TALLOW 967 



TABASKEE&. A siliceous concoction resembling hydrophane, which is formed 

 in the interior of the stem of the large Indian bamboo. 



TABBINET. A delicate kind of tabby or watered silk, produced by passing the 

 silk through engraved rolls. 



TABBY. Watered silk ; the effect being produced by subjecting the silk when 

 damp to pressure. 



TABBYING, or Watering, is the process of giving stuffs a wavy appearance by a 

 peculiar manipulation with the calender. 



TABULAR SPAR. A silicate of lime, known otherwise as Wollastonite. 



TACA1VXAHAC is a resin obtained from the Fagara octandra, a tree whicli 

 grows in Mexico and the West Indies. It occurs in yellowish pieces, of a strong 

 smell, and a bitterish aromatic taste. 



TAFFETTT is a light silk fabric, with a considerable lustre or gloss. 



TAXiC is a mineral of which several varieties are recognised, as : 



Foliated Talc. This, the purest crystalline talc, composed of easily separable folia, 

 presenting light green, greenish-white, and white colours. This is often found massive, 

 disseminated in plates, imitative, or crystallised in small six-sided tables. It is 

 splendent, pearly, or semi-metallic, translucent, flexible, but not elastic. It yields to 

 the nail ; spec. grav. 2'77. Before the blowpipe, it first whitens, and then fuses into 

 an enamel globule. It consists of silica, 62; magnesia, 27 ; alumina, T5; oxide of 

 iron, 3'5 ; water, 6. Klaproth found 2g per cent, of potash in it. It is found in 

 beds of clay-slate and mica-slate, in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Perthshire, Salzburg, 

 the Tyrol, and St. Gothard. 



The substance used in sheets as a cover for gas-jets, although often called talc, is 

 really mica. 



Talcose Slate. A slaty rock of a greenish-grey colour ; it is massive, with tabular 

 fragments, translucent on the edges, soft, with a white streak ; easily cut or broken, 

 but is not flexible ; and has a greasy feel. It occurs in the same localities as the 

 preceding. It is employed in the crayon-manufactures ; also as a crayon itself, by 

 carpenters, tailors, and glaziers. 



Indurated Talc. An impure slaty talc, with a nearly compact texture and of superior 

 hardness to common talc. 



Soapstone or Steatite (Speckstein, Ger.) ; coarse grey and greyish-green massive 

 varieties, generally granular ; also of fine texture. The Potstone, or Lapis ollaris, 

 includes the coarser granular specimens, of dark colour and more or less impure. 

 Slabs of steatite are extensively used as fire-stones. It is often turned into ornamental 

 articles. When ground it is used to diminish friction, and it was employed in the 

 manufacture of some kinds of porcelain. Venetian talc is used for removing stains 

 from woollen cloth. The fine varieties of talc, when coloured with the safflower* form 

 a rouge for the toilet. See STEATITE. 



TAIiliOW (Suif, Fr. ; Talg, Ger.), is the concrete fat of quadrupeds and man. 

 That of the ox consists of 76 parts of stearine and 24 of oleine ; that of the sheep 

 contains somewhat more stearine. See FAT and STEARINE. 



Ox-tallow was alone used formerly, and our great supply was from Russia. Aus- 

 tralia now, and America too, however, export to Europe a large quantity of mutton- 

 tallow. 



The drier the food upon which animals are fed the more solid is the tallow ; hence 

 the Eussian tallow is the best, the animals being fed for eight months of the year on 

 dry fodder. 



In the animal the tallow exists in separate globules, and the object of melting it 

 out is to combine all these into one mass. The rendering of tallow, as it is termed, 

 consists in cutting the fat into small pieces, and placing it in a pan over a naked fire. 

 The heat is regulated, and the first action is the bursting of the cells ; these pour out 

 their milky contents, which become clear gradually, as the water which it contains is 

 evaporated. 



Mechanical power is sometimes applied to aid in the rendering. The fat is placed 

 under a millstone working on edge, and thus the cells are torn and crushed, and when 

 this is once effected, the tallow separates with great ease at a moderate temperature. 

 Dorrett employed weak sulphuric acid to act upon the tallow, by mixing this acid with 

 boiling water, and retaining it after the fat has been placed within it, until the 

 separation of the fatty matter is completed. Some admit steam to the melting mass, 

 by which a larger quantity of tallow appears to bo obtained. Tallow is generally 

 so impure, that it has to be clarified by the candle-maker. This is effected by 



