Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/367

 MEDITERRANEAN SEA MEDLAR 355 and the bora (Boreas of the ancients), a north wind usually accompanied by terrible thunder- storms. These winds, with waterspouts, which are very frequent, especially in the western basin, render the navigation of the Mediterra- nean rather dangerous during certain seasons. One of the peculiarities of the Mediterranean is the frequent occurrence of remarkabje elec- trical phenomena, known as the St. Elmo's fire, being balls of fire playing in mid air around the masts of ships, and called by the ancients Castor and Pollux. The diminution of the temperature of the water with the depth fol- lows entirely different rules in the Mediterra- nean from those found in the open ocean. Dr. Carpenter's observations have shown that the surface temperature, variable according to the seasons, and sometimes reaching 78 in sum- mer, falls gradually to 54 or 55 at a depth of 100 fathoms; below this depth no further di- minution is observed down to the greatest depths at which observations were made (1,743 fathoms). This represents the constant tem- perature of the great body of water occupying the Mediterranean basin, the upper 100 fath- oms alone being influenced by the sun's rays. In the ocean the cold influx from the polar regions underlies the warmer strata, and re- duces the bottom temperature to about 36 even under the tropics. To this influx a bar- rier is opposed by the comparatively shallow ridge in the strait of Gibraltar. The uniform temperature of so large a mass of water in a nearly closed basin implies an almost entire absence of circulation and probably of aera- tion; hence a great scarcity of organized life on the bottom in great depths, in fact an al- most entire absence of it when compared with the ocean. (See ATLANTIC OCEAN, and DEEDG- ING, DEEP SEA.) The dredging of the Porcu- pine showed that, except near the coast, the bottom consists of a tenacious mud, composed of fine yellowish sand mixed with a bluish clay, the proportions varying according to lo- calities. It yielded nothing but fragments of shells and a few foraminifera. On the gener- ally rocky bottom nearer shore the dredge brought up richer harvests. The fauna of the Mediterranean presents a number of northern types whose occurrence has been attributed to a former direct communication between it and the bay of Biscay, which geology shows to have been closed since the eocene- period. A few cetaceans and one species of seal in- habit this sea, but are of no commercial im- portance ; the same remark applies to the log- gerhead and leather turtles. The tunny, the sardine, and the anchovy among fishes form important articles of trade. Of the lower an- imals, mollusks, Crustacea, and even radiates, all that are possibly eatable are used as arti- cles of food by the inhabitants of southern Europe. The red coral is found in deep wa- ter in most parts of this sea, but the prin- cipal fisheries are carried on along the coasts of Algeria, Tunis, and Sicily. The pink vari- ety comes chiefly from that region, while the deep red coral is more prevalent on the east coast of Spain. The finest variety of sponge (the so-called Turkey sponge) is obtained chief- ly in the Archipelago and in the Adriatic. In the latter the Austrian government has recent- ly tried its artificial propagation with success. The shores of the Mediterranean have been the nursery of civilization, the cradle of which was further east. The nations that early es- tablished themselves on its borders, particularly on the indented and diversified northern oaes, founded there centres sufficiently isolated to foster national feelings, and at the same time near enough to their neighbors for frequent and easy intercourse. Thus commercial rela- tions were early established between Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome, carrying with them arts and literature, and developing these very early to a standard which still serves us as a model. The Roman empire brought the entire coast of this sea under its sway, render- ing it thus an open channel for the spread of Christianity from the land of its origin toward the west, where it was to receive its highest development. Afterward the Mohammedan religion overspread the eastern and southern shores, and ultimately covered them with com- parative darkness, into which the light of modern progress is but slowly beginning to penetrate at a few points. MEDJIDIEH, a new town of European Turkey, in the Dobrudja, 23 m. W. by N. of Kustendji, on the railway connecting Kustendji with the Danube; pop. about 25,000. Before 1860 the place was only a village ; it owes its rapid growth to the immigration of Tartars from Russia. Some hundreds of them came to Kus- tendji after the Crimean war. They were em- ployed upon the railway then in process of construction, and afterward, by the care of the English engineers, received free transportation to Medjidieh. The geographical advantages of the place soon attracted a large immigration, and in 1862 there were living in the town and its vicinity from 40,000 to 50,000 Tartars, greatly outnumbering the Turkish population, and distinguished for the number and excel- lence of their cattle, while they also raised great quantities of wheat for export. Medji- dieh, named after the sultan Abdul Medjid, be- came the Tartar metropolis of the province. MEDLAR, a fruit-bearing tree of the order rosacece, common in the wild state in most parts of Europe, some of the finer varieties of which are cultivated. In most works the medlar is placed in a separate genus as mespi- lus Germanica, but Hooker and Bentham in their new Genera Plantarum unite it with pyrus, from which it only differs botanically in having hard and bony carpels to the fruit. The medlar is a large shrub or small _ tree, usually with very crooked branches, simple leaves, and flowers resembling those of the pear ; the fruit in the cultivated kinds is about 1 in. in diameter and broader than long ; at