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 The following are among the works relating to the motion of the moon, which are of historic importance or present interest to the student: Clairaut, Théorie de la lune (2nd ed., Paris, 1765); L. Euler, Theoria motuum lunae nova methodo pertractata (Petropolis, 1772); G. Plana, Théorie du mouvement de la lune (3 vols., Turin, 1832); P. A. Hansen, Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam luna perlustrat (Gotha, 1838); Darlegung der theoretischen Berechnung der in den Mondtafeln angewandten Storungen (Leipzig, 1862); C. Delaunay, Théorie du mouvement de la lune (2 vols., Paris, 1860–1867); F. F. Tisserand, Traité de mécanique céleste, tome iii., Exposé de l’ensemble des théories relatives au mouvement de la lune (Paris, 1894); E. W. Brown, “Theory of the Motion of the Moon,” Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, various vols.; also Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vols. iv. and vi.; E. W. Brown, Introductory Treatise on the Lunar Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1896); Hansen, Tables de la lune (London, 1857) (Admiralty publication); W. Ferrel, “On the Effect of the Sun and Moon on the Rotary Motion of the Earth, “''Astron. Jour''., vol. iii. (1854); S. Newcomb, “Researches on the Motion of the Moon” (Appendix to Washington Observations for 1875, discussion of the moon’s mean motion); S. Newcomb, “Transformation of Hansen’s Lunar Theory,” ''Ast. Papers'' of the Amer. Ephemeris, vol. i.; R. Radau, “Inégalités planétaires du mouvement de la lune” (Annales, Paris Observatory, vol. xxi.); S. Newcomb, “Action of the Planets on the Moon,” ''Ast. Papers'' of the Amer. Ephemeris, vol. v., pt. 3 (1896). Also, Publication 72 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (1907); E. W. Brown, Inequalities in the Moon’s Motion produced by the Action of the Planets (the Adams prize essay for 1907).

MOONSEED, in botany, a common name for Menispermum, a genus of climbing deciduous shrubs, containing one species in North America and another in Eastern Asia. The former, M. canadense, is a handsome plant, suited to damp and shady walls, with large reniform peltate leaves and yellowish flowers borne in profusion on long pendulous racemes.

 MOONSTONE, a variety of felspar, showing in certain directions a bluish opalescence, whence its value as an ornamental stone. When cut with a convex surface it displays a soft milky reflection, forming a luminous band, but not sharply defined as in cat’s-eye. The ordinary moonstone is a translucent variety of orthoclase known as adularia (see ), whence the peculiar sheen has been called “adularescence.” The effect is probably caused by interference from twin lamellae, or by numerous enclosures of microscopic laminae, definitely orientated, and it has been suggested that these may often be flakes of kaolin due to incipient decomposition of the felspar. Practically all the moonstone of commerce comes from Ceylon, principally from the Dumbara district of the Central Province. It occurs as pebbles and irregular masses in the gem-gravels and clay-deposits, and is also obtained by quarrying an adularia leptynite, as described by Dr. A. K. Coomáraswámy. Very similar in some respects to moonstone is the chatoyant soda-felspar which was called by T. Sterry Hunt peristerite, from Gr. , a dove, in allusion to the resemblance of its lustre to that of the bird’s neck. The original peristerite was from Bathurst, near Perth, Lanark county, Ontario, but it occurs also at Macomb, St Lawrence county, New York.

 MOONWORT, or, in botany, the popular name of a small fern (Botrychium Lunaria), belonging to the order Ophioglossaceae (see s). It has a tuberous root-stock and a stout fleshy glabrous frond 3 to 6 in. long, with a sterile and fertile portion; the former bears several pairs of close-set, semi-circular or moon-shaped pinnae, the latter is pinnately branched and covered, on the face opposed to the sterile portion, with small globose spore-cases which burst transversely. It is a widely distributed plant in the north and south temperate and cold zones, and is found in pastures and grassy banks in Britain.

MOOR. (1) A heath, an unenclosed stretch of waste or uncultivated land, covered with heather; also such a heath preserved for game-shooting, particularly for the shooting of grouse. The O. Eng. mór, bog, moor, is represented in other Teutonic languages; cf. Dan. mor, Ger. Moor, O. Du. moer, &c.; from an O. Du. adjectival form moerasch comes Eng. morass, a bog. Probably mere, marsh, are not to be connected with these words. (2) The verb “to moor,” to fasten a ship or boat to the shore, to another vessel, or to an anchor or buoy, by cables, &c., is probably from the root seen in mod. Du. meren, which also gives the English nautical term “marline,” small strands of rope used for lashings or seizings, and “marline-spike,” a small iron tool for separating the strands of rope, &c.

 MOORCROFT, WILLIAM (c. 1770–1825), English traveller, was born in Lancashire, about 1770. He was educated as a surgeon in Liverpool; but on completing his course he resolved to devote himself to veterinary surgery, and, after studying the subject in France, began practice in London. In 1795 he published a pamphlet of directions for the medical treatment of horses, with special reference to India, and in 1800 a Cursory Account of the Methods of Shoeing Horses. Having been offered by the East India Company the inspectorship of their Bengal stud, Moorcroft left England for India in 1808. Under his care the stud rapidly improved; in order to perfect the breed he resolved to undertake a journey into Central Asia to obtain a stock of Turkoman horses. In company with Captain William Hearsey, and encumbered with a stock of merchandise for the purpose of establishing trade relations between India and Central Asia, Moorcroft left Josimath, well within the mountains, on the 26th of May 1812. Proceeding along the valley of the Dauli, they reached the summit of the frontier pass of Niti on the 1st of July. Descending by the towns of Darba and Gartok, Moorcroft struck the main upper branch of the Indus near its source, and on the 5th of August arrived at the sacred lake of Manasarowar. Returning by Bhutan, he was detained some time by the Ghurkas, and reached Calcutta in November. This journey only served to whet Moorcroft’s appetite for more extensive travel, for which he prepared the way by sending out a young Hindu, who succeeded in making extensive explorations. In company with him and George Trebeck, Moorcroft set out on his second journey in October 1819. On the 14th of August the source of the Beas (Hyphasis) was discovered, and subsequently that of the Chenab. Leh, the capital of Ladakh, was reached on the 24th of September, and here several months were spent in exploring the surrounding country. A commercial treaty was concluded with the government of Ladakh, by which the whole of Central Asia was virtually opened to British trade. Kashmir was reached on the 3rd of November 1822, Jalalabad on the 4th of June 1824, Kabul on the 20th of June, and Bokhara on the 25th of February 1825. At Andkhui, in Afghan Turkestan, Moorcroft was seized with fever, of which he died on the 27th of August 1825, Trebeck surviving him only a few days. But according to the Abbé Huc, Moorcroft reached Lhasa in 1826, and lived there twelve years, being assassinated on his way back to India in 1838. In 1841 Moorcroft’s papers were obtained by the Asiatic Society, and published, under the editorship of H. H. Wilson, under the title of Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjāb, in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and Bokhara, from 1819 to 1825.

 MOORE, ALBERT JOSEPH (1841–1893), English decorative painter, was born at York on the 4th of September 1841. He was the youngest of the fourteen children of the artist, William Moore, of York who in the first half of the 19th century enjoyed a considerable reputation in the North of England as a painter of portraits and landscape. In his childhood Albert Moore showed