Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/743

* MADRE DE DIOS. 661 MADRID. miles from its confluence with the Mamore. It was long an object of geographical conjectures, only its upper course being known until 1805, when it was explored by a party sent out by the London Geographical Societj-. It is a mag- nificent stream, over 300 yards wide at the Bolivian frontier, and 1500 yards wide at its confluence with the Beni. It is as j'et little used, but since 1881 the exploitation of rubber along its shores has been carried on. MAD'REGAL. A West Indian name for one or two of tlie lesser species of amber-fish (q.v.), as Seriola fusciata and Heriola fulcata. MAD'REPORE (from It. madrepora, mother- of-pearl, probably from madre, from Lat. mater, mother + Gk. jripot, poros, passage, pore, or xtDpos, poros, light friable stone ). A large branching coral abounding on the reefs of Florida and other parts of the tropics in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The most abundant species in the West Indies is Madrepora cerri- cornis, so called from its habit of growing in bush-like masses nearly two feet high and three to four feet in diameter, the separate spikes or branches resembling the antlers of a deer. It is the most abundant of the true reef-building corals. It grows up to the level of the sea, and then, becoming exposed at low water, the tips of the branches are often killed. It easily breaks when exposed to the waves, as it usually is. and its fragments form a large proportion of the coral sand, which becomes solidified into coral rock. See Coral, and accompanying Plates. The madrepore is the most complex of all the corals. Its tree-like form is due to multiplica- tion of the small corallites by budding. A coral- lite is the individual polyp of the colony sup- ported by its coral stock or skeleton. It is a perforate type of corals, all parts of the coral stock and connecting coenenchyrae (formed by the calcification of the ccenosarc or inner layer of the polyp) being like a mesh-work consisting of calcareous fibres arranged like basket-work, and traversed by a net-work of tubes, represent- ing the ccenosarc and communicating with the other polyps of the colony. The madrepores do not live in water the winter temperature of which is under 60° F. They abound on the Bermuda Islands in the Atlantic, and as far north as Southern .lapan in the Pacific Ocean, while their southernmost limits are Rio Janeiro and Saint Helena in the Atlantic, and Queen.sland and Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. Thus they extend to about north and south latitude 30°. Consult authorities cited under Coral, and particularly Saville Kent, The Great Barrier Reef of Australia (London, 189.3), containing many illustrations from photographs of these and other reef corals. MADRID', iS'/J. pron. ma-dreo'. The capital of Spain and of the Province of JIadrid in New Castile. It is situated in latitude 40° 24' X., and longitude 3° 41' W., nearly in the centre of the Kingdom, on a plateau 2100 feet above the sea, and on the left bank of the Manzanares, a small aBluent of the Jarania, which latter flows into the Tagus (Jlap: Spain, D 2). The situation is unfavorable from almost every point of view. The surrounding plateau is treeless and bare, and almost uninhabited, and the city is exposed alike to the scorching south winds and the fierce ravs of the sun in summer and to the icy north winds from the snowclad Sierra Guadarrama in winter; the e.xtreme annual range of temperature sometimes reaches 100°. The clearness and dry- ness of the atmosphere, however, and the ex- tensive plantations which have in the last half century grown up in the suburbs make the climatic conditions less unbearable. The old city has the form of an oval contracted at the middle, and was surrounded by a wall which was razed in 1878, thus bringing the sub- urbs into the greater modern city, which is well provided with plazas, parks, and promenades. In the centre of the old city is the plaza called La Puerta del Sol, from the gate which stood there in mediipval times. This is the business centre and the terminus of all the street railways, and around it are the most prominent hotels and commercial houses. In its centre are a monu- mental fountain and a statue of Philip II. From here the principal streets of the city radiate in all directions. Westward run the Calle del Arenal and C'alle Mayor, both leading into the large open place where is the Royal Palace, and which in the north, in front of the palace, is laid out in the plantation called Plaza de Oriente. There is the magnificent equestrian statue of Philip IV. Further west, between the palace and the river, are the royal gardens, or Campo del lloro, and from this the Puente de Segovia and the Puente del Rev lead across the river into the large royal park of Casa de Campo. Eastward from the Puerta del Sol run the Calle de Alcala and the Carrera de San Jeronimo into the broad and magnificent boule- vard which runs north and south the entire length of the city and between it and the east- ern suburbs. This Is one of the finest promenades in the world, is shaded by four to six rows of trees, and ornamented by a number of fountains, statues and other monuments, among which are an obelisk, and an equestrian statue of Queen Isabella. The names of the boulevard, beginning at the south, are the Paseo del Trado. Salon del Prado, Paseo de Recoletos, and Paseo de la Castellana, and it terminates in the north at the Hippodrome. East of the Paseo are the .Jardin del Buen Retiro, the Botanical Gardens, and the immense Parque de Madrid, beautifully laid out with lakes and parterres, and ornamented with fountains and statues. Among other public monu- ments should be mentioned some of the old city gates which have been left standing as triumphal arches. The chief among these is the Puerta de Alcala in the Plaza de la Independencia, an expansion of the Calle de Alcala east of the Paseo. It was erected in 1778 in honor of Charles III., and is an imposing structure pierced by five gateways, the three in the middle being arched. Madrid is distinctly of modern date, and it has none of the old architectural monuments boasted of by other Spanish cities. Foremost among the buildings stands the Royal Palace, on the site formerly occupied by a Moorish castle, which was renovated and used as a residence by Emperor Charles '. and the nionarohs of the Hapsburg d.vnasty. The modern palace was planned by Philip v.. begun in 173S and occupied in I7fi4. It is an imposing granite structure, built on a square plan with sides 470 feet long inclosing an inner court, while two projecting wings to the south inclose the Plaza de Armas. The un- even site is leveled by huge substructures of solid