TAOISM 



5699 



TAPEWORM 



TAOISM, tou'iz'm, a philosophical system 

 originated in China in the sixth century B. c. 

 by a sage known as Lao-tse. He was a con- 

 temporary of Confucius, and these two great 

 thinkers are known to have taken counsel to- 

 gether. At the present time the Chinese ven- 

 erate the name of Lao-tse almost as much as 

 that of Confucius, and Taoism holds an impor- 

 tant place among the Chinese religions. It is, 

 however, a debased and degenerate form of re- 

 ligion, with no suggestion of the lofty ideals of 

 its founder. The priests of Taoism claim to have 

 magic powers, and the ritual is a combination 

 of witchcraft and demonology. The principles 

 laid down by Lao-tse are difficult to explain, 

 but he seems to have attempted to point out a 

 way to right conduct and true happiness. 



Consult Parker's Studies in Chinese Religion; 

 Kennedy's Religions and Philosophies of the East. 



TAP A JOS , tah pah zhosh ' , one of the princi- 

 pal branches of the Amazon River, which rises 

 in the southern part of Brazil, midway between 

 its eastern and western boundaries, and flows 

 in a northwesterly, then a northeasterly direc- 

 tion, discharging into the Amazon near San- 

 tarum, after a course of about 1,200 miles. Its 

 basin lies between those of the Madeira and 

 the Xingu. It is navigable by small vessels al- 

 most its entire length. 



TAPESTRY, tap'estri, an ornamental fab- 

 ric used for decorating the walls of churches and 

 palaces, and as a covering for windows, arch- 

 ways, furniture and floors. Tapestries are made 

 by a special process of weaving, described as 

 follows by an authority on the subject (Charles 

 M. Froulke) : 



Tapestries are made by interweaving variously 

 colored woof threads with undyed warp threads 

 after the warp threads have been stretched upon 

 a loom either vertically or horizontally. This 

 interweaving is done with an implement called a 

 broche in French, which is neither a shuttle nor 

 a. bobbin, but partakes of the character of both, 

 and for which there is no equivalent word in 

 English. The picture represented is developed 

 upon the warp by the different colors of the woof 

 threads. Needles are never used in weaving tap- 

 estries. In the process of weaving the woof be- 

 comes practically an integral portion of the com- 

 pleted structure. 



Tapestry making, which dates from antiquity, 

 reached its artistic heights in the fifteenth cen- 

 tury. The industry was then centered at Arras, 

 in Flanders (now a city of France), and so ex- 

 cellent were the tapestries made there that the 

 name of the city was applied to the fabric it- 

 self. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, to cite a famil- 

 iar instance, Hamlet kills Polonius by driving 



his dagger through the arras behind which the 

 eavesdropper is hidden. Antwerp, Brussels, 

 Bruges, Lille and Valenciennes also developed 

 as important centers of tapestry making, and 

 the art became nationalized both in France and 

 in Flanders. 



In Paris, early in the seventeenth century, a 

 factory under royal patronage was established 

 in the dye works of the Gobelin family, and in 

 1662 the property was transferred to the con- 

 trol of the state. Gobelin tapestries became 

 world famous, and the present museum con- 

 nected with the establishment is one of two in 

 the world in which tapestries and textile fab- 

 rics alone are exhibited. The other is in Flor- 

 ence. In the Gobelin museum may be seen 

 tapestry reproductions of many of the great 

 masterpieces of painting. 



There are also valuable state collections of tap- 

 estries in Madrid and Vienna, and throughout 

 the European continent; throughout the civi- 

 lized world there are countless beautiful fabrics 

 preserved in mansions, castles, cathedrals and 

 museums. These tapestries picture historical 

 events, scenes from legend and mythology, Bib- 

 lical episodes and personages, flowers, conven- 

 tional designs, heraldic devices, coats of arms, 

 etc. Among the famous specimens of this art is a 

 series illustrating scenes in the life of the Apos- 

 tles, copied from cartoons made by Raphael, 

 and now in the Vatican. The celebrated Bayeux 

 Tapestry in Bayeux, Normandy, is really an 

 example of embroidery. R.D.M. 



Consult Hunter's Tapestries: Their Origin, His- 

 tory and Renaissance; Thomson's History of 

 Tapestry. 



TAPE 'WORM, an animal parasite that lives 

 in the intestines of human beings and seriously 

 impairs the health. It consists of a very small 

 head and many body and tail segments, and 

 may vary in length from a few inches to five or 

 six yards. The parasite grows by the forma- 

 tion of new segments, or buds, which develop 

 behind the head and are continually pushed 

 backward as others form. The tail segment is 

 therefore the oldest. The head has a ring of 

 four sucking disks, by means of which the ani- 

 mal attaches itself to the mucous membrane of 

 the intestine. It obtains food by absorbing 

 nourishment through its skin; the body floats 

 freely and can take in nutriment from all sides. 

 There are no digestive organs, and there is no 

 mouth. Fertilization of eggs occurs in each 

 division of the worm, and when the embryos 

 reach a certain period of development some of 

 the end sections separate from the others and 



