Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/297

* MEDICINE DANCE. 269 MEDINA. with fearful personal mutilation and torture. It is identical willi tile sun dance (q.v.) practiced by the Sioux and other Xorthern tribes. MEDICK (OF. mcdiqiie, from Lat. inedica, from Gk. fx.i]5iKi^, mcdilcC, median grass, from >I7j5ik4i, Mrdikos, median, from M^os, inSdos, OPers. Mdda, Mede), Mcdicapo. A f;enus of plants, natives of temperate and warm climates of the Old World, of the natural order Legumi- nosse, distinf,'uislied from the closely related gemis Trifulium (clover) by the siclde-shaped or spirally twisted legume. The species, which are very numerous, are mostly annual and peren- nial herbs with leaves of three leatlets like those of clover. A number of them are found in Europe, and have also been introduced into the United States. The most important species is the purple niedick, lucerne, or alfalfa (q.v.) ; other important species are bur clover (Medi- cago dciiliviildtd), distributed in California and the grazing regions of the .Southwest; yellow lucerne (.Vedicago falcata), which grows wild in Xorthern Europe; black medick (Medicago lupuliiui). widely grown as a pasture plant; and spotted medick {iledicagu miiculata), introduced into the Eastern and Southern States. They are generally valuable as forage and pasture plants. MEDICO DE SU HONRA, ma'dek6 da soo On'ra, El (Sp., the i)liysician of his own honor). One of the strongest dramas of Calderon, in which a husband, Don Guttiere, surprises his wife in the act of writing a letter to the King's brother, who had tried to corrupt her before marriage. Al- though the wife is pure, she consents to a cruel punishment, and her husband kills her by exces- sive blood-letting, in order that her death may appear natural. Don Guttiere marries again, warning his new wife that an instant's suspicion will subject her to the sanie fate as satisfaction for his sensitive conjugal honor. MEDICO - PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIA- TION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRE- LAND, TuE. An association founded in 1841, with licadquarters in London, England. Its ob- jects are the stud}' and promotion of mental pathology and the improvement of the treatment of the insane. The membership, which is over 600, is made up of registered medical practi- tioners and of honoraiy corresponding members. The regular publication of the association is The Journal of Mental Hcience. MEDILL', .Joseph (1823-99). An American jounialist. He was born in New Brunswick, Canada, but at the age of eight removed with his parents to Massillon, Ohio. He studied law at Clinton, and was admitted to the bar in 1846, but in 1840 entered journalism, and took charge of the Coshocton Republienn, a Free-Soil paper. Two years later he established the Cleveland Forest City, a Whig organ, but in 18.52 united it with the Free Democrat, the new paper being called the Leader. A little later he left the Whig Party, and in 18.54 was an orjianizer of the Repub- lican Party in Ohio. In 185G. with two partners, he bouirht the Chica<;o Trilnrne. In 1870 he helped frame a new State constitution for Illi- nois: in 1871 was appointed a member of the first Civil Service Commission, and in 1872 was elected JIayor of Chicago. In 1874 he became chief proprietor and editor-in-chief of the Tribune, and he continued in that position until his death. MEDI'NA (Ar. al-Mcdiuah, the city; or more fully Medinat al-Xabi, the city of the Prophet; called also Tayyibah, the perfumed, or ul-Uu- nawwarali, the illumined; before the time of Mohammed, known as Yallirib, whence it is men- tioned by Ptolemy as Jathrippa). One of the sacred cities of [slam, the scene of Mohammed's labors after his lliyht from Mecca (see Moham- med; Hejira), and the place of his tomb. It is situated about 2.50 miles north of Mecca, and 140 north by east of the port of Vambu on the Red Sea. The population was estimated by Uurton at the time of his visit (1852) at 16,000; a later estimate places it at 40,000. The city originally contained a large Aramean population; but in the third century a.u. the tribes of Aus and Khazraj emigrated thither from Yemen, and gave it an Arabic character; later they became the 'helpers' (Ansar) of Mohammed when he Hed from Mecca. Medina also contained a large .Jew- ish population, who were influential in the early days of Islam, but whom the Prophet se- verely repressed. It was the capital of the new Mohammedan power until Moawiyah exclianged it for Damascus. It consists of three principal parts — a town, a fort, and suburbs of about the same extent as the town itself, from which they are separated by a wide space. Medina forms an irregular oval within a walled inclosure, .35 to 40 feet in height, and flanked by thirty towers — a fortification which renders the city the chief stronghold of Hedjaz. Two of its four gates, viz. trn wall ), and the Bab ol-Mi-vi ( Egyptian Gate) , are massive buildings with double "towers. The streets, between fifty and sixty in number, are narrow and paved only in a few places. The houses are flat-roofed and double-storied, and are built of a basaltic scoria, burned brick, and [lalm- wood. Very few public buildings of any im- portance are to be noticed except the mosque, erected near the spot where Mohammed died. It is of smaller dimensions than that of Mecca, being a parallelogram, 420 feet long and 340 feet broad, with a spacious central area called al-Sahn, which is surrounded by a peristyle, with numerous rows of pillars. The JIausoleum, or nujrah, itself behind the mosque proper, is an irregular square, 50 to 55 feet in extent, situated in the southeast corner of the building, and separated from the walls of the mosque by a passage about 26 feet broad. A large gilt crescent above the 'green dome' spring- ing from a series of globes, surmounts the Hujrah, a glimpse into which is only attainable through a little opening, called the Prophd's Window: but nothing more is visible to the pro- fane eye than costl.v carpets or hangings, with tlirce inscriptions in large gold letters stating that behind them lie the bodies of the Prophet oi Allah and the two caliphs (Abu Bekr and Omar), and an empty tomb for Jesus. These curtains, changed whenever worn out, or when a new Sultan ascends the throne, arc supposed to cover a square edifice of black marble, in the midst of which stands Mohammed's tomb. Its exact place is indicated by a long, pearly rosary (Kaiikab al-Durri) suspended from the curtain. The Prophet's body is supposed to lie (unde- caved) stretched at full length on the right side with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face directed toward ^lecca. Outside the drapery is the tomb of Fatima, the daughter of
 * !ie Bab al-Jum'ah (Assembly Gate, in the east-