Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/597

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TAPPAN take to the water if possible, where they easily defend themselves with the teeth ; on land they do not go by open paths, but break through the thick undergrowth of the woods by their powerful and wedge-like head, in this way es- caping the larger carnivora; they have an acute sense of hearing and of sight, and are strong and tenacious of life; their flesh is eaten both in South America and Asia. The best known species is the American tapir (T. Americanus, Cuv.), about 6 ft. long and 3 ft. high, of a uniform brown color, tinged with gray on the head and chest. It is found over almost the whole extent of South America east of the Andes, and its herds sometimes do great mischief by trampling down cultivated fields ; it has only one young at a birth, in November. The Asiatic tapir (T. Malay anus, Horsf.) is 7 or 8 ft. long, with the hind parts of the body white, and the anterior and the legs black ; the trunk is 7 or 8 in. long, the eyes very small, and the rounded ears bordered with white ; though the largest, it is the gentlest of the genus. Fossil species are found in the tertiary formations of central Europe. TAPPAN, Henry Philip, an American clergy- man, born at Rhinebeck, N. Y., April 23, 1805. He graduated at Union college in 1825, studied at the Auburn theological seminary, was for a year assistant pastor of the Eeformed Dutch church in Schenectady, and in 1828 was settled as pastor of a Congregational church at Pitts- field, Mass. In 1832 he was appointed pro- fessor of moral and intellectual philosophy in the university of the city of New York. In 1838 the faculty resigned, and for some years he conducted a private seminary. In 1852 he was elected president of the university of Mich- igan, which post he held till 1863, since which time he has resided chiefly in Europe. His principal works are : " Review of Edwards's Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will" (12mo, New York, 1839) ; "The Doctrine of the Will determined by an Appeal to Consciousness" (1840) ; "The Doctrine of the Will applied to Moral Agency and Responsibility " (1841) ; "Elements of Logic, together with an intro- ductory Review of Philosophy in general, and a preliminary View of the Reason" (12mo, 1844 ; revised and enlarged ed., 1856) ; " Trea- tise on University Education" (1851); and "A Step from the New World to the Old " (2 vols. 12mo, 1852). His three works on the will were republished in Glasgow (1 vol., 1857). ^ TAR, a thick, black, viscid, impure turpen- tine, procured by burning the wood of pinus palmtris, P. syhestris, and other species of pine and coniferous trees ; also obtained as a product of the destructive distillation of peat, bituminous coals, and shales. It was known to the ancient Greeks, and Dr. Clarke, who describes the method of manufacturing it in the forests of Bothnia, says there is not the smallest difference between the processes there practised and those of ancient Greece. Along the whole coast of the gulf of Bothnia the TAR 569 inhabitants are very generally engaged in this occupation. They make use of the roots of the fir trees, with logs and billets of the same, which they arrange in a conical stack, fitted to a cavity in the ground, generally in the side of a bank. In the bottom of this cavity is placed a cast-iron pan from which a spout leads out through the bank. The heap is covered over with turf, and is then fired, as in making char- coal. Tar collects in the latter part of the process of charring, and runs off through the spout into barrels. Tar is a product where charcoal is the chief object of the process, but is seldom obtained in quantities sufficient to render it an object to collect it, except in char- ring the resinous woods of the pine family. In Sweden, where the business is also impor- tant, some peculiar methods are adopted to increase the yield of tar. Trees of no value for the saw mill are partially peeled of their bark a fathom or two up from the ground, not enough to kill them, but only to check their growth. After five or six years, when cut down, the wood is found to be much richer in resinous matters which produce tar. It is noticed that the condition of the weather du- ring the process of charring may make a differ- ence of 15 or 20 per cent, in the yield of tar. In the United States tar is produced in almost all parts of the country where pitch pine and the pinus australis are found. Along the coast of the southern states, especially of North Car- olina, Virginia, and Georgia, the business is car- ried on upon a large scale in connection with the manufacture of turpentine, rosin, and pitch. Old trees which have ceased to produce tur- pentine, and dead wood which is rich in resin- ous matter, are selected for the coal pits. The process does not materially differ from that already described. The product is not only sufficient for home consumption, but large quantities are annually exported. In the prep- aration of pyroligneous acid, tar is one of the products of the destructive distillation, settling in the bottom of the tanks in which the liquids are collected. The variety known as coal tar is obtained when bituminous matters are dis- tilled for the production of illuminating gas. (See GAS, and PETROLEUM.) Both wood and coal tars are complex mixtures of a variety of liquids holding solid matters in solution or sus- pension; thus, wood tar contains the hydro- carbons included in the term eupion, and the benzole series of hydrocarbons, including tolu- ole, xylole, cymole, also naphthaline, &c., be- sides oxidized compounds, including creosote, picamar, kapnomor, &c. Rosin and paraffine are among its solid contents. When its vola- tile products have been driven off by distilla- tion or boiling, the black carbonaceous residue is known as pitch. The composition of coal tar is materially different, as it contains all the great variety of products derived from the de- structive distillation of bituminous coal as ob- tained from the gas works. Coal tar, a refuse product of these works, may be considered in