TAR 



funk, and other heavy bodies, from the bottom of the fea, 

 and the means by wlilcli a perfon may be enabled to remain a 

 confiderable time under water ; and to him we owe a treatife 

 on the figns which indicate changes in the atmofphere. He 

 has hkewifc furnilhed us with a large treatife on arithtnetic, 

 algebra, and geometry, piiblilhcd at Venice, in folio, in 

 1556. Tirabofchi remarks, that all Tartaglia's works ma- 

 nifeft great penetration and acutenufs, and that they would 

 claim tiigher commendation, if the author had paid more at- 

 tention to his ftylc, and if the editions were more corrcftiy 

 printed. But with all their imperfeftions and faults, and 

 after all the improvements to which they have led the way, 

 they were juftly eileemcd at the time when they were wT-itten, 

 and they have been ufeful to thofe who have in more modern 

 times purfued the fame courfe of lludy and inveftigation. 

 Tirabofchi. Montucla. Hutton. 



Tartaglia is mentioned by Pietro della Valle among great 

 Roman muficians in 1640, and the compofer of " Clearco," 

 the firll opera that was performed at a pubhc theatre in Rome. 

 For though feveral miiiical dramas had been exr.ibited in the 

 palaces of ambaffadors and other great perfonages in that 

 city, no theatre had been previoufly opened there for the 

 public at large. 



TARTAGLINI, la Rosa, the daughter of Tibaldi, 

 an excellent tenor finger in the fervice of the emperor at 

 Vienna. She was extremely celebrated for her beauty and 

 agility of voice, and quitted the ftage in 1768. 



TART A LA, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Cahcut ; 21 miles E. of Paniany. 



TARTAN, in Sea Language, a fmall coafting vefTel 

 navigated in the Mediterranean fea, and ha\-ing only one mall 

 and a bowfprit, the principal fail, which is extremely large, 

 being extended by a lateen-yard. 



When tartans put up a fquare fail, it is called a fail of 

 fortune. 



TARTAR, Tartarus, or Tartanim, in Chemiflry, an 

 acid concrete fait which rifes from wines, after complete 

 fermentation, and flicking to the top and fides of the callcs, 

 forms a cruft, which hardens to the confiftence of a Ilone. 

 It is in this ftate a hard, brittle, brown-red mafs, inter- 

 fperfed with imperfeclly cryftalli/.ed particles ; and called 

 crude or rough tartar, or argol, by way of diftindlion from 

 that which is purified. 



Its goodnefs rather depends on the number of repeated 

 fermentations, which a fucceffion of new wines in the fame 

 calks for fcveral years makes, than on the foil or climate 

 where tlie wine is produced. 



The fwcct wines afford always lefs tartar than the (harp 

 ones, and it is alfo lefs valuable. The tartar of Rhenifh 

 wine is better than that of any other ; and in general thofe 

 wines which have the moft acid in them, and which are the 

 moft coloured and flrongeft-bodied, afford the greateft quan- 

 tity of tartar, and tliat in the largefl cryflals. 



The tallc of tartar is vinous, and flightly acid. It is not 

 entirely a product of fermentation, for it is contained in the 

 " muft," or grape juice, and affifls in the procefs of fer- 

 mentation, and the produftion of alcohol. This fait has 

 alfo been found native, under different combinations, in fome 

 other vegetable juices. 



Befides the ufual way in which tartar is produced, there 

 is a very remarkable account in the Memoirs of tlie Aca- 

 demy of Sciences at Paris, an. 1737, of its having been 

 found in a more than ordinary beautiful ftate on a human 

 ikull : the difcovery was owing to accident, and it was found 

 that there had been lees of wine in the veflel in which the 

 ikull had been laid ten days in foak. 



r A R 



The formation of the cryftds of this tartar on the ikuii» 

 while the fides of the velFel had none created on them, (hews 

 that tlic (l<ull had a difpofition for receiving the cryftals more 

 than any other body ; and their pecuhar brightnefs proves, 

 that it had fome fhare in their formation. 



Tartar confifts of a large quantity of extraftive matter, 

 fcarcely foluble in water, to which it owes its colour, and 

 of a fait, quite white when pure, compofed of acid of tartar 

 united to a fmall portion of potafh„ lefs than is required for 

 the faturation of the acid, but which, in this proportion, 

 forms a diflinft cryftallizable fait of confiderable importance 

 in feveral arts and manufadlures. 



Tartar is either luhite, or red, according to the colour of 

 the wine from which it is produced. That brought from 

 Germany is the befl, as being taken out of thofe monftrous 

 tuns, fome of which hold a thoufand pipes of wine, fo that 

 the fait has time to come to its confillence, which is one of 

 the chief qualities to be regarded in tartar. That of Mont- 

 pellier is the next in order ; then that of Lyons, Paris, &c. 



White tartar is preferred to red, and is really better, as 

 containing lefs of the drofTy or earthy part ; though both 

 kinds, when purified, are exadlly the fame. The marks of 

 good tartar of either kind are, its being thick, brittle, bril- 

 liant, and but little earthy. 



Tartar, in its crude ilate, is much ufed as a ilux in the 

 affaying of ores. As it contains both alkali and carbonaceous 

 matter, it afts both in aflifting the fiifion of refraftory ores, 

 and in reducing metallic falts and oxyds. When heated 

 per fe to rednefs in clofe vefTels, the extraiElive matter and 

 the tartareous acid both become charred, and the refult is a 

 black alkahne cai-bonaceous mafs. In open vefTels the char- 

 coal burns off totally, and at lafl nothing remains but pure 

 white carbonate of potafh. But tartar is for the moil part 

 refined, in order to obtain the pure fait ; which is called 

 purified tartar, cream of tartar, cryjlals of tartar ; or more 

 accurately, according to the modern nomenclature, acidulous 

 tartrite of potajld, or fupertartrite of potajh, and fometimes 

 with lefs precifion, finiply tartar. This fait is purified in 

 large quantities at Venice, and in France near Montpellier, 

 by two different proceffes, which have been defcribed by 

 Defmaret (Joum. Phyf. torn. i. p. 67.) and by M. Fizes 

 (Mem. de I'Acad. for 1725), and which we (hall here ex- 

 traft from Aikin's diftionary. At Venice the method is as 

 follows : " The crude tartar is firft dried in an iron boiler, 

 with a very gentle heat and frequent ftirring, that the acid 

 may not be burnt, and is then pounded in iron mortars. 

 The ground tartar is then diflributed into wooden tubs, and 

 boihng water poured upon it, which diflblves the fait, and 

 leaves a fediment, which is thrown away. The clear folu- 

 tion is left three days at reft, during which time it depofits 

 brownifh cryftals of tartar. The mother-liquor from this 

 operation is referved, and is ufed hot in the fubfequent pro- 

 cefs in the firft lixiviation of the tartar. The brownifh cryf- 

 tals of tartai- are then put into a copper boiler, with the 

 mother-liquor of former proceffes, and (lowly brought to 

 boil, by which a faturated iolution of a deep yellow wine- 

 colour is produced. This is clai-ified in the following way : 

 a workman ftaiids by the fide of the copper with a bafltet 

 of eggs, and a bucket full of finely fiftcd wood-afhes. He 

 begins with breaking one of the eggs, and putting the white 

 of it only into a bowl ; he beats this up with fome of the 

 boiling liquor, and then pours the w-hole into the boiler : he 

 then inftantly throws in a ladleful of the wood-afties, and 

 ftirs up the hquor from the bottom. A brifk effervefcence 

 takes place, and the furface is covered with a red fcum, 

 wliich is carefully taken off with a perforated fl<imming-di(h, 



and 



