Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/65

LEFT TURNSTONE 47 TURQUOISE back moth fortunately seems to pay its visits of destruction at long intervals. It played great havoc with the crop in England and Scotland in 1891, destroy- ing it beyond recovery in many parts. In Ireland the attack was lighter. Ear- lier serious attacks occurred in 1851, 1837, and 1826. For all insect attacks the best preventive measure is a dressing of stimulating manure to force on the growth of the plants. Spraying the crop with a mixture hurtful to the insects, by means of the Strawsoniser, an air- power distributor, is also recommended. TURNSTONE, the Strepsilas. a small genus of birds of the plover family {Charadriidas), intermediate between the true plovers and sandpipers. The com- mon turnstone (S. intei'pi'es) appears in Great Britain as a winter migrant, but is not known to breed there; its breeding places being the shores of the Arctic Ocean in Europe, Asia, and America, though it breeds on the coasts of Scan- dinavia down to Denmark, laying four eggs of a greenish-gray color, spotted and streaked with bluish-ash and brown, in a shallow depression lined with a few dry leaves and bents. In winter the turnstone is found on the seashore all over the world, being probably the most cosmopolitan of all birds. It derives its name from its habit of turning over stones with its bill in search of its food, which consists of small crustaceans and mollusks. The common turnstone is nine inches in length, and is handsomely marked with black, white, and chestnut; the last-named color is reduced in autumn, when the plumage becomes duller; the legs and feet are orange. Another species, the black-headed turn- stone (S. melanocejyhalus) f breeds in Alaska and winters in California; and some place the surf-bii'd {Aphriza vir- gata) in this genus. TURPENTINE, the name applied to turpentine oil, and to the crude oleo- resinous juice which exudes from inci- sions in the bark of pines, firs, and other coniferous trees. The species which chiefly furnish common turpentine are Pinus palustris, P. txda, and P. imiaster. The oleo resin flowing from them has the consistence of molasses, is of a pale- yellow color, with a pungent odor and taste peculiar to itself. It alters much with heat and exposure. Strassburg tur- pentine is from Abies pectinata. TURPENTINE OIL, the volatile oil distilled from crude turpentine, and ex- isting in the wood, bark, leaves, and other parts of coniferous trees. These oils, according to the source from which they are obtained, exhibit considerable and marked diversities in their physi- cal as well as in their optical properties. The several varieties when rectified are colorless, mobile liquids, having a pecul- iar aromatic but disagreeable odor. They are insoluble in water, slightly soluble in aqueous alcohol, miscible in all pro- portions with absolute alcohol, ether, and carbon disulphide. They dissolve iodine, sulphur, phosphorus, also fixed oils and resins. Two principal varieties are from Pinus maritima, and from the turpentine collected in the Southern States of Amer- ica. The former has a sp. gr. of 0.864, boils at 161°, and turns the plane of polarization to the left ; the latter has the same specific gravity and boiling p)oint, but turns the plane of polariza- tion to the right. Both oils absorb oxygen from the air, and acquire power- ful oxidizing properties from the prob- able formation of an organic peroxide, C10H14O4. Turpentine absorbs chlorine with such energy as sometimes to set it on fire. It belongs to a group of volatile oils to which the name of terpenes has been given. They are derived from the plants of the coniferous and aurantiace- ous orders, yielding, for example, turpen- tine and lemon oils resp<'ctively. Turpen- tine oil is of great importance in the arts, and is specially employed for giving con- sistency to oil paints and varnishes, con- ferring on them drying properties. TURPIN, a French clergyman; Arch- bishop of Rheims, friend and companion of Charlemagne, the suppositious author of the "History of Charlemagne and Roland." According to Gaston Paris, this falls into two parts: the first (1050) dealing in five chapters with Charlemagne's conquest of Spain with- out reference to Roland; the second (early in 12th century) giving the leg- end of Roland, the treachery of Ganelon, Roland's heroic death at Roncevaux, and the king's vengeance on the Saracens. In the "Song of Roland" itself Turpin dies beside its hero, and is buried with him and Oliver at Blaye near Bordeaux. There was actually an Archbishop Til- pinus of Rheims (753-800); but there can be no doubt that the romance in its present form was put together in the first third of the 12th century, most probably with a view to the glory of St. James of Compostella. From internal evidence it has seemed to critics highly probable that Pope Calixtus II. either wrote or at least inspired the work himself while yet Guy de Bourgogne, Archbishop of Vienne. Turpin died Sept. 2, 800. TURQUOISE, an amorphous mineral occurring in reniform nodules and in- crustations. Hardness, 6.0; sp. gr., 2.6- 2.83; luster, waxy to dull; color, sky-