T A K 



■-onfifts of various manipulations, is minutely dcfcribed in 

 Nicholfon's Journal, vol. i. p. 160 — 163. See Sckew. 



Tapping, in Surgery. See Parackntesis. 



TAPPOOS, in Gfogrnphy, a town on the W. coall of 

 Sumatra ; 25 miles N. of Tappanooly. 



TAPROBANA, orTAPRor.AXE, in Ancient Geography, 

 J name anciently given to the illand of Ceylon ; which fee. 



TAPSAGUN, a town in the interior of Africa, and 

 one of thofe wliich were fubjugated by Cornelius Balbus. 



TAPSAS, a river of Africa, which ran near the town 

 of Ruficada. 



TAPSON, in Geography, a town of Thibet ; 50 miles 

 E. of Tchontori. 



TAPSUS, or TllAP.sUS, in Ancient Geography, a penin- 

 fula on the eaftcrn coail of Sicily, between Hybia parva 

 and Syracufe — Alfo, a promontory of Africa, I 2 leagues 

 E. of the promontory Tritum. This formed the caltern 

 extremity ot the Sinus Nuraidicus. 



TAPTEE, in Geography, a river of Hindooftan, formed 

 by the union of feveral fmaller rivers in the Candeilh country, 

 which runs into the gulf of Cambay, about i 2 miles below 

 Sural. See Tappi. 



TAP-TOO. See Tat-too. 



TAPUI-TAPERA, in Geography, a town of Brafil, 

 on the coaR ; 15 miles N.W, of St. Luis de Marannon. 



TAPURA, in Botany, an unexplained name of Aublet's. 

 See RoHRlA. 



Tapura, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, in the 

 jnountains of Lefler Armenia. 



TAPURI, or Tapyri, a people of Afia, in Media. 



Tapuri Monies, mountains of Scythia, on this fide of 

 mount Imaus. Ptolemy. 



TAPUYAS, in Geography, a river of Brafd, which runs 

 into the river of the Amazons ; the banks of which are in- 

 habited by Indians, independent of the Portuguefe. 



TAQUARI, a river of Brafil, having the largeft of its 

 many mouths in the Paraguay, in lat. 19° 15', and long. 



54°- 



TAR. See Pami.ico. 



Tar, or Tarr, a thick dark-brown or black refinous ad- 

 hefive juice, iffuing from the wood and bark of old pines or 

 isrs, either naturally, or by burning. See PiNUs. 



Some modern writers inform us, that tar flows from the 

 trunks of pines and firs, when they are very old, through 

 incifions made in the bark near the root ; that pitch is only 

 tar infpiffated ; and both are the oil of the tree grown thick 

 and black with age and the fun. The trees, like old men, 

 being unable to perfpire, and the fecretory dufts obftrufted, 

 they are, as one may fay, choaked and Huffed with their 

 own juice. But the method ufed by our colonies in America 

 of making tar and pitch, is, in effe<ft, the fame with that 

 of the ancient Macedonians ; as appears from the account 

 given in the Philofophical Tranfactions. And the relation 

 of Leo Africanus, who defcribes, as an eye-witnefs, making 

 of tar on mount Atlas, agrees in fubflance witli the methods 

 ufed by the Macedonians of old, and the people of New 

 England of this day. The greater part of the tar im- 

 ported into Britain is brought from the Baltic, and is ftill 

 prepared in nearly the fame method which is defcribed by 

 Diofcorides .is having been praftifed by the ancients. The 

 branches of the trees are cut into billets, and piled up in 

 large flacks, which are covered with turf. Fire is then .ip- 

 plied to the wood, and it is fuffered to burn with a flow 

 fmothered flame, during which procefs the tar is formed by 

 the decompofition of the refinous juice, which flows to the 

 bottom, and runs out through a fmall channel cut for the 

 purpofe. The Hacks are generally built on the Hope of a 



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hill, fo lliat the tar is cafily coUefted, .ind put iiito fcarrels ; 

 in which f\ate it is brought into this countrv. The procefs 

 now defcribed is termed " diflillatio ijcr defccnfum." Se» 

 Pine. 



A more expeditious and economical method of obtaining 

 tar is praftifed in France and Switzerland. The vood if 

 heated in huge brick ovens, conflrufted for the purpofe, 

 and thus it is charred more eciually, and the tar is of a more 

 uniform and better quality. In the Vallais the pines arc 

 felled in the preceding year, that the wood may be fuffi- 

 ciently dry, and when the outer bark and twigs are flripped 

 off, ttie remainder of the tree is cut into billets of tolerably 

 equal li/.e. The oven is conflrutled of flone or brick, of 

 the (hape of an egg placed on its fmall end : the floor is 

 made either of a flat flone, fcooped out into a hollow, or 

 of feveral flones accurately joined together. On one fide of 

 it, about five inches above the lowell part, is a hole, in 

 which a gun-barrel is thrufl, and this fcrves to convey off 

 the liquid tar that is collefted. A large iron grate is laid 

 at the bottom of the oven. The largeft of thefe ovens are 

 about ten feet high, and five or fix feet in the largell dia- 

 meter. In charging the oven, bundles of billets are thrown 

 in and fpread as evenly as poffible, the interftices being filled 

 with chips, till the charge nearly reaches the top. The 

 whole is then covered with a layer of chips, and the top 

 of the furnace is clofed with flat ftones heaped upon one 

 another, gradually leffening the opening, and forming a 

 kind of vaulted chimney, the mouth of which is fi>ur or 

 five inches acrofs. The dry chips at the top of the furnace 

 are then fet on fire, and the heat fpreads downwards, till the 

 whole charge is fufficiently kindled. The chimney is then 

 entirely clofed with a large flone, and wet earth is heaped 

 on the flones at top, and thrown on wherever the fmoke is 

 obferved to burfl out too flrongly. The melting then be- 

 gins, and the tar falls to the bottom, fills the hollow of the 

 floor (which detains any bits of wood and other impurities), 

 and runs off through the gun-barrel into cafl<s placed for 

 receiving it. The fire mult be occafionally refrefhed by 

 letting in a fmall draught of air through fmall holes left for 

 the purpofe in the fides of the kiln. When the procefs is 

 finifhed, the wood, completely charred, is taken out, and the 

 oven, after having been cle.ired out, is again filled. The 

 red wood and knots, being the richefl in refin, are found 

 to yield .ibout one-fourth of their weight of tar ; but the 

 general average product is about 10 or \ 2 per cent, of the 

 weight of the whole charge. After each procefs, a quantity 

 of " lamp-black" Ls collefted beneath the flones that form 

 the vault of the temporary chimney. 



According to Theophrafhis, not only the turpentine' 

 trees, the pines, and the firs yield refin or tar, but alfo the 

 cedars and palm-trees ; and the words ^/'x and rofm are taken 

 by Pliny in fo large a fenfe, as to include the weepings of 

 the lentifcus and cyprefs, and the balms of Arabia and 

 Judasa ; all which perhaps arc- near of kin, and in their 

 mofl ufeful qualities concur with common tar, efpecially the 

 Norwegian, which is the moll liquid and befl for nv.'dicinal 

 ufes. Thofe trees that grow on mountains, enpofed to the 

 fun or north wind, are reckoned to produce the bell and 

 pureil tar ; and the Idjean pines were dilliiiguilhed from 

 thofe growing on the plain as yielding a thinner, fweetcr, 

 and better fcented tar. Every part of the tree, which is at 

 all refinous, is fit for yielding tar ; but the red wood and 

 the hard roots yield the bcfl in quality as well as the greatcil 

 in quantity. 



Every kind of wood will produce the pyroligneotis acid 

 (which fee), and tar by the dellrudtive diltillation. Peat 

 alfo will yield it in abundance. 



There 



