OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Top

See also Top on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot), a toy consisting of a body of conical, circular or oval shape with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. The twisting or whirling motion is applied by whipping or lashing when it is a “whipping top” or “peg-top,” or by the rapid unwinding of a string tightly wound round a head or handle. When the body is hollow this results in a whirring noise, whence the name “humming top.” Other kinds of tops are made as supports for coloured disks which on revolving show a kaleidoscopic variation of patterns. The top is also used in certain games of chance, when it is generally known as a “teetotum.” There are many references to it in ancient classical literature. The Greek terms for the toy are βέμβιξ, which was evidently the whipping or peg top (Arist. Birds, 1461), and στὁβιλος, a humming top, spun by a string (Plato, Rep. iv. 436 E.). In Homer (Il. xiv. 413) the word ​στὁβιλος seems to point to the humming top. The Latin name for the top was turbo. This word and the Greek ῥόμβος are sometimes translated by “ top ” when they refer to the instrument used in the Dionysiac mysteries, which, when whirled in the air by a string, produced a booming noise. This was no doubt the equivalent of the “ bull roarer ” (q.v.). Strutt (Games and Pastimes, 491) says that the top was known in England as early as the 14th century. For the scientific properties of the top see Gyroscope and Gyrostat.
This word must be distinguished from that signifying the highest or uppermost part of anything. It appears to have meant originally a tuft or crest of hair, cf. Ger. Zopf, Du. top, lcel. tops, &c.; it is allied to Eng. “ tap," a spike for a cask, and “ tip," point. Some etymologists have identified the two words, the toy being so called from spinning on its top or tip, but the two German forms seem to prove conclusively that the words are different.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toowoomba

See also Toowoomba on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TOOWOOMBA, a town of Aubigny county, Queensland, Australia, 76 m. by rail W. by N. of Ipswich, and 101 m. from Brisbane. It is situated on the summit of the Great Dividing Range, and is the centre of the rich pastoral and agricultural district of Darling Downs. The chief buildings are the town-hall, a large theatre, a school of arts and a library; the Christian Brothers College and several handsome churches. The industries are brewing, tanning, soap-boiling, flour-milling, malting, iron founding, saw-milling and jam-making. Vineyards are cultivated by a German colony and large quantities of wine are made. The town received a municipal charter in 1860, and during the governorship of Lord Lamington (1896–1897) became the summer residence of the governor and his staff. Pop. (1901), 9137; within the five-mile radius, 14,087.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tophet

See also Tophet on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TOPHET, or Topheth (תוֹפֶת), the name given in 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31, to a spot in the valley of Ben Hinnom near Jerusalem where the Hebrews in the time of Ahab and Manasseh offered children to Molech and other heathen gods. Josiah “defiled” it as part of his reforming activity, and it became a place for the bestowal and destruction of refuse, and a synonym for Gehenna (Isa. xxx. 33; Jer. vii. 32).
The uncertain etymology of the word is discussed in the Ency. Bib., s.v. “Molech,” § 3, “Topheth.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toothwort

See also Toothwort on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TOOTHWORT, the popular name for a small British plant of curious form and growth, known botanically as Lathraea squamaria. It grows parasitically on roots, chiefly of hazel, in shady places such as hedge sides. It consists of a branched whitish underground stem closely covered with thick fleshy colorless leaves, which are bent over so as to hide the under surface; irregular cavities communicating with the exterior are formed in the thickness of the leaf. On the inner wall of these chambers are stalked hairs, which when stimulated by the touch of an insect send out delicate filaments by means of which the insect is killed and digested. The only portions that appear above ground are the short flower-bearing shoots, which bear a spike of two-lipped dull purple flowers. The scales which represent the leaves also secrete water, which escapes and softens the ground around the plant. Lathraea is closely allied to another British parasitic plant, broom rape (0robanche).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Topete, Juan Bauptista

See also Juan Bautista Topete on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TOPETE, JUAN BAUPTISTA (1821-1885), Spanish naval commander and politician, was born in Mexico on the 24th of May 1821. His father and grandfather were also Spanish admirals. He entered the navy at the age of seventeen, cut out a Carlist vessel in 1839, became a midshipman at twenty-two, obtained the cross of naval merit for saving the life of a sailor in 1841 and became a lieutenant in 1845. He served on the West Indian station for three years, and was engaged in repressing the slave trade before he was promoted frigate captain in 1857. He was chief of staff to the fleet during the Morocco War, 1859, after which he got the crosses of San Fernando and San Hermenegilde. Having been appointed chief of the Carrara arsenal at Cadiz, he was elected deputy and joined the Union Liberal of O'Donnell and Serrano. He was sent out to the Pacific in command of the frigate “Blanca,” and was present at the bombardment of Valparaiso and Callao, where he was badly wounded, and in other engagements of the war between Chile and Peru. On his return to Spain, Topete was made port captain at Cadiz, which enabled him to take the lead of the conspiracy in the fleet against the Bourbon monarchy. He sent the steamer “Buenaventura” to the Canary Isle for Serrano and the other exiles; and when Prim and Sagasta arrived from Gibraltar, the whole fleet under the influence of Topete took such an attitude that the people, garrison and authorities of Cadiz followed suit. Topete took part in all the acts of the revolutionary government, accepted the post of marine minister, was elected a member of the Cortes of 1869, supported the pretensions of Montpensier, opposed the election of Amadeus, sat in several cabinets of that king's reign, was prosecuted by the federal republic of 1873 and again took charge of the marine under Serrano in 1874. After the Restoration Topete for some years held aloof, but finally accepted the presidency of a naval board in 1877, and sat in the Senate as a life peer until his death on the 29th of October 1885 at Madrid.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weilburg

See also Weilburg on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WEILBURG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, picturesquely situated on the Lahn, just above the confluence of the Weil, 50 m. N.E. from Coblenz by the railway to Giessen. Pop. (1905) 3828. The old town, built on and around a rocky hill almost encircled by the river, contains a castle of the 16th century, formerly the residence of the dukes of Nassau-Weilburg, and later of the grand-dukes of Luxemburg. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, the former, the Stadtkirche, containing the burial vaults of the princes of Nassau, a gymnasium and an agricultural college. Its industries include wool-spinning, mining, tanning and dyeing. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the castles of Merenberg and Freienfels. Weilburg was in the 11th century the property of the bishops of Worms, from whom it passed to the house of Nassau. From 1355 to 1816 it was the residence of the princes of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of this house.
See C. C. Spielmann, Führer durch Weilburg und Umgebung (Weilburg, 1894); and Geschichte der Stadt und Herrschaft Weilburg (Weilburg, 1896).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weinheim

See also Weinheim on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WEINHEIM, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, pleasantly situated on the Bergstrasse at the foot of the Odenwald, 11 m. N. of Heidelberg by the railway to Frankfort-on-Main. Pop. (1905) 12,560. It is still in part surrounded by the ruins of its ancient walls. The Gothic town hall; the ruins of the Castle of Windeck and the modern castle of the counts of Berckheim; the house of the Teutonic Order; and three churches are the principal buildings. The town has various manufactures, notably leather, machinery and soap, and cultivates fruit and wine. It is a favourite climatic health resort and a great tourist centre for excursions in the Odenwald range. Weinheim is mentioned in chronicles as early as the 8th century, when it was a fief of the abbey of Lorsch, and it was fortified in the 14th century. In the Thirty Years' War it was several times taken and plundered, and its fortifications dismantled.
See Hegewald, Der Luftkurort Weinheim an der Bergstrasse (Weinheim, 1895); Ackermann, Führer durch Weinheim und Umgebung (Weinheim, 1895); and Zinkgräf, Bilder aus der Geschichte der Stadt Weinheim (Weinheim, 1904).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weight-throwing

See also Weight-throwing on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WEIGHT-THROWING the athletic sport of hurling heavy weights either for distance of height. Lifting and throwing weights and different kinds have always been popular in Great Britain, especially Scotland and Ireland, and on the continent of Europe, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria-Hungary. No for of throwing weights is included in the British athletic champion programme, although “putting the shot” (q.v.) and “hammer throwing” (q.v.) are recognized championship events. In America throwing 56-℔ weights for distance belongs to the championship programme. It was once a common event in Great Britain at all important athletic meetings, the ordinary slightly conical half hundredweight being used and thrown by the ring attached to the top, the ring, however, was awkward to grin, and a trilingual handle was afterwards substituted. In America the 56-℔ weigh is a ball of iron or lead with a triangular or pear-shaped handle. The weight used to be thrown standing. but since 1888 it has been thrown from a 7-ft circle with a raised edge, like that used for the hammer and shot in America.
In throwing the athlete stands slightly stooping with his feet about 18 inches apart and grasping the handle with both hands opposite his thighs. The weight is swung round and back past the right leg as far as possible then up over and round the head and in the hammer throw. One complete swing round the head is usually enough as too much momentum is apt to throw the athlete off his balance. The weight is then swung round together with the whole body as rapidly as possible as in hammer throwing. The athlete works himself to the front of the circle just before the moment of delivery and begins the final heave with his back towards the direction in which he wishes to throw the weight. This heave is accomplished by completing the final spin of the body giving the legs, back and arms a vigorous upward movement and the same time, and following the weight through the uplifted arms as it leaves the hands, but taking care not to overstep the circle. With on hand a smoother swing can be made but much less power applied. In throwing for height the athlete stands beside the high-jump uprights and casts the weight over the cross piece, making the swing and spin in a more vertical direction with a heave upwards at the moment of delivery Throwing for height and with one hand were formerly event in the American championship programme, but have been discontinued. The record for throwing the 56-℔ weight for height is 15 ft. 63/8 in. made by the American-Irishman J. S. Mitchell. The record or distance, 38 ft. 8 in. was made in 1907 by the American-Irishman John Flanagan. In throwing weights large and heavy men have an advantage over small, brute strength being the chief requisite, while a heavy body makes a better fulcrum while revolving than a light one.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weir, Robert Walter

See also Robert Walter Weir on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WEIR, ROBERT WALTER (1803–1889), American portrait and historical painter, was born at New Rochelle, New York, on the 18th of June 1803. He was a pupil of Jarvis, was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829, and was teacher of drawing at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1834–1846, and professor of drawing there in 1846–1876. He died in New York City on the 1st of May 1889. Among his better-known works are: “The Embarkation of the Pilgrims” (in the rotunda of the United States Capitol at Washington, D.C.); “Landing of Hendrik Hudson”; “Evening of the Crucifixion”; “Columbus before the Council of Salamanca”; “Our Lord on the Mount of Olives”; “Virgil and Dante crossing the Styx,” and several portraits, now at West Point, and “Peace and War” in the Chapel there.
His son, John Ferguson Weir (b. 1841), painter and sculptor, became a Member of the National Academy of Design in 1866, and was made director of the Yale University Art School in 1868. Another son, Julian Alden Weir (b. 1852), studied under his father, and under J. L. Gérôme, and became a distinguished portrait, figure and landscape painter. He was one of the founders of the Society of American Artists in 1877, and became a member of the National Academy of Design (1886) and of the Ten American Painters, New York.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weinsberg

See also Weinsberg on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WEINSBERG, a small town of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg, pleasantly situated on the Sulm, 5 m. E. from Heilbronn by the railway to Crailsheim. Pop. (1905) 3097. It has an ancient Romanesque church, a monument, to the reformer Oecolampadius (q.v), and a school of viticulture, which is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. On the Schlossberg above the town lie the ruins of the castle of Weibertreu, and at its foot is the house once inhabited by Justinus Kerner (q.v.), with a public garden and a monument to the poet.
The German king Conrad III. defeated Count Welf VI. of Bavaria near Weinsberg in December 1140, and took the town, which later became a free imperial city. In 1331 it joined the league of the Swabian cities, but was taken by the nobles in 1440 and sold to the elector palatine, thus losing its liberties. It was burnt in 1525 as a punishment for the atrocities committed by the revolted peasants. The famous legend of Weibertreu (“women’s faithfulness”), immortalized in a ballad by Chamisso, is connected with the siege of 1140, although the story is told of other places. It is said that Conrad III. allowed the women to leave the town with whatever they could carry, whereupon they came out with their husbands on their backs.
See Bernheim, “Die Sage von den treuen Weibern zu Heinsberg” (in the Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. xv., Göttingen, 1875); Merk, Geschichte der Stadt Weinsberg und ihrer Burg Weibertreu (Heilbronn, 1880).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Recusant

See also Recusancy on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​RECUSANT (from Lat. recusare, to refuse), the name, in English history, given in the 16th and 17th centuries to those persons who persisted in refusing to attend the services of the English Church, and particularly to those of the Roman Catholic faith (see Roman Catholic Church, § English Law).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Red Bank

See also Red Bank, New Jersey on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​RED BANK, a borough of Monmouth county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on an estuary known as Navesink river, at the head of navigation, about 6 m. W. of the Atlantic Ocean, and about 25 rn. S. of New York City. Pop. (1905) 6263; (1910) 7398. Red Bank is served by the Central of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania railways, and by steamboats to New York, and is connected with the neighbouring towns by electric lines. It is a residential suburb of New York City and a summer resort. In the winter ice-boating is a popular amusement, and Red Bank has fish and oyster industries of some importance.
The name Red Bank was applied to this locality as early as 1734, and in 1781 there were several buildings within the limits of the present borough. Red Bank was incorporated as a town in 1870 and became a borough in 1908. Near Red Bank was established in 1843 the North American phalanx, a Fourierite community, with a capital of about $8000 and 112 members, on about 673 acres; it was financially the most successful and the longest lived of the Fourierist phalansteries in America, but broke up in 1855 because of internal dissensions, following a fire which destroyed the mills.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Redcar

See also Redcar on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​REDCAR, a watering-place in the Cleveland parliamentary division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, 8 m. N.E. of Middlesbrough, on a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (including the township of Coatham, 1901) 7695. Its long range of firm sands from Tees mouth to Saltburn, a distance of 10 m., has made it a popular summer resort. Race meetings are held here on Whit Monday and Tuesday, and in August. Redcar is close to the Cleveland iron-working district of which the centre is Middlesbrough, and is in great favour with the large industrial population of that district.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Redan

See also Redan on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​REDAN, in fortification, a work of V-shape presenting a salient angle towards the expected attack. The gorge (rear) of a redan is open. When unsupported by other works, it has the disadvantage that its fire is divergent and but few guns can be brought to bear directly towards the front. Further, both its faces are usually open to enfilade. Redans were therefore almost always used in conjunction with other works, one of the most common forms being the “ lines of redans ” used as field works. These consisted of lengths of plain trenches facing the front, with redans at intervals along the line. In the present day the term redan is loosely applied to works merely possessing saliency, as in the case of the celebrated bastions Nos. 3 and 2 at Sevastopol in 1854–55, usually called the “ Redan ” and “ Little Redan ” respectively (see Crimean War). The “ Redan ” was a large work of irregular outline, generally resembling a redan, but having the salient angle blunted or rounded off and the side faces broken into several minor fronts so as to obtain a field of fire in many directions. (See Fortification and Siegecraft.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Redbreast

See also Robin on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
REDBREAST, or Robin. perhaps the favourite among English birds because of its pleasing colour, its sagacity and fearlessness of man, and its cheerful song, even in winter. In July and August the hedgerows of the southern counties of England are beset with redbreasts, not in flocks, but each individual keeping its own distance from the next—all, however, on their way to cross the Channel. On the European continent the migration is still more marked, and the redbreast on its autumnal and vernal passages is the object of bird-catchers, since its value as a delicacy has long been recognized. Even those redbreasts which stay in Britain during the winter are subject to a migratory movement. The first sharp frost makes them change their habitation, and a heavy fall of of snow drives them towards the homesteads for food. The redbreast exhibits a curious uncertainty of temperament in regard to its nesting habits. At times it will place the utmost confidence in man, and at times show the greatest jealousy. The nest is usually built of moss and dead leaves, with a moderate lining of hair. In this are laid from five to seven white eggs, sprinkled or blotched with light red.
Besides the British Islands, the redbreast (Motacilla rubecula of Linnaeus and the Erithacus rubecula of modern authors) is generally dispersed over the continent of Europe, and is in winter found in the oases of the Sahara. Its eastern limits are not well determined. In northern Persia it is replaced by a nearly allied form, Erithacus hyrcanus, distinguishable by its more ruddy hues, while in northern China and Japan another species, E. akahige, is found of which the sexes differ somewhat in plumage—the cock having a blackish band below his red breast and greyish-black flanks, while the hen closely resembles the familiar British species—but both cock and hen have the tail of chestnut-red. The genus Erithacus, as well as that containing the other birds to which the name "robin" has been applied, with the doubtful exception of Petroeca, belong to the sub-family Turdinae of the thrushes (q.v.).
* ↑ English colonists in distant lands have applied the common nickname of the redbreast to other birds that are not immediately allied to it. The ordinary "robin" of North America is a thrush, Turdus migratorius (see Fieldfare), and one of the bluebirds of the same continent, Sialia sialis, is in ordinary speech the blue "robin"; the Australian and Pacific "robins" of the genus Petroeca are of doubtful affinity and have not all even the red breast; the Cape "robin" is Cossaphya caffra, the Indian "robin" Thamnobia and the New Zealand "robin" Miro.
* ↑ It is a very old saying that Unum arbustum non alit duos erithacos—One bush does not harbour two redbreasts.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Red River Settlement

See also Red River Settlement on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​RED RIVER SETTLEMENT, a Scottish colony founded in 1811 near the present city of Winnipeg by a philanthropic Scottish nobleman, Lord Selkirk, who at that time controlled the Hudson's Bay Company. Quarrels soon arose with the French and half-breed employés of the North-West Fur Company, and were fostered by its officials. On June 19, 1816, in a fight between the rivals, Governor Semple of the Hudson's Bay Company and twenty of his twenty-seven attendants were killed, an affair known as the Battle of Seven Oaks. New settlers were sent by Selkirk, and founded the village of Kildonan, now part of Winnipeg. In 1821 the rival companies united, and in 1836 repurchased from Selkirk's heirs all rights to the territory. In 1821 and in 1835 two forts, known as Lower and Upper Fort Garry, were built to command the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and around them grew up a mixed population of Scots, French and Indians. The purchase in 1869 of the territorial rights of the Company by the Dominion of Canada led to a rebellion, and the setting up of a provisional government under Louis Riel, which was dispersed by a force of British regulars under Colonel (later Lord) Wolseley.
See Canada (History); also George Bryce, Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company (1900).