It seems to have been at first part of the royal garden, but it was
afterwards defiled and polluted by the sacrifices of Baal and the fires
of Moloch, and resounded with the cries of burning infants. At a later
period, its altars and high places were thrown down, and all the filth
of the city poured into it, until it became the abhorrence of
Jerusalem, and, in symbol, the place where are wailing and gnashing of
teeth.
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna called,
the type of hell.
Milton.
Toph"in (?), n. (Min.) Same as Toph.
<! p. 1519 !>
To"phus (?), n.; pl. Tophi (#). [NL.: cf. F. tophus a mineral
concretion in the joint. See Toph.] [Written also tofus.] 1. (Med.) One
of the mineral concretions about the joints, and in other situations,
occurring chiefly in gouty persons. They consist usually of urate of
sodium; when occurring in the internal organs they are also composed of
phosphate of calcium.