MENTEITH 



MERCADANTE 



137 



Menteith, LAKE OF, a beautiful sheet of water 

 in south-west Perthshire, 17 miles W. by N. of 

 Stirling. Lying 3.3 feet above sea-level, it has 

 an utmost length and breadth of 1J and 1 mile, and 

 a depth in places of 80 feet. It sends otf Goodie 

 Water 9 imies east-south-eastward to the Forth, 

 and contains three islets Inchmahome, Inchtalla, 

 and Dog Isli'. Inchmahome has remains of an 

 Augustinian priory (1238), the refuge in 1547-48 

 of the child-queen'Mary Stuart before her removal 

 to Fiance ; whilst on Inchtalla is the ruined tower 

 (1427 (of the Earls of Menteith. That title was 

 borne by a Celtic line in the 12th century, and 

 afterwards by a Coinyn, Stewarts, and Grahams 

 (1427-1694). " See Dr John Brown's Horce Sub- 

 s,i-(g (1858), and Sir \\'. Eraser's Bed Book of 

 Mmteith (2 vols. Edin. 1880). 



Menthol is a camphor obtained from oil of 

 peppermint by cooling. It has been used by the 

 Japanese for 200 years and is known by them as 

 Hakka-no-Hari ; indeed, native gentlemen always 

 went about till recently with a medicine-box con- 

 taining this drug. The chief source is the Mentha 

 arvensi* purpitreacens, the oil of which yields more 

 menthol than that of pep|>ermint. In many nervous 

 affections, such as neuralgia, toothache, headache, 

 &c. , menthol in the form of cones often gives 

 in-tant relief. When the cone is rubbed on the 

 skin a twofold action results. The menthol rapidly 

 evaporates, giving a sensation of cold : but if evapo- 

 ration l)e prevented it act as a nilfacient, pro- 

 ducing a feeling of warmth. Menthol has also 

 antiseptic properties, and is used with success in 

 solution in dipnthi'i ia, Arc. It has an odour resem- 

 bling but differing from that of oil of peppermint. 

 It is liable to lie adulterated with thymol, euca- 

 lyptol, \-e., and then is often irritating to the skin. 



Meiltonc ( Fr. Mentun ), a town in the depart- 

 ment of Alpen Maritiinen, France, is pleasantly 

 situated on the Mediterranean, 1J mile from the 

 Italian frontier ami 14 miles by rail NE. of Nice. 

 Owing to its southern exposure, anil the fact that 

 spurs of the Alps shelter it on the north and west, 

 it enjoys a lieautiful climate -average for the year 

 61 ami so has become a favourite winter-resort 

 of invalids and health-seekers from England, 

 Germany, and other countries. The town stands 

 on a promontory that divides its bay into two 

 portions : the native town clings to the mountain 

 side, whilst the hotels and villas for the visitors 

 extend along the water's edge. The harbour is 

 protected on the south and west by a sea-wall 

 (1889). There is a trade chiefly in olive-oil, wine, 

 lemons, skins, which llnctuates between 75,000 

 and 211,000 a year. Great damage was done to 

 tin- place bv an earthquake in February 18S7. Pop. 

 8433. In tne 14th century it was purchased by the 

 lords of Monaco, and, except during the period of 

 tin- revolution and down to 1815, when France 

 s"i/ed it, the princes of Monaco kept possession till 

 IMS. In that year the inhabitants voluntarily 

 put themselves under the protection of Sardinia, 

 but that i>owcr yielded the town to France twelve 

 years later. See I)r Hennet, Winter and Spring 

 on the Shores of the Mediterranean (5th ed. 1874) 

 and Maritime Alja and their Seaboard ( 1888). 



Mentor, the son of Alcimus, and trusted friend 

 of I ly-ses, who, on setting out for Troy, left him 

 the cliarge of his household. By him the young 

 Telemaclms was educated, and his name has become 

 a synonym for an instructor and guide. 



.Went/. See MAINZ. 

 Menu. See MANT. 

 Mennra. See LYRE-BIRD. 

 Wen/a'lell, LAKK, a coast lagoon of Egypt, 

 extending east from the Daniietta branch of the 



Nile, is separated from the Mediterranean by a 

 narrow strip of land, with several openings. Its 

 surface, 4(jO sq. in. in extent, is studded with 

 islands, the most interesting of which is Tennees, 

 the ancient Tennesus, with Roman remains of 

 baths, tombs, &c. Its waters are full of fish, and 

 its shores abound in wild-fowl. The Suez Canal 

 passes through the eastern portion. The lake has 

 an average depth of not more than 3 feet, except 

 when the Nile, mouths of whose delta reach it, is 

 iii flood ; and it is being gradually drained. 



Menzel, ADOLF, painter, lithographer, illus- 

 trator, and engraver, was born 8th December 1815, 

 at Breslau, and is best known for his drawings and 

 oil-paintings illustrative of the times of Frederick 

 the Great and William I., emperor pictures char- 

 acterised by historical fidelity, strong realistic con- 

 ception, originality, and humour. His 'Adam 

 and Eve,' 'Christ among the Doctors,' and 'Christ 

 expelling the Money-changers ' are also notable 

 pictures. See Life by Wessely (1873), and the 

 critical work of Jordan and Dohme ( 1885 et seq.) 



Menzel, WOLFGANG, an eminent German 

 author, was the son of a medical practitioner, and 

 was born at Waldenburg, in Silesia, 21st June 

 1798. He studied at Jena and Bonn, was for four 

 years schoolmaster at Aarau in Switzerland, and in 

 1825 returned to Germany. He first made himself 

 known in the literary world by his witty Street;- 

 verge (1823). He subsequently lived mainly in 

 Stuttgart, where he died 23d April 1873. He edited 

 and contributed to literary magazines, and wrote 

 a very large numlter of works poems, romances, 

 histories, literary criticism, political polemics, and 

 Christian theology. The most important were a 

 history of Germany (1825; Eng. trans. 1848), of 

 German literature (1827; Eng. trans. 1840), of 

 German poetry (1858), of Europe (1853-57), and 

 of the world (Atlqcmeine Weltqcschichte, 16 vols. 

 1862-72), on Prussia's place in Germany (1866 and 

 1870), mythological researches (1842), the pre- 

 Christian doctrine of immortality ( 1869), and auto- 

 biographical Denkwunligkeitcn (1876). He was 

 almost constantly involved in controversy, attack- 

 ing with equal "zeal theological rationalists and 

 political radicals, all whose tendencies seemed 

 'dangerous' to the Christian religion or the German 

 monarchies, such as ' the Young Germany party ' 

 after 1830. IWrne (q.v.) retaliated in the front- 

 osenfresser ( ' Frenchman-eater'). 



Mepllistonheles, the name of one of the best- 

 known personifications of the principle of evil. 

 The word has been veiy variously explained, but 

 is probably of Hebrew origin, like most names of 

 devils in the history of magic, confounded with, 

 and approximated in form to, the Greek wfutrTofiX-iis, 

 'one who loves not light.' Mephistopheles owes 

 all his modern vitality to Goethe s Faust (q.v.). 



Menpel, a town in the Netherlands province 

 of Drenthe, 18 miles N. by E. of Zwolle, lias 

 a trade in butter and linen manufactures. Pop. 

 8418. 



We'qii me/. See MlKNAS. 



Mernil, a town of Austria, in Tyrol, at the 

 south side of the Alps, 100 miles by rail S. by W. 

 of Innsbruck, is a celebrated winter-resort, especi- 

 ally for sufferers from chest diseases, has an old 

 15th-century castle, a 14th-century Gothic church, 

 an English girls' school, &c. Pop. 7334, more than 

 doubled in the season. See Fraser Uae's Austrian 

 Health-resorts (1888). 



Mercadnnte, SA VERIO, musical composer, was 

 l>orn at Altamura in Southern Italy, 26th June 

 1797, studied music at Naples, and began his 

 career as a violinist and llutist. In 1818 he pro- 

 duced the first of some sixty operas, of which the 



