Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/21

 MAN

M A P

And as fcimen are thus encouraged to enter themfelves vo- luntarily, fo there is another method ufed to compel them to it, and that is prejfmg, by warrants from the lord high admiral to the captains, which are by them affigned to their lieutenants : And to render this the more effecfual, veffels are purpofely hired into the fervice, to proceed from place to place, with thofe officers and their prefs-gangs, not only to receive volunteers, but alfo to imprefs what men they can licht on. But their fuccefs has been very uncertain, and always very expenfive ; therefore it were much to be wifhed, in a matter of fo great confequence to the nation, that more fpeedy and effectual methods could be taken for manning the fleet.

MANONOETOC, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of the Philippine Iflands to a fpecies of horned owl common in thofe parts. MANSORIUS Mufculus, in anatomy, a name given by fome writers to that mufcle of the face more generally known un- der the name of the Maffeter. See the article Mansorii, Cycl.

MANTECU, a fort of preparation of butter ufed by the Turks when they travel with their caravans. This is firlr. oiled over the fire, and then faked and kept in vefiels made of a tough leather, worked round a wooden frame, of the fame lhape with the vefiels in which they bring their balfam from Mecca. Pococi's Egypt, p. 186.

MANTICA, in zoology, the name by which Pifo and fome other writers have expreffed the pouch or bag of fkin under the belly of the opofium, into which the young are received in time of danger. See the article Opossum.

MANTICHORA, in natural hiftory, a name given by the Roman authors to a fierce and terrible creature, which they defcribe from the Greeks, who call it fometimes alfo Man- ticbora ; but when they write more correctly Marticora and Martiora. We have formed the name man-tiger on the found of the Roman name, though exprefling a very different fenfe ; and our authors of the hiftories of animals, figure to us under this name a terrible creature, partly from the ac- counts of Pliny exaggerated, and partly from their own imagination, with three rows of teeth, and with fuch a fhape as no animal ever poffeffed. Pliny tells us, that this creature had three rows of teeth which clofed in with one another in a fupprifing manner; and Paufanias, Ariftotle, and Ctefias, all agree in the account of its having three rows in the under, and as many in the upper jaw. They alfo add, that the teeth, when they clofe, fall in one with an- other in the manner of the teeth of a comb ; and this they have alfo told us of the crocodile ; and that therefore no bite is fo terrible as that of thefe animals. Pliny and Ariftotle both add to this, that the Mantichora had the face and ears perfectly refembling thofe of a man ; and Ariftotle adds, that its eyes were grey or bluiih, and perfectly like the eyes of a man alfo. The voice of this animal is as oddly reprefented as its body ; Ctefias and Ariftotle, and many other of the Greek authors, fay it had the found of a mufical inftrument of the pipe kind ; and Pliny fays, that it was a fort of mixed found, like that of the pipe and trumpet together; and ./Elian gives it a power of imitating either the one or the other, as it pleafed, by the different modulations of its throat. The Greek authors alfo give it a very great fwiftnefs ; but the Latins, not contented with any thing that does not look mi- raculous in fuch an animal, give it a power of leaping in its running, which is little lefs than flying. The whole ftory of this animal feems founded on the love of the wonderful ; and very probably the Mantichora, pro- perly fpeaking, was no other than fome of the large hyaenas which was at firft ill defcribed, and afterwards more and more wonders were added to the ftory, till all fhadow of truth was loll.

Mantis, the preying locuft. See Tab. of Infeas, N«. 4. and the article Locust.

MANUAL, manualis, fignifies what is employed, or ufed by the hand, and whereof a prefent profit may be made. Thus fuch a thing is laid to be in the manual occupation of one, where it is aaually ufed or employed by him. Staundf. Pra-rog. p. 54. Cowel, Blount.

MANUALIS Lapis, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone found in America, of which Monardes relates that it has great virtues in curing chaps and cracks in the hands and teet ; hut he docs not defcribe it.

MANUBL'E, among the Romans, the fpoils of the enemy, or rather the money made of the booty, when fold by the qua: (lor. Pittj:. '

MANUCMANUC, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people ot the Philippine Ifiands to a very beautiful fpecies of parrot, which is found very frequently wild in the woods there. It, S ot the fame bignefs with the common parrot,

MANUCQDIATA, in zoology, the name of the bird of parad.fe, as it is ufually called in Englifh ; a bird of which many fabulous accounts have been propagated, as that it had no legs, that it took in no food, and lived only on the dews ; that it was always on the wing, and had no other way of Kiting than as it hung in the air; that it was never taken

aiwe, and that the male had a cavity in his back, which ferved for the female to lay her eggs, and hatch her young in ; all which are wholly fabulous. The bird is a bird of prey, but of a peculiar kind, the ufe of whofe lono- feathers is not well known. See Tab. of Birds, N°. 6. Rafs Or- nithol. p. 55.

There are feveral fpecies of this beautiful bird ; Mr. Ray has reckoned eleven, and others have mentioned more, which were unknown to that author ; but it is much to be queftioned whether many of thefe are not rather the varie- ties of age and fex in the fame fpecies. The diftinguifhino- charadter of thefe birds is their extremely long feathers which they carry behind. It is well known now that they feed on fmall birds, and build in the woods, perching upon trees like other birds, moft of thofe now brought into Eu- rope being killed while fitting. .Say's Ornitholog. p. 62.

MANULCA, in antiquity, that part of the catapulta to which the cord ufed in working it was fixed. Pitifc. See the arti- cle Catapulta, Cycl.

MANURE. See the article Manuring, infra.

MANURING (Cycl.)— Sea fand is often made ufe of by way of manure, in fome parts of Cornwall, near the fea-fhore. When the fand is notably flielly, that is, much mixed with the broken pieces of fea-fhells, it is reckoned belt. It is fpread upon fuch land as is intended for wheat, or ufually in the firft crop of four, whatever be the grain ; for after four crops it is the cuftom in Cornwall to leave the land fix or feyen years for pafture before it is tilled again ; and the grafs will be fo good the firft year, where this manure is ufed, as to be fit for mowing : This is called mowing of grattin by the people there. The Cornifh acre is eight fcore yards, at eighteen foot to the yard. In one of thefe acres, the far- mers beftow, according to the diftance from the fea-fhore, from three hundred facks to one hundred, each fack contain- ing thirteen gallons, which is called a horfe load, the roads in many parts of this country being fo bad, that they arc forced to carry the fand on horfeback from the water-fide to the land, though eight or ten miles diftant. In this cafe the fand cofts them in the whole about eight pence a load. Where the lands lie very diftant from the fhore, and from all water- carriage, they beftow very little of this manure, but they do not care to be any where wholly without it. In fome of thefe places they lay twenty load on an acre, and find a proportionable advantage from it. Where much fand is ufed, the corn is large and plentiful, and the ftraw little. Hence has grown the old Cornifh phrafe of a huj!>d of corn to a peck ofjtraw ; which is not miraculous in a place where the ears of barley are frequently found as long or longer than the ftalks they grow on.

Where little of this fand is ufed, there is generally a great deal of ftraw, and but little and hungry ears of fmall cr ra in. After the corn is taken off, the grafs that naturally comes up is a white clover; and where the land is any thing deep, a red kind comes up among it. This is ufually but ihort the firft year, but it grows thick, and affords good feeding for the cattle ; and they are found to thrive better, and°give better milk than when they are fed on the high grafs, which generally fucceeds where there has been lefs fand ufed. Another great advantage of the lands where much fand is ufed, is, that no fnow lies upon them ; there is a continual winter-fpring, and an early harveft, ufually fix weeks before the neighbouring lands that do not ufe it in proper quantities ; fo that all the expence of procuring it in quantities, is many ways amply repaid to the farmers.

We have about Erith, and in many other places, the fame fort of fand in great abundance in the Thames, that is ufed with this great advantage in Cornwall ; and if it ffiould be found on trial to anfwer as well, probably there would be found few places where this river would not afford it at fome depth, or in fome part of its bed. The coral fand of Falmouth is dredg- ed up from under about a foot thickuefs of the Ouze ; and perhaps in the Thames, where the bottom feems of ano- ther nature, the fame fand, or fome of equal efficacy, may ba found underneath. The fand taken up out of the Thames at Erith, is ufed by the brick-makers, and they obferve that the grafs always grows particularly freffi and ftrong about the edges of their heaps of it, and that clover naturally grows there among the other grafs. Phil. Tranfi N° 1 13. In fome counties of England, particularly in Oxfordshire, they ufe, by way of Manure for fome of their lands, the cuttings and chippings of ftone in the quarries, which is fup- pofed to enrich the land by means of a fait that the ftone contains, which being diffolved by the weather is imbibed by the earth. Plot's Oxfordshire, p. 249.

MANUS Martis, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the common cinquefoil, or quinque folium vulgare. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

MAO, or Mau, in botany, a name by which fome authors have called the magna lndica, or Indian mango tree. Hort, Mai. vol. 4. p. 1.

MAPLE, Acer, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the roface- ous kind, and is compofed of feveral petals arranged in a cir- cular form. The piftil arifes from the cup, and finally be-

eomes