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Rh of Tacitus breaks off at the moment when Thrasea was about to address Demetrius, the Cynic philosopher, with whom he had previously on the fatal day held a conversation on the nature of the soul. Thrasea was the subject of a panegyric by Arulenus Rusticus, one of the tribunes, who had offered to put his veto on the decree of the senate, but Thrasea refused to allow him to throw his life away uselessly. Thrasea’s own model of life and conduct was Cato of Utica, on whom he had written a panegyric, one of Plutarch’s chief authorities in his biography of Cato.

THRASHING, or Threshing (from “to thrash,” O. Eng. erscan, cf. Ger. dreschen, Du. dorschen, &c), the process by which the grain or seed of cultivated plants is separated from the husk or pod which contains it.

Historical.—It is probable that in the earliest times the little grain that was raised was shelled by hand, but as the quantity increased doubtless the grain was beaten out with a stick or the sheaf beaten upon the ground. An improvement on this, as the quantity further increased, was the practice of the ancient Egyptians and Israelites of spreading out the loosened sheaves on a circular enclosure of hard ground 50 to 100 ft. in diameter, and driving oxen, sheep or other animals round and round over it so as to tread out the grain. This enclosure was placed on an elevated piece of ground so that when the straw was removed the wind blew away the chaff and left the corn. This method, however, damaged part of the grain, and as civilization advanced it was partially superseded by the thrashing sledge—the charatz of Egypt and the morag of the Hebrews—a heavy frame mounted with three or more rollers, sometimes spiked, which revolved as it was drawn over the spread out corn by two oxen. A common sledge with a ridged or grooved bottom was also used. Similar methods to these were used by the Greeks and are still employed in backward countries. In Italy a tapering roller fastened to an upright shaft in the centre of the thrashing floor and pulled round from the outer end by oxen is still in vogue and would seem to be a descendant of the Roman Iribulum or roller sledge.

The Modern Thrashing Machine.—The present-day thrashing machine embodies the main features of Meikle’s machine and will thrash up to 16 quarters of oats per hour, depending on the size of the same. There are no fluted rollers at the feed, the sheaves are fed straight to the drum; but as the working of these high-speed drums was attended with considerable risk, the Threshing Machine Act 1878 now provides for some sort of guard or safety feed.

In the most modern thrashing machine the ordinary routine is as follows: The loosened sheaf is fed in at the feed mouth under the drum guard and passes between the drum beaters