TAR 
TAR 
of the hippopotamus. The young is easily 
tamed, and may be rendered domestic, as is 
said to be the case in some parts of Guiana. 
In feeding, the tapir makes use of the trunk 
in the same manner as the rhinoceros of its 
upper lip, to grasp the stems of plants, leaves, 
&c. Its most common attitude, when at 
ryst, is sitting on its rump, in the manner of 
dog. 
The tapir has been occasionally imported 
alive into Europe. The flesh is considered 
by the South Americans as a wholesome food, 
though not very pleasant or delicate, and the 
skin serves for various purposes where a 
; strong leather is required. The Indians 
make shields of it, which are said to be so 
hard that an arrow cannot pierce them. This 
} animal sleeps much by day in the retired 
parts of the woods, and is shot by the Indians 
with poisoned arrows. When attacked by 
dogs, it is said to make a very vigorous re- 
; sistance. Its voice is a kind of whistle, which 
j is easily imitated, and thus the animal is often 
deceived and trepanned. It is rather slow in 
1 its motions, and of a somewhat inactive dis- 
position, 
The tapir produces but one young at a 
birth, of which it is extremely careful ; lead- 
ing it early to the water, in order to instruct 
it in swimming, &c. See Plate Nat. Hist, 
fig. 392. 
TAPPING. See Surgery. 
TAR. See Pinus, Resins, and Bitu- 
men. 
TARANTULA. See Aranea. 
TARCHONANTHUS.yLa-kme, a genus 
of plants belonging to the class of syngenesia, 
and to the order of polygamia aiqualis, and in 
the natural system ranging under the 49th 
order, compositae. The receptacle is villous, 
and the pappus plumy ; the calyx is mono- 
phyilous, turbinated, and half divided into 
; seven segments. There are only three spe- 
cies known ; the camphoratus, glaber, and 
i ericotdes. 
TARE, is an allowance for the outside 
package, that contains such goods as cannot 
be unpacked without detriment; or for the 
papers, threads, bands, &c. that inclose or 
bind any goods imported loose ; or, though 
\ imported in casks, chests, &c. yet cannot be 
unpacked and weighed net. 
TARGIONIA, a genus of plants of the 
i class of cryptogamia, and natural order of 
j algas. The calyx is bivalved, including a 
globular body. ' There is only one species ; 
the hypophytla, which is a native of Great 
Britain. 
TARGUM, a name whereby the Jews cali 
the Chaldee paraphrases, or expositions of 
the Old Testament, in the Chaldee lan- 
guage. 
TARIF, or Tariff, a table or catalogue, 
containing the names of different sorts of 
merchandize, with the duties to be paid, 
as settled by authority , amongst trading na- 
« tions. 
TARSUS. See Anatomy. 
TARTAR, or, according to the new che- 
mistry, Tartrat of Potass, is obtained 
in a state of impurity, iucrusted on the bot- 
tom and sides of casks in which wine has been 
kept. It is afterwards purified by dissolving 
it in boiling water, and filtring it while hot. 
On cooling, it deposits the pure salt in very 
irregular crystals. In this state it is sold under 
11 
mk 
m 
T A It 
the name of crystals or cream of tartar. This 
salt attracted the peculiar attention of che- 
mists, probably in consequence q/ the extra- 
vagant encomiums and invectives bestowed 
on it by Paracelsus. It is called tartar, says 
he, because it produces the oil, water, tinc- 
ture, and salt, which burn the patient as hell 
does. According to him, it is the principle 
of every disease, and every remedy, and all 
things contain the germ of it. r I his ridicu- 
lous theory was combated by Van Helmont, 
who gives a pretty accurate account of the 
formation of tartar in wine-casks. It was 
known to Van Iielmont, and even to his 
predecessors, that potass could be obtained 
from tartar ; but it was long a disputed point 
among cli 'mists, whether the alkali existed in 
it ready-lormecl. Duhamel, Margraff, and 
Rouelle, at last established that point beyond 
a doubt; but the other component part of 
tartar was unknown, or very imperfectly 
known, till Sclieele pointed out the method 
of extracting it. 
The crystals of tartar are very small and 
irregular. According to Mantel, they are 
prisms, somewhat flat, and mostly with six 
sides. Tartar has an acid, and rather un- 
pleasant taste. It is very brittle, and easily 
reduced to powder. Its specific gravity is 
1.933. It is soluble in about 60 parts of cold 
water, and in about 30 parts of boiling water. 
It is not altered by exposure to the air; but 
when its solution in water is allowed to re- 
main for some time, the salt is gradually de- 
composed, a mucous matter is deposited, and 
there remains in solution carbonat of potass 
coloured with a little oil. i his decompo- 
sition was first accurately described by Ber- 
thollet in 1782. 
When tartar is heated, it melts, swells, 
blackens, and the acid is entirely decom- 
posed. The same changes take place when 
the salt is distilled in close vessels. The phe- 
nomena of this distillation have been describ- 
j ed with great care, and its products very at- 
tentively examined, by chemists ; because, 
J before the discovery of the tartaric acid by 
i Scheele, distillation was the only method 
thought of for obtaining any knowledge oi the 
acid part of tartar. These products are an 
enormous quantity of gas, consisting of car- 
bonic acid and carbureted hydrogen, an oil, 
and an acid ; and, according to some che- 
mists, carbonat of ammonia. 1 lie acid ob- 
tained was long considered as a peculiar 
.body, and was denominated pyro-tartarous 
acid by the French chemists in 1787. But 
Fourcroy and Vauquelin have lately demon- 
strated, that it is no other than acetic acid 
contaminated with a little empyreumatic oil. 
Tartar, according to Bergman, is com- 
posed of 77 acid 
23 potass 
100 . 
Or - - - 56 tartrat of potass 
44 tartaric acid 
100 . 
According to the late analysis of Tenard, 
its component parts are 
57 acid 
33 potass 
7 water 
97. 
773 
TARTARIC ACID. Scheele was the 
first who obtained this acid in a separate 
state. . He communicated his process for 
obtaining it to Retzius, who published it in 
the Stockholm Transactions for 1770. It 
consisted in boiling tartar with lime, and in 
decomposing the tartrat of lime thus formed 
by means of sulphuric acid. 
' 1. The process employed at present for 
obtaining tartaric acid, which is the same 
with that of Scheele, is the following : Dis- 
solve tartar in boiling water, and add to the 
solution powdered chalk till all effervescence • 
ceases, and the liquid ceases to redden vege- 
table blues. Let the liquid cool, and then 
pass it through a liltre. A quantity of tar- 
trat of lime (which is an insoluble white 
powder) remains upon the liltre. Put this 
tartrat, previously well washed, into a glass 
cucurbite, and pour on it a quantity of sul- 
phuric acid equal to the weight of the chalk 
employed, which must be diluted with water. 
Allow it to digest for twelve hours, stirring 
it occasionally. The sulphuric acid dis- 
places the tartaric ; -sulphat of lime remains 
at the bottom, while the tartaric acid is dis- 
solved in the liquid part. Decant off this 
last, and try whether it contains any sul- 
phuric acid. This is done by dropping in a 
little acetat cv f lead ; a precipitate appears, 
which is insoluble in acetic acid if sulphuric 
acid is present, but soluble if it is absent. If 
sulphuric acid is present, the liquid must be 
digested again on some more tartrat of lime ; 
if not, it is to be slowly evaporated, and 
about one-third part of the weight of the tar- 
tar employed is obtained of crystallized tar- 
taric acid. 
2. The form of its crystals is so irregular, 
that every chemist who has treated of this 
subject has given a different description of 
them. According to Bergman, they gene- 
rally consist of divaricating lamella; ; accord- 
ing to Van Paeken, they assume oftenest the 
form of long-pointed prisms ; Spielman and 
Corvinus obtained them in groups, some of 
them lance-shaped, others needle- formed, 
others pyramidal. Morveau obtained them 
needle-form. Their specific gravity is 1 .5962. 
3. Crystallized tartaric acid does not ex- 
perience any change in the open air, but beat 
decomposes it altogether : in the open fire 
it burns without leaving any other residuum 
than a spungy charcoal, which generally 
contains a little lime. When distilled in 
close vessels, it is converted into carbonic 
acid gas and carbureted hydrogen gas, a co- 
loured oil, and a reddish acid liquor, which 
was formerly distinguished by the name of 
pyrotartarous add, but which Fourcroy and 
Vauquelin have lately ascertained to be 
merely acetic acid impregnated with oil. 
4. Tartaric acid dissolves readily in water. 
Bergman obtained a solution, the specific 
gravity of which was 1.230. Morveau ob- 
served, however, that crystals formed- spon- 
taneously in a solution, the specific gravity 
of which was 1.084. It is not liable to spon- 
taneous decomposition when dissolved in 
water, unless the solution is considerably di- 
luted. 
5. Neither its aeflon on oxygen gas nor on 
simple combustibles and incombustibles has 
been examined ; but it is probable that it is 
not capable of producing any sensible change 
on them. It is capable of oxidizing iron and 
zinc, anti even mercury ; but it does not act 
