Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/57

 M E Z

M I C

METRETES, the name of a meafure ufed among the antlentaj containing fomewhat more than nine gallons.

METRO C ELIDES, a word ufed by medical writers to exprefs a mark made by the imagination of the mother on the foetus in utero.

METRONOMI, Mfywoftoi, among the Athenians, officers that infpected all forts of meafures, except thofe of com ; there were five of them in the city, and double that number; in the Pyraus, in which the greateft mart in Attica was kept. Patter, Archxol. I. I. c. 15. T. 1. p. 83.

METROPTOSIS, a word ufed by fome medical authors to exprefs a falling down of the womb, or prolapfus uteri. There is a plafter calculated to be of fervice againft this cafe, and called hence, emplajlrum tnctroptot'tcum.

METTESHEP, or Mettenschep, in our eld writers, an acknowledgment paid in a certain meafure of corn ; or a fine or penalty impofed on tenants, for their defaults in not doing their cuffomary fervices of cutting the lords corn. Paroch. Antiq. 495.

METUPORANGA, in zoology, the name of a Brafilian bird, called alfo by fome Tcpetototl, and by Aldrovand by the too general name Gallus hulicus.

It much approaches to the Gallinaceous fowls, called Mitu and Pauxi, of the fame country, but differs from them in having no tail, if the defcriptions of authors are accurate, and from the mitu in having a protuberance Of the fize of a cherry over the top of its beak. Marggrave's Hilt. Brafil. Aldrov. de Avib.

METYS, a word ufed by many of the antient writers to exprefs a fubftance collected by bees, in order to the flopping up cracks and crevices in their hives.

The old authors mention three kinds of fubftances ufed by the bees on this occalion, the Metys, Pijfoceros, and Propo- lis. The moderns ufe only the latter term to exprefs every thing of this kind. The Afetys and Pijfoceros feeming to have been only the fame Propolis, more or lefs mixed with wax. This fubftance is a refin, of a middle confiftence between the hard and the fluid ones. It is ufually of a redd'ifh brown on the furface, and yellow within, and is collected from feveral trees, of which the poplar feems to be the principal, and the willow the next. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. vol. 10. p. 83. See the articlePROPOLis. MEVIUM, a name mentioned by Fallopius and others, as gi- ven by fome medical writers to the venereal difeafe. MEUM, in botany, the name of a genus of umbelliferous plants, the characters of which are thefe: The flower is of the rofaceous kind, confifting of feveral petals, arranged in a circular form, and {landing on a cup which afterwards be- comes a fruit, compofed of two oblong feeds, which are gib- bofe and ftriated on one fide, and flat and plain on the other. To this it may be added, that the leaves are finely divided, and ftand on branched ftalks. There is only one known fpecies of this genus. The plants ufually called by this name, and different from the common Meum, being all fpe- cies of fennel ; and Mr. Tournefort obferves, that this an- fwers fo well to all the characters of fennel, that he fhould have made it no more than a fpecies of that genus, but in compliment to its having been lb long received under a fepa- rate name. T'ourn. Inft. p. 312.

The root of Meum is efteemed by fome a very great medicine in malignant difeafes.

It is alfo efteemed an attenuant, and is prefcribed wherever there are thick humours to be evacuated. It is given in afthma's, and all obftructions of the lungs, and is by many re- commended in flatulencies, colics, and fuppreflions of urine, and of the menfes. Diofcorides and Galen tell US, that the too frequent ufe of this medicine, or the takin^ it in too large dofes, will occafion violent pains in the head. Itmay be given in fubftance from half a dram to two fcruples, or from a dram to two drams in infufion. Geoffrey, Mat. Med. vol. 2. p. 105.

It ought to be chofen as long and large as can be had, round, not flatted, plump, and full, and of an aromatic fmell, and a fomewhat acrid tafte, and fuch as is not dufty or worm- eaten. It is fudorific and diuretic ; but the principal ufe now made of it is only as an ingredient in the Venice trea- cle. J

M ? UTj ^J G ' »" botany, the name of a flower much efteemed by theChmefe, which, on that account, they call the king of flowers. It is larger than our rofe, and imitates its figure, only its leaves are more expanded. As its fmell comes fhort of that of the rofe, fo in beauty the rofe is outdone by it. It has no prickles, and its colour is a mixture of white with pur- ple, but fo as to incline moft to white; yet fometimes there are found reddifh and yellow ones. The tree it grows on is not unlike our alder tree, and is cultivated throughout that large empire with great care, being covered in the fummer time with a fhade to defend it from the fcorchin^ heat of the fun. Hofm. Lex. invoc. B

MEZEREUM, the female /purge laurel, in botany, a fpecies ofthymdaa. See the article Thyme lje a. 1 he bark of the root of this fhrub, or the inner bark of the trunk, are prefcribed by lome in dropfies, and other cafes where itrong pu rges are ne ceifary ; but it is fo violent, that

it ought never to be ufed internally. Externally it is ufed as a featon, to draw a copious difchargc from the ear in inflam- mations of the eyes. MEZUZOTH, in the Jewifh cuftoms, certain pieces of parch- ment which the Jews fix to the door-ports of their houfes, taking that literally which Mofes commands them % faying, " Thou (halt never forget the laws of thy God, but thou " fhalt write them upon the pofts of thy houfe, and on thy " gates." This expreffion means nothing elfe, but "that thou fhalt always remember them, whether thou comeft into thy houfe, orgoeftout. But the Hebrew doctors imagined, that the law-giver meant fomething more than this. They pre- tended that, to avoid making themfelves ridiculous, by writing the commandments of God without their doors, or rather to avoid expofing them to the profanation of the wicked, they ought at leaft to write them on a parchment, and to enclofe it in fomething. Therefore they wrote thefe words upon a fquare piece of parchment, prepared on pur- pofe, with a particular ink, and a fquare kind of character, Deut. vi. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. '« Hear O tfrael, the Lord our afterwards went on, Deut. xi. 13. " And it fhall come " to pafs, if thou fhalt hearken diligently to my command- " ments, &c" as far as, " Thou fhalt write them upon " the door-pofts of thy houfe, &c." After this they rolled up the parchment, and put it into a cafe of reeds, or other matter; they wrote on the end of the cafe the word Sbadai, which is one of the names of God ; they put it at the doors of their houfes, chambers, and all places moft frequented 3 they fixed it to the knockers of the door, on the right fide ; and as often as they entered in, or went out, they touched it in this place with the end of their finger, which they afterwards killed out of devotion. The Hebrew word Mezuza pro- perly fignifies the door-pofts of an houfe; but it is alfo given to this roll of parchment now mentioned. Leo of Modena may be here confulted b — [ • Deut. vi. 9. b Cercmon. of the Jews, part 1. c. 1. Cablet. Diction. JBibl.]
 * « God is one Lord, &c." Then they left a little fpace, and

MEZZA Paufa, in the Italian mufic, half a faufe, intimates that the part wherein it is found muft lie ftill the time of a femi-breve in common time. See the article Pause.

MEZZA Tirata. See the article Tirata.

MEZZO Soprano, in the Italian mufic, is the high tenor, which has the cleffC on thefecond line.

MICA, in natural hiftory, a name given by authors who have written of foffils to many of the bractearia, or fmall fpangled talcs, whether in pure malles of themfelves, or immerfed in the matter of other fofiils.

The principal kinds of thefe are the white and the yellow, from their colour and fplendid appearance, called the filver and gold glimmer, or Mica aarea and Mica argenica. Of each of thefe there are feveral kinds, as many of the yel- low and white bractearia, more or lefs, deferve the name ; but the moft confiderable fpecies are thofe called by Dr. Hill the bra^tearium lucidum aureum braSleis parvis, and the bratlearium argenteum lucidum brafteis variis, the bright gold- colour'd bractearium with fmall fpangles, and the bright fil- very bractearium with varioufly fized fpangles. Thefe have frequently led people of fanguine imaginations, who have met with them in different places, to fuppofe they had found ores of gold and filver, but they, in reality, contain not the leaft grain of either of thofe metals, and are mere talc in fmall flakes, accidentally colour'd. The yellow kind is found in many parts of the world, but no where fo plentifully as in Arabia and iEgypt. In Germany and France there is alfo confiderable plenty of it, and in our American plantations it is found in great abundance; nor is England without it even in various forms. We have fome of it in pure homogene mafTes, fome mixed among ftony matter, fome among fand. The white is extremely plentiful in Silefia and Bohemia, as alfo in France, Italy, and England. It is like the former, found either pure, or mixed among the matter of ftone, and makes a very glittering and beautiful appearance* Hill's Hift. of Foil", p. 77, feq.

MICARAGU/E Pomum, a name given by fome authors to the Spanifh pear. Cbabresus, p. 596.

MICHAH, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to ex- prefs copper.

MICHALALATLI, in zoology, a name by which Nierem- berg informs us, fome of the Mexicans call the acbalalaftlt. See the article Achalalactli.

MICHELIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants efta- blifhed by Dr. Amman, the characters of which are thefe: The flower is monopetalous and of an anomalous kind, it is tubular, and opens into a kind of bilabiated mouth. The piftil arifes from the cup and finally becomes a flefhy fruit, containing a kernel, or ftone, divided into two cells, each of which contains one feed. This rifes to the fize of a fhrub, its branches are covered with a deep green bark, and do not grow ft rait and even, but varioufly intortcd ; they fend out many fmall fhoots, and are armed with very fharp thorns of half an inch long ; the leaves are about an inch and half long, and an inch broad ; they ftand on fhort pe- dicles, and are of a pleafant green on the upper fide, and whitifh underneath. The branches ufually terminate in long

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