Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/830

* MAUATTL 738 MALFOBMATION. college. There be sho^ved such remarkable mallieiiiatital ability that he was invited to liu- logua at the age of seventeen, here he carried on his studies at the university, coming under the inlluencc of Kiccati in mathematics and liassi in physics. In 1771 he was made professor of higher mathematics at Ferrara, a position which he filled for about thirty years, ilalfatti is chielly known to-day for an interesting prob- lem which he proposed in a memoir published in ISIKi, and of which he gave the first solution. The problem is as follows: In a triangular prism to inscribe three cylinders of altitude equal to that of the prism and of maxinuiin volume, and so that the remaining volume of the prism shall be a minimum. The problem reduces to the simpler one: To inscribe in a given triangle three circles each tangent to the other two and to two sides of the triangle. The history of the problem has been written several times. Con- sult BomMmijiagni. Utillctlino di hihlioffrafia c (U nloiia delle Hcicnzi' iiialeiiialiclie e /isiche, vol. ix. (Kome, 187(>) : also Baker, "The History of Malfatti's Problem," in the Bulletin of the Philo- sophical Society of Wiishingtoii, vol. ii. (Wash- ington, 1874). MALFEASANCE (Fr. malfaisancc, e-il-do- ing, from malfnisant, doing evil, from mal, from Lat. malus, bad + faisant, pres. part, of fairc, from Lat. facere, to do). Doing an unlawful act. Often used in contrast with misfcnsiince (q.v.), and with non-fem^nnce (<j.v. ). An agent or servant is always ])ersonally liable for mal- feasance, altlioMgli file unlawful act has been commended or raliticd by the principal or master. It is often provided by statiU' that malfeasance in olliee shall subject the oll'ender to removal from office or position of trust or to criminal prosecution. In such connection the term has been uniformly interpreted as involving the idea of evil-doing, of conscious transgression of legal duty. An administrator or executor, a guardian, a triistce of a private fund, or a director of a corporation, or any person in like position, is guilty of malfeasance when he wrongfully di- verts the assets of the estate or th(> cor|)orati(m, or when he mingles them with his own funds and uses them for his own purposes. Consult the au- thorities referred to under Crimi^ax Law; Tour; Trvst; etc. MALFORMATION (from Lat. malus, bad + formulio, formation, from fonnarr, to shape, from forma, shape). The abnormal process which gives rise to an organ or whole plant whose form is strikingly different from the ordi- nar}-; by met<mymy, the organ or plant itself, also called a mcmstrosity. The term malforma- tion is applied most properh' to a grotesque form, and particularly to one in which the de- parture from the normal is apparently unre- lated to its function. The term cecidium has been proposed to include galls and malfonnatinns, the cause bcins: indicated by jirefixes. That branch of biological science which deals with mal- formations is known as teratolog3^ The distinction between malformations and variations is wholly arbitrary. .Mmost all cul- tivated plants have been brought to their present state of perfection by cumulative selection, the desired variations being fixed bv ]>roper breeding until a race has been developed. The organs in these cultivated races, however, differ from those of the wild original oftentimes far more tlian do those aberrant forms which are called malforma- tions. The one, however, has arisen slowly by gradations; the other has appeared suddenly. Suddenness of origin, therefore, is one of tlie criteria of malformation, ilalformations may be due to any local disturbance of the usual course of growth and development; for instance, local or general disease. Local disease is often produced by the presence of either an animal or a plant jjarasite, which pro<lucvs malfnrmations known as galls. Other malformations are due either to the action of external conditions, such as light and moisture, or to caxiscs which, being entirelj' unknown, are assumed to be internal. Little has as yet been done in the experimental study of malformations, but since plant organs are remarkably plastic, it is scarcely to be doubted that the spe- cific action of exter- nal agents will yet lie demonstrated. In very few cases, how- ever, can explanation of the origin of mal- formations bo given at present. There is no question that, having once occurred, mal- formations may he transmitted to the offspring. Horticul- turists are familiar with many instances of this. ilalfornia- tions are known in all groups of plants, es- pecially among the larger ferns and seed plants. Nearly 4000 species in these two groups have produced monstrosities which have been described. Only a few of the more important classes of deviation from the normal can be men- ■ tioned. (1) Supprension. — For unknown reasons organs may entirely fail to appear, or they may be arrested in a vei-y young state, so that they do not become evident, or they may be dwarfed by stoppage of growth when partially developed. AH pos- sible gradations occur between f)rgans of normal ■ size and those that are completely sup])ressed. (2) Hiiiicrlrophi/. — From equally unknown causes an organ may develo]i to an extraor- dinary size without undergoing any noteworthy change in form. It is common to ascribe hyper- trophy to an excessive supply of food, but other stimuli must certainly operate. Young shoots of heavily pruned trees, or suckers from the stems, often have all organs immensely en- larged, (.S) Concrescence is a term applied to the actual union of parts in the course of their development. Such unions are not common, most of the cases of apparent union being explicable in an entirely different fashion. Thus the appar- ent union of flower parts is due to the growth Fig. 1. FASCIATED SHOOT OF AILANTHUB (AFTEIl DAILEY).