334 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



by Hiram S. Maxim of England. The peculiar 

 features of this gun are : Every round after 

 the first is fired by the recoil of the previous 

 explosion ; the cartridges are picked out of the 

 cartridge belt, one end of which is placed in 

 the gun mechanism on one side by the auto- 

 matic action of the gun, and the belt and 

 cartridge shells are ejected after firing; every 

 recoil of the gun brings the next cartridge into 

 position, forces it into the barrel, cocks the 

 hammer, pulls the trigger, extracts the empty 

 shell, and ejects it from the gun all these 

 processes going on with such marvelous rapid- 

 ity that six hundred rounds are fired in a 

 minute. The gun can be turned in any direc- 

 tion by means of a crank, and the rate of dis- 

 charge is regulated by a controlling chamber, 

 ingeniously contrived so that the gun may be 

 fired rapidly or slowly, as desired. At the 

 moment of firing, the recoil drives the barrel 

 back about three quarters of an inch, and it is 

 this recoil which directs the mechanism of the 

 gun and makes its discharges continuous. 



Medicine appears to have been first prac- 

 ticed by the Egyptian priests. Pythagoras 

 endeavored to explain the philosophy of disease 

 and the action of medicine about 529 B. C. 

 Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, flour- 

 ished about 422 B. C., and Galen, born A. D. 

 131, was the oracle of medical science. About 

 980, Avicenna, an Arab, wrote a system of 

 medicine. The art was brought into Europe 

 from the East, about A. D. 1150. In the 

 early stages of the practice, the preparation of 

 simples was principally confined to ecclesiastics 

 in Europe generally, until the close of the fif- 

 teenth century. The dogmatic age of medi- 

 cine lasted until the Reformation , when it was 

 attacked by Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Vasa- 

 lius (1514-64). Since 1800 medical practice 

 has been completely transformed by physio- 

 logical and chemical research. The practice 

 of medicine is now one of the highest sciences, 

 and in most countries is in the hands of learned 

 and distinguished men ; various statutes have 

 been enacted to discourage pretenders to the 

 healing art. 



Meerschaum is a mineral existing in 

 many parts of the world. In Europe, it is 

 found chiefly at Hrubschitz in Moravia, and at 

 Sebastopol and Kaffa in the Crimea; and in 

 Asia it is found abundantly just below the soil 

 in the alluvial beds at Kittisch and Bursa in 

 Natolia ; and in the rocks of Eske-Hissar, in 

 the same district, it is mined so extensively as 

 to give employment to nearly a thousand men. 

 Meerschaum, from its having been found on 

 the seashore in some places, in peculiarly 

 rounded snow white lumps, was ignorantly 

 imagined to be petrified froth of the sea, 



which is the meaning of its German name. It 

 is composed of silica, magnesia, and water. 

 When first dug from the earth it is quite soft 

 and soap-like to the touch, and as it lathers 

 with water and removes grease, it is employed 

 by the Turks as a substitute for soap in wash- 

 ing. After being molded into pipes, these are 

 boiled in oil or wax and baked until hard. 



Mesmerism was first brought into notice 

 by Frederick Anton Mesmer, a German physi- 

 cian, in 1766, when he published a thesis on 

 *' ' The Influence of the Planets on the Human 

 Body," claiming that the heavenly bodies 

 diffused through the universe a subtle fluid 

 which acts on the nervous system of animated 

 beings ; and he further stated that he regarded 

 the new force, which, he said, could be exertec* 

 by one living organism upon another, as a 

 means of alleviating or curing disease. In 

 1778 he left Vienna for Paris, where he gained 

 numerous proselytes and much money. His 

 discovery was fostered by Dr. D'Elson, physi- 

 cian to the king's brother, and in 1784 the 

 French government ordered the medical fac- 

 ulty of Paris to investigate Mesmer 's theory. 

 A committee was appointed, who subsequently 

 reported that " The violent effects which are 

 observed in the public practice of magnetism 

 are due to the manipulations, to the excite- 

 ment of the imagination which leads us to 

 repeat anything which produces an impression 

 upon the senses." One year later, 1785, 

 Mesmer 's popularity had so far declined that 

 he left Paris and retired to Switzerland, where 

 he spent the balance of his life. Mesmer- 

 ism excited some attention again in 1848, 

 when Miss Harriet Martineau and others an- 

 nounced their belief in it. 



Meteors. Meteors are small, erratic 

 bodies rushing through the planetary system, 

 and, getting hot in the process, appear in the 

 atmosphere surrounding our earth as " shoot- 

 ing stars." Some of these falling bodies have 

 reached the earth, and such are called ' aero- 

 lites " or " meteorites." lumbers, of course, 

 are burned up before they reach us, and who 

 can tell what destruction such a catastrophe 

 may represent, or whether it be or be not an 

 inhabited world which has thus been plunged 

 to destruction by fire ? They are of a metallic 

 or stony nature. On certain nights in August 

 and November it has been calculated that 

 these meteors will appear. They fall from 

 certain constellations, after which they are 

 named ; as Leonides, from Leo, in the Novem- 

 ber displays. 



The star showers" sometimes present the ap- 

 pearance of a beautiful display of rockets. 

 Millions of them rush round the sun, and 

 when, as occasionally happens, our earth 



