Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/312

* THWING. 264 TIAHUANACO. at New Sharon, Maine. He graduated from Har- vard in 1876, and from tlie Andover Theological Seminary in 1879; was pastor of the North Avenue Presbyterian Church at Cambridge, Mass., in 1879-86, and of Plymouth Church, IMinneapolis, in 1886-90: and in 1890 became president of Adelbert College and Western Re- serve University. He published: American Col- leges (1878); The Reading of Books (1883); The Family (in collaboration with his wife, Carrie F. Butler Thwing, 188U) : The Working Church (1888); Within College Walls (1893); The College Wotnan (1894) ; The American Col- lege in American Life (1897) ; American College Administration (1900). THYESTES, tht-es'tez (Lat., from Gk. BvinTTj!). The son of Pelops and Hippodamia. Having seduced ^Erope, the wife of his brother Atreus, he was banished from JIyeen;e, and in revenge sent Plisthenes, the son of Atreus, whom he had brought up, to slay his father. Atreus, not recognizing Plisthenes, killed him. and sum- moning Thyestes to 5Iycen;i>, placed before him at a feast the flesh of his two sons. THYME, tim (OF., Fr. /;»/«!, from 'Lat.thg- mum, from Gk. 8v/j.oi>, Sd^os, tliyme, sweetbread, warty excrescence: connected with fluos, thgos, incense. Lat. fumiis, OChurch Slav, dymii. Lith. diimai, OHG. toiim, 8kt. dhuma, smoke). Thy- mus. A genus of humble half-shrubby plants, of the natural order Labiatie. having a two- lipped calyx and four diverging stamens. Gar- den thyme (Thymus vul-. garis) is 6 to 10 inches high, with narrow, almost linear leaves, and whitish or red- dish flowers, which grow in separate whorls, six in a whorl. It is common upon dry hills in Southern Europe, and is very com- monly cultivated in gardens, on account of its fragrance and as a culinary herl). It is also used in medicine. Wild thyme (Thymus Ser- pyllum) has a procum- bent stem with many branches, 2 to 3 feet long, oval leaves, and purplish flowers, arranged in wliorls, which are united in a head. It is abundant on hills and mountains in all parts of Europe and Northern Asia. It is less fragrant than gar- den thyme, but both species contain an aromatic essential oil. The lemon thyme, or lemon-scented thyme, is a variety of Thymus iSerpylhim. It is generally of still lower growth than the connnon garden thyme. No species of thyme is indigenous in America. THYMUS GLAND (Neo-Lat., from Gk. eifu,,, thyme, so called from its fancied resemblance to a branch of sweet thyme). A ductless gland, peculiar to infantile life. In the human being it occupies a space in the neck below the thyroid gland and in the chest beneath the sternum in the anterior mediastinal space, on the level of the fourth costal cartilage. The gland is devel- oped early in foetal life, increases in size during the first two or three years of life, then remains GARDEN TBYME. stationary until the tenth to the fourteenth year, when it begins to atrophy and undergo fatty degeneration. At its ma.ximuni period of development the organ is above two inches long, one and one-lialf inches broad, and about a third of an inch thick. At birth its weight is about half an ounce, lieyond its character as a lymph gland little is known of the function of this organ. The thymus gland of young animals such as the lamb and calf constitutes the deli- cac}' known as sweetbreads, though the pancreas or 'belly sweetbread' of certain animals is often substituted in trade for this article. Thymus has been used in medicine in the treatment of exophthalmic goitre. See Organotherapy. THYROID GLAND (from Gk. dvpeodS-Zit, thyrcocidi'S, shield-shaped, from Bvpeds, thyreos, large oblong shield, from Bvpa, thyra, door -(- tfSos, eidos, form ) . One of the ductless or vas- cular glands, lying at the upper part of the trachea, and consisting of two lateral lobes, placed one on each side of this canal, and con- nected together by a narrow transverse portion nt the lower third, called the isthmus. It is of a brownish red color, and its normal weight is about an ounce. Each lobe is somewhat conical, and is about two inches long and three-quarters of an inch broad. Minute examination of the gland shows it to consist of lobes and lobules held together by connective tissue. Each lobule is made up of numerous completely closed sacs 0.04 to 0.1 inch in diameter. The sacs contain a transparent, viscid, albuminous fluid. Each sac is surrounded by a plexus of capillary blood vessels which do not pierce the lining of the sacs. Numerous lymphatic vessels are also present. At an early period the sacs dilate, their cellular lining atrophies, and their contents undergo col- loid degeneration. The function of the thyroid gland is very obscure. It is possibly a blood- forming gland ; possibly it regulates the forma- tion of mucus in the body. It is subject to sev- eral varieties of enlargement known under the general name of goitre, and is also the seat of various benign and malignant tumors. Myx- o[-dema (q.v.) is a condition of the system brought about through loss of function of the thyroid gland, eitlicr from atrophy or removal of the organ. Tlie prepared extract of the thy- roid gland of animals is used in the treatment of this condition. See Cretinism; ORGANOTHER.py. THYR'SXIS (Lat., from Gk. Bipaot, stalk, stem ). An ivy and vine wreathed staff tipped with a pine cone, which was carried by Bacchus and his followers in the religious rites. TI (Polynesian name), Cordyline terminalis, A tree-like plant of the natural order Liliacea-, found in Southeastern Asia, the Eastern Archi- pelago, and the Hawaiian and other Pacific isl- ands. It sometimes exceeds twelve feet in height. The reddish, lanceolate leaves are used .as cattle food and as thatch for houses. Their fibres are sometimes made into cloth. The large, hard, fibrous, and .almost insipid root becomes soft and sweet when baked. It is very nutritious, and is- nuich used as an article of food. The juice is used for making sugar, a fermented beverage, and a. distilled liquor. Fully twenty-five varieties of Cordyline are grown under glass for their orna- mental, often variegated, foliage. TIAHUANACO, te-ii'w.i-nil'kd. A ruined city of Bolivia, a few miles from the Peruvian