TAR
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TAR
The Loom being mounted, there are two Inftruments ufed in working of it, viz. the Reed and the Flute. The Flute does the Office of the Weavers Shuttle : 'Tis made of a hard, polifh'd Wood, three or four Lines thick at the Ends, and iomewhat more in the Middle, and three or four Inches long. On it arc wound the Silks, or other Matters to be ufed as the Woof of the Tapijlry. The Comb or Reed is of Wood, or Ivory ; it has ufually Teeth on both Sides ; 'tis about an Inch thick in the Middle, but diminifhes each Way to the Extremity of the Teeth : It ferves to beat the Threads of the Woof dole to each other, as fait as the Workman has pafs'd and placed them with his Flute among the Threads of the Warp.
The Workman is tea ted on a Bench before the Loom, with his Breaft agamft the Beam, only a Cufhion or Pillow be- tween them ; and in this Pofture, ieparating, with his Fin- gers, the Threads of the Warp, that he may fee the Defign underneath, and taking a Flute, wound with the proper Co- lour, he pafles it among the Threads 5 after having rais'd or lower'd them, by means of the Treadles moving the Spring- ftaves and Coats.
Laftly, to prels and dole the Threads of the Silk or Yarn, £fc. thus placed, he {hikes each Courfe (i. e, what the Flute leaves in its paffing and coming back again) with the Reed.
What is very remarkable in the Manufacture of the low Warp, and which is common to it with the high, is, that 'tis ai! wrought on the wrong Side ; fo that the Workman cannot fee the right Side of his Tapijlry, till the Piece be finifiVd and taken off the Loom.
TAPPING, the Aft of piercing a Hole in a Veffel, and applying a Tube or Cannula in the Aperture, for the commo- dious drawing off the Liquors contain d therein.
Tapping, in Agriculture, is the making an Incifion in tht Bark of a Tree, and letting cut the Juice. See Bark.
To Tap a Tree at the Root, is to open it round about the Root.
Ratray, the learned Scot, affirms, that he has found by Ex- periment, that the Liquor which may be drawn from the Birch in the Spring-time, is equal to the whole Weight of the Tree, Branches, Roots and ail together.
In the Tapping of Trees, the Juice certainly aicends from the Root, and after it is Concocled and Aflimulated in the Branches, l$c. defcends like a Liquor in an Alembic, to the Orifice or Incifion where it ifiues out.
One of the moll effectual Ways of Tapping^ fo as to obtain the greatefi Store of Sap in the fhorteft Time, is, not only to pierce the Bark, nor yet to cut the Body of the Tree aimofl: to the Pith, with a Chirlel (as fome have directed) but quite through a!I the Circles, and the inner Rind itlelf, on both Sides the P: : rh$ leaving only the Outermoft Circle, and the Barken the North-Eafl Side unpierced.
But this Hole is to be bored flouing upwards, as large as the largeft Autre you can get, will make; and that alfb through and under a large Arm, near the Ground. So will it not need any Stone to keep open the Orifice, nor Tap to direct, the Sap into the Receiver.
This Way, the Tree will, in fhort Time, afford Liquor enough to Brew withal ; and with fome of this fweet Sap, one Bufhel of Malt, will make as good Ale as FourBufhels of Malt with ordinary Water. Sycamore I take to yield thebeft brewing Sap, being very fweet and wholefomc.
To preserve the Sap for Brewing.
Inlblate it by a conflant Expofure to the Sun in Glaffes or other Veffels, till the reft be gather'd and ready ; otherwife it will contract, an Acidity ; when you have enough, put into it as much very thin cut, and hard toafted Rye-bread, as will lerve to foment it; and when it works, take out the Bread, and bottle up the Liquor. A few Cloves in each "Veffel that receives the Sap, as it oozes from the Tree, will certainly preferve it a Twelve-month. Dr. Tonge in the cpkikpypftical TranfaBioni.
Tapping, hi Chirurgery. See Parenthesis, Drotsy,
Tapping, in Heraldry. SccBeating.
TAR, a grofs, fatty Liquor, iffuing from the Trunks of old Pines.
When thefe Trees are on the Return, and only fit for burn- ing, they cut off the Bark all around towards the Root, and through thefe Incifions, there continues flowing, for a con- siderable Time, a blackifh Liquor, which is the'Tar. When this Mates, 'tis a fure Indication the Pine is quite dead, and only fit for "be Fire.
The chief Ufe of Tar, is for the Coating and Caulking of Ships. See Caulking, gfc.
Of Tar, boil'd to a fufficient Confidence, Pitch is made. See Pitch.
TARANTISMUS, in Medicine, the Dif afeor AfMion of thofe bit by the Tarantula. See Tarantula,
Dr. Cornelia, in the Philosophical TranJaBims represents this as an imaginary Difeafe ; and tells us, that all thofe who think themfelves feized with it (excepting fuch as for par- ticular Ends feign themfelves fo) are moit of them young wanton Girls, whom the Italian Writers call 7)onne di fate, who falling, from fome particular Indifpofition, into a melan- choly Madnefs, perfuade themfelves, according to the vulgar Prejudice, that they have beenftung by a Tarantula.
But the Evidence on the other Side the Queftion, is too ftrong to be thus overturned 5 as will appear from the follow- ing Article.
'TARANTULA, or TARENTULA, in Natural Hirto- ry, a venomous Infect, whole Bite gives Name to a new Difeafe. See Tarantismus.
The Tarentula is a kind of Spider, denominated from the City Tarentum, in Apulia, where it is chiefly found : 'Tis about the Size of an Acorn j and is furnifh'd with eight Feet, and as many Eyes 5 its Colour various $ but it is ititl hairy ; From its Mouth arife two Sorts of Horns, or Trunks, made a little hooked, with the Tips exceedingly fharp 5 thro' which it conveys its Polfbn.
Thefe Horns, M. Geoffrey ob/erves, are in continual Mo- tion, efpecially when the Animal is feeking for Food 5 whence he conjectures they may be a kind of moveable Noftrils.
The Tarantula is found in feveral other Parts of Italy, and even in the Ifle of Corfica ; but thofe of Apulia alone are dangerous : Even thefe, when remov'd thence, are faid to become harmlefs; 'Tis added, that even in Apulia, none but thofe found on the Plains are much to be fear'd > the Airb ing hotter there, than on the Mountains.
M. Geoffrey adds it as an Opinion of fome, that the Ta- rantula is never venomous but in the coupling Seafbn ; and Baglivi, that 'tis never fo, but in the Heat of Summer, par- ticularly in the Dog-Days, when, becoming enrag'd, it flies on all that pafs by.
The Kite occafions a Pain, which at firft appears much like that felt on the Stinging of a Bee, or an Ant : In a few Hours, the Patient feels a kind of Numbnefs ; and the Part affected becomes mark'd with a little livid Circle, which fbon after rifes into a very painful Tumour : A little longer, and he falls into a profound Sadnefs, breathes with much Difficulty, his Pulfe grows feeble, his Sight fails ; at length he lofes all Senfe and Motion, and dies, unlefs reliev'd. Bur thefe Symptoms come iomewhat differently, accord- ing to the Nature of the Tarantula, and the Difpofitim of the Patient, An Averfion for Black and Blue ; and, on the contrary, an Affection for White, Red, and Green, are other unaccountable Symptoms of this Difeafe.
All the Afftftance Medicine has been able to difcover by Reafoning, confifts in fome chirurgical Applications on the Wound, in Cordials and Sudorificks $ but theie are of little Efficacy : A Thing that avails infinitely more, is, whatRtaion could never have thought of, Mufic. See Music.
As foon as the Patient has loft his Senfe, and Motion, a Mufician tries feveral Tunes on an Internment ; and when he has hit on that, the Tones and Modulation whereof agree to the Patient, he is immediately feen to make a faint Mo- tion : His Fingers firft begin to move in Cadence, then his Arms, then his Legs; by Degrees his whole Body: at length he rifes on his Feer, and begins to dance ; his Srrength and Activity ftill increafing. Some will continue the Dance for fix Hours without Intermiffion
After this, he is put to Bed 5 and when he is judg'd futfi- ciently recruited of his firfi Dance, he is call'd out of Bed, by the fame Tune, for a Second.
This Exercife is continu'd for feveral Days, fix or feven at molf j in which time the Patient finds himfelf exceed- ingly fatigu'd, and unable to dance any longer ; which is the Chara&eriftic of his being cured : For as long as the Poifon acls on him, he would dance, if one pleas'd, without any Difconrinuation, till he died of the mere Lofs of Strength.
The Patient perceiving himfelf weary, begins to come to himfelf; and awakes, as out of a profound Sleep, without any Remembrance of what had pafs'd in his Paroxyfm, not even of his Dance.
Sometimes the Patient, thus recovering from his firft Ac- ' cefs, is quite cured; if he ben't, he finds a melancholy Gloom hanging on him ; he fhuns the Sight of Men, ana ieeks Water ; and if he ben't carefully look'd to, throws himfelf into fome River. If he don't die, the Fit returns at that Time Twelvemonth, and he is driven to dancing again. Some have had thefe Returns regularly for 20 or 30 Years.
Every Tarantatus, or Patient in this Difeafe, has his par- ticular and fpecific Tune ; but, in the general, they are all very brisk, fprightly Tunes. See Tune.
This Account was given into the Royal Academy of Sciences, by M. Geoffroy, at his Return from Italy, in 1702 ; and confirm'd by Letters from F. Gouye. The like Hiftory
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