MONSTRANCE 



MONTAGU 



279 



Mnnstranoe. 



occur on the coasts of Brazil, Peru, North Africa, 

 ami all other regions that happen to lie l>etween 

 regions whose temnerature, and necessarily their 

 pressures also, differ markedly from each other 

 at different times of the year. See WIND. 



Monstrance (Lat. mnits/rnre, 'to show'), 

 called also OSTENSORY, the sacred utensil em- 

 ployed in the Catholic Church for the purpose of 

 presenting the consecrated host for the adoration of 

 the people, as well while 

 it is carried in proces- 

 sion as when it is ex- 

 posed upon the altar 

 on occasions of s|>ecial 

 solemnity and prayer. 

 It consists of two parts, 

 the foot or stand u|M>n 

 which it rests, and the 

 repository or case in 

 which the host is ex- 

 hihited. The latter con- 

 tains a small semi-cir- 

 cular holder called the 

 limn/a, or crescent, in 

 which the host is fixed ; 

 and it appears anciently 

 to have been of a cylin- 

 drical or tower-shaped 

 form, in the central 

 portion of which, con- 

 sisting of a glass or 

 crystal cylinder,' the 

 host was placed. At 

 present it is more com- 

 monly in the form of a 

 star or sun with rays, 

 the central |M>rtion of 

 which is of glass or crystal, and serves to permit 

 the host to lie seen. Tiiis portion, or at least the 

 crescent, is of gold or of silver gilt ; the rest is 

 generally of the precious metals, or at least gilt 

 <ir silvered, although the lower portion is occasion- 

 ally of bronze artistically wrought. 



Monstrosity is the term applied in human and 

 comparative anatomy to an alx'rrant formation of 

 the nody consequent ii|in early disturbances in the 

 developmental processes in the embryo. Teratology 

 (terns, logos), the special and very interesting branch 

 of biology which deals with the causes of such 

 occurrences and with the classification of the 

 ' monsters ' so produced, has been advanced by the 

 researches of Georlroy Saint-Hilaire. Kiirster, and 

 others to the position of a special science, and one 

 that throws a valuable sidelight on that of normal 

 embryology. The malformations to be dealt with 

 may allect the whole organism or portions only 

 lit Us structure. Monsters are, however, usually 

 'la-ilicd under three headings: (1) Those with 

 exaggerated or supernumerary parts ( imiHntr<i /! 

 <"/<(/); (2) those lacking parts (i>iti,ixtrn /> 

 rtefectum); and (3) those with abnormally arranged 

 parts (monstra ]jer fubricam alietutm). ' Those of 

 the tirst class, where supernumerary limbs or a 

 double head or trunk exist, are generally recognised 

 as due to the more or less complete fusion of two or 

 more embryos, originally separate, during the pro- 

 ee-s of development. Cases of this kind which 

 have from time to time been carefully described, 

 figured, or preserved in museums show that almost 

 every possible degree of fusion of separate embryos 

 may occur, resulting in a coi responding ^r'eat 

 \ariety in the shapes of the monsters produeed. 

 Two otherwise complete bodies may be attached bv 

 an external bond, as in the case of the Siamese 

 twins; or the one may be wholly or partially en- 

 rinsed by the tissues of the other. A case of such 

 complete inclusion is found in the Hnnterian 



Museum. Much more frequently, however, but 

 imperfect relics of the one remain attached to, or 

 fused with, the fully-developed structures of the 

 other. Thus arise two-headed monsters, those with 

 double trunks or double sets of limbs, and those 

 in which a shapeless mass representing the blighted 

 embryo remains attached to the fully-formed body 

 of the twin organism. In this same class of mon- 

 sters by exaggeration must be placed also cases of 

 general or local gigantic development, due not to 

 fusion of separate embryos but to general or local 

 precocity of growth in the tissues of a single 

 organism. Not less interesting are monsters of the 

 second class, where entire parts of the body may l>e 

 suppressed during development. Here again it is 

 shown that the non-development may occur in any 

 region and to any extent : consequently numerous 

 and widely separated varieties of monster are found 

 in this class. The suppression of parts varies like- 

 wise in degree, and in its effect upon the viability 

 of the organism. For instance, a headless or brain- 

 less monster is of necessity incapable of living ; 

 whereas one with suppression of a limb is viable, 

 and might more properly l>e descriled as a case of 

 congenital deformity. In the third class are the 

 cases of transposition of viscera, malposition of 

 limbs, congenital dislocations of joints, &c. See 

 DEFORMITIES, CLUB-FOOT, and, for monstrosity in 

 plants, TERATOLOGY. 



Montauilillia. a town of Northern Italy, 32 

 miles SVV. of Padua. Pop. 3200. 



Montagnards, or simply MONTAGNE, 'the 

 Mountain, the name given to the extreme demo- 

 cratic politicians in the first French Revolution, 

 liecause they seated themselves on the highest 

 benehes of the hall in which the National Con- 

 vention met. The liody included both Jacobins 

 and Cordeliers ; its principal members were Danton, 

 Marat, Rol>espiene, St .lust, and Collot d'Herbois, 

 the men of 'the Keign of Terror.' The antagon- 

 istic party were 'the Plain,' the Girondists (q.v.), 

 who sat on the lowest benches, on the floor of the 

 house. After the overthrow of the Girondists this 

 part of the house was styled ' the Marsh or Swamp,' 

 and included all the members whose votes were 

 under the control of 'the Mountain.' In 1848 the 

 extreme party in the National Assembly, composed 

 of revolutionary democrats and communists, some- 

 times flattered itself by assuming the title of 'the 

 Mountain.' 



c The illustrious family of Montagu 

 springs from Drogo de Montacute, who came from 

 Normandy with the Conqueror. Sixth in descent 

 from him was Simon de Montacute, grandfather 

 of the William de Montacute created Earl of 

 Salisbury in 1337, many of whose successors have 

 l>een great historical personages. The subsequent 

 family of Montagu descended from Simon (younger 

 brother of the third Earl of Salisbury), who was 

 the ancestor of Sir Edward Montagu, Speaker of 

 the House of Commons and afterwards Lord Chief- 

 justice, who died in 1557. His son, Sir Edward 

 Montagu of Uoughton, had six sons ; Edward, the 

 eldest, was made Baron Montagu of Uoughton ; and 

 his grandson Ralph, third baron, was (1689) created 

 Karl of Montagu, and in 1703 Duke of Montagu. 

 In his son John the male line of the first Baron 

 Montagu became extinct. The third son of Edward 

 of Boughton was Sir Henry Montagu, the famous 

 lawyer and orator, who was Lord Chief-justice, 

 and created Lord Montagu of Kimliolton, and after- 

 wards (temp. Charles I.) Earl of Manchester (q.v.). 

 His son (second earl) was a general in the parlia- 

 mentary army, who gained distinction by his victoiy 

 over Prince Rupert at Marston Moor, but subse- 

 quently gave in his adhesion to Charles II. on his 

 restoration. The fourth Karl of Manchester was 



