TAP 
«n palm trees, and sleeps in an erect atti- 
tude, its tail tOHchinp: its legs. It is sup- 
posed by some naturalists to be the ibis of 
the ancients, and is known to destroy and 
devour serpents. Others suppose it to be 
the ox-bird described by Shawi For the 
blackheaded ibis, see Aves, Plate XIV. 
fig. 2. 
TANTALUS’S cup, in hydraulic!!, a siphon 
so adapted to a cup, that the short leg 
being in the cup, the long leg may go down 
through the bottom of it. 
The bended siphon is called Tantalus’s 
cup, from the resemblance of the experi- 
ment made with an image in the glass, re- 
presenting Tantalus in the fable, fixed up in 
the middle of the cup with a siphon con- 
cealed in his body, beginning in the bottom 
of his feet, and iwcending to the upper part 
of his breast; there it makes a turn, and 
descends through the other leg, on which 
he stands ; and from thence down through 
the bottom of the enp, where it runs out, 
and causes the water to subside in the 
cup ; as soon as it rises to the height of the 
siphon, or to the chin of the image, the 
water will begin to run through the siphon 
concealed in the figure, till the cup is 
emptied in the manner explained under 
siphon, and represented more distinctly in 
the article Hydraulics. 
TAPE worm. .See Taenia. 
TAPESTRY. It has been supposed 
that the use of tapestry was introduced into 
the various nations of Europe from the Le- 
vant, by the princes and nobles who com- 
manded in the different crusades, under- 
taken to recover the Holy Land from the Sa- 
racens ; but this supposition seems in a 
great measure to rest on the fact, that the 
workmen employed in this pursuit in 
France were called Sarrassinois. We do 
not find, upon referring to tlie travels of 
Bei trandon de la Broequiere to Palestine, 
in 1432, any thing to support the assertion, 
neither do our modern tourists mention ta- 
pestry as used by the present inhabitants of 
that country. Lempriere describes- the 
apartments of the Harem at Morocco to 
have been hung with rich damasks • hut as 
the same rooms had European mirrors on 
the walls, it does not appear quite clear 
that the hangings were not introduced by 
the same means. 
There is not a doubt that the Greeks used 
tapestry, as Homer freqtiently mentions 
the labours of the loom in a manner that 
proves the production of it could have been 
employed in no other way. 'Those coua- 
TAP 
tries which are subject to long and colil 
winters, made it necessary that the rich 
and powerfiil should adopt some method to 
check its disagreeable effects on domestic 
comfert, and besides the feudal system 
universally prevailing; their residences were 
calculated for military purposes only, and 
every consideration of internal convenience 
was sacrificed to the means of defence from 
their jealous and envious neighbours of the 
same rank in the state ; hence they con- 
structed flieir mansions with walls as solid 
and impenetrable as those of a fortified 
city, in which the windows were little 
better than loop-holes for missive wea- 
pons externally, whence they were wi- 
dened inwards to make tlie most of the 
little light and air they were capable of ad- 
mitting. 
Cold and dreary as all their apartments 
were, every possible contrivance was made 
to temper the damp chill of the walls ; for 
this purpose vast fire places were con- 
structed, occupying almost one side of the 
square, and hangings were suspended to ex- 
clude from view the rough surface of the 
massy stones, and to confine the humidity 
in them from immediately attaching to the 
family. That which may have been used in 
Greece, in Palestine, and throughout Asia, 
for the double purposes of ornament, and 
for the convenience of easy removal during 
the warmth prevailing in those countries 
where tapestry or hangings make the most 
pleasant partitions or separations of apart- 
ments, became necessary in the greatest 
part of Europe through a directly opposite 
cause. 
Whatever was the nature of the original 
hangings in our quarter of the globe, and 
wherever they were introduced from, it is 
very certain that the, French have had the 
honour of giving them their present deno- 
mination, which is derived from tapisser, to 
line, and that from the Latin tapes. It is 
very prolable that the tapestry of ancient 
times in England, and on the Conlinenf, 
was equally rude and barbarous with the 
paintings of the same period, and perhaps 
more so, and in the present state of the 
country it is difficult to ascertain when it 
improved or when attempts were made to 
introduce figures In the weaving of it. When 
the feudal system ceased, our castles and 
castellated mansions were gradually de- 
serted, and their posse-ssors mixing more 
with the general population, began to ad- 
mire tlie comforts of society, and to adopt 
some of the customs of those they bad hi- 
