Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/773

 MACAEONI eludes the Barbary ape, or magot (/. sylmnus, Geoffr.), the tailless species living wild upon the rock of Gibraltar, and being the only monkey found in Europe. This, with the last named species, leads to the cynocephali or dog-faced baboons. These monkeys are fre- McARTHUR 767 Barbary Ape (Inuus sylvanus). quently seen in menageries, and when young are easily tamed ; less active and stronger than ordinary monkeys, they have not the ferocity and disgusting habits of the baboons. (See APE, and BABOON.) MACARONI (Ital. maccheroni), a peculiar paste or dough prepared from wheat flour and manufactured into tubes, ribbons, or threads. It is an Italian invention, and, though made by a simple process, has never been produced with so great success in any other country. The samples from France at the great exhibi- tion of 1851 were nearly equal to those from Italy ; the English samples were inferior. The grain grown in the more southern countries of Europe is said to possess a greater amount of gluten, and is therefore better adapted to this manufacture. The wheat, after being washed in the mountain streams, is freed from the husks and ground in water mills, when hot water is added till it is of the consistency of stiff dough. Five different qualities of flour are obtained by an equal number of siftings, the last giving the finest -and most delicate that can be made. It is kneaded by means of a wooden pole attached to a post fixed in the ground, and worked up and down as a lever, under one end of which the paste is placed; or by another and less agreeable process of piling up the dough and treading it out with' the feet, after which it is rolled with a heavy rolling pin. To reduce the dough to cylinders or ribbons, an iron vessel is used, having the bottom perforated with holes or slits. When this is filled with the paste, a heavy iron plate is driven in by a powerful press, which forces the paste through the holes, and gives it the 516 VOL. x. 49 shape of the perforations, the workman cutting off the pieces of the desired length as they come through. To produce a hollow cylinder, or tube, a wire suspended from above passes down through the round hole in the vessel. During this process it is partially baked by a fire made under the vessel. Sometimes the flat pieces are formed into tubes by uniting the edges before they are thoroughly dry. After being hung up for a few days they are ready for use. The largest cylinders are called mac- cheroni, the smaller vermicelli (little worms), and the smallest fedelini. MACARONIC POETRY, originally a species of verse in which words of a modern language furnished with Latin terminations were inter- mingled ; afterward, in general, any verses ex- hibiting a medley of languages. The invention of macaronics is usually attributed to Teofilo Folengo, called Merlino Coccajo (1491-1544), a learned and witty Benedictine, and friend and contemporary of Sannazzaro. They existed be- fore him, but he first gave to them poetic ex- cellence. His principal poem, entitled Phan- tasm Macaronics, a burlesque mixture of Latin, Italian, Tuscan, and plebeian words and forms, satirically narrates the adventures of its hero until he finally arrives in hell. In his Apolo- getica to the work he describes the new spe- cies of poetry, deriving the name from maca- roni, because, like that melange of paste, but- ter, cheese, and spice, it should be coarse and popular. The oldest German macaronic poem is the Floia, Cortum versicale de Flois swarti- bus, illis Deiriculis, qua omnes fere Minschos, Mannos, Weibras, Jungfras, etc., behuppere et spitzibus suis schnaflis steckere et bittere so- lent, Autore Gripholdo Knicknackio ex Flolan- dia, which since 1593 has been often reprinted. Another German macaronic is entitled De Lu- sitate Studentica. Moliere gives examples of French macaronic verses in Le malade imagi- naire ; and Rabelais, who often mentions Mer- lin the cook (Coccaie), employed this style in French prose. It prevailed in England as early as the reign of Henry II., and specimens exist from Walter de Mapes to John Skelton. Many pieces of macaronic poetry have been published during the last few years both in England and the United States. See " Macaronic Poetry," collected with an introduction by J. A. Morgan (New York, 1872). McARTHUR, Duncan, an American pioneer, born in Dutchess co., K Y., June 14, 1772, died in Ohio, April 28, 1839. His family re- moved in 1780 to the western frontier of Penn- sylvania, and at 18 he left his father's house and participated as a ranger or scout in the warfare with the Indians in Kentucky and Ohio, until the victory of Gen. Wayne in 1794, He soon afterward settled in Ohio as a survey- or, acquired a large landed estate, became a member of the Ohio legislature, and was ap- pointed major general of the territorial militia^ In the war of 1812 he received the commission of brigadier general in the army, and after