TOR 
the river Oropa, and the lake Solomino. It has a cathedral 
and 13 parish churches, two monasteries, and a population 
of between 7000 and 8000. Toropez is 156 miles south-east 
of Pskov, and 245 south of St. Petersburgh. Lat. 56. 29. 
30. N.' long. 30. 46. 15. E. 
TOROSAY, a parish of Scotland, in Argyllshire, in Mull, 
on the east side of the island, along the sound of Mull. It 
extends 12 miles in every direction. Population 2114. 
TOROTZKO, a small town situated on a hill in Transyl¬ 
vania ; 19 miles north of Weissenburg. 
TOROX, a small town in the south of Spain, on the 
coast of Granada; 25 miles east of Malaga, and 12 east of 
Almunegar. 
TORPEDO, s. [Latin.] A fish which while alive, if 
touched even with a long stick, benumbs the hand that so 
touches it, but when dead is eaten safely.—The torpedo, or 
cramp-fish, came to hand; a fish, if Pliny writes truth, that by 
hiding itself with mud and dirt catches lesser fish very strange¬ 
ly ; for by his frigidity he benumbs such fish as swim over or 
lodge near him, and so preys upon them. Sir T. Herbert. 
The Torpedo, called also the cramp fish, or electric ray, 
is the raia torpedo of Linnaeus, in Ichthyology, a sea-fish, 
famed, both among the ancient and modern naturalists, for a 
remarkable numbness with which it strikes the arm of such 
as touch it. See Raia Torpedo. 
TORPENHOW, a township of England, in Cumber¬ 
land ; 8 miles north-east-by-north of Cockermouth. 
TO'RPENT, adj K [torpens, Lat.] Benumbed; struck 
motionless; not active; incapable of motion.—Let the earth 
be still and stupid;—-anon an universal soul flow into this 
torpent mass. More. —A comprehensive expedient to assist 
the frail and torpent memory through so multifarious an em¬ 
ployment. Evelyn. 
TORPE'SCENT, adj. [torpescens , Latin.] Becoming 
torpid. 
Their torpescent soul 
Clenches their coin. Shcnstone. 
TORPHICHEN, a parish of Scotland, in Linlithgow¬ 
shire ; 9 miles long, and 2] broad on an average. The 
general appearance is hilly. Population 1131. 
TORPHICHEN, a decayed village in the above parish, 
which contains about 300 inhabitants; 4 miles south-west of 
Linlithgow, and 3 north-west of Bathgate. 
TO'RPID, adj. [t.orpidus, Lat.] Numbed; motionless; 
sluggish; not active.-—The sun awakes the torpid sap. 
Thomson . 
TORPIDITY, s. Torpor; state of being torpid. — Sir 
W. Sellers happened to stop at a fisherman’s house in Corn¬ 
wall, whose net had been much torn by a large clod of earth, 
which, upon being examined, was very full of swallows, that 
awaked from their torpidity upon being brought near the 
fire. Haines Barrington. 
TO'RPtDNESS, s. The state of being torpid. — Though 
the object about which it is exercised be poor, little, and low, 
yet a man hath this advantage by the exercise of this faculty 
about it, that it keeps it from rest and torpidness, itenlargeth 
and habituates it for a due improvement even about nobler 
objects. Hale. 
TO'RPITUDE, s. State of being motionless ; numb¬ 
ness ; sluggishness.—Some, in their most perfect state, subsist 
in a kind of torpitude or sleeping state. Derham. 
TO'RPOR, s. [Latin.] Duluess; numbness; inability to 
move; dulness of sensation.—Motion discusses the torpor of 
solid bodies, which, beside their motion of gravity, have in 
them a natural appetite not to move at all. Bacon. 
TORQUAY, a small village of England, in Devonshire, 
situated in a retired cove of Torbay; about two miles from 
the extreme point of Hope’s Ness: 18] miles south-by-east 
of Exeter, and 195 west-south-west of London. 
TORQUEM ADA, a small town in the north-west of Spain, 
in Leon, with 2300 inhabitants; 12 miles east-by-north of 
Palencia. 
TORQUILLA, a river of South America, in the province 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1625. 
TOR 41 
of Darien, which enters Tarena, just before the latter enters 
the sea. 
TORRE (John Maria de la), a celebrated Italian Philoso¬ 
pher, was born at Rome, in 1710, studied at the Clementine 
College, and was elected professor of mathematics and phi¬ 
losophy in the College of Ciudad, in the Frioul; and after¬ 
wards removed to Naples, where he taught the same sciences 
in the archiepiscopal seminary. In 1754 lie was appointed 
librarian to the King of Naples, superintendant of the royal 
printing-house, and conservator of the museum. In the con¬ 
struction of microscopes he is said to have made considerable 
improvements. He was a member of the principal academies 
in Italy, and a correspondent of those of Paris and Berlin, 
and of the Royal Society of Loudon. He died in March, 
1782. His works, besides a Treatise on Arithmetic, are, 
“ The Science of Nature,” Naples, 1749, 2 vols. 4to.; Venice, 
1750, 4to.; “ Elementa Physicae,” Naples, 1767, 8vo.; 
“ History of the Phenomena of Vesuvius,” ibid., 1755, 4to.; 
“ Microscopic Observations,” ibid., 1776. 
TORRE, a small town of Italy, in Piedmont, situated in 
the angle formed by the junction of the rivers Angrogna and 
Felice. It has a population of 2100; 6 miles south-west of 
Pinerolo. 
TORRE, a small town in the north of Italy, in Piedmont. 
Population 1600 ; 6 miles south-south-west of Mondovi. 
TORRE. SeeCASERTA. 
TORRE, a small river in the north-east of Italy, in Friuli, 
which falls into the Lisonzo, at Gradisca. 
TORRE DEL GRECO, a considerable town of Italy, 
situated on the sea coast, at the foot of Vesuvius. It contains 
a population of 16,000, employed for the most part in fish¬ 
ing, navigation, and the culture of the vine ; 9 miles east- 
south-east of Naples. 
TORRE LAGUNA, a small town in the central part of 
Spain, in New Castile. It is remarkable chiefly as the birth¬ 
place of Cardinal Ximenes; 26 miles north-north-east of 
Madrid, and 22 north-west of Guadalaxara. 
TORRE DI NOGARA, a small town of Austrian Italy, 
in the delegation of Verona; 11 miles east of Mantua. 
TORRE DELLA NUNCIATA, or Torre dell An- 
nunciata, a small town of Italy, situated on the sea-coast, 
near the foot of Vesuvius; 12 miles east-south-east of Naples. 
Its population, amounting to 3500, is employed chiefly in 
trade and navigation. 
TORRE DE MONCORVA, a small town in the north of 
Portugal, province Traz-os-Montes, with 2000 inhabitants; 
87 miles east of Oporto. 
TORRE DE OLIVETO, a small town of the island of 
Sicily, in the Val di Demona. 
TORRE DE LA SALINAS, a petty town in the south¬ 
east of Spain, in the province of Valencia; 20 miles south¬ 
east of Orihuela. 
TORRE VELHA, a fort in Portugal, at the mouth of 
the Tagus, on the south side of the river. 
TORRE LA VIEJA, a small town of the north of Spain, 
in the province of Burgos, on the Resaya; 16 miles south¬ 
west of Santander. 
TORREFA'CTION, s. [torrefaction, Fr., torrefacio, Lat.] 
The act of drying by the fire.—Here was not a scorching and 
blistering, but a vehement and full torrefaction. Bp, Hall. 
To TO'RREFY, v, a. [torrefacio, Lat.] To dry by the 
fire. — In the sulphur of bodies torrefied consist the princi¬ 
ples of inflammability. Brown. 
TQRRELLA DE MONGRI, a small town in the north¬ 
east of Spain, in Catalonia; 18 miles east of Gerona. 
TO'RRENT, s. [torrens, Lat.] A sudden stream raised 
by showers. 
The near in blood. 
Forsake me like the torrent of a flood. Sandys. 
A violent and rapid stream; tumultuous current.—Not far 
from Caucasus are certain steep falling torrents, which wash 
down many grains of gold, as in many other parts of the world; 
and the people there inhabiting used to set many fleeces of 
M wool 
