Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/901

 TRIPANG TRIPOLI 871 tion rooms, chapel, library, museum, dining hall, theatre, astronomical observatory, and dwellings for the faculty. The college is to be removed to the new site in 1877. The whole number of the alumni of Trinity college is 1,063, of whom 262 have been ordained to the New Buildings of Trinity College, Hartford. ministry. In 1875-'6 there were, besides the president, 8 professors, 3 other instructors, and 2 lecturers; the total number of students was 83. The course of instruction, in which all the studies are prescribed, occupies four years. Students may take special courses in studies pertaining to science, and on their completion receive the degree of bachelor of science. Be- sides 37 scholarships entitling the holders to free tuition, there are several which yield to needy students annual incomes ranging from $100 to $300. Nearly all of them are designed to aid students preparing for the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal church. The college has property amounting in 1875 to $1,068,296, a library of 18,000 volumes, exclusive of pam- phlets and duplicates, and a valuable cabinet. Excepting $16,000 received from the state, the funds of the college have been contributed by individuals. A theological school was organ- ized in 1851, and was continued for about three years, when the Berkeley divinity school at Middletown was established to take its place. TRIPMG. See SEA CUCUMBER. TRIPOLI, an earthy substance, originally pro- cured from Tripoli in Africa, used as a polish- ing material, of fine sharp grain, yellowish gray or whitish, burning white. It consists almost entirely of silica, and when examined by the microscope is found to be composed of the exuviae or skeletons of infusoria, the fam- ilies of which are readily recognized. Speci- mens of it from Bilin and Franzensbad in Bohemia, Santafiora in Tuscany, and Mauritius have been examined by Ehrenberg. The sub- stance has sometimes been confounded with the English rotten stone. TRIPOLI (called by the natives TarabuT). I. A country of K Africa, forming one of the Barbary states, and a dependency of the Turk- ish empire, bounded N". by the Mediterranean, E. by Barca, S. by Fezzan and the desert of Sahara, and W. by the Sahara and Tunis, be- tween lat. 28 and 33 15' N., and Ion. 10 and 20 E. ; extreme length about 650 m., breadth from 130 to nearly 300 m. ; area estimated at 125,000 sq. m.; pop. estimated at from 500,- 000 to 750,000. Including Barca and Fezzan, which are dependent states, the area of Tripoli is more than double that above given, and the population probably twice as large. Though the sea coast extends upward of 600 m., there is only one good harbor, that of Tripoli, in its entire length. In its E. part, between Cape Mesurata and the town of Benghazi in Barca, there is a vast indentation called by the an- cients Syrtis Major, now the gulf of Sidra. (See SYRTIS.) A marshy tract 100 m. in length and varying in breadth from 2 to 40 m. ex- tends parallel to the S. W. shore of the gulf. The western portion of the Tripolitan coast is low and sandy ; but in the east it becomes higher, and has many rocky points that afford shelter to small craft, with good anchorage in some places. The soil is exceedingly porous, and most of the streams flow only during the rainy season. The interior of the country is imperfectly known. The N". E. part contains extensive tracts of barren sand, and partakes of the nature of the desert ; but the S. part is