Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/380

* MERMAID. 3-16 MEROM. have originated in the appearanee of seals, wal- ruses, and the herbivorous cetaeea. MERMAID, The. A famous London club, the foundation of which is ascribed to Sir Walter Kaleigh. Its members included Jonsou, Beau- mont, Fletcher, Selden. and Carew. Shakespeare also is said to have I)elonged to it. The meeting place was the old Jlermaid Tavern on Bread Street. MERMAID'S GLOVE. A local English name applied to a spuni;e (Ilalichondiia ocuhifa) often cast ashore on the coast of Great Britain and Xortheastern America. Its branches are somewhat finger-shaped, giving to the entire ani- mal a rude glove-like appearance. The name is also given to a social polyp, Alcyoiiium digi- tatum, more aptly and commonly called 'dead- man's fingers.' MERMAID'S HEAD. The popular British name for a spatangoid sea-urchin (Amijhidetus cordatiis) . MERffl See Kay. MERMILLOD, mer'me'h'i', Gasp.ujd (1824- 92). A Swiss Catholic prelate, whose ecclesi- astical history is largely the story of the quarrel between the radical (iovernment of Geneva in the seventies and the Holy See. He was born in C'arouge, studied in a Jesuit college at Freiburg, and took holy orders in 1847. He immediately sprang into i)romincnce as an impassioned orator and a leader of the Ultramontanists, in whose behalf he founded L'Obxcrvateur Catholuiue and the AniKtUs CalholiqucK. In 18G4 he was ap- pointed V'iear-Gcneral of Geneva, and in 1805 re- ceived full episcopal jmwers in the canton. In the struggle ])recipitated by this action, the Genevan Government acted with great bitterness, and in 187.'? exiled him. . attempt on the Pope's part in 187!) to restore him was unsuc- cessful, as the brief forming the Canton of Geneva into an apostolic viearatc was still in force; but in 1883 ilermillod was appointed Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, and the distasteful title was thus abrogated and the decree of exile con- sequently withdrawn. He was made a cardinal in 1890. His collected works, sermons, lives of the saints, and political pamphlets, were pub- lished in Paris and Lyons in ISO.*}. Consult Lesur and Bournand, Le Cardinal Mcrmillod (Ab- beville. isn.-.K MERODACH. me'rA-dak, or BEL-MERonACii. The name of a Babylonian-Assyrian deity, who is genernllv referred to in the Old Testament as Bel (i.e. 'lonl') or Bol-Merodach. The Baby- lonian form of th(name is Mnnidiik or Mmdiih. Originally merely the patron deity of the city of Babylon, he liecame the head of the Babylonian Pantheon, as Babylon grew to be the cajiilal of a great kingdom. In virtue of this preeminent posi- tion, he usurped the rites of older gods, who in earlier periods of Mesopotamian history had been supreme, notably the chief god of Xippur. known as Bel of Nippur .or simply Bel. Hence the references to him in the f)ld Testament as Bel or Bel-Merodach, and, in the Bativlonian religious literature, the substitution of Marduk by the Babylonian theologians in hymns and myths which originally spoke of Bel. By virtue of this process. Marduk becomes the creator of mankind as well as the god who brings order into the uni- ver.-.e by his conquest of the monster Tianuit. This story of ilarduk and Tiamat became known to the Hebrews, among wliom it gave birth to such conceptions as Leviathan ( q.v. ), and plays a prominent part in the Apocalyptic literature. In the legend of Saint George and the dragon we have another transformation of the JIarduk and Tiamat myth, ilarduk appears originally to have been a solar god. but. as in the case of other gods, his nature is not •single,' and hence he appears also in the literature as a storm god. In the artificial astronomical system of the Baby- lonian scholars, which iilentitied the chief deities with the great stars, Marduk is identical with the planet Jupiter of the Romans. As the head of the Pantheon he receives such titles as 'King of the Gods,' "King of Heaven an<l Earth.' 'the supreme god,' and the like. The cliief temple of Marduk stood in the city of Babylon and was known as E-sag-ila (i.e. 'the lofty house'). It is now being explored by a German expedition. Consult: Jastrow, Riligioii of Babylonia and As- syria, especially chaps, viii, and x.xi, ( Boston, 1808) ; Zimmern, Kcilinschriftcn und das Alte Testament, pp. 370-91) (Berlin. 1902). MERODE, mfi'rod', Fka.ncois Xavier Maris Fri'iilhu GiiisLAix. Count de ( 1SJ01S74). A Roman Catholic prelate. He was born at Brus- sels, a grand-nephew of Lafayette. He entered the Belgian army and took part in the -Mgerian campaign. In 1S74 iie began the study of the- ology at Rome, where he was ordained to the jiriesthood in 18.50. Pius IX. made him his chamberlain, and canon of Saint Peter's. In 1800 he was appointed temporary Minister of War. an<l recruited, chiefly from fon'igiiers. a Pontifical army. In ISfiii he went out of office in conseiiuence of a dispute with Cardinal An- tonelli. The next year he was made .rch- bishop of Mytilene and Papal Almoner. In 1809 he resisted the declaration of the doctrine of Pa])al infallil)ility ; but he acquiesced in the final enunciation of it by the Eciimeiiieal CounciL Consult his Life by Besson (Paris, 1880). MERGE, nier'6-e (Lat., from Gk. Utpiti). The second capital of ancient Ethiopia (q.v.), dominant from the reign of King Ergamenes (about B.C. 250). and the only residence of the kings after the downfall of Xapata (q.v,). AM licnia. it is mentioned as early as n.c. .500; the extensive ruins (described by Cailliaud. and finely illustrated in I.epsius. Drnliniilrr. part v.) are situated at a place now called Begerawieli. Consult: Cailliaud. Voyane d Mrro^ (Paris, 1823-27) : Lepsius. Letters from Eitypt- Ethiopia, anil the ^rnin■^^ula of Siiini (London, 1853). ME'ROM, Water.'s of. The scene of the great battle between the Hebrews under Joshua and the allied kings of Canaan (Josh. xi.). The Waters of Meroin are commonly identified with the more northern of the two lakes through which the Jordan flows in its course to the Dead Sea, although the identification is not free from diffi- culty anil is disputed. This lake is now called Iluleh. or more fully Baheiret elHuleh. 'the little lake of Huleh.' It is triangular in sliape: at its base, toward the iiortli, the .Tordan enters and flows out again from its apex toward the south on its descent to the Sea of Galilee, The fallinff rains and melting snows periodically increase it<i size, but its average length is about three and one-half miles, and its width at the broadest