Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/587

 TALLOW TALMA 559 TALLOW, the solid fat of various terrestrial animals, chiefly quadrupeds, which has been separated from the membranous cellular tissue by melting. The ruminants, particularly oxen and sheep, furnish the tallow of commerce. Russia, South America, and Australia furnish the largest proportion. That is esteemed best which is procured from animals that have fed upon dry fodder ; hence that of Russia, where animals feed for eight months upon dried grass, is especially valued. Texas and particularly southern California formerly furnished large quantities to commerce. Formerly tallow that had been simply "tried out" or "rendered" was extensively used for candles ; very little is now so used, but instead of it the stearine which haS been separated from the other con- stituents is made into candles, which are of more uniform quality and higher melting point. (See STEAEIO ACID.) Tallow is also largely consumed by soap manufacturers (see SOAP), and in the dressing of leather. Tallow con- sists of several compound acid radicals united with the basic radical of glycerine. Of these, stearine is found in largest quantity, with more or less of palmitine and oleine, depend- ing upon the kind of tallow. In the process of soap making the tallow is decomposed, the potash or soda combining with the stearine, &c., and setting glycerine free. Vegetable tal- low is obtained in China in great quantities from the solid sebaceous covering of the seeds of Stillingia sebifera, a tree that is extensively cultivated in that country. (See TALLOW TEEE.) The tallow, which is brittle, white, opaque, and tasteless, is preferred to animal tallow for making candles. It is regarded as nearly pure stearine. In the United States, the wax-like covering of the berries of the myrica cerifera is in some localities used for the same purposes as ordinary tallow, under the name of bay berry tallow. It is hard, of olive-green color, and has a fragrant spicy odor. It is also used to a limited extent in pharmaceutical preparations. TALLOW TREE (Stillingia sebifera), a Chi- nese tree, belonging to the spurge family (eu- phorbiacece), growing from 20 to 40 ft., with long and flexible branches, and long-petioled leaves, much resembling those of the poplars, save that they are entire ; the flowers are in dense terminal spikes, the upper part of which consists of sterile flowers, with a few fertile ones at the base ; the fruit a small three-lobed capsule with one seed in each cell ; the seeds are covered with a white tallow-like substance, which gives the tree its common name, and which the Chinese use for candles. This tree is abundantly naturalized in Georgia and South Carolina near the coast, and in Florida on the St. John's. The time and manner of its intro- duction do not seem to be known ; Michaux in 1803 speaks of it as being in cultivation in Charleston and Savannah, and as also growing spontaneously at that time ; and Elliott (1824) speaks of the abundance of the fruit, of which no use is made, though it contains much oil. 776 The seeds produce two oily substances: the tallow-like coating which envelops them, and an oil within the kernel itself. To obtain the first, the capsules are cracked without bruising the seeds, the shells separated, and the seeds treated with boiling water and the tallow Tallow Tree (Stillingia sebifera). skimmed off ; after this, the seeds are crushed and pressed for their oil. The tallow when fresh is creamy white, but it becomes brown on long exposure ; the Chinese convert it into candles, which receive a final dip in a mixture of the same substance with some insect wax, which gives them a hard surface and preserves their form in hot weather ; the oil is used for lamps ; the refuse of the process is used for fuel and for manure. The wood is hard, and is used by the Chinese to make blocks for printing. Another species, 8. sylvatica, popu- larly known as queen's delight, is an herb, 2 or 3 ft. high, with alternate, nearly sessile, oblong-lanceolate, serrate leaves, and a dense terminal yellowish spike of male flowers with a few fertile ones at the base ; it is found in light dry soils from Virginia to Florida. The root in large doses is emetic and cathartic ; in small doses it is regarded by some southern physicians as influencing the secretions, and it is useful in syphilis and skin diseases. TALMA, Francois Joseph, a French actor, born in Paris, Jan. 15, 1763, died there, Oct. 19, 1826. He received a collegiate education, and in 1787 appeared at the Theatre Francais in the part of Sei'de in Voltaire's Mahomet. He early turned his attention to the substitution of contemporary historical dresses for the fancy costumes then worn, a reform which had been previously and unsuccessfully attempted by Lekain, and which Talma finally effected. His first original creation was the principal part in Joseph Chenier's Charles IX. Besides the parts he performed in Lafosse's Manlius, Ra- cine's Iphigenie and Britannicus, and Voltaire's VOL. xv. i