Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/158

 M A Y

( ?i* )

MEA

As to the Agreement or Difagreemcnt of Co-ex ifte rice, the Mind has an immediate Perception of this bur in veryfewi And therefore in this Sort we have very little intuitive Knowledge; tho in lb me few Proportions we havei Two Bodies cannot be in the fame Place, is a felf-evident Pro- position : the Idea of fitting a Place equal to the Con- tents of its Superficies, being annexed to our Idea of Body. As to the Relations of Modes, Mathematicians have framed many Axioms concerning that one Relation of Equality ; as that Equals being taken from Equals, the Remainder will be equal, &c. which however received for Axioms, yet have not a clearer Self-evidence than thefe, That One and One are equal to Two ; that if from the five Fingers of one Hand you take two, and from the five Fingers of the other Hand two, the remaining Numbers will be e- »|uat. As to real Exigence, fince that has no Connection with any other of our Idea?, but that of ourfelves, and of a firft Being ; we have not fo much as a demonftrative, much lefs a felf-evident Knowledge concerning the real Exiftence of other Beings. See Existence.

For the Influence of Maxims on the other Parts of our Knowledge: The Rules eftablifhed in the Schools, That all Reaibnings are ex prxcognitis & fr sconce jfs, feem to lay the Foundation of all other Knowledge in thefe Maxims, and to fuppofe them to b§ pracognita ; which implies two Things : vm. That thefe Axioms are thofe Truths firft known to the Mind ; and, That on them the other Parts of our Knowledge depend. But, firft, That thefe Axioms are not the Truths firft known to the Mind, is evident ■from Experience: For who knows not that a Child per- ceives that a Stranger is not its Mother, long before he knows it impoftible for the fame Thing to be, and not to be? And how many Truths are there about Numbers, which the Mind is perfectly acquainted with, and fully convinced of, before it ever thought on thefe general "Maxims ? Hence it follows, That thefe magnified Maxims are not the Principles and Foundations of all our other Knowledge $ for if there are a great many other Truths, as felf-evident as they, and a great many that we know before them, it is impoffibie that they fhould be the Prin- ciples, from which we deduce all other Truths. Thus, That One and Two are equal to Three, is as evident, and eafier known, than that the Whole is equal to all its Parts. Nor, after the Knowledge of this Maxim, do we know that One and Two are equal to Three, better, or more certainly, than we did before. For if there be any odds in thefe Ideas, the Ideas of Whole and Parts are more obfeure, or at leaft more difficult to be fettled in the Mind, than thofe of One, Two, and Three. Either, thereforej all Knowledge does not depend on Prxcognita, or general Maxims, called Principles; or elfe fuch as thefe (That One and One are Two, that Two and Two are lour, ££c.) and a great part of Numeration, are Maxims. To thefe, if we add all the felf-evident Propofitions that may be made about all our diftinct Ideas, Principles will be almoft infinite; and a great many innate Principles, many Men never come to know all their Lives.

General Maxims then may be of ufe in Difputes, to flop the Mouths of Wranglers ; but are of little in the Difcovery of unknown Truths. Several general Maxims are no more than bare verbal Propofitions, and teach us nothing but the RefpecT: and Import of Names one to an- other; as, The Whole is equal to all its Parts : What teal Truth doth this teach us more, than what the Signifi- cation of the word Totum, or Whole, does of itfelf im- port ? If rightly confider'd, we may fay, that where our Ideas are clear and diftincl, there is little or no ufe at all of Maxims, to prove the Agreement or Difagreement of any of them. He that needs any Proof to make him certain, and give his Aflent to this Propofition, That Two are equal to Two, or that White is not Black ; will alfo have need of a Proof to make him admit, That what is, is j or, That it is impoflible for the fame Thing to be, and not to be. But as Maxims are of little ufe, where we have clear and dillinci Ideas; fo they are of dangerous ufe, where our Ideas are confufed, and where we ufe Words, that are not annexed to clear and dittincT: Ideas. Locke.

MAY, the fifth Month in the Year, reckoning from the firft of January ; and the third, in counting the Year to begin wiih March, as they antiently did. In this Month the Sun enters Gemini, and the Plants of the Earth begin to flower. It was called Maius by Romulus, in refpeft to the Senators and Nobles of his City, which were named Majoresj as the following Month was called Junius, in ho- nour of the Youth of Rome, in honorem Jumorum, who fened him in the War : Others will have it to have been called thus from Main, the Mother of Mercury^ to whom they offcr'd Sacrifice on that day h Tafias derives it from Mad'ms, Eo quodtunc terra madeat. This Month was under the Protection of Apollo, and therein alfo they kept the Fefti-

val of Bona Dec, that of Goblins, call'd Lemuna j, and the Ceremony of Regifugi umi or the Expulfion of the Kings. The Vulgar have a great opinion of A%-Dew and Butter. See Dew. The Month of May has ever been cfteem'J very favourable to Love ; and yet the Antients, as well as many of the Moderns, look on it as an unhappy Month for Mar- riage : The Reafon may perhaps be refer'd to the Feaft of the Lemures, which was held in it. Ovid alludes to this in the 5th of his FajU'\ when he fays$

Ncc Vidua tadis eadtm, nee Virginis aptdt 'Temfora j qu<e mtpjit, mn diuturna fuit : Hac quoque de Caitfi, fi te proverbia tangfflt, Menje malm Maio Nuhere valgus erit.

MAYLj in Falconry, is to pinion the Wmgs of a Hawk.

MAYOR, the Chief Magiftrate or Governour in the Cities and moft Corporation-Towns of England ; chofen an- nually by his Peers out of the number of the Aldermen. TheMayor of the Place is the King's Lieutenant, and with the Alderman and Common-Council, can make Laws, cal- led By-Laws^ for the Government of the Place. He has the Authority of a kind of Judge, to determine Matters; and to mitigate the Rigour of the Law. The Word comes from the antient britijh Miret, cujhdire, to keep. King Rj- chardl. J. D. 1 189. firft changed the Bayliffs of London into Mayors 5 by whofe Example others were afterwards appointed. See Portreve and Alderman.

Mayor's Court. To the Lord Mayor and City of Lon- don belong feveral Courts of judicature. 1 he higheit and moft antient is that call'd The Hujtings, from rhe Daniflj Bus-ding, i.e. Damns Judicii ; deftined to fecure the Laws, Rights, Frlnchifes, and Cuftoms of the City.

The fecond is a Conn of Requeft, or of Confcience ; fo call'd, as meddling with nothing above 40 s. Value ; or rather, becaufe here the Oath of the Creditor himfelf is accepted.

The third is the Court of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen + where alfo the Sheriff's fit; two Courts of Sheriffs; and the Court of the City-Orphans, whereof the Lord Mayor and Aldermen have the Cuftody,

The Court of Common-Council, confifttfig of two Houies 5 the one for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and the other for the Commoners : In which Court are made all By- Laws, which bind the Citizens.

Under him is alfo the Clumberlain's Court, where every- thing relating to the Rents and Revenues of the City, as alfo the Affairs of Servants, £=?<;. are tranfaeted. La'ftly, To him belongs the Courts of Coroner, and of Efcheator} another Court tor the Confervation of the River of Thames 5 another of Goal-Delivery, held ufually eight Times a year, at the Old-Bayley, for the Tryal of Criminals, whereof tho Lord Mayor is himfelf the chief Judge. There are other Courts call'd Wardmote *, or Meetings of the Wards ; and Courts of Belmote, or Aflemblies of the feveral Guilds and Fraternities.

MEAD, a whotefome, agreeable Liquor, prepared of Honey and Water. One of the beft Preparations, is as follows : Into twelve Gallons of Water, flip the Whites of fix Eggs ; mixing thefe well together, and to the Mixture adding twenty Pounds of Honey. Let the Li- quor boil an hour, and when boiled, add Cinnamon, Gin- ger, Cloves, Mace, and a little Rofemary. As foon as 'tis cold, put a Spoonful of Yeaft to it, and turn it up, keeping the VefTel fill'd as it works; when it has done working, flop it up clofe, and when fine, bottle it off for Ufe.

MEAN, the Middle between two Extremes. See Mitf-» dee and Extreme.

Thus, we fay, Mean Motion of a Planet; its mean D'i~ fiance, ££?c. meaning a Motion or Diftance, which as far ex- ceeds the leaft Diftance, or Motion, as it is exceeded by the greateft. See Motion, Distance, &c.

Mean, in Logic. See Medium,

Mean Proportion. See Extreme Proportion.

Mean Proportional, See Proportional.

Mean Time* See Time.

Mean Jxis i in Optics. See Axis.

Mean Diameter in Gauging. See Dr ameteA.

Mean, in Law, refers either to Time or Dignity. Thus, in the firft fenfe, we fay, his Aflion was mean be- twixt the DifTeifin made to him and his Recovery, /'. e. in the Interim : In the fecond we fay, there is Lord Mean, i. e. Mefne-, or Lord of a Mannor, who has Te- nants that hold of him, yet himfelf holds of the King.

MEASLES, or Morbilli, in Medicine, a cutaneous Difeafe, confifting in a general Appearance of Eruptions, not tending to Suppuration ; with a Fever. This Diftem- per feems to bear a great Affinity to the Small-Pox, the Symptoms being in many refpecls the fame, the Caufe nearly the fame, and the Regimen and Cure not muxih different. The Eruptions ufually appear about the fourth PPPPPP Day,