TALISMAN

(From the Arabic, dual of the noun telesm; Gr. rcXinna, in the sense of an astrological wonder, or effect of the stars.) Among the Eastern nations, a figure cut in metal, stone, , supposed to have been made with particular ceremonies, and under particular astrological circumstances,and to po e various virtues, but chiefly that of averting disease or violent death from the wearer. In a more general sense, any portable object endowed with imaginary influence in controlling evil spirits, . has been so designated. The term is frequently used as synonymous with amulet (which see); but, strictly speaking, the latter is not believed to po e such extensive powers as the tana.) talisman. (See a curious article in the JEncyc. Metro pol iT ALL AGE (from the Fr. taille), in the language of the old English law, is said to be a general name for all taxes by Sir E. Coke. See Toll, T.ulle. TALLO W. (Germ, talg.) The fat obtained by meltinj? the suet of the oe and sheep, and straining it so as to free it from membrane. Tallow is an article of great importance. It is manufac tured into candles and soap; and is extensively used in the dre ing of leather, and in various proce es of the arts. Besides our extensive supplies of native tallow, we annually import a very large quantity, principally from Ru ia. The exports of tallow from Peters burgh amount, at an average, to between 3,500,000 and 4,000,000 poods, of which the largest portion by far is brought to England; the remainder being exported to Pru ia, France, the Hanse Towns, TurTALMUD.key, . The traditionary or unwritten laws of the Jews. It is called unwritten, to distinguish it from the textual or written law; and is, in fact, the interpretation which the rabbins affix to the law of Moses, which embodies their doctrine, polity, and ceremonies, and to which many of them adhere more than to the law itself. The word is derived from Ileb. lamad, he taught. The Talmud, therefore, is a book or volume which contains such doctrines and duties as are taught to the Jews by their own authorized teachers, the ancient rabbins. There are two Talmuds, that of Jerusalem and that of Babylon; not to mention those of Onkelos and Jonathan, which are rather paraphrases than volumes of traditionary doctrines. The Talmud of Jerusalem consists of two parts — the Gemara, and the Mishna. The Mishna signifies a doubling or reiteration; the Gemara, a work brought to perfection or completed — from the Chaldee gamar, to finish or complete. The Gemara and the Mishna together, strictly speaking, form the Talmud; but the rabbins are wont to designate the Pent a teuch of Moses the first part of the Talmud, and which is simply the law. The second part is the Mishna, which is a more extensive explication or amplification of the law; and the third part the Gemara, as finishing and completing it. The Mishna is the work of Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, 120 years after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. It is written in a tolerably pure style, and its reasonings are much more solid than those of the Gemara, which the Jewish doctors, it is stated, have stuffed with dreams and chimeras, and many ignorant and impertinent questions and disputations. The Gemara was written about 100 years afterwards by Rabbi Jochanan, the rector of the school at Tiberias. These two works form the Jerusalem Talmud. But the Talmud of Jerusalem is le esteemed than the Talmud of Babylon formed by Rabbi Asa or Aser, who had an academy for forty years at a place called Sara, near Babylon, whence it was denominated the Babylonish Talmud. It is this Talmud which the Jews more frequently consult; and it is especially esteemed by those Jews who live beyond the Euphrates, from the circumstance that it was compiled at Babylon. Rabbi Asa was called to his fathers before this celebrated commentary on the Mishna was completed; but it was finished by his disciples (some say [s. 1228]