MICAH 



MICHAELIS 



173 



) which it imparts a silky lustre on the planes of 

 illation. Damourite, somewhat like sericite, is 

 Iso a variety of muscovite which occurs occasion- 

 lly in schistose rocks. Lepidolite or lithia mica 

 - a silicate of alumina witli potash and lithia ; 

 hite, rose-red, or violet as a rule, but sometimes 

 reenish ; does not occur in measurable crystals 

 it in irregular plates and tables, and now and 

 ^ain in scaly, granular, or compact aggregates, 

 i Moravia a massive granular lepidolite is found 

 ith a tine reddish-violet colour. Like jasper, lapis- 

 uli. >Vr. . lepidolite is made into ornaments; as 

 rock-forming mineral it is of small account, 

 notlier lithia mica containing iron is called Zinn- 

 aldite. Jiiolite or magnesia mica embraces several 

 arietfes which in addition to potash contain mag- 

 esia, the latter being generally replaced in part by 

 BTOUS oxide. When ferrous oxide entirely replaces 

 lagnesia we have iron mica. The most important of 

 I.- liintit's is Mfroxene, which occurs in fine crystals 

 a Vesuvius and in other volcanic regions. It was 

 nm a study of the fine specimens of meroxene 

 *curring in ejected blocks at Vesuvius that miner- 

 were able to determine the crystalline form 

 ' mica. Formerly the micas were assigned either 

 i the hexagonal or to the orthorhombic system, 

 leroxene is met with also in such rocks as granite, 

 aeiss, &c., in scaly granules and plates, often 

 nociated with muscovite, and sometimes forming 

 ly aggregates. It is dark green or brown, some- 

 tnes yellowish, but generally very dark or even 

 lack, hence it is often called blm-k mica. In 

 tlcanic rocks (basalt, trachyte, &c.) it occurs 

 Miinglv in the form of small Kales or plates. 



1 forms of meroxene are the red liiibcllane, 

 'lining in many volcanic rocks, and the black 



, met with in granitic rocks. Phlogopite is 

 I'iotite of a reddish-brown, but sometimes yellow 

 i even greenish colour. It contains a larger pro- 

 t ion of silica than meroxene. Anomite is another 

 intite only to lie distinguished from meroxene by 

 me optical characters. Lepidomelane is a mag- 

 txia mica rich in ferrous and ferric oxides ; many 

 > the magnesia micas occurring in granite, gneiss, 

 o.. belong to this variety. The biotites are much 

 . >r; readily decomposed than the niuscovites, 



often altered into chloritic minerals with 

 ridote and calcite. Paragonite or soda mica, an 

 luminous silicate of soda, occurs chiefly in certain 

 'vstalline schists, and is known only in the form 



^11 white or colourless scales. It closely re- 

 Hnbles muscovite, from which it can only be distin- 

 jrished chemically. 



MICA-SCHIST is, next to gneiss, one of the most 

 nundant of the crystalline schists. It consists of 

 iternate layers of mica and quartz, but is some- 

 toes composed almost entirely of the thin and 

 trning plates or scales of mica, and from this it 

 pwes by insensible gradations into phyllite, as this 

 i turn passes into clay-slate. The quartz occurs 

 fre in thin layers like vein quart/, thinning oil' 

 ad swelling out abruptly. Sometimes it appears 

 i irregular swollen-shaped lumps round which the 

 nia of mica are arranged. The mica is usually 

 rascovite, but occasionally it is biotite. Many 

 aressory minerals are found in mica-schist, especi- 

 av garnets : others are schorl, kyanite, hornblende, 

 aHalusite, beryl, &c. In many places the mica- 

 8ist has a finely corrugated or wavy structure. 



iirall. or MIOAIAH, as the name is given in 

 Jr. xxvi. 18 (MicMyah, i.e. 'Who is like unto 

 Jh?' Vulg. MirhfEat), the sixth in order of the 

 tfilve minor prophets (third in LXX., after Hosea 

 d Amos), is described as ' the Morashtite ' i.e. a 

 wive of Moresheth (lath in the lowland of south- 

 mtern Judah near Eleutheropolis, and as having 



-ii-d ilnring the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and 

 otekiah, more particularly during that of Heze- 



kiah, and so as a younger contemporary of Isaiah, 

 Hosea, and Amos. He is carefully lo be distin- 

 guished from the Micah or Micaiah of 1 Kings, 

 xxii. 8 et seq., the son of Imlah, who was a prophet 

 of tlie northern kingdom, contemporary with Elijah, 

 in the reign of Ahab. The Book of Micah is 

 described in the superscription as the word of the 

 Lord that came to Micah which he saw concerning 

 Samaria and Jerusalem. It consists of a collection 

 of detached prophecies the phraseology of which 

 is in some cases extremely obscure ; no chrono- 

 logical order or other method of arrangement is 

 discernible. The opening passage (i. 2-8) contains 

 a threatening of the divine judgment against 

 Samaria on account of her idolatry ; but the rest 

 of the book, as might be expected in a Judican pro- 

 phet, seems to relate entirely to the southern king- 

 dom, and probably was not spoken or written until 

 after the fall of the kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. 

 The oracle contained in i. 9 16, relating to Judah 

 and Jerusalem, is test interpreted in connection 

 with the Assyrian invasions, threatened and actual, 

 of the Judeean lowland, shortly after that date ; it 

 is rendered obscure for the English reader by a 

 number of plays upon words which can be appre- 

 ciated only in the original language. Micah was 

 not, like his contemporary Isaiah, a politician, 

 but he lived (though not in the capital) in 

 the same religious and social environment, and 

 took practically the same view of the position 

 of the people of Jehovah. His whole activity 

 was directed to a work of moral reformation ; 

 his book consists of unsparing denunciations of 

 mercenary prophets, rapacious and corrupt priests, 

 cruel and oppressive nobles, and a treacherous, 

 fraudulent, godless people. He went beyond Isaiah 

 in his threatenings, for he did not regard even the 

 holy city as inviolable, but, anticipating Jeremiah 

 by a hundred years, foretold the destruction of 

 Jerusalem and the Temple (see iii. 12; iv. 9, 10; 

 some critics regard iv. 11-13, a passage which seems 

 to take the opposite view, as an interpolation). 

 Like Isaiah Micah pointed the hopes of the people 

 of Jehovah forward, in noble language, to the 

 establishment of the kingdom of righteousness and 

 peace based on the knowledge and fear of the Lord ; 

 tie also looked forward to the kingship of a Messiah 

 of the house of David, who (in this Micah was 

 original ) like his great ancestor should come forth 

 from Bethlehem. In the opinion of some critics 

 the 6th and 7th chapters of Micah are to be 

 assigned to an anonymous author, writing in the 

 reign of Manasseh, under circumstances similar to 

 those described in 2 Kings, xxi. Wellhausen and 

 others give a still later date to vii. 7-20, where the 

 situation contemplated is in a marked degree 

 similar to that of Isa. xl. et seq. The phrase in vii. 

 18 ('who is a god like unto thee? ) may have 

 suggested the attribution to Micah. 



For commentaries on this book, see the works on the 

 minor prophets cited under HOSEA; also the special 

 works by Caspari (1852) and Ryssel (1889), in German ; 

 Roorda, in Latin (1869) ; and Cheyne, in English (1882). 



Michael, the Archangel. See ANGEL. 



Michael, emperor of Constantinople. See 

 BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 



Michael Angclo. See MICHELANGELO. 



llii-li.-iclis. JOHANN DAVID, one of the most 

 learned biblical scholars of the 18th century, was 

 Ixjrn on 27th February 1717 at Halle, the son 

 of Christian Benedict Michaelis (1680-1764), a 

 theologian and orientalist of some distinction. 

 After completing his studies at his native univer- 

 sity, he travelled to England, passing through 

 Holland, where he made the acquaintance of 

 the orientalist Schultens. In 1745 he began to 

 teach at Gottingen, and in the following year was 



