA, in Botany, fo named by Necker, 

 from TK?!,-, a row, and av9n,x«, hiflnrefcence^ becaufe fome 

 of the plants on which this fuppofed genus is founded differ 

 from other fpecies of Statice, in having their flowers difpofed 

 in a regular feries, or row, and not in a round head ; wit- 

 nefs S. Limonium and its allies. Thefe fpecies indeed con- 

 ftitute Tournefort's genus of Limonium, but he affociates 

 with them others with difperfed flowers. (See Statice 

 and Limonium.) Mr. Brown, Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 

 426, adopts Necker's genus and name, citing Tournefort's 

 Limonium as a fynonym. The latter name was probably 

 judged too near Llmonia to be retained. We prefume to 

 think the genus of Statice is in itfelf fo natural, and fo well 

 diftinguiihed from every other, that if a praftical example 

 were defired, to warn us againft founding generic dillinftions 

 upon inflorefcence alone, no better could be felefted. See 

 Cyme and Genus. 



TAXERS, two officers yearly chofen in Cambridge, to 

 fee the true gauge of all weights and meafures obferved. 



The name took beginning from taxing and rating the rents 

 of houfes, which was anciently the duty of their office. 



TAX-GUTIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of 

 Rh^tia, towards the fource of the Rhine, near Brigantium. 

 Ptol. 



TAXIANA, an ifland fituated in the Perfian gulf, on 

 the coaft of Sufiana, weft of the ille of Tabiana. Ptol. 



TAXILA, a large town of India, on this iide of the 

 Ganges. Ptol. and Strabo. 



TAXIMIRA, a town of Phoenicia. Strabo. 



TAXIPA, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in the pro- 

 vince of Guafteca ; 30 miles N.N.W. of Panuco. 



TAXIS, Ta|.;, in the Ancient Architefliire, fignifies the 

 fame with ordonnance in the new, and is dcfcribed by Vitru- 

 vius to be that which gives every part of a building its juft 

 dimenf^ons with regard to its ufe. 



Taxis, from To-s-^i', lo put in order, in Surgery, the opera- 

 tion of reducing a hernia with the hand. See a particular 

 account of it in the article Hernia. 



TAXITLAN, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in the 

 province of Guafteca ; 38 miles S. of St. Yago de los 

 Valles. 



TAXUS, in Botany, the ancient Latin name of the 



J. ^ A. ^^ X^I 1^ , 111 JJUIiHiy, b(li~ (1IIV.1^,11V .LJAI.I11 11UI11\. ^'X \.li^ 



ew-tree, ufed by Pliny. The word is fuppofed by fome 

 • be derived from to|o-., a boiu, arroiu, or dart, becauie 



T A X 



mifTile weapons were poifoned with its berries. We are con- 

 fident that this precife explanation is erroneous, becaufe, 

 whatever may be the noxious quahties of any other part of 

 the plant, the berries are fimply mucilaginous and faccha- 

 rine, eatable vvitli impunity, as we have often experienced. 

 The ancient ufe of this wood for bows, perhaps alfo for 

 arrows or darts, might more truly account for the above 

 etymology, did not Diofcorides exprefsly tell us Txfo; was 



Latin Linn. Gen. 532. Schreb. 706. Willd. Sp. PI. 



V. 4. 856. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Sm. Fl. Brit. 1086. 

 Prodr. Fl. Grxc. Sibth. v. 2. 265. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. 5. 415. Purfh 647. Juff. 412. Lamarck lUuftr. 

 t. 829. Gsertn. t. 91. — Clafs and order, Dloecia Mona- 

 delphia. Nat. Ord. Cnnifert, Linn. JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Gal. none, except the fcales of the 

 bud, refembling a perianth of four leaves. Cor. none. 

 Stam. Filaments numerous, united below into a column, 

 longer than the bud ; anthers depreffed, blunt, with eight 

 notches, at the edge, fphtting all round at the bafe, and 

 after fliedding tlieir pollen becoming flat and peltate, re- 

 markable for their eight marginal fegments. 



Female, Cal. inferior, of one leaf, clofe, undivided, en- 

 tire. Cor. none. Pijl. Germen fuperior, ovate, acute ; 

 ftyle none ; ftigma obtufe. PeKtc none, except a fpu- 

 rious incomplete berry, formed of the calyx elongated 

 into a globofe juicy coloured Iheath, open at the top, at 

 lengtli (hrivelling and drying away. Seed one, ovate- 

 oblong, projefting with its fummit beyond the berry. 



Eff. Ch. Male, Calyx none. Corolla none. Stamens 

 numerous. Anthers peltate, with eight fegments. 



Female, Calyx cup-fhaped, entire. Style aone. Seed 

 one, partly enveloped in the pulpy calyx. 



Obf. LinnKus properly mentions that the berry of this 

 genus cannot, ftriftly fpeaking, be denominated a pericarp. 

 " It is a remarkable fpecies of bern-, like which nothing 

 elfe is to be feen, except perhaps in Gaulthcria.'" If the 

 analogy here cited be juft, the part in queftion is a real calyx, 

 not more extraordinary in its change than that of Blitum, or 

 of Morus, and we have always ventured to term it fuch, 

 truiling to the analogies of Juniperus and Ephedra for our 

 iupport. 



I. T. baccata. Common Yew. Linn. Sp. PI. 1472. 

 Willd. n. I. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl. Bot. t. 746. (Taxus ; 

 Ger, Em. 1370. Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 444. Camer. Epit. 

 84P. ) — Leaves linear, two-ranked, crowded, nearly flat. 

 Male flowero globofe. — Native of mountainous woods, par- 

 ticularly in the clefts of high calcareous rocks, in various 

 parts of Europe, from Norway to Greece, flowering in 

 March or April. Diofcorides indeed, who calls this tree 

 o-|UiAaf, fpeaks of it as an exotic, the la^oc of the Romans ; 

 but Mr. Hawkins noticed it wild on the rocks of mounc 

 CyUenein Laconia. Thunberg fays it is common ir. Jripan. 

 The trunk is ftraight, of flow gi-owth, with a fmooth deci- 

 duous bark, and very hard, tough, cloie-grained wood. 

 Branches fpreading horizontall)' in two direftions. Leanies 

 numerous, fcattered, crowded, fpreading in two rows, nearly 

 fcfTile, linear, entire, flightly revolute, Qbtufe with a fmall 

 point, fmooth, of a dark fhining green, permanent, about 

 an inch long. Floivers axillai-y, folitary, nearly feflile, en- 

 veloped with imbricated bradeas ; the male ones numerous, 

 fometimes two or three together, cream-coloured, half the 

 fize of a pea, globofe, abounding with pollen ; females 

 drooping, their green entire calyx juft vifible beyond the 

 bradeas. This afterwards affumes the appearance ot a bright 

 fcarlct berry, the fize of a currant, open at the top, where 

 the feed appears. The leaves are very poifonous, and if ac- 

 cidentally eaten by domeftic cattle, prove fatal. The 



ancienti 



