Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/833

* MALFORMATION. 741 MALIC ACID. tures, or from the prfsence of both organisms and secretions. Like malformations, galls may appear upon the roots, stems, leaves, or flowers, and may present very diverse abnormalities, par- ticularly as to their external form and to the peculiar and special tissues which compose them. Bibliography. The most important works are the following: Moquin Tandon, Elements de tera- tologic vegefale (Paris, 1841); Masters, 'ege- table Teratology (London, 1869) ; Penzig, Pflan- zenteratologie (Genoa, 1890-94), in which the ex- tensive literature up to its date is cited. See Galls. MALHERBE, ma'larl/, Fbancois de (1555- 1628). A French poet and critic, born at Caen. Though ilalherbe himself wrote very little poetry of any value, he did much to imbue his contem- poraries with a critical sense. Malherbe came after the individualism of the Renaissance had spent its originality. Intellectual lassitude found its expi'ession in criticism, and this found its natural voice in Malherbe, who expressed exact- ly the state of mind of the cultured men of his time, and heralded all that is typical in the literature of the age of Louis XIV., though he was far from typical of its varied genius. Yith him the temper of mind that prefers order and rule to originality and individuality began to dominate French literature. This temper is rep- resented by Malherlie rather than caused by him. His WorA-s (16.30), besides translations and cor- respondence of much historic interest, consist of 125 poems and a Comtncntaire siir Desportes. The only poem that survives in popular memory is the rather frosty Ode of Cortsolation to his friend Du Perrier on the loss of his daugliter. Malherbe had a cosmopolitan training in Nor- mandy, Paris, Heidelberg, and Basel, and en- joyed Court patronage through life. It was this that gave authority to his linguistic and rhetorical dicta, which helped essentially to make the French of Paris the standard for France and to give French thinkers the ideal of logical precision and clarity that has since been their enduring characteristic. His exag- geration of the value of correct diction and prosody was at the time a necessary protest against the careless negligence of genius, though his ideas were carried to excess by his criti- cal successors, of whom the chief was Boileau (q.v. ). ilalherbe, though he loved to be called a tyrant of words, was a student of popular phraseology, even to the language of the markets, and took thence, as he did from his poetic prede- cessors. Avhom also he aft'ccted to despise, what he found to his purpose. His Worlcs. first collected in 16.30, were reedited in 1666, 1757, 1842, and best by Lalanne (5 vols.. Paris. 1860-65). These editions contain the Life by Racan. Malherbe's contemporary and pupil. Among the more recent studies of Malherbe may be named Brunot, La doctrine de Malherbe (Paris. 1891) ; Allais, Mal- herbe et la poesie frani^aise (ib., 1892): Bou- rienne. Points obsciirs et novreaux de la vie de Miilherhe (ib., 1895) : Due de Broglie, Malherhe (ib.. 1807) ; Gaste, La jevnesse de Malherbe (ib.. 1890) : .rnould. Anecdotes inedites sur Malherbe (ib.. 1892) : Bourienne, Malherhe (ib., 1893) MALI, malj. Christian (1832—). A Ger- man painter, born at Broekhuizen. near LHrecht. In his infancy he went with his parents to Wiirttemberg. Here he practiced wood-carving at first, but, after his removal to Munich, in 1857, took up landscape painting. A visit to Italy suggested afterwards architectural subjects, and studies in Diisseldorf and Paris, where he was influenced b}- the works of Troyon, led him to the production of pictures in which animals formed the prominent feature. Specimens of these vari- ous phases are a "View in Veiona," and 'Bava- rian Alpine Pasture," both in the New Pina- kothek at Munich ; "Shepherd's Morning Greet- ing," in the Stuttgart Gallery; and "Sheep in an Approaching Storm." MALIBRAN, ma'le'brilN', Maria Felicita (1808-36). A French mezzo-soprano opera singer, born in Paris. She was tlie daughter of Manuel Garcia (q.v.). the famous Spanish teacher of singing. At the early age of seven she was a pupil of the famous Panseron ; at fifteen she be- came a pupil of her father, and two years later made an extraordinarily successful debut in Lon- don, after which her father attempted to establish the Italian opera in New York, but without suc- cess. There she married M. Malibran, a French- man. After her husband's failure in Imsiness she returned to the stage, and was received with great enthusiasm in France, England. Germany, and Ital.v. Her first marriage having l)een dissolved, she married De B^riot, the famous violinist, in 1S.36: but in September of that .vear she died at ilanchester. whither she had gone to take part in a musical festival. Malibran was a woman of generous impulses and magnetic personality, which, coupled with a voice of unusual range and flexibility, served to make her one of the most popular and successful prima donnas of modern times. Consult Nathan, Life of Mme. Maria Malibran de Beriot (London, 1846). MALIC (ma'lik) ACID, C,HA. An organic substance of which three modifications are theo- retically capable of existence. When actually obtained, these three modifications are found to possess the same chemical properties and to ditTer from one another only in one of their optical properties: viz. the power of rotating the plane of polarized light. ( 1 ) The modification of malic acid that is usually met with is found widely distributed in the plant-world. The name malic is derived from the Latin malum, an apple, the acid having been first discovered by Scheele in unripe apples (1785) ; but the acid occurs also, either in the free state, or combined in the form of salts ( mal- ates), in gooseberries, currants — in fact, in most acidulous fruits. It may be readily prepared by boiling the expressed juice of unripe mountain- ash berries with milk of lime, and dissolving the precipitated neutral calcium salt in hot nitric acid diluted with water: the acid calcium salt thus produced is decomposed with oxalic acid, the precipitated calcium oxalate removed b.v filtra- tion, and the filtrated solution of malic acid evaporated to dryness. In this manner malic acid may be obtained in the form of colorless, deliquescent crystals that melt at 100° C. and are readily soluble in water and in alcohol. The solu- tions have the power of turning the plane of polarized light to the left. (2) Tlie second modification of malic acid may be obtained by the reduction of ordinary tartaric acid. Its solutions have the power of turning the plane of pcdarized light to the right. (3) The third modification of malic acid may be prepared by a variety of chemical methods ; it has been obtained from mono-bromo-succinic, fumaric, and malic acids, and from certain other