OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Omalius d'Halloy, Jean Baptiste Julien d'

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​OMALIUS D’HALLOY, JEAN BAPTISTE JULIEN D’ (1783–1875), Belgian geologist, was born on the 16th of February 1783 at Liége, and educated firstly in that city and afterwards in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology, and being of independent means he was able to devote his energies to geological researches. As early as 1808 he communicated to the Journal des mines a paper entitled Essai sur la geologie du Nord de la France. He became maire of Skeuvre in 1807, governor of the province of Namur in 1815, and from 1848 occupied a place in the Belgian senate. He was an active member of the Belgian Academy of Sciences from 1816, and served three times as president. He was likewise president of the Geological Society of France in 1852. In Belgium and the Rhine provinces he was one of the geological pioneers in determining the stratigraphy of the Carboniferous and other rocks. He studied also in detail the Tertiary deposits of the Paris Basin, and ascertained the extent of the Cretaceous and some of the older strata, which he for the first time clearly depicted on a map (1817). He was distinguished as an ethnologist, and when nearly ninety years of age he was chosen president of the Congress of Pre-historic Archaeology (Brussels, 1872). He died on the 15th of January 1875. His chief works were: Mémoires pour servir à la description géologique des Pays-Bas, de la France et de quelques contrées voisines (1828); Éléments de géologie (1831, 3rd ed. 1839); Abrégé de géologie (1853, 7th ed. 1862); Des races humaines, ou éléments d’ethnographie (5th ed., 1869).
Obituary by J. Gosselet, Bull. soc. géol. de France, ser. 3, vol. vi. (1878).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Olympias

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​OLYMPIAS, daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, wife of Philip II. of Macedon, and mother of Alexander the Great. Her father claimed descent from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. It is said that Philip fell in love with her in Samothrace, where they were both being initiated into the mysteries (Plutarch, Alexander, 2). The marriage took place in 359 B.C., shortly after Philip’s accession, and Alexander was born in 356. The fickleness of Philip and the jealous temper of Olympias led to a growing estrangement, which became complete when Philip married a new wife, Cleopatra, in 337. Alexander, who sided with his mother, withdrew, along with her, into Epirus, whence they both returned in the following year, after the assassination of Philip, which Olympias is said to have countenanced. During the absence of Alexander, with whom she regularly corresponded on public as well as domestic affairs, she had great influence, and by her arrogance and ambition caused such trouble to the regent Antipater that on Alexander’s death (323) she found it prudent to withdraw into Epirus. Here she remained until 317, when, allying herself with Polyperchon, by whom her old enemy had been succeeded in 319, she took the field with an Epirote army; the opposing troops at once declared in her favour, and for a short period Olympias was mistress of Macedonia. Cassander, Antipater’s son, hastened from Peloponnesus, and, after an obstinate siege, compelled the surrender of Pydna, where she had taken refuge. One of the terms of the capitulation had been that her life should be spared; but in spite of this she was brought to trial for the numerous and cruel executions of which she had been guilty during her short lease of power. Condemned without a hearing, she was put to death (316) by the friends of those whom she had slain, and Cassander is said to have denied her remains the rites of burial.
See Plutarch, Alexander, 9, 39, 68; Justin, vii. 6, ix. 7, xiv. 5, 6; Arrian, Anab. vii. 12; Diod. Sic. xviii. 49-65, xix. 11-51; also the articles Alexander III. the Great and Macedonian Empire.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Olympus

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​OLYMPUS, the name of many mountains in Greece and Asia Minor, and of the fabled home of the gods, and also a city name and a personal name.
I. Of the mountains bearing the name the most famous is the lofty ridge on the borders of Thessaly and Macedonia. The river Peneus, which drains Thessaly, finds its way to the sea through the great gorge of Tempe, which is close below the south-eastern end of Olympus and separates it from Mount Ossa. The highest peak of Olympus is nearly 10,000 ft. high; it is covered with snow for great part of the year. Olympus is a mountain of massive appearance, in many places rising in tremendous precipices broken by vast ravines, above which is the broad summit. The lower parts are densely wooded; the summit is naked rock. Homer calls the mountain ἀγάννιφος, μακρός, πολυδειράς: the epithets νιφοείς, πολύδενδρος, frondosus and opacus are used by other poets. The modern name is Ἔλυμπο, a dialectic form of the ancient word.
The peak of Mount Lycaeus in the south-west of Arcadia was called Olympus. East of Olympia, on the north bank of the Alpheus, was a hill bearing this name; beside Sellasia in Laconia another. The name was even commoner in Asia ​Minor: a lofty chain in Mysia (Keshish Dagh), a ridge east of Smyrna (Nif Dagh), other mountains in Lycia, in Galatia, in Cilicia, in Cyprus, &c., were all called Olympus.
II. A lofty peak, rising high above the clouds of the lower atmosphere into the clear ether, seemed to be the chosen seat of the deity. In the Iliad the gods are described as dwelling on the top of the mountain; in the Odyssey Olympus is regarded as a more remote and less definite locality; and in later poets we find similar divergence of ideas, from a definite mountain to a vague conception of heaven. In the elaborate mythology of Greek literature Olympus was the common home of the multitude of gods. Each deity had his special haunts, but all had a residence at the court of Zeus on Olympus; here were held the assemblies and the common feasts of the gods.
III. There was a city in Lycia named Olympus; it was a bishopric in the Byzantine time.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Olympiodorus

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​OLYMPIODORUS, the name of several Greek authors, of whom the following are the most important, (1) An historical writer (5th century A.D.), born at Thebes in Egypt, who was sent on a mission to Attila by the emperor Honorius in 412, and later lived at the court of Theodosius. He was the author of a history (Ἱστορικοὶ Λόγοι.) in 22 books of the Western Empire from 407 to 425. The original is lost, but an abstract is given by Photius, according to whom he was an alchemist (ποιητής). A MS. treatise on alchemy, reputed to be by him, is preserved in the National Library in Paris, and was printed with a translation by P. E. M. Berthelot in his Collection des alchimistes grecs (1887–1888). (2) A Peripatetic philosopher (5th century A.D.), an elder contemporary of Proclus. He lived at Alexandria and lectured on Aristotle with considerable success. His best-known pupil was Proclus, to whom he wished to betroth his daughter. (3) A Neoplatonist philosopher, also of Alexandria, who flourished in the 6th century of our era, during the reign of Justinian. He was, therefore, a younger contemporary of Damascius, and seems to have carried on the Platonic tradition after the closing of the Athenian School in 529, at a time when the old pagan philosophy was at its last ebb. His philosophy is in close conformity with that of Damascius, and, apart from great lucidity of expression, shows no striking features. He is, however, important as a critic and a commentator, and preserved much that was valuable in the writings of Iamblichus, Damascius and Syrianus. He made a close and intelligent study of the dialogues of Plato, and his notes, formulated and collected by his pupils (ἀπὸ φωνῆς Ὀλυμπιοδώρου τοῦ μεγάλου φιλοσόφου), are extremely valuable. In one of his commentaries he makes the interesting statement that the Platonic succession had not been interrupted by the numerous confiscations it had suffered. Zeller points out that this refers to the Alexandrian, not to the Athenian, succession; but internal evidence makes it clear that he does not draw a hard line of demarcation between the two schools. The works which have been preserved are a life of Plato, an attack on Strato and Scholia on the Phaedo, Alcibiades I., Philebus and Gorgias. (4) An Aristotelian who wrote a commentary on the Meteorologica of Aristotle. He also lived at Alexandria in the 6th century, and from a reference in his work to a comet must have lived after A.D. 564. But Zeller (iii. 2, p. 582, n. 1) maintains that he is identical with the commentator on Plato (2, above) in spite of the late date of his death. His work, like that of Simplicius, endeavours to reconcile Plato and Aristotle, and refers to Proclus with reverence. The commentary was printed by the Aldine Press at Venice about 1550.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Omagh

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​OMAGH, a market town and the county town of county Tyrone, Ireland, on the river Strule, 1291/4 m. N.W. by N. from Dublin by the Londonderry line of the Great Northern railway, here joined by a branch from Enniskillen. Pop. (1901) 4789. The greater part of the town is picturesquely situated on a steep slope above the river. The milling and linen industries are carried on, and monthly fairs are held. The Protestant church has a lofty and handsome spire, and the Roman Catholic church stands well on the summit of a hill. A castle, of which there are scanty remains, was of sufficient importance to stand sieges in 1509 and 1641, being rebuilt after its total destruction in the first case. The town is governed by an urban district council.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taupo

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​TAUPO, a township of East Taupo county, New Zealand, in the south-west of the Hot Spring district of North Island. It attracts many visitors both as a health resort and on account of the magnificent scenery and remarkable volcanic phenomena of the surrounding district. It lies on the north-east shore of lake Taupo, the largest lake in the island, having an extreme length of 26 m. and a shore-line, not counting minor indentations, of about 100 m., and lying 1200 ft. above sea-level. The river Waikato, which reaches the west coast not far from Manukau Harbour near Auckland, here leaves the lake. The district abounds in geysers, springs, mud volcanoes and other phenomena; some of the waters have petrifying powers, and some of the springs are vividly coloured. On the road running N.E. to Rotorua (56 m.) are the resorts of Weirakei (7 m.) and Ateamuri (31 m.). Lake Taupo is finely situated, hills rising over 2000 ft. immediately from the shores, while the mountains of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, an active volcano, and Ruapehu, a snow-clad peak, back the view to the south and mark the limit of the great volcanic line which extends 160 m. north-westward ​to White Island in the Bay of Plenty. The upper Waikato enters the lake from the south near Tokaano, where there is another collection of springs, &c. The river forms several fine falls and rapids below the lake.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taunton, Henry Labouchere, Baron

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​TAUNTON, HENRY LABOUCHERE, Baron (1798–1869), English politician, came of a 'French Huguenot family, which, on leaving France, settled in Holland. His father, Peter Caesar Laboucherc, merchant, was a partner in the wealthy Amsterdam banking firm of Hope & Company; he went to live in England, and married a daughter of Sir Francis Baring. Henry was his elder son, while a younger son, John, was the father of the later well-known Radical member of parliament and proprietor of Truth, Henry Labouchere (b. 1831). He was educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, and entered the House of Commons as a Whig in 1826. From 1830 to 1858 he sat for Taunton, Somerset. After filling various minor offices, he became president of the Board of Trade in 1830–41; and in 1846 he was chief secretary for Ireland. In 1847–52 he was again president of the Board of Trade, and from 1855 to 1858 secretary of state for the colonies. In 1859 he was created Baron Taunton, but on his death, on the 13th of July 1869, the title became extinct.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taulantii

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​TAULANTII, in ancient geography, an Illyrian people in the neighbourhood of Epidamnus (Thuc. i. 24). They were originally powerful and independent, under their own kings. One of these was Glaucias, who fought against Alexander the Great, and placed Pyrrhus, the infant king of Epirus, whom he had refused to surrender to Cassander, upon the throne (Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 3). Later the Taulantii fell under the sway of the kings of Illyria, and when the Romans were carrying on war against the Illyrian queen, Teuta, they were unimportant.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taurellus, Nicolaus

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​TAURELLUS, NICOLAUS (1547–1606), German philosopher and theologian, was born at Mömpelgard. He read theology at Tübingen and medicine at Basel, where he lectured on physical science. He subsequently became professor of medicine at Altdorf, where he died in 1606. He attacked the dominant Aristotelianism of the time, and endeavoured to construct a philosophy which should harmonize faith and knowledge, and bridge over the chasm made by the first Renaissance writers who followed Pomponazzi. Scholasticism he condemned on account of its unquestioning submission to Aristotle. Taurellus maintained the necessity of going back to Christianity itself, as at once the superstructure and the justification of philosophy.
His chief works were Philosophiae Triumphus (1573); Synopsis Metaphysicae Aristotelis (1596); De Rerum Aeternitate (1604); and a treatise written in criticism of Caesalpinus entitled Caesae Alpes (1597). See Schmid-Schwarzenburg, Nicolaus Taurellus (1860 and 1864).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tauri

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​TAURI, the earliest known inhabitants of the mountainous south coast of the Crimea (Herodotus iv. 103). Nothing is certain as to their affinities. They probably represent an old population perhaps connected with some Caucasus stock; in spite of the resemblance of the name Taurisci they are not iikely to be Celts. They were famous in the ancient world for their maiden goddess, identified by the Greeks with Artemis Tauropolos or Iphigeneia, Whom the goddess was said to have brought to her shrine at the moment when she was to have been sacrificed at Aulis. Orestes sought his sister, and almost fell a victim to the Tauric custom of sacrificing to the maiden shipwrecked strangers, a real custom which was the ground of the whole myth. His adventures were the subject of plays by Euripides and Goethe. Towards the end of the 2nd century B.C. we find the Tauri dependent allies of the Scythian king Scilurus, who from their harbour of Symbolon Portus or Palacium (Balaclava) harassed Chersonese (q.v.). Their later history is unknown. (E. H. M.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tauler, Johann

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​TAULER, JOHANN (c. 1300-1361), German mystic, was born about the year 1300 in Strassburg, and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city, where Meister Eckhart, who greatly influenced him, was professor of theology (1312-1320) in the monastery school. From Strassburg he went to the Dominican college of Cologne, and perhaps to St James's College, Paris, ultimately returning to Strassburg. In 1324 Strassburg with other cities was placed under a papal interdict. Legend says that Tauler nevertheless continued to perform religious services for the people, but though there may be a germ of historical truth in this story, it is probably due to the desire of the 16th-century Reformers to enroll the famous preachers of the middle ages among their forerunners. In 1338-I339 Tauler was in Basel, then the headquarters of the "Friends of God" (see Mysticism), and was brought into intimate relations with the members of that pious mystical fellowship. Strassburg, however, remained his headquarters. The Black Death came to that city in 1348, and it is said that, when the city was deserted by all who could leave it, Tauler remained at his post, encouraging by sermons and personal visitations his terror-stricken fellow-citizens. His correspondence with distinguished members of the Gollesfreunde, especially with Margaretha Ebner, and the fame of his preaching and other work in Strassburg, had made him known throughout a wide circle. He died on the 16th of June 1361.
The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by "the Friend of God from the Oberland" (see Nicholas of Basel) cannot be regarded as historical. Tauler's sermons are among the noblest in the German language. They are not so emotional as Suso's, nor so speculative as Eckhart's, but they are intensely practical, and touch on all sides the deeper problems of the moral and spiritual life.
Tauler's sermons were printed first at Leipzig in 1498, and reprinted with additions from Eckhart and others at Basel (1522) and at Cologne (1543). There is a modern edition by Julius Hamberger (Frankfort, 1864), and R. H. Hutton published Tauler's Sermons for Festivals under the title of The Inner Way. See Denifle, Das Buch von geistlicher Armuih (Strassburg, 1877); Carl Schmidt, Johann Tauler von Strassburg (Hamburg, 1841); S. Winkworth, Tauler's Life and Sermons (London, 1857); R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, 3rd ed., vol. i. pp. 214-307; Preger's Gesch. der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, vol. iii. ; W. K. Inge, Christian Mysticism; R. M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (1909).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taung-gyi

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​TAUNG-GYI, the headquarters of the superintendent and political officer, southern Shan States, Burma. It is situated in 96° 58' E. and 20° 47' N., at an altitude of about 5000 ft., in a depressed plateau on the crest of the Sintaung hills. It is in ​the state of Yawnghwe, 105 m. from Thazi railway station on the Rangoon-Mandalay railway, with which it is connected by a cart-road. The civil station dates from 1894, when there were only a few Taungthu huts on the site. There were in 1906 upwards of a thousand houses, many of them substantially built of brick. Since 1906 the southern Shan States have been garrisoned by military police, whose headquarters are in Taunggyi. The station is to a considerable extent a commercial depot for the country behind, and there are many universal supply shops of most nationalities (except British)—Austrian, Chinese and Indian. The five-day bazaar is the trading place of the natives of the country. A special quarter contains the temporary residences of the chiefs when they visit headquarters, and there is a school for their sons. An orchard for experimental cultivation has met with considerable success. The average shade maximum temperature is 84°; the minimum 39°.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Suricate

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​SURICATE, or Meerkat (Suricata tetradactyla), a small South African mammal of the civet family, ranging from Cape Colony to Algoa Bay. The head and body are about 14 in. long, and the tail half as much; the fur is long and soft, light grizzled grey in colour, and banded with black on the lower part of the back. Meerkats are sociable animals, living in holes in the rocks on the mountains, and burrowing in the sandy soil of the plains. They form amusing pets, and in a wild state, writes Mrs A. Martin, they feed chiefly on “succulent bulbs, which they scratch up with the long, curved, black claws on their fore-feet. They are devoted sun-worshippers and in the early morning, before it is daylight, they emerge from their burrows and wait in rows till their divinity appears, when they bask joyfully in his beams.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Surinam Toad

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​SURINAM TOAD (Pipa Americana), an aglossal tailless Batrachian, rendered famous by its mode of reproduction, first observed in 1710 by the Dutch anatomist F. Ruisch. It inhabits South America east of the Andes and north of the Amazons, and is thoroughly aquatic. In its extremely flattened head it is paralleled by two other vertebrates only, which, curiously, inhabit the same parts of South America, viz. the Silurid fish Aspredo batrachus and the Chelonian Chelys matamata; the end of the snout and the angles of the jaws bear several lappets, the fingers terminate in a star-shaped appendage, the toes are very broadly webbed and the eyes are minute and without lids.
The eggs are carried on the back by the mother, and the skin thickens and grows round the eggs until each is enclosed in a dermal cell, which is finally covered by a horny lid, believed to be formed by a secretion of the skin or else to represent the remains of the gelatinous capsule which at first surrounded the eggs. These, which may number about one hundred and measure five to seven millimetres in diameter, develop entirely within these pouches, and the young hop out in the perfect condition, without a vestige of a tail. Pairing takes place in the water, the male clasping the female round the waist. The way in which the eggs reach the back of the female has been observed in specimens kept in the London Zoological Gardens. During oviposition the cloaca projects from the vent as a bladder-like pouch, which is inverted forwards, between the back of the female and the breast of the male, and by means of this ovipositor the eggs are evenly distributed over the whole back. How the eggs are fertilized has not been ascertained.
Authorities.—G. Grünberg and A. von Klinckowström, “Zur Anatomie der Pipa Americana,” Zool. Jahrb. Anat. vii, 609; A. D. Bartlett, “Note on the Breeding of the Surinam Water Toad,” Proc. Zool. Soc. (1896), p. 595.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Surge

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​SURGE, in meteorology, an irregular fluctuation of the barometer, extending over a long period (e.g. a month), in contradistinction to the shorter fluctuations, covering two or three days, caused by alternating conditions of high and low pressure. The cause of surges is not understood.