254 



MOLE 



MOLECULE 



picked up l>y some hungry owl. The mole's diges- 

 tion is very nipid ; after a feast lie falls into a 

 profound UMp, hut I'roin thi.s lie soon wakes 

 prepared for another raid. If deprived of food for 

 even a short time he perishes. Hi- thirst, too, is 

 very great, and where there is a colony of moles it 

 is said that a run is always made to wan Is the 

 nearest ditch or pond, and also that line water 

 cannot be conveniently reached deep MtpgndimlM 

 shaft* arc -unU into the ground, at the bottom of 

 which water is always found. 



The habitation of the mole is a very remarkable 

 structure. Each mole has his own encampment, 

 but sometime** two or three moles may be suliiciently 

 sociable to share a common passage. It consists of 

 a hillock of earth larger than an ordinary mole- 

 hill, and containing two circular galleries, one above 

 the other, with live connecting passages, and a 



Kg. 3. 

 a, section of the habitation of the mole ; b, plan of ditto. 



central chamlier which has access to the upper 

 gallery by three passages; whilstabout nine pasMgH 

 lead away from the lower gallery in different direc- 

 tions. The end of a passage entering a gallery on 

 one side is usually not opposite to the end of a 

 passage entering on the other. To afford all facility 

 of escape in case of any alarm, a passage leads at 

 first downwards from the central chamber, and then 

 upwards till it joins one of the high roads, kept open 

 for acce.-s to the moles' hunting-grounds or for escape 

 in time <if danger. Moles pair early in spring. As 

 the males exceed the females in number there is 

 often a search for the females and a fierce struggle 

 for possession of them. The shallow tracks running 

 in all directions which are made by the mole 

 when in search of a partner are called by French 

 naturalist* traces (tumour. The nest in which the 

 female mole produces her young is not the encamp- 

 ment that has been described, but is a chainU-r 

 lined with dried grass, leaves, and tine nu-, formed 

 generally under a mole-hill rather larger than 

 usual at the point of meeting of two or three 

 ordinary passages, at some distance from the fort- 

 ress. Only a single litter is produced in the year, 

 consisting of four or live young, rarely more. The 

 attachment of the parent moles to their young and 

 also to each other seems to lie very strong. 



Of all Hi it i-li mammals moles are the most con- 

 stantly and determinedly persecuted. They are 

 regarded by farmers and gardeners as a pest owing 

 t<> the injury done to lawns and pa-tun-- 1>\ their 

 burrows, and to young plants in their search for 

 griilis; and mole-catching has long Iwcn practised in 

 Itritain an an extensive trade. Capture is effected 

 by inserting traps of various kinds in the runs made 

 by the moles, which catch them as they pass. It 

 is a question, however, whether moles do not fully 

 compensate for the injury they do by destroying 

 many insects and other noxious animals. 



Another species of mole ( T. arm) is found in the 

 most southern parts of Europe, very similar to the 

 common mole, but rather smaller, and having its 

 eyes covered bv a membrane which i* pierced only 

 by a minute hole, so that it justifies Aristotles 

 assertion that the mole is blind. Among the other 

 Talpid.e are the ( 'ape Coldcn Mole (Cnri/soc/i/'iri.t 

 capcntii), which exhibits splendid metallic reflec- 



Fig. 4. 



side, and b, front view, of the not* of 

 the Star-nosed Mole, natural size. 



tions, and is remarkable in not having the clavicle 

 short and the manubriuiii of the sternum expanded 

 and keeled, but in hating the chest-wall hollowed 

 out for the lodg- 

 ment of the fore- "~^^^ a It, It 

 limb ; the Shrew 

 Mole (&M/I//M), 

 a genus to which 

 the most common 

 American moles 

 In-long, so called 

 from its resem- 

 blance in denti- 

 tion to the shrews; and the Star-nosed Mole (Con- 

 ilylura ), also American, and found from Canada 

 to Florida, having the end of the nose surrounded 

 by about twenty llesby radiating filaments, which 

 are movable, and serve as organs of touch. 



The name mole is abbreviated from the old 

 English name Mtnildirarp or Motili/iirtirji, still pro- 

 vincially used, which is derived from the Anglo- 

 Saxon nwlite, ' mould,' and i';<,,-f<iii. Mo throw up.' 

 Cf. Ger. Mavlwurf. For moles on the person, see 

 NjEVt's ; for masonry moles, sec BREAKWATER. 



>ll : . MATTiiiKf Louis, COMTE, a statesman, 

 descendant of Matthieu Mole (1584-1056), the 

 mediator between the king of France and the 

 pai lenient of Paris during the troubles of the 

 Fronde, and son of Edotianl Mold, president of 

 the parlement in 1788, was born at I'aris, 24th 

 January 1781. As soon as the storms of the 

 Devolution were assuaged, Mole returned to 

 France, and made bis debut in public life with 

 Essai ilr Mni'ii/t it ill- J'n/ititjiic, in which he vindi- 

 cated the government of Napoleon on the ground 

 of necessity. The emperor appointed him Master 

 of Requests, and eventually raised him (1813) to 

 the dignity of a count, and to a place in the 

 cabinet. Louis XVIII. made him a peer in IM.'i, 

 and in the same year he was appointed minis- 

 ter of Marine. After Louis-l'bilippe ascended 

 the throne he In-came minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 but at the end of a few months gave place to the 



Due de Kroglic. In 183t> he snc< led '1'hiers as 



prime-minister ; his ministry was unpopular, and 

 in 1839 he appeal--.! to the electors, but unsuccess- 

 fully. Henceforward he took little part in political 

 affairs, except that after the revolution of IMS he 

 exerted himself, though in vain, to rally and unite 

 the party of order in the Assembly, to which he 

 had been elected. He died at Chomplatreux, 23d 

 November 1855. 



Mole-cricket. See CRICKET. 



Molecule. The smallest moss of any sub- 

 stance which can exist in the free state without 

 modification, through sul>division, of its chemical 

 constitution or of its physical properties. Mole- 

 cule- are hi-lil to In- of definite si/e and mass; and 

 any piece of apparently homogeneous matter is 

 held to lie made up of molecules or granules which 

 conjointly make up the aggregate mass. That 

 matter, apparently homogeneous, is really granular 

 in this sense, appears liistly I'lom the following 

 physical considerations: (1) <'ompressibility and 

 porosity show that matter does not till space; (2) 

 dispersion of light by the prism would be inipos- 

 sible if the glass were homogeneous ; (.')) chemi- 

 cal combination is attended with the absorption 

 or evolution of limited amounts of heat; (4) soap 

 films require energy to stretch them, urn) if they 

 could lie attenuated lieyond a certain limit the 

 energy applied in stretcliing them would be more 

 than siillicicnt to volatilise them; (5) the kinetic 

 theory of gases, when numerically worked out, 

 shows the number of molecules in a given simce 

 to le limited (see MATTER). These considera- 

 tions lead to the conclusion that it is impos- 



