Smith. — The hammers and tongs are very much the same in form as those used in Europe, but very roughly made. Anvils are simply cubical masses of iron having the upper surface faced with
ToPARCnY
TOPHET, TOPIIETH
797
steel. The original bellows was a tube through wliich the workman blew into the fire ; then goat- skin bags were employed ; and the form of beflows used bj- the coppersmiths of Syria at the present time is almost the same as that depicted on the tombs of ancient Egypt. Tlie modern worker in iron reijuires a more powerful instrument, and two large circular bellows are placed so that lie may take advantage of the weiglit of his body in work- ing them. See, further, the separate articles on various tools. W. Carslaw.
TOPARCHY (roxopx'a).— A word used only in 1 Mac 11-', and there to denote three 'provinces' (RV ; AV ' governments ') to which the name i-o/iis, or 'noine' (AV and RV 'governments'), is given in 1 iMac lO*'*' 11«. The three toparchies — Apha-rema, that is, Ephraim-Ophrah, Lydda, and Ramathaim — were detached from Samaria and added to Judipa some time before the war between Alexander IJalas and Demetrius Soter, and their possession was conlirmed to Jonathan Maccab;eus by Demetrius II. Nikator.
The toi)archy was a small administrative division, corresponding to the Turlcish Nnldeh, which was administered by a toparch as the Nahieh is by a mudir. According to Pliny (v. 14), Jud;ea was divided into ten, or, according to Joseplius (BJ III. iii. 5), into eleven toparchies. See Schiirer, HJP u. L 151 ff. C. W. Wilson.
TOPAZ.— In four passages of the OT (Ex 28" 39'», K/.k 28", Job 28'") the Heb. word n-<-zs [t ra- phutuiii] is rendered ' topaz ' by AV and RV, in accordance with LXX To-n-a^iov and Vulg. topazius. The other ancient VSS varj- their rendering, Pesh.
using l-ii'l, Pr^^, and |Zi i 1 iir^. whilst Targ.
has lin: and kji: x'^pp. The LXX and Vulg. also employ roTrdftov, topazion, as representing tp at Ps 1 1'.i'-'' ; but the Pesh. there contents itself with the vague term ' precious stones,' and the Targ., still more correctly, (<ii3iK(Gr. «/3pufov). In the NT the tojiaz is mentioned but once (Rev 21^), as the ninth of the foundation stones of the New Jeru- salem. The two passages in Ex. name it as the second stone in the lirst. row on the high priest's breastplate, and it is usually believed to have borne the name of Simeon. The comparison used in Job implies its costliness, and indicates the ([uarter from which it was chiefly derived : ' The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it [wisdom].' In Ezek. the wearing of it is a mark of regal siihiidour : ' Every precious stone was thy [the kinf,'sj cover- ing, the sardiuM, topaz,' etc. There is a fair amountof probability in the derivation of the Hel). name .tis? from the Sansk. pUa, ' yellow,' and in the suggestion that the Gr. form and those derived from it are merely a transposition of the Heb., i p d ioT p ( d. Codex Amiatiuus in Rev 21'*' spells the word with a d, topadius.
The question whetlier the topaz of the Bible is identical with our gem of tliat name has Ijcen rendered somewhat ditKcuIt by the well-known descriptien of the stone in Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvii. 8 —
* Et;ro^na etiam nunc sua topazio iflorU est, • Ttrenti ^cnere, •t cum prirnum reperta est, pnolata) omnibus. Accidit in Arabia) inBula, quuj Cytia vocabatur, in quam duvenerant Tro^lodytao pruidonea fame et tcmpcstato (e8.>^i, ut, cum herbofl radi('cg(|ue lodcrent, erucrunt topazinn. ll*c Arc/ietai scn- lontia est. Julia Topazum insulam in Uubro man a continenti BtudiiH ccc abussc dicit ; tiebuIo«am et ideo quauiitAm H^epiiia navi^'untibus nomen ex ca rausa accepissc, topazim enim TroKlo- dytarim lin^^xia Bigniflcationem baoere quiurendL . . . Eauem ■Ola nobiiium liniam ecntit.*
We need not discuss the etymology : the two important points are the greenness of the gem and its softness. The first of these is not fatal to
the identification, seeing that we know of green topazes ; the second is. Pliny may have included the chrysolite and the peridot under this name. Yet it does not follow tliat all the ancient miner- alogists agreed with him. It would not be easy to lind a more apt description of our topaz than in the lirst few words of Strabo's interesting account, reur/pa^iKd, xvi. —
A/fI«f a Im iiK^tttfie, x^vccuiU ItwcXoifjuean ^iyycft eccr fjnB' r,tAi^r IMt »u fiito* liitr irrt. triBtac^/yUTtci yafi^ vCxrmfi i' i^Sffn ei fv}j.iy«iirtt' wlfii)uc6x.i'X»TU it »yyiiO> rKtct-cv X'^fi" A**^ %/J.ipAv ettcfipW^oun. tuti ^r riffrrfAtt ittdpurain ctxohloiiyu.:tinf ut Tr,t ^i/\etKr,t r^i }j6iet( numt<t ''*' *^ rv*aLy^ryv,r. ffiTupx^i/a.itati iiwi rcii riit
The statements which have appeared as to the chemical composition of the topaz dill'er strangely. Streeter (Preciuiis Stones, p. 221), referring to the distinction between Oriental and Occidental topazes, says that the former consist of pure alumina, the latter being more than half alumina and for the rest composed of silica and fluorine. On the other hand, it has been spoken of as a silicate of aluminium associated with tlie fluorides of aluminium and silicon. In shape it is an ortho- rhombic prism with a cleavage transverse to the long axis. It has the power of double refraction, and becomes electric when heated or rubbed. It is almost as hard as the diamond, but there are a few engraved specimens — an aiitic|ue one, for in- stance, at St. Petersburg, with the constellation Sirius. Australia produces green and yellow stones. Exquisite transparent ones, clear and bright aa the most sparklin" water, come from Tasmania — gouttes d'cau, the French call them. In Saxony pale viobt are found ; in Uohemia sea-green ; in Brazil red, from pale to deep carmine.