T R I 



T R I 



TRIBERL, BOHMISCH, a town of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Chrudim ; 4 miles E.N.E. of Leutmifchl. 



TRIBISA, a river of Saxony, which runs into the Elbe, 

 near Meiflen, 



TRIBOCOI, Triboci, or Triboces, in Ancient Geography, 

 a people of Germany, on this fide of the Rhine, fitnated, 

 according to Strabo and Csefar, between the Mediomatrici 

 and the Treviri. Caefar fays they formed part of the army 

 of Arioviftus. Their capital was Argentoratum or Strafr 

 burg. 



TRIBOLI, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, 

 in the government of Trebifond ; 4 miles W.S.W. of 

 Trebifond. 



TRIBOMETER, formed of rp.^i.., / rub, and jxil^uj, 

 I meafure, in Mechanics, a term applied by Mulchenbroeck 

 to an inftrument invented by him for eftimating the friftion 

 of metals. It confifts of an axis formed of hard fteel, 

 pafling through a cylindric piece of wood : the ends of the 

 axis, which are highly pohftied, are made to rell on the 

 pohlhed femicircular cheeks of various metals, and the de- 

 gree of friftion is eftimated by means of a weight fufpended 

 by a fine filken firing or ribband over the wooden cylinder. 

 For a farther defcription and figure of this inftrument, and 

 the refult of various experiments performed with it, fee 

 Mufchenb. Int. ad Phil. Nat. vol. i. p. 151, &c. 



TRIBONIANUS, or Tribonian, in Biography, an 

 eminent jurift, was a native of Side, in Pamphyha, and richly 

 furniihed with Greek and Roman literature, fo that he 

 compofed works on a great variety of fubjefts. But as he 

 principally devoted himfelf to the ftudy of civil law, he ex- 

 celled in this department, and rofe to fome of the higheft 

 pofts in the empire. In the office of queftor, to which he 

 was advanced, his avarice led to fuch a degree of oppreflion, 

 that in the fedition of Conftantinople, A.D. 532, his re- 

 moval was one of the demands of the people. His influence, 

 however, was fuch, that he was foon reftored, and he con- 

 tinued, on account of his talents and by means of his fer- 

 vile adulation, to enjoy the favour and confidence of his 

 fovereign for twenty years. He was elevated to the digni- 

 ties of coniul and m.after of the offices, and was confulted 

 on all important occafions. Of his concern in compiling 

 the code of civil law, we have elfewhere given an account. 

 (See Code and Civil Law.) He has been charged with 

 enmity to the Chriftian faith, and he has been under the 

 inconfiftent imputations of Atheifm and Paganifm. Whe- 

 ther charges of this kind be true or falfe, he was notorious 

 for his avarice and want of integrity ; and from the con- 

 traft prefented by his heart and his underttanding, Gibbon 

 has drawn a parallel between him and our great Bacon. 

 His death is placed about the year 546. Anc. Un. Hift. 

 Gibbon's Rom. Emp. 



TRIBRACHYS, formed from r^n-, three, and ^pxu;, 

 flort, in the Ancient Profody, a foot of verfe, confiiting of 

 three fyllablcs, and thofe all fhort ; as. Melius. 



Some of the ancients call ttiis foot irocbuus. 



TRIBSEES, in Geography, a town of Anterior Pome- 

 rania. This town is reckoned a pafs to Mecklenburg ; 22 

 miles S.W. of Stralfund. N. lat. 54° 5'. E. long. 

 .2° 47'. 



TRIBSTADT, or Tripstadt, a town of France, in 

 the department of Mont Tonnerre, late in the duchy of 

 Deux Fonts ; 18 miles N.W. of Landau. 



TRIBUCH. See Trebuchet, Cucking-S'/m/, and 

 Scolds. 



• TRIBULOIDES, in Botany, Tourn. t. 431. See 

 Thapa. 



TRIBULUS, 7f■(3o^os of the ancient Greeks, rpi^SoAi 



of the moderns, was fo called from the likenefs of iu fruit 

 to the inftrument of war denominated in Englifh a caltrop. 

 ( See Trapa. ) Whether the name arofc from tpi.S:^, to tear, 

 or injure ; or as fome think from Tfsic, three, and /SoXr, a cajl, 

 or a ivound, may admit of controverfy. The caltrop has 

 four, not exaftly three, points ; and the feed-veffel of our 

 plant has a much greater number, though the appearance of 

 the whole very much refembles the above war-like, or rather 

 treacherous, inftrument. — Linn. Gen. 213. Schreb. 289. 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. V. 2. 566. Mart. Mill. bi6t. v. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 3. 41. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Gric. Sibth. t. 1. 

 273. JufT. 296. Tourn. t. 141. Lamaiek lUnftr. t. 346. 

 Gasrtn. t. 69. — Clafs and order, DecanJria Monogynia. 

 Nat. Ord. Gruinales, Linn. Rutacctc, Juff. but not 

 correctly. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, in five 

 deep acute fegments, rather fliorter than the petals. Cor. 

 Petals five, oblong, . obtufc, fprcading. Stam. Filaments 

 ten, fmall, awl-fhaped ; anthers incumbent, fimple. P'ift. 

 Germen roundifh, briftly, the length of the ftamens ; ftylf 

 fhort and thick ; ftigma capitate, with five rays. Peric. 

 roundifli, thorny, of either five or ten capfules, which 

 are gibbous externally, and armed with three or four fharp 

 thorns ; angular on the inner edge and crowded together ; 

 their cells feveral, tranfverfe. Seeds folitary in each cell, 

 oblong. 



Obf. T. maximus, Linn?eus by miftake fays cijtoides, 

 has ten rugofe capfules, almoft deliitute of lateral fpines. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx in five deep fegments. Petals five, 

 fpreading. Style conical. Capfules five or ten, gibbous, 

 fpinous, with feveral feeds. 



1. T. maximus. Great Caltrops. Linn. Sp. PI. 553. 

 Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Jacq. Coll. v. 4. IIO. Ic. 

 Rar. t. 462. (T. n. 2 ; Browne Jam. 220. t. 21. f. 3. 

 T. terreilris major, flore maximo odorato ; Sloane Jam. 

 v. I. 209. t. 132. f. 1 ; the figure at leail, and part of 

 the defcription. T. terreftris, frudu turbniato, foUis lanu- 

 ginofis ; Plum. Ic. 252. t. 254. f. i.) — Leaflets about 

 four pair ; the outer ones largeft. Fruit turbinate, wrinkled, 

 flightly fpinous, with ten furrows. Style permanent.-— 

 Native of dry wafte places, or rocky gravelly ground, in 

 moft parts of Jamaica. Sloane. The root is annual, rather 

 deep. Stems feveral, about two feet long, fpreading flat 

 on the ground, branched, round, leafy, ilriated, rather 

 hairy. Leaves oppofite, abruptly pinnate, loofely hairy, 

 an inch and a half long, of fix pan- of half-ovate, entire, 

 acute leaflets ; the firft pair fmalleft, the third largeft ; on 

 a flat ftalk. Stipulas awl-(hapcd, pale, hairy. Flo'-j:ers 

 axillary, folitary, inodorous, on fimple ftalks fliorter than 

 the leaves, hairy, and fwelling upward. Calyx permanent. 

 Petals obovate, half an inch long, dirty white, ribbed with 

 dull purple. Germen roundifh, hany, crowned with a coni- 

 cal permanent_y?>'/f, exceeding its own length ; pgma obtufe, 

 marked with five rays. Fruit hairy, compofed of ten cor- 

 rugated tumid capfules, knobbed rather than fpmous, and 

 beaked with the thick jiyle. Linnxus certainly alludes to 

 this fpecies, in the obfervation under his charat^ers of the 

 genus, and not to T. cijloides, wiiich has the proper thorny 

 fruit of the reft. It fcems to us, that Sloane's definition 

 and defcription of the flower belong, on the other hand, 

 to cijloides, and that hence Liini-deus, neverlhelefs, took his 

 fpecific name of maximus, whicli is nowife fuitable to the 

 plant before us. _ . „ „, 



2. T. lanuginofus. Woolly Caltrops. Lmn. Sp. PI. 

 553. Willd. n. 2. (T. terreftris zeylanicus, cauliculis 

 villofis, fruftu acuminate ; Burm. Zcyl. 266. t. lofi. f- I.) 

 — Leaflets from five to feven pair, filky, nearly equal. 



D d 3 Frnit 



