Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/71

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each of thefe heads to a Separate table ; by this means the or- der and connexion of the* whole will be preferved. Such ta- bles would produce a local and artificial memory, of great life to the retention and recollection of things. They would greatly facilitate a dirtine! view of the properties of their fub- jeefs, and facilitate recapitulation. Befides, as the exprcl- iions ufed in fuch tables ought to be very concife, fo as jure to be fufficient to excite the idea of the object to be remembered, foon after that idea has been acquired ; after fome time a cer- tain obfeurity will be found in perilling the tables, which will Etve us timely warning that our ideas begin to fade, and that fhey ought to be renewed. And this may be done without much trouble, if not too long delayed b .— [ a Wolf. Pfycol. Empir. §. 200. not. p. 140. b Vid. Tabul. Mnem. Con- ftraft. & ul" us a P* Wolf. Horx fubfeciv. Marburg. An. 1730. Trim, JEiiiv. p- 468. feq.]

MNIUM, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of mofles, the characters of which are thefe : It has heads of two diffe- rent kinds, the one fort naked and dufty, having no calyptra or other covering; the others are regular capfules, like thofe of the hypnurn and bryum, containing a fine powder, and covered with a calyptra or hood. This diverlity in the fruc- tification diftinguim.es the Mnia from all the other mpfies ; but thefe diverfly conftrucLed heads are in fome fpecies found on the fame plants; in others, on different ones of the fame fpecies, as the male and female Mowers are in hemp, mercury, and many other of the larger plants. The italics which fupport the membranaceous heads are long, and naked ; thofe which iup- port the naked heads, are in fome naked, in others covered with leaves ; but they are in all fhorter than the others. See Tab. of Mofles, N°. 7. Dillen. Hilt. Mofc. p. 230. It is the general opinion, that the fine powder inclofed in the capfules of the hypnurn and bryum, is of the nature of the farina feecundans of the flowers of plains, and ferves to impregnate the buds or young fhoots in the alse of the leaves, which are the female part of the fructification in this clafs of plants j and in this fenle the membranaceous heads of the Mnia contain a like farina, which impregnates the globules in thefe naked heads, and qualifies them for ailing as feeds or young plants ; but all this is rather hypothefis and conjecture than obfervation; tho' Dillenius does fuppofe he has feen the germination from the globules oi the dulty heads in one fpecies of the Mnium. Haller fays, that thefe dulty heads arc only fo many congeries of young plants when viewed with good glafles, and that therefore the Mnium is not properly a genus of plants, but fhor.Sd be referred to the bryums, to which it belongs. All this however is yet but lightly founded, and the more natural opinion fecms to be that ot fuppofing the powder in the capfules of all the mofles a true feed, not a farina. Haller. Helvet. p. 8x. See the article Moss. There are properly two orders of the Mniums. Thofe of the firft order ate erect ; thofe of the latter procumbent, or creep- ing. Of the firft order there are four known fpecies : 1. The common narrow and ihort-leav'd Mnium : This is a very imall mofs, it grows in tufts, and produces ftalks from a third of an inch to an inch in length ; from thefe in March and April there are produced dully or naked heads, of the fize of poppy feeds. Thefe foon ripen and ihed their duff; but the membranaceous capfules arrive at their maturity more flowly, and retain their perfect ftate much longer : thefe are much lefs frequent than the dulty naked heads, but they ufually grow upon the fame ftalks. 2. The transparent mother of thyme leaved Mmum : This feldom rifes to more than an inch in height, and is very common about the bottoms of rocks and roots of trees. 3. The common large upright and forked hog Mnium; This is three inches high in a flourishing ftate, and has all its branches bifurcated : It is common in boggy places. 4, The greater bog Mmum, with many heads : This is lefs branched than the former, and has very numerous dufty heads.

Of the creeping or procumbent Mniums, there are only three known fpecies : 1. The tranfparent trichornanes-Ieaved Mnium, with uncut leaves : This is a very elegant plant, and is com- mon in boggy places. 2. The transparent trichpmanes-Iike Mnium, with divided leaves : This is common about Hamp- ftead and Highgate. And, 3. The lichen-leaved Mnium ; This grows in fhady places, and has the dufty heads at the extremities of the leaves.

MOAR-Locre, in hufbandry, a term ufed to exprefs a peculiar diftemperature of corn, generally comprehended under the com- mon term of a blight. In this cafe the earth finks away from the roots of the corn, and leaves the plant Handing in great part above ground with naked roots ; thefe being too weak to fupport the ftalks, the plants fall and the ears become light. This is a diftemperature peculiar to corn growing on light and loofe lands. TW/VHoriehoeing Hufbandry. The remedy is this : Turn a (hallow furrow againfl: the rows, when they are itrong enough to bear it, and the mold is fine and dry, the motion of the ftalks with the wind will draw in this loofe powder, and it will f preac i itfelt" equally among all the plants of the row, tho' it be triple or quadruple. It is eafy to fee that this remedy is only pradicable in the method of the horfehoeing hufbandry ; for in the common way of low- ing, there is no means of relief in this cafe. And in acneral, Sui'PL. Vol. If.

MOD

the horfehoeing hufbandry prevents the falling of the wheat, the ftalks never drooping fo abfolutely in the drill'd wheat as they do in that fown in the common way.

MOARING, at fea. See the article Mooring, Cyd,

MOBILES, in the antient mufic, wfes an appellation given to the two intermediate chords of a tetrachord ; becaule their variations produced the different genera and fpecies of mufic 3. They were called by the Greeks wwrot, or kh^wivi b. — [» Vid. Phil. Tranf. N°. 481. p. 270, 271. b Watlis's Append, ad Ptol. Harm. p. 159. J

MOCHLICA, a term by which fome authors call the violent or draftic purges.

MOEHRINGIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants defcribed by Linnseus ; the characters of which are thefe : The perianthium Hands expanded, and is compofed of four leaves of a lanceolated figure. The flower is compofed of four petals of an oval figure not indented at the ends, and fmaller than the fegments of the cup. The ftamina are eight capillary filaments; the antheras are Ample ; the germen of the piftil is globofe ; the ftyles are two, they are ereift, and of the length of the ftamina ; the ftigraata are Ample. The fruit is a globofe capfule, compofed of four valves, but having only one cell in which are feveral feeds, convex on one fide and angular on the other. Lt?inaiQcn. PI. p. 167.

MOCHUS, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the orobus or bitter vetch. Dodonseus, among others, calls it by this name. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

MOCK-Bird 3 the name ot an American bird of the merula kind, and very much approaching to the ca:ruleus or blauvo- gel. It is ot die fize of the common lark : Its beak is fhort, and ftrait ; its tail very long; and its whole body of a very fine deep blue. Ray's Ornith. p. 142.

MocK-Lead, in mineralogy, a name given by the Englifh, writers to a fort of foffil, called alio blende and galena. It' has very much the appearance of an ore of lead, being bright and glolly, of a bluilh black colour, and plated ; but on trial it is found to yield very little or none at all of that metal.

M ODER AT A Mifericordia, in law, a writ that lies for him who is amerced in a court-baron, or other court not of record, for any tranfgreilion, beyond the quality or quantity of the of- fence. It is directed to the lord of the court, or his bailiff, commanding them to take a moderate amercement of the party. This writ is founded upon Magna Charta. If a man be amerced in a court-baron, on prefentment by the jury, where he did not any trefpafs, he fhall not have this writ, unlefs the amercement be exceulve and outrageous : And if the fteward of the court, of his own head, will a- merce any tenant or other perfon without caufe, the party ought not to fue for this writ of Moderata Mifcricordia if he be dift rained for that amercement ; but he fhall have ac- tion of trefpafs. New. Nat. Br. 167.

When the amercement which is fet on a perfun is affeered by his peers, this writ pf Moderates Mijericordies doth not lie; for then it is according to the Itatute 10 Edw. II.

MODERATOR {Cyd.) — Moderator-.R/»£, in anatomy, is' ufed by Valfalva for that ring which the mufcles of the eye make round the optic nerve, at the bottom of the orbit. Be alledges, that the exterior fibres of thefe mufcles which rife from the nerve, muft fhorten it when they contract, and when the interior fibres act they mult comprefs it ; fo that thefe different fibres of the mufcles aft'eci the nervous fluid here very differently.

Valfalva alio defcriaes fuch another ring made round the mo- tory nerves of the ewe ; but acknowledges, that it is neither fo remarkable nor aiftin<£t as the former. Med. Elf. Edinb. abr. Vol. 2. p. 410, 4^1.

MODERN- Mufic, Mufica moderns, may be divided into two parts : Firft, Antique- Moderna, which is generally a ferious fort of mufic, conlifiing of many parts; and which has been in ufe from Guido's time, to the beginning of the laft cen- tury. Secondly, the Modern which has been ufed in this and the laft century : It is very different from the Antiquo^Moder- na, being brifker, lighter, gayer, and more fprightly.

MODIOLI, ia natural hiilory, a name given by fome authors to the trochitffl or angle joints of the rays of the petrified magellanic ftar-fifh, which when connected in numbers to- gether form that fofEl called entrochus. Others alfo have ufed this word Modiolus to exprefs the compound body, or entrochus itfeif. Tho' the general form of the trochleas be thin and flat, yet they are fometimes found confiderably thick; and tho' the entrochi or compound Modioli are ufually fo many cylinders of equal diameter in all parts, yet there are fometimes found fuch as are thick in the middle,, and thence gradually taper to each end ; fome alfo are compofed of joints, each of this form ; thefe differ very greatly from the common kind, and inftead of confifting of a number of little wheels are made up of a feries of little barrels, joined, as it were, end to end.

Among large quantities of thefe fome are found ornamented with what naturalifts call the fummitates or faftigia, which are long and flender pieces, and have a little button at the tap.

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