T A R 



T A 11 



further digeftion changes the whole of the vegetable acid 

 into vinegar. Thefe curious experiments, which were at 

 firft noticed by Scheele, have been fully examined by Hermb- 

 ftaedt, and other chemifts. 



Tartareous acid is compofcd, according to Fourcroy and 

 Vauquehn, of 70.5 of oxygen, 19 of carbon, and 10.5 of 

 hydrogen, and differs from the oxalic acid in containing 

 more carbon and lofs oxygen. The order of affinity of this 

 acid for the fevcral bafes is, according to Thenard, lime, 

 barytes, ftrontian, potafli, foda, ammonia, magnefia, and 

 alumine. Aikin's Did. 



For the combinations of the tartareous acid with the feveral 

 bafes, we refer to the article Tartratks or Taktrites. 



TARTARHAN, a word ufed by fome authors to ex- 

 prefs fpirit of tartar. 



TARTARI, in Geography, a mountain of Dalmatia ; 

 8 miles N. of Trau. 



TARTARIAN Oat, in Agriculture. See Oat. 

 TARTARIZATUS Chalybs. See Iron, in the 

 Materia Medica, and Tartrite of Potnfs and Iron. 



TARTARIZING, a term ufed by fome writers for 

 the adl of refining or purifying, by means of fait of tartar. 



TARTARO, in Geography, a river of Italy, which riles 

 in the Veronefe, and running eafterly, traverfes the Polefe de 

 Rovigo, partes by Adria, and foon after feparatcs into two 

 branches, one of which runs into the Adige, and the other 

 into the Po. 



TARTARON, a fort of fine cloth or filk, mentioJied in 

 the ftat. 4 Hen. VIII. c. 6. Blount, Cowel. 



TARTARUGA, in Zoology, a name by which the Por- 

 tuguefe in America call a fpecies of tortoife, known among 

 authors by its Brazilian n?ime jurucua. 



TARTARUM Tartarisatum, tartarifed tartar, in 

 Chemijlry, the name of a preparation of tartar ; the mannar 

 of doing which is given by Boerhaave, and is as follows : 

 Reduce fome of the pureil white tartar to powder, and boil 

 this powder in ten times its weight of water in a large 

 copper vefiel, till it appears perfeftly dilTolved : let it after 

 this continue boiling till the liquor becomes tolerably tranf- 

 parent, and of an acid talte ; then drop into it from on 

 high oil of tartar per deliquium, the liquor being ftill kept 

 boiling : upon the falling in of each drop there arifes a great 

 ebullition, occafioned by the meeting of the acid and alkali. 

 Large bubbles appear on this, and in thefe the chemifts have 

 imagined they found the figures of clufters of grapes. 



The operation is to be patiently continued till there is no 

 more effervefcence made by the falling in of the drops of the 

 oil. The acidity of the tartar will be then fo perfeftly 

 faturated with its own alkali, that it will appear neither acid 

 nor alkaline, but a third fait ; great caution however muft be 

 ufed in obferving the true point of faturation,- otherwife the 

 fait will be when finifhed either a little acid, or a little alka- 

 line, as the one or the other exceeds. The liquor is to be 

 then ftrained feveral times through a flannel, till perfeftly 

 clear : it is of a deep brownifh colour, and brackifh faline 

 tafte, but has no fcent. If this be evaporated to a pellicle, 

 and fet to cryftallize, it forms a fait which is a tartar, eafily 

 foluble in water, even when cold ; and very properly to be 

 called foluble tartar. Boerhaave Chem. part ii. p. 161. 



TARTARUS, in Ancient Mythology, is one of the gene- 

 ral divlfions of the fubterraneous world, or the place of tor- 

 ments. The origin of the fable of Tartarus is traced in 

 Hefiod's account of the war of Jupiter againil his father 

 Saturn and the Titans, who, after he had gained a viftory 

 over them, was driven from Olympus, and condemned to 

 the bottom of Tartarus, in the extremities of the earth. 

 Typhon alfo, threatening to deprive Jupiter of his empire, 

 Vol,. XXXV, 



was plunged into the fame abyfs. The abbe Banier ha< 

 given the following explication of this fable. The Greeks, 

 he fays, regarded the places fituated to the cafl. of them as 

 higher than thofe that lay weftward ; and hence they took 

 the former for heaven, and the latter for hell. According 

 to this notion, they placed their hell either in Spain, the refi- 

 dence of Pluto, or in Italy, and laftly in Epirus, or rather in 

 Thefprotia, all v.hich countries were fituated to the weft of 

 Greece. Now as thr Titans, in the feveral confpiracies they 

 formed, were obliged to enter into Italy and Spain, tlie poets 

 fabled that they were precipitated into the gulf of Tartarus ; 

 but as their notion of Tartarus was taken from TartefTus, a 

 river of Spain, on the banks of which Pluto refided, it is no 

 wonder that the Titans, having been defeated near that river, 

 w^re fabuloufly faid to be plunged headlong into the Tar- 

 tarian gulf. 



The other two divifionsof Adcs, according to Virgil, are 

 Erebus and Elyfium. The prince or judge who prefides 

 over Tartarus, is Rhadamanthus. The miferable inhabitants 

 of this horrid region are of two forts, w%. the louls of fuch 

 as are tormented, and the infernal deities, called the Furies, 

 wlio attend there either to inflift or aggravate their torments. 



Virgil dirtinguiftied thofe that are tormented in Tartarus, 

 into two general clafti^s ; the firft, of fuch as have been un- 

 grateful or impious towards the gods ; and the fecond, of 

 luch as have been mifchievous and hurtful among men : 

 thofe of the latter, more particularly, who hated their bre- 

 thren, ufed their parents ill, or cheated their dependents ; 

 who made no ufe of their riches ; who committed inceft, or 

 difturbed the marriage union of others ; thofe who were re- 

 bellious fubjecls, or knavifti fervants ; who were defpifers of 

 juftice, and betrayers of their country ; and who made and 

 unmade laws, not for the good of the public, but only to 

 get money for themfelves. All thefe, and the defpifers of 

 the gods, of whom the rebel giants occupied the chief clafs, 

 Virgil places in Tartarus, and in that vaft abyfs, which was 

 the moil terrible part of this infernal region. The great 

 road that pafTes through Erebus, is reprelented as divided 

 into two ; of which the right-hand road leads to Elyfium, 

 or the place of the bleft ; and the left-hand road to Tar- 

 tarus, or the place of the tormented. Virgil jEn. vi. v. 

 540 — 549. 566 — 580. 607 — 624. Spence's Polymetis, 

 p. 259, &c. 



TARTARS, or Tatars, in Geography, a comprehenfive 

 denomination, including all tribes beyond Perfia and India, 

 as far as the Eaftern ocean, however differing from each 

 other in regard to their origin, language, manners, cuft:oms, 

 and religion. It is now known, however, that the Tartars 

 compofe a diftintt nation, which originally belonged to the 

 grand Turkilh ftock. The name, it is faid, may originate 

 either from a Turkiftl horde, which bore this denomination ; 

 and accordingly it is alleged, that the Yakutes have among 

 their deities, a Tatar, who probably enjoys that honour as 

 the patriarch of the nation ; or from the Chinefe, who call 

 all their neighbours, without diftinClion, Tata or Ta-dfe, in 

 proof of which derivation it is intimated, that the Perfian* 

 and Arabians know nothing of the Tartars under that appel- 

 lation. It was firft brought into general ufe in Europe after 

 Baaty's incurfion into Hungary, under king Frederic II. 

 Whatever be the origin of the name, it fcems to be clear, 

 that the Tartars are of Turkiftt origin, and that their proper 

 name was Turk or Turkman, and not Tatar. In this 

 opinion, the learned men of their own nation concur: ta 

 which circumftance it may be added, that the Tartarian 

 language is merely the old Turkilh ; and the modern Otto- 

 man Turks fpeak the Tartarian tongue only in another 

 dialeft. And the Tartars pretend to derive their dcfcent 



R from 



