Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/31

 MAR

MAR

of the moft curious fliclls in the world. Its figure is that of 3 hammer, with a very long head, or rather of' a pick-ax. It has a body of moderate thick tiefs, and two long arms. It is of a brownifh colour, with a beautiful tinge of a violet blue. Notwithftanding the ftrange fliape ofthefe (hells, they cloip very exactly. See the article Ostrea.

MARTIALES Flores. Seethe article Klores Martiaks.

MARTES, the Martin, or Martlet, in the hiftory of quadru- peds, the name of a creature of the weafel kind, called alfo bv fome Pogua. There are two fpecies of this creature, the one called the Martes Abietum, or fir Martin, the other the Martes Fagorum, or beech Martin. The beech Martin is diftinguifhed from the other by having a larger and blacker tail, and being all over of a darker colour, and by being white on the throat, whereas the others arc yellow ; but the fpecies are fcarce kept up diftinct, the creatures mixing with one another in the breed. When diftimSt, the beech Martin is found to be a much tamer creature than the other, and may be kept about houfes like a cat ; and often lives of its own accord about houfes, and among old walls. Their fkins make a valuable furr ; and that of the fir Martin, or yel- low kind, is much the moft valuable. Ray's Syn. Quad. The Martin is of the fize of a cat, but longer bodied ; its legs alfo are fhortcr, and its claws lefs fharp, and fhorter. Its whole body is covered with hair of a yellowifh black, except only the throat, which, in the beech Martin, or tame kind, is white ; and in the wild kind, or fir Martin, yellow. Its teeth are fharp and ftrong, and the dog-teeth, in particular, ftand out a great way.

Gefner once kept one of the beech Martins tame like a dog, which would go out with him, and run about to the neigh- bours houfes, always returning carefully home again, and would play like a cat, lying on its back, and biting in jeft, but never hurting any thing. Gefner, dc Quad. This creature leaves fo ftrong a fcent, that the hounds, when out in a morning, will often take it, and make a noble cry. The chace, in this cafe, is very good while it lafts, but it is very perplexed ; for the creature is not able to run long ; and when fhe is tired, fhe gets up into a tree ; the hounds often lofe her on this occafion; but if fhe is fpied up in the tree, file is to be hunted down with flicks, &c, When killed, the hounds are not to be fufFered to eat her flefh, for it is un- wholefome. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N°. 22.

MARTICHORA, in natural hiftory, the name given by the antient Greeks to the animal which we call the Mantichora or Man-tyger. See the article Mantichora.

MARTIN, in zoology. See the article Martes, fupra.

MARTINAZZO, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of water fowl, of the larus or gull kind, and called by the Dutch, the burgomafter of Greenland; by theCornifh people, the waggeH, or the greet grey gull. Itis a large bird, ufually weighing a pound and half. It is all over of a mottled colour of brown, grey, and white ; but is much darker on the back than on the belly. The back and wing feathers are all brown in the middle, and grey at the edges ; but thofe of the rump are moftly white. They fay that this gulf will follow the fmaller lari, and perfe- cute and terrify them till they void their food in excrements halfdigefted, which he afterwards picks up, efteeming it bet- ter than frefh food. Ray's Ornithology, p. 266.

MARTINO Pefcatore, in ichthyology, a name given by Sal- vian, and fome others, to the Rana Pijcatrix of authors ; the lopbius of Artedi. See the article Lophius.

MARTIOBARBULI, among the Romans, a defignation gi- ven to foldiers, who carried leaden balls to aimoy the enemy with. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.

MARTIORA, orMARTicoRA, in natural hiftory, the name which the antient Greeks gave to the animal which the Ro- mans called Mantichora, and we, from a corruption of that ^ ora » the man-tyger. See the article Mantichora.

MARTIS Arbor. Befide the common Arbor Marth, which is but a poor refemblance of the Arbor Diana?, Mr. Lemery has found a method of making a faline or vitriolic one, which XS u- if r ^r Cr k eaut y than any other metallic vegetation, and which differs from the generality of them, in that it is pro- duced above the furface of the liquor, not under it, and bu- ried m a fluid as they are. Mem. Acad. Par. 1707. rhe method by which he firftmadethis beautiful production was this : He difTolved fteel filings in fpirit of nitre, and addino- to the folution oil of tartar per deliquium, when the fermentation was over, there arofe beautiful vegetations above the furface of the liquor, many of which exprcflcd trees and plants, not only m their leaves and branches, but even in their roots, the imall fibres which reprefent them in this vegetation bein<r truly hollow, and feeming to ferve the office of roots in con- veying up the fluid matter to the other parts, there to con- denle into leaves and branches.

In the making the folution of iron for this procefs, there is al- ways a great quantity of red vapours thrown up out of the niouth of the vefiei ; if thefe are faved, by making the folution in a cucm-bit, they are found to be a weak fpirit oY nitre, im- be Sr 3 orr hth, e ™&Y"*'™*i ^d this fpirit ferves much better for the making this Arbor Martis than the plain fpirit Mr. Lemery observing this, diftilled fpirit of nitre on purpofe

for this ufe, from a folution of a large quantity- of iron ki the fame fpirit.

This new fpirit evidently contained many of the fulphureous particles of the iron, and produced infinitely more beautiful vegetations than the plain kind. Nor is it wonderful that it fhould do fo, fincethe fuccefs of the procefs feems wholly to depend on the quantity of the fulphur of iron which is con- cerned in it. The folution of iron in fpirit of nitre, whether the common kind, or this prepared on purpofe for this vegeta- tion, is of a reddifh colour, and when the oil of tartar is mixed with it, the vegetation is more or lefs perfect according to the proportions, as will be learned by experiment, and very often the whole liquor, or nearly the whole, raifes itfelf up to the top of the vefiei in form of beautiful branches. Mem. Acad. Par. 1707.

The oil of tartar, when firft mixed with the folution, caufes an effcrvcfcence, and when this is over, the liquor becomes quiet and clear again, but is of a deeper red colour than be- fore. Soon after this the vegetations begin to form them- felves, by (mail cryftals, which appear upon the furface of the liquor. Thefe are extremely imall and flender, and they increafe in length continually by the addition of others at their bottoms, thrufting them farther up, till at length they form threads or filaments, which arife put of the furface" oftheli- liquor, and thence diverge and divaricate into all the beautiful variety of trees, bufhes, and herbs. Thefe nicely adhere to the internal furface of the glafs, and, when they have rifen to its verge, fall over it, and run down the outfide in the fame manner, fo as beautifully to reprefent vines, ivy, or other creeping plants running along a wall. Many of the firft formed filaments, in this cafe, encrcafe greatly in fize, often becoming, at length, as thick as a writing quill ; and thefe are always hollow within, and refcmble fo many pipes. They are fo arranged at the bottom of the glafs, round the furface of the liquor, as to fupport the reft of the vegetations. The Ieaft heat melts and deftroys all thefe vegetations ; barely touching them with the finger being fumcicnt to reiblve them into the liquor from which they arofe.

The eflential fubftance of this beautiful vegetation is a mix- ture of iron with fait petrc. The differences in the time and manner of the formation of the branches, does not depend wholly upon the different proportions of the liquors, but fre- quently on the temperature of the air ; and fometimes on the fhape and fize of the veflels. When the vegetation is firft formed, it is ufually lefs beautiful and diftin£i than after- wards. This is owing to its being too humid, the abundant moifture fwelling the parts, and injuring their figure. When it is dried to a certain degree, it appears in all its beauty; and after this it ufually foon changes for the worfe, the leaves appearing as if faded, and their red colour being changed to a faint orange colour.

The fame vegetations which have been once raifed, will not, on melting them in water, vegetate again ; but only form a number of flat and thin cryftals. This is the general event of the operation ; yet fometimes, when the folution has been fufFered to ftand till it acquires a deep red colour, a part of the falts will rife up from the furface, in fomething like their priftine form ; but this is only a fmall portion of the whole that does it, the greater part remaining at the bottom of the vefiei, inform of rigid cryftals.

The author of this curious difcovery acknowledges that it was owing to accident ; for that he had a very different thing in his thoughts, when he mixed the oil of tartar with the folu- tion of iron ; but as fo beautiful an effect appeared, he was at the pains to vary all the ingredients, in different mixtures af- terwards, to try what differences would be produced. He mixed the volatile alkalis inftead of the fixed; other acids inftead of fpirit of nitre, and other metals inftead of iron, in the feveral proceffes, the events of which were as fol- low:

Spirit of fill armoniac added to the folution inftead of oil of tartar, precipitates a yellow powder to the bottom of the vef- fel, but does not make the leaft tendency towards vegetating. Al! the other acids were tried alfo in the place of fpirit of nitre, and though all of them made the liquor begin to rife fooner than that, yet they only produced a faline cruft over the fur- face, without any tendency to vegetation. Nay, fpirit of nitre itfelf cannot form the vegetations, if impeded by a mix- ture of any of the other acids. Diftilled vinegar, ufed in- ftead of thefe acids of the mineral kingdom, produced only a a fet of cryftals which croffed one another, without any appear- ance of vegetation. Copper feemed the metal moft likely to fucceed inftead of iron, as being, of all the others, the moft ful- phureous ; but the event, on trial, by no means anfwered the expectation, and not the leaft tendency to vegetation was found on treating it in this manner. Copper and iron, mixed together, produced only a low and very poor vegetation, evidently (hewing that the copper did nothing but impede the iron from (hewing itfelf in its natural beauty. Quickfilver fuccceds no better than copper ; there is only formed, by long ftanding, a thin cruft upon the furface of the glafs, whence the liquor has evaporated, and the mercury is finally found precipitated to the bottom of the vefiei. Bifmuth was alfo G tried