T H U 



*rHlTRNEISSER, Leonard, in Biography, a man of 

 \;reat temporary celebrity in chemiftry and the occult 

 fciences, was born at Bade in the year 1530. Having im- 

 prudently, in I 547, when a boy, married a widow, who proved 

 unfaithful ; and having involved himfclf in debt, he found 

 himfclf under a neceflity of leaving both liis wife and his 

 native place. Accordingly, in 1548 he went to Strafburg, 

 and from thence he proceeded to Conftance, having, by dili- 

 gent application to his trade of a goldfmith, amaffed a con- 

 fiderable fum of money. He employed liimfelf in the con- 

 ilruclion of mathematical inllrumcnts, and in a variety of 

 metallurgic operations v\'ith fuch reputation, that he was 

 cntrulted with the diredlion of the fmelting works at 

 Eberfvvold in the I'yrol. During his abode at Conftance, 

 lie married the daughter of a goldfmith by whom he had 

 been employed, and in 1558 retired with her to Tarcnz 

 in the Upper Innthal, where he fcn'mcd metallurgic eftablifli- 

 ments on his own account, and conftrucfed furnaces, toge- 

 ther with a manufaftory for the preparation of fulphur. 

 Here he was vifited by feveral perfons of eminence, and 

 became known to the emperor Ferdinand ; and patronifed 

 by the emperor's fon, the archduke Ferdinand, he travelled, 

 by hisconfent, in 1560, to Scotland and the Orkney iflands, 

 and in 1561 to Portugal and Spain, and alfo to fome parts 

 of Africa and Afia. On the fummit of mount Sinai he 

 received the order of St. Catharine ; and in his way home he 

 vifited Candia, Greece, Italy, and Hungary. When he 

 arrived in the Tyrol, he found his eftabliftiments in great 

 confufion ; but he was enabled by the government of 

 Infpruck to revive and fupport them. He was then deputed 

 by the archduke to examine the mines in Hungary and 

 Bohemia; but notwithllanding this high patronage, he in- 

 volved himfelf in debt, and by his pride and extravagance 

 forfeited the favour of his patrons. In 1569 he obtained 

 leave to vifit Lower Germany, for the purpofe of making 

 fome obfervations in natural hiilory, and of fuperintending 

 the printing of fome of his works. During the leilure 

 afforded by fome of his fea-voyages, he had compofed, in 

 German verfe, a work intitled " Archidoxia," or an account 

 of the influence which the planets have on the human body, 

 and on all the employments of man ; together with a fecret 

 introduction to alchemy. He had prepared alfo another 

 work, called the " QuintefTence," in which he pointed out 

 the conneftion between medicine and alchemy, and gave 

 inftrudlions how to extraA from all fubftances their 

 quintelTence or fubtile parts. He pretended alfo to have 

 made fome other curious difcoveries, which we cannot detail. 

 ■ At Mnnfter he publifhcd, in 1569, the firft edition of his 

 " Archidoxia," in 4to. ; and his " Quinteifence" was 

 printed there, alfo in 4to., in 1570. Thefe works inere after- 

 wards enlarged and publifhed in folio. Thurneifter, quar- 

 relhng with the bifhop, left Munfter and removed to Frank- 

 fort on the Oder, to print his " Pifon," or Defcription of 

 Rivers, by which, together with his calendar and book on 

 plants, he acquired the greateft fhare of his reputation. 

 Having cured the margravine of Brandenburg of a danger- 

 ous illnefs, the margrave appointed him his phyfician, and 

 defrayed the expence of bringing his wife and family from 

 Conftance. In 1572 he pubhftied his work " On Urine," 

 in which he afferts, that by examining the urine of Sigif- 

 mond I. of Poland, he had difcovered the nature of his dif- 

 eafe, and predifted his death, with the day on which it 

 would happen. Under the patronage of the margrave of 

 Brandenburg he went on profpcroufly with liis laboratory 

 and printing-prefs ; and indulged in the moft expeniive and 

 fplendid mode of drels and hving. His vifitors were nume- 

 rous, and of the lirft rank ; and among his correfpondents 



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were the emperor Maximilian, and Elizabeth queen of 

 England. He was confulttd not only in all kinds of dif- 

 eafcs, but on witchcraft, magic, and other fucii matters. 

 His printing-prefs was in high eftimation. By printing, 

 and the fale of his MSS. and prefcriptions, he acquired great 

 wealth. For the MSS. the elcftor, John Gruge, gave him 

 9000 dollars ; and there was formerly in the king's library at 

 Berlin, a MS. entitled " De Tranfmutatione Veneris in So- 

 lem," for which an annual penfion of 600 dollars was fettled 

 on him and his children. He was the firft perfon who formed 

 a collcftion of natural curiofities in the Marche of Branden- 

 burg. He had alfo a garden filled with plants for the ftudy 

 of botany, and a menagerie, containing a colle£lion of various 

 animals from all parts of the world. In 1575 he loft his 

 fecond wife, who arranged all his affairs with great pru- 

 dence ; and this was the era of his downfall. From opulence 

 he was reduced to poverty. His reputation as a phyfician 

 declined. Dr. Hoffman of Francfort, in his oration " De 

 Barbarie Imminente," was formidable to his credit, and he 

 contrived means to prevent its being printed till the year 

 1578. Thurncifter, fearing utterly to lofe his charafter, 

 prepared for his departure from Berlin, and retired to 

 Baile, where, in 1 5S0, he married a third wife. Withdrawing 

 from domeftic difquiet into Italy, he is faid to liave con- 

 verted, in the prefence of the grand duke, Francefco de 

 Medici, one half of an iron nail into gold. This fingular man 

 died in 159J, or 1596, in a monaftery at Cologne, after re- 

 quefting that his body might be interred clofe to that of 

 Albert the Great. A lift of his works is given by Haller 

 in his Bibliotheca. Gen. Biog. 



THUROTZ, in Geography, a river of Hungary, which 

 runs into the Waag, 12 miles N. of St. Martin. It gives 

 name to a county. 



THURROCK GRAYS, or Great Thurrock, a 

 market-town in the hundred of Chafford, and county of Effex, 

 England ; is fituated 22 miles S.S.W. from Chelmsford, 

 and 24 miles E. by S. from London. It .acquired the ap- 

 pellation of Grays from the noble family of that name, wlio 

 poffefTed the manor for upw ards of three centuries, from the 

 year 1 194, when it was granted to them by king Richard I. 

 The town confifts principally of one irregular ilreet, on the 

 banks of a fmall creek from the Thames, navigable for hoys 

 and vefTcls of fmall burthen. A weekly market is held on 

 Thurfdays, chiefly for the fale of corn, and is much fre- 

 quented : here is alfo an annual fair. The church is built 

 in the form of a crofs, with a tower on the north fide. 

 By the return under the population aft. of the year 181 1, 

 this pariih was ftated to contain 214 houfes, and 1055 in- 

 habitants. 



In the adjacent parifties of Chadwell and Little Thurrock 

 are various caverns, or holes, of unequal depths and dimen- 

 fions, formed in the chalk, which here conftitutes the upper 

 ftratum : they appear to open from the top by a narrow 

 circular paffage, which near the bottom begins to fpread, 

 and communicates with fubterranean apartments of dif- 

 ferent forms. Dr. Dcrham mcafured fix of thefe caverns, 

 and reports them to be of various depths, from fifty to eighty 

 feet. The origin of thefe excavations is uncertain ; the 

 opinion of fome modern writers, that they were the gra- 

 naries of the Britons, feenis by far the moil rational fuppo- 

 fition. They are alfo called Dane Holes, and traditionally 

 reported to have been ufed as receptacles or hiding-places 

 for plunder during the frequent incurfions of the Danes into 

 this ifland. — Beauties of England and Wales, vol. v. Effex ; 

 bv J. Britton and E. W. Brayley. 



' THURSDAY, the fifth day of the Chriftians' week, but 

 the fixth of that of the Jews. See Thou and Week. 



Thursday, 



