Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/109

 TYPHA TYRE 97 TYPHA (Gr. rt^of, a fen), a genus of mono- cotyledonous plants, growing in fenny or marshy places, in this country popularly called cat-tail, and in England bulrush (a name here given exclusively to scirpus) and also reed- mace. With one other genus (sparganium) this makes up the small family typhacece, which in a systematic arrangement is grouped with the aroids. Ty- phas are found in most parts of the globe. They have per- ennial creeping root- stocks, sessile, linear, and nerved leaves, and monoecious flowers, crowded in a spike at the end of the stem ; the flowers have nei- ther calyx nor corol- la, their place being supplied by numerous long hairs ; the upper part of the spike con- sists of stamens only, intermingled with hairs, and the lower and more dense por- tion is made up of minute pistils, sur- rounded by and close- ly packed in numer- ous brown hairs ; the Cat-tail (Typha latifolia). ovary ripens into a small one-seeded nut, upon a stalk, sur- rounded by the copious down of the enlarged hairs. The best known species is the common or broad-leaved cat-tail (typha latifolia), found all over this and nearly all other countries ; it is often 8 or 10 ft. high, and in some localities occupies the marsh to the exclusion of all other vegetation. The leaves are flat, and the spike is a foot or more long, with no inter- val between the staminate and pistillate por- tions ; the stamens, when they have performed their office, fall away, leaving the upper por- tion of the stem bare. Our only other species is the small or narrow-leaved cat-tail (T. an- gustifolia), which' is much smaller ; the leaves are narrower, and channelled at the base ; the spikes are more slender, with usually a space, often an inch long, between the pistillate and staminate portions, the two grow together, though this is much the less common, and all the characters which distinguish them are va- riable. In autumn the spikes disintegrate, and in localities where the plants abound the air is annoyingly filled with the copious down. The dried down has been used in beds as a substi- tute for feathers; but unless the ticking is very tight, or waxed on the inside, the hairs will work through and annoy the sleeper. At present it is largely manufactured into a non- conducting covering for steam pipes and boil- ers. The quantity of foliage produced by these plants in favorable localities is immense, and it now nearly all goes to waste ; unsuccessful at- tempts have been made to utilize it as paper stock. In France, where it is called massette, the leaves of cat-tail are used in the nurseries as a ligature in budding. TYPHOID FEVER. See FEVEES, vol. vii., p. 167. TYPHON, in Greek mythology, the personi- fication of volcanic phenomena and violent winds. The common account made Typhon the son of Tartarus and Gsea, destined to revenge the defeat of the Titans by the Olympian gods. According to Pindar, his head reached to the stars, his eyes darted fire, his hands extended from the east to the west, terrible serpents were twined about the middle of his body, and 100 snakes took the place of fingers on his hands. Between him and the gods there was a dreadful war. Jupiter finally killed him with a flash of lightning, and buried him un- der Mt. jEtna. For Typhon (or Set) in Egyp- tian mythology, see DEMONOLOGY, vol. v., p. 794, and OSIEIS. TYPHOON. See HUBBICANE. TYPHUS. See FEVEES, vol. vii., p. 166. TYRANT, in ornithology. See KING BIED. TYRE (in classical writers, Tyrus ; in the Hebrew Scriptures, Tzor, rock), the wealthiest and most powerful city of Phoenicia, founded by the Sidonians, in a naturally strong position on the coast of the Mediterranean, 23 m. S. of Sidon. In later times it extended over a small adjacent island, the new part gradually becoming the more important, and the old re- ceiving the name of Palsetyrus or Old Tyre, now called Eas el-Ain. The latter is designated in the historical books of the Old Testament as the " stronghold " or " fortress " (mibtzar) Tzor, while, no doubt in allusion to its insular part, the city is called by Isaiah the " strong- hold of the sea," and described by Ezekiel, in his glowing picture of its wealth, splendor, and maritime power, as situated "in the heart of the seas." On its site now stands a poor village called Sur. The island on which the town stood was originally severed from an- other small island bearing the temple of Mel- kart; but when the latter was rebuilt by Hiram, the little arm of the sea between the two islands was filled up, and by means of em- bankments toward the south the extent of the island was more than doubled. On the land thus obtained was built a new quarter of the city, which the Greeks called Eurychoron. Tyre was protected on all sides by dikes, and surrounded by fortified enclosures. Hiram built a palace in this insular town, which con- stantly grew in importance, while Pala3tyrus was neglected and became comparatively in- significant. Both parts withstood a long siege by the Assyrians (under Shalmaneser accord- ing to Josephus, but more probably under Sargon), but only that built on the island is believed to have successfully resisted a longer one by Nebuchadnezzar ; while Alexander the