524 



TANNING TAPEWORM. 



immersions of the skin in liquors of different 

 strength. Sir H. Davy observes, that leather, 

 lowly tiimieil in weak infusions of bark, appears 

 to be bolter in quality, being both softer and 

 Blrongor, than when tanned by dense infusions; and 

 he ascribe* thi to the extractive matter whieh 

 they imbibe. This principle, therefore, affects the 

 finality of the material employed in tanning; and 

 galls, which contain a great deal of tannin, make a 

 hard leather, and liable to crack, from their defi- 

 ciency of extractive matter. Hides increase in 

 weight during the process of tanning from one fifth 

 to one third. 



TANNING is a mechanical art, by which the 

 hides and skins of various animals, particularly those 

 of neat cattle, are converted into sole leather, up- 

 per leather, harness, &c., by being cleansed of the 

 hair and flesh, and saturated with the tannin con- 

 tained in the bark of the oak, hemlock, and some 

 other kinds of forest trees. It is a simple process 

 to make leather of hides and bark, but probably one 

 of the most critical of manufacturing operations to 

 make the most and the best leather that can be 

 made from a given quantity of bide. The process 

 is long and laborious. Time and labour are both 

 materially reduced, and the quantity and weight of 

 the leather increased, by various improvements. 

 The improvements alluded to are the substitution 

 of water power for manual labour, in many of the 

 most laborious parts of the process; viz. to soften 

 and cleanse the hide preparatory to the bark being 

 applied to it ; to grind the bark ; to move pumps 

 for transferring the decoction of the bark from one 

 vat to another (much of which is necessary to be 

 done daily in an extensive tannery), and to roll the 

 leather preparatory to its being sent to market ; 

 also the least possible quantity of lime is now used 

 to facilitate getting off the hair : this has been found 

 greatly to add to the weight and quality of the 

 leather. The application of heat to bark in leaches 

 is found to be very important, and more particularly 

 the application of the decoction (usually termed 

 liquor') to the hide, rather than the bark, which had 

 been commonly employed. Tanning is a chemical 

 process; and undoubtedly the art will go on im- 

 proving with the progress of chemical science and 

 the diffusion of chemical knowledge. 



TANSY (tanacetum vulgare}. This plant grows 

 in beds by road sides, and in waste places. The 

 stems are upright, branching, and about two feet 

 high ; the leaves doubly pinnate, and incisely ser- 

 rate, and of an agreeable aspect. It belongs to the 

 composite. The flowers are yellow buttons, dis- 

 posed in a large, upright corymb. The whole plant 

 has a strong and penetrating odour, agreeable to 

 some persons, and an extremely bitter taste. It 

 contains an acrid volatile oil, is stimulant and car- 

 minative, and the decoction and seeds are recom- 

 mended as anthelmintic and sudorific. The young 

 leaves are shredded down, and employed to give 

 colour and flavour to puddings ; they are also used 

 in omelets and cakes, and those of the curled variety 

 for garnishing. 



TANTALITE. See Columbite. 



TANTALUM. See Columbium. 



TANTALUS, son of Jupiter, and king of Sipy- 

 lus, in Phrygia, was a favourite of the gods, who 

 often visited him, until he forfeited their favour by 

 his arrogance. Tradition does not agree as to his 

 crime. ' According to one account, he offended 

 Jupiter by his perfidy; according to another, he 

 itole away the nectar and ambrosia from heaven ; 



and a third story is, that he murdered his own son 

 Pelops, and served him up for some of the gods 

 The same diversity prevails in regard to his |mnKli- 

 rnent. He is sometimes described as having a large 

 stone suspended over his head, which constantly 

 threatens to fall and crush him, and from which he 

 cannot flee. But the more common account repre- 

 sents him as standing up to his throat in water, 

 with the most delicious fruits hanging over his 

 head, which, when he attempts to quench liis burn- 

 ing thirst or to appease his raging hunger, elude his 

 grasp. From this fable comes the English expre 

 sion to tantalizr. 



TAPESTRY ; a kind of woven hangings of 

 wool and silk, frequently raised and enriched with 

 gold and silver, representing figures of men, animals, 

 landscapes, historical subjects, &c. This species 

 of curtain-covering for walls was known among the 

 inhabitants of Eastern countries at an extremely 

 remote era. The most grotesque compositions and 

 fantastic combinations were commonly selected for 

 the display of the talents of workmen in this de- 

 partment of Oriental art, which was afterwards 

 imported into Greece. From these compositions 

 the elegant Greeks are supposed, by Bottiger, to 

 have taken their ideas of griffins, centaurs, &c. At 

 length the refined taste of Athens became visible 

 in the structure of tapestries. The old grotesque 

 combinations no longer, as formerly, covered their 

 surfaces, but were confined to the borders only ; 

 and the centre received more regular and systematic 

 representations. In modern times, this description 

 of embroidery has been executed with very great 

 success, and has often employed the talents of the 

 greatest masters in the art of painting. In Flanders, 

 particularly at Arras (whence the term arras, signi- 

 fying tapestry"), during the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries, the art was practised with uncommon 

 skill ; and tapestries were executed there after the 

 masterly designs of Raffaelle in his cartoons, (q. v.) 

 This art was introduced into England by William 

 Sheldon, near the end of Henry VIII's reign. In 

 1619, a manufacture was established at Mortlake, 

 in Surrey, by Sir Fras. Crane, who received 2000 

 from James I., to encourage the design. The first 

 manufacture of tapestry at Paris was set up under 

 Henry IV., in 1606 or 1607, by several artists 

 whom that monarch invited from Flanders. But 

 the most celebrated of all the European tapestry 

 manufactures was that of the Gobelins, instituted 

 under Louis XIV., which sent forth very beautiful 

 cloths, remarkable for strength, for elegance of de- 

 sign, and happy choice of colours. The finest paint- 

 ings were copied, and eminent painters employed in 

 making designs. For a long while Gobelin tapes- 

 try was the most costly and favourite method of 

 hanging the walls of chambers. The texture of 

 tapestry is in many respects similar to that of the 

 finer carpetings ; but the minuteness of the consti- 

 tuent parts causes the sight of the texture to be 

 lost in the general effect of the piece. See Carpels, 

 and Hautetisse. 



TAPEWORM, one of the most stubborn worms 

 which infest the bowels of beasts, and also of man, 

 has its name from the broad, flat, ribbon-like ap- 

 pearance of each articulation and of the whole body, 

 which is composed of these articulations. Bremser 

 makes two species tamia and bothryocephalus 

 both of which were formerly united in one species, 

 under the name of tamia. O*ne kind of both species 

 appears in the human body ; namely, 1 . tamia solium, 

 the single or long-limbed chainworrn, in which the 



