Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/42

 MEL

perfume of that name is ufually called. The characters of this genus are, that the animals of it have eight paps, two on thebreuft, and fix on the belly, with feet with five toes on each, on the hinder as well as the fore ones. The author diftinguifh.es the common Badger by his having the claws of his fore feet much longer than thofe of the hinder ones ; and the civet animal by its having all its claws of the fame length. Lhvwi Syftem. Natur. p. 37. See the article Taxus.

MELET, in zoology, a name ufed by fome for a final] trans- parent lea fifh, called by authors, bepfetus and anguilla, and by fome, aiherina. WtUugbbyh Hift. Pifc. p. 210. See the article Hepsetus.

MELIA, Mi***j of the Greek writers, the name of a vegetable that often occurs in the Greek naturalifts, and which has fo many Significations, that it is not eafy to underftand the au- thors, without being well acquainted with them. All late writers have perplexed the world by mifcalling things, and thence rendering names fynonimous and confufed, which were at firft clear and diftinct ; but the confufion of the fenfes of the word Melia is as old as the earlieft writers we are acquaint- ed with : Theophraftus complains of it in his time. The moft common ufe of the word is for the fraxinus, or afh-tree. The antients ufed to make the handles of their fpears and darts of this, and therefore they Sometimes called them Melia. This word was alfo ufed as the name of a feed, called alfo by fome, mcline. This was of the nature of panic, and by fome confounded with the panic. Suidas mentions this as different from the panic ; but Diodes feem.3 to have made them the fame feed. Pliny has tranfiated the paflage from Diodes, and, by an unaccountable error, has called the plant melfrugunt) and fays, that it has the fame virtues with millet.

Melia, in botany, the name by which Linnaeus calls the aze- darach. See the article Azedasach.

Melia Terra, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome au- thors to the ?nelinum, or white earth of the ifland of Melos, ufed among the antients in painting ; but in the works of Diofcorides and Galen Signifying a Subftance of a very dif- ferent kind ; the melinum of the painters having been a Marie (fee the article Melinum) and the Melia Terra of the phyficians a tripcla. The confufion between thefe two Sub- fiances, arifes from the fame Source with that of a vaft number of others in the materia medica, and natural hiftory of the antients, things having,, though ever fo different in their na- ture and Structure, been at different times called by the fame name, merely becaufe brought from the fame place. The Terra Melia of Diofcorides, and the antient phyficians, is a dry, loofe, and harm, earth, found in maffes of diffe- rent fize, and lodged among the loofer Strata of other mat- ter, never making a ftratum of itfelf. It is very firm and hard, of a pale greyifh white or light afh colour, very heavy, of a loofe, open, and fpungy texture, and of a rough, uneven, and dufty furface. It adheres flightly to the tongue, and does not Stain the hands, but leaves a duft after the handling, which is lo harm as to make a grating noife, when the fingers are afterwards rubbed together. It makes no eftervefcence with acids. It is found in all the iflands of the Archipelago, and was ufed by the antients for the fame purpofes that the pumice was. Hill's Hift. of Foil. p. 68.

MELIANTHUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the poly- petalous anomalous kind, being compofed of four leaves, Sometimes expanded into the fhape oS a fan, and fometimes contracted into that of a cone, The cup is unequally divided into Several Segments, and from it arifes a piftil, which after- wards becomes a fquare fruit, inflated in the manner of a bladder, and divided into four cells, which contain roundifh Seeds. Tourn. Inft. p. 430.

The Species of Melianihus, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The African Melianthus, called the great Spiked African pimpernel. 2. The fmaller procumbent African pimpernel-leav'd Melianthus. And 3. The leaft American Melianthus. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs n.

MELICA, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plant which produces the forgbim, or Indian millet. Park. . Theatr. 11 36.

Melic a, a word ufed by the antients as the name of a food of a refrigerating and moiftening quality. It feems to have been a kind-of oxygala; for Galen, where he directs perfons of a hot habit to ufe a refrigerating diet, among other aliments of that kind, directs the eating of Melica, which, he fays is prepared of milk. Conftantine, in his book of Agriculture mentions Melica, and fays it was made by pouring milk into an earthen veflel, firft well impregnated with boiling hot vi- negar, by means of which there was a feparation of the milk into whey and curd.

MELICERIOLA, a diminutive of the word Meliceris, a Small encyfted tumour. See the article Meliceris, Cycl.

MELICHLORUM, in natural hiftory, a name given by Some of the antient writers to a fpecies of jafper, of a greenifh yel- low, ufually found variegated with other colours.

MEL1LOTUS, Melilot, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of papilionaceous kind. The piftil arifes from the cup, and

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finally beconies a naked capfulc or pod, not inclofed in the cup in the manner of thofe of the trefoil, and containing one or two roundifh feeds. The leaves grow three on every italk. Tourn. Inft. p. 406.

The fpecies of Melilot, enumerated by Mr. Tournefortj are' theSe : 1. The common or German Melilot. 2. The com- mon. Melilot, with white flowers, 3. The Melilot with long and fharp pods. 4. The tall fhrubby white- flower' d Melilot. 5. The tall fhrubby yellow-flower'd Melilot. 6. The greater Melilot, with reflected pods. 7. The little creeping Melilot, with reflected pods. 8. The Italian Melilot with roundifh Seed-veffels. 9. The narrow-leav'd creeping Melilot, with roundifh Seed-veffels. 10. The little yellow Melilot, with Small flowers, and Seed-veffels arranged in thick Spikes, n. The little yellow-flower'd Melilot, with larger flowers and feed-veffels, difpofed in longer and loofer fpikes, and with narrower leaves, each having a black Spot near the pedicle, 1 2. The procumbent Melilot, with longifh rugged leaves, and fhort Spikes of flowers. 13. The Melilot with kidney- Shaped Seed-veffels collected into heads, called the yellow- field trefoil, with numerous feeds. 14. T'he great fweet- fcented Melilot, with violet- col our'd flowers. 15. Theore- tic Melilot, with very large fruit. Tourn. Inft. p. 408. In the acts of the academy of Peterfburgh, we have a defcrip- tion and draught of a new fpecies of Melilot growing from feeds gathered in Siberia. It is there called MelUotus jeliqua jnemhranacea comprejfa. See Tom. 8. p. 229. feq. Melilot is fcarce ever given internally, but ufed externally ; it is a great emollient, refolvent, and digeftive. It is a good ingredient in cataplafms and fomentations of this intention. The flowers are recommended by fome in infufion, in the manner of tbofe of chamomile, as a remedy for thejiuor albus. MELINTZANIUM, in botany, a name given by the later Greek writers to the plant called jlrycbnus by the earlier writers of that nation. Theophraftus, and all the old Greeks, ufe the word Jlrycbnus, and fay there are three kinds, two of which are poifonous, and the other not. The firft caufing madnefs, the Second caufmg fleep, and the third bearing an efculent fruit. This laft is the plant we call fomum amoris, the fruit of which is at this time eaten by many people. It is not agreed by the late Greek writers whether this word Meimtzanion fhall ftand for fome one kind of the nightfhade, or for them all : If they borrowed it from the Italian melanza- na, which feems probable enough, then it can only ftand for that kind, not for the whole clafs of nightfhade; but we find fomeoSthemufing it for the whole number of the nichtihades, poifonous and not poifonous, and making it only a Synonym to Jlrycbnus, others ufing it as the name of the fruit of the pomnm anions, or love-apple, and others for the fruit of the male mandrake, which is alfo efculent, and which, Diofco-. rides tells us, was eaten by the peafants of his time, but that it made them fleepy, if eaten in too large quantities. The Arabian phylicians ufe the word bedengian in the fame fenfe, Sometimes applying it to the love-apples alone, and Sometimes to the whole Samily of the nigbtfhades ; and it is probable enough, that both the Italians and later Greeks co- pied their name melanzana and melantzanion, from me- longena. Myrepfus has the words melenizanon and agriome- lentzanon, that is, a wild kind of the pomum amoris, very fre- quent, and commends the feeds, and other parts of the plant, in fevers, and many other difeafes. Fuchfius confefies that he does not know what to make of the word ; but it is won- derful that the fimilitude of found between this and the melan- zana and melongena did not lead him to the knowledge of what it was, as he was acquainted with thofe words. MELINUM, in natural hiftory, the name of an earth, famous in the earlieft ages of painting, being the only white of the great painters of antiquity ; and, according to Pliny's ac- count, one of the three colours with which alone they per- formed all their works.

It is a fine white marly earth, of a very compact texture, yet remarkably light ; a fort of texture which muft render any earth fit for the painter's ufe, that is of a proper colour. It is frequently found forming a flratum in the earth, lying im- mediately under the vegetable mould. It is of a very Smooth, but not glofiy furface, is veiyfoftto the touch, ;;Jheres firmly to the tongue, is eafily broken between the fingers, and trains the fkin in handling. It melts readily in the mouth, and is perfectly fine, leaving not the leaft grittynefs between the teeth. Thrown into water, it makes a great bubbling and loud hifling noife, and moulders away into a fine powder. It does not ferment with acids, and fuffers no change in the fire. Thefe are the characters by which the Melinum of the an- tients is diftinguifhed from all the other white earths. It is ftill found in the fame place from whence the painters of old had it, which is that from whence it has its name, the-rftand of Milo, called Melos by the Greeks, and is common in moft of the adjacent iflands. It has been of late tried here as a paint, and is found not to make fo bright a white as the other fubftances now in ufe among the painters, but feems not liable, like them, to turn yellow ; and if fo, would be worth the consideration of perfons in the colour trade, efpe- cially as it may be had in any quantities for carriage. Hill's Hift, of Foflilsj p. 43,

MELINUS