Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/460

This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
398
RIGHT

TILLY 398 TIMBER from the Palatinate Christian, Duke of Brunswick, and in August next year defeated him in a three days' engage- ment at Stadtlohn in Munsterchen. In 1625 he led the army of the Catholic League against Christian IV., of Den- mai^k, who commanded the army of Lower Saxony, and defeated him in the battle of Lutter, Along with Wallenstein he forced the Danish king to agree to the disgraceful peace of Liibeck (1629). Next year Wallenstein was forced to re- sign the command of the imperial forces, and Tilly succeeded him. In May, 1631, Tilly sacked with ferocious cruelty the town of Magdeburg. As he himself com- placently wrote, since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem nothing had equalled it, Gustavus Adolphus was too late to save, but not to avenge Magdeburg. In September, 1631, he defeated Tilly at Breitenfeld, and again at Rain on the Lech. In both battles Tilly was wounded. He died in Ingolstadt, April 30, 1632, a few days after his second defeat. Tilly was an able general, but a man of narrow intellect. Not personally ambitious, nor caring for money, he was a fanatical Roman Catholic, ready to sacrifice every- thing for his Church. TILMATURA, in ornithology, spark- ling tails; a genus of Trochilidce, with one species, T. duponti, from Guatemala. Wings rather short and somewhat sickle- shaped; tail feathers pointed, the outer- most narrow toward the tip, which is curved inward. TILMUS, in pathology, a picking of the bedclothes, through cerebral excite- ment, toward the conclusion of any seri- ous disease. It is a very unfavorable symptom. TILSIT, a town of Prussia, province of East Prussia; at the junction of the Tilse with the Memel or Niemen, which is crossed by a fine railway bridge (1875), 53 miles S. E. of Memel. It has a schloss (built 1537, partially burnt 1876), a fine rathhaus, four churches, two hospitals, a gymnasium (since 1586), a realschule of the first class (1839), and a large barrack. Tilsit manufactures pa- per, leather, linens, woolens, and beer, has iron founding and sugar refining, and considerable commerce in horses, timber, corn, and produce. The town is historically interesting as the place where, on a raft in the river, the peace cf 1807 was concluded between Napoleon, Alexander, and Friedrich Wilhelm. III., by which the last was deprived of one- half of his dominions. In the World War the Russians captured the city in 1914, but were unable to hold it. Pop. about 40,000. TILTON, THEODORE, an American journalist; born in New York City, Oct. 2, 1835; was graduated at the College of the City of New York; editor of the "Independent" in 1856-1871 ; founded the "Golden Age," but withdrew from it after two years. He caused a wide sen- sation in 1874 by charging Henry Ward Beecher with criminal intimacy with his wife, and by suing him for $100,000 damages. The trial resulted in the dis- agreement of the jury. In 1883 Mr. Til- ton settled in Paris, France. His pub- lications include: "The Sexton's Tale, and other Poems" (1867) ; "Proof -Sheets from an Editor's Table" (1869); "Tem- pest-Tossed" (1875) ; "Suabian Stories" (1882) ; etc. He died May 25, 1907. TIMBER, trees cut down, squared, or capable of being squared, into beams, rafters, boards, planks, etc., to be em- ployed i't the construction of houses, ships, etc., or in carpentry, joinery, etc. Timber is usually sold by the load. A load of rough or unhewn timber is 40 cubic feet, and a load of squared timber 50 cubic feet, estimated to weigh 2,000 pounds. In the ease of planks, deals, etc., the load consists of so many square feet. Thus, a load of one-inch plank is 600 square feet, a load of planks thicker than one inch equals 600 square feet divided by the thickness in inches. The term is often used for all kinds of felled and seasoned wood. It is also a general term for growing trees yielding wood suitable for constructive purposes. The chief are fir, pine, oak, ash, elm, beech, sycamore, walnut, chestnut, mahogany, teak, etc. In the United States there are 300 species of trees, the smallest of which grows to a height of 30 feet. In South America the number is much greater, and India possesses about 900 species of timber trees. The species in England do not exceed 30, and in France or Ger- many there are only a few more. Yet, though the kinds of wood are so much more limited in European countries, there are almost as few in general use in the United States as in Europe. The small- ness of the number of species of timber known to commerce is at first glance very remarkable, but it is accounted for in this way. The great consumption of timber is for architectural and other con- structive works which are usually car- ried out on a scale of some magnitude, and for such purposes large quantities of the kind or kinds chosen are required. It is very desirable, therefore, that the