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TULU—TUMOUR

and this place in the popular religion of northern India, see Dr Grierson's paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1903, pp. 447–466.  (C. J. L.) 


TULU, or Tuluva, a language of the Dravidian family, found chiefly in the South Kanara district of Madras. It has no literature, nor has it been adopted for official use even where it is spoken by the majority of the population. In 1901 the total number of speakers of Tulu exceeded half a million.


TUMBLER, that which “ tumbles,” i.e. falls or rolls over or down. The O. Eng. tumbiare, of which Mid. Eng. tumblere is a frequentative form, appears also in Du. tuimelen, Ger. taumeln, to stagger, tumble about; Fr. tomber, to fall, is Teutonic in origin. As applied to a person, “ tumbler ” is another word for an acrobat, one who shows his agility by turning somersaults, standing on his head, walking or dancing on his hands, &c. It is interesting to note that Herodias' daughter Salome is described as a tumbestere in Harl. MS., 1701, f. 8, quoted by Halliwell (Dict. of Archaic Words), and in the margin of Wycliffe's Bible (Matt. xiv. 6) tumblide is given as a variant of daunside (danced). Similarly, in early pictures of her dancing before Herod, she is represented sometimes as standing on her head. The common drinking-glass known as a “ tumbler,” which now is the name given to a plain cylindrical glass without a stem or foot, was originally a glass with a rounded or pointed base, which could only stand on being emptied and inverted (see Drinking Vessels, Plate I., fig. 3).


TUMBLE-WEED, a botanical term for a plant which breaks loose when dry, and is blown about, scattering its seeds by the way.


TUMKUR, or Toomkoor, a town and district of southern India, in the West of Mysore state. The town has a station on the Madras & Southern Mahratta railway, 43 m. N.W. from Bangalore. The area of the district is 4158 sq. m. It consists chiefly of elevated land intersected by river valleys. A range of hills rising to nearly 4000 feet crosses it from north to south, forming the water parting between the systems of the Krishna and the Cauvery. The principal streams are the Jayamangala and the Shimsha. The mineral wealth of Tumkur is considerable; iron is obtained in large quantities from the hill-sides; and excellent building-stone is quarried. The slopes of the Devaray-durga hills, a tract of 18 sq. m., are clothed with forests, in which large game abounds, including tigers, leopards, bears and wild hog. The climate of Tumkur is equable and healthy; the annual rainfall averages 39 in.

The population in 1901 was 679,162, showing an increase of 17% in the decade. The cultivated products consist chiefly of millets, rice, pulses and oil seeds. The chief industries are the making of coarse cotton cloths, woollen blankets and ropes.


TUMMEL, a river of Perthshire, Scotland. Discharging from Loch Rannoch, it flows eastward to a point near the Falls of Tummel, where it bends to the S.E., a direction which it maintains until it falls into the Tay, just below Logierait, after a course of 58 m. from its source in Stob Ghabbar (3565 ft.). Its only considerable affluent is the Garry, 24 m. long, an impetuous river which issues from Loch Garry (212 m. long, 14 m. wide, and 1334 ft. above the sea). About midway in its course the Tummel expands into Loch Tummel (234 m. long, 12 m. wide, 128 ft. deep, and 500 ft above the sea), between which and the confluence with the Garry occur the Pass and Falls of the Tummel, which are rather in the nature of rapids, the descent altogether amounting to 15 ft. The scenery throughout this reach is most picturesque, culminating at the point above the eastern extremity of the loch, known as Queen Victoria’s View. The chief places of interest on the river are Kinloch Rannoch; Dunalastair, a rocky hill in well-wooded grounds, the embellishment of which was largely due to Alexander Robertson of Struan (1670–1749), the Jacobite and poet, from whom the spot takes its name (“ the stronghold of Alexander ”); Foss; Faskally House (beautifully situated on the left bank); Pitlochry; and Ballinluig.


TUMOUR (Lat. tumor, a swelling), a term applied, from the earliest period of medical literature, to any swelling of which the nature and origin were unknown. Thus used in its most literal sense, the word is of purely clinical derivation and has no pathological significance of any kind. Consequently a very heterogeneous collection of swellings have been described as tumours, including such diverse conditions as an abscess, a tubercular gland, the enlarged spleen of malaria or a cancer. With the progress of bacteriology and the improved technique of histology it has been found possible, however, to separate these various “ swellings" into certain groups: (1) Inflammatory or Infective Tumours; (2) Tumours due to Hypertrophy; (3) Cysts; (4) Spontaneous Tumours, or Tumours proper. The tendency of modern convention is to restrict the use of the term “ tumour ” to the last group, but for the sake of completeness it is necessary to touch briefly on the distinguishing features of the first three groups.

1. Inflammatory or Infective Tumours.—These have certain characteristics which separate them sharply from other classes of tumour. In the first place all of them are due to the irritative action of some micro-organism (see Pathology). Inflammation due to microbial action always follows a typical course. First, a number of wandering cells derived from the blood, the lymph or the connective tissues make their way to the site of irritation, and thus produce the red, painful swelling with which every one is familiar. A struggle now ensues between these cells and the invading bacteria; if the victory rests with the former, the inflammation gradually subsides, and the swelling disappears in course of time. But if the bacteria ain the upper hand a number of the cells are killed, undergo liquefaction and are converted into pus, so that an abscess results. Thus an innammatory swelling may be solid or fluid according to the severity of the irritant. The common inflammatory bacteria—staphylococcus and streptococcus—cause suppuration in the majority of cases, but there are a few organisms such as streptothrix, spirochaete pallida, and in many instances the tubercle bacillus, which set up an inflammation of an extremely chronic type, rarely progressing to the formation of us, but leading rather to the development of a hard, solid mass of very slow growth, that may persist for months or even years.

To the naked eye these solid inflammatory swellings may closely simulate the spontaneous tumours with which they have been often confused, but a microscopical examination will correct the mistake in nearly every case. For the minute structure of the infective tumours, whatever their situation, is almost identical; they consist merely of an irregular collection of inflammatory cells; and this of itself is sufficient to mark them oil quite distinctly from the group of tumours proper, which, as will presently be seen, vary widely in structure according to the tissue from which they spring, and show a resemblance to the parent type at once characteristic and peculiar. To this statement there is one exception, for a form of malignant tumour, known as a sarcoma, may bear a very deceptive likeness to an inflammatory swelling.

2. Hypertrophic Tumours.—A tissue or organ is said to be hypertrophied when it is increased in size but remains normal in structure. The most familiar example is the hypertrophy of the skeletal muscles that follows increased use, or the hypertrophy of the heart muscle which helps to compensate the faulty action of the valves. But neither of these constitutes a hypertrophic tumour. For an instance of this we must turn to the enlargement of the spleen that occurs in malaria and certain forms of anaemia, of the thyroid gland in goitre, and of the lymphatic glands in Hodgkin's disease. In each of these conditions there is merely an increase of apparently normal tissue, and from a microscopical examination of the hypertrophied organ it would be impossible to say that it was other than healthy. The enlargement of the spleen and of the thyroid in these cases are overshadowed by certain changes in the blood and in the nervous stem which constitute a distinct disease; but in Hodgkin's disease there are no specific symptoms apart from the swelling of the glands, and it has been suggested that this may be due either to the action of some micro-organism which has hitherto escaped detection, or to a widely diffused growth of a sarcomatous type. If the former supposition be correct these glandular swellings must be classed with the infective tumours; in the latter they should be regarded as spontaneous tumours. There is, at present, no agreement on this point, and they have, therefore, been described here as hypertrophic tumours.

3. Cysts.—A cyst may be defined as a collection of fluid surrounded by a wall or capsule. The nature of the fluid varies according to the site and origin of the cyst; the cyst-wall is usually composed of a tough layer of fibrous tissue. Cystsarisebythe dilatation of a pre-existing space with fluid; and when, as often happens, the cystwall is tensely stretched by the pressure of the fluid within, they may easily 'be mistaken for solid tumours.

The number and variety of cysts are very great, and they are only mentioned here on account of the errors in diagnosis for which the are often responsible. For further details the reader should consug the special textbooks.