TAR
vegetables, and is particularly fond of the fialks of the fugar- sane ; it often takes the water, and fwims excellently. The natives, in places where it is common, eat its flefli; which is but very coarfe and ill raffed. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 140.
TAPINOSIS, Tanrn™^, imhetoric, the fame with diminution. See the article Diminution, Cycl.
TAPLINGS, intheEnglifhfalt-works, the name given to cer- tain bars of iron which fupport the bottom of the pan in which the brine is boiled.
Thefe pans are very large, and cover a wide furnace ; but as their width would make them apt to bend in the middle, which would fpoil the working the fait, there is a fort of wall of brick carried along the middle of the furnace j and on the, top of this are placed thefe Tapiings ; They are about eight inches high, and from four to fix in thicknefs, being fmaileft at the top. Thefe are placed at about three foot di- ftance one from another, and the wall which fupports them, and which is called the midfeatber^ is broad at the bafe, and fo narrow at the top, as barely to give room for the bafes of the Taplings.
TAPPING {Cyd.) — Jntappingfor thedropfy, furgeons werefor- merl v very careful to draw off only a fmall quantity of water at one time, and therefore repeated it often, till the whole was eva- ctiaced. The reafon of this was to avoid the fyncope, which ufually attended the operation when all the water was eva- cuated at once. But Dr. Mead having difcovered the true caufe of this fyncope to be owing to the removal of the pref- fute from the defending aorta, it was foon found, that the bad confequences might be prevented by emptying the belly at one operation, and preferving a proper preflure at the fame time, which mould be done equally and gradually, as the water runs out. Bandages have been contrived fcr this pur- pofe in England and in France ; but, according to Mr. Monro, they are nut fufficient ; and he therefore invented a belt made of fine flannel, and ftrong linnen, which will better anfwer the purpofe. For the draught and defcription of this belt, we refer to the Medic. Elf. Edinb. vol. 1. art. 18. or its abridgment, vol. 2. p. 102. where the curious may find fe- veral practical obfervations about this operation. Tapping has ftldom proved more than a palliative remedy in drophes. The chief improvements in the operation are owing to Mr. Monro, Monfieur Garengeot, and Mr. Warwick. Mr. Monro has fubftituted a belt initead of the ordinary long bandage for compremng the abdomen ; and has alfo afcer- tained the proper place of puncture. Garengeot makes the evacuation at once, cleans the emptied cavity, to remove the feculent part of the waters which fubfides therein, and is apt, by its acrimony, to occafion mortifications. Mr. Warwick tells us, however, that notwithftanding thefe improvements, an afcites mews, that the ufe of Tapping is but precarious, by returning as conftantly as ever this method alone is put in practice to remove it. He has therefore endea- voured at a farther improvement, whereby the Tapping, in- ftead of being a bare temporary relief of fymptoms, becomes an abfolute cure. This method is, after evacuating the wa- ters, to make an injection of equal parts of cahors, wine, or claret, and Briftol water, blood-warm, into the emptied cavity. He mentions a cure he performed in this manner. See Phil. Tranf. N°. 472. Sect. 3.
Dr. Hales has given us, in the fame tranfaction, feet. 4. a method of conveying liquors into the abdomen during the Operation of tapping, by means of two trocars fixed at the fame time one on each fide of the belly, one of them having a communication with a veflel full of the medicinal liquor, by means of a fmall leather pipe. This veflel might be raifed high enough above the abdomen to force the liquor in by the laws of hydroftatics. The advantage propofed by this method, is to prevent a fyncope from inanition. See a farther account of the fuccefi of injedting medicated liquors into the abdomen, in the cafe of an afcites, in Phil. Tranf. N°. 473. Sect. 4.
TAR (Cyd.) — The antients efteemed Tar good againft poifons, ulcers, the bites of venomous creatures ; alfo for pthifical, fcrophulous, paralytic and afthmatic perfons. But the method of rendering it an inoffenfive medicine, and agreeable to the ftomach, by extracting its virtues in cold water, was unknown to them. Siris, Sect. 9, See the article TAR-Water, infra. According to Pliny, liquid pitch, as he calls it, or Tar y was obtained by fitting fire to billets of old fat pines or firs. The firft running was Tar, the latter, or thicker running, was pitch. Theophraftus is more particular; he tells us, that the Macedonians made huge heaps of the cloven trunks of thofe trees, wherein the billets were placed erect befide each other. That fuch heaps or piles of wood were fometimes an hundred and eighty cubits round, and fixty, or even an hundred high ; and that, having covered them with fods of earth, Co prevent the flame from burfting forth (in which cafe the Tar was loft) they fet on fire thofe huge heaps of pine or fir, letting the Tar and pitch run out in a channel made for that purpofe. Siris, Sea. 13.
Some modern writers inform us, that Tar flows from the trunks of pines and firs, when they are very old, through in- cifions made in the bark near the root ; thai pitch is only Tar infpiflatcd, and both are the oil of the tree grown thick and black with age -and the fun. The trees, like old men, being Suppi.. Vol. il.
TAR
unable to perfpire, and their feretory J u a s cbftrufled they are, as one may fay, choaked and fluffed witl, their own juice ■. But the method ul'ed by our colonies in America for making Tar and pitch, is, in effea, the fame with that of the antient Macedonians ; as appears from the account »ivcn in the Philofophical Tranfaaions. And the relation of°Leo Afncanus, who defcribes, as an eye-witnefs, the making of Tar on mount Atlas, agrees in fubftance with the methods ufed by the Macedonians of old, and the people of New Eng- land of this day ».— [ ■ Siris, Sea. lb. " Id. Sea. 17.] ° According to Theophraftus, not only the turpentine-trees, the pines, ahd the firs, yield refin or Tar, but alfo the cedars and palm-trees ; and the words fix and refin are taken by 1 liny in fo large a fenfe, as to include the weepings of the lentilcus and cyprefs, and the balms of Arabia and Juda:a ; all which perhaps are near of kin, and in their moll ufeful qualities concur with common tar, efpeci.illy the Norwegian, which is the mod liquid and beft for medicinal ufes. Thofe trees that grow on mountains, expofed to the fun or north wind, are reckoned to produce the bed and pureft far ; and the ldican pines were diftinguifhed from thofe growing on the plane, as yielding a thinner, fweetcr, and better fcented Tar. Id. Sefl. 28.
Tar in fubftance, mixed with honey, has been found an ex- cellent medicine for coughs. Id. Sea. 21. TAK-lVatir. As the cold infufion of Tar has been lately much in vogue, and has been recommended by one of the moft learned and ingenious writers of the age, it may not be impro- per to give fome account of its virtues from the bifhop of Cloync's Siris, or Chain of Refleflions concerning the Virtues of Tar-water.
In lome parts of America, Tar-water is made by puttinir a quart of cold water to a quart of Tar, and ftirring them well together in a veflel, which is left Handing till the Tar finks to the bottom. A glafs of clear water being poured off for a draught, is replaced by the fame quantity of frefh water, the veffel being fhaken, and left to ftand as before. And this is repeated for every glafs, fo long as the Tar continues to im- pregnate the water fufficiently, which will appear by the firiell and tafte.
But as this method produces Tar-water of different degrees of ftrength, the author fays, he chufes to make it in the follow- ing manner : Pour a gallon of cold water on a quart of Tar, and ftir and mix them thoroughly with a ladle or flat ftick, for the fpace of three or four minutes; after which the veflel muff Hand eight and forty hours, that the Tar may have time to fubfide ; when the clear water is to be poured off, and kept for ufe, no more being made from the fame Tar, which may ftill ferve for common purpofes.
This cold infufion of Tar hath been ufed in fome of our colo- nies as a prefervative or preparative againft the fmall pox, which foreign praftice induced the bifhop to try it in his own neighbourhood, when the fmall pox raged with great violence. He fays, the trial fully anfwered his expeaation ; all thofe within his knowledge, who took the Tar-water, having ei- ther efcaped that dittemper, or had it very favourably. Seve- ral were preferved from taking the fmall-pox, by the ufe of this liquor; others had it in the mildeft manner ; and others, that they might be able to take the infeaion, were obliged to intermit drinking Tar-water. He fays, he has found it may be drank with great faftty and fuccefs for any length of time, and this not only before, but alio during the aforefaid diftemper. The general rule for taking it, is about half a pint night and morning, on an empty ftomach, which quantity may be va- ried according to the cafe and age of the patient, provided it be always raken on an empty ftomach, and about two hours before or after a meal.
It has been found, that feveral perfons infeaed with cutaneous eruptions and ulcers, were immediately relieved, and foon af- ter cured, by the ufe of this medicine. It is faid, that even in the fouled diftempers, it proved much more fuccefsful than falivations and wood-drinks had done. It alfo fucceeded be- yond expeaation, in a tedious and painful ulceration of the bowels, in a confumptive cough, and (as appeared by ex- peaorated pus) an ulcer in the lungs, in a pleurify and pe- ripneumony. And when a perfon who had been for fome years fubjea to eryfipelatous fevers, perceived the ufual fore- running fymptoms to come on, the drinking of Tar-water prevented the eryhpelas.
Tar-water cures indigeftion, and gives a good appetite. It is an excellent medicine in an afrhma; it imparts a kindly warmth, and quick circulation to the juices, without heating, and is therefore ufeful, not only as a peaoral and balfamic, but alfo as a powerful and fafe deobftruent in cacheaic and hyfleric cafes. As it is both healing and diuretic, it is very good for the gravel. The bifhop fays, he believes it to be of great ufe in a dropfy, having known it cure a very bad ana- farca in a perfon whofe thirft, though very extraordinary, was in a fhort time removed by the drinking of Tar-water. It may likewife be fafely ufed in inflammatory cafes ; and, in faa, hath been found an admirable febrifuge, at once the fafeft cooler and cordial.
The falts, and more aaive fpirits of Tar are got by infufion
in cold water ; but the refinous part is not tg be diflblved
C c c c thereby.
