136 



MENOPOMB 



MENTANA 



in II.-renK-1'litfs MMhqAbfMil (new td), who (ire* 

 full bibliography. 



Mrnoporae (Protnno/tsu horrida), a large 



North Ann-He. ui amphibian in the S.-ilani.uid- i 

 order. It U widely distributed in the rivaraof the 

 Mi--i--ippi 1-iu-iu, ami is well known as the 'hell- 

 liriider.' 'alligator.' water-dog,' iVc.. n. me- which 

 suggest it.- lien-.- characteristics. It resembles the 



Menopomc or Hell-bender ( Protonnptit horrida). 



tiiliT in form, has four well-developed liinl>s, 

 ami it )>ersistent gill-aperture. It attains a length 

 ot IK inches in 'J feet, and has extraordinary powers 

 of voracity and vitality. 



Mcnsrliikoff. AI.KXANHKH I)AXILOVITCH, a 

 K'iiaii field -marxhal and minister of state, was 

 Imrn at Moscow, Kith Noveiulier 1672. Lefort, tin- 

 favourite of Peter the Great, saw liiin selling tarta 

 in the street, took him into his own sen ice, and 

 introduced him to the notice of hi- imperial ma-ter. 



ig rapidly in the Can's favour, he distinguished 

 himself at tin- siege iif A/ov, :iiid afterwards 

 a ...... m pan ie< 1 1'eter in his travels to Holland and 



Knirhtnd. On the death of Lefort (IG'JO) lie W:IM 

 made ehief favourite. During tin- years ( I7<KJ I. 1 !) 

 of the war with Sweden lie plaved Important pa Ms 

 at the siege of Schlusselbiir;.', tin- hat ties of Kalisch 

 and PulUiwa on the lield of I'ultowa Peter made 

 him field-marshal the capture of Kiga, in the 

 occupation of Coiirland ana Pomerania. and at tin- 

 capture of Stettin. At the capture of Marienburg 

 the woman who afterwards Wainc the. wife of I'eter, 



larine I., fell into Menschikolfs hands, and 

 wan through him intiodiiccd to the czar. Towards 

 the end of I'etel '% rei^-ii Menschikoir lost favour 

 owin;: to hi* eUoition- and suspected duplicities. 

 But when I'eter diil he secured the succession of 

 ' urine, anil during her rei^'n and that of her 

 nccpMor, her youthful grandson. Peter II., he 

 in with almost alisolute authority. 



ambition* schemes he was about to many 

 In-, daughter to the young czar and the dislike 

 of the old nohilitv led to his overthrow b\ 

 Ifc>lgorouki, wlni liiiis|n-d him to Siln-ria (Septcm- 

 IT 1727) and nuilix-ati-d his immense estates and 



.--.;- - ir .;,- IdNovi mbn 1 799 in- graal 



(fraud -in. \l.l.\\Mni: M I:- .1 IKVI I v||. was IMIIII 

 in I7KH. !! -i-ivi-d in the campaign-, of Isl-J l.'i. 

 and me to tin- rank of fHttnt lu the Turkish 

 campaip of Ivjs h.. t,H,k Anapa after a H|IOM 

 iege, but before Varna received HO neverc a 

 wounil an coin]"-l|.il his retirenn-ut. After \i\ 

 rw-overy he wa made In-iul of the ICiissian nnvv, 

 which he raiio<l t a hiuli state of etlieiency. In 

 March 1V>.'{ lie wan M'lit an amlMisHador U> Con 

 mantinople, when- hi overln-nriiv iM-haviour pro 

 duced a *pcc<ly rupture l-twi-.-n tin- I'orte and the 

 rznr, and bnogtll aliiut tin- ( rimean war. In thi- 

 wnr he commanded at the liatili-, of Alma and 

 InkcriiiAnn, and dii>playei| jjreut energy in defend- 

 -M-llo|Hil : l.ut In 1858 he was recalled Wauw 

 ot a severe attack of illncm. Men*chikolf wu till 



hi- death on -.'.I May 1869 one of the most prominent 

 memU-rs of the old liu-.-i:in [Mirty. 



>l< llslriialioil is the term applied to the dis- 

 charge of |I|IHM| which issues every month from 

 the generative organs of the human female dining 

 the period in which (die is capalile of procreation. 

 The liiT-t !ip]iearc.iice of this iliHchar^e, to which 

 the term- Hirimrs and catamenia (each ha\iir_- 

 reference to the monthly period) are indiscrimi- 

 nately applied, is a decided indication of the arrival 

 of the peiioil ol conimencin-,' womanhood, and is 

 usually accompanied hy an enlargement of the 

 mammary glands nnd other less conspicuous 

 chan-'i-s. Among Teutonic races menstruation 

 usually commences Ix-tween the fourteenth and 

 the sixteenth years, and terminates between the 

 forty-eighth ami lifiv second years. Tin- inter- 

 val which mo>t commonly elapse* U-tween the 

 successive apiM-aiances of the discharge is nlNiut 

 four weeks, nlthoii^h it is often shorter; and the 

 duration of the (Tow is usually three or four 

 days, hut is liable to ijreat variations. The 

 first appearance of the discharge is usually pre- 

 ceded anil accompanied hy pain in the loins and 

 general disturbance of the system, and in many 

 women these symptoms invariably ttMHBJWBJ the 

 discharge. As a general rule there is no menstrual 

 How during pregnancy and lactation, and its 

 cessation is one of the first sij:ns that conception 

 ha- taken place. Anomalies and disturliances 

 (retention, .suppression, undue copiousness, \c. ) 

 of the menstrual discharge are a frequent cause or 

 symptom of illness. 



Ulriisiiraf ion, the name of that branch of the 



application of arithmetic to geometry Inch teacln--. 

 from the actual measurement of certain lines of a 

 figure, how to tind, by calculation, the length of 

 other lines, the area of surfaces, and the volume of 

 solids. The determination of lines is, however, 

 generally treated of under Trigonometry (i|.v.), 

 and surfaces and solids are now understood to form 

 the hole subjects of mensuration. To find the 

 length of a line (except in cases where the length 

 may lie calculated from other known lines. s in 

 trigonometry) we have to apply the unit of length 

 (in the shape of a footrule. a yard measure, a 

 chain), and discover 1>\ actual trial how many units 

 the line contain-. Hut in measuring a surface or a 

 solid we do not require to apply an actual sipiare 

 Uiard, or a cubic block, or even to divide it into 

 -ucli squares or block-: \\e have only to measure 

 certain of its boundary lines or iluii: ii.tiini.i ; and 

 from tin-in we can calculate or infer the contents, 

 l-'or example, to find the area of a rectangle it is 

 sufficient to measure two adjacent .-ides and lind 

 the product of these in terms of tin- unit of length 

 chiwen ; " feet x 3 feet = 21 square feet. 



The areas of other figures are found from this, 

 by the aid of certain relation- or properties of 

 those figures demonstrated bv pure geometry ; for 

 instance, the aror. of a parallelogram is the same a- 

 t he area of a rectangle having the same ba-e and 



altitude, and is ihen-foi |iial to the 1- 



multiplied by the height. Asa triangle is half of 

 a parallelogram, the rule for its area can In- at once 

 deduced. Irregular quadrilaterals and polygons 

 are measured by dividing them into triangles, the 

 area of each of which is separately calculated.' For 

 tin- area of the circle, see ClRCLK. The volume of 

 i angular parallel, .piped is found in cubic 

 incln- by multiplying together the length, breadth, 

 and depth in niches : and the oblique jiaiallelopiped, 

 jpri-in, or cylinder, by multiplying the area of the 

 Iwsc by the height. 



Mrntnnn. a small village 12 miles NE. of 



Koine, when-, .fil November I.s(i7, the tin rihaldiani 

 were defeated by the papal and French troops. 



