TRANSCENDENTALISM. 412 TRANSFORMER. talism has failed to remark upon the exceedingly elusive cliaracter of the movement. It is difli- cult to disengage its elements, to delimit it in point of time, to say what it reallj' accomplished, to determine what it became. If it had been fulh' organized the case would have been dif- ferent for the student, yet the results would probably have been less fortunate, both to the Transcendentalists themselves and to the Ameri- can people at large. Not being hampered by or- ganization, by formulas, by the apparatus of propagandism, the Transcendentalists were better able to serve a more specific cause of greater moment — that of Abolition. The}' were also en- abled to follow the bent of individual genius after having experienced, as Wordsworth had before them, the stimulating effects of having lived in a visionary period, when it was bliss merely to be alive, and when to be young was very heaven. Emerson became the favorite moralist of his coimtrymen, and an important poet ; Alcott gave full vent to his eccentricity, and ended as the patron saint of the Concord Philosophers; Margaret Fuller had a brilliant and only too short career as a critic and woman of letters; Ripley by liis reviews in The Tribune and his services with C. A. Dana (q.v. ) as an encyclo- paedist showed that a Brook Farmer was capable of valuable, if homely, work in the cause of letters and science: Thorcau revealed nature to his countrymen, and became a high priest of individualism, as well as a writer of truly classic prose; Theodore Parker died just before the be- ginning of the crusade of which he was perhaps the greatest preacher. Last, but not least, thou- sands of men and women throughout New Eng- land were inspired by Transcendentalism to de- vote themselves to every form of philanthropy, including educational and temperance reform, to acquire a varied and genuine culture, and to become public-spirited citizens. The era of the Transcendentalists was in many respects an American Renaissance, the effects of which were not confined to this country, but were spread, chiefly through the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Channing, to England and to some extent to the Continent of Europe. That their ideas were vague and often transcended reason, not to say common sense, that their literary work was largely amateurish, that their extravagances gave much occasion to legitimate ridicule, that their so-called movement was the forerunner of religious and social manias of all sorts., can scarcely be gainsaid ; but it is equally idle to deny the loftiness of their aims and the impor- tance of their works. Consult the various lives of Emerson, Ripley, Channing, J. F. Clarke, Parker, Margaret Fuller, Alcott, Thoreau, etc. Also Cooke, Vnitarianism in America (Boston, 1903) ; id.. The Poets of Transcendentalism (ib., 1903) ; Frothingham, Transeendentalisni in New England (Xew York, 1876) ; Swift, Brook Farm (ib., 1900) ; T. W. Higginson, Old Cambridge (ib., 1900). TRANSCRIPTION (Lat. transcriptio, from transcribcre. to transcribe, from trans, across, through + scribere, to write). In music, an ar- rangement of a composition for instruments or voices other than those employed by the com- poser, which really are not transcriptions, but paraphrases. See Paraphrase. TRANSEPT (from Lat. trans, across, through + septum, swptutn, inclosure, parti- tion; connected with sxrpes, hedge). The pro- jecting wings at right angles with the nave and aisles, forming the smaller arms of the cross, in the ground plan of churches. In some of the largest early basilicas it was placed at the very top, helping to form a T-plan. In such churches the great arch opening from the nave into the transept was called the triumphal arch. When the strictly cruciform plan was introduced for churches in the early Middle Ages (Carolingian period) the transept became quite common, and in the Gothic age. almost luiiversal. It shows sometimes in plan, when it projects beyond the line of the side aisles; sometimes only in eleva- tion, when, though not projecting, it is marked by its vault and roof, which intersect the lower roof of the aisles on a level with that of the nave. The intersection is often called the crossing, and was usually surmounted by a spire, tower, or dome, to mark it. The crossing was also usually marked by much heavier piers. While single transepts were the rule, there were two kinds of double transepts used in Eng- land and Germany. The double English tran- sept was on the scheme of the archbishop's or Passion cross, with both arms toward the choir end; the double German transept was connected with the double choir, one at each end of the church. The ends of the transepts in Gothic churches were often treated as fagades only second in importance to the main front, with their large rose or wheel windows and their elaborate portals. Those of the Notre Dame in Paris, of Chartres, and Amiens are particularly beautiful. TRANSFIGURATION (Lat. fransfigurafio, from traiis/igurare, to transfigure, from trans^ across, through -f figurare. to form, from figura, shape, form ) of Christ. The temporary revela- tion of the glory of Jesus during His earthly ministry, recorded in Matt. xvii. 1-8, and parallel passages. The festival commemorating it can be traced back to the fifth century, but was estab- lished on August 6th as a solemn feast for the whole Roman Catholic Church in 1457, as a thanksgiving for the victory over the Turks near Belgrade. It was retained as a black-letter fes- tival by the Church of England, and restored as a greater feast by the American Episcopal Church at the revision of the Prayer-l?ook in 1892. TRANSFORMATION. See Marble Faun. TRANSFORMER. In electrical engineer- ing, an apparatus for transforming or converting an electric current. Machines for converting al- ternating currents to direct current's and vice versa are described under Dyxamo-Electric Machinery. Devices for obtaining pulsating currents of high potential from pulsating cur- rents of low potential are described under Ixnuc- TION Coil. The present article treats only of devices used to transform alternating currents into other alternating currents differing in mag- nitude and potential. A transformer may be specified as two electric circuits, such as two independent coils of in- sulated wire inclosing a common magnetic cir- cuit. This will be the case in some degree if the coils are anywhere near each other, but not
