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 MISKOLCZ principal parts and 63 treatises. Of the for- mer, the 1st treats chiefly of prayers and the duties of husbandmen; the 2d, festivals; the 3d, marriage relations; the 4th, judicial sub- jects ; the 5th, matters concerning the temple ; and the 6th, the institutions respecting purifi- cation. For a full analysis of the contents of the Mishnah, see Herzog's Real Encylclopddie, article Thalmud, which also contains an extract from the Talmud, showing the relation of the Mishnah text to the commentaries (Gemara) of the early rabbis. Among the numerous separate editions of the Mishnah are those by Surenhuis (6 vols. fol., Amsterdam, 1698-1703, translation and notes in Latin), and by Heine- mann and others (6 vols. 4to, Berlin, 1831-'4, with punctuated text, German translation in Hebrew characters, rabbinical commentaries, and brief explanations). A free translation in German, with occasional paraphrase and ex- planatory notes, was published by Eabe (3 vols. 4to, Onolzbach, 1760-'63). De Sola and Rap- hall published an English translation of 18 treatises (London, 1843), and Geiger a valuable Lehr- und Lesebuch zur Sprache der MiscTina (Breslau, 1845). The Mishnah is a very im- portant aid in the critical study of the New Testament, illustrating many allusions to Jew- ish usages. But in Christian Europe this body of Jewish learning, of priceless value to Chris- tianity as well as Judaism, narrowly escaped destruction from the fanatical violence of ig- norant zealots. Only a few manuscript copies remain. (See HEBEEWS, vol. viii., pp. 594-'o, and TALMUD.) MISKOLCZ, a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Borsod, near the Sajo, and on the railway from Pesth to Kaschau, 90 m. N. E. of Pesth ; pop. in 1870, 21,199. It is situa- ted at the foot of a vine-clad mountain called Avas. It is well built, and has five churches, a convent, a synagogue, three gymnasia, a large county house, a theatre, and a fine hospital. The inhabitants, consisting of Magyars, who are the majority, Rascians, Slovaks, Germans, and Jews, are actively engaged in trade and manufactures; the wine trade is important. A large part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1843. MISNIA. See MEISSEN. MISSISSAGAS, an Algonquin tribe originally found, in the middle of the 17th century, at the mouth of a river of the same name north of Lake Huron. After the destruction of the Hurons they fled inland, and then moved to Keweenaw on Lake Superior, but returned be- fore 1670 to their old ground. Missions were then attempted among them, but they were strongly attached to their superstitions and to polygamy. They took part in the assassination of the Sioux deputies at Sault Ste. Marie in 1673, which drew on the western Algonquins the fury of that nation. About 1700 they be- gan to treat with the Five Nations, and to move eastward, so that by 1718 they were scattered along the northern line of the lakes from their MISSAL 635 old home to the Thousand Islands, most of them being north of Lake Ontario. When the strug- gle between France and England began, they were the only Canadian tribe whom the Eng- lish won over through the Six Nations, who adopted them as a seventh nation in 1746. They aided the English in arms, and traded at Oswego ; but the English neglected them, and when war again broke out the Mississagas showed little inclination to join them. The mass of the nation were again secured by the French. After the fall of the French power they made a treaty with Col. Bradstreet, but took an active part in Pontiac's war. They were also active in the Miami war against the United States in l792-'3, and in the hostile movements of the Six Nations in the war of 1812. Their only settlement in the United States was a tem- porary one at Erie ; they are now in the prov- ince of Ontario, Dominion of Canada. Missions have been established among them since 1824 by the Methodists and the New England com- pany, and they are improving. They comprise the Mississagas of Mud, Rice, and Scugog lakes, returned in 1869 at 315, and in 1873 at 305. The Rice Lake Indians sold most of their lands in 1818 for an annuity of 740. Those on Scugog lake reside on 600 acres bought by them in 1843. All these bands cultivate the soil and have comfortable houses and chapels. In 1873 the Mississagas at Alnwick numbered 205; they formerly roamed destitute around Quint6 bay. The Mississagas of Credit river, lately removed to the Grand, numbered 215 in 1873. They embraced Christianity and began to im- prove in 1824 under the exertions of the Rev. Peter Jones, a half-breed. MISSAL (Lat. missale), the mass book of the Roman Catholic church, containing the daily eucharistic service for the whole year. During the first eight centuries the parts to be recited or sung by the bishop or priest, the deacon, subdeacon, and choir, were arranged in separate volumes. The sacramentary, or missal proper, contained what immediately related to the con- secration of the eucharist (the sacrament by preeminence), such as the canon, with the pre- faces and collects ; the evangelary or deacon's book contained either one of the four gospels, or all four in a volume, or only the passages selected and arranged for daily mass ; the lec- tionary or epistolary contained the lessons from the other portions of the Bible which were sung by the subdeacon ; in the antiphona- ry or gradual were found the anthems, psalms, and hymns chanted by the choir throughout the service; and in the benedictional were the solemn forms of benediction pronounced over the people before communion on the great fes- tivals. St. Jerome, by order of Pope Damasus, collected the four gospels into one volume, with tables indicating the passages for daily use. The deacon's and subdeacon's books soon contained respectively only the tabulated gos- pels and lessons of the daily mass. The evan- gelary in particular was often splendidly illu-