Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/40

 MEL

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this table the whole fifh is fo perfectly preferved, that there can remain not the leaf!: doubt of its being really the jhlla arborefccns ; and in this both the figure and the author's words exprefs, in the plaineft manner pofiible, that the long arms or branches reaching from one end to the other of the ftone, are compofed of a number of entrochi as it were, tied toge- ther in the fame manner as the fingle joints of thofc entrochi which we meet with are to one another ; or, in plain fact, that our entrochi, which have perplexed us fo much to ac- count for their origin, are in reality the fragments of the arms or branches of this filh. Thcfe branches in this fa- mous fpecimen, were compofed of what we call trochitev y and had many rudiments of fmaller branches, as well as per- fect ones, growing from their fides, and would have been fo many common entrochi, if broken off". What was raoft remarkable in this foffil was, however, the fcparating of fmaller branches which ran entire to their ends, and there terminating in an infinite number of fmall ramifi- cations, all growing from one head ; they formed duffers of four or five inches in diameter, and of an inconceiveable beauty, refembling the compound flower of fome elegant plant. The matter of the larger branches, when examined, appeared to be the fame with that of the common entrochi., that is, ("par. The author calls it felenites, but that was a word indeterminately ufed by authors, till of late, for all plated and bright foflils.

It is plain that this complcat fifh could have no way come into this ffone but at the time when it was yet moift and foft ; and the author calls it novum diluvii monument 'u?n, a new remembrancer of the deluge.

MEER, in mining, a fpace containing twenty-nine yards in length in any vein. Houghton's compl. Miner in the Explan. of the Terms.

Me ER- Stake, in mining, is a pin of wood drove into the fu- perfities of the earth, to fhew the extent or end of a Meer of ground. Ploughton's Compl. Miner in the Explan. of the Terms.

Meer- Swim, in zoology, a name given by fome to a fea fifh, more ufually known by the name of caprifcus. Ray's Ich- thyogr. Append, p. I. See the article Goat-F/j7).

MEGALART1A, Msys^fU, in antiquity, a feftival in ho- nour of Ceres, being the fame with Thefmophoria. Potter. Arch. Gra;c. See the article Thesmophoria,

MEGALASCLEPIA, Mi-yuXxextoirau, in antiquity, a feftival in honour of vEfculapius. Sec the article Asclepia.

MEIDANS, in the caftern nations, are a fort of country feats, where the greater people have open fummcr-houfes, to which they retire on the three days of the week in which they do not attend the pafhas divan, and where they divert themfelves with feeing their flaves ride, fhoot, arid throw the dart, while they are regaling with their pipe and coffee. Pocock's Egypt', p. 1S4.

MEL, Honey (Cycl.)— See the article Honey.

Mel Cedrinum, in the materia medicaof the antients, a term ufed to exprefs a fort of liquid manna, ufed rather as a pleafant fweet in foods, than as a medicine, and which feems to have been the fame with the Mel Rofcidum of Galen, and with the liquid manna of mount Sinai ; that mountain having been the place where it was annually colle&ed in large quantities, even in*Galcn's time ; and the account Bellonius gives of the manner of collecting it in his time, agreeing very well with what Galen has left about it. It is, however, an error in Bel- lonius, to fuppufe this to be the ierenjabin of the Arabians, that being evidently a folid, not a liquid fubftance, and being, from all accounts the fame with what is now called, manna Perficum, or Pcrfian manna. See the article Manna Per- ficum.

The Msl Cedrinum is a term ufed only by Hippocrates for this fubftance, and feems fo odd, that many are apt to believe there is an error in the text, and that the author never meant any fuch thing. Eoefms is of opinion, that thefe ought to be read as two diftinct names, with a comma between them, and that the author only meant by them two fubftances very well known in his time, which were common honey, and the liquid fub- ftance called Cedrinum, or Cedria. See the article Cedria.

Mel Rofcidum, in the materia medica of the antients, a name given to a kind of liquid manna collected in their time, as it is at prefent, in confidcrable quantities, on mount Sinai. The monks who collect it call it terenjabhi, after the name of a kind of manna, common among the Arabians. But this is an error, the tcrenjabin of thofe authors not being a liquid manna, but the fmall round kind, collected from the alhagi maurorum, and now called manna Perficam. It does not appear that the Mel Rofcidum, or any other fpecies of manna, was ufed in medicine by the antients; this wasefteemed acuriofity, rather than a thing of any ufe, by Galen ; and other authors fay, it was fweeter than hone) itfelf, with no farther account ; whence it feems rather to have been ufed as a delicacy than as a me- dicine. See the articles Terenjabin and Manna Perjicum.

MELAMPYRUM, Cow-wheat, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the perfonated kind, confifting of one leaf, and divided into two lips, the upper of which is hooded, and the lower ! ufually whele, not divided into any fegments. The piflil \

arifes from the cup of the flower, and is fixed to its hinder part in the manner of a nail, and finally ripening into a round- ifh capfule, divided into two cells, containing grains like thofe of wheat. 1'oum. Inft. p. 173.

The fpecies of Melampyrum, enumerated by Mr. Tourncfort, are thefe: r. The purple- flower'd Melampyrum. 2. ' The broad yellowrlcav'd Melampyrum, 3. The purple and white flower'd crefted Melampyrwn. The plant called the fmalleffc yellow Melampyrum by Cafpar Bauhine, has no right to that name, being truly a fpecies of the ranunculus.

MELAN Pharmacon, a word ufed by Hippocrates, and by fome fuppofed to mean common writing ink : He orders this to be poured upon the cranium, in cafe of a fiflure, in order to dis- cover how far it has penetrated. Galen feems to refer to this, in fome places, and mentions his having treated of it in his book of ulcers ; but as no fuch medicine is found prefcribed there, it is probably one of the loft compofitions of the an- tients. In the fpurious editions of Hippocrates, his hook treating of the difcafes of women, there is a black medicine ordered to be made of the Iquamma; and flos aeris.

MELAENATOS, the black eagle, a fpecies called alfo aquila •Valeria by fome authors. It is a fmall eagle, of twice the big- nefs of a crow. Its jaws and eyebrows arc deffitute of fea- thers, and look reddifh ; its head, neck, and breaft, are black, and in the middle of its back he has a large triangular fpot, of a pale brownifh red, with fomething of whitcnefs in- termixed. His rump is a reddifh brown, and his wings va- riegated with black, white, and grey. His beak is not large, black at the end, the fkin covering the noflrils red, and the iris of his eye hazcl-colour'd. His legs are feathered a little below the knee, and below that are red ; and the claws very fharp. Willughby\ Ornithology, p. 30.

MELANCHOLY, Melancholia, (Cycl.) in medicine, the name of a difeafe which coniifts in the perturbation or injury of the imagination, which prevents it from forming a regular and de- terminate idea of things, as at other times ; fo that its due ope- rations are interrupted, and often fecond ideas, having no con- nection with the firft, crowd in, and are fucceeded by actions ' no way analogous to that firft idea, and therefo/e appearing irrational.

Authors diftinguifh Melancholy into three kinds ; the fad, the merry, and the mixt, partaking of the nature ofboth ; but in all thefe the caufe is the fame, and the difference is only owing to the temperament and habit of the patient. This diftemper has, however, its more eflential differences, in regard to the caufes from which it is produced. In fome peo- ple, it feems wholly to depend upon a falfe prefigu ration and judgment of things in the mind ; and in this cafe it is ufually habitual and incurable. In others it arifes from injuries of the body ; and in thefe it always is obferved to bear a proportion to the injury or debility of the parts. This peculiar fpecies is called hypochondriac Melancholy ; and finally, in others it feems of a mixt nature; as when it has taken its firft origin from diffemperatures in the body, but is afterwards fo en- creafed by mental diforders, that even after the total removal of the corporeal ones, it ftill remains in all its force upon the mind. This is a too common, and very unhappy cafe.

Signs of It. Thefe are a perpetual anxiety of mind, withoutany rational caufe; a diftafte and diflike to everything, even be- fore it comes in fight, and often a wearinefs even of life itfelf. A frequent weeping for imaginary caufes, or for no caufe at all. Many people, in this cafe, feem always to want room ; they are for opening all the windows they can, and for running out into the ftreets or fields, thinking themfelves every where im- prifoned ; others leave their houfes, and dread being taken up for capital offences, tho' never guilty of any ; and, in others, thefe diffemperatures of the mind are evidently joined with others of the body, fuch as palpitations of the heart, fighing very deeply, painful refpiration, ftrictures of the tonic mo- tions of the parts, tremblings, palenefs of the countenance, and extenuation of the body. Sometimes, inftead of thefe reftrictions, there are frequent remiflions of the fame tonic motions, whence arife fudden flufhings of the face, uncertain heats in the body, and a general laffitude and lofs of ftrength. In moil cafes of this kind, there is anobftinate coftivenefs of the bowels, and the affections of the mind are increafed by terrible watchfulnefs, and if the perfonsflcep a little, they are terrified with troublcfome dreams all the while ; if of (anguine habits, they are continually dreaming of blood, of battles, and of fires; and, if of phlegmatic conftitutions, of water and drowning. Dreadful apprchenfions happen alfo between keep- ing and waking, and they ufually awake in agonies, with violent tremblings, and difficulty of refpiration. In the merry Melancholy, the alienations of the patient's mind are employed about chearful, and often obfecne ideas ; and fometimes their fancy exalts them to the fiate of kings and princes.

Perfom fubjeft to Melancholy. Thefe are principally men of great learning, and of fedentary lives, hypochondriac people, and fuch as arc troubled with diforders of the fpleen ; and to thefe arc to be added women Subject to hyfteric complaints.

Caufes of it, Thefe are principally a fpiflitude of the blood, and adetenfion of it about the vena porta;; a bad difpofition of the internal parts, as a fchirrous or ulcerous conftitution in them, or an actually ulcerated ftate. Perfons who are afflicted with

Melancholy