Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/175

 MEM

monly call'd the Arabic Camus; which are likewife receiv'd by the 5<!coiire> and Maronites; Tho moil of the Learned look on them as fpurious.

MELlCERlSj is a Tumour inclofed in a Cyjlis, confift- ing of Matter like Honey : it gathers without Pain, and gives way Upon Preffure, but returns again : It is to be cured by warm Difcutients.

_ MEL1TITES, agreyifhStone, which, when pulvcriz'd, yields a milky Liquor, of a Talle fomewhat like Honey; ; whence it takes its Name. It is found in Mines of Metals, and feems to partake pretty much of the Nature of Lead ; having a Sweetnefs fomewhat like the Sal Saturni, but much fainter. It only differs from the Galaflites, in that it is milder to the talte. The Antients ufed it in Inflam- mations of the Eyes, and to dry Ulcers.

MELIUS Inquirendo, is a Writ that lieth for a fecond Inquiry of what Lands and Tenements a Man died feized ; where Partiality is fufpected, upon the Writ, call'd, Diem claufit extremttm.

MELODY, in Mufic, is the agreeable Effea of diffe- rent Mufical Sounds, ranged or difpofed in Succeffion. So that Melody is the Effect only of one fingle Part, Voice, or Inltrument; by which it is diftinguifh'd from Harmony : tho' in common Speech, thefc two are frequent- ly confounded. Harmony is the agreeable Refulr of the Union of two or more concording mufical Sounds heard in Confonance, /. e. at one and the fame time ; fo that Harmony is the Effect of two Parts at lead : As therefore a continued Succeffion of mufical Sowods produces Melody, fo does a continued Combination of thefe produce Har- mony. See Harmony and Concord ; fee alfo Mufic in Parts.

Tho' the Term Melody be chiefly applicable to the Tre- ble, as the Treble is chiefly diftinguifh'd by its Air ; yet fo far as the Bafs may be made airy, and to fing well, it may be alfo properly faid to be Melodious, See'TREBLE and Bass.

Of the twelve harmonical Intervals of Mufical Sounds, diftinguifh'd by the Namci of Second lejjer. Second greater ; Third leffer, Third greater ; Fourth; falfe Fifth ; Fifth; Sixth leffer, Sixth greater; Seventh leffer, Seventh greater, and OBave; all Melody, as well »s Harmony, are compos'd : For the Oflaves of each of thefe are but Replications of the fame Sounds ; and whatever is faid of any, or all of thefe Sounds, is to be underltood alfo of their Octaves. See Octave.

For the Rules of Melody, fee Composition. The Word comes from the Creek ijs.ki, Honey ; and «ft), Singing.

MEMBERS, in Anatomy, the exterior Parts, arifing from the Trunk, or Body of an Animal, like Boughs from the Trunk of a Tree. See Body. The Phyficians divide the Body into three Regions or Venters (the Head, the Breaft, and the Lower Ventricle ;) and their Extremities, which are the Memhers. In Latin they are call'd Anus of AtBare ; becaufe they are Parts attach'd to the Trunk!

EachMtmter, and Portion of the Body, was antiently de- Toted to fomo Divinity. The Head to Jupiter, the Bread to Neptune, the Navel to Mars, the Ear to Memory, the Forehead to the Genius, the Right-Hand to Faith or Fide- lity, the Knees to Mercy ; the Eye-brows, again, to Jupiter, the Eyes to Cupid, or, according to others, to Minerva ; the hind Part of the right Ear to Nemefis, the Back to Pluto, the Reins to Venus, the Feet to Mercury, the Heels and Soal of the Foot to Thetys, and the Fingers to Minerva.

Members, in Architecture. See Mouldings.

Member, in Grammar, is underflood of the Parts of a Period or Sentence. See Period and Sentence.

Member'd, or Membred, in Heraldry, is where the Leg or Foot of an Eagle, Griffin, or other Bird, is of a different Colour from the reft of the Bodv

MEMBRANA, in Anatomy.

Membrana Communis Mufculo.

MuM-BKhU k propria Mufciilorum. C^-^MemBRANE

Membrana Communis Vafa

( ^8 )

MEM

Membrana Adtpof.i, Membrana Carnofa. t Membrana NicTttans. i Membrana Tympani. Membrana Urinaria.

The Fibres of a Membrane give them an Elafticity wheteby they can contract, and clofely grafp the Parts they contain ; and their nervous Fibres give them an cxquihte Senfe, which is the caufe of their Contraction : they can therefore fcarcely fuffer the Sharpnefs of Medi- cines, and thofe are difficultly united, when wounded. In their Texture, there is a number of fmall Glands, which feparatc an Humour, fit for moiftening the Parts they con- tain. By reafon of the '1 hicknefs and Transparency of the Membranes, the Ramifications of the Blood-Vtffels are more apparently feen in them, than in any other Part of the Body: here the innumerable Divifions, Windings, and Turnings, Terpentine Progreffions, and frequent Inocula- tions, not only of Veins and Arteries together, but alfo ol Veins with Veins, and Arteries with Arteries, make a molt agreeable Embroidery, and delicate Net-wotk, co- vering the whole Membrane.

The Ufe of the Membranes is to cover and wrap up the Parts, and Strengthen them ; to lave them from external Injuries ; to prefervo the natutal Heat ; to join one Part to another ; to fullain fmall Veffels, and the Nerves which run thro' their Duplicatures ; to flop the returninp of the Humours in their Veffels, as the Valves {lop the return- ing ol the Blood in the Veins and Heart ; of the Chyle in the Thoracic Duet ; and of the Lymphs in she Lym- phatic Veffels.

Anatomifts generally afferr, that there is a Membrana Communis Mufcuhrum, or Membrane, common 10 all the Mufcles; being led into that Millake by the Aponeurafis of feveral Mufcles; whereas, upon ilncter Obiervation, there is no fuch thing to be found. See Muscle. The Membrana propria Mujeuhrum, is that which immediately covets all and evety one of the Fibtesof a Mufcle, and is clofely tack'd to them. There is another common Mem- brane, call'd Membrana Communis I'afcuhrum ; which is a thin Membrane, accompanying almoll 'all the Veffels of the Body. All thefe Membranes receive Veins, Arteries, and Nerves from the Parts which are nearefl to them. The Word comes from the Latin Membranum, Parchment

MEMBRANOSUS, in Anatomy, a Mufcle of the Leg, fo call'd from its large membranous Expanflon inclofing alt the Mufcles of the Tibia and the Tarfus ; whence it is alio call'd Fafcia lata. It hath a fltarp flelhy beginning from the fore-part of the Spine of the Os Ilium, but foon be- comes membranous, and covers almoft all the Mufcles of the Thigh and Leg, down to the Foot, where it joins with the Ligamentum Annulare ; and in its Aftion tutns the Leg outwards.

MEMBRED: In Heraldry, thofe Birds, which are ei- ther whole-foored, or which have no Talons, are blazon'd by the Term, Membred.

MEMOIRS, a Term now much in ufe for Hiftories, compoled by Pcrfons who had fome Share or Concern in the Tranfaaions they relate, or who were Eye-witneffes of them ; anfwering to what the Latins call'd Commentarii. The French are grear Dealers in this way of Writing, and have an infinite number of Books of Memoirs, containing, for the Generality, the Lives and Actions of the Wri- ters.

Memoirs are alfo ufed for a Journal of the ASts, and Proceedings of a Society ; or a Collection of the Matters debated, tranfocled, £Tc. therein. Such are the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, S£c. See Academy, i£c. '

MEMORY, a Power, or Faculty of the Mind, where- by it retains or recollects the fimple Ideas, or the Images, and Remembrance of Things we have feen, imagin'd, underftood, efc. See Soul,; fee alfo Power, Faculty,

Of all the Faculties, there is none harder to account wri f $ • or """ has P er P lcj; ' d Philofophers more, than the Me-

,S ™'f»See<'MEMBRANE. m "'y- S on)e will have it a mere Organ, as the Eye, Ear, Mufalo.u,,,.^ ^ *NE. jfc, VrHooK in wEffaytovards a mechanical Account of

Memory, makes it to confilt in a flock of Ideas or Im. ges, lorm'd occafionally by the Mind, out of the fine Parts of the Brain, and difpofed, or laid by in order. Des Cartes and his Followers maintain, That the animal Spitits ex- citing a Motion in the molt delicate Fibres of the Brain, leave a kind of Traces or Footfteps, which occafion our Remembrance. Hence it happens, that by paffing feveral times over the fame things, the Spirits becoming accuf- tom'd to the fame Paffages, leave them open, and fo make their way without any Effort or Labour ; and in this confifla the Eafe wherewith we recollect fuch Ideas. Thus Wine is found to ifiarpen the Memory, in regard the Spi- rits of the Wine put the animal Spirits in 'Motion, and agitate the Fibres of the Brain the more briskly. See Idea, Brain, Trace, Remembrance, cic.

Father Malbrancbe. expreffes his Notion of Memory thus : " It being gtanted, that all our different Perceptions are ' owing to Changes happening in the Fibres of the prin- ' cipal Part of the Brain, wherein the Soul more imme-

1 diately

See

" Adiposa. SCarnosa.

jNlCTITATINC.

Tympanum.

"Allantois. MEMBRANE, in Anatomy, a (5 m ;i ar Pai . t of an Ani _

mal Body ; being a thin, white, flexile, expanded Skin, form'd of feveral forts of Fibres interwoven together, and ferving to cover or wrap up fome certain Parts of the Body. See Body and Part.

The Membranes of the Body are various; and varioufly demonltrated : Such are the Ferioflium, Pleura Pericar- dium, Peritoneum, lie. which fee under their proper Arti- tides; Periostium, tic.

Thofe Membranes which fetve as Integuments, or Co- vers of Veffels, are call'd Cootror Tunics ; and thofe which cover the Brain, are, by a peculiar Name, call'd Menin- ges: See Tunic and Meninges.