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remained Pagan till the year 17 18. Towards the N. the 

 extent of this chain has not been precifely afcertained ; but 

 the Moquis, on the W. of Santa Fe, and under tlie fame 

 parallel, are poiitively clatfed among its inhabitants ; and it 

 probably forms one chain with that of Nabajo, and the 

 Sierra Azul, or BIul' Ridge, of Alzete, and the ilony 

 mountains of North-weft America, fending off a branch 

 called Gomes on the W. of New Mexico, while on the E. 

 of that province is the inferior ridge of Namhi. In the vice- 

 royalty, the general dillance of tiie Topian chain from the 

 wellern (liore is about 140 Britifli miles, but in fome parts 

 not above half that fpnce. Pinkerton. 



TOPIARIA, in Botany, a name by which fomc authors 

 have callt-d the acanthus, or bear's-breech, a plant common 

 in the gardens of the curious. 



TOPIC, in Rheloiic, a probable argument, drawn from 

 the feveral circumflances and places of a faCl, &.c. See 

 Ahoumext and Locus. 



TOPICE, To'Tixr,, Topica, exprelles the art or manner 

 of inventing and managing all kinds of probable argumenta- 

 tions. 



The word is formed from the Greek, To-mo;, of totto,-, 

 place, its fubjert being the places, which Ariftotle calls the 

 feats of arguments. 



Ariftotle has written " Topics ;" and Cicero a kind of 

 comment on them, to his friend Trebatius, vviio, it feenis, 

 did not underfland them. But the critics obferve, that the 

 " Topica" of Cicero agree fo little with thofe eight books 

 of Topics which pafs under the name of Ariftotle, that it 

 follows neceffarily, either that Cicero was much miftakcn, 

 which is not very probable ; or that the books of Topics, 

 now attributed to Ariftotle, are not wholly his. 



Cicero defines topica, or toplce, to be the art of finding 

 arguments, " difciphna inveniendorum argumeiltorum." 



Rhetoric is fometimes divided into two parts ; judgment, 

 called alfo dialedice ; and invention, called topice. 



TOPICS, formed from ■r';-:zo:, place, or topical remeilL's, in 

 Medicitie, are commonly ufed for what \vt otherwile call (.v- 

 ternal remedies, i. e. fuch as are applied outwardly to forae 

 particular difeafcd and painful part. 



Such are plafters, cataplafms, blifters, unguents, falves, 

 collyriums, &c. 



Topics are fuch medicines, as by the fmallnefs and mo- 

 bility of their particles, attended for the moft part with 

 gentle acrimony, are able to make their way into the fub- 

 ftance of the parts to which they are applied, without erod- 

 ing or wounding any of the folids ; and thence are juftly 

 talkd penetrating topics. 



It may be a queftion how topics in medicine aft. It is 

 commonly faid, that this or that medicine penetrates the 

 pores ; but the ideas annexed to fuch expreffions do not feem 

 very diftinft. Writers on this fubjeA have feldom been at 

 the pains to tell us what pores they mean. We have an 

 effay on this fubjeit in the Med. Eft. Edinb. vol. ii. art. 4. 

 by Dr. Armftrong, who thinks that the eftefts of fuch me- 

 dicines are not owing to the particles entering the orifices 

 of the abforbent veins ; nor to the opening of the exhalent 

 vcftels on the furface of the body by thefe medicines ; nor 

 will he allow the particles of penetrating topics to force 

 their way through the coats of the veffels ; but he fuppofes 

 that fubtle medicines are conveyed, by the exhalent vcftels 

 of the fl<in, to thofe parts of the fmaller arteries, where 

 the circulation is choaked by obftruction. 



The gout is never cured by topics ; they may affuage the 

 pain for a time ; but fo»- a cure, the fource of the evilmuft 

 be attacked with internals, 



TOPI NAM Bakanas, in Geo^r^j/A)', a town of Brafil, 



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in tlie government of Para, on the river of the Amazons ;' 

 80 miles S. W. of Pauxis. S. lat. 2° 42'. 



TOPINAMBOS, a confiderable tribe of anthropophagi 

 in Brazil. V V & 



TOPINO, a river of Italy, which runs into the Tiber, 

 5 miles S. of Perugia. 



TOPI R I A, m Ancient Geography, a town fituated in the 

 interior of Thrace. Pliny and Ptolemy. 



TOPLITZ, in Geography, a town of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Leitmeritz, near which the Auftrians defeated the 

 Pruffians in the year 1762 ; 14 miLs W.N.W. of Leit- 

 meritz.. N. lat. 50=37'. E. long. 13° 51'. 



TOPLI WODA, a town of Silefia, in the principahty of 

 Munfterberg ; 7 miles N.W. of Munfterberg. 



TOPLOCZA, a town of Hungary ; 14 miles S.E. of 

 St. Crot. 



TOPLUC, a town of Hungary ; 20 mifes S.S.W. of 

 Podolicz. 



TOPOBEA, in Botany, Aubl. Guian. 476. t. i8g, 

 Jufl". 329, is probably not generically diftinA from Melas- 

 TOMA ; fee that article, and the natural order of Melas- 

 roMJE. 



TOPODURTY, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in Myfore ; 24 miles W. of Tadcmeri. 



TOPOGRAPHY, formed from ■xi.-ao:, place, and ■)^xlu, 

 I Jejcribe, a defcription or draught of fome particular place, 

 or fmall traft of land ; as that of a city or town, manor or 

 tenement, field, garden, houfe, caftle, or the like ; fuch as 

 furveyors let out in their plots, or make draughts of, for the 

 information and fatisfaftion of the proprietors. 



Topography differs from chorngraphy, as a particular from 

 a more general. 



TOPOLEVA, in Geography, a fortrefs of Ruflla, in 

 the government of Caucafus, on tlie Ural ; 40 miles N. of 

 Guriev. 



TOPOLITZA, a town of European Turkey, in Mol- 

 davia ; 12 miles S.W. of Niemecz. 



TOPOLTZAN, a town of Hungary ; J2 miles N.E. 

 ofPrefljLiTg. N. lat. 48° 34'. E. long. 18° 25'.. 



TopoLTZAN, (A'/j',) a town and caille of Hungary ; 12 

 miles N.W. of Bukans. 



TOPOROW, a town of Auftrian Poland, in Galicia ; 

 35 miles N.E. of Lemberg. 



TOPPARPOUR, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude ; 25 

 miles E. of Bahraitch. 



TOPPING of Trees, in Rural Economy, the praftjce of 

 cutting or lopping off the heads of them, eipccially of the 

 different forts of hedge-row trees, which, in this laft cafe, is 

 a diigufting and difgraceful cuftom, now on the dechne. See 

 Pollard Trees, 



Where, however, this fort of work is to be performed, it 

 (liould, in all cafes, be executed in the autumn, or very early 

 in the fpring months. 



In topping fallen trees, the different parts fhould be cut 

 out and put together into feparate lots, as the large arms into 

 one, the fmaller branches into another, and the fmall brufli, 

 or faggot-wood, into a third. Thus the whole may be 

 readily difpofed of, or converted to its proper ufe. 



Topping the Lifts, aboard a Ship, the fame as haling 

 the top-fail-lifts, by flackening one of them, and pulling 

 upon the oppofite one, fo as to place the yard at a greater 

 or lefs obliquity with the mafts. See Lifts. 



ToppiNG-Z,r//, a large and ftrong tackle, employed to 

 fufpend or top the outer end of a gaff, or of the boom of a 

 main-fail and fore-fail ; fuch as are ufed in brigs, (loops, or 

 fchooners. Falconer. 



F 2- TOPRAK- 



