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MERCHANT OF VENICE

1206

MEREDITH

of iron and steel ships was a fatal blow to the American merchant-marine. Britain not only had the start and the advantage of not being hampered by the navigation laws; but she could construct vessels far more cheaply than could America. The American merchant-marine, except for domestic trade and the fisheries, is now quite insignificant, amounting in 1902 to only 398,000 tons. It is, however, beginning ^ to recover from the blow dealt by British iron shipping and the havoc wrought by Confederate cruisers in the Civil War. In 1906 the registered tonnage of foreign trading vessels and vessels engaged in the whale-fisheries amounted to 939,486 tons. Only 10.3 per cent of the foreign trade during 1905 was conducted in vessels belonging to the United States.

Merchant of Venice, The, a play of Shakespeare, perhaps first produced in 1597, is one of the most popular of the Shakes-perian comedies on the modern stage. The Venetian merchant, Antonio, borrows money from the Jew, Shylock, who in a pretended jest sets down as security in the bond a pound of the merchant's flesh, to be taken by him in default of payment. Antonio's vessels are delayed, and the case comes to trial. The friend, for the expenses of whose marriage Antonio had set his name to the bond, is in despair; but Portia, his bride to be, finds a way to save Antonio and foil the murderous intention of the Jew. She appears disguised as a young lawyer, and, failing to touch the heart of Shylock by her plea for mercy, she confounds him by pointing out that according to the bond he may shed no drop of blood and, further, that his life and lands are forfeit in that he has plotted against the life of a Christian citizen. There are several minor plots interwoven with this story; for instance, the old medieval tale of the gold, silver and leaden caskets and the tricks which Portia and her maid play upon their lovers in giving them rings which they swear never to part with, only to win them in their disguise as clerks under a plea of reward for saving Antonio. There is much of wit, romance and poetry in this favorite play, which has ennobled the many medieval sources from which Shakespeare drew.

Mer'cury or Her'mes, in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and the messenger of the gods. He was the patron of thieves, travelers, merchants, rain, good fortune and eloquence, and sometimes is called the god of the wind. He began his career by stealing the oxen of Apollo when only a few hours old and by inventing a lyre out of a tortoise-shell. He was connected with the every-day life of the Greeks more than any other god. His images were found on mountains, by streams, in the streets of their cities, over the doors of their gymnasiums, and were used as guideposts on

their roads and to mark the boundaries of their states. He is represented in art with a staff, wings on his feet or shoulders and a low, broad-brimmed hat on his head. Some of the most beautiful specimens of Greek art are statues of Hermes, notably one by Praxiteles. Mercury is the Latin name for the Greek god Hermes.

Mercury or Quick'silver is the only metal that is fluid at common temperatures, which gives it its name, meaning fluid silver. It is of a silvery-white color, and runs on a smooth surface, in separate round drops. If it is not pure, the drops will leave a trail. Heat expands it, and cold contracts it regularly down to its freezing-point, which is about 40° below o°, which explains its use in a thermometer, the range being more than 700 degrees between the boiling and freezing points. When boiled, mercury forms an invisible vapor. Nature mercury or quicksilver occurs in small quantities, usually in connection with mercurial ores. These ores, of which the most important is called cinnabar, are burned in a furnace, and the sulphur, which is combined with the mercury, passes off as sulphurous acid, and the mercury can be collected in a condensing chamber. The Greeks and Phoenicians procured cinnabar from Almaden, Spain. After the discovery of America the mercury of Peru was famous. The larger part of the mercury used in America comes from California, and most of it from one mine, called the New Alma-den. Mercury unites with other metals to form what are called amalgams, and this property is made use of in extracting gold and silver from their ores. The amalgam of mercury and tin is used in silvering mirrors, while others are used in gilding and in filling teeth. Mercury is used largely in making philosophical instruments and in the laboratory, and some salts of it are used in medicine and as antiseptics.

Mercury. See PLANET.

Mer de Glace (mdrdeglds), Switzerland-one of the most noted of Alpine glaciers. At a distance, only a part of this "sea of ice," can be seen, but there are miles upon miles of pulverized rocks ground off. from adjacent cliffs and piled up on its sides, Among these are bowlders so or 30 feet square, which have been tossed about like mere playthings and landed here. The " sea of ice" lies between these tracts of earth and stones, white and glistening, and looks as if its billows had been instantly frozen, while their crested waves were wildly tossing. Some of these are gigantic, for as the glacier pushes down toward the valley it is distorted into monstrous forms by various obstructions in its way.

Mer'edith, George, an English novelist and poet, was born in Hampshire, Feb. 12, 1828. His first writings were poems, published in 1851, followed in 1855 and 185; 7