Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/127

Rh M Y C M Y R 115 Gesu, his Ascension in the Araceli, and his St Francis receiving the Stigmata in the church of the Conception. A picture by him, representing Christ washing the feet of his disciples, is in the cathedral of Kheims. MYCEN M, one of the most ancient cities of Greece, was situated in the north-eastern extremity of the fertile Argive plain f^Xf &quot;Apyeos ITTTTO/^OTOIO. Its situation is exceedingly strong, and it commands all the roads leading from Corinth and Achaia into the Argive plain ; this fact, combined with its distance from the sea, shows that the city was founded by a race which came from the direction of Corinth and not by immigrants landing on the coast. The walls of Mycenae are the greatest monument that remains of the Heroic age in Greece ; part of them is similar in style and doubtless contemporary in date with the walls of the neighbouring town Tiryns, but other parts seem to be the work of a rather later time. There can therefore be little doubt that the two towns were the strongholds of a single race, Tiryns commanding the sea - coast and Mycenae the inner country. The city of Argos, on the other hand, has no remains to connect it with this early Mycenaean race ; and legend tells of the rivalry between the dynasties of the Pelopidae at Mycense and of the Prcetidae at Argos. The long warfare between the two cities lasted till 468 B.C., when Mycenae was dismantled and its inhabitants dispersed. The city never revived; Strabo asserts that no trace of it remained in his time, but Pausanias describes the ruins. Subjoined are the most important monuments. 1. The &quot;Trea suries &quot; of Atreus and his sons, as Pausanias calls them. They were subterranean buildings of beehive shape, in the side of the hill south west of the city ; one of them is still almost perfect. A sloping passage, 5po/xos, led to the doorway, with its ornamented columns, at the base of the building. The great circular chamber inside was probably covered with plates of bronze ; a door in one side admitted to a second smaller chamber. Such buildings, which are found in other parts of Greece e.g., Orchomenus, Sparta, Attica, lolcus, &c. were undoubtedly the sepulchres of noble families. 2. The graves discovered by Dr Schliemann in 1876 within the city wall. They are enclosed within a circular 7re/x /3oos with a single entrance, and the place was therefore a holy place in the ancient Mycenaean time ; on the other hand the part of the city wall which encloses them is a later addition to the original wall. At some period before 468 B.C. this addition was built ; before that time the irfpi[3oos was outside the wall. Some heroes of the race were worshipped here by the ancient inhabitants, but their names are not recorded by any trustworthy authority. In the time of Pausanias, six centuries after Mycense was destroyed, local legend maintained that these were the graves of Atreus, Agamemnon, Cassandra and her children, and Eurymedon ; but it is uncertain whether this was the original legend, or a later tale that grew under the influence of Greek literature. 3. The Lion -Gate. The principal entrance to the city is approached by a Spo/xos, flanked on each side by the city wall and leading up to a gateway. Over the entrance is placed a triangular slab of stone on which are carved two lions in relief; they are rampant, facing one another, but separated by an upright column. The art of this relief shows no resemblance to archaic Greek art ; it is foreign in character, the work of an immigrant race, which brought with it a well-developed civilization. Greek legend always maintains that the Pelopidse of Mycense came from Phrygia, and this is corroborated by the evidence of archaeology. The objects found in excavations, and the sculptured ornament on the doorways of the &quot; Treasuries &quot; and over the Lion- Gate, all point to foreign influence and particularly to Asia Minor. The same type of the two lions and the column has been recently found over the entrance to a colossal sepulchre in the rocks near the south-western corner of the Sangarius valley in Phrygia. Legend and remains alike show that a rich and powerful dynasty of foreign origin ruled at Mycense ; the only early remains in the Greek world that equal them in interest are the ruins of ancient Troy. It is precisely these two cities which are described in the Homeric poems as the two great cities of the Greek world. MYDDLETON, SIR HUGH (c. 1555-1631), the projector of the New River scheme for supplying London with water, was the sixth son of Richard Myddleton, governor of Denbigh Castle in the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. Hugh Myddleton became a goldsmith in London, occupying a shop in Bassihaw (now Basinghall) Street, and he is also mentioned in the records of Denbigh, for which he was chosen M.P. in 1603, as a merchant adventurer. In the state papers there is an entry of 250 paid to him for a jewel supplied to the queen. In connexion with his business as goldsmith Myddleton worked silver and lead mines in Cardiganshire, and in this way obtained the practical knowledge of engineering which enabled him to put in operation his scheme for supply ing London with water (see LONDON, vol. xiv. p. 825). In recognition of his services he was created a baronet by James I. in 1622; but pecuniarily the enterprise was a complete failure. Myddleton died 10th December 1631, and was buried in the churchyard of St Matthew, Friday Street, London. See Pinks, History of Clerkenwell. MYELITIS (/u eAos, marrow) is a disease which by in flammation induces destructive changes in the tissues com posing the spinal cord. In the acute variety the nerve ele ments in the affected part become disintegrated and softened, but repair may take place ; in the chronic form the change is slower, and the diseased area tends to become denser (sclerosed), the nerve-substance being replaced by connect ive tissue. Myelitis may affect any portion of the spinal cord, and its symptoms and progress will vary accordingly. Its most frequent site is in the lower part, and its exist ence there is marked by the sudden or gradual occurrence of weakness of motor power in the legs (which tends to pass into complete paralysis), impairment or loss of sensi bility in the parts implicated, nutritive changes affecting the skin and giving rise to bed-sores, together with bladder and bowel derangements. In the acute form, in which there is at first pain in the region of the spine and much constitutional disturbance, death may take place rapidly from extension of the disease to those portions of the cord connected with the muscles of respiration and the heart, from an acute bed-sore which is very apt to form, or from some intercurrent disease. Recovery to a certain extent may, however, take place ; or, again, the disease may pass into the chronic form. In the latter the progress is usually slow, the general health remaining tolerably good for a time, but gradually the strength fails, the patient becomes more helpless, and ultimately sinks exhausted, or is cut off by some complication. The chief causes of myelitis are injuries or diseases affecting the spinal column, extension of inflammation from the membranes of the cord to its substance (see MENINGITIS), exposure to cold and damp, and occasionally some pre-existing constitutional morbid condition, such as a fever. Any debilitating cause or excess in mode of life will act powerfully in predisposing to this malady. The disease is most common in adults. The treatment for myelitis in its acute stage is similar to that for spinal meningitis. When the disease is chronic the most that can be hoped for is the relief of symptoms by careful nursing and attention to the condition of the body and its functions. Good is sometimes derived from the employment of electricity, and the use of baths and douches to the spine. MYNPOOREE. See MiiNPURf. MYRIAPODA. The Myriapoda or Centipedes are usually treated of in text-books as one of the classes of the group Arthropoda, being associated in that group with the Crustacea, Arachnida, and Insecta as equivalent divi sions of the animal kingdom. In consequence, however, of recent evidence which points to a community of origin of all the Tracheate forms apart from that of the Crustacea, it is probably more natural to divide the Arthropoda (with the exception of certain minor groups of obscure affinities) into two classes, one consisting of the Crustacea, the other of the Tracheata. If this plan of classification be adopted, the Myriapoda form a sub- class of the Tracheata. It is necessary that the peculiar contrast in structure between