1* 



TANNIQENAM1C ACID. 



TAPESTRY. 



Woodruff; Xubii**ir acid, tram the leaves of the Madder plant; 

 Calloianmtf acitl. in the common Heather ; JUunlolaimie udd, in the 

 Irndron leaf ; Lnlilannir acid, in the wild Rosemary ; and Pini- 

 la**tt acid, in the bark o< varioiu Pino*. (ialtayHmtic aeid has ben 

 referred to this article on tannic acids; it a, however, a derivative of 

 gallic acid, and is the cause of the deep blue coloration imparted to an 

 aqueous solution of gallic acid, containing bicarbonate of lime, on 

 exposure to the air : acids change it to red, but lime restore* it* blue 

 colour. 



Ettimatio* of taxitif acidi. The amount of actual tanning material 

 contained in a bark, to,, it often required to be known by the tanner. 

 At present the only practical mean* of doing this, U to add a standard 

 olution of gelatin to the decoction of a small quantity (1 to 50 grains) 

 of the tanning substance until no further precipitate of tannate of 

 gelatin is thrown down. The solution of gelatin in atandarucd by a 

 known quantity of pure gallotanuic acid ; the amount of it required to 

 precipitate the acid in the uptx-iim-n under examination, is supposed to 

 indicate the tanning value of that sample. It is a question, however, 

 whether gelatin in solution precipitate* the whole of the matters that 

 skin does in the tan-pit ; if it docs, the process may be relied on, and it 

 is certainly fair to assume that it does, inasmuch as akin is nearly all 

 gelatinoid matter. 



The following table indicates the amount of tannic acid in the chief 

 varieties of tnning material Not only do different substances differ 

 much in the quantity they contain, but the same plant is much in- 

 fluenced by climate, soil, and age. 



Per cent. Authority. 



TA N N H : KXAMIC ACID. [TANNIO ACID.] 



Tl X X I ( ; I : X 1 C ACI D. [TAXXIC ACID.] 



TANNIN. [TANNIC ACID.] 



TANNIN, PURE, or TANNIC ACID, Medical Proptrtut of. 

 This substance in combination with extractive has been long known 

 under the name of tannin, and recognised as the active principle in 

 almost all astringent vegetables. [AtTRiHOjotTS.] As many of these 

 are powerful in restraining excessive discharges, whether bloody or 

 otherwise, it was conjectured that the pure principle would be yet 

 more efficacious than when in a state of combination. Accordingly it 

 has been administered in some passive hemorrhages, chiefly from the 

 uterus and the bronchial tubes. To effect any good it requires to be 

 given for several days in small doses. It U with difficulty absorbed 

 int.. tin- circulation, being with great reluctance taken up by the 

 lacteal*, and producing very great constipation, from its direct astrin- 

 gent action iiver the intestinal canal, with which it is brought into 

 contact. Tannic acid has been recommended in cases of incurable 



organic rliinases affecting the uterus, accompanied with , wasting dis- 

 charges. These it may for a time moderate, but the constipation 

 induced never fails ultimately to aggravate the disease and discomfort 

 of the patient. There is little therefore to induce practitioners to 

 employ it to act on remote organs, as it appears to be converted into 

 gallic acid wherever it is absorbed. To facilitate its action a solution 

 of it in alcohol, or, better still,-in ether is employed. This is a very 

 powerful topical astringent. Tannin present in the after-math of 

 grasses given as food for cattle seems to pass out almost unchanged, 

 and in the quantity originally present It is of use, along w 

 bitter extractive, in restraining the fermentation of the food. 1 1 

 presence in vegetables which causes the motions to become black 

 any preparation of iron or chalybeate water U taken. 



TANNING. [LKATHEIOI KE.] 



TANTALUM. [COLUMBIUM.] 



TANNOMKI.AMC ACIH. [TANM. Aim] 



TANN\YI.ICACII>. j in.] 



TAPESTRY (French, Tapiamt; Italian, Tappeixria). This name 

 is most commonly applied to the textile fabrics, usually composed of 

 wool or silk, and sometimes enriched with gold and silver, WOM-II or 

 embroidered with figures, landscapes, or ornamental devices, and used 

 as a lining or covering for the walla of apartments. It is dei r,. I from 

 the French " tapis," which is from the Latin " tapetum," a carpet or 

 covering for a bed or couch. The French " tapis," though generally 

 applied to carpets, is also used to express other figured cloths used as 

 coverings, such as the coverings of tables. Of the use of tb. 

 tapestry in this more extended sense, there is an instance in Shakspere's 

 ' Comedy of Errors,' act iv., so. 1. 



Although the loom was employed from the earliest times 1>y tin' 

 Oreeks and Romans for the production of ordinary tissues, its applica- 

 tion to the weaving of ornamented or figured fabrics was chiefly 

 Oriental. It is probable that many of the early tapestries Were em- 

 broidered by hand or worked with the needle. This kind of work, of 

 which the Bayeux tapestry is a celebrated example [BAYEUX TAITSTR v], 

 was continued long after the practice of weaving tapestry in the loom 

 had become common. The ornamented curtains of the Jewish taber- 

 nacle (Exodus, xxvi., xxxv., xxxvi.), are generally considered to have 

 been embroidered by the needle. 



Scanty as are the notices of tapestry in ancient writers, our infor- 

 mation respecting it during tin- middle ages is not much fuller. 

 ,) uliin.il (' Recherches sur 1'Usage et 1'Origine des Tapisseries ') observes 

 that we find females engaged in working tapestry with the needle from 

 the earliest epochs of the French monarchy. Gregory of Tours, 

 writing towards the close of the 6th century, in his description of the 

 rejoicings which followed the profession of Christianity by Clovis and 

 his people, speaks of the streets being shaded with painted cloths or 

 curtains (relit depictit), and the churches being adorned with hangings ; 

 and again, in describing the consecration of the church of St. I)i < 

 mentions tapestries embroidered with gold and garnished with pearls. 

 The fabrication of tapestry hangings by the loom appears to have been 

 introduced into France, at the earliest, about the 9th century, until 

 which time the needle had been used exclusively in their produ 

 and long after that pcriodj the two processes were practised i 

 reutly. At this time we often find embroidered cloths enumerated 

 among the decorations of churches. From contemporary notices, it is 

 evident that there was a celebrated manufacture of tapestry at I ' 

 an early as 1025. Nor was the manufacture of tapestry 

 France at this period. The inhabitants of the north of Euro) 

 practised it, and English embroidery was much admired and highly 

 prized on the Continent. In the East also, where the art had been 

 cultivated from the earliest antiquity, fine embroidery was produced 

 in the llth century. Much of the early Oriental tapestry was adorned 

 with grotesque figures; and long after it became usual to depict 

 natural figures and scenery upon tapestry, such devices were often used 

 in ornamental borders. 



In the 12th and 13th centuries ths use of tapestry extended greatly. 

 It passed from churches and monasteries, in which it had been used 

 for curtains, palls, altar-cloths, vestments, &c., to the residences of the 

 nobility. The use of tapestry in this way is believed by many writers 

 on the subject to have been one of the luxuries introduced from the 

 East in consequence of the increased intercourse occasioned by the 

 crusades. The crusaders brought accounts of the Oriental practice of 

 covering walk with prepared and ornamented skins, chiefly those of 

 goats and sheep. These, which were probably at first used of then- 

 natural size and shape, were, at a Utter period, cut into rectangular 

 pieces, about two feet high, and rather less in width, and united by 

 sewing into very solid and handsome hangings, which were well 

 adapted to resist damp. Such hangings, or leather tapestry, v,. i.- 

 manufactured much at Venice and Cordova, and were sometimes 

 gilt all over, or ornamented with gilt devices, in which case they bore 

 the name of (for bcuant. The Oriental origin of the more ordinary 

 kind of tapestry is indicated by the name Saraani or Sarnzinui*, which 

 was frequently applied in Franco to the early manufacturers. In tin- 

 following centuries tapestry was not only used to cover the !> 

 walls, but was also employed on great occasions, as furinstan 

 the public entries of princes, to decorate streets, and to impart a joyful 

 appearance to towns and public places. It formed part of the decora- 

 tions of festal halls, and was employed to ornament the galleries and 



