Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/354

Rh 332 M A L M A L duction, hence called the sea cocoa-nut. It was valued for imaginary qualities, and exported to India. The Portuguese long believed it to be a product of these islands, and called it the Maldive cocoa-nut. Animals are few. Those named are rats, numerous and destructive, which climb the cocoa-trees and devour the kernels; the large bat called in India &quot;flying-fox,&quot; also said to destroy many small cocoa-nuts ; tortoises ; a small snake said to be harmless, &c. Domestic animals are rare ; a few goats and cattle are reared on Male&quot;. The climate is not oppressive or disagreeable, but is very unhealthy for strangers, whether Asiatic or European. Ibn Batuta says every visitor was attacked by violent fever ; Pyrard says the same ; and this was substantially the experience of the survey officers and crews in 1834-35. The native crews also suffered much from the disease called leri-beri (which has dropsical symptoms, and is often fatal) and from violent bowel-complaints. A complete report on the Maldives Las recently been prepared by Mr H. C. P. Bell of the Ceylon civil service, who has visited the islands, and this is now being printed at Colombo. Mr Bell kindly enabled the present writer to see a copy before this Article went to press, and many valuable facts have been added from it. Other materials used have been Darwin, The Structure and .Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1842 ; Voyage de Francois Pyrard de la Val, Paris, 1679 (previous editions 1611, 1615-16, 1619) ; Voyages d Ibn Bato utah, trails, of Defremery and Sanguinetti, torn. iv. , Paris, 1858 ; Hamilton, Dcsc. of Hindostan, ii. 299 ; Moresby, Naut. Directions for the Maid iva Islands, &c., 1840; Young and Chris topher, iu Trans. Bomb. Geog. Soc., vol. i. pp. 54-86 ; also see ibid. p. 102 and p. 313; Trans. Roy. Gcog. Soc., vol. ii. pp. 72-93; also vol. v. p. 398; Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. v. p. 794 ; Jour. Roy. As. Soc., vol. vi. pp. 42-76 ; ibid., new series, vol. x. pp. 173-209 (paper by Mr Albert Gray), &c. (H. Y.) MALDON, a municipal and parliamentary borough and seaport town of Essex, England, is situated on an acclivity rising from the south side of the Black water, 44 miles east-north-east of London and 16 south-west from Col chester. It consists principally of one main street with several cross streets at right angles. The church of All Saints, dating from 1056, is a spacious edifice consisting of chancel, nave, and aisles, with a triangular tower at the west end surmounted by an hexagonal spire. The church was restored in 1867, and new windows were added in 1877. St Mary s Church is also of very early origin, and was restored in the 17th century. The other public buildings are the grammar school, founded in 1547 ; the town-hall, formerly D A.rcy s tower, built in the reign of Henry VI. ; and the public-hall, 1859. There are manu factures of crystallized salt, as well as breweries, iron foundries, and some shipping. The population of the municipal borough (3508 acres) in 1871 was 5586, and in 1881 it was 5476. That of the parliamentary borough (5177 acres) in the same years was&quot; 7151 and 7128. Maldon, which is a very ancient town, is supposed to have received its name, meaning &quot;cross hill,&quot; from a cross at one time -erected on the eminence. From remains found in the neighbour hood there is no doubt that the place was of some importance in the time of the Romans, but the supposition that it was Camulodunum is not sufficiently established. On the western side of the town there are also traces of a large camp, but whether the work is of Roman, Saxon, or Danish origin it is impossible to say. The oldest historical mention of the town is in 913, when Edward the Elder encamped near it to impede the progress of the Danes. The town received its first charter from Henry II., and in 1553 it was incor porated by Queen Mary. From the time of Edwavd III. it returned two members to parliament, but since 1867 only one member. MALEBRANCHE, NICOLAS (1638-1715), a well-known disciple of Descartes, was the youngest child of Nicolas Malebranche, secretary to Louis XIII., and Catherine de Lauzon, sister of a viceroy of Canada, and was born at Paris on August 6, 1638. Of an extremely feeble constitution .and somewhat deformed habit of body, he received his elementary education in Latin and Greek from a domestic tutor, and only left home when sufficiently advanced to enter upon a course of philosophy at the College de la Marche, and subsequently to study theology at the Sorbonne. He had resolved to enter the church, but his retiring and studious disposition led him to decline a stall in Notre Dame, and in 1660 he joined the Congrega tion of the Oratory. Both his ecclesiastical superiors and himself appear to have experienced considerable difficulty for some time in ascertaining what his special talents were, if they existed at all. He was first advised by Pere Lecomte to devote himself to ecclesiastical history, and he accordingly set about a laborious perusal of the works of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, but it was found that &quot; the facts refused to arrange themselves in his mind, and mutually effaced one another.&quot; Afterwards Pilchard Simon undertook to teach him Hebrew and Biblical criticism, but with no better success. At last having accidentally, in 1664, fallen upon one of ths works of Descartes (the Traite de 1 IIomme), Malebranche was forthwith alive to his true vocation. So overpowered was he by the novelty and luminousness of the ideas, and by the solidity and coherence of the principles of his author, that (it is said) he was repeatedly compelled by violent palpitations of the heart to lay aside his reading. Malebranche was from that hour consecrated to philosophy, and especially to that of Descartes ; and after ten years study of the works of his master he produced, in 1674, the famous Recherche de la Verite, which was followed at intervals by other works, both speculative and controversial, the titles of which are given below. Like most of the great metaphysicians of the 17th century, Malebranche interested himself also in questions of mathematics and natural philo sophy, and in 1699 he was admitted an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. During his later years his society was much courted, and he received many visits from foreigners of distinction. His death took place on October 13, 1715 ; according to Stock, the biographer of Berkeley, it was hastened by an excited metaphysical argument into which he had been drawn in the course of an interview sought by that philosopher. For a critical account of Malebranche s place in the history of philo sophy, see CARTESIANISM (vol. v. p. 148 sq.). The following is a list of his principal works : De la Recherche de la Verit^, ou Ton traite de la nature de I csprit de I homme, ct de V usage qu il en doitfaire pour totter Vcrreur dans les sciences (1674, 6th ed. 1712 ; Latin translation by J. Lenfant at Geneva in 1685 ; two English translations, the second by Taylor in 1712 ; transla tions also into German, Dutch, and modern Greek) ; Conversations Chret.iennes, dans lesquellcs on j isti fie In Verite de la Religion ct de la Morale de Jesus Christ (1676, and frequently) ; Traite de la Nature et de la Grace, 1680 ; Meditations Chreticnnes ct Metaphy- siqucs, 1683 ; Traite de la Morale, 1684 ; several polemical works against Arnauldfrora 1684 to 1688 ; Entrcticns sur la M&aphysique et la Religion, 1688 ; Traite de V Amour de Dicu, 1697 ; Entrcticii d un Philosophe Chretien et (Tun Philosophe Chinois sur I existence ct la nature de Dicu, 1708 ; Reflexions sur la Promotion Physique, 1715. A convenient edition of the (Euvrcs choisies de Malebranche, in two volumes, with an introduction, was published by Jules Simon in 1846. MALER KOTLA, a native state in the Punjab, India, situated between 30 24 and 30 41 N. lat., and between 75 42 and 75 59 15&quot; E. long., with an estimated area of 165 square miles, and an estimated population of 91,560. The chief products are cotton, sugar, opium, aniseed, tobacco, garlic, and grain. The gross revenue is 25,893. The nawab exercises complete jurisdiction, and receives a compensation of 250 per annum in perpetuity from the British Government, on account of loss of revenue caused by the abolition of customs duties. Maler Kotla town is situated 30 miles south of Ludhiana. The nawab or chief is of Afghan descent ; his family originally came fiom Cabul, and occupied positions of trust in Sirhind under the Mughal emperors. They gradually became independent as the Mughal empire sank into decay in the course of the 18th century.