Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/555

* TROP^OLUM. 483 TBOPISM. cies is Tropwohiiii iiuijtis. a L-limbing annual in nortliein climates, which has long been grown in the United States as an ornamental plant. IJwarf varieties of this species are commonly grown in beds and borders. Tropwolum ininus resembles the foregoing species, but is ol weaker growth and produces smaller Uowers. Tro-pceo- liiin LobbidiiuiH, a native of Colombia, is a vig- orous climbing species, of which several beauti- ful varieties are in cultivation. Tr(Jijauliini per- cyrinuiH, sometimes called canary-bird llower, is grown as an annual in outdoor culture and as a perennial in conservatories. Tropwolum tuber- osum, which produces scarlet and j-cllow flow- ers in the late summer, yields edible tubers, which are used as food in Peru. In northern climates the tubers are taken up in the fall and kept in a dry place during the winter. The an- nual species are grown from seeds sown in the spring in ordinary garden soil. The perennial species are propagated by the tubers or by cut- tings of the yoimg shoots grown under glass or by seeds. The perennials prefer a richer soil than the annuals, and they require plenty of moisture. TKOPE. A figure of speech. See Rhetoric, Figures of. TROPHO'NITIS (Lat., from Gk. Tpo^tiwof). An ancient god of the earth, worshiped at Lebadea, in Bieotia, where he had a famous ora- cle in a subterranean cavern. He who wished to consult the oracle prepared himself by fast- ing, saerifiees, and purifications in a building dedicated to Tyche (Fortune) and Agathodae- mon (Good Luck). After the due rites a sheep was sacrificed to Agamedes, brother of Tropho- nius, water from two springs, Forgetfulness and Jlemory. was drunk, and the consultor descended by a ladder to a vault, in the side of which was an opening. Through this the feet were in- serted, a honey-cake to appease the spirits was grasped in each hand, and then some hidden iforce swept the visitor into the inner recesses, where he saw visions or heard voices, and finally returned feet foremost through the same open- ing by which he had descended. He was then seatecl on the stone of Remembrance and ques- tioned by the priests, who interpreted liis visions. Legend also told how Agamedes and Trophonius were sons of Erginos and famous architects of the early time, who built the temple at Delphi, a treasury for King Hyrieus of Hyria in Bceotia, and other buildings. According to the story, the}' left a stone loose in the treasuiy, and thus were enabled to avail themselves of the King's riches at their pleasure. At length Agamedes was caught in a trap, whereupon Trophonius cut off his brother's head and escaped, but at Leba- dea was swallowed up by the earth. Another version laid the scene with King Augeas in Elis, and represented Agamedes as the father of Trophonius and Ccrcyon. Trophonius cut off his father's head to escape detection, and, while Cercyon went to Athens, retired to B(eotia, where he built himself an underground chamber. The same story is told by Herodotus of King Rhamp- sinitus in Eir'pt, and is a widely diffused folk- talc. TROPHY (OF. trophee, Fr. iropliec. from Lat. trophfuum, tropwum, from Gk. Tp6nai.ny^ tropaion, monument of an enemy's defeat, neu. sg. of rpoTTalof, tropaios, relating to turning or change). A memorial of victory erected on the spot wiiere the enemy had turned to flight. Among the Greeks (with the exception of the Macedonians, who erected no trophies) one or two shields and helmets of the routed enemy, placed upon the ti-unk of a tree, served as the sign and memorial of victory. After a sea-fight the trophy consisted of the beaks and stern or- naments of the captured vessels, set up on the nearest coast. It was considered wrong to de- stroy such a trophy, and ecjually wrong to repair it, when it had fallen down through time, for animosity ought not to be perpetual. TROPIC (from Lat. tropicus, from Gk. rpoiri- Kog, tropikos, relating to a turn or change, or to the solstice, from rponr/, trope, a turning). One of two parallels of latitude on the terrestrial globe, passing through the most northerly and southerly points on the earth's surface at which the sun can ever be directly overhead. The tropic north of the equator is called the tropic of Cancer, because tlie sun at the summer sol- •stice (at which time it is vertically over the tropic) enters the constellation of Cancer; and the southern one is, for a similar reason, denom- inated the tropic of Cnpricorv. The distance of the troijics from the equator, corresponding to the obliquity of the ecliptic, is about 23 lA de- grees. They are not absolutely fixed at a uni- form distance from the equator, but the limits of their variation are extremely narrow. See Perturbations. TROPIC BIRD, or Boatswain Bird. A sea- bird of the family Phaetonidie, related to the gannets, having very long wings and the two central tail-quills very long and slender. Only three species are known, all tropical and often wandering hundreds of miles from land, where they hover about vessels. Their flight is ex- tremely swift and graceful, and they capture the fish upon which they subsist by plunging in the water, often from a great height. They breed upon rocky clift's, making no nests, and laying a single jiale-brown, much spotted egg. They are nearly helpless on laiul, and are often caught at their breeding-places and robbed of the long tail-feathers, which are prized among savages as decorations. The yellow-billed tropic bird {Phaeton flarirostris) breeds in the Bermudas and West Indies, and is white, with black on the wings. The other species belong mainl.y to the Indian and South Pacific oceans. See Plate of Fishing Birds. TROPISM ( from trope, from Gk. rpotrt/, trope, a. turning). The act of turning toward or be- ing oriented by the stimulus of light, gravity, wind, food, and so on. Thus heliotropism, the first to be used of the many terms ending in tropism, means turning to the light. At first the term was restricted to such plants as the sunflower, which turns after or follows the sun, owing to the stimulus of the sun's rays. It was then found that animals were heliotropic, and further studies on the acts of animals in response to different physical stimuli have resulted in a somewhat extensive nomenclatvire. Tropism may be positive or negative. Certain plants, as Plasmodia, and animals, as the sea-cucumber, the starfish, and even the lady-beetle, which are positively geotropic, are forced when on vertical