Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/260

* MEANING. 232 MEASLES. experience widens, but whieli is nevertheless nec- essary if mind is to remain meaningful, is se- cured by constancy of the niar<;inal elements. One man hears "rain," because the fringe of felt relations clustering round the auditory symbol puts him in a weather mood; another hears 'reign,' because his margin puts him in the mood of politics. The chief constituents of the mood are, undoubtedly, organic sensations, whereby the organism is literally "adapting' itself to the reception of the stimulus. The uieaningMcae- tion may become so automatic that the margin thins out to a mere thread of organic process; or it may demand so distinct a wrencli from the present topic of thought that the shift of mood is clearly noticeable. In either case the fringe is essential to meaning. We have all noticed how empty and meaningless a word becomes when we have repeated it over and over again: we listen l)lankly to the sound of it, wondering if we are ever to recover the idea that we have used so long and found so useful. But all that repetition does to the word is to strip it of its fringes. There could hardly be a more striking ])roof of the fact that mental economy has shifted the burden of meaning from the centre of con- .sciousness to its [leripherj'. Consult: .Tames, I'riiiciplfs of Paycholofiy (New York, 1800) ; Bagley. in American -Journal of I'siicl'oloiij/, vol. xii. (Worcester, 1900) ; Titchener, Primer of I'sycholvyy (New York, 1900). MEARES, merz, John (C.17.5C-1S09). " An English navigator. He entered the navy in 1771; served against the French in the West India Islanils. and at the conclusion of peace became captain in the merchant service. He went to India and formed at Calcutta what was called the Northwest ,merica Company for open- ing trade with Kussian .merica. In 1780 he ex- ]>lored a part of the coast of .laska. He went to China by way of the Hawaiian Islands, and en- tered Xootka Sound (1788). The next year he sent to Xootka Sound three ships which were seized by the Spaniards on the ground that Kng- lishmen h;id no right to trade in those waters. The act caused great exeitenu'nl in ICngland and a large fleet known as the "Spanish ,rmamcnt of 1790' was collected to punish the Spaniards. who saved themselves only by making amjde reparation. Meares published loi/tK/cs Made in llw Years 1788 and 17SS from China to the .iirlhirrxt Coast of America (1790). MEARIM, ma'a-reN'. A river in the State of .laraidi,"io, Brazil, rising in the Serra do Negro and flowing north into the Bay of Silo .Marcos near the city of MaranhTio (Map: Brazil, .14). It is aboil .'i.iO miles long and navig;iblc, but subject to very sudden and viident bores. MEARNS, uiArnz. . county of Scotland. Sec KlNTAKDINKSllIBF. MEASLES ( from MDutch maselen, ma.isclrn, spots: conneited with OIK!, mnsala, miisnra, Ger. Mnscr. diminutive of OIKJ. iHii.w, Ger. .!/«.«?, iipot, mark of a wound), known also as RniEOi.A and MouiilLLT. One of the group of di.seases termed rrnnUifma (q.v.l. It Is communicable friim person to person, and seldom occurs more th:in once in the same individual. Its period of incnbntinn is usunlly aboit a fortnight: then come lassitude and shivering, which are soon fol- lowed by heat of akin, increased rapidity of the pulse, loss of appetite, and thirst. The respira- tory mucous membrane is also all'ected, and the symjjtonis are very nmch the same as those of a severe cold in the head, accompanied with a dry cough, a slight sore thi"oat, and sometimes tight- ness of the chest. The eruption which is characteristic of the disease usually appears u])on the fourth day from the connnenccuient of the febrile symptoms and the catarrh, sclduui earlier, but not uufreipient- ly some days later. It is a rasli, consisting at first of minute red papula", which, as they mul- tiply, coalesce into crescentic patches. It is two or three days in coming out. beginning on the face and neck, and gradually traveling down- ward. The rash fades in the same order as it occurs; and as it begins to decline three days after its appearance, its whole duration is about a week. The red color gives way to a somewhat yellowish tint, and the cuticle crumbles away in a flue bran-like powder, the jirocess being often attended with considerable itching. There are two important points in which it diliers from smallpox (q.v.), with which in its early stage it may be confounded: they are; ( I ) That the fever does not cease or even abate when the eruption appears, but sometimes in- creases in intensity; and ("2) that the disease is not more severe or more dangerous beciiuse the eruption is plentiful or early. The character of the eruption, after the first day. will serve to remove all dinilit regarding these two diseases; and the com[):uative prevalence of either disease in the neighborhood will materially assist in forming the diagnosis. It is distinguished from scarlet fever (q.v.). or scarlatina. (1) by the ])resence at the outset of catarrhal symptoms, which do not occur in the latter disease, at any rate, prior to the eruption: (2) by the al)scnce of the throat-allection, which always accomjianies well-marked cases of scarlet fever; (3) by the cliaracter of the rash, which in measles is said to present somewhat the tint of the raspberry, and in scarlet fever that of a boiled lobster; which in measles appears in crescentic patches, and in scarlet fever is universally dilTused. In ordinary uncomplicated measles the prog- luisis is almost always favorable. The chief danger is fr(mi inllammation of some of the tex- tures that compose the lungs, and in feeble chil- dren it often leaves chronic bronchial mischief behind it. No age is exempt from the disease, but it is nuich more connnon in chiUlhood than subsequently, a second attack being comparative- ly rare. In mild forms of the disease nolliiiig more is rcipiisite than to keep the jiatient on a low diet, attend to the state of the bowels, and ]irevent exposure to cold, which is best ac<'omplisbed by kcM'ping him in bed with the onliuary warmth to which he is accustomed in health. If the chest symptoms become urgent, they must be treated according to their nature. Bronchitis (q.v.), sometimes extending into pneumonia (q.v.), is nmst to he feared. If the eruption disappears prematurely, it may sometimes be brought back by placing the patient in a warm bath. In such eases stinnibints are often reouired, but nuist. of course, only be given by the advice of the physician. The patient nmst be carefully pro- tecled from exposure to cold for a week or two after the disease has apparently disappeared, as the lungs and mucous coat of the bowels are for