Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/330

Rh 310 M A J M A J than any other cereals when ripe (calculated in the dry veight). It is capable of being grown in the tropics from the level of the sea to a height equal that of the Pyrenees, and in the south and middle of Europe, but it cannot be grown in England with any chance of profit, except perhaps as fodder. Frost kills the plant in all its stages and all its varieties ; and the crop does not flourish well if the nights are cool, no matter how favourable the other conditions. Consequently it is the first crop to dis appear as one ascends into the mountain regions, and com paratively little is grown west of the great plains of North America. In Brittany, where it scarcely ripens the grain, it furnishes a strong crop in the autumn upon sandy soil where clover and lucern will yield but a poor produce. It prefers a deep, rich, warm, dry, and mellow soil, and hence the rich bottoms and fertile prairies of the Mississippi basin constitute the region of its greatest production. Illinois leads in total amount, producing in 1879 nearly 326 millions of bushels, or 105 bushels per head of population. The region of chief production in the United States may be described as a rude ellipse 900 miles long from east to west by 600 miles wide, with Springfield (the capital of Illinois) as its centre. This region pro duces annually from 1000 to 1400 millions of bushels, or nearly three-fourths of the total crop of the country. As an article of food, maize is one of the most extensively used grains in the world. Although rich in nitrogenous matter and fat, it does not make good bread. A mixture of rye and corn meal, however, makes an excellent coarse bread, formerly much used in the Atlantic States, and a similar bread is now the chief coarse bread of Portugal, and some parts of Spain. When the harder &quot; flint &quot; varieties are roasted, the grains &quot; pop,&quot; the skin bursts, and the white interior swells up, emitting a pleasant odour. It is either baked into cakes called tortilla by the Indians of Yucatan, or made into a kind of porridge, as in Ireland. When deprived of the. gluten it constitutes oswego, maizena, or corn flour (see Letheby s Lectures on Food, p. ID; and Foods, by E. Smith, 156). Maize con tains more oil than any other cereal, ranging from 3 5 to 9 - 5 per cent, ia the commercial grain. This is one of the factors in its va^ue for fattening purposes. In distilling and some other processes this oil is separated and forms an article of commerce. When maize is sown broadcast or closely planted in drills, the ears may not develop at all, but the stalk is richer in sugar and sweeter, and this is the basis of growing &quot; corn-fodder.&quot; The amount of forage that may be produced in this way is enormous ; 50,000 to 80,000 fib of green fodder are grown per acre, which makes 8000 to 12,000 R&amp;gt; as field-cured. Sugar and molasses have from time to time been manufactured from the corn stalks, but at present this manufacture is not commercially successful. In the treeless western prairies maize is often grown for fuel, as in many places fuel can be procured so cheaply in no other way. A hundred bushels of ears is equal in heating power to a cord of the best hard wood, and may be grown for a price less than a cord of hard wood brings in the large cities. The use of corn in the industries, as the raw material for the manufacture of alcohol, whisky, starch, glucose, oil, and various food products, increases year by year, with the increase of facilities for production and the increasing applications of chemistry to the arts. For fuller details see a paper by Professor W. H. Brewer, Yale Col., Conn., from which some of the above details are taken, as well as the S})ccial Report on Cereal Products, Washington, 1882, and the 38th Annual Report of the New York State Agricultural Society, 1878. (G-. H.) MAJLATH, JANOS or JOHN, COUNT (1786-1855), Hungarian historian and poet, was born at Pest on the 5th of October 1786. First educated at home, he subse quently studied philosophy at Eger (Erlau) and law at Gyb r (Raab), his father, Count Joseph Majlath, an Austrian minister of state, eventually obtaining for him an appointment in the public service. The weakness of his eyesight having rendered it necessary for him a few years later to resign the Government secretaryship to which he had been promoted, Majlath turned his attention to litera ture, especially devoting himself to historical research, and the translation into German of Magyar folk-tales, and of selections from the works of the best of his country s native poets. Moreover, as an original lyrical writer, and as an editor and adapter of old German poems, Majlath showed considerable talent; and, in general, his activity as an author was remarkable, his various literary produc tions in German and Hungarian amounting together to more than sixty volumes. During the greater part of his life he resided either at Pest or Vienna, but a few years before his death he removed to Munich, where he fell into a state of destitution and extreme despondency. Seized at last by a terrible infatuation, he and his daughter Henriette, who had long been his constant companion and amanuensis, determined to put an end to their depend ent position by drowning themselves in the Lake of Starn- berg, a few miles south-west of Munich. This fatal resolu tion was carried into effect ou the 3d of January 1855. It is generally admitted that in his great historical treatises Count Majlath has failed in a critical discrimination between the merely mythical or poetical and the true historical element, the former not unfrequently being allowed to unduly influence and obscure the latter. The political tendency of his writings, more over, has been objected to, especially by his own countrymen, as being too conservative and over-favourable to Austria. Of his his torical works the most important are the GcschicMe dcr Magyarcn (Vienna, 1828-31, 5 vols. ; 2d ed., Ratisbon, 1852-53), and his Geschichte des ostcmichischcn Kaiscrstaats (Hamburg, 1834-50, 5 vols.). Specially noteworthy among his metrical translations from the Hungarian are the Magyarische Gcdichte (Stuttgart and Tiibingen, 1825) ; aiullfimfy s auscrlcsene Liebcslicder (Pest, 1829 ; 2d. ed., 1831 ; see KISFALUDY, SANDOR). A valuable contribution to folk-lore appeared in the Mayyarischc Sagen, Mcirclien, und Erzahlunycn (Briinn, 1825 ; 2d ed., Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1837, 2 vols.). MAJOLICA. See POTTERY. MAJOR, or MAIR, JOHN (/;. 1470-1550), a theological and historical writer, was born at the village of Cleghorn, near North Berwick, Scotland, about the year 1470. After a short period spent at Cambridge, he entered the university of Paris in 1493, studying successively at the colleges of St Barbe and Montaigu, and graduating as master of arts in 1496. Promoted to the doctorate in 1505, he lectured in philosophy at Montaigu College for some time, and had several distinguished auditors. From 1518 to 1522 he held the office of principal in the university of Glasgow, John Knox being among the number of those who attended his lectures there ; he was afterwards removed to St Andrews, where George Buchanan was one of his pupils in 1525. He appears again to have returned to France for some time, but we find him once more at St Andrews in 1530, where he was head of St Salvator s College from 1533 until his death, which took place about 1550. He wrote In Libras Scntentiarum commcntarins, Paris, 1509- 19 ; De Historia Gentis Scotorum libri sex, Paris, 1521 ; Commcn- tarius in Physica Aristotelis, Paris, 1526 ; and In Quatuor Eran- gelia Expositioncs Luculentse, Paris, 1529. By Knox he is spoken of as having been in his day an oracle in religious matters ; and it has been conjectured that both the great Reformer and Buchanan were largely indebted to him for their advanced opinions on politi cal and ecclesiastical questions. His writings do not now, however, possess any interest or importance apart from this circumstance; and even Buchanan has allowed himself to speak of his old pre ceptor as &quot;Joannes solo cognomine major.&quot; MAJORCA. See BALEARIC ISLANDS. MAJORIANUS, JULIUS VALERIUS, emperor of the West from 457 to 461, was the successor of Avitus. He