MOLLWITZ 



MOLTKE 



261 



See E. Kay Lankester's article 'Mollusca,' Encydo. 

 Brit. (vol. xvi.); Keferstein's 'Mollusca' (1862-W) in 

 Bronu's Thierreich ; S. P. Woodward's Manual of the 

 Mol/tuca (3d ed. 1875); Hatchett Jackson and Holies- 

 ton's Forms of Animal it/e (1888) ; and the Challenger 

 Kcports. 



MollwitZ, a village of Prussian Silesia, 7 miles 

 "W. of Hrieg. An olielisk ( 1878) marks the battle- 

 field where Frederick the Great with 20,000 

 l'ruians defeated an equal number of Austrians 

 under Marshal Neipperg, April 10, 1741. The 

 Austriang lost 5340 men, the Prussians 5500. 



Molly. See FULMAU. 



Nolly Maguires, an Irish secret society which 



during the ten years preceding 1877 terrorised the 

 coal regions of Pennsylvania. The name was im- 

 ported from Ireland, where it had been adopted by 

 a branch of the Kibbonmen whose outrages by 

 night were per]ietrated in female disguise (cf. 

 Trench's Realities of Irish Life, p. 82). The object 

 of the organisation in Pennsylvania appears to have 

 been to secure for its members, as far as possible, 

 the exclusive j>olitical power in the eastern part of 

 the state. Murders were committed in the open 

 day, though much more usually by night ; and the 

 terror of the society was oti all the coal country 

 until, in 1878-77, a number of the leaders were 

 convicted and executed, mainly by the evidence of 

 a detective named McParlan, who had acted for 

 three years as secretary of the Slienandoah division. 

 See works by Pinkcrton (New York, 1877) and 

 Lucy ( Loud. n.d.). 



Moloch, or more properly MOLECH, is mentioned 

 in I Kings, xi. 7. as the ' almmination of the children 

 of Ammon,' and occurs frequently elsewhere in the 

 Old Testament as the name or title of a divinity 

 occasionally worshipped in the kingdom of Judah 

 with cruel rites. The Hebrew form of the word is 

 invariably Molech, and it always (except perhaps in 

 1 Kings, xi. 7 ) has the article ( ' the Molech ' ) ; the 

 occasional variant Moloch in the Authorised Ver- 

 sion has come through the Septuagint and Vulgate. 

 Tin' word means 'king,' and is the same (melcch) 

 as that which appears in composite form in the 

 names of the divinities Adrammelech and Anam- 

 melech (2 Kins, xvii. 31), in the title Melkarth 

 (Malk-kart, Melicertea) applied to the Tyrian 

 ISoal, and in a large number of compound divine 

 ii:uni"< in Semitic inscriptions; the change from 

 Melech to Molech is due to the later Jews, who gave 

 the word in this connection the vowel-points of 

 ]><i.iln-tli ('shameful thing;' cf. Mephihaal, Mephi- 

 bnshcth ). Of Moloch as a deity of the Ammonites 

 nothing special is recorded, and it is not improbable 

 that in I Kings, xi. 7, the only place where he is 

 spoken of as such, the kindred word Milcom or 

 Malcam ought to be read (see the LXX. and 

 rompare I Kings, xi. 5, 33; 2 Kings, xxiii. 13; 

 Jer. xlix. 1, 3; Zeph. i. 5). In any case the 

 worship of the Ammonite deity in the days of 

 Solomon was essentially distinct from the Moloch 

 worship wliich at a later date came to be practised 

 in Judah, especially in times of great calamity. 

 The first recorded instance of a worshipper of 

 Jehovah ' making his son to pass through the fire 

 to Moloch' is that of Ahaz (2 Kings, xvii 3). The 

 same story is told of Manasseh (2 Kings, xxi. 6), 

 and that the practice had become a common one 

 in the course of the 7th century is shown by fre- 

 quent allusions in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book 

 of Leviticus. The victims were slain at the sanc- 

 tuary (Jer. xix. 4), and afterwards burned as holo- 

 causts on a 'tophet' or pyre in the valley of 

 Himiom (Ge Hinnom, Gehenna) near Jerusalem 

 (2 Kings, xxiii. 10 ; Jer. vii. 31, 32 ; xix. 6, 13, 14) ; 

 the often quoted description by Kahhinical writers 

 of a calf-headed brazen image of Moloch, in which 



the children were burned alive, is mere invention. 

 On the general question of the origin of human 

 sacrifice, see SACRIFICE. It is probable that the 

 ritual of Moloch worship was borrowed by the 

 people of Judah from one or other of the surround- 

 ing nations ; it was practised, we know, by the 

 Moabites (2 Kings, ih. 27). At Jerusalem it has 

 been held that it was intended to propitiate Jehovah, 

 regarded as the national ' Moloch ' or ' Baal ' or 

 ' King,' though the prophets speaking in Jehovah's 

 name constantly denounced it as unsanctioned by 

 Him (see Jer. vii. 31 ; xix. 5). See Baudissin s 

 monograph, Jahve et Moloch (1874). 



Moloch (Moloch horridus), an exceedingly 

 spiny Australian lizard, covered all over with horny 

 warts and sharp spines, which give it a quaint if 



Moloch horridus. 



repulsive appearance, concealing, however, an in- 

 oftensive character. It is sluggish in its move- 

 ments, attains a length of 10 inches, and is found 

 chiefly in South and VVest Australia. 



Mologa, a town in the Russian government of 

 Jamslav, near the confluence of the Mologa and 

 Volga, 08 miles WNVV. of Jaroslav. Pop. 6361. 

 The river Mologa winds 337 miles south-eastward 

 through the governments of Tver, Novgorod, and 

 Jaroslav, and is one of the links between the Volga 

 and the Neva. 



Molokai (the Lepers' Island). See HAWAII. 



Molossiatis, the most important people of 

 ancient Epirus (q.v.). 



Moltkr. HELMUTH, COUNT VON, field-marshal 

 of the German empire, who as chief of the general 

 stall' at Berlin planned the Prussian campaign of 

 1866 against Austria, and the German campaign of 

 1870-71 against France. He was born 26th October 

 1800, at Parchim in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, his 

 father being a general in the Danish army, of a 

 good old family and considerable wealth. In 1812 

 he was, with his only brother, sent to the military 

 academy at Copenhagen, where he remained under 

 the strictest discipline for six years, and distin- 

 guished himself in the scientific branches of mili- 

 tary study. In 1819 he became lieutenant in a 

 Danish regiment, but on the separation of Denmark 

 from Norway he determined to retire from the 

 Danish and enter the Prussian service. This change 

 being effected, he passed the necessary examina- 

 tions, and entered a Prussian regiment at Frank- 

 fort. His parents having by this time lost the 

 whole of their property from war and misfortune, 

 he had to undergo many hardships in order to 

 maintain himself on the slender pay of a Prussian 

 officer, and at the same time obtain instruction in 

 various foreign languages. In 1832 Moltke was 

 appointed to the staff, and for three years he con- 

 tinued to develop by scientific and exact study his 

 extraordinary powers of combination and organisa- 

 tion. He then obtained leave to travel, and, 

 arriving in Turkey at a critical moment, he was 



