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TAPIOCA 252 TAR TAPIOCA, the powdered root or rhiz- ome of Manihot utilissima {Jatropha manihot). The root, which is about 30 pounds in weight, and is full of poison- ous juice, is washed, rasped, or rasped and grated, to a pulp. This, being well bruised and thoroughly washed, is heated on iron plates, by which process the pois- on is drawn off. The powder, when dry, consists of pure starch, and is baked into bread by the natives of Central America. In the United States and Europe it is generally made into puddings, and forms a light and nutritious diet. Pearl tapi- oca is made from prepared grain. TAPIR, any individual of the genus Tapirus. The South American tapir {T. americanus) is about the size of a small HEAD OF MALAYAN TAPIR ass, but more stoutly built, legs short, snout prolonged into a proboscis, but des- titute of the finger-like process which is present in the elephant's trunk. The skin of the neck forms a thick rounded crest on the nape, with a short, stiff mane. It is plentiful throughout South America, ranging from the Isthmus of Darien to the Straits of Magellan. The color is a uniform deep brown, but the young are marked with yellow stripes and spots. There is another American species inhabiting the Cordilleras; the SOUTH AMERICAN TAPIR back is covered with hair, and the nasal bones are more elongated, on which ac- count Gill has given it generic rank. The Malayan tapir (T. malayanus) is rather larger than the American species, and has a somewhat longer proboscis; it is manelesa. The color is glossy black, with the back, rump, and sides white, the two colors being distinctly marked off from each other without any graduation. Tapirs inhabit deep recesses of forests, delighting in water, and feeding on young shoots of trees, fruits, and other vegetable substances. They are inoffen- sive, never attacking man, and are eas- ily tamed. Their flesh is eaten, but is somewhat dry, and their hides are made into leather. TAPPAN, EVA MABCH, an Ameri- can author, born at Blackstone, Mass., 1854. She was the daughter of the Rev. Edmund March Tappan and was educat- ed at Vassar College, and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. Her works in- clude: "Charles Lamb, the Man and the Author"; "In the Days of Alfred the Great"; "In the Days of William the Con- queror"; "In the Days of Queen Eliza- beth"; "Our Country's Story"; "Robin Hood, His Book"; "American Hero Stor- ies"; "When Knights Were Bold"; "The House with the Silver Door"; "The Far- mer and His Friends"; "Diggers in the Earth"; "Food Saving and Sharing"; "The Little Book of Our Country". TAPTI, a river of Bombay, India; ris- ing in the Betus district of the Central Provinces, and flowing 450 miles W. through the Satpura uplands and the dis- tricts of Candeish and Surat to the Gulf of Cambay; 17 miles below the town of Surat. Even small vessels of 40 to 50 tons burden cannot ascend higher than Surat. The port of Suwali at the mouth is now deserted, and the lower channels of the river are being silted up. TAR, a product of the destructive dis- tillation of various organic substances; but the tars of commerce are obtained 1st from the distillation of coal, etc., for gas (gas tar or coal tar), and 2d from the distillation of wood (wood tar) . Gas or coal tar, which was formerly regarded as a troublesome and almost useless by- product of the gas manufacture, is now a substance of so much value that it is second only in importance to the gas itself. Its value has arisen almost en- tirely from the fact that it is the source of the wide range of important dyeing substances, which, derived from aniline, phenol (carbolic acid), and anthracene respectively, may all be classed as tar colors. Coal naphtha obtained by distil- lation from coal tar is a mixture of sev- eral hydrocarbons of different degrees of volatility, the lightest being benzol and toluol, and the earlier part of the dis- tillate is composed of a mixture of these two, and that part is utilized for the preparation of aniline as the basis of the aniline colors. The material remaining in the retort after the light oils are dis-