854 
TAR 
TAR 
surrounded by a wall, probably the remains of that erected 
by Haroun al Raschid. On an eminence to the south-west 
are the ruins of a spacious edifice, which may very probably 
have been the gymnasium; and about two hundred yards 
farther to the west, an ancient gateway stands almost entire. 
The city contains two public baths, a number of mosques, 
several handsome caravanseras, and a small ancient church. 
The land in the neighbourhood is exceedingly fertile, yield¬ 
ing great abundance of wheat, barley, sesame, and cotton, 
which are exported to Malta, and thence to Spain and Por¬ 
tugal. Copper from Maden, and gall-nuts from the moun¬ 
tains, are also staple commodities. The imports consist 
chiefly of rice, sugar, and coffee. The port is about seven 
or eight miles distant from the town, whence the sea is not 
visible. The population during the winter is stated at 30,000, 
of which there are 200 Armenian, and 100 Greek families; 
while the remainder consist of Turkmen, who migrate with 
their families in summer to the mountains. 
TART, adj. [ceapt, Saxon; taerlig, Dutch.] Sour; 
acid ; acidulated; sharp of taste.—Of the best wines you 
make your tartest vinegar. Howell. —Sharp; keen; severe. 
Why so tart a favour 
To trumpet such good tidings? Shakspeare. 
TART, s. [tarta, Italian; taart, Danish.] A small 
pie of fruit.—Figures, with divers coloured earths, under the 
windows of the house on that side near which the garden 
stands, be but toys; you may see as good sights in tarts. 
Bacon. 
TARTAGLIA (Nicholas), a celebrated mathematician, 
was born at Brescia about the beginning of the 16th cen¬ 
tury. Being left destitute in his childhood by the death of 
bis father, he was no less unfortunate at the siege of Brescia, 
in 1512, in receiving several wounds, and particularly one 
which divided his lip, so that he lost the power of distinct 
articulation ; and from this circumstance he got the name 
of Tartaglia. The defects of his early education were amply 
compensated by his genius.and diligence. Having resided 
ten years at Verona, he afterwards, viz., in 1534, became 
professor of the mathematics at Venice; and here, except 
during an interval of eighteen months at Brescia, he re¬ 
mained till the time of his death, in 1557. His works are 
numerous. Besides translations of Archimedes and Euclid, 
he wrote many original treatises in mathematics, one of the 
most important of which, entitled “ Quesiti e’ inventione 
diversi,” was published at Venice in 1546, and dedicated to 
Henry VIII. of England. It is comprehended in nine books, 
and contains answers to several questions that were proposed 
to him at different times concerning mechanics, hydrosta¬ 
tics, &c.; and more particularly worthy of notice is the his¬ 
tory of the invention of the rules for solving cubic equations, 
which he communicated to Cardan, under an oath that he 
would keep the secret. 
Tartagha’s genius was no less conspicuously displayed in 
other sciences than in algebra. He treats of artillery and 
gunnery, and also of the different methods of fortifying 
towns, besides various mechanical and algebraical questions. 
He also proposes many questions with regard to the motion 
of bodies, and the method of measuring distances, in his 
“ Nuovia Scienzia” and “ De Numeri e Mesure.” To Tar¬ 
taglia we owe the first discovery of the best angle, i. e. 45°, 
as it was then thought, for elevating a piece so as to throw 
a ball or shell to the greatest distance. He also announced 
a method of raising vessels that were sunk, and other heavy 
bodies, from the bottom of the sea, and the means by which 
a person may be enabled to remain a considerable time un¬ 
der water; and to him we owe a treatise on the signs which 
indicate changes in the atmosphere. He has likewise fur¬ 
nished us with a large treatise on arithmetic, algebra, and 
geometry, published at Venice, in folio, in 1556. Tira- 
boschi remarks, that all Tarfaglia’s works manifest great 
penetration and acuteness, and that they would claim higher 
commendation, if the author had paid more attention to his 
style, and if the editions were more correctly printed. But 
with all their imperfections and faults, and after all the im¬ 
provements to which they have led the way, they were 
justly esteemed at the time when they were written, and 
they have been useful to those who have in more modern 
times pursued the same course of study and investigation. 
Tiraboschi. Hutton. 
TA'RTANE, s. [tartana , Italian; tartane, Fr.] A 
vessel much used in the Mediterranean, with one mast and 
a three-cornered sail.—I set out from Marseilles to Genoa 
in a tartane, and arrived late at a small French port called 
Cassis. Addison. 
TA'RTAR, s. [tartarus , Lat.] Hell. A word used 
by the old poets, now obsolete. 
He’s in tartar limbo worse than hell; 
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him. 
One whose hard heart is button’d up with steel. Shakspeare. 
[tartre, Fr.] Tartar is what sticks to wine casks, like a 
hard stone, either white or red, as the colour of the wine 
from whence it comes: the white is preferable, as containing 
less dross or earthy parts: the best comes from Germany, 
and is the tartar of the Rhenish wine. Quincy. _The 
fermented juice of grapes is partly turned into liquid drops 
or lees, and partly into that crust or dry feculency that’is 
commonly called tartar; and this tartar may by the fire 
be divided into five differing substances, four of which are 
not acid, and the other not so manifestly acid as the tartar 
itself. Boyle. 
TARTA'REAN, adj. [ tartarus , Lat.] Hellish._His 
throne mix’d with tartarean sulphur. Milton. 
TARTA'REOUS, adj. Consisting of tartar.—In fruits, 
the tartareous parts of the sap are thrown upon the fibres 
designed for the stone, and the oily upon the seed within it 
Grew. —Hellish. . 
The spirit of God downward purg’d 
The black tartareous cold infernal dregs, 
Adverse to life. Milton 
TARTARIZA'TION, s. [from To tartarize.~\ The act 
of forming tartar.—By dissolution of one subject, and con¬ 
cretion of another; by vaporation and evaporation; by 
sublimation, and precipitation or tartarisation. Biblioth. 
To TARTA'RIZE, ». a. To impregnate with tartar. 
TARTARO, a river of Austrian Italy, in the government 
of Venice, which rises among the mountains near the lake 
of Garda, is joined in the department of the Mincio by a 
canal of the Adige, takes the name of Canale bianca, and 
expands into a number of marshes as it approaches the 
Adriatic. 
TA'RTAROUS, adj. Containing tartar;, consisting of 
tartar.—The asperity of tart.arous salts, and the fiery acri¬ 
mony of alkaline salts, irritating and wounding the nerves, 
produce nascent passions and anxieties in the soul. Bp. 
Berkeley. 
TARTARY, the name vaguely given to a most extensive 
region of Asia, occupying nearly the whole central part of 
that continent, interposed between Asiatic Russia on the 
north, and the great empires of Persia, Hindostan, and 
China on the south. Under the appellation of Tartars, are 
comprehended many various tribes, having local names and 
characters, but who generally agree in being addicted to 
the pastoral life, living in tents in the open fields, without 
towns or villages; delighting in horsemanship, and having 
a breed of the finest horses in the world; living on horse 
flesh, and drinking mares’ milk. This race was known and 
celebrated in antiquity under the name of Scythians, a people 
who are described as possessed of the same warlike, rude, and 
pastoral features which distinguish now the tenants of the 
same regions. The simplicity of their manners, their ig¬ 
norance of money and of luxury, and their hospitality, 
caused them to be quoted with admiration by the Greek 
sages. At the same time, the earliest records of history bear 
ample testimony to the calamities which their inroads in¬ 
flicted on the more civilised part of the world, and to the 
disasters 
