THE 



THE 



in Egypt ; adding, that the word is Egyptian. Spencer, 

 ill his diiTei-tation on the urim and thumnum, maintains the 

 word to be Chaldee, and to fignify tiie fame with feraphini : 

 tlie Chaldeans being frequently known to change tlie ^ into 

 J^, that is/into /. He adds, tliat thofe images were bor- 

 rowed from the Amorltes, Chaldeans, or Syrians ; and that 

 the Scrapis of the Egyptians is the fame thing with the 

 theraphim of the Chaldeans. See Selden de Diis Syris, 

 fynt. i. cap. 2. 



Calmet obferves, tliat the figure of a winged ferpent, 

 called yjj-.j^/;, whence the name ieraphim, has given rile to 

 the appellation theraphim, becaufe in the abraxas and other 

 tahfmans of the ancients, which arc real tlieraphims, we 

 find the figures of ferpents both with and without wings ; 

 whence he infers, that the theraphims of Laban, which were 

 ftolen by Rachael, were real tahfmans. Jurieu conjeftures, 

 that thefe theraphims were the penates, or houfliold gods ot 

 L.aban, which, he fays, were the fouls of the heroes of 

 families, deified and worlliipped ; and he adds, tliat the the- 

 raphims of Laban were the images of Noah, the reftorer of 

 the human race, and of Shem, tlie chief of the family of 

 Laban. But Calmet, in reply to this conjetluie, obferves, 

 that it is by no means credible, that the worfhip of the 

 penates and lares was known in the time of Laban ; and 

 that it is not likely, that Laban fhould have ranked among 

 the gods Noah and Shem, who had died fo near his own 

 time: for Noah died A.M. 2006, and Shem A.M. 2158, 

 about eighty-feven years before Jacob came to Mefopotamia 

 after Laban. 



THERAPIDION, in Botany, a name given by fome 

 authors to the common oyfter-green, orfea-laver, a fubftance 

 of the tremella kind. 



THERASIA, in Geography, a fmall rocky ifland in the 

 Grecian Archipelago, feparated from the N.W. coaft of 

 Santorin (the ancient Tliera) by a narrow channel, which 

 forms a fecure harbour for boats ; 3 miles N. of St. Nicolo. 

 Therafia is faid by Townefort and Sonnini to be the prefent 

 Afpronifi (^\v\ac\\ fee) ; but Olivier mentions them as diftinft 

 iflands. Therafia, fays this laft -mentioned traveller, on which 

 Ptolemy places a town, and which Pliny conjedlures, with 

 reafon, to have been detached from Thera, cannot be taken 

 for Afpronifi, nor the latter for the former, as Tournefort 

 imagines. Afpronifi is not large enough to have had upon 

 it the fmalleft village, or the imalleft habitation ; whereas 

 Therafia has fufficient extent, and ite territory is fufficiently 

 good, to have been always the fcite of a town, as one is ftill 

 to be feen there at the prefent day. 



THERESA, a river of Africa, which runs into the 

 Atlantic, S. lat. 1 3°. 



Theresa, Ordir of Maria, a military order inftituted 

 by the emprefs-queen in Gewnany, on the i8th of June, 

 1757, and compofed of two clafles, viz. grand crofles and 

 knights. To thefe the emperor Jofeph H., in the year 1765, 

 added an intermediate clafs, under the appellation of com- 

 manders. The number of knights is not fixed, and the em- 

 peror is grand-mafter. The badge of the order is, " a crofs 

 of gold, enamelled white, edged with gold ;" on the centre 

 are the arms of Auftria, vi'z. " gules, a feffe-argent, encir- 

 cled with the word Fortitudini ;" on the reverfe is " a cipher 

 of the letters M. L. F. in gold, on an enamelled green 

 ground." The badge is worn pendant to a ftriped crimfon 

 and white ribbon. 



THERGUBIS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, 

 in the interior of Mefopotamia, fituated on the bank and 

 towards the fource of the river Chaborras. 



THERIACA, Stipiaica, Treacle, in Medicine, a name 

 given by the ancients to various compofitions eileemed good 



againil poifons ; but afterwards chicfly"re(lfained to what, 

 by way of diftindion, has been called thcriaca Andromachi, or 

 y'enice treacle : but now altogether out of ufe. 



This is a compound of no lefs than fixty-four dnjgs, pre- 

 pared, pulverized, and reduced, by means of honey, into an 

 cleftuary. The bafis or foundation of the compofition is 

 viper's flefh. M. Charas has written a particular hillory of 

 the animals, plants, and minerals, which enter the compofition 

 of this famed remedy. 



It is faid to be fovereign againft the bites of venomous 

 beads, and in the wind-colic ; and was alfo ufed in inter- 

 mitting fevers, and in cafes requiring perfpiratives and dia- 

 phoretics ; alfo in continual fevers, efpccially fuch as are ma- 

 lignant, and where the pulfe is low and ticking ; and in the 

 fmall-pox and meafles : and, as mod of the ingredients of it 

 are very hot, in all difeafes where the natural heat is weak 

 and languid. 



Andromachus, Nero's phyfician, paffcs for the inventor 

 of the theriaca ; at leaft, it was he who gave the firft de- 

 fcription of it in elegiac verfes ; his fon did the fame in profe, 

 and Damocrates in iambics. 



Anciently, the treacle made at Venice had all the vogue ; 

 and many ftill retain the ancient prejudice ; but it has been 

 fince prepared at Montpellier, at Paris, and at London, with 

 as much advantage as at Venice. 



There is another vulgar kind of theriaca, called diatejfarov, 

 becaufe it only confifts of four ingredients. 



Treacle-water and trcacle-vinegai- are found good prcferva- 

 tives againft putrid aii-, whether by only being fmelt at, or 

 by rubbing the wrifts, temples, and nofe with them. 



Theriaca Rujiicorum, a name given to garlic, from its 

 ufe as an antidote againft the contagion of peftilential and 

 other putrid diforders. 



THERIOMA, from S'fiow, to rage, in Surgery, a ma- 

 lignant ulcer. 



THERMA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Cappadocia, 

 on the route from Tavia to Cxfarea, between Tavia and So- 



anda. Anton. Itin Alfo, a town fituated on the confines 



of Macedonia, or rather of Theflaly, towards Thermopylae. 

 This town was fituated on the gulf called Thermasus, whence 

 its name. 



Therma Pythia, baths of Afia Minor, in Bithynia. Pro- 

 copius mentions this place, and fays that Juftinian conftruftcd 

 here a bath for public ufe, and a canal to conduft into it 

 frefli water, and that he alfo provided others, which indicated 

 a magnificence truly royal. 



THERMiE, Ssfiucii, in ArcbiteUure, ancient buildingi, 

 furnifhed with baths, efpecially of the hot kind. 



Among the nobleft monuments of ancient Rome, are 

 reckoned the thermae, or baths of Dioclefian. See Bath.s. 



Thermae, or hot fprings, it is commonly argued, owe heat 

 to a coUuftation, or effervefcence, of the minerals in them. 

 Though Dr. Woodward afcribes it to the fubterraneous 

 heat, or fire, which communicates with them by fome fpi- 

 racle, or canal, whereby a greater quantity of heat is derived 

 thither, than to ordinary fprings. See Bath. 



Thermae, in Ancient Geography, a place on the fouthern 

 coaft of Sicily. Pliny denominates this place a Roman co- 

 lony ; and Antonine calls the fources of the hot water which 

 gave the name of Thermae to this place " Aqua Larodae." 

 There were alfo baths at Sehnonti in Sicily, called Thermae 

 Selinuntise. The name thermit was alfo given to thofe highJy 

 faline warm waters that were found in the neighbourhood of 

 Corinth. 



THERM^US Sinus, a gulf of the JEgean fea, on the 

 coaft of Macedonia. 



THERMASMA, a word ufed by fome of the ancients 

 3 R 2 to 



