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MOLlfRE

1248

MOLLY MAGUIRES

matter is not continuous, but is probably made up of very small particles. Accordingly the chemist uses the word molecule with considerable accuracy to mean the smallest portion of any kind of matter which can exist alone and yet preserve the properties of this particular kind of matter. Thus the smallest portion of table salt which can exhibit the properties of table salt must contain still smaller parts of sodium and of chlorine, These smaller particles of which the molecule is made up are called atoms (q. v.). But even when a body is made up of atoms of one kind, these atoms rarely remain uncombined, but unite with each other to form molecules. Thus hydrogen gas is com-

Eosed of molecules made up of two atoms of ydrogen. Remsen distinguishes between molecules and atoms as follows: "Atoms are the indivisible constituents of molecules. They are the smallest particles of the elements that take part in the chemical reactions, and are, for the greater part, incapable of existence in the free state, being generally found in combination with other atoms, either of the same kind or of different kinds." In chemistry the molecule of a compound consists of atoms of a different kind, while the molecule of an element consists of atoms of the same kind.

In physics the word molecule is used more loosely, often, to mean the smallest particle of a substance with which we are dealing, whether it be made up of one or more atoms and whether these atoms be of the same or of different kinds. Thus there is reason for thinking that the diameter of a hydrogen molecule is something like 5.8 x io~8 centimeters, while the diameter of a carbon dioxide molecule is larger, namely, 9.3 x io~8 centimeters. Molecule is used in this sense in the classical illustration given by Lord Kelvin, that a drop of water magnified to appear the size of the earth would be made up of molecules about the size of cricket balls. Too little is yet known about molecules even to define exactly what is meant by "the size of a molecule." See ATOM.

HENRY CREW.

Mpliere (mo'lydr'), Jean Baptiste Po« quelin, a French dramatist, was born at Paris, Jan. 15, 1622. His father's name was Poquelin, the name Moliere being taken for the stage. He began as a theater manager, failing in Paris but succeeding in the provinces, returning to Paris in 1658, where he organized a regular theater, tie wrote several of his comedies while traveling through the country with his theatrical troupe. He depended largely for his tragedies, as a theater manager, on Corneille and Racine, and in his comedies and farces he borrowed from Spanish and Italian literature, owing to the haste with which many of them were written. From 1659, when the first of his great comedies appeared, until 1673 not a year passed without adding one at least to these immor-

tal works. He attacked with his satire religious hypocrisy, in Tartuffe, which in consequence was forbidden the stage for five years; the vanity and follies of women; the frivolity of the nobles; and the pretensions of the learned classes, especially the doctors His wit, satire and power over language place him in the highest rank of French writers; and his plays have held the stage for 250 years. His greatest works are The School for Wives, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The School_ for Husbands, The Physician in Spite of Himself, The Imaginary Invalid and Learned Women. He died at Paris, Feb. 17, 1673. A century after his death his bust was admitted to the French Academy, which had never received him as a member because he would not give up his profession.

Moline (mo-lenf), a city of Illinois, in Rock Island County, on the Mississippi, 179 miles west of Chicago. It is separated from Rock Island by a narrow channel, which is used as a water-power. It is a manufacturing city, with numerous mills and factories. Population 24,199. See DAVENPORT and ROCK ISLAND.

MoI'lusks, a subkingdom of animals with a soft body, as snails, clams and others. The body is not jointed as in the earthworm and crayfish Mollusks usually possess a shell, but there are some naked forms. They live on land and in water, both fresh and salt. Some mollusks have a larval form, similar to that of some worms, and this serves to connect the two groups. The group is a large one, and is divided into classes as follows: (i) Gasteropoda, those like snails, crawling on a broad, fleshy foot. The class contains common snails, slugs and many seashells, like whelks. (See SNAIL and LIMPET.) Land snails, feeding on plants in damp districts, are common in many sections of the United States and other countries. In the Philippines are many^ tree-snails. Pond snails are abundant in still water; there are flattened forms, long, sharp-pointed ones and others showing gradations between the two. (2) Lamellibranchiata, mollusks with gills like plates or lamellae, represented by clams, oysters and mussels (which see). Their shells have two valves, and they therefore are called bivalves. (3) Cephalopoda^ mollusks with processes called arms or feet clustered around the head, and therefore named the headfooted. The arms are provided with sucking disks. (See CUTTLEFISH, SQUID, NAUTILUS.) (4) Amphineura,contsLinmgthe chitons, and (5) Scaphopoda, represented by the elephant tooth shell, are two classes of less popular interest. The mollusks are represented by 20,000 living and 19,000 fossil species. See Woodward's Manual of the Mollusca.

Molly Maguires (moVi-ma~guwrz?)9 an Irish secret society which existed from 1867 to 1877 in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. The name came from Ireland, where a band