TEAR  , a drop of the liquid secretion of the lachrymal gland, constantly produced in a certain quantity and flowing through the nasal duct without

notice, but, when stimulated by pain, emotion or artificial excitation, increasing so that it flows over the eyelids and runs down the cheeks and is the visible result of crying or weeping (see EYE) . The O.E tear, taer, is represented in other Teutonic languages by Dan. taar; Swed. tar; Goth. tagr, &c . The O.H.G. was zahar; the mod . Ger . Zahre was formed from the M.H.G. plural Zahere . The commoner word in Ger . Thrane, cf . Du. traan, is closely allied . The original root is seen in Gr . Sanpv, Lat. lacrima, lacruma, for dacruma, whence Fr. larme, and It., Sp., and Port. lagrima . Minerva, the portico supported by six monolithic columns of cippolino, four being in front . After the French occupation in 1842, the building was used successively as a soap factory, a prison, a canteen, a parish church, and, lastly, as a museum .

Theveste was founded towards the

close of the 1st century A.D . In the succeeding century it was connected with Carthage by a great highway . In the 5th century, under Vandal dominion, it declined in importance . Refounded by the Byzantines in the 6th century, the city disappeared from history at the time of the Arab conquest of the country in the 7th century . In the 16th century the Turks placed a small garrison of janissaries in the place, but Tebessa continued to be but a small village until the establishment of French rule . Nine miles from Tebessa are the extensive phosphate quarries of Jebel Dyr, where is also an interesting megalithic village . See Sir R . Lambert Playfair, Handbook for Travellers in Algeria and Tunis (London, 1895), pp . 233-4o, Guides-Joanne, Algerie et Tunisie (Paris, 1906) .