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TYRE

X063

TZARSKO-SELO

a patent was granted in England for a writing-machine, and one was invented in France about 1784. The first writing-machine patented in America was the Thurber in 1843, which worked too slowly to be of general use. Other machines followed, each introducing improvements and new principles, until in 1873 the Remington was put into practical use. It was the result of experiments made by two printers, Sholes and Souli, whose attention was called to an article in The Scientific American describing a writing-machine which had been invented by John Pratt of Alabama. The first machine was finished in 1867, and was used for letter-writing. One of these letters brought the new enterprise a friend, Mr. Densmore of Pennsylvania, who joined with Sholes in perfecting the machine, until in 1873 it passed into the hands of the firm of Remington and Sons, Ilion, N. Y. It was first used by professional men. Its great advantages for business houses were not thought of until 1882, since which time it has been almost universally adopted, and many different kinds have been introduced. The types are placed on arms or bars of steel, each marked with a letter, which are moved by the fingers of the operator as are the notes of a piano. The paper is carried through by rollers, and moved one space with each impression of a letter. The use of the typewriter instead of the pen is estimated to save 40 minutes an hour or over five hours in a day. It will write 13 letters a second, some operators writing more than a hundred words a minute. Typewriting has become a profession, and there are free classes of instruction in many public institutions in the United States.

Typhoon. See STORMS.

Tyre (ttr), a city of ancient Phoenicia, on the Mediterranean. There were two towns of Tyre, one on the mainland of modern Syria and the other on an island opposite. It was in a fertile region, with magnificent scenery, and was a rich city in the days of Solomon, when Hiram, its king, furnished him with cedar-trees, fir-trees and gold. It was a naval city at that time also, as it is recorded that Hiram sent to Solomon "shipmen that had knowledge of the sea," and its harbors were among the finest of the period. Carthage (q. v.) was founded by the people of Tyre about 813 B. C., the new colony seeming to have so weakened the old city that it disappeared from history until Shalmaneser (or Sargon according to some writers), king of Assyria, conquered it after a long siege, and Nebuchadrezzar after a 13 years' siege by water and by land reduced it only to partial submission, leaving its ruler on the throne and its wealth untouched. The city fell before Alexander the Great in 332 B. C., who put in a new colony, under whom the city soon

regained its prosperity. When under the Roman power, Tyre was given to Cleopatra by Antony. In tihe 7th century it came into the hands of the Saracens, until taken by the crusaders. Its wealth, made by its trade and manufactures, especially that of the renowned Tyrian purple dye, made it a prosperous city until 1316, when the newly discovered route to Asia by the Cape of Good Hope ended its commerce. Its site is occupied by an unimportant town called Sur, with about 5,000 inhabitants, under the Turkish government of Beirut. Many of the ruins of ancient Tyre have been covered by the sea, but tombs are found cut in the rocks and the remains of a Christian cathedral built in 324.

Tyrol or Tirol (te-rol'), an Austrian province in the western part of the empire, lies north of Italy and east of Switzerland. It covers 11,324 square miles, and is divided into three large valleys separated by mountain ranges — the Tirolese or German Alps on the north, the Rhagtian Alps in the center and the Trent Alps on the south. The loftiest peaks in Austria (q. v.), many of them in the region of perpetual snow, are in the Tirol. Brenner Pass, the lowest of the great passes of the Alps, is near the center of the province and on the line of travel between Italy and Germany. The Inn, the Adige and the Rhine on its borders are the principal rivers. About one third of the land can be cultivated, the rest being in forest or in the area of snows. The crops are corn, other grains and fruit. Goats and sheep are raised, and chamois, marmots and eagles abound. Gold, iron, copper and coal are found. There are a university at Innsbruck and other schools in the country. The people are divided into the German Tirolese in the north and the Italian Tirolese in the south, and nearly all are Roman Catholics. They are very patriotic, and are noted for their love of home and their national songs.

Tirol under the Romans wras a part of Rhsetia. It passed back and forth from Bavaria to Austria until 1814, when Austria finally claimed it. In 1809 the insurrection under Andreas Hofer took place, in which men and women fought side by side until hundreds were killed, because their country had been given to Bavaria. Population 981,949. Consult Tyrol and the Tyrolese by Grohman and The Valleys of Tyrol by Busk.

Tzarsko=Selo or Sofia, a town in Russia, 15 miles south of St. Petersburg. It is the summer residence of the czar, and originally w^s a country-house of Peter the Great, The palace was built in 1744. The main building is 800 feet long, with large wings in addition. The rooms are magnificent, finished in gold, amber, lapis lazuli and other precious materials. There are a Gothic castle, an arsenal and a smaller palace, built by Alexander I. Population 55,186.