See PLEURONECTES, ICHTHYOLOGY Index.

TURÇÆ or Turci, (Mela); supposed to be the Tuci of Ptolemy; whom he places between Caucasus and the Montes Ceranuii. The name is said to denote, "to defolate, or lay waste." Herodotus places them among the wild or barbarous nations of the north. There is a very rapid river called Turk, running into the Caspian sea, from which some suppose the Turks to take their name. They made no figure in the world till towards the 7th century; about the beginning of which they fellied forth from the Portae Caspiae, laid waste Persia, and joined the Romans against Choroes king of Persia. In 1042 they subdued the Persians, in whose pay they served, and from whom they derived the Mahometan religion; and afterwards pouring forth, overran Syria, Cappadocia, and the other countries of the Hither Asia, under distinct heads or princes, whom Ottoman subduing, united the whole power in himself, which to this day continues in his family, and who fixed his seat of empire at Prusa in Bithynia. His successors subdued all Greece, and at length took Constantinople in 1453; which put a period to the Roman empire in the East, under Constantine the last emperor. It is a standing tradition or prophecy among the Turks, that their empire will at length be overturned by the Franks or Christians; which seems now to be drawing on apace towards accomplishment.