T H O 



TiioRA, in Botany. See Aconitum. 



'I'HOR ACIC, in Anatomy, an epithet applied to various 

 parts ill an.i about the ch..-ft, as to the aorta above the dia, 

 plu-agra, and to fomc branches of the axillary artery ^lee 

 Akteky): to fomc branches of the axillary plexus ot 

 mrves (fee Nerve) ; to the trunk of the abforbing 

 fyftcm of veflcls. Sec Absorbents. 



THORACICI, in the Linnaan Syftem of Ichthyology, the 

 name of the third order of bony fifhcs, rcfpiring by means 

 of gills only : the charader of which is, that the bronchia 

 are ofliculated, and the ventral fins are placed underneath the 

 thorax. This order in Gmelin's edition of the Linnxan 

 fyftem, includes nineteen genera, and a good number of 

 fpecies. The genera are, the cepola, echends, coryphana, 

 gobius, cottus, fcorpana, %eut, pleuroneHes, chstodon, fparus, 

 fcarus, labrus, Jc'itna, perca, gafterojleus, fcomber, centrogajler, 

 muHus, and trigla. 



THORiii Radix, in the Materia Medica, the name of a 

 root which keeps its place in the catalogues of officinal 

 fimples, but is feldom ufed. See Aconitum and An- 



THORA. 



The plant which produces it is the thora valdcnfis of 

 Gerarde. It is kept in the gardens of the curious, but 

 jrrows wild in the mountainous parts of Germany. The 

 root is compofcd of a number of granules or fmall lumps, 

 hke that of the common ranunculus ; the leaves are roimdifh, 

 and ftand on fmall pedicles, and the ftalks are about fix 

 inches high, and the flowers yellow, and like thofe of our 

 common wild ranunculufes. 



The root is acrid and corrofive, and the juice of the 

 leaves is faid to poifon animals, and to have been ufed by 

 the ancients for that purpofe. 



THORAME, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Lower Alps; 13 miles E. of Digne. 



THORAX, in Anatomy, that divifion of the Ikeleton 

 which contains the bones forming the cavity of the cheft ; 

 or it is ufed to denote the cavity of the cheft. See Lung, 

 where the bones and their articulations are defcribed, as well 

 as the cavity they form, and its coatents. 



Thorax. For an account of the operation of tapping, 

 refer, to Empyema, Paracentesis, and Wouni>s of the 

 Thorax. 



The fubjeft of wounds of the cheft will be found in the 

 article Wounds. 



THORDO, DiACONUS or LegifeR, in Biography, de- 

 fcended from an ancient family, was provincial judge in North 

 Jutland, and flourifhed in the timeof WaldemarIII.,or about 

 the year 1350. He was the author of the following work ; 

 " Conftitutio Voldemari Regis, per Thordonem Legiferum, 

 &c." Ripis, 1504,61 Havn. 1508, 4to.;tranflated into Latin 

 together with Waldemar's Jutland Laws, and afterwards pub- 

 li(hed in Ludewig's " Rehquise MSS." torn. xii. and alfo in 

 German by Eric Krabbe, in " Weftphal's Monuments." 

 Gen. Biog. 



THORDSEN, or Theodori Sturla, called alfo Frode 

 or Polyhljlor, was born in Iceland, about the beginning of 

 the 13th century. His father was Thordur Sturlefon, bro- 

 ther to the celebrated Snorro. (See Sturleson.) He is 

 reprefentcd to be one of the greateft Icelandic poets of his 

 time, as well as an eminent lawyer and hiftorian. His talents 

 excited enemies, fo that he wa3 forcibly carried away from 

 the ifland in 1263, and conveyed to Norway, where he was 

 favourably received by the king Magnus Lagebseter, ad- 

 mitted into liis council, and appointed his hiftorian and da- 

 pifer, one of the higheft offices at the Norwegian court. 

 Afterwards, however, he returned to Iceland, and having 

 been chief juftice of the country for many years, died' in 



T H O 



1 284. Hie works are " Landnama Saga," or " Liber Ori- 

 ginum Iflandiae," publi(h(;d entire by bilhop Thordur Thor- 

 fakfen, Skalholt, 1688, 4to., and by J. Finnzus, Havn. 

 1774, 4to.: — A continuation of " Sturlimga Saga," orthe 

 hiftory of the Sturla family, and alraoft the whole of Ice- 

 land, during his time, which was begun by the learned 

 bifliop Brand : — " The Hiftory of King Haager Haagen- 

 fen," publilhed at the expence of the crown-prince Frede- 

 ric : — " The Hiftory of King Magnus Lagebseter," com- 

 piled from the public records of the kingdom, the greater 

 part of which has been loft. Gen. Biog. 



THORESBY, Ralph, an eminent antiquary, the fon 

 of a coniiderable merchant of an ancient family at Leeds, 

 where he was born in the year 1658. His father belonged 

 to the body of Prefbyterians, and being addifted to anti- 

 quarian ftudics, founded tlie collcftion entitled " Mufeum 

 Thorclbianum." The fubjeft of this article was intended 

 for a mercantile profeffion, and in order to complete his edu- 

 cation, begun at Leeds, and profecuted in London, he was 

 fent, in his twentieth year, to Rotterdam, to acquire the 

 Dutch and French languages. But his father dying in 1679, 

 he fucceeded him in bufinefs, married, and fettled in his na- 

 tive town. To antiquarian refearches, for which his father's 

 example had given him an early tafte, he devoted much time 

 and attention. In the earlier period of his life he had been 

 an occafional conformift, in common with many of thofe who 

 were called Diftenters, and difgufted by the indifcreet zeal 

 of his paftor in maturer life, as well as probably influenced 

 by his diocefan, archbiftiop Sharp, he joined in full commu- 

 nion with the eftablifhed church. His conneftion and cor- 

 refpondence with perfons engaged in fimilar purfuits with 

 his own were gradually enlarged : and upon communicating, 

 by Dr. Mai-tin Lifter, an account of feme Roman antiqui- 

 ties difcovered in Yorkfhire, to the Royal Society, he was 

 admitted a member of that learned body in 1697. In 17 14 

 he publifticd a work in which he had been long engaged, 

 containing a hiftory of his native town, and entitled " Duca- 

 tus Leodenfis ; or the Topography of Leedes, and Parts ad- 

 jacent," together with a catalogue of the antiquities, &;c. 

 contained in the Mufeum Thorelbianum. An hiftorical part, 

 to which he often refers, and comprehending a view of the 

 ftate of the northern diftrifts of this kingdom in remote 

 ages, was left in MS. continued to the fixth century ; which 

 MS. being communicated to the editors of the Biographia 

 Britannica, was by them printed entire in the article " Tho- 

 refijy." He publiftied alfo " Vicaria Leodenfis, or the 

 Hiftory of the Church of Leedes," Lond. 1724, com- 

 prehending obfervations on the origin of parochial churches, 

 and the ancient manner of building them, together with 

 biographical memoirs of feveral clergymen. In the follow- 

 ing year he was feized with a paralytic affeftion, which ter- 

 minated his life at the age of fixty-eight years. Poffeffing 

 an extenfive acquaintance with the hiftory of his country, 

 genealogy and heraldry, and ancient coins and medals, he 

 always manifefted a diipofition to affift thofe who were en- 

 gaged in works of the antiquarian and biographical defcrip- 

 tion. The fentiments of Mr. Thoreftjy were liberal and 

 CathoUc ; his manners regular, and his difcharge of focial 

 and religious duties exemplary. Biog. Brit. 



THORIGNY, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Channel; 6 miles S.S.E. of St. Lo. — 

 Alfo, a town of France, in the department of the Yonne ; 

 18 miles S.S.E. of Provins. 



THORLASKEN Gudbrand, in Biography, an Ice- 

 landic writer and prelate, was born at Stadarbakke, in the 

 diftrift of Holum, in 1542. In 1561 he was fent to the 

 univerfity of Copenhagen ; in 1564 he became reftor of the 



fchool 



