Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/326

 314 MEASURES MECCA predisposed to consumption the seeds of that disease may be developed. The eyes, too, are sometimes left irritable and inflamed. In all ordinary cases, a simple diet, the maintenance of an equable temperature, and perhaps the ex- hibition of a mild diaphoretic or expectorant, are all that is required. For an account of measles in swine, see ENTOZOA. MK tsi KKS. See WEIGHTS AND MEASTJBES. HEATH, an E. maritime county of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, bordering on the coun- ties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Dublin, Kildare, King's, and Westmeath, and the Irish sea ; area, 903 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 94,480. It has only about 8 m. of coast, and no harbor of impor- tance. The surface is generally level, the soil fertile, and the climate healthful. Oats are the principal crop, but only about one third of the land is under cultivation, the rest being devoted to grazing. The chief rivers are the Boyne and Blackwater.. Coarse linens, cot- tons, frieze, paper, &c., are manufactured. The Midland Great West- ern railway and the Dublin and Belfast Junction railway pass through the county. The principal towns are Kells, the capital, Navan, and Trim. MEAUX, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Seine - et- Marne, 25 m. E. K E. of Paris; pop. in 1866, 11,343. It is on the Marne, near the canal of Ourcq. Meaux is an episcopal town, and was the see of Bossuet, whose re- mains repose in the cathedral, and relics of whom are preserved in the episcopal pal- ace. The cathedral dates from the 12th century, but is still un- finished. There is a communal college with a library of 15,000 volumes, and the town has a brisk trade in grain and cheese. MECCA, the chief of the three holy cities of the Mohammedans, capital of the province of Hedjaz, Arabia, 65 m. E. of Jiddah, its port on the Red sea, and 250 m. S. of Medina, in lat. 21 30' N. and Ion. 40 15' E.; pop. about 45,000. It lies in a narrow valley shut in by bare hills, from 200 to 500 ft. high. Its length from N. to S. is about 2 m., its breadth is somewhat less than a mile, and it is defended by a fortress on an elevation S. of the city. The houses are well built of brick and stone, and, unlike those of most oriental towns, have windows opening to the street ; they generally contain apartments which are let as lodgings to the pilgrims who annually visit the holy city. The streets are broad and unpaved. The only public building worthy of note is the shrine or temple called Beit Allah, "House of Allah," or more commonly Caaba, "Square House." This great sanctuary, the most famous and holy in the Mohammedan world, stands in the centre of an oblong square, enclosed by a wall 250 paces long and 200 broad, none of the sides of which run in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of regular shape. Inside of the wall is a colonnade consisting of a quadruple row of pillars on the eastern side and of a triple row on the other sides. These pillars are more than 20 ft. high, and generally about 18 in. in diameter. Some are of white marble, granite, or porphyry, but the greater number are of common stone from the neigh- boring hills. Their number is variously stated ; Burton counted 554. They are united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome plastered and whitened on the out- side ; these domes are 152 in number. Parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted in The Great Mosque, Mecca. stripes of yellow, red, and blue. The floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together. The Caaba is 115 paces from the northern colonnade and 88 from the southern. It is an oblong massive struc- ture, 18 paces long, 14 broad, and from 35 to 40 ft. high, and is built of fine gray granite in horizontal courses of masonry of irregular depth ; the stones are well fitted together with excellent mortar like Roman cement. It was entirely rebuilt as it now stands in 1627, a tor- rent in the preceding year having thrown down three of its sides. The roof of the Caaba be- ing flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube. At the S. E. corner of the Caaba is the famous "black stone," which is believed to have been brought from heaven by angels. It forms a part of the angle of the building, 4 ft. 9 in. from the ground, and is an irregular oval about 7 in. in diameter, with an