Tlazolteotl \ ,tla-sol-'te-o-t 3 l\ Important and complex Aztec earth- mother goddess. She was known in four guises, each associated with a different stage in life. As a young woman, she was a carefree temptress. In her second form, she was the destructive goddess of gambling and uncertainty. In middle age, she was able to absorb human wrongdoing. In her final manifestation, she was a terrifying hag preying on youths. She was thought to provoke carnal lust and illicit sexual activity, but she could also grant absolution and remove corruption from the world by eating sexual filth.
Tlingit Vtliq-gotX Northernmost group of Northwest Coast Indian peoples who inhabit the islands and coast of southern Alaska, U.S. The Tlingit language is thought to be related to Athabaskan. The basic social unit was the lineage, based on maternal lines of descent; clans and larger units (moieties) were also important. Each lineage had its own chief, owned and exploited lands of economic importance, and functioned as a ceremo¬ nial unit. The economy was based on salmon fishing, though sea and land mammals were also hunted. Wood, often decorated with stylized designs, was used for houses, totem poles, canoes, dishes, and other objects. The potlatch marked a cycle of rituals mourning the death of a chief. The Tlin¬ git number about 20,000.
TM See Transcendental Meditation
TNT in full trinitrotoluene \ 1 tri- l ni-tro-'tal-y3- l wen\ Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (—N0 2 ) groups to toluene. Because TNT melts below the boiling point of water but explodes only above 464 °F (240 °C), it can safely be melted and poured into casings. It is relatively insensitive to shock and, for practical purposes, cannot be exploded without a detonator, making it the preferred chemical explosive, used in munitions and for demolition.
To-wang Vto-'wagX or Togtokhtor Vtog-.tok-'turX (fl. 19th century) Mongolian prince who opposed Manchu rule and supported Mongolia’s independence from China. Concerned with education, he set up a primary school open to commoners, had Buddhist scriptures translated into Mon¬ gol, and codified practical advice for herdspeople in a book he circulated among them. To diversify the economy, he encouraged agriculture and the production of textiles and woolen goods. His plan to build a central temple to replace 11 local temples turned his people against him; higher authorities decided in his favour, but the temple project was canceled.
toad Any member of 26 genera (order Anura) of mainly terrestrial, noc¬ turnal, tailless amphibians. Toads have a squat body, short legs, external
fertilization, and teeth in the upper jaw. They eat insects or small ani¬ mals. The more than 300 species of true toads ( Bufo ) are found almost worldwide. They are 1-10 in. (2-25 cm) long and have thick, dry, often warty skin. Poison secreted by glands on the back and warts irritates the eyes and mucous membranes of predators. Some species’ poison can paralyze or kill animals as large as dogs, but toads do not cause warts.
Toads reproduce by laying in water two long jelly tubes containing 600- 30,000 eggs. The genus Nec- tophrynoides contains the only anurans that bear live young. See also frog, horned toad.
toadfish Any of about 45 species (family Batrachoididae) of heavy¬ bodied, carnivorous, bottom-living fishes, found chiefly in the New World and mostly in warm seas.
Toadfishes, up to 16 in. (40 cm) long, have a broad, flattened head, a large mouth, strong teeth, and small scales (if any). Most produce grunting or croaking sounds. The oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau ) is common in shallow eastern North American coastal waters. Venomous toadfishes (genera Thalassophryne and Daector ), of Central and South America, have venom-injecting spines on their dorsal fins and gill covers. Midshipmen (genus Porichthys), shallow-water American fishes, have rows of 600- 840 buttonlike light organs along the body.
toadflax See butter-and-eggs
toadstool See mushroom
Toba dynasty See Northern Wei dynasty
tobacco Any of numerous species of plants in the genus Nicotiana, or the cured leaves of several of the species, used after processing in vari¬ ous ways for smoking, snuffing, chewing, and extracting of nicotine. Native to South America, Mexico, and the West Indies, common tobacco (N. tabacum ) grows 4-6 ft (1-2 m) high and bears usually pink flowers and huge leaves, as long as 2-3 ft (0.6-1 m) and about half as wide. When Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, he reported natives using tobacco as it is used today, as well as in religious ceremonies. Believed to have medicinal properties, tobacco was introduced into Europe and the rest of the world, becoming the chief commodity that British colonists exchanged for European manufactured articles. Awareness of the numer¬ ous serious health risks posed by tobacco, including various cancers and a range of respiratory diseases, has led to campaigns against its use, but the number of tobacco users worldwide continues to rise. The World Health Organization estimates that smoking now causes three million deaths annually and within two decades will cause more deaths than any single disease.
Tobago See Trinidad and Tobago
Tobey, Mark (b. Dec. 11, 1890, Centerville, Wis., U.S.—d. April 24, 1976, Basel, Switz.) U.S. painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chi¬ cago. In 1918 he converted to the Baha’i religion and his work became inspired by Asian art and thought. In the 1930s he achieved notoriety with his “white writing” paintings, consisting of a web of calligraphic marks painted in white on a gray or coloured ground (e.g., Broadway, 1936), which soon displaced his representational work. His style is distinguished by his use of the small format and a refined execution in watercolour, tempera, or pastel. In the 1950s he exerted much influence abroad, espe¬ cially on French Tachism.
Tobit Vto-bot\ Main character in the Bible’s apocryphal book of Tobit. Tobit, a pious Jew living in exile in Nineveh, gives alms and buries the dead in accordance with Hebrew law but is struck blind in spite of his good works. Sarah, daughter of a close relative, has had seven husbands, each of whom was killed by a demon on their wedding night. The two pray for
American toad (Bufo americanus).
GEORGE PORTER-THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau).
ROMAN VISHNIAC
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
tobogganing ► Togliatti I 1917
deliverance, and the angel Raphael intercedes for them. Tobit regains his sight, and Sarah marries Tobit’s son Tobias. The book is an effort to rec¬ oncile the evil in the world with God’s justice. See also Apocrypha.
tobogganing Sport of sliding down a snow-covered hill on a tobog¬ gan, a long, flat-bottomed sled made of thin boards curved up at the front end. The word is of Algonquian origin and probably refers to a towing sled. Tobogganing as a sport appears to have originated on the slopes of Mount Royal in Montreal in the late 19th century. In the early 20th cen¬ tury many tobogganing chutes (3-ft-wide wood- or ice-sided channels) were built.
Tobruk ancient Antipyrgos Port city (pop., latest est.: 110,000), northeastern Libya. The site of an ancient Greek agricultural colony, it later had a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. For centu¬ ries it served as a way station on the coastal caravan route. An Italian military post by 1911, it was the scene of prolonged fighting during World War II (see North Africa campaigns). The British captured it from the Ital¬ ians in 1941; it fell to a German siege in 1942 but was recaptured by the British the same year. Rebuilt after the war, it was expanded in the 1960s to include a port terminal linked by pipeline to the Sarlr oil field.