122 



MKERUT 



MEGlilMs 



reduced to powder, mixed into a paste, and com 

 presnod into hard masses, which are carved into 

 inferior pipes. 



Mcrrut, or more correctly MBRATH, a town, 

 dUtrict, and division in the North-western Pro- 

 \inces of British India. The town lies 40 miles 

 ..f Delhi, about half-Wily lietw it'll t'.ie I Ranges 

 and the Jumna. It" ni"-t ini|Mirtaiit edifice is the 

 Knglish rlnirrh. with a. lini- spire and an excellent 

 organ. There are also several ruins of native 

 edifice*. Here in 18J7 the great mutiny broke out 

 (see INDIA, in Vol. VI. p. 119). Pop. ( 1881 ) 99,566 ; 

 (1891 ) 119,390, of whom 40,000 were in the canton- 

 ment. The distrirt has an area of 2370 sq. m., pop. 

 1,391,458; thedivision, 1 1,320 sq. m., pop. 4,834,064. 

 Wi-aaiTi-os. See Ki.K. 



MrKaliflitliy* (r.. 'great fish'), a genus of 

 extinct (iunoid lilies. Their remains brand in 

 Carboniferous strata testify to lishes of large size, 

 completely bucklered by big strung smooth scales. 

 The jaws l>ear large conical teeth suggestive of 

 predacious carnivorous habits. 



egalltblc Monuments. See DOLMEN, 

 STANDING STONES, STOXK CIRCLES, itc. 



Megalonyx, a large fossil edentate of the 

 Halted Mates smaller than the Megatherium (q.v. ). 

 Megalopolis, founded by Epaminondas after 

 the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.), and made the 

 capital of Arcadia, stood in the valley of the 

 llclisson. Plundered and mostly destroyed by the 

 Spartans in 222 B.C., it was the birthplace of 

 PhiloiMemeii and Polybius. Here the British school 

 at Athens conducted excavations in 1892-93. 



Megalottaurns (Or., 'great lizard') a gigantic 

 xtinct reptile, whose remains nre found in Jurassic 

 ami Cretaceous strata. The huge body seems to 

 have measured about 30 to 50 feet in length, and 

 the formidable teeth suggest a carnivorous diet. 

 See KEPTILES. 



!MeKa|MHlid;r. See MOUND-BIRDS. 

 Metcnri*. a small mountainous region of Hellas, 

 or Ureece proper, lying ttetween Attica and the 

 Isthmus of Corinth. The people were excellent 

 sailors, and founded several colonies, of which the 

 nio-t famous \\ere Kyzantium (667 B.C.), Chalcedon, 

 ami Megura illyhLeui in Sicily. They were 

 generally regarded as guilty of deception and dis- 

 simulation, hence the phrase ' Megariau tours.' 

 Tin- capital wu- \leguia, long an important com- 

 mercial city, and famous for its white shell marble, 

 and for a white kind of clay, of which pottery was 

 made. -From Kuclid (q.v.) the philosopher, who, 



M well us Tl gnis the jM)et, was born at Megara, 



the Mcgaiic scliool took its name. 



Hi u;i> Ilirnrs. liieek ambassador stationed 

 by Seleii.-ii- Sicalor (300-29H II. C.) at the court of 

 Sandrocottiis Iq.v.), or Chandra (iupta, in the 

 valley of the (ianges. Here he gathered materials 

 fur his work Imlini, from which Arrian, StrnlKi, 

 and others liorniwi'd. The fragments that remain 

 have been edited by Schwanebeck (1840) and 

 Muller(l848). 



MrKattirrlum ((Jr., 'great Iwost'), a gigantic 

 extinct i|iiadru|H'd of the onler Kdcntata, nearly 



allied to the "loth, found ill the Pleistocene dcpo-ils 



of South and Notlh America, but more particularly 

 in those of the South American pampas. In 

 structure it i very near its miHlern representative, 

 except that the whole skeleton is modified to -nit 

 tin- re<|iiireincnts of an immense heavy Udied and 

 h. :ny |MN|IC.| animal, fully equal in bulk to the 

 largi I IM-CJI". of rhinoceros. The appellation 

 tardigrade, which Cuvier a|>plie<l to the sloth, 

 cannot hi- given to the Megatherium : its linilis 

 were comparatively short and very strong, and the 

 feet adapted for walking on the ground, approach 



ing in this respect nearer to the allied ant-eaters, 

 but with this i>ecuUarity, that the first toe of each 

 of the hind-feet was furnished with a large and 

 powerful claw, which was probably used as a 

 digger to loosen rooU from the noil, and enable the 

 creature the more easily to overturn the trees on 



Skeleton of the Megatherium. 



the foliage of which it browsed. The enormous 

 development of the bones of the pelvis, the hind- 

 legs, and the toil, gave the animal great power 

 when, seated on its hind-legs and tail, as on a 

 tripod, it raised its fore-legs against the trunk, and 

 applied its force against a tree that had already 

 l>een weakened hv naving ite roots dug up. The 

 structure of the lower jaw seems to indicate that 

 the snout was prolonged and more or less flexible, 

 and it seems probable that the Megatherium was 

 furnished with a prehensile tongue like that of the 

 giraffe, with which it stripped the foliage from the 

 trees. The remains of several allied .genera of 

 huge Edentata are associated with the Megatherium 

 in the deposits on the pampas. They form the family 

 Megatheriidse of Owen, which includes Mylodoti, 

 Megalonvx, Scelidotherium, &c. genera which are 

 separated from Megatherium chielly from iicciili- 

 anties in the dentition. The modern sloth is- a 

 native of South America, and the fossil remains of 

 these immense creatures, which represented it in 

 the newer Tertiaries, are found only in the 

 American continent. 



Mt'Klina, the estuary of the (ianges (q.v.) and 

 Brahmaputra (q.v.). See Map at CALCUTTA. 



MeKithlo, an ancient city of Palestine, the site 



of which is s ewhat uncertain, in the plain of 



Ksdrnelon. In the battle there Josiah (q.v.) was 

 slain in 009 B.C. 



Mrtfilp. Siw \l.\iiii.i-. 



Mrnrim. See HEADACHE. 



>l'urims and Vertigo "" ''"' terms usually 

 applied when a horse at work reels, and then either 

 stands for a minute dull and stupid, or fall- lo the 

 ground, lying for a time partially Insensible. 

 The-e attacks eome on suddenly, are often periodi 

 cal, and arc most frequent during hot WMtbwajMJ 

 when the animal is drawing up a hill, or exposed 

 during heavy work to the full rays of a hot sun. 

 Liability to megrims constitutes unsouiidne-s. and 

 usually depends upon the circulation through the 

 brain licing temporarily disturl>ed hv the presence 

 of tumours, or by weakness of the heart's action. 

 Horses subject to megrims are always dangerous ; 

 it driven at all, they should be used with a breast- 



