settled by Fittig and Tollens’s synthesis from sodium and a mixture of methyl iodide and brombenzene.
The hydrocarbon occurs in wood-tar and in petroleum, and is prepared commercially by fractional distillation of the light oil fraction of the coal-tar distillate (see Coal Tar). It may be obtained synthetically by Fittig and Tollens’s method (above); by Friedel and Craft’s process, devised in 1877, of acting with aluminium chloride on a mixture of benzene and methyl chloride; this reaction leads to the production of higher homologues which may, however, break down under the continued action of the aluminium chloride; or by heating the toluene carboxylic acids obtained by oxidizing the higher homologues of benzene. It forms a colourless mobile liquid, boiling at 110·3° C. and having a specific gravity of 0·8708 (13·1/4°). It is insoluble in water, but dissolves readily in alcohol and ether. On reduction it yields hexahydrotoluene; oxidation with dilute nitric acid or chromic acid gives benzoic acid; whilst chromyl chloride and water give benzaldehyde. On nitration it gives ortho- and para-nitrotoluenes—which on reduction yield the valuable toluidines, C6H4(CH3)(NH2)—and on sulphonation the parasulphonic acid is formed with a little of the ortho acid. Chlorination in the cold gives ortho- and para-chlortoluenes, but at the boiling point the side chain is substituted (see Benzaldehyde).
TOMAHAWK (a native American word, probably from the Algonquian verb otomahuk, to knock down), the war-hatchet of the North American Indians. The earliest tomahawks were of chipped stone, usually sharpened to a point at each end something like a pickaxe, and passed through a hole bored in a stout wooden cudgel. In the more primitive types the stone head was simply tied to the handle by animal sinews, or a withe was doubled over the head and fastened below to form a handgrip. Sometimes deer antlers were used instead of stones. After the arrival of the white man the heads were usually of iron. Where the stone head was sharpened only at one end the blunt end was sometimes cut out into a pipe-bowl, the handle, hollowed, serving as the stem. The weapon was at once symbolical of war and peace, and was ceremoniously buried at the termination of hostilities, to be as formally exhumed when the feuds revived. Hence the colloquialism “to bury the hatchet.”
TOMASZÓW, or Tomaszów Fabryczny, an industrial town of Russian Poland, in the government of Piotrków, 41 m. N.E. of the town of Piotrków. Pop. (1897), 21,041. It has woollen mills, steam flour-mills and ironworks.
TOMATO, Lycopersicum esculentum (Nat. Ord. Solanaceae), a tender annual, native of South America, probably Peru. The fruit is much esteemed in salads and as a vegetable. Efforts have been made to popularize it for dessert, with varying success.
Plants intended to fruit out of doors during the summer should be raised from seed sown at the end of February or early in March, under glass, in a temperature of about 60°. Pots, pans or shallow boxes are suitable for the purpose. The compost should be light and fresh, preferably of loam, sand and leaf mould in equal proportions.
As soon as the young plants appear they should be fully exposed to sunlight, as near the glass as practicable. When the second pair of leaves appear they should be potted singly in pots of about 3 in. diameter, using slightly richer compost and less sand. This operation should on no account be deferred. The next shift should be into pots 7–8 in. diameter, the compost mostly loam, enriched with the ashes of plants, &c., from the refuse heap. The first flowers will appear towards the end of April or early in May. The pollen should be gathered and applied to the stigmas of the flowers by hand. The plants should be fit for planting out early in June, and should bear at least two clusters of rapidly growing fruits. They should be planted in the sunniest and warmest position available. It is customary to confine the plants to one shoot, pinching off all lateral shoots as they appear. Owing to the fickleness of the English climate it is of the utmost importance that the setting of fruit should be secured early. Manure should be applied sparingly to tomatoes until the crops become heavy.
Under glass, without artificial heat, tomatoes succeed well. In cold, sunless seasons, however, the crops are seldom remunerative. The culture is substantially as advised for out of doors. In heated structures tomatoes may be produced all the year round. They are always a small and precarious crop during winter, however. During summer the crops are usually heavier and of better flavour, even in favourable seasons, than from out of doors. It is necessary to provide a succession of plants to replace those that are being worn out by heavy cropping. Periodical sowings are therefore necessary. Some prefer to raise the plants intended for winter fruiting by cuttings inserted in August. Planting out is usually effected on shallow benches in small quantities of moderately rich soil, and the shoots trained on wires near the glass. As more nourishment is required, new soil is added. In this way excessive luxuriance, to which the tomato is so addicted, is avoided. The plants should never be allowed to become dry—they are large consumers of water.
The following varieties comprise some of the best in cultivation:
Large Smooth Red Fruited.—The Hastings, Conference, Ham
Green Favourite Perfection.
Yellow Fruited.—Chiswick Peach, Golden Jubilee, Carter’s Greengage.
Early Varieties for Outdoor Culture.—Chemin, Frogmore Selected.
TOMB (Gr. τύμβα, τύμβος, probably allied to Lat. tumulus, literally a swelling, tumere, to swell), a general term for a place of burial for the dead, including the excavation or cavity in which the body is laid and the superstructure which marks the place. (See Burial and Funeral Rites.)
The various forms which the tomb has taken throughout the ages are treated under such heads as Barrow; Cairn; Tumulus; Cenotaph; Sarcophagus; &c.
TOMPA, MIHÁLY [Michael] (1817–1868), Hungarian lyric poet, was born in 1817 at Rima-Szombat, in the county of Gömör, his father being village bootmaker. He studied law and theology in Sáros-Patak, and subsequently at Budapest; and, after many vicissitudes, at the age of thirty he accepted the post of Protestant minister in Beje, a small village in his native county, whence, in two years, he removed to Kelemér, and four years later to Hanva, in the county of Borsod, where he remained till his death in 1868.
At the age of four-and-twenty Tompa published his first poems in the Athenaeum, which soon procured for him a high reputation. His first volume, Népregék és Népmondák (“Folk-Legends and Folk-Tales”), in 1846, met with great success, and the same may be said of the first volume of his “Poems” in 1847. In 1848 he took part in the War of Independence, acting as field chaplain to the volunteers of his county and seeing several battles; but the unfortunate close of that heroic struggle silenced his poetic vein for a considerable time, and when in 1852 and 1853 he gave vent to his patriotic grief in some masterly allegories on the state of oppressed Hungary, he was twice arrested by the Austrian authorities. After being released he published his Virágregék (“Legends of Flowers”), a collection of poems showing great imagination and love of nature. Soon after this he became oppressed with melancholy and abandoned this branch of poetry. He published three volumes of sermons, “which,” says his biographer, Charles Szász, Protestant bishop of Budapest, “are among the best in Hungarian literature, and will favourably compare with those of Robertson, Monod or Parker.” His collected poetical works were published at Budapest in 1870, and again in 1885.
TOMPKINS, DANIEL D. (1774–1825), American politician, was born at Scarsdale, Westchester county, New York, on the 21st of June 1774. He graduated at Columbia College in 1795, and was admitted to the bar in 1797. In 1801 he was elected to the state constitutional convention, in 1803 was a member of the state assembly, and in 1804 was elected to the national House of Representatives, but became a judge of the state supreme court, and served as such until 1807. He was governor of New York in 1807–1817; and in 1817–1825, during both terms of President James Monroe, was vice-president of the United States. In March 1812, under the authority of art. xviii. of the New York constitution of 1777, he prorogued the legislature—the only instance of the exercise of this power. During the War of 1812 he was active in equipping and arming the New York militia. For this purpose he borrowed much money on his personal security, and sometimes neglected to secure proper vouchers. Later the state comptroller announced a shortage of $120,000 in the military accounts, but Tompkins claimed that the state owed him $130,000. Later investigations disclosed that the state actually owed him more than $90,000. In 1821 he was president of the state constitutional convention. He died on Staten Island, N.Y., on the 11th of June 1825.
The Military Papers of Daniel D. Tompkins, 1807–1817 (3 vols., 1898–1902) were published by the state. See D. S. Alexander, Political History of New York, vol. i. (New York, 1906).
TOMPKINSVILLE, a former village of Richmond county, New York, U.S.A., since 1898 a part of the borough of Richmond, New York City. It is on the N.E. shore of Staten Island in New York Bay, about 512 m. S. by W. of the southern extremity of Manhattan Island, and is a residential district of New York City. Tompkinsville was laid out in 1814–1815 upon a tract of about 700 acres, most of which was owned by Daniel D.
