334 



MorNTMKI.I.K K 



MOUSE 



modified the original configuration of the surface 

 tho present orographic features being the result 

 of denudation, determined by the character of the 

 rocks and the geological structure of the ground. 

 Hence in such regions anticlinal mountains, which 

 are weak structures, are almost unknown, while 

 synclinal troughs, whMi are strong structures, in 

 place of coinciding with valleys (as in the Jura 

 Mountains, fig. 3), have often come to form moun- 

 tainous ridges (figs. 6, 7). 



Monntain-systtmt. Some attempts have l>een 

 made to group the various mountain ranges of the 

 wjrld into systems, more particularly By E. de 

 ' Beaumont, who maintained the synchronism of 

 ranges situated on lines parallel to one another. The 

 parallelism does not consist in having the same 

 relations to the points of the compass for these as 

 regards north and south would be far from parallel 

 but is estimated in its relation to some imaginary 

 great circle, which l>eing drawn round the globe 

 would divide it intoeciual hemispheres. Such circles 

 were called Great Circles of Reference. But De 

 Beaumont went beyond this, and proposed a more 

 refined classification, depending on a principle of 

 geometrical symmetry, which he believed he had 

 discovered among his great circles of reference. 

 These geometrical speculations have never com- 

 mended themselves much to geologists. It has 

 been demonstrated indeed that certain mountain- 

 chains in widely se|*rated regions belong approxi- 

 mately to the same geological age, and may really 

 be strictly synchronous. But much more has yet 

 to be known of the geological structure of the 

 various ranges of the eartii before any general 

 grouping of these into systems can be considered 

 reliable. See ALPS, GREAT BRITAIN (Physical 

 Geoqraph >/), H I M A I. A Y A . 



The following table shows the heights of some of 

 the principal peaks in the several continents : 



ARIA. FML 



Everest, Himalaya*. 29,002 



IMputig, Karakoniin*. . . 28,700 



Tnganna, I'ainlr. 26,800 



Khan-tent,?!, Tian-ahan..2,UOO 



AFRICA. 



Kilima-NJaro 18.680 



Kenla 10,000 



Ruwenzori 18,000 



Llgonyl 14,000 



AUSTRALIA AND POI.TKKHIA. 

 CTurleikLfiiiiii.N. Guinea 40,000 



Maun* K. Hawaii 13,805 



MU Cook, New Zealand.. 12,349 



Klnabalu, Borneo 11,662 



M'.T.nvnwii'l, X.S.Wale* 7,360 



Mountmt'lllrk, a town in Queen's County, 

 Ireland, on the Grand Canal, 7 miles N. of Mary- 

 borough by rail. It has a brewery, a tannery, and 

 manufactures woollens and tobacco. Pop. 3126. 



Mount Morgan, a gold-mining township in 

 Queensland, 28 miles SSW. of Itockhampton. The 

 fold-mini' at the summit of the mount, said to be 

 the richest deposit in Australia, was originally 

 sold for 640 to a copartnery, including the 

 brothers Morgan, and after changing hands several 

 times Ix-came a limited liability company, with a 

 capital of 1,000,000. The gold is described as of 

 unusual fineness and purity. An estimate made 

 in 1887 was to the effect that there were 1,000,000 

 tons of ore available, from which gold to the value 

 of 20,000,000 was expected. The yield in 1891 was 

 143,795 ounces (see QUEENSLAND). Pop. 3514. 



Mount Vernon. memorable as the residence 

 and the burial-place of ( General Washington, is on the 

 right bank of the I'otomac, in Virginia, ISmiles below 

 Washington. In 1856 the mansion and surrounding 

 property were saved from the auctioneer's hammer, 

 ana secured as a national possession by the Ladies' 

 Mount Vernon Association, assisted principally by 



NORTH AMERICA. Ft 



Nevado de Toliica 19.464 



Orizaba. 18,206 



Mnnnt St Elian 18,010 



M' urn t Brown 16,000 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



Aconcagua 22,427 



Mereedarlo 22.802 



Gualtieri 22,000 



Huaican 22,000 



EUROPE. 



Mont Blanc 15,782 



H 4.40S 



Snowdon 8,671 



Carran-Tual 8,414 



Scaw Fell Pike 8,210 



Edward Everett. Mount Vernon has given it* 

 name to a numlier of places in the United States, 

 the most ini|M>rtant of which is a city, the capital 

 of Knox count v, Ohio, on the Vernon Kiver, 44 

 miles by rail NNK of Columbus. It contains many 

 handsome residences, and the river affords ample 

 water-power for a number of mills and manu- 

 factories of doors and sashes, furniture, machinery, 

 &c. Pop. (1890) 6016. 



Moiirne Mountains. See DOWN. 



Mousa. See BROCH. 



Mouse (Mut mvtntliu), a familiar rodent, 

 representative of a large genus to which rats also 

 belong. It is not necessary to describe the soft 

 ' mouse-coloured ' fur occasionally varying to white ; 

 the scaly tail so useful in climbing ; the bright, 

 conspicuous eyes; and the well hidden cosy nest. 

 Not less familiar is the way in which this tiny 

 mammal has followed man "everywhere over the 

 earth ; breeding all the year round, and bringing 

 forth four or five young at a birth, its extraordinary 

 fecundity sometimes causes a plague in a district (as 

 in the wheat-fields of South Australia in 1890). It 

 may be well, however, in the face of continually 

 recurrent discussion, to note the power that at least 

 some of the common mice have of making musical 

 sounds, 'not squeaking, but singing, musically and 

 rhythmically, in a high key, with a thin and wiry, 

 but not displeasing quality something like a weak- 

 voiced canary bird. Mice are occasionally canni- 

 bals, and have been known to eat painters' putty 

 with red lead in it. Larger than the above is 

 the l>e;uitii'iil Wood-mouse (M. sylvaticus), an 

 abundant pest in the fields and gardens of Europe, 

 notable for the stores of grain and other food which 

 it accumulates among the grass or just under the 

 surface of the ground. Smaller than either, and 

 smallest of British mammals, is the Harvest-mouse 

 i .'/. minulus), 

 which makes a 

 neat globular 

 nest of woven 

 leaves among 

 the grasses and 

 reeds. The 

 white footed 

 mouse ( lies- 

 fieromyt leii- 

 copus), which 

 is exceedingly 

 common in N*. 

 America, has 

 small cheek- 

 pouches, struc- 

 tures best de- 

 veloped in the 

 related family 

 of Cricetinie 

 or hamsters. 

 Corresponding 

 to the Euro- 

 pean harvest - 

 mice are the 



American se 

 cies of Oc 



.|e- 

 he- 



1, Harvest-moan (Mut miniilui); 

 2, Long-tailed Field-mouse (Slut 

 tylraticui). 



tod on, of which 0. hitmilts measures only about 

 2 inches in length, not including the tail. Finally, 

 I he Water-mice (Hydromys) of Australia may be 

 noted as remarkably divergent. The name is some- 

 times extended, as we have seen, to include the 

 smaller species of other genera than Mus, rat being 

 an equally wide title for the larger forms. But, 

 while the'wide application of the name is naturally 

 justified, care must l>e taken to keep the shrews 

 (Sorex ) in their entirely distinct, though somewhat 

 analogous, position among Insectivora, See KAT, 

 SHHEW, VOLE. 



