Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/32

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tried with the fame circumftances, but without fuccefs. Mem. Acad. Par, 1707.

Martis Lixivium, See the article Lixivium Martis.

MARTLETT, in zoology, a name ufed by feme for the Martin, a creature of the weafel kind. See the article Martes.

MARTNETS, in a fhip, fmall lines faftened to the leetch of a fail, being reeved through a block on the top-malt head, and coming down by the malt to the deck. Thofe Martneis Which belong to the top-fails are fattened after the fame way to the heads of the top-gallant mafts, but their fall comes down no farther than the top, when it is haled. The word is, top the Martmts ; i. e. hale them up. Their defign is, in furling the fail, to bring that part of the leetch which is next the yard-arm clofe up to the yard, that fo the fail may furl up the clofer.

MARTYNIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The perianthium is compofed of one leaf, divided into five fegments, which are pointed at the ends, and ferrated at the fides ; three of thefe ftand erect, the other two are reflex. The flower confifts of one petal, and is of the bell-falhioncd kind. The tube is large, inflated, and open, and contains a honey juice in its bafe. The limb is fmall, and is nightly divided into five fegments, the lower of which is larger than the reft, and is more erect and ere- nated at the edges. The ftamina are four capillary and and crooked filaments, one pair of them being bent between the other, and returning back again \ and between the upper pair there appears the rudiment, as it were, of another fila- ment, which terminates in a point. The antherse are con- nected together, and bend toward each other at the points. The germen of the piftil is oblong, and placed beneath the cup. The ftyle is fhort and fimplc. The ftigma is flat. The fruit is an oblong, gibbous capfule, of a fquare figure, each fide having two furrows on it. It is pointed at each end, and, when fully ripe, opens at the top into two parts, and is found to enciofe four oblong feeds in a fort of fquare cafe or nucleus. The bending of the ftamina is a very fm gular thing in this plant ; but it does not happen till the apices have burft, and difcharged their farina. Linna:i Gen. Plant. p. 292. Martin. 1. 42. Hort. Malab. 9. 53. The plant called by Houfton mariynics /pedes, is properly another genus, and has been fmce defcribed by the accurate Linnaeus under the name of craniolaria* Houjlon, A. A. See the article Craniolaria.

MARTZIAN, in the materia medica, a word formed by the modern Greek writers, to exprefs a fort of fea plant, ufed in painting, dying, &c.

The word is formed of the Arabian name margian, by chang- ing the g into tz, a very common practice among thefe writers, and of which we have numerous other inftances. It is gene- rally fuppofed that the Margian of the Arabs, and confe- quently the Martzian of the Greeks, is coral. But all ac- counts' of the antients diiagree with this, and fhew that the plant, meant by thefe names, is the fucus thalajjius of the old Greeks, a red kind of fea weed, growing upon the rocks, and ufed in painting and dying. The antient Arabs all ufed the word in this fenfe. But the modern Greeks have been led away by the errors of the fucceffors to the Arabians ; fo that they ufe it as a name for coral.

MARU, in botany, a" name by which Dodonxus and fome others have called the cerinthe, or honey-zvort. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

MARUBIUM, Horchound, in botany, f$c. See the article Marrubium.

MARVELL of Peru, a name given to the plant more ufually called jalap. See the article Jalap.

There are many fpecies of this beautiful plant propagated in flower-gardens. They are all to be raifed by lowing their feeds in March, on a moderate hot bed. When they come up, they are to be tranfplanted to another hot bed, where they are to be fet at ten inches diftance ; and when they are grown to about a foot high, they are to be tranfplantcd Into pots filled with light earth, and fet in the fhade till they have taken root, after which they may remain abroad till October. The ftronger kinds fhould be then removed into the green- ' houfe, where they muft be frequently watered during the winter, and rn fummer they muft be often pruned to keep them in fhape.

They flower in June, and continue flowering till the froft prevents them. Some take up the roots when the ftalks are dead, and lay them up in fand till fpring, when they are planted again in pots, and plunged into a moderate hot bed to facilitate their taking root. And the plants, from the roots of the former year, will always flower much ftronger than the feedlings of the fame year's growth. Miller's Gardener's Diet.

MARUM, the herb Majiic, in botany, a name given to one of thefpecies oithymbra. See the articleTHYMBRA. It is a plant very common with us in the gardens of the cu- rious, and is propagated by planting cuttings in any of the fummer months on a bed of frefh light rich earth, where they are to be carefully watered and fhaded till they have

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taken root ; after Which they may be removed either into pots or borders. But the grcatclt dimcultv attending the keeping this plant, is the preserving it from cats, which will come a great way, and tear them to pieces. It is obferved* however^ that though thefe animals never fpare a plant that grows fingle, they will not meddle with it when planted in large clufters, which is indeed the only way to fave it. Mil- ler's Gardener's Diet.

The common herb majiic is a cephalic, and is of fervice ui all diforders or the nerves. It has alio an aitringency, by means of which it is of fervice in hemorrhages of all kinds, particularly in profluvia of the menfes.

MARYGOLD, Caltha, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the radiated kind ; its difk is compofed of feveral flofcules, and its outer circle of fe mi -flofcules ; thefe are all placed upon the embryo feeds, and contained in a common cup. The The embrios finally become flat, crooked, and marginated capfules, containing a long (haped feed. The fpecies of Marygold, enumerated by Mr.- Tournefort, are thefe : r. The common Marygold, with pale yellow flowers. 2. The common Marygold^ with deeper yellow flowers. 3. The common Marygold, with reddiih yellow flowers. 4. The talleft many-flower'd Marygdd. 5. The common great many flower'd Marygdd. 6. The great many flower'd Marygold, with bright yellow flowers. 7. 7 he great many flower'd Marygold, with honey-colour 1 d flowers. 8. The Marygold with bending flowers. 9. The great flower'd proliferous Marygdd. 10. The great prolix ferous Marygold^ with honey-col ourcd flowers, ir. The proliferous Marygold, with frnaller flowers. 12. The Mary- gold with variegated flowers. 13. The wild or field Mari- gold. 14. The fmalleft dwarf Marygold. 15. The African Marygold) with flowers white within, and of a violet blue on theoutfide. 16. The wild Portugal Marygold. 17. The woolly fea Portugal Marygold. fourti. Inft. p. 498. The flowers of the common Marygold are cordial and alexi- pharmic; they promote fweat, and are good to throw out the fmall-pox, or any other eruption. Thsy alfo promote the menfes, and are fo far aperient, that they are found of fer- vice in the jaundice, and in indurations of the fplcen. The midwives burn them under women whofe labour does not come on properly, and fuppofe they are of great virtue in promoting the pains. They alfo diftil a water from them, as a remedy for fore eyes J but thefe laft virtues are not fo well warranted.

■African Marygold. See tlie article Tagetes.

Com Marygold, See the article Chrysanthemum.

Marjh Marygold. See the article Populago.

Zoophyte Marygold, in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of fea animal, of a very beautiful kind, and of the nature of thofe commonly called Zoophytes, or plant animals, by the old iiaturalifts. In St. Lucy's parifh, in Barbadoes, there is a cave in which is a bafon of very clear fait water ; and in the 1 midft of this bafon lies a ftorte, which has been for many years found to be the habitation of a great number of animals of this fpecies.

The ftone is always covered with water ; and from fmall holes in its fides, in feveral parts, there appear, at all times of the year, a number of creatures reprefenting the flowers of fome of the radiated plants, and particularly of the common Marygold : They are yellow, and feem compofed of a very great number of petals. Thefe, in their natural ftatc, are all regularly and beautifully expanded ; but as foon as any thing diiturbs them, if it be only the motion of a ftick that comes within three or four inches of them, they in an inftantr clofe all the leaves up together, and the whole body, flower, ftalk and all, is retracted back into the hole of the ftone ; but if the water be left a few minutes undifturbed again, they will appear and expand themfelves in the former manner. When they are nicely obferved, there is a yet farther refem- blance of a flower in their ftructure ; for there arife from the center of the body certain oblong bodies, which very naturally refemble the ftamina arifing from the center of a flower ; but thefe have evidently the powers of animal limbs ; for they no fooner appear, but they dart themfelves about to the verge of the flower in feveral directions, and are plainly bufied in fcarch of prey. They are compofed of feveral joints, and the creature often makes them meet in the manner of a for- ceps, to lay hold of any thing it plcafes. Thefe pares, how- ever, feldom appear thus exerted any long time together, but are, after a time, received back into the body. T hefe arms may eaftly be conceived to be of u^e to draw in the prey within the compafs of the body of the animal ; and as foon as it is there, the fame contraction of the feveral rays which ferves them to eicape danger, and bury themfelves in the cavity of the ftone, will alio ferve to hold fait the prey till the creature has fed on it.

Befide thefe large yellow radiated Zoophytes, the top of the ftone ufually affords a number of others of a blue colour, which ftand among a fort of vcficlcs of water bladders, dif- pofed like clufters of grapes. , Philof. Tranf. N°. 470. p. 591.

Marygold