Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/388

* MESENTERY. 334 MESMERISM. borders is about four inches; its attachment to the vertebral column is about six inches in length, and its intestinal border extends from the duodenum to the end of the small intestine. It serves to retain the small intestines in their place, while it at the same time allows the neces- sary amount of movement, and it contains be- tween its layers the mesenteric vessels, the lacteal vessels, and mesenteric glands. These glands are 100 to 150 in number, and are about tlic size of an almond. They exert an organizing action on the contents of the lacteals, the chyle licing more abundant in fibriiu!* and in corpuscles alter it has passed through them. The most important affection of these organs is their tubercular degeneration, which gives rise to the disease known as tabes mesvnlerica, a disease most com- mon in childhood, but confined to no period of life. In the great nuijority of cases it is asso- ciated with other results of tubercular infection, such as pulmonary consumption, tubercular peri- tonitis, caries of the spine, rickets, etc.; but sometimes the mesenteric glands seem almost ex- clusively afTccted. in which ease the disease be- comes suniciciilly distinct to allow of easy detec- tion. The leading .symptoms are those of early tuberculosis, with loss of color and llesh, derange- ment of the digestive organs (constipation or diarrluea, and occasional vomiting), a steady pain in the region of the navel, increased by pressure; but perhaps the most characteristic symptom is tumefaction and hardness of the abdomen, with general emaciaticm. The enlarged glands can sometimes be detected by a careful examination with the hand, especially in advanced cases. The progress of the disease is generally slow, but at length hectic fever sct-s in, the emaciation becomes extreme, dropsical effusion appears, and the pa- tient dies exhausted, if not cut off by the access of some acute inflanunation. The treatment mainly consists in the adminis- tration of cod-liver oil. iodide of potassium, and laxatives. When the disease has advanced to a considerable extent, medicines are of little use, except to palliate some of the more urgent symp- toms. Independently of the disease that has just been noticed, inllanimation of these glands is by no means uncommon when the mucous membrane of the small intestine is ulcerated, as, for example, in typhoid or enteric fever. The mesentery may lie the site of hemorrhages, as in aneurism or some infectious diseases, as smallpox: of embolism or thrombosis; of cysts or of tumors. ME'SHA (IIcl). Mf.shn'). King of jMoab dur- ing 1 he reigns of .hab and his sons, Ahaziah and .lehoram, kings of Israel (II. Kings iii. 4, 5). Either on the death of .hal> (according to the biblical account, 1. c), or while the latter was still reigning (according to the Moat)ite stone), Mesha shook olf the yoke of Israel and freed him- self from Jhe heavy tribute imposed upon him. Subsequently, however, .Teboram secured the aid iif .lehoshaphal. Kin;; of .Indiili, his father's ally, or vassal, and the united armies of the two kings were joined by the forces of the King nf Kdnm. The Moabites were defealeil, and the King took refuge in Kir-haraseth, his last stronghold (11. Kings iii. 0-2.5). Having in vain attempted to force his way throtigh the besieging army, he withdrew to the wall of the city, and in the sight of the allied host offered up bis first-born son and successor as a propitiatory sacrifice to Chemosh, the national god of the Sloabites. The biblical narrative suggests (ib. 20-27), though in a vague way, that Chemosh turned to the succor of Mesha; at all events, the Moabites remained mas- ters of the situation, and the attempt to reduce them to subjection failed, though their land suf- fered much in the struggle. See ilo.iBlTE Sro.NE. MESHED, mesh'ed. A city of Persia. See JIk.shiied. MESHHED, mesh'ed, or MESHED. Capital of the Province of Khorasan. Persia, situated on an elevated i)Iain in the extreme northeastern part of the country (Jlap: Persia, O 3). It owes its chief inii)orta'nce to the fact that it contains the tomb of the Imam Kiza, a son of AH, the founder of the Khiites. The tomb is contained in a mosque which is one of the most magnificent buildings in the East, richly orna- mented with gold, silver, and marble. II is visited annually by more than 100,000 pilgrims. The city is also the centre of several important caravan routes, and had a very extensive transit trade with India and Central Asia, which, how- ever, has greatly decreased since the completion of the Russian railroad from the Caspian Sea to Samarkand and the adoption of adverse CUB- toms regulations by the Russian authorities. The town still manufactures ami exports fine silks, carpets, sliawls. and sword-bladcs. Poptl- lation. about CiO.oiK). MESHHED-HOSEIN, mo'shed hfi-san', A town (if .siatic Turkey. See IvjERIiela. MESTilER, Fii.xxz, or Friedrich-Antow (173.31815). .- physician and founder of the doctrine of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, (q.v.), born at Iznang. on Lake Constance. He studied at Vienna, and there took the degree of doctor of medicine in 17fifi. .botit 1772 he began, along with Father Hell, to investigate the curative powers of the magnet, and was led to adopt the opinion that there exists a power similar to magnetism, which exercises an extraor- dinary inlbience on the human boily. This he callccl animal magnetism, and pul)lislied an ac- count of his discovery and of its medicinal value in 1775. Honors were conferred upon him in Clermany. In 1778 he went to Paris, where he attracted much attention and made a fortimc by his famous magnetic cures. His system obtained the support of members of the medical profession, as well as of others: but he refused an offer of aa annual pension of 20.000 livres (about .$4000) to reveal his secret: and tliis, combined with other circumstances, gave rise to suspicion, and induced the Government to appoint a commission, composed of physicians and scientists, whose re- port was unfavorable to him. He now fell into disrepute, and after a visit to England retired to !Meerslnirg. where he spent the rest of his life in complete obscurity. MESMERISM, The name of the process bjr which, toward the end of the eighteenth ccntuiy, Fraiiz .Mcsmer, ]irniiuilgator of tlic doctrine of 'animal magnelisni.' induced the so-called mesmeric trance or sleep. Since ^fcsmer's day the subject has been transferred from the domain of charlatanism to that of scientific research. The mesmeric trance is identical with the condi- tion known to-day as 'induced somnambulism,' or 'hypnotism.' or the 'hypnotic state;' it has pre- .senied to the obscr'er manv liighlv interesting