TAUNTON 



5711 



TAX AND TAXES 



As civilization spreads, tattooing dies out, 

 though sailors of the most enlightened coun- 

 tries often have designs made on the forearm. 

 In Europe the practice is confined chiefly to 

 the criminal classes in large cities. 



TAUNTON, tahn'tun, MASS., one of the 

 county seats of Bristol County, is a manufac- 

 turing city in the southeastern part of the 

 state, thirty-six miles south of Boston and 

 seventeen miles northeast of Providence, R. I. 

 It is on the Taunton River, which has been 

 sufficiently deepened for river commerce at 

 high tide, and is served by the New York, New 

 Haven & Hartford Railroad and by an exten- 

 sive interurban system. Taunton includes the 

 villages of Hopewell, Britanniaville, Oakland, 

 Whittentou, East Taunton and the Weir 

 (which is the city's port), and covers an area 

 of over forty-four square miles. The popula- 

 tion in 1910 was 34,256; in 1916 it was 36,283 

 (Federal estimate). 



Taunton Green, the town square, is in the 

 heart of the business section. The more promi- 

 nent buildings are the county courthouse, built 

 at a cost of $300,000, the Federal building, 

 Registry building, city hall, Y. M. C. A., His- 

 torical Hall and the Carnegie Library. The 

 Morton Hospital, Old Ladies' Home and the 

 State Insane Hospital are important institu- 

 tions, and there are many old colonial buildings 

 of historic interest. Taunton is an important 

 industrial center. More than 2,500 people are 

 employed in making cotton goods, and other 

 important products are stoves, silverware, ma- 

 chinery, oilcloth and aluminum goods. The 

 city has a large coastwise trade and during cer- 

 tain parts of the year is the headquarters of a 

 considerable fishing business. The first cruci- 

 bles for copper smelting cast in the United 

 States were made here, and Taunton long sup- 

 plied the government with copper disks for 

 making one-cent pieces. 



A settlement called Cohannet was founded 

 on the site in 1638. Many of the settlers were 

 from Taunton, in England, and the place was 

 incorporated as a town under that name in 1639. 

 It was chartered as a city in 1865. C.W.L. 



TAURUS, taw'rus, THE BULL, the second 

 sign of the zodiac, into which the sun enters 

 about April 20. The symbol of this sign is 8 . 

 The constellation Taurus contains altogether 

 about 140 stars, and in the northern hemisphere 

 is overhead in December and January. The 

 most remarkable star is Aldebaran, a red star 

 of the first magnitude, which is shown in illus- 

 trations as blazing in the head of the Bull. 



The V-shaped cluster of Hyades forms the face 

 of the Bull, the Pleiades being also in this con- 

 stellation. In the Pleiades are nearly 100 stars, 

 but only six are visible to the naked eye, the 

 brightest being called Alegone. 



In Mythology. The Bull, according to leg- 

 ends, is the bull into which Jupiter transformed 

 himself when he carried away Europa, who 

 became mother of Minos and grandmother of 



e Pleiades 



THE CONSTELLATION TAURUS 

 The sizes of the stars indicate their relative 

 magnitude. 



Deucalion, the Noah of the Deluge. In the 

 ancient astronomy of India and Chaldea, the 

 Bull also appears long before the Greek era. 

 The Pleiades were the seven daughters of At- 

 las, all immortal except one, who gave up her 

 immortality for love of a man, and whose 

 brightness has vanished. The Hyades were 

 half sisters of the Pleiades; by poets they are 

 always called the "rainy Hyades." F.ST.A. 



For additional illustration showing position in 

 the heavens, see ASTRONOMY ; for explanation of 

 magnitude, see STAR, subhead Magnitude. 



TAURUS, a mountain range or series of 

 ranges, in Southern Asia Minor, extending 

 along the Mediterranean coast from the Eu- 

 phrates River in the direction of the Aegean 

 Sea. The mountains form the southern bound- 

 ary of the Anatolian Plateau, which occupies 

 the central part of the peninsula of Asia Minor. 

 Many peaks more than 10,000 feet in altitude 

 rise in the Taurus ranges. An extension of the 

 mountains on the northeast is known as the 

 Anti-Taurus. 



TAX AND TAXES. That portion of private 

 wealth or income demanded by a government 

 for the payment of its expenses is a tax; the 

 money paid for such purposes is called taxes. 

 Every nation or governmental unit must have 



