TAJ MAHAL 



5688 



TALC 



resigned the position to give his time to study 

 and literary production. 



In 1864 his celebrated History of English 

 Literature appeared; this has been translated 

 into many languages, and it ranks as one of 

 the greatest works of its kind. In the same 

 year he was appointed by the government, 

 which had previously feared him because of his 

 attitude toward Napoleon III, to a professor- 

 ship in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, where he 

 distinguished himself by a series of excellent 

 lectures on art. He continued to write critical 

 studies on literature, art and history, producing 

 in the last fifteen years of his life his great 

 work, Origins oj Contemporary France, in 

 which he discussed the causes of existing condi- 

 tions in France. In 1878 he was made a mem- 

 ber of the French Academy. Taine was above 

 all things logical, and all of his work is marke/l 

 by the most accurate analysis. 



TAJ MAHAL, tahj mahahl' , the costliest 

 private tomb in the world, built by the Indian 

 ruler Shah Jehan as a final resting place for the 



THE TAJ MAHAL 



Some buildings take on added beauty under the 

 rays of a brilliant moon or in the light of the 

 setting sun. Of the Taj Mahal it has been said 

 that it "requires neither moonlight nor sunset ; it 

 brings its own atmosphere, its own light, 'that 

 was never yet on land or sea.' " 



remains of his favorite wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal, 

 "the pride of the Palace." The name Taj 

 Mahal is the Persian for crown oj Mahal. This 

 mausoleum, which is accounted by some critics 



to be the most beautiful building ever con- 

 structed, is one mile east of Agra, and its erec- 

 tion covered a period of twenty-one years 

 (1629-1650). It is built entirely of white ala- 

 baster, and is believed to have cost over $9,- 

 000,000. 



It stands on a rectangular platform, from 

 the four corners of which rise slender minarets, 

 or prayer towers. The building itself is an 

 octagon, 130 feet in length and width and sev- 

 enty feet high. Above the central portion an 

 exquisite dome rises to a height of 100 feet. 

 The outside of the mausoleum is adorned with 

 passages from the Koran and ornamental de- 

 signs in inlays of costly gems, and within is a 

 central chamber containing two cenotaphs, 

 which the spectator views through an alabaster 

 screen of beautiful openwork. Below this cham- 

 ber is the vault wherein repose the remains of 

 Shah Jehan and his wife. 



No artificial lighting is needed for the in- 

 terior, for the dome is semitransparent, and 

 there are several windows with perforated ala- 

 baster screens. Through these the light glows 

 with a marvelously softened effect. The struc- 

 ture is surrounded by a beautiful walled-in 

 garden, the entrance to which is a superb gate- 

 way of red sandstone and white marble. 



TALC, talk (short sound of a), a soft, mag- 

 nesian mineral found in flat, smooth layers or 

 plates in crystalline rocks. It is colorless, or of 

 a greenish- or yellowish-white hue, shading to 

 an olive-green, and is generally translucent. 

 The thin plates are transparent and in China 

 and India are used as a substitute for window 

 glass. In its granular form it feels soft and 

 soapy. Common -talc is used in the manufac- 

 ture of crayons and porcelain. French chalk, a 

 fine, granular variety, is used for tracing lines 

 on wood or cloth. 



The United States produces more talc than 

 all of the rest of the world, and in recent years 

 the output has nearly doubled. It is found 

 chiefly in the Blue Mountain region of the 

 Atlantic states and in the hills of New England, 

 and is generally mined in small fragments by 

 underground methods. The state of New York 

 produces over one-half of the total output, far 

 outranking all other states except Vermont; in 

 the latter state the industry has recently shown 

 a marked development, and the annual produc- 

 tion is now more than one-half that of New 

 York. Smaller quantities are found in New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, 

 Virginia and North Carolina; the deposits of 

 Southern California have attracted attention. 



