TES
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TES
TESTAMENT, in Law, a folerhn and authentic Act, whereby a Perfon declares his Will, as to the Difpofal of his Eftate, Efrecls, Burial, &c. See Will.
A Tefiament has no EffecT: till after Death ; and 'tis always revocable till then. As 'Teflamenti are Acls, of all others the moll fubjeft to Deceits, Surprize, &c. it was necefTary to ule all kinds of Precautions to prevent the Wills of thcDc- ceafed from being eluded 5 and the Weaknefs of dying Perfons from being abufed.
The moft ancient Teflaments among the Romans, were made viva voce ; the Teftator declaring his Will in the Prefence of Seven Witnefles : Thele they eall'd Nuncupative Tef'a- ments ; but the Danger of trufting the Will of the Dead to the Memory of the Living, foon abolifh'd them; and all Tejlarnmts were order'd to be in Writing. See Nuncupa- tive.
The French Legiflators, thought Holographic Teftaments, i. e. 'Tefw/ients wrote wholly with the Teftator's Hand, an abundant Security ; but the Roman Law, more fevere, did not admit of Tefia?nents without further Solemnity.
Theeafieft and moft favourable, is the 21ft Law in the Code de Tejlamentis, which permits fuch as are unwilling to truft the Secret of their Testaments to others, to write it with their own Hand, and to clofc it in the Prefence of Seven Witnefles, declaring to them, that it is their Tejlament ; after which it is to be Sign'd by all the Seven Witnefles.
Otherwifc, to make a Solemn Tefiament, it was required to be attefted by Seven Witnefles, and fealed with their Seals.
Yet the Military Teftament was not fubject to fo many Formalities.- The Soldier was fuppofed too much employ'd in defending the Laws, to be fubject. to the Trouble of know- ing them. His tumultuary Proieffton excufed him from ob- ferviniKiJl the Rules.
Add, that Teflamenis^ wherein Fathers difpofed of their Eftatcs among their Children, had particular Privileges, and were difpens'cf from molt of the ordinary Formalities.
The Word is form'd from the Latin, Tc[l amentum, which the Latin Lawyers derive from -Jejlatio Mentis,
TESTATOR, or Testatrix, the Pcrfbn who makes his or her Will and Teftament. See Testament.
M. Gillet, /hews, that a Perfon incapable of a Legacy, cannot demand any Sum, which the Tejfator in his Tefta- ment declares himfelf indebted to him in; in regard fuch a Declaration of Debt isprefumeda Fraud, againft the Intention of the Law.
TESTA Nevelii, or Testa de Nevil, an ancient Record kept by the King's Remembrancer in the Exchequer 5 containing the King's Fees throughout the greater! Part of England, with Imjuifitlons of Lands Eicheated, and Ser- jeanties.
it was denominated from its Compiler, Johan, de Nevil, one of the Itinerant Juttices under K. Henry III.
TESTATUM, in Law, a Writ in perlbnal Actions. If the Defendant cannot be arretted on a Capias in the County where the Action is laid, but is return'd non efi Inventus by the Sheriff; this Writ Ihall be fent into any other County, where this Perfon is thought to have wherewithal to fatisfy the Demand.
It is eall'd Teftatum, becaufe the Sheriff has before teftify'd, that the Defendant was not to be found in his Bailiwic.
TESTE, a Term commonly us'd in the Clofe of every Writ, where the Date is contain'd, which begins with Te/Ze tneipfbt if it be an original Writ; or if Judicial, I'efte Matheo Hale, Mil. or Francifco Nvrth, Mil. &c. according to the Court whence it comes.
In fome ancient Formula's, we read Tefle Cttftode Anglic
TESTES, in Anatomy, two white, ibft, oval Bodies ferving for Generation ; ufually eall'd, diminutively, Teflicles, See Testicle.
Testes, cf the 'Brain, are two little, round, hard Bo- dies, between the third and fourth Ventricle, near the pineal Gland. See Brain.
TESTICLE, 7e(iis t a double Part in an Animal, ferving for the Office of Generation. See Generation.
In Man, and moft Animals, they are exterior ; in fome, as Fowls, interior.
Some have only one, ordinarily they have two, and fome have naturally had three; nay, Anatomifts afTure us they have known four. _
The Teflicles are foft white Bodies, of an oval Figure, and about the Size of a Pidgeon's Egg : They have been thought to be of a glandulous Subftance, and, according to the prefcnt Doctrine of Glands, they may be allow'd to be fb ftill. See Gland-
They are form'd of a Convolution of clivers Kinds of Veffels', particularly the Spermatic Veins and Arteries ; the latter of which bring the Blood whence the Seed ia to be fecreted in the Meanders of the < Tefticles$ and the former return it-back again after the Secretion made. See Seed.
The reft of the T'tfiick is made up of Seed- Veffels, which, indeed, are but one continue! Series or Rope, intricately con- voluted and wound up as it were into a Bottom, but adher- ing fo laxly, that they areeafily drawn out into Length, and in Rats fhafcen from their clofe Contexture.
Thefe Seminal Vefides terminate in the Paraftata;. See Parastata.
The Tejlicles, with the Para date, are faid to be inclos'd In three proper Coats 5 the firft the Mujculofa, dcriv'd from the Cremafter Mufcle ; the fecond the ElythroideS, or Vsgl- iialis, which is a Continuation of the external Lamina of the Peritoneum ; the third, the Abuginea. See each under its proper Article, Musculosa, Elythroides, £5c.
The common Capfula or Membrane including both Tefii- cles, is the Scrotum ; which fee delcrib'd under the Article Scrotum.
For the Ufe of the Tejlicles, in preparing and fecreting the Seed ; See Seed.
They are eall'd Tejlicles, by Diminution, of Teftes, Wit- nefles; as giving Teftimony of Virility. They are what we properly call Genitors, Genitalia.
The Greeks call them T)idymi or Twins. See Didymi.
TESTIMONIAL, a kind of Certificate, fign'd eirher by the Matter and Fellows of the College where a Perfon laft refided ; or by three, at leaff, Reverend Divines, who knew him well for three "Years laft paft ; giving an Account of the Virtues, Uniformity, and Learning of the Periun. See Certificate.
Such a Testimonial is always requlr'd before Holy Orders are conferr'd ; and the Bifliop even ordinarily demands one of a Prieft before he admits him to a Benefice. See Ordi- nation, iSlc.
Testimonial is alfo a Certificate under the Hand of a Juftice of Peace, tcftifying the Place and Time when and where a Soldier landed, and the Place of his Dwelling, &c t whither he is to pals.
TESTIMONY. See Evidence and Witness.
For the Credibility of huma-n Teftitnmy ; See Credi- bility.
TESTUDO, in Natural Hiftory. See Tortoise.
Testudo, in Antiquity, was particularly us'd among the Poets %£jc. for rhe ancient Lyre; by Reaibn it was origi- nally made, by its Inventor Mercury, of the Back or hollow Shell of a Tejtudo Aquatica, or Sea Tortoiie, which he ac- cidentally found on the Banks of the River Nile, See Lyre.
Dr. Molyneux has an exprefs Difcourfe, in the Philofo- phical Tranfatlions, to ftiew that the Tortoife-fhell was the Bafis of the ancient Lyre, and that the whole Inftrument had thence the Denomination leftudo ; which Account lets fome Light into an obfcurePaffage in Horace, Ode 3. lib. 4. miftaken by all the Commentators.
Teftudinis Aure&
T)nlcem qua Jlrepitzim, e Pieri i temperas 5
O Mutis qucque pifcibtis,
'Donatura Cygni, [1 libeat, fontim.
Testudo, Tortoife, in the military Art of the Ancients, was a Kind of Cover or Screen which the Soldiers, e.gr. a whole Company, made themfelves of their Bucklers, by holding them up over their Heads, and ftanding clofe to each other.
This Expedient ferv'd to fhelter them from Darts, Stones, &c. thrown upon them ; efpecially thofe thrown from above when they went to the Aflfault.
Testudo was alfo a kind of large Wooden Tower which mov'd on feveral Wheels, and was cover'd with Bullocks Hides newly flead ; ferving to fhelter the Soldiers when they approach'd the Walls to mine them, or to batter them with Rams.
They were eall'd Tortoifes from the Strength of their Roof, which cover'd the Workmen as the Shell does the Tortoife.
Testudo, in Medicine, a foft broad Tumour, or gather- ing of impure Humours between the Scull and the Skin, eall'd alio Talpa, as refembling the Form of a Tortoiie or a Mole. See Talpa.
Testudo Veliformis quadrabilis., a Hemifpherical Vault, or Ceiling of a Church, &c* wherein four Windows are fo conrriv'd, as that the reft of the Vault is quadrable, or may be fquar'd. See Vault, Quadrature, £*?c.
The determining of thele Windows, was a Problem pro r pos'd to. the great' Mathematicians of Europe, particularly the Cultivators of the new Calculus TUfferentialis, in the Acfa Eruditorum Lip[\£, by Sig. Viviani, under the fictiti- ous Name of A. 2). c Pia Lifii pitfillo Gcomelra, which was the Anagram of c Pop'emo Galilm '7)ifiipulo.
It was (olv'd by feveral Perfons, particularly M. Leibnitz^ the very Day he faw it : And he gave it in the Leipjflc Acts in an Infinity of Manners ; as alfo did M. Bernoulli, the Marquis del Ho [pit al, Dr. Wallis, and Dr. Gregorv.
TETANOS,
