ט

noted 300, and 7,300,000. The of the Hebrews signified 9; and with two points placed horizontally over it, thus, ö, it denoted 9000. Sometimes the acute accent over this or any one of the first nine letters multiplied its value a thousand times. T, on French coins, denotes the mint of Nantes. When the Roman tribunes approved of senatorial decrees, they subscribed a T. In music, T signifies tenor, also tace, to indicate silence; and in concerts it is likewise the sign of tutti, a direction to the whole band to play after a solo. It also stands for trillo, a shake. The word T is used also to denote things of this form, as a T bandage, in surgery, one consisting of two bands which cross each other; or the T palace in Mantua. (q. v. For the use of T in modern abbreviations, see Abbreviations.

TA (great); a Chinese word, used in many geographical names, as Ta-chan (great mountain).

TAAUT. (See Hermes Trismegistus.) TABARD (now corrupted into Talbot); an inn in the borough of Southwark (London), from which Chaucer and his companjons set out on their pilgrimage to Canterbury. Over the entrance is this inscription: "This is the inn where Geoffrey Chaucer, knight, and nine and twenty pilgrims, lodged, in their journey to Canterbury, in 1383." In the yard is a picture representing their entrance into Canterbury. The original house was, however, burnt down in 1676, when the present building was erected on its site.

TABBY, in commerce; a kind of rich silk which has undergone the operation of tabbying, or being passed through a calender, the rolls of which are made of iron or copper, variously engraven, which, bearing unequally on the stuff, renders the surface unequal, so as to reflect the rays of light differently, making the representation of waves thereon.

TABERNACLE (Latin, tabernaculum, a tent) is used in the Hebrew writings for the tent, or sanctuary, in which the sacred utensils were kept during the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert. It was always placed in the middle of the camp, and borne by Levites. It was fixed at Shiloh. After the temple (q. v.) was erected, the holy instruments were removed thither. The feast of tabernacles was a Jewish festival, designed to commemorate the nomadic period of the national history, when the people dwelt in tents. The feast continued eight days, during which booths were erected and occupied by those engaged in celebrating the cere

monies.-Tabernacle is also used to signify the box in which the host is kept on the altar in Roman churches, and for the niche or cabinet in which the sacred relics, images, &c., are preserved. The Methodists often call their meeting-houses tabernacles.

TABLATURE; a word formerly applied to the collection of signs used in a musical composition; so that to understand the notes, clefs, and other marks, in such a way as to be able to sing at sight, was to be skilled in the tablature. The chief signs were letters, ciphers, and, at a later period, the lines indicating the octave in which a note was to be performed. Letters were used until the eleventh century, when the proper notes were introduced. (See Note.) As the latter are an Italian invention, they were called the Italian tablature; which name, however, soon went out of use; and the old signs alone are now understood by tablature.

TABLE, in perspective, denotes a plane surface, supposed to be transparent, and perpendicular to the horizon. It is always imagined to be placed at a certain distance between the eye and the objects, for the objects to be represented thereon, by means of the visual rays passing fron every point thereof through the table to the eye; whence it is called perspective plane.-Table, among the jewellers. A table-diamond, or other precious stone, is that whose upper surface is quite flat, and the sides cut in angles; in which sense, a diamond cut tablewise is used in opposition to a rose-diamond.-Table, in mathematics; systems of numbers, used for expediting astronomical, geometrical, and other operations; thus we say tables of the stars; tables of sines, tangents, and secants; tables of logarithms, rhumbs, &c.; sexagenary tables.

TABLE MOUNTAIN, in Pendleton district, South Carolina, is about 4000 feet above the sea, and 3138 above the valley at its base. It presents, on one side, a tremendous precipice of solid rock, about 300 feet nearly perpendicular. Some have estimated its height to be even three times as great; and we have no measurement of it that can be relied on. At the bottom of the precipice, a dismal valley is sunk far below the surrounding country. The precipice, viewed from this valley, appears like a mighty wall raised to the heavens. The summit of the mountain is often enveloped in the clouds.

TABLE, ROUND. (See Round Table.) TABLES, TWELVE. (See Twelve Ta Ules.)

TABLEAUX VIVANTS. (See Pictures, Living.)

TABOO. This word, significant of a peculiar custom prevalent among the South sea islanders, is used, in general, to denote something consecrated, sacred, forbidden to be touched, or set aside for particular uses or persons. It is applied both to persons and things, and both to the object prohibited and to the persons against whom the prohibition extends. Thus a consecrated piece of ground is taboo; the act of consecrating it is called taboo, and the persons who are excluded from entering are also said to be tabooed. A particular article of food is sometimes tabooed at a certain season, in order to preserve it against a season of scarcity, &c. The object of the institution seems to have been the imposition of certain restraints upon a rude and lawless people, like the establishment of the cities of refuge, sanctuaries, &c., in the rude ages of European society.

TABOR, the mount of transfiguration, is situated in Galilee, about fifty miles from Jerusalem. (See Galilee, and Transfiguration.)

TABORITES. (See Hussites.)

TABULAR SPAR, or TABLE SPAR (Schaalstein of Werner); a massive mineral, whose primary form is regarded as a doubly-oblique prism. The cleavage in the direction of two faces, intersecting each other at angles of 95° 25', is easily obtained, though in one direction it is more easily effected than in the other. The remaining cleavages are with difficulty distinguished; lustre vitreous, inclining to pearly, particularly upon the perfect faces of cleavage; color white, inclining to gray, yellow, red and brown; streak white; semi-transparent to translucent; rather brittle; hardness about that of apatite; specific gravity 2.8; composition lamellar, generally longish, and strongly coherent. It is composed of Silex, Lime, .

Mechanical admixtures,

51.60 46.41 1.11

99.12

Before the blow-pipe, it melts on the edges into a semi-transparent colorless enamel. By fusing lime and silex in the requisite proportions, cleavable masses of the present species have been obtained. It was first found at Cziklowa, near Prawitza, in the Bannat of Temeswar, in several copper mines. In Finland, it occurs in limestone, at Edinburgh in greenstone at Castle hill, and in Ceylon along with gar

net. In the U. States, at Willsborough, New York, upon lake Champlain, a vein of it, mixed with garnet, several feet in width, appears to cross a mountain of gneiss. It has been found abundantly near Grenville, in Canada, and at Easton, in Pennsylvania. A variety of the present species, from Capo di Bove, near Rome, was first called Woollastonite, but is now known to belong to tabular spar.

TACHYGRAPHY,or TACHEOGRAPHY. (See Stenography.)

TACITUS, Caius Cornelius, was descended from a plebeian branch of the celebrated Cornelian family, and was probably born at the close of the reign of Claudius, or in the beginning of that of Nero. Of his education and early life we know little. He seems to have been first appointed to public office in the reign of Vespasian, when, according to a statement of the elder Pliny, he was named procurator of Belgic Gaul. On his return to Rome, he was treated with distinguished favor by Titus, and was created questor or edile. He himself alludes to this circumstance, but in very general terms, in his works. In the reign of Domitian, he became pretor (A. D. 88), and one of the quindecemviral college, whose duty it was to superintend the sacrifices. Disgusted with the tyranny of Domitian, Tacitus left Rome on the death of his father-in-law Julius Agricola, but again returned, after the murder of that monster, to live under the mild government of Nerva. The latter rewarded his services with the consulship, A. D. 97. He lived in the closest intimacy with the younger Pliny, and had a very extensive practice in the profession of law, acquiring a high reputation as an orator. His domestic circumstances were no less favorable: his wife, the daughter of Julius Agricola, was distinguished among the Roman ladies of the time for her virtues; and it seems probable that the emperor Tacitus was a descendant of the great historian. The time of his death is uncertain; but it probably took place during the reign of Adrian. We have four historical works from his pen. His Annals contain an account of the principal events from the death of Augustus to that of Nero, a period of fifty-four years. Books 6th to 10th inclusive are lost: the first five books were discovered only 300 years ago, by the treasurer of Leo X, in the monastery of Corvey. His History (of which only four books, and a part of the fifth, are extant) begins with the year 69

A. D., when Galba wore the purple, and ends with the accession of Vespasian (71). His Germany (De Situ, Moribus et Populis Germania), and his life of Agricola, are his only other historical works. The Dialogue on the Decline of Eloquence is by some attributed to him. (See Quintilian.) The works of this writer have been pronounced, by the unanimous voice of his contemporaries and of posterity, the masterpieces of a great mind. Racine declares him to be the greatest painter of antiquity; and, according to Gibbon, he was the first historian who applied the science of philosophy to the study of facts. Independently of the value of his matter, which is of the highest importance, from the facts and profound views of Roman history, during the first half century of the Christian era, which it affords, his writings are incomparable, considered as works of art. In the choice and disposition of his materials, we recognise the comprehensive genius of a scholar, and the forming hand of an artist, bringing out order and unity in the midst of confusion, and grouping the complicated details of life and manners in artful and expressive pictures. In drawing the character of men and events, he displays a wonderful acuteness and strength; while, amidst the corruption of a degenerate and vicious age, he maintains the elevation of a virtuous mind. His extreme conciseness has no appearance of affectation, but seems to be dictated by the peculiarity of his temper and feelings. His style is forcible, but there is nothing labored in his expressions, nothing superfluous in his delineation: the colors are used sparingly, but the light and shade are disposed with masterly skill. Among the best editions of his works are those of Gronovius (Amsterdam, 1685, and Utrecht, 1729), of Brotier (Paris, 1771, 4to., and 1776, 12mo.), of Ernesti (Oberlin's, Leipsic, 1801), and of Panckoucke (Paris, 1827, folio). The whole of Tacitus has been translated into English by Murphy and by Gordon.

TACKING, in navigation. (See Ship.) TACKLE; a machine formed by the communication of a rope with an assemblage of blocks, and known, in mechanics, by the name of pulley. Tackles are used in a ship to raise, remove, or secure weighty bodies, to support the masts, or to extend the sails and rigging. They are movable, as communicating with a runner, or fixed, as being hooked in an immovable situation; and they are more or less complicated in proportion to the

VOL. XII.

11

effects which they are intended to produce. The application of the tackle to mechanical purposes is called hoisting, or bowsing.-Ground tackle implies the anchors, cables, &c.

TACKSMEN. (See Clan.)

TACONIC, OF TAGHKANNUC; a mountain range on the borders of Massachusetts and New York. The two most elevated peaks are west of Sheffield, the highest about 2800 feet above the ocean.

TACTICS PROPER is the branch of military science which relates to the conduct of troops in battle. Elementary tactics teaches the preparation of them for it by instruction in military exercises: hence every species of troops, as cavalry, artillery, light and heavy infantry, &c., has its peculiar tactics. Since the French, or, we may say, since the American, revolution, tactics have undergone an essential change. In recent times, a difference has been made between strategy and tactics. (See the articles Military Sciences, and Strategy.) The word is derived from TaKTIKA, which comes from raktós (ordered, placed, commanded).

Tactics, Naval. (See Navigation, Navy, and Ship.)

TADMOR. (See Palmyra.)

TADPOLE; the young produced from the eggs of the frog, which is extremely unlike the animal in its perfect state, seeming to consist only of a head and tail. The head is large, black and roundish, the tail slender, and margined with a broad, transparent fin. Its motions are very lively. Its food consists of small water plants and different animalcula. The mouth has very minute teeth. About five or six weeks after it is hatched, the first change takes place. The hind legs first appear, and, gradually increasing in length and size, are succeeded, in about two weeks, by the fore legs, which are formed at an earlier period beneath the skin. The tail now decreases, so that, in a day or two, it is quite obliterated. After this change, the animal leaves the water, and covers the shores in myriads. The sudden appearance of such multitudes of young frogs has probably induced the popular but groundless belief of their having fallen from the clouds in showers. It has now become a perfect frog. (See Rana.) Tadpoles, just after they are hatched, are perfectly transparent; and, when placed before the double microscope, the pulsation of the heart may be easily seen, and the blood protruded thence may be observed in its passage through the whole body.

massive kinds present a great variety of structure. The composition varies from imperfect columnar to granular and impalpable. The individuals are sometimes strongly coherent with each other, or flat, so as to give rise to an imperfect slaty structure. The species talc has been subdivided into a great number of varieties or sub-species, the most of which depend upon colors, composition and foreign admixtures. The varieties of dark green (leek-green and celandine-green) colors, inclining to brown, constitute the chlorite, which has been subdivided into common, slaty, and earthy chlorite. The first of these contains the granular or crystalline varieties; the second embraces those in which the individuals can scarcely be traced, and which exhibit a slaty texture; the earthy chlorite consists of such as are but loosely coherent, or already in a state of loose, scaly particles. Immediately with those varieties of chlorite whose composition is impalpable, the green earth is connected. The species tale comprehends the varieties of pale

green, particularly apple-green, gray, and white varieties, and is divided, in popular language, into common, earthy, and indurated talc. Simple varieties are common talc; also such compound ones in which cleavage is transformed into slaty structure, or such as consist of columnar particles of composition: earthy talc, or nacrite, consists of loose particles, or such as are but slightly cohering; and indurated talc refers to imperfect and coarse slaty varieties, in which this kind of structure is more the effect of composition than of imperfect cleavage. If this structure be sufficiently imperfect to become coarse and indistinctly granular, potstone, soapstone, lapis ollaris, or steatite, is formed, which, possessing the united properties of softness and tenacity, may be easily turned, and wrought into vessels. Four varieties of the present species, foliated talc, analyzed by Vauquelin, slaty chlorite, analyzed by Gruner, green earth, analyzed also by Vauquelin, and steatite by Klaproth, have yielded

These analyses, as well as those of several other varieties of the species, show that our information respecting its chemical constitution is still very defective. Before the blow-pipe, some of them lose their color, and are fused with difficulty; others are changed into a black scoria; still others are infusible. Common talc, indurated talc, steatite, potstone, and slaty chlorite, constitute beds of themselves in primitive mountains. The latter often contains imbedded crystals of magnetic iron. Common chlorite is found in beds in rocks consisting chiefly of ores of iron and calcareous spar with augite. Other varieties, and, among them, the small scaly crystals of chlorite and earthy chlorite, occur in veins of various descriptions, and in the crystal caves of the Alps. Green earth occurs in amygdaloidal rocks, lining vesicular cavities. Tyrol, Salzburg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Scotland and New England abound in those varieties which by themselves form mountain masses. The soapstone of Cornwall is impalpable in its composition,

nearly white, or sometimes mottled with green and purple: when first raised, it is so soft as to allow of being kneaded like dough; but, by exposure, loses a part of its moisture, and is then translucent on the edges, yields to the nail, and possesses an unctuous feel. A similar variety is met with in Wales. It is included in serpentine, and sometimes embraces veins of amianthus. The white varieties of steatite, or those that become so by calcination, are employed in the manufactory of the finest porcelain; other varieties are said to be used in fulling. The Arabs, according to Shaw, use steatite in their baths instead of soap; and it is confidently asserted that the inhabitants of New Caledonia either eat it alone, or mingle it with their food. Humboldt says, that the Itomaques, a savage race, inhabiting the banks of the Orinoco, are almost entirely supported, during three months of the year, by eating this variety of talc, which they first slightly bake, and then moisten with water. The varieties known under the name of potstone have