development of the term as applied to the chemical is not clear. The Greek word tartarizein, meaning to shiver with cold, does not help much in tracing the history of the word. Another frequently advocated derivation is the Arab, durd, dregs, sediment, which it is said was actually applied to the tartar of wine. It appears, too, that the Arabs used this term also as we do to represent the deposit on teeth; they also had a word, dirad, to mean a shedding of teeth, and by darda they signified a toothless old woman. Some etymologists consider, however, that the transition from durd to tartar would be most unlikely.
When the alchemists began to experiment with tartar their first process would be to distil it. The residue left in their retorts they called the salt of tartar. They knew this substance under other names, salt of wormwood, for instance, but they did not recognise the identity. By treating tartar with vinegar they produced acetate of potash, which they called regenerated tartar. Oswald Crollius, the compiler of the first European pharmacopœia, gave the name of vitriolated tartar to what we now know as sulphate of potash.
The iatro-chemists of the next century, who obtained it by various methods, gave to sulphate of potash distinct names which show in what esteem it was held. Among other designations it appears as Specificum purgans, Arcanum duplicatum, Nitrum fixum, Panacea holsatica, and Sel de duobus. Glaser, who produced it from sulphur, saltpetre, and urine distilled together, sold it as Sal Polychrest of Glaser.
Cream of tartar was known to the ancients under the name of Fæx Vini, which is the designation for it used by Dioscorides.
The tartar of wine was found to be only soluble in
