T E S 



T E S 



had iiitenJi'd, when writinjr the article Testaceology, to 

 luive fuhmittcd our ideas as to a new and more comprehen- 

 live claffification of the genera ; to have pointed out the 

 very eflential dillintlions tliat exift in (hells of the fame 

 Linnsean genera ; and have thence endeavoured to deduce an 

 arrangement congenial with the charafters of the refpetlive 

 natural genera which his artificial genera prefent. This we 

 believe would have been regarded as an improvement in the 

 claiTical diftribution of the (hell-tribe, but fuch an illuftration 

 does not appear, upon more mature refledlion, to be admilFible 

 here. It mud be apparent that no words, unaccompanied 

 by (igures, could polTibly convey to the reader any adequate 

 conception of the minute, ambiguous, and intricate elfential 

 charatlers, which many among the various tribes of (hells 

 prefent ; and that fuch a feries of plates as it would demand 

 to illuftrate a fubjeft fo very copious and diffufe, however 

 defirable in the opinion of the naturahft, could not be ap- 

 propriated, with any degree of propriety, in addition to the 

 very coftly feries of plates already devoted by the Cyclo- 

 pedia to this fcience in particular. 



The feries of plates which have already appeared, eluci- 

 date the whole of the Linn^an genera, and under each of 

 thofe genera, a number of the more ftriking natural genera 

 which appertain to them refpeftively. Thefe plates are 

 numerous, and the fubjetts for them have been feleCled with 

 every poffible attention ; nor can we helitate to think upon 

 the whole they will be confidcrcd, without any further addi- 

 tion, as amply fufficient for every ufeful purpofe of general 

 information. 



TESTACEOUS, in Natural Hiflory, an epithet given 

 to thofe filh, which are covered with a Itrong, thick (hell ; 

 as oyfters, pearl-fifh, &c. 



In ftriftnefs, however, teftaceous is only applied to fi(li 

 whofe ftrong and thick fliells are entire ; thofe which are 

 foft, thin, and confift of feveral pieces jointtd, as the lobiler, 

 &c. being called crtijlaceous. 



In medicine, all preparations of (hells, and fubftances of 



the like kind, are called teftaceous Such are powders of 



crab's claws and eyes, pearl, &c. 



Dr. Quincy, and others, fuppofe the virtue of all tefta- 

 ceous medicines to be alike ; that tJiey feldom or never enter 

 tlie lafteals, but that the chief of their aftion is in the firft 

 palTages ; in which however they are of great ufe in ab- 

 lorbing acidities. 



Hence they become of ufe in fevers, and efpecially in 

 reftifying the many diftempers in children, which generally 

 owe their origin to fuch acidities. 



TESTAMENT, Testamentum, in Law, a folemn and 

 authentic aft, by which a perfon declares his will, as to the 

 difpofal ofhiseftate, effefts, burial, &c. 



Teftaments, according to Juftinian, and fir Edward Coke, 

 are fo called, becauf' they are tcflalio mentis ; an etymon, 

 fays judge Blackftone, which feems to favour too much of 

 the conceit, it being plainly a fubftantive derived from the 

 verb tejiart. The definition of the old Roman lawyers is 

 much better than their etymology ; voluntatis nujlm jujla 

 fententia de eo, quod quis pojl mortem fuam jieri 'velit ; i. e. the 

 legal declaration of a man's intentions, which he wills to be 

 performed after his death. It is called fententia, to denote 

 the circumfpeftion and prudence with which it is fuppofed 

 to be made ; it is -voluntatis nojlra- ftntentia, becauie its efficacy 

 depends on its declaring the teitator's intention, whence in 

 England it is emphatically ftyled his mill: it hjujla fentrntia, 

 that is, drawn, attefted, and pubhfhed witli all due folemnities 

 and forms of law : it is de eo, quod quis pojl mortem fuam 

 fieri -velit, becaufe a teftament is of no force till afty the 

 death of the teftator. Blackftone's Com, vol. ii. 



A teftament lias no effcft till after death, and is always 

 revocable till then. As tellamcnts are afts, of all others, 

 the moll fubjedl to deceits, furpri'/e, See. it was found 

 necidary to ufe all kinds of precautions to prevent the wills 

 of the deceafed from being eluded, and the weaknefs of 

 dying perfons from being abufed. See Will. 



The moll ancient teliaments among the Romans were 

 made -viva voce, the teftator declaring his will in the prefence 

 of feven witnefles ; thefe they called nuncupative teliaments; 

 but the danger of trufting the will of the dead to tlic 

 memory of the living foon abolidied thefe : and all tefta- 

 ments were ordered to be in writing. 



The Erencli legiflators thouglit holographic teftaments, 

 i. e. teftaments written wholly with the teftator's h'and, 

 an abundant fecurity ; but the Roman law, more fevere, did 

 not admit of teftaments without farther folemnity. 



The ealiell, and moft favourable, is the twenty-firft law 

 in tile code de tejlamentis, which permits fuch as are un- 

 willing to truft the fecret of their teftaments to others, to 

 write it with their own hand, and to clofe it in the pre- 

 fence of feven witnedes, declaring to them, that it is their 

 teftament ; after which it is to be figned by all the feven 

 witneffes. 



Otherwife, to make a folemn teftament, it was required 

 to be attefted by feven witneffes, and fealed with their 

 feals. 



Yet the military teftament was not fubjeft to fo many for- 

 malities : the foldier was fuppofed too much employed in 

 defending the laws, to be fubjeft to tile trouble of knowing 

 them. His tumultuary profelTion excufed him from obferv- 

 ing all the rules. See Military. 



Teftaments, wherein fathers difpofed of their cftatos 

 among their children, had particular privileges, and were 

 difpenfed from moft of the ordinary formalities. 



Testament, Prolate of a. See Phor ate and Will. 



Testament, Old and New, in Sacred Hiflory. The moft 

 common and general divifion of the canonical books of 

 fcripture, is that of the Old and New Teftament. (See 

 Canon.) The Hebrew word Berith, from which it is 

 tranflated, properly fignifies " Covenant." Accordingly St. 

 Paul {2 Cor. iii. 6 — 18.), when he is ftiewing the fuperior 

 excellence of the gofpel covenant, or the difpenfatioii by 

 Chrift above the legal covenant, or the difpenfation by 

 Mofes, ufes the word teftament, not only for the covenamt 

 itfelf, but likewife for the books in which it is contained. 

 The Hebrew term JT"12' berith, invaj-iably rendered cove- 

 nant by our tranftators in the Old Teftament, is uniformly 

 tranflated AiaflnHti in the Septuagint ; and in the writings 

 of the apoftles and evangelifts, the words r, xaim ^irtSux.u 

 are almoll always rendered by our tranllators the New 

 Teftament. It is obferved, that the Hebrew term cor- 

 rcfponds much better to the Englifli word " Covenant," 

 though not in every cafe perfeftly equivalent, than to 

 " Teftainent ;" and yet the word iiJcStuo', in clalTical ufe, 

 is more frequently rendered Tejlament. Our tranflators, 

 ancient and modern, have probably been led to render it 

 Teftament, by the manner in which the author of the epiftle 

 to the Hebrews argues (ch. ix. 16, 17.), in allufion to the 

 clalTical acceptation of the term. The term Neiv is added 

 to diftinguilh the religious inftitution of Jefus Chrift from 

 the Old Covenant, that is, the difpenfation of Mofes. Ac- 

 cordingly the two covenants are always in fcripture the two 

 difpenfations, or religious inllitutions ; that under Mofes is 

 the Old, and that under the Meffiah is the Netu. Hence, 

 from fignifying the two religious difpenfations, they came 

 foon to denote the books in which what related to thefe 

 difpenfations was contained ; the feveral writings of the 

 3 D 2 .lews 



