Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/28

 MAR

/>/« Marle, In husbandry, a name given by the people of Staffordfhire to a reddifh Marie, that breaks into i'mall fquare pieces like dice, or elfe into thin flakes, in the manner of lead ore, and looks fmooth on the furface. This is a good manure, and the way of judging which of it is bell, is to ex- pofe it to the air in rainy weather, or to put it in water. That which moulders fooneft to powder in the air, and breaks quickeft in the water, is fure to be the beft, and proves very beneficial to land. MARLINE, aboard a fhip, is a fraall line made of hemp un- twifted, that it may be the more gentle and pliable : Its ufe is to feize the ends of ropes from farcing out. They ufe it alio to feize the ftraps at the arfe (as they"call it) or lower end of the block. MARLING a Sail, is when being fo ript out of the bolt rope, that it cannot be fewed in again, the fail is fattened by a Mar tint, put through the eye-let holes, made in it for that purpofe, unto the bolt rope. _ MARMARYG/fE, a word ufed by the old writers in medicine to exprefs fparks of fire, or the appearance offuch flaftung be- fore the eyes hi fome diforders. MARMORA, Marbles, in natural hiftory. See the article

Marble. MARMORARIA, in botany, a name given by fome authors

to the brancha urfina, MARMORATA Aurium, a term ufed by fome authors to ex- prefs ear-wax. MARMORELLA, in botany, a name by which fome authors

have called agrimony. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. MARMOREUS Tartarus, a word ufed by fome authors to ex- prefs the hardeft kind of the calculus, or ftone in the human bladder. See the article Stone, MARMOTTE, Marmotta, the mountain rat, a creature very common in many parts of Europe, and frequently carried about as a {hew by the poor Savoyards. It is of the fize of a leveret, or between that of the hare and the rabbit ; and is larger bodied than a cat, but much fhorter legged. Its whole figure and appearance are like the common rat, whence it has its name. Its furr is much harder or harfher than that of the rabbit, and its colour a reddifh tawney, fometimes lighter, fometimes darker ; the end of its tail is back. Its eyes are large and prominent, and its ears fhort, and feeming as if cut off. It has two large teeth at the front of each jaw, as the fquirrel, and other creatures of this kind, and thefe are not white, but yellow, as in the beaver. Its nofe and mouth are adorned with a large number of black whifkers, making a fort of beard. The tail is about five inches long, and the legs are thick, and thefe and the belly are covered with long hair. Its toes are difpofed as in the bear, and its claws are very Ions; and ftrong, by means of which it digs the earth very readily. It makes great ufe of its hinder legs, and fometimes walks on them in an erecl: pofture. Its back always appears very fleftiy and fat, tho' the reft of the body be ever fo lean ; but this is Jiot real fat, but a provifion made by nature to guard the ani- mal from cold. Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 221. They will play with one another in the manner of kittens, and make a foft and not difagreeable noife on thofe occafions ; but when they are provoked, or when they are affedted, as they always are by a change of weather, they make a very fhrill and difagreeable fqueaking. They feed on vegetables, and are very fond of the roots of feveral plants ; they are very fond alfo of milk, butter, and cheefe. They fit on their buttocks to eat, and ufe their fore-feet as hands to reach their food to their mouths, in the manner of the fquirrel. T'hey lie hid in the winter in holes which they dig in the earth, and fleep away a great part of that feafon. They make their holes in a very nice and artful manner, and make themfelves a bed of ftraw, and other foft matters, that they may lie the fofter and the warmer. It is a creature eafity bred up tame, and will be perfectly good-humour' d and familiar, but it hates dogs.

Its legs are very robuft and ftrong, and it digs extremely quick. It runs but flowly on even ground, fo that a man may overtake it ; but if it once gets into the earth, it is faid, it will burrow fafter than a man with a fpade can dig after it to take it.

This animal, in Poland, is faid to herd in large communities, and be governed by a regular policy, making war with par- ties of its own fpecies from other places, and taking fpies and ilaves, and keeping them for the moft fervile ufes ; particu- larly in the carrying in their provifion for the winter, which they lay on the bellies of thefe ilaves, firft laying them on their backs, and then drawing them along with the load, in manner of a cart or waggon. MAROGUS, a word ufed by Paracelfus to exprefs a very

powerful narcotic. MARQXJE (Cycl.)— Letters o/M ahqve. Seethe artidePRizE. MARRIAGE (Cycl.) — The people in Java marry and have children at nine or ten years old, and the women leave child- bearing before they are thirty ; and at Tunquin there are wo- men common to any that will hire them, at eight or nine years of age.

Potter gives a large account of the feveral ceremonies ob- ferved by the Greeks in their Marriages. The Spartans were

MAR

not permitted to marry till they arrived at their full ftrength. The reafon affigned for this cuitom by Lycurgus, was, that the Spartan children might be ftrong and vigorous : And the Athenian laws are faid to have once ordered, that men fhould not marry till thirty-five years of age. Potter, Archasol. Grxc. 1. 4. c. 11. T. 2. p. 263. feq. Moft of the Grecian ftates, efpecially fuch as made any fi- gure, required their citizens mould match with none but citi- zens. The ufual ceremonies in promifing fidelity was kiffing each other, or giving their right hands, which was a general form of ratifying all agreements. Before the Marriage could be folemnized, the gods were to be confulted, and their affiftance implored by prayers and facrifices, which were of- fered to fome of the deities that fuperintended thefe affairs, by the parents, or neareft relations of the perfons to be mar- ried. When the victim was opened, the gall was taken out and thrown behind the altar, as being the feat of anger and malice, and therefore the averfion of all the deities who had the care of love, as well as thofe who became their votaries. For the particularities relating to the bride and bridegroom, fee the articles Bride and Bridegroom. The ceremonies of the Spartan Marriages being different from all others, deferve to be mentioned at length, as related by Plutarch. " When the Spartans had a mind to marry, '* their courtfhip was a fort of rape upon the perfons they had " a fancy for ; and thofe they chofe not tender and half- " children, but in the flower of their age, and full ripe for a " hufband. Matters being agreed between them, the Sfoft- " <p$vTpia, or woman that contrived and managed the plot, " fhaved off the bride's hair clofe to her fkin, diefled her up " in man's cloaths, and left her upon a mattrefi : This " done, the bridegroom entered in his common cloaths, " fober and compofed, as having fupped at his ordinary in " the common hall, and ftole as privately as he could into " the room where the bride lay, untied her virgin girdle, and " took her into his embraces. Having ftayed a ihort timer " with her, he returned to his comrades, with whom " he continued to fpend his life, remaining with them " as well by night as by day, unlefs when he ftole a Ihort " vifit to his bride; and that could not be done without a K great deal of circumfpecrion, and fear of being difcovered.; " Nor was me wanting (as may be fuppofed) on her part, to " ufe her wit in watching the moft favourable opportuni- " ties for their meeting, and making appointments when " company was out of the way. In this manner they lived 16 a long time, infomuch that they frequently had children by " their wives before they faw their faces by day-light. The " interview being thus difficult and rare, ferved not only for " a continual exercife of their temperance, and furthered e( very much the ends and intentions of Marriage ; but was " a means to keep their paffion ftill alive, which flags and £E decays, and dies atlaft by tooeafyaccefs, and long conti- tc nuance with the beloved object." Potter, Archaeol. loc. cit. p. 295. feq.

According to Mr. KerfTeboom's obfervations, there are about 325 children born from 100 Marriages. See Phil. Tranf. N*. 468. Sea. 3.

Mr. Kerfleboom, from his obfervations, eftimates the dura- tion of Marriages, one with another, as in the following table. Thofe whofe ages, taken together, make

40 live together between 24 and 25 years, 50 22 23

60 23 21

70 19 20

80 17 18

90 14 15

10(5 12 13

Phil. Tranf. N°. 468. Sea. 3. p. 319. MARROW (Cycl.) — The greater! part of the bones contain, in their large cavities or cells, this unctuous foft fubftance, which is more folid in fome, and more foft in others. This, while it lies in the cavities of the large bones, is more parti- cularly called Marrow ; when difperfed in the frnall cellulous cavities, it is commonly called the medullary juice. The Marrow of the large hollow bones is a mafs compofed of an infinity of frnall veiicles, or membranous cells, joined toge- ther, and communicating with each other, furniihed with blood-veffels and nerves, and filled with a fine fweet oily mat- ter. All thefe cells are furroimded by a fine membrane, which, like an internal periofteum, fticks cloie to the inner furface of the bone, by means of an infinite number of capil- lary veffels, and of feveral other kinds of very fmall filaments. The reticular fubftance of the bones runs through this medul- lary mafs, and, as it were, interlards it, and by this means fuftains it in the middle of the great cavities. The Marrow of the cellulous or cavernous fubftance of the bones, is di- vided by fmall bony fepta or plates, and by filaments of the reticular fubftance of the bones into a vaft number of veficles or membranous cells, which line the bony cells, and commu- nicate with each other.

This cellular Marrow in the cavernous texture of fome bones, differs from that in the great cavities of others both in colour and confidence. It is liquid, and of a red colour throughout j

whereas