TORRICELLI
784
TORTONA
plays which he calls "Coraedias". Aside from their
literary merit, these latter are of more than passing
interest, for their author gives us a theory of his own
on the subject of the drama, and with them he set a
type or model that was to be followed by later authors.
He divides comedies into two classes, namely,
"Comediasde Noticia" and "Comediade Fantasid".
Under the first heading he would include those deal-
ing with real happenings, that have been actually
seen; and under the second, things of the fancy,
imaginary incidents that seem true though in fact
not true. In the development of the plot, he would
follow the division of Horace into five acts, though
he would change the name of these to "Jornadas",
as they seemed to be no more than convenient rest-
ing places. He would have not less than six nor
more than twelve characters, and in some of his plays
there is a tendency to observe the unities of time,
place, and action. Among his better known comedies
are "Himenea", "Serafina", and "Tinelaria". The
authentic editions of the "Propaladia" are: those of
Naples (1517), Seville (1520-26), Toledo (1535), and
Madrid (1573-90). The "Biblioteca de Autores
Espanoles" publishes several romances of Torres
(vols. X, XVI, and XXXV).
MORATIN, Origenes dd Teatro Espanol in La Bibliotera de Au- tores Espafloles. II (.Madrid, 1846-80) ; Bohl de F.^ber. Teatro Espafiol anterior d Lope de Vega (Hamburg, 1832) ; Ticknor, Hist, of Spanish Lit. (Boston, 1866).
Ventura Fubntes.
Torricelli, Evangelista, Italian mathematician and physicist, b. at Faenza, 15 Oct., 1608; d. at Florence, 25 Oct., 1647. Modighana, in Tuscan Romagna, and Piancaldoli, in the Diocese of Imola, are named as the birthplace by dif- ferent biographers. Torricelh was ed- ucated at the Jesuit college of Faenza, where he showed such great aptitude for the sciences that his uncle, a rehgious of the order of the Camaldolesi, sent him to Rome in 1626 for the pur- pose of study. There he fell in with Castelli, the favourite pupil of Galileo, who instructed him in the work of the master on the laws of motion. Torricelli showed his thorough understanding by writing a thesis on the path of projectiles. Castelli sent this essay in manuscript to Galileo with strong recommendations of his young friend. Galileo invited Torricelli to his house, but for personal reasons he was unable to ac- cept until three months before the death of the blind scientist (1641). The grand duke prevailed upon him to remain at Florence and to succeed Galileo at the Academy. He solved some of the great mathematical problems of the day, such as the finding of the area and the centre of gravity of the cycloid. This prob- lem gave rise to disagreeable disc\ission on the part of Roberval as to priority and originality. Torricelli's honesty, manliness, q.nd modesty are distinctly shown in his reply.
His chief invention was the barometer. Pump- makers of the firand Duke of Tuscany attempted to raise water to a height of forty feet or more, but found
that thirty-two feet was the limit to which it would
rise in the suction pump. Strange enough, Galileo,
who knew all about the weight of the air, had recourse
to the old theory that "nature abhors a vacuum",
modifying the law by stating that the "horror" ex-
tended only to about thirty-two feet. Torricelli at
once conceived the correct explanation. He tried
the experiment with quicksilver, a liquid fourteen
times as heavy as water, expecting the column which
would counterbalance the air to be proportionally
smaller. He filled a tube three feet long, and her-
metically closed at one end, with mercury and set it
vertically with the open end in a basin of mercurj",
taking care that no air-bubbles should get into the
tube. The column of mercury invariably fell to
about twenty-eight inches, leaving an empty space
(Torricellian vacuum) above its level (1643). He ex-
pressed his sorrow at the fact that Galileo had not
made this discovery in connexion with the pressure of
air. The barometer is to-day one of the most im-
portant instruments in physics and chemistry, while
the Torricellian method of getting a very high vacuum
is still often employed. .Another discovery was the
law of efflux of a liquid through a small aperture in
the wall of a vessel. He also constructed a number
of large objectives and small, short focus, simple
microscopes. His literary contributions are noted
for their conciseness, clearness, and elegance. His
manuscripts have not all been published and are care-
fully preserved at Florence. The following have ap-
peared in print: "Trattato del moto" (Florence, be-
fore 1641); "Opera geometrica" (Florence, 1644);
"Lezioni accademichi" (Florence, 1715); "Esperi-
enza dell argento vivo" (reprint, Berlin, 1897).
F.\broni, Vilce Italorum. I (Pisa. 1778), 345-400; TiBABOSCHi, Storia delta litl. it.. VIII (Florence, 1812), 204-10: Poggendorff. Biographisch-lit. Handworterbuch, II (Leipzig. 1863), 1119.
William Fox.
Tomibia, io&t,, b. towards the end of the seven- teenth century at Granada, Spain; d. in 1768 in the monastery of Aracceli. He entered the order of St. Peter of Alcantara at Granada. In the Philippine Islands, whither he had gone as missionary and as secretary to Fogucras, the commissioner-general of Mexico, he was imprisoned for four months, as a result of opposition on the part of the religious orders to reforms attempted by the commissioner. He returned to Cadiz and thence went to Rome, where he withdrew from the order of St. Peter and became a Franciscan. In 1732 he was again in the Philippine Islands as superior of a convent. He travelled in America and Asia, remaining for a time at Canton, China. In 17.50 he returned to Spain, whence he made three trips to Rome. A linguist, scientist, collector of fossils and of books, writer on historical, political, and religious subjects, Torrubia was held in high esteem in Spain and at Rome, and by none more so than by Pope Benedict XIV. Among his many works may be mentioned: " Roman Ceremonial of the Discalced Religious of St. Francis in the Province of St. Gregory in the Phihppines" (Manila, 1728); "Disertacion hist6rico-politico-geogr4fica de las islas Filipinas" (Madrid, 1736, 1753); a poem against Free-masonry (Madrid, 1752); "Introduc- ci6n a la historia natural de Espaiia" (Madrid, 17.54; German tr., Halle, 1773; Italian tr. of a part printed under his direction at Rome with the title "La gigantologia espaiiola"; second volume, on insects, never printed); "History of the Seraphic Order" (Rome, 1756).
Paul H. Lineh.\n.
Tortona, Diocese op (Dertonensis), in Pied- mont, Italy. The city is situated on the spurs of the northern Apennines, on the right bank of the Scrivia, in a plain rich in cereals, wine, hemp, rice, and silk. The cathedral is of the sixteenth century, built after
