Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/69

 M I S

M I T

MISSILIA, among the. Romans, a name given to largeflTes, thrown among the people on occafion of games and ihews, fuch as fmall gold or filver coins, fweet-meats, and fometimes animals, as fneep, oxen, deer, &c. which were let loofe to be carried off by rhe people. Hofm. Lex. in voc. The word comes from mittere, to throw, or let luofe.

MISSING Wood, a phrafe ufed among bowlers. See the article Bowling.

MISSION, M'tJP-H among the Romans, a term ufed to fignify the emperor's fending to relcue a wounded gladiator from his antagonist. The Munerarij or perfons who exhibited the games, and likewife the people, ufed to refcue a favourite gla- diator. The manner of their fignifying this favour, was pal- lice prejfot or with the thumb hid in the palm of the hand. However the gladiator was only faved for that time ; whereas by the RiuUs he had a free ddcharge. Hoffm. Lex. in voc. See the article Rudis.

MIST (Cycl.) — The bluifli Miff which we fometimes fee on our fields and paftures in a morning, though often innocent, vet has been in fome places found to be the actual caufc of murrain, and other fatal difeafes among the horned cattle. Dr. Winklar gives, in the Philofophical Tranfactions, an ac- count of a murrain affecting the cattle in Italy and other places, which was evidently ken to fpfead itfeif over the countries in form of a blue Mifl. Wherever this was perceived, the cattle were fure to come home fickj they appeared dull and heavy, and refuted their food ; and many of them would die in four and twenty hours. Upon diffection there were found large and corrupted fpleens, fphacelous and corroded tongues ; and in fome places thofe people who were not care- ful of tbemfelves in their management of their cattle, were infected and died as tall themfelves. The principal caufe of this difeafe feemed to be the exhalation of fome unwholefome fteams from the earth ; and it was obfervablej that there had been three earthquakes in Italy the year before it happened. The method of cure which fucceeded heft, was this : As foon as any bean; appeared to be fick, they examined the tongue, and if aphthie or little blifters were found on it, tbey fcraped it with a filver inftrument made with lliarp teeth at the fides, till it bled in all thofe parts where the aphthae were ; the blood was then wiped away with a cloth, and the whole tongue walhed feveral times with vinegar and fait. After this the fol- lowing medicine was given internally : Take of foot, brim- ftone, gunpowder, and fait, of each equal parts ; mix thefe in as much water as will make a mixture thin enough to be fwallowed, and let a fpoonlul he given for a dofe three or four times a day. The cattle which were in health had this medicine given them, as well as the fick ; and the confe- quence wasj that very few died in Swillerland, while almoft all died in other places.

It was very remarkable that the contagion, on this occafion, feemed to travel flowly and regularly on : It came at the rate of about two German miles in twenty-four hours : This it kept regularly to during the whole time of its raging, and never appeared in very diftant places at the fame time. The whole furface of the earth emitting thefe effluvia, no cattle efcaped them m the courfe of their way, but thofe which were kept within doors at rack and manger fell ill at the fame time, and in the fame manner with thofe in the open fields. Dr. Slare was of opinion, that it was owing to certain in- fects which could not fly fader than at the rate of two German miles a day ; and that they travelled regularly, and fpread the fnifchief where they paffed ; but there wanted fome judicious perfons, verfed in thefe obfervations, to have examined both the ftate of the air, and the beafts, on this occafion. Philof. Tranf. N°. 145.

MISURER, in our old writers, an abufe of any liberty of bene- fit : As he {hall make fine for his Mifurer. Old. Nat. Br

By Mifurer, a charter of a corporation may be forfeited 3 fo alfo an office, &c Blount, Cnvel, MISY, (Cycl.) in natural hiftory, the name of a foffile fub- ftance, ufed very frequently by the antients in medicine, and fuppofed to be one of their now loft medicines, but errone- oufly ; it being ftill very common in the Turkifh dominions, and not unfrequently found in the mines at Cremnitz in Hun- gary. It is a confidcrably firm fubftancc, tho' of an irregu- lar and feemingly not compact texture, and much refembles lome of our gaudy marcalites j but that it wants their hard- nefs and their weight, and is not inflammable It is commonly found in large loofe mates, which are ufually broad and flat, and uneven at their edges ; but fometimes it confutes whole ftrata, which are continued often for a con- fiderable length, but are fcldom of more than three inches in thicknefs, and ufually lie like horizontal veins among other me- talhc mmerals. It is foft and fmooth to the touch, and may be rubbed to pieces between the fingers ; and is both on the outhdeand within of a very elegant bright pale yellow, hav- ing much the appearance of brafs, when that metal is clean and well (toured. Its internal fubftancc feems made up of numbers of very bright and fmall molecule, moftly of angu- lar ftgures. It ls never covered with any inveftient coat or emit ; but when it has lain fome time expofed to the air, it becomes of a dufkier colour than before on the furface. It

will not raifc any effervefcence ■with acid menftrua, and in the fire becomes of a deep purple. Water diffolves a very confiderable part of its fubftance, and this may afterwards be feparated from the liquor by evaporation and cryftallization, and appears to be of the fame nature with the common green vitripl ; Its cryftals being exactly of the fame figure, and their effedt upon a decoction of galls being the lame, initantly turn- ing it into ink. It has fo much of the appearance of a ful- phureous bodv, that one is furprifed not to find it inflammable. Hill's Hift. of Fof. p. 606.

It is at prefent no where put to any ufe. The antients efteem- ed it of the fame nature with the chalcitis, but that it poflefled thofe virtues in a more remifs degree ; they had it from M- gypt and Cyprus, and ufed it externally in haemorrhages, and fome cutaneous eruptions.

Misv, in botany, a name given by Theophraftus, and all the old Greek writers, to a kind of truffle or fubterranean mufh- room, of a very delicate flavour. The truffles of Numidia, and fome other parts of Africa, were always efteemed fupcrior to thofe of any other part of the world. They are called terfez, camaha or foma, by fome later writers, and were brought to Rome, and fo greatly efteemed, that no difh was ranked above them. Thefe were called Libyan truffles by the Romans, and they feem to have been the fame with the Cyrenian Mijy of the Greeks. It is to be obferved, that the Greeks in general, in early times, were very little acquaint- ed with the affairs of Africa j and all that they had from this part of the world, was faid to come from Cyrene, fome old cities of their forefathers being there, and keeping up a, friendfhip and traffic with them. The tbyon, a tree crow- ing plentifully in almoft all parts of Africa, and which is the fame with the citrus of the Romans, was in this manner attri- buted to Cyrene, by the fame Theophraftus. And thus, when fpeaking of truffles^ he adds, that the Cyrenean Mijy furpaf- fed all the other kinds in flavour ; his words ftand at large in Athenasus 5 and thence Pliny has taken his account, which he clofes in this manner : " The thing which they call Mify, in " the province of Cyrene, is of this kind ; but it is more flelhy " and of a finer tafte and fmell." This is the fenfeof Pliny, as the text {lands in our copies 5 but it is probable that he tranflated Theophraftus better than they, at leaft as we know that what he fays is not his own, but taken from that author, we have a right to underftand it his way, and that is, that the roots of this Cyrenean Mijy have a delicate fmell refemb- ing that of meat, or flefh newly cut. Pliny, L. iq. c. 3. It is very certain, that this Cyrenean Mijy of the old Greeks is the fame thing with the delicate African truffle or terfez of LeoAfricanus, and the moderns j and Pliny had read fome of the antients who were fenfible of this, and has taken from them, an account that the African truffles are the fineft in the world ; and yet did not perceive, that thefe African truffles were the fame with the Cyrenean Mijy, which he immediately after mentions from Theophraftus.

MITE, {Cycl.) in natural hiftory, the name of a fmall animal, very well known and found in old cheefe, and in many other bodies both recent and rjerifhing;

To the naked eye the Mites in cheefe appear like moving par- ticles of duft, but the microfcope difcovers them to be per- fect animals, having as regular a figure and performing all the functions of life as perfectly as creatures that exceed them many times in bulk. See Tab. of Microfcopical Objects, Clafs 1. They are cruftaceous animals, and are ufually tranfparent ; the principal parts of them are the head, the neck, and the body. The head is fmall in proportion to the body, and has a fharp fnout and a mouth that opens and fhuts like a mole's. They have two fmall eyes, and are extremely quick-fighted ; and when you have once touched them with a pin, you will eafily perceive how cunningly they avoid a fecond touch. They are of different forts ; for fome of them have fix legs, and others have eight. Each leg has fix joints furrounded with hairs, and two little claws at the extremity, with which it very nicely takes hold of any thing. The hinder part of the body is plump and bulky, and ends in an oval form, from which there iffue out a few exceeding long hairs. Other parts of the body and head are alfo befet with thin and long hairs. The males and females are eafily diftinguifbed in thefe little animals. The females are oviparous as the loufe and fpider, and from their eggs the young ones are hatched in their pro- per form, without having any change to undergo afterwards. They are however, when firft hatched, extremely minute 5 and, in their growing to their full iize, they cufr. their fkins feveral times.

Thefe little creatures may be kept alive many months between two concave glalfes, and applied to the microfcope at plea- fure. They are thus often feen in coitu, conjoined tail to tail ; and this is performed by an incredibly fwift motion. Their eggs, in warm weather, hatch in twelve or fourteen days; but, in winter, they are much longer. Thefe eggs are fo fmall, that a regular computation fhews, that ninety mil- lions of them are not fo large as a common pigeon's egg. Baker's Microfcope, p. 187.

Mites are very voracious animals ; they not only prey upon cheefe, but on all forts of dry'd flefh, fifh, fruits, and feeds j afld almoft on all things which have fome degree of moifture,

withou;