targionite

[Etym. doubtful.] Min .: A name given by Bechi in a communication to Dana, but it is printed in his note ( American Jour. Science , ser. II., vol. xiv., 1852, p. 60) as Jargionite. Apparently the same as Stein mannite (q.v.). Tar-gum, s . [Chaldee (E. Aramean) targum , targuma =interpretation, translation; tirgem , tar gem =to interpret, to translate.] Jewish Literature : A Chaldee version or para phrase of the Old Testament, nece itated by the fact that the exiles who returned from Babylon knew that language well, and had partly lost acquaintance with their own. When the Scriptures were read in the synagogues after the return from Babylon, an interpretation or occasional comment was added in Chaldee, then the oral explanations were written, and finally regular Targums arose. There are ten known Targums. The oldest is believed to have been that of Onkelos, which is confined to the Pent a teuch. Dr. Samuel Davidson believed that Onkelos was the same as Aquila, that he was a mythic person, and did not write the Targum which bears his name. It was at first a Palestinian production, but was afterward modified by Babylonian Jews. It remained for many years in an unfixed state, but was finally completed by the end of the third century. It was first printed The next important Targum was that of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, on Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and the Prophets. It seems to have arisen in the same way as its predece or, and to have been completed about the end of the fourth century. A third Tar gum, called that of the Pseudo-Jonathan, and confined to the Pent a teuch, alludes to Khadiyah and Fatima, two of Mohammed's wives, and is not earlier than the middle of the seventh century. A fourth is the Jerusalem one, on the Pent a teuch. It is fragmentary, and resembles that of the Pseudo Jonathan, which it may have preceded by a century. There are le important Targums on the Hagiographa. "This seed, there spoken of, is Christ, as both the tar gums expound it."- Archbp . Patrick : On Genesis , iii. 15. tar-gum-Ist, s . [Eng. targum ; -ist .] The writer of a targum; one versed in the literature and lan. guage of the targums. "Jonathan or Onkelos, the targumists , were of cleaner language."- Milton : Apology for Smectymnuus. *tar-hood, s. [Eng. tar; hood.] The state or condition of being a tar; sailors collectively. "Ridiculed by the whole tarhood . "- Walpole : To Mann, ii. 285. ta'-ri, subst . [Native name.] The sap of Phenix sylvestris. In India it is used as a beverage, sometimes in its natural condition and sometimes fermented. *tăr'-i-an, s . [Wel.] An ancient British shield. tăr-Iff, s . [O. Fr. tariffe =arithmetic, casting of accounts ( Fr.tar if ), from Sp. tarifa =a list of prices, a book of rates, from Arab. ta rif =giving information, from arf =knowing, knowledge.] 1. A list or table of goods with the duties or cus toms to which they are liable, either on exportation or importation; a list or table of duties or customs to be paid on goods imported or exported, whether such duties are imposed by the government of a country or are agreed upon between the governments of two countries having commerce with each other. The scale of duties depends on the supply demand of goods, the interests and wants of the community, ., and is therefore constantly IMG:content-0826.jpg:[graphic] changing. "However absurd a tariff may be, a smuggler is but toc likely to be a knave and a ruffian." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xxi. The tariff legislation of this country has been constantly fluctuating, and has grown yearly in importance as a question of foreign policy. The tariff bill pa ed by Congre was that taking its name from its proposer, the Hon William McKinley, of Ohio. This tariff imposed high duties on imports, some specific and others ad valorem. It was repealed in 1894 by the pa age of the Wilson bill, which became a law by failure of the President to sign or veto. Upon the tariff question the nation has generally been pretty evenly divided, or with but a slight preponderance in favor of a high protective duty. Of former tariff measures that proposed in 1833 by Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and known as the compromise tariff, occupies the most prominent place in American history. Although Great Britain is now regarded as a free trade country, yet upon her tariff are listed nineteen articles of import, from which she derives an average of about 20 per cent. of her total revenue. The British tariff is based not upon an ad valorem tax, but depends entirely upon a specific import, in some cases modified by a range of price between the highest and lowest figures, which it sets for an article. Thus for spirits worth a certain amount per gallon, the tax is so much per barrel, while for spirits of the next higher grade (according to price per gallon) a higher duty per barrel is collected. 2. A table or scale of charges generally. 3. A law of Congre fixing the amount of import duties. tăr-iff, v . t . [TARIFF, 8.] To make or draw up a list of duties on, as on imported goods. tăr-in, s. [Fr.) The siskin (q. v.).