Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/412

THEROID 350 THESFESIA The word is of recent introduction, but the extraordinary resemblances presented by some of the weak-minded to certain birds and mammals have attracted at- tention for a very long period. Pinel speaks of "a young female idiot * * * who, in the form of her head, her tastes, her mode of living, seemed to approach to the instincts of a sheep." THEROPODA, in palaeontology, an order of Cope's sub-class Dinosauria, consisting of carnivorous forms, which are believed to have preyed on the weaker herbivorous members of the class. Feet digitigrade, digits with prehensile claws; vertebra, more or less cavernous; fore limbs very small, limb bones hollow. The order comprises four families (Me- galosauridce, Zanclodontidoe, Amphisau- ridoe, and LabrosauridcB) and two groups or sub-orders (Cceluria and Compsogna- tha). THERSITES, in mythology, son of Agrius, whom Homer, in the "Iliad," makes the ugliest and most impudent of the Greeks before Troy. His name be- came a synonym for dastardly impu- dence. Later poets say he was slain by Achilles for calumniating him. THESEUS, in heroic history, a King of Athens, and the son of .^geus by .^thra, the daughter of Pittheus, was ed- ucated at the house of his father-in-law at Trcezen. On arriving at years of maturity he was sent by his mother to Athens, a sword being given him by which he might make himself known to ^geus. On his way from Trcezen he de- stroyed Corynetes, Sigomis, Sciron, Cercyon, Procrustes, and the celebrated Phaea. He was not well received at Athens, and Medea attempted to poison him before his arrival was publicly known. The Palatides, who attempted to assassinate him, he put to death by his own hand. He next destroyed the bull of Marathon; and at Crete, by means of Ariadne who was enamored of him, he killed the Minotaur, and thereby re- deemed the Athenians from the annual tribute of seven chosen youths and as many virgins to be devoured by the mon- ster. On ascending his father's throne he ruled the Athenians with mildness, made new laws and regulations, and by his policy won the friendship of the King of the Lapithas. Theseus, in conjunction with Pirithous, carried off Helen, the daughter of Leda, but whom he was com- pelled to restore. While he was in cap- tivity, Mnestheus obtained the crown, and Theseus on his return attempted to eject the usurper, but, failing, he retired to the court of Lycomedes, a king of the island of Scyros, who, jealous of hia fame, carried him to a high rock and threw him down a precipice. The chil- dren of Theseus, after the death of Mnes- theus, recovered the Athenian throne. THESMOPHORIA, an ancient festival held exclusively by women in several dis- tricts of Hellas, especially Athens and Arcadia, in honor of Demeter Thesmo- phoros ("the lawgiver") as the foundress of agriculture, and thereby of ordered civil life, with the institution of marriage. At Athens the festival extended to three days, beginning with Oct. 24. On the first day there was a procession to the temple of Demeter at Halimos, S. E. of the city; on the second a strict fast; and on the third day, called Kalligeneia ("the bearer of a fair offspring") a joy- ous and unrestrained carousal. The licentiousness of the Thesmophoria is caricatured in the "Thesmophoriazouzai" of Aristophanes. THESIUM, in botany, the bastard toad, flax, a geeus of Santalacess. Flowers small, green; perianth four or five-cleft, persistent; stamens with a small fascicle of hair at their base; drupe ribbed, crowned with the persistent perianth. Known species about 60, all from the Eastern Hemisphere. T. linophyllum is a perennial parasite on roots, with dif- fuse stems, minute flowers, green out- side, white inside, with green ovoid fruit. THESMOTHETE, in Greek antiquity, a lawgiver; a legislator; one of the six inferior archons at Athens who presided at the election of the lower magistrates, received criminal informations in vari- ous matters, decided civil causes on ar- bitration, took the votes at elections, and performed a variety of other offices. THESPESIA, in botany, a tribe of Hibiscex. Trees with large entire leaves; involucre three-leaved, deciduous; calyx truncate; style simple; stigmas five; fruit almost woody; capsule with five cells, each with about four seeds. T. populnea is a tree 40 or 50 feet high, with the foliage so dense at the top that it has been called the umbrella tree. It has roundish, cordate, pointed, five to seven-veined leaves; the flowers, which are large, are yellow, with a dark-red center. The tree is very common along the seacoast of South America, the West Indies, the Pacific Islands, part of Africa, India and Burma. It has been planted along roadsides throughout India, and especially in Madras city. It yields a gum, a deep-red, somewhat thick oil, used in cutaneous affections. The capsule and flowers furnish a yellow dye, and the bark a good fiber. T. lampas is a small