MACHIM:. 



:i ; 



M 



Mb the labial letter of the liquid series. For the various form* of 

 the characters by which it has been denoted in the chief European 

 laBiroages, see ALI-HABIT. 



The change* to which it U liable are chiefly as follows : 

 1. M is interchanged with n. Thus M, at the end of Latin cases and 

 faun, U generally represented by an in Greek. Similarly the 

 German dative Htm and accusative I'An have been confounded in the 

 English kirn, which i> at once dative and accusative. So again the 

 Gorman bodrm, hue*, boat, fiulm, are in English, bottom, bourn, boon 

 or broom, faHom. And even in the Greek language, notwithstanding 

 it* aversion to a final m, inscriptions exhibit such forms as TOP Paai\tn, 

 **w MM fxf , Ac., where the nasal is modified so as to accord with 

 the initial letter of the following word. 



i. M with 6. Thus in Latin, hiemt co-exists with kiberuta, tumto 

 with luber, gtom*i with globtu, fama with fabula. This interchange 

 explains the form of tummtu, the superlative of tut, of tumo for mbiiiio, 

 and perhaps that of nutter, as the comparative of btniu or Mia, the old 

 form of bonut ; whence 6nu, Mliu, 0<Ar<0os, /8Vri<rrof , (kyrurros, &c. 

 Again flfxroi is equivalent to pporoi, and so related to the Latin mor-i 

 and the Sanskrit mri. In our own language hiuband is a corruption of 

 AoujrmaK, rfonuiiiu, the correlative of hoiuacifr. 



3. If with p. Hence the Greek forms <w, rrru/utai, to., for or/io, 

 rrrvr/ioi, &c. So the Greek preposition /rra has a form f8a, and the 

 Greek no\vBSot is in Latin plumbum. 



4. .W with r. This is particularly the case in the Welsh language. 

 Hence the name Annan was transferred into that tongue with a r (or 

 rather an /, which is pronounced as r) in place of the m ; and the Latin 

 amxa is believed to be identical with the Welsh A/an, pronounced 

 Ann, The Latin language too has promulgart, apparently for prurnl- 

 yon. 



6. M with v probably. This interchange follows easily from the 

 last, and is a natural step towards the next. The German mil seems 

 to be identical with our own vit/t. In Greek too /ua, " one," and the 

 particle iur (which also appears to denote " one," and so to correspond 

 to J, " two," probably a corruption of Suo),seem to have passed through 

 a form Fa, Fir, before they became m and If. Compare the old Latin 

 onto and the English one as it is pronounced. 



0. M disappearing. This appears to have been the case even at the 

 beginning of words. See what is said above; and compare the Greek 

 M*x/"t with oxpif, (wx*jC with oxM", the Latin mania with the 

 Teutonic hand, the Latin men-re with the English earn. At the end 

 "f words at least, the loss of an m is very common, particularly after o. 

 Thus the Greek and Latin verb often has the first person ending in u, 

 where analogy would lead to om ; tcribo, rvrru. Compare in Latin the 

 words mat, if vom, besides the other tenses tcribtbam, tcrikam, ic. ; and 

 in Greek the middle form TVWTOH-CU, mnta-at, rvrm-at, which would 

 seem to have been formed from an old active, rurroft, rums, rvrrir, 

 with the addition of a fixed suffix denoting telf. In Latin all the 

 adverbs ending in o, signifying Motion to, appear to hare lost on m, 

 namely, 7110, ro, Ac. Hence adeo, quoad, occur in conjunction with a 

 preposition which elsewhere requires an accusative. Again, an in has 

 been lost in pottca, anted, pottilla, Ac. ; compare podquam, anlequam, &c. 

 Lastly, the use of ri/ert mei, rtferi Cictronit, interest mea, &c., are 

 probably to be explained by the full forms, ren fert meam, ran fert 

 Cictronit, inter rest at meam. Such a use of ret accords well with the 

 phrases, in rrm meam at, e re tua at. 



7. M, like the other liquids, but not so frequently, is liable to change 

 its position with regard to the vowel of a root. Thus in Greek the 

 root TCM, cn<, may take the form T/MI; and Ja/ia-o has derivatives 

 where the M is next to the t. 



The letter M, or rather a symbol somewhat like it, for which modern 

 printen have found it convenient to substitute that letter, was used 

 Mr the Romans to denote a thousand. It U commonly said that this 

 character was thus used because it is the initial of mitte ; but see 

 N MI RALS. 



MACE, originally a club of metal, whence it derived its name of 

 Mare or Macue, and whence its diminutive Huuelle is also derived. 

 In a more ornamental form it U used as an ensign of authority borne 

 before magistrates. Of this last kind is the mace placed before the 

 Speaker of the Boon of Commons whilst that officer presides at the 

 sittings of the Houss. When any other member presides, as in a " Com- 

 wHtee of the whole Houne," the niacc is laid under the table. Cromwell's 

 direction to " remove that bauble," when he dissolved the Long Parlia- 

 ment, is familiar to every one. It was until lately commonly supposed, 

 that ths actual mace to which be referred, was that presented by 

 Charles 1 1. to the Royal Society, to be placed before the President at the 

 meetings of the society, and without which no meeting is legal But 

 this has been shown to be an error by Mr. Weld, the secretary, in his 

 History of the Royal Society ' (voL i. p. ISO, Ac.). The mace pre- 

 .nto-1 to the Royal Society was a new one, made for the purpose. The 



old mace of the House of Commons appears to have been broken, 

 melted, and sold by order of the House, August 9, 1649. 



The mace as a military weapon was peculiarly appropriated to the 

 cavalry, and in the Bayeux tapestry several are represented in the 

 liands of the combatants. It is not clear when the fashion of sus- 

 pending them from the saddle-bow for occasional use was first intro- 

 duced into Europe, but as it seems to have been borrowed from the 

 Asiatics, we may perhaps assign it to the middle of the 13th century. 

 Muratori observes that in a close conflict of cavalry it was exceedingly 

 difficult to overthrow or wound powerful men in armour sitting on 

 horseback, for their persons, being enveloped in hauberks, helmets, 

 and other iron coverings, eluded the power of swords, darts, arrows, 

 'and such like weapons. For this reason it was usual to strike men BO 

 defended with iron maces, or to turn the attack on the horses, that by 

 making them fall they might seize the rider ; or if he tumbled on the 

 ground, the weight of his armour might render hiiu unable to contend 

 with any effect. 



Maces seem to have been much used from the time of Edward II., 

 both in battles and tournaments. Meyrick says all the heavy cavalry 

 were supplied with them in the 15th and 16th centuries, though they 

 sometimes gave way to the short battle-axe and horseman's hammer. 

 The invention of pistols in the reign of Henry VIII. occasioned their 

 disuse in the time of Elizabeth. 



Kllis, in his notes to the ' Fabliaux,' says the mace was a common 

 weapon with ecclesiastics, who, in consequence of their tenures, fre- 

 quently took the field, but were by a canon of the church forbidden to 

 wield the sword. 



The word Mace is sometimes used by our old writers in the sense of 

 niceptrc. 



MACERATION is the exposing of any substances, and generally 

 those of vegetable origin, when reduced to coarse powder, to the action 

 of water or any other liquid, without the ami stance of heat, in which 

 last circumstance it differs from digestion. The object of maceration 

 is twofold ; either merely to soften the parts of the substance operated 

 on, so as to allow of the more ready subsequent action of heat, as when 

 cinnamon or cloves are macerated in water, previously to distillation ; 

 or it is employed to dissolve the aromatic parts of a substance, when 

 digestion would not merely dissolve but dissipate them. 



MACHICOLATION (in French Machicoulis, or MaMcoulit). This 

 term, which is obviously derived from the two French words meche* 

 and cottier to pour down ignited materials afterwards compounded 

 into the barbarously Latinized one maichicolatum, or manhicalatum, 

 was significantly bestowed on those openings in the parapet of a 

 fortified building through which ignited combustibles (mechet), or 

 melted lead, stones, Ac., were poured and hurled down upon the 

 besiegers. The apertures were formed in the soffit or under surface of 

 the projecting parapet, which was supported upon corbel stones, the 

 j . rr fi -rations themselves being in the soffit, between those stones. By 

 this ingenious contrivance the besieged were enabled to harass their 

 assailants in a most formidable manner, while they themselves were 

 protected by the parapet and its battlements. Machicolations were 

 frequently confined to particular situations, such as over an entrance 

 gateway and the towers flanking it, or other ports most likely to be 

 assaulted. 



MACHINE, an object by the intervention of which a motive power 

 is made to act upon any body and overcome the force by which the 

 latter resists the effort to change its state of rest or motion. A 

 machine diners in no respect from a tool, an itmtrumnit, or an 

 and any one of these terms might be used indifferently for the same 

 thing : the word tool is, however, generally applied to an object con- 

 taining in its construction some mechanical power, and which, when in 

 use. is held in the hand of the operator. 



The advantage which any machine affords for overcoming resistance, 

 consists in the reaction by which it supports a certain portion of il- 

 weight producing that resistance, so that the motive power has only to 

 counteract the remainder. This may be immediately observed in those 

 simple machines called the mechanical power*. For example : in the 

 lever, the wheel and axle, and the pulley, the properties of which 

 depend on the theory of parallel forces (when, consequently, of the 

 resistance, the moving power, and the reaction of the machine, some 

 one is equal to the sum of the two others), any convenient portion of 

 the resistance may be made to rest on the point of support, or the 

 point of suspension. Again ; in the inclined plane, the wedge, and the 

 crew, the properties of which depend on the theory of forces concur- 

 ring in a point, the motive power, the resistance, and the reaction of 

 the support, are represented by the three sides of a triangle ; and the 

 ratio of the first to either of the others may be varied at pleasure by 

 the construction of the machine. 



The powers employed to give motion, through machinery, to any 

 object, are produced by the mutcular itrtnyth of men or arilmals ; th 



