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Rh peculiar expedients (e.g. the procuring of the strangulation of a grand vizier and the removal by poison of an inconvenient private secretary) savoured more of the Italian than of the Russian Renaissance. Even before Poltava, Tolstoy had the greatest difficulty in preventing the Turks from aiding the Swedes, and when Charles XII. took refuge on Turkish soil he instantly demanded his extradition. This was a diplomatic blunder, as it only irritated the already alarmed Turks; and on the 10th of October 1710 Tolstoy was thrown into the Seven Towers, a proceeding tantamount to a declaration of war against Russia. On his release from " this Turkish hell," in 1714, he returned to Russia, was created a senator, and closely associated himself with the omnipotent favourite, Menshikov. In 1717 his position during Peter's reign was secured once for all by his successful mission to Naples to bring back the unfortunate tsarevich Alexius, whom he may be said to have literally hunted to death. For this he earned the undying hatred of the majority of the Russian people; but Peter naturally regarded it as an inestimable service and loaded Tolstoy with honours and riches, appointing him, moreover, the head of the secret chancellery, or official torture chamber, a post for which Tolstoy was by nature emi- nently fitted. He materially assisted Menshikov to raise the empress consort to the throne on the decease of Peter (1725), and the new sovereign made him a count and one of the six members of the newly instituted supreme privy council. Tolstoy was well aware that the elevation of the grand duke Peter, son of the tsarevich Alexius, would put an end to his own career and en- danger his whole family, so that when Menshikov, during the last days of Catherine I., declared in favour of Peter II., Tolstoy endeavoured to form a party of his own whose object it was to promote the accession of Catherine's second daughter, the tsarevna Elizabeth. But Menshikov was too strong and too quick for his ancient colleague. On the very day of the empress's death (May 11, 1727), Tolstoy, now in his eighty-second year, was banished to the Solovetsk monastery in the White Sea, where he died two years later. He is the author of a sketch of the impressions made upon him by western Europe during his tour in the years 1607–1698 and also of a detailed description of the Black Sea.

(R. N. B.)

TOLTECS (Mexican Tolteca), or dwellers in Tollan (the place of reeds), the name of a people that if partly mythical is also partly historical. Traces of this people can unquestionably be detected in historic times; and many cities, particularly those which carried on traffic with the coast, claimed to be of Toltec origin. The conception of Toltecs, like that of Chichimecs, acquired in time so general and vague a significance that in vocabularies such a word as “ toltecatl ” is interpreted as meaning merely an expert artist. So that in some cases the name “ Toltecs ” denotes no more than some race of Nahua affinities possessed of a certain degree of culture. In others, however, there is a substantial reason for believing in the existence of a specific tribe or people called Toltecs, though the genuine historical background has been obscured by the legends which the priests embroidered upon it to glorify their hero and god Quetzalcoatl.

Our ignorance as to the distribution and movements of the native peoples before the time of the Spanish invasion forbids any positive statement as to the original home of the Toltecs. It is certain, however, that they, as well as their god and their ancient city of Tollan, were known to those who lived in the Maya countries far beyond the confines of Mexico proper. Their migration-myths point to the eastern districts known as the “ tierras calientes,” famous for such valuable products as feathers and cacao, with which the Mexicans from the earliest times carried on a vigorous commerce. It is possible that the legendary wanderings of Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), who was said to have committed himself to the flames in Tlillan-Tlapallan (the land of the black and red, i.e. the land of picture-writing), the region of Tabasco and Campeche, are mainly a mythological description of the moon's periodic course. But even in that case there can be no doubt that the nature-myth has been embellished with details derived from an actual race movement which took place in prehistoric times.

The Historia de Colhuacaa y de Mexico is a most valuable manuscript written by an anonymous author in the Mexican language. In this work it is stated that Quetzalcoatl died in 895, and was followed by four kings in succession, after whom the wise Huemac ascended the throne in A.D. 994 under the name of Atecpanecatl. In the reign of this sovereign there broke out a great famine, which occasioned the institution of the custom of human sacrifice. From the same source we learn that it was in 1064 (a date which is assigned to the beginning of a half-mythical history by various other documents and MSS.) that the Toltecs left their homes and migrated eastward to Tabasco and Soconusco. At the same time Huemac killed himself in the cave of Cincalco. Tradition ascribes to him the authorship of an encyclopedic picture-writing called “ teoamoxtli ” dealing with the history of his people, with astronomy, the calendar system, &c. According to the Historia de Colhuacan y de Mexico, which is confirmed in spite of some slight variations of detail by Ixtlilxochitl, the duration of the “ Toltec Empire ” was not more than 318 years.

Archaeologists are justified in claiming as indubitable monuments of the Toltecs the serpent-pillars which have been found in situ at Tula, close to the City of Mexico. The historian Sahagun states that Tula was an old centre of the Toltecs and explicitly mentions these pillars as their work. It is interesting therefore to note that the only other place where such pillars occur is Chichenitza in Yucatan (see : Archaeology), a site which exhibits most strikingly Mexican features, so that archaeology fully confirms the assertion of the historians that Chichenitza, though in Mayan territory, was subject to the domination of some Nahua people. Chichenitza and Mayapan are the only sites in Mayan territory at which are found those round temples, which are attributable exclusively to Quetzalcoatl, the principal god and national hero of the Toltecs.

 TOLUCA, or, a city of Mexico and capital of the state of Mexico, on the S.W. border of the Anahuac plateau, at the foot of the Cerro San Miguel de Tutucuitlalpillo, about 8650 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1900), 25,940. Toluca is on the Mexican National railway, 36 m. W.S.W. of the national capital. Its situation near the high cordillera gives it a cold, changeable climate. The government has a meteorological station here and a national college. Industries include the manufacture of cotton fabric, Hour and wax candles. Swine-breeding is a profitable occupation in the vicinity. The Nevado de Toluca, an extinct volcano, rises to a height of 14,950 ft. on the south-west side of the town. Its summit is frequently draped with snow, and its broken-down crater contains a lake. Traditionally Toluca was one of the earliest Toltec settlements on the Anahuac tableland, but no remains of this occupation have been preserved.

TOLUENE, or, C7H8 or C6H5·CH3, an aromatic hydrocarbon; the first homologue of benzene. Discovered by Pelletier (Ann. chim. pays., 1838, 67, p. 269) in the oil obtained in the manufacture of gas from the resin of Pinus maritima, and named retinnaphte, it was prepared from the same gas by Couerbe (ibid., 69, p. 184) and named heptacarbure quadrihydrique, C7H4 (C=6); Sainte-Claire Deville (ibid. 1841 [3] 3, p. 168) obtained it by distilling Tolu balsam, naming it benzoéne, and Glénard and Bouldault obtained a substance by the dry distillation of dragon's blood which they called dracyl. The complete identity of these substances was established by A. W. Hofmann and Muspratt, and they adopted the name toluol (anglicized to toluene), which was proposed by Berzelius. Its derivatives and its relation to benzene had been previously studied by the above and other experimenters, its relation to benzene being first proved experimentally by Cannizzaro and its constitution