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LEFT MEASURE 169 MECHANICAL ENGINEERS lasts longer, never less than four or five days, sometimes 8 or 10, and diflFers slightly from that of measles or scarla- tina. It is usually a very mild disease, requiring only an aperient saline, with liquid food, and keeping in bed for a few days. MEASURE, a standard of measure- ment; a definite unit of capacity or ex- tent, fixed by law or custom, in terms of •which the relative sizes and capacities of things are ascertained and expressed; as, a foot, a yard, a mile are measures of length; a pint, a gallon, measures of capacity; a square foot, a measure of area; a cubic foot, a measure of volume, etc. See Weights and Measures. In Music. — The quantity of notes which are placed in the bar, and which is gen- erally caUed the time, of which there are but two kinds, viz., common time, con- taining an equal qviantity of notes in the bar. and triple time, containing an un- equal quantity. Lineal Measure. — The measure of lines or distances; the standard unit of lineal measure in the United States and in Eng- land is the yard. Unit of Measure. — A given quantity, used as a standard of comparison in measuring a quantity of the same kind. Every kind of quantity has its own unit of measure, and under different circum- stances the same kind of quantity may have different units of measure. Measure of Angles. — The right angle being taken as thd" angular unit, its sub- divisions are degrees, minutes and sec- onds. The right angle contains 90 de- grees, the degree 60 minutes, and the minute 60 seconds. All smaller frac- tions are expressed decimally in terms of the second. The French have pro- posed to divide the right angle into 100 equal parts, called grades, but the sug- gestion has not been extensively adopted. MEAT. See Packing Industry. MEAT INSPECTION. See PACKING Industry. MEAUX, a town of the department of Seine-et-Marne, France, on the right bank of the river Marne, about 30 miles E.of Paris. It has a large trade in Brie cheese and other agricultural prod- ucts; important meal and corn mills; manufactures of cotton, lumber, machin- ery, sugar, and steel. In September, 1914, it became famous as the turning point of the German drive on Paris. It was here that the German advance was stopped and that the German retreat to the Aisne began. Pop. about 14,000. MECCA, a city of Arabia, in ohe prov- ince of El-Hedjaz, 51 miles E. of Djedda, on the Red Sea, and 270 miles S. E. of Medina. Mecca, meaning literally "the place of assembly," is situated in a long, narrow, sandy valley, running N. and S.. called in the Koran "the valley without seeds." It is 2 miles long, and about 1,500 feet wide. The houses, which ar« handsome, follow the windings of the valley, being built partly on the decliv- ities on both sides. The streets are wide and regular. The only public building of consequence is the Beitullah, or El- Haram, the famous mosque of Mecca, in the interior of which is the Caaba, or Holy House. The mosque is about 350 feet long and 300 feet in breadth, and is formed by colonnades, roofed with nu- merous small cupolas supported by 450 pillars, about 20 feet in height, of marble or Mecca stone. The walls, arches, and minarets are gaudily painted in stripes of red, yellow, and blue. The Caaba is an oblong massive structure, about 45 feet in length and 35 feet in breadth, and from 35 to 40 feet in height, its doors being coated with silver, embel- lished with gold ornaments. At the N. E. comer is the celebrated "black stone," said to have been brought by the angel Gabriel to form the foundation. The Holy Well of Zem-zsm. said to have been found by Hagar when her son Ishmael was dying with thirst, supplies the city with water for drinking and ablution, its use for other purposes being forbidden. There are no manufactures of any conse- quence, but there is a large trade during the month of Dhabhadja (the lattpr end of June and the beginning of July), ow- ing to the pilgrims from the different countries exposing articles for sale, as well for gain as to defray the expenses incurred by the journey. The climate is sultry and unwholesome. Mecca is cele- brated as the birthplace of Mohammed, in 570, who was expelled in 622, and cap- tured it in 630. In 692 it was captured by Abd-el-melik, and in 929 it was plundered by the Carmathians. In 1184, Renaud de Chatillon failed in an attempt on Mecca. In 1803 it was seized by the Moslem sect of the Wahabees, from whom it was taken in 1818 by Ibrahim Pasha. Pop. about 60,000. MECHANIC'S LIEN, a charge or lien placed upon real estate to secure the pay- ment for labor performed, or materials furnished for the construction of build- ings thereon. MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. See Engineering. MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, AMER- ICAN SOCIETY OF, organization of engineers, manufacturers and professors