Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/87

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ly, they marched againft it with a great army, and encamp- ed on a great moor not far from Finningly : This is evident from their fortifications, yet remaining.

There is a fmall town in the neighbourhood called Ojierfield, and as the termination field feems to have been given only in remembrance of battles fought near the towns whofe names ended with it, it is not improbable that a battle was fought here, between all the Britons who inhabited this foreft, and the Roman troops under Oftorius. The Romans flew many of the Britons, and drove the reft back into this foreft, which at that time overfpread ail this low country. On this the conquerors taking advantage of a ftrong fouth-weft wind fet fire to the pitch trees, of which this foreft. was principally compofed ; and when the greater part of the trees were thus deftroyed, the Roman foldiers and captive Britons, cut down the remainder, except a few large ones which they left Hand- ing, as remembrances of the deftru&iori of the reft. Thefe fingle trees however could not ftand long againft the mads\ and thefe falling into the rivers which ran through the coun- try, interrupted their currents, and the water then overfpread - in<r the level country made one great lake, and gave origin to^the Mojfes or moory bogs, which were afterwards formed there, by the workings of the waters, the precipitation of earthy matter from them, and the putrefaction of rotten boughs and branches of treesi and the vaft increafe of water Mofs, and other fuch plants which grow in prodigious abun- dance in all thefe fort of places. Thus were thefe burnt and felled trees buried under a new-formed fpungy and watery earth, and afterwards fouiid on the draining and digging through this earth again.

Hence it is not ftrange that Roman weapons and Roman coins are found among thefe buried trees ; and hence it is that a- mong the buried trees fome are found burnt, fome chopped and hewn ; and hence it is that the bodies of the trees ail lie by their proper roots, and with their tops lying north-eaft, that is, in that direction in which a fouth-welt wind would have blown them down : Hence alfo it is, that fome of the trees are found with their roots lying flat, thefe being not cut or burned down, but blown up by the roots after- wards when left fingle ; and it is not wonderful, that fuch trees as thefe fhould have continued to grow* even after their 1611, and fhoot up branches from their fides which might eafi- ly grow into high trees. Fhilof. Tranf. N°. 275. By this fyftem it is alfo eafily explained why the moor foil In the country is in fome places two or three yards thicket than in others, or higher than it was formerly, fince the growing up of peat-earth or bog-ground is well known, and the foil added by overflowing of waters is not a little. As the Romans were the deftroyers of this great and noble foreft, fo they probably were alio of the feveral other antient forefts ; the ruins of which furnifh us with the bog-wood of Staftbrdfhire, Lancafhire, Yorkfhire, and other counties. But as the Romans were not much in Wales, in the ifle of Man, or in Ireland ; it is not to be fuppofed, that forefts cut down by thefe people gave origin to the foflile wood found there ; but though they did not cut down thefe forefts, Others did ; and the origin of the bog-wood is the fame with them and with us. Holingfhead informs us^ that Edward the Firft be- ing not able to get at the Welch, becaufe of their hiding themfelves in boggy woods^ gave orders at length that they fliould all be deftroyed by fire and by the ax ; and doubtlefs the roots and bodies of trees found in Penlbrokefhirc under ground, are the remains of the execution of this order. The foflile wood in the bogs of the iflands of Man and Anglefea, is doubtlefs of the fame origin ; though we have not any ac- counts extant of the time or occafion of the forefts there be- ing deftroyed ; but as to the foflile trees of the bogs of Ireland we are exprefsly told, that Henry the Second, when he con- quered that country, ordered all the woods to be cut down that grew in the low parts of it, to fecure his conquefts by cutting away the places of refort of rebels.

Moving-Moss. We have an account in the Philofophical Tfan- iadtions,- of a moving- Mofs near Church-town in Lancafhire,- which greatly alarmed the neighbourhood as miraculous. The Mofs was obferved to rife to a furprizing height, and foon af- ter funk as much below the level, and moved flowly towards the fouth.

Wall-Moss. See the article Wail-B/j.

MOSTRA, in the Italian mufic, a little mark fet at the end of

each line of a tune, thus

to fhew that the firft note

of the next line is in that place.

If this fiift note be accompanied with a ^ or flat £, it is' right to place thofe characters with the Mojlra. Alfo if in a thorough bafs this firft note have any cyphers, it would be of ufe to put the fame cyphers with the character, at the end of the preceding ffaff. Again, if the part change its cleff with the firft note, the cleff ought to be marked with thi Mojlra in the fame manner. The Mojlra is of great ufe, efpecially in quick motions, as it prepares the player for what ib to come. Vid. Brojf, Muf. Dia. in voc. MOSYN/ECUM /Es„ in metallurgy, a name given by the an tients to a white metal made of copper, in great efteern a mong them.

Suppl. Vol.H.

MOT

Aliftotle tells us, that it was extremely bright and of a perfeft fine white colour j and adds, that it was made of copper by melting it with an admixture of a peculiar kind of earth. Strabo alfo mentions this ; and Theopompus tells us, that it was made of copper and an earth, and that it looked fo like filver, that it was generally called Pfeudoargyron. Virgil mentions it under the name of Aurkhakum album, and feems to give it great praifes. We are not able at prcfent to fay what it was they ufed in making it. We know feveral things that will render copper white, as arfenic, and the like ; but none of thefe can well be fuppofed to be the thing. For ar- fenic, and all the things we ufe to make our faciitious metal, debafe the copper, and render it brittle ; whereas by the ac- counts of Strabo, and others, their white metal feems to have been better for all ufes than the copper itfelf. As to their telling us that it was a fort of earth which they ufed on this occalion, very little regard is to be paid to the terms ; for they had an inaccuracy of fpeaking that leaves us much in the dark, in many other things befide this. They called the cala- minaris ftone, which is an ore of zink, by the name of Cad- mian earth, in their defcription of the manner of making bfafs.

It has feemed abfurd to fome to call this white metal auri- chakum album, becaufe they fuppofe the word, auricalchum to fignify gold-coloured copper ; but this is an error. The auri- chalcmn is but a falfe fpeiling of orichakum. See the article Orichalcum.

MOTACILLA, the Waterwagtail, in the Lihniean fyftem of zoology, the name of a large genus of birds, of the order of the paileres ; the diftinguifhing characters of which are thefe : The tongue is jagged, and has a rim or margin round it ; the beak is ftrait, and pointed, and the hinder claw is of the fame length with the reft, by which alone it is fufKciently diftinguiihed from the lark kind. Of this genus are the wag- tail, the red-breaft, wren, nightingale, bY. Linnesi Syft. Nat. p. 49.

Mr. Ray enumerates three fpecies of Waterwagtail, the white, the yellow, and the grey. The firft is the moll common, and well-known kind. The yellow one is of the fame fiiape and fize with that, but is beautifully variegated with yellow and green : this builds among the corn. The third or grey one is of the fame fize with the others, and is the moft cla- morous and noify of them all. It is principally variegated with black and grey, but has fome yellownels, efpecially about the rump. Ray's Ornithol. p. 171, 172.

MOTETTO, in the Italian mufic, a kind of church-mufic, compofed with much art and ingenuity from one to eight parts, with or without inftruments, ufually accompanied with a thorough bafs. Wben the compofer gives a loofe to his fancy, without confining himfelf to any rules, fubjedis, or 2 paffions, it is called Fantafia, or Rkercata. See the articles Fantasia, and Ricercata.

The word is fometimes ufed for pieces made to hymns to faints, &c. and whole pfalms are often thus called. Vid,,, Brojf. Muf. Dift. in voc.

fK^-MOTH. See the article Tinea Campejlris.

MOTHER-Wort, Cardktca, in medicine, is only ufed in the fhops as an ingredient in fome of the compound waters, in- tended againft hyfteric complaints ; and the country people frequently make an infufion of it in the manner of tea, for the fame purpofe. It is alfo faid to be good in flatulencies, and colics, to give great relief in epileptic cafes, and to de- ftroy worms. It promotes urine, and the menfes ; but its power this way is greatly inferior to that of penny-royal. See the article PENNY-iJoyo/.

The name Cardiaca, improperly given to this plant, has led many into an opinion of its being a cordial ; but experience does not fhew any fuch thing. See the artiele Cardiaca.

Mother of Vitriol. See the article Vitrioi,.

MOTION (Cycl.)—Laws o/Motion. Ot three laws of Mo- tion which confift in the prefervation of l". The relative vi- locity in the collifion of elaftic bodies, that is the difference of the velocities of thofe bodies moving the fame way, and the fam when they move in contrary direSions. 2°. The quantity of direaion; fee the article Direction. 3°.The fiim of the produa of the maffes by the fquarcs of the velo- cities Two of 'thefe laws being granted, the third fol- lows 'neceffarily. Thus, let A and B be two bodies, their velocities before the ftiock a and b, and after the mock* and . Suppofe firft that before and after the fhock the bodies move the fame way, the firft law of confervation gives a—b= ,-x; therecondA«+BJ=A*-|-By: Hence by tranfpo- fition «+*=> + * »d Aa-A^By- B4 ; and thefe two equations multiplied together give this new one Aaa — A«=Bry — BM, or by tranfpofition, Aaa + iSbb = A„4-Byy And it is plain, that if a or b, as well as* or y, beTaken negatively to fignify that the bodies A and IB move in contrary direffions before and after the (hock this fuppofition will not alter the figns of the equation A a a + Bbi — Axx + Byy. Bernoulli Oper. Tom. 3. p. 57. The prefervation of the fame quantity of motion in the uni- verfe was a principle laid down univerfally by Dcfcartes ; but has been found falfe, and holds true only in the fame direc- tion which is thus exprefled by Sir Ifaac Newton : " Th c ' X quantity