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TARTAN (from F. lirelaine, "linsie-wolsie," Sp. liritaiia, a kind of woollen cloth, perhaps so called from its thinness and lightness, cf. Sp. iiritar, to tremble with cold), a worsted cloth woven with alternate stripes or bands of coloured warp and weft, so as to form a chequered pattern in which the colours alternate in " sets " of definite width and sequence. The weaving of particoloured and striped cloth cannot be claimed as peculiar to any special race or country, for indeed such checks are the simplest ornamental form into which dyed yarns can be combined in the loom. But the term tartan is specially applied to the variegated cloth used for the prin- cipal portions of the distinctive costume of the Highlanders of Scotland. For this costume, and the tartan of which it is composed, great antiquity is claimed, and it is asserted that the numerous clans into which the Highland population were divided had each from time to time a special tartan by which it was distinguished. After the rebellion of 1745 various acts of parliament were passed for disarming the Scottish Highlanders and for prohibiting the use of the Highland dress in Scotland, under severe penalties. These acts remained nominally in force till 1782, when they were formally repealed, and since that time clan tartan has, with varying fluctuations of fashion, been a popular article of dress, by no means confined in its use to Scotland alone; and many new and imaginary " sets " have been invented by manufacturers, with the result of introducing confusion in the heraldry of tartans, and of throwing doubt on the reality of the distinctive " sets " which at one time undoubtedly were more or less recognized as the badge of various clans.

TARTAR, the name commonly applied to crude acid potassium tartrate or " bitartrate of potash." HK^HiOe). During the process of fermentation wines deposit a crystalline crust of argol; this, after being roughly purified by recrystal- lization, is known as tartar, and when further purified and freed from colouring matters becomes " cream of tartar," also called technically " cream." With the iatrochemists tartar was a generic term which included both this tartarus vini and various substances obtained from it, and even salts, such as salt of sorrel (potassium oxalate), that resembled it. Thus salfixum larlari was potassium carbonate, which on exposure to the air deliquesces to oleum larlari per deliquium; neutral potassium tartrate was called tartarus larlarisalus, because it was prepared by neutralizing ordinary tartar with the sal fixum; larlarus chalybealus was a preparation with iron; and spiritus larlari, used by Paracelsus, was prepared by dry distillation of tartar. Paracelsus also used the term in a still wider sense to signify abnormal precipitates or sediments deposited from animal secretions; the same idea is apparent in the popular applica- tion of the word to the salivary calculus which forms on the teeth.

Cream of tartar is prepared by dissolving granulated argol in boiling water and allowing the solution to stand. The clear liquid is then drawn off and crystallized. The slightly coloured crystals thus obtained are redissolved in hot water, the colouring matters

fot rid of by means of pipeclay or egg-albumen, and the solution Itered and crystallized, the name " crean of tartar " being originally applied to the crust of minute crystals that form on its surface as it cools. The salt crystallizes in masses of small, hard, colourless, trans- parent, rhombic prisms. It is precipitated when an excess of a potassium salt is added to a solution of tartaric acid, but it dissolves in mineral acids, and in alkalis and alkaline carbonates. Solutions of boric acid or borax dissolve it freely, forming soluble cream of tartar, which is a white powder permanent in the air when made with the acid, but deliquescent when borax is employed. Its slight solu- bility in alcohol explains why it is deposited by wines as they mature. One part by weight of the salt dissolves in 15 parts of boiling water, but at lower temperatures the solubility is greatly diminished, and at o° C. about 416 parts of water are required. When heated it is decomposed with formation of potassium car- bonate and carbon, inflammable gases having an odour of burnt bread being evolved. The salt is used for the manufacture of tartaric acid ; it is also employed in the mordant bath for wool- dyeing, with powdered chalk and alum for cleaning silver, and for the preparation of effervescing drinks and baking-powder. In medicine as potassii tarlras acidus it is of some slight importance as a diuretic and purgative. The more soluble normal salt, Ki(C«H<0«), is used for the same purposes; it is formed by dissolving powdered cream of tartar in a hot solution of potassium carbonate. If sodium carbonate is substituted the result is KNa(C«H«0«), or Rochelle salt.

Tartar emetic (potassium antimonyl tartrate) K; (SbO)C«H«(V JH s O. This substance has been known for a long period, being mentioned by Basil Valentine. It may be prepared by warming 3 parts of antimonious oxide with 4 parts of cream of tartar, in the presence of water, replacing the water as it evaporates; after digestion is complete, the solution is filtered hot. Powder of algaroth (q.v.) may be used in place of the antimony oxide. Tartar emetic crystallizes in small octahedra, which lose their water of crystallization gradually on exposure to air, and become opaque. It is soluble^ in 14-5 parts of cold water and 1-9 parts of hot, the solution showing