Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/389

 MEMBERTOU MEMBRANE 377 100 and 115 "W., enclosed between the Parry islands (Melville, Byam Martin, Bathurst, &c.), on the K, Prince of Wales Land on the S. E., Prince Albert Land on the S. W., and Baring island or Banks Land on the "W. ; length E. and W. about 300 m. ; breadth N. and S. 200 m. Byam Martin channel opens into it on the N. ; Banks strait connects it with the Arctic ocean on the N. W. ; on the S. an opening discovered by Oapt. Allen Young of McClintock's expe- dition in 1859, and since named McClintock channel, leads between Prince Albert and Vic- toria Lands and Prince of Wales Land into Victoria channel; and on the E. it commu- nicates through Barrow strait and Lancaster sound with Baffin bay. MELVILLE ISLAND, which lies 1ST. W. of the sound, is irregular in form, and measures about 230 m. from E. to W. and 130 in greatest breadth. Its coast line is broken by several deep gulfs, and it has nu- merous peninsulas, the chief of which are Sa- bine and Dundas. It is separated from Bath- urst and Byam Martin islands by Byam Martin channel, and from Prince Patrick and Eglinton islands by Fitz William and Kellet straits. The geological formation of its N". part is car- boniferous limestone, and of the rest lower carboniferous sandstone with beds of coal. MELVILLE PENINSULA is a projection of the N. coast of the American continent, bounded N. by Fury and Hecla strait, which separates it from Oockburn island, E. by Fox channel, S. by Frozen strait and Rowe's Welcome, and W. by Committee bay, at the head of the gulf of Boothia. It is connected with the mainland by Rae isthmus at the S. W. It lies between lat. 66 10' and 69 50' K, and Ion. 81 and 87 W., and measures about 280 m. from N. to S. and 150 m. from E. to W. MEMBERTOF, Henry, a Micmac sagamore and medicine man, born about 1500, died in 1611. He is said to have seen Cartier in his youth ; he received De Monts and his colonists, on their arrival in Acadia in 1604, with a friend- ship that never changed, and by his influence aided them greatly, being the most powerful chief on the coast. He was tall, strongly built, and bearded like a Frenchman. He at once gathered 400 of his tribe in a palisaded village near the French post, and in 1607 led a large Micmac force against the Armouchiquois Indians, near the Merrimack, whom he defeat- ed. Lescarbot commemorated his victory in a French poem. He was hastily baptized, with his wife and three sons and 16 others, June 24, 1610, and seemed to endeavor to live a Christian life, though his excessive zeal led him to wish to make war on all tribes that refused to embrace Christianity. In the au- tumn of the following year he was brought in a dying condition to Port Royal, and, though carefully attended by the missionaries, soon expired, at the reputed age of 110. MEMBRANE, a general term applied to thin layers of tissue, more or less elastic, whitish or reddish, lining either closed cavities or canals opening externally, absorbing or secreting fluids, and enveloping various organs. The simple membranes are either mucous, serous, or fibrous. The mucous membranes are so called from the peculiar fluid or mucus which they secrete; they line the passages of the body which communicate externally, and by which foreign substances are taken in or the secretions and excrementitious matter carried off; they are continuous with the skin, per- form many of its offices internally, and at the points of contact, as in the lips, can hardly be separated by a distinct demarcation. Soft and smooth or velvety, reddish and very vascular, attached to muscle, cartilage, or even perios- teum, their free surface is lined with a layer of epithelial cells covering the vascular parts. They present papillae upon the tongue, villosi- ties and folds in the alimentary canal, and de- pressions for glands almost everywhere. The three divisions of the mucous membranes are those lining the digestive, respiratory, and genito-urinary passages. The digestive mu- cous membrane begins in the mouth, extends through the oesophagus to the stomach, and through the intestinal canal to the anus, send- ing prolongations into the ducts of the salivary glands, liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. The respiratory mucous membrane lines the nose and the cavities and sinuses connected there- with, the eyelids, middle ear, larynx, trachea, and the bronchial ramifications. The genito- urinary mucous membrane extends externally from the urinif erous tubes of the kidney, and into and through the reproductive organs. In each of these tracts the membranes present some slight modifications adapted for special functions. Mucous membranes are generally endowed with keen sensibility at their points of origin from the skin, as on the lids, lips, &c., but gradually become less sensitive and finally almost insensible, in a healthy state, in the interior of the organs. Besides being the seat of various secretions and absorptions, they assist in the functions of digestion, respiration, and reproduction. (See EPITHELIUM, GLAND, and INTESTINE.) Serous membranes are form- ed of fibro-cellular tissue, covered with epithe- lial cells ; they are very thin, smooth, trans- parent, and extensible, not having the folds, papilla3, and glands of mucous membrane ; they are closed sacs, and are found wherever inter- nal organs come in contact with each other, or lie in cavities where more or less jnotion is re- quired; they consist of two layers, the first surrounding the organ itself, and the second reflected upon the parts with which it is in contact and on which it moves ; the cavity is lubricated by a serous fluid, exuded from the surface of the membrane. They are of two kinds : those which line the visceral cavities, as the peritoneum in the abdomen, the pleura and pericardium in the chest, and the arachnoid of the brain and spinal cord ; and the synovial membranes, which line the joints, sheaths of tendons and ligaments, and bursse interposed