Toad
in zoology, the popular name in the 19th century . Other edifices are the town hall (1864 ), in late Venetian of any species of the family Bufonidæ, style, with a tower of 80 feet, a market which is almost universally distributed, grammar school house (1830), and the gramm ("free" in name but not in fact), which, founded by Peter Blundel in 1604, and familiar to every reader of Blackmore's "Lorna Doone," has given place to a modern structure. The historic building, however, will remain intact. The cloth trade has declined since the 17th century, and lace making is now the leading industry. Pop. (1901) 10,382.
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Toadstool
. See Mushroom
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Toast
a slice of bread parched or slightly scorched before the open fire. The digestive juices attack the toast even more readily than stale bread. For this reason, it is a favorite diet for invalids, or when a hearty meal is not desired. It was the custom in the sixteenth century to place a piece of toast in the bottom of the wine glass. In this way the term passed to a drink taken at table in recognition of an honored guest or the reigning belle of the season. By another transition, the term is applied to a sentiment to which an after-dinner speaker is called to respond. See Bread ; Food
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Tobago
the most S. of the Windward Islands; belonging to Great Britain; 75 miles S. E. of Grenada and 18½ miles N. E. of Trinidad; 24 miles long and 7 miles wide; pop. about 21,000. The island was discovered by Columbus in 1498, and named by him Assumption; the name of Tobago is supposed to have arisen from the free use of tobacco by the Caribs when first visited by Europeans. It has been frequently contested between Dutch, Spaniards, and French, but came into British possession in 1763. The island is volcanic, its surface being irregular and picturesque, and abounding in conical hills and spurs, all connected by a ridge running through the interior, the greatest prisoners. elevation of which is 1,800 feet above the From the high ridge level of the sea. descend deep and narrow ravines, which terminate in small alluvial plains. Scarborough is its chief town, pleasantly situated on the S. side, and at the base of a conical hill rising 425 feet in altitude, crowned by Fort King George, now without garrison. The chief exports are rum, molasses, cocoanuts and livestock to the amount of from $100,000 to $200,000. The imports run from $100,000 to $150,- 000. The island was united with the colony of Trinidad in 1889, and has a commissioner appointed by the governor.
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Tobin-bronze
Important: Safety Warning This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes. This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon. See DELTA-METAL. Tombac is a cheap gilding metal for common jewelry, and purposes where it is desired to substitute for the nobler metals a cheap imitation. Those given in the following table are made by first fusing the copper and adding the remainder afterward in the usual way-except in the case of white tombac: in this alloy the two metals copper and arsenic are melted together in a closed crucible, and well covered with common salt to prevent oxidation. Kinds of Tombac. Copper. Zinc. Tin. Arsenic. Brass. Lead. Gold, imitation..... 16 1 1 Silver-white, for buttons, etc. ..... 75 25 Red..... 11 1 Gilding for common jewelry..... 16 1 to 1 1/4 Gilding for common jewelry..... 16 6 Gilding for common jewelry..... 16 3 to 4 Gilding for common jewelry..... 82 18 1 3 French imitation gold..... 80 17 3 Yellow, gilt ornaments..... 85.3 14.7
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Tobit
in the Apocrypha, a book generally placed between II Esdras and Judith, and containing 14 chapters. A pious man, Tobit by name, resident in Thisbe in Naphthali, was taken captive by Enemessar (Shalmaneser), King of Assyria, and located in Nineveh.
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Toboggan
a long narrow sled made usually of a single board turned up like the runner of a skate at the front end. The name is derived from the American Indians. Toboggans were first used by the Canadians to drag peltry and camp supplies over the snow. Sliding down hill on a toboggan, or tobogganing, as it has been called, has become a favorite sport in Canada and the colder parts of the United States . A well made toboggan carries from two to five persons crouching one behind another. Tobogganing has been introduced in the Engadine, Switzerland, as a winter sport for tourists. A slide at the head of a canon descends 600 feet in three-quarters of a mile. The run, including a final turn up a little hill at the foot, has been made in fifty-nine seconds. See Ski
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Tobol
a river of Siberia, which rises in the W. slope of the Ural Mountains, in the province of Orenburg, and joins the Irtish at the town of Tobolsk, after a course of about 550 miles.
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Tobolsk
a town of Western Siberia, capital of a province, at the confluence of the Irtish and the Tobol, nearly 2,000 miles E. of St. Petersburg. It is well built, with timber houses and wide and regular streets, and its position on the two great rivers is picturesque; but its situation, considerably N. of the great commercial highway between Russia and Siberia, and at a distance from the more productive regions of the country is unfavorable for the development of commerce. Pop. about 25,000.
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Tocqueville, Alexis de
tok'vil, Alexis de (1805-1859), a French statesman and writer. He was born at Paris and was educated for the law. In 1831 he was sent to the United States by the French government to investigate our penitentiary system. This he did and made a report that attracted attention. While in America he took notes freely, and on his return he wrote Democracy in America, 1835. It was a work somewhat in the vein of Bryce's later American Commonwealth. It was the first scholarly examination of American institutions. It was translated into many languages. It won Tocqueville a seat in the French Academy. A brief edition was for a time a favorite textbook in American colleges. In 1839 Tocqueville was elected to the French chamber of deputies. He was not in sympathy with the Orleans party. Under the presidency of Louis Napoleon he voted against the measures of the radical democrats. In 1849 he held the portfolio of foreign affairs for five months. When Louis Napoleon broke faith with the people and sabred his way into the imperial office December 2, 1851, Tocqueville retired to private life and devoted himself to the labors of a historian. The Ancient Regime and the Revolution appeared in 1856. Socialists consider that Tocqueville was an observer of penetration, a profound student of democracy, but that he was afraid to give the people of France the reins. His interest in democracy was intellectual, not sympathetic. See Bryce
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