HARMSWORTH'S 



UNIVERSAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 



VOLUME 9 



Meudon. Town of France, in 

 the dept <>t S"mr-et-Oise. It lies 

 :t in. S.W of Paris, and 1 m. S. of 

 . and is connected with Paris 

 l'\ 1 1 y. It has dialU works, and an 

 observatory and magnetic labora- 

 tory. Rabelais was priest of the 

 parish, and is commemorated by a 

 monument in the 16th century 

 church. The 17th century chateau 

 <f Mrudon was destroyed by the 

 1'n^sians in 1871. Pop. 10,000. 



Meulebeek. Town of Belgium, 

 in the prov. of W. Flanders. It 

 lies 8 m. N. of Courtrai, on the 

 Ingelmunster-Thielt rly. The in- 

 dustries include cotton and linen 

 spinning and lace-making. It was 

 in German occupation throughout 

 the Great War. Pop. 9,300. 



Me ul en, ADAM FRANS VAN DER 

 (1632-90). Flemish painter. Born 

 at Brussels, Jan. 11, 1632, he was 

 apprenticed to 

 P. Snayers, and 

 in 1665 went to 

 Paris to accept 

 a post in the 

 Gobelins Fac- 

 tory. He paint- 

 ed bat tie scenes, 

 of which he ac- 

 quired a know- 

 A. F. van der Meulen, ledge by accom- 

 . Flemish painter panying Louis 



After Largillitr* XlVonhiscam- 



paigns. He died in Paris, Oct. 15, 

 1690. Characteristic examples of 

 his work are in the galleries of 

 Munich, Versailles, Petrograd, and 

 the Louvre. 



Meunier, CONSTANTIN (1831- 

 1905). Belgian sculptor and 

 painter. Born at Etterbeek, Brus- 

 sels, April 12, 1831, he first ap- 

 peared at the Brussels Salon in 

 1851 with a piece of sculpture, 

 Guirlande. For a time he aban- 

 doned sculpture and painted scenes 

 from the life of the Trappists, and 

 also of peasant life and pictures of 

 workers in Spain, He returned to 

 sculpture and devoted himself to 

 portraying scenes from the life of 

 the workers in the coal mines, hav- 

 ing his studio in Louvain in the 

 heart of the Belgian black country. 

 His chief works include Grison, Le 

 Debardeur, Ecce Homo, Le Cheval 

 de Mine, L'Apothe'ose du Travail 

 (with four figures of La Mine, Le 

 Port, L'lndustrie, La Moisson), in 

 the Miiiv .im of Decorative Arts in 

 Brussels. He is represented in the 

 Luxembourg Museum by a paint- 



ing Au Pays Noir and by some 

 bronzes. He died at Brussels, 

 April 4, 1905. 



Meurthe. River of France. 

 Rising in the Vosges, N.E. of 

 Gerardmer, it flows in a N.W. 

 direction into Lorraine joined by 

 the Vezouse, near Luneville, and 

 meets the Moselle near Frouard. 

 The chief towns on its banks are 

 Fraize, St. Die, Baccarat, Luneville, 

 and Nancy. Its length is 102 m. 



Meurthe-et-Moselle. Dept. of 

 France, formed in 1871 after the 

 re-making of the E. frontier of 

 France. Bounded E. by Alsace and 

 Lorraine, it lies contiguous with 

 Belgium and Luxembourg, and with 

 the depts. of Mouse and Vosges. It 

 is generally hilly and well wooded, 

 particularly in the S., where it con- 

 tains part of the Vosges Mts., but is 

 well cultivated, potatoes, cereals, 

 beets, and the vine being grown. 

 Iron, salt, and building stone are 

 mineral products, and among the 

 varied industries are brewing, 

 timber working, and chemical pro- 

 ducts, textiles, and glass-making. 

 The Meurthe, Moselle, Mortagne, 

 Madon, Sanon, and Chiers are 

 among the rivers ; the Canal de la 

 Maine traverses the dept. Nancy 

 is the capital, other towns of note 

 being Toul, Luneville, Briey, 

 Longwy, Pont-a-Mousson, Thiau- 

 court, and Baccarat. It was 

 prominent in the early stages of 

 the Great War, as is noted in the 

 articles Longwy, Nancy, etc. Area, 

 2,036 sq. m. Pop. 564,700. 



Meuse (Dutch, Moos). River of 

 W. Europe. It rises about 16 m. 

 N.E. of Langres, Haute-Marne, 

 flows in a N. direction, for a few 

 miles underground, through the 

 depts. of Vosges, Meuse, and Ard- 

 ennes, and passes into Belgium at 

 Givet, after a sinuous course from 

 Sedan. At Namur it turns N.E., 

 passing through a deep valley 

 between that town and Liege, and 

 enters Dutch territory just S. of 

 Maastricht. 



The Meuse then flows N. and W. 

 until it joins the Waal, a branch of 

 the lower Rhine, near Gorkum, 

 where it becomes the Merwede, 

 and, after passing the marshy 

 tract known as the Biesbosch, 

 enters the North Sea at several 

 points, the chief of its mouths 

 being the Oude Maas, where stands 

 the Hook of Holland, the Haring- 

 vliet, and the Grevelingen. Among 



its tributaries are the Bar, Sambre, 

 Semoy, Lesse, Ourthe, and Roer, 

 and among the towns on its banks 

 are Ncuf chateau, Commercy, Ver- 

 dun, Mczieres, Dinant, Namur, 

 Huy, Liege, Maestricbt, and Venlo. 

 Navigable up to a point near 

 Verdun, the Meuse is joined by 

 several canals, notably the Marne- 

 Rhine canal and the Ardennes 

 canal. 



Its total length is 575 m., 

 305 m. being in France, 120 ra. hi 

 Belgium, and 150 m. in the 

 Netherlands. The area of its basin 

 is computed at 12,740 sq. m. The 

 river was very prominent through- 

 out the Great War. The operations 

 along its line are described in the 

 articles Dinant, Meuse- Argonne, 

 Namur, Verdun, and others. 



Meuse. Dept. of Franco. Con- 

 tiguous with the depts. of Meurthe- 

 et-Moselle Vosges, Haute-Marne, 

 Marne, Ardennes, and with Bel- 

 gium, it is generally hilly, and con- 

 tains the great forest tracks of the 

 Argonne and the Woevre. The 

 Meuse flows in a N.E. direction 

 through the dept., and other 

 rivers are the Ornain, Aire, Aisne, 

 Chiers, Loison, and Orne. The 

 Canal de la Marne traverses the 

 dept. Cereals, beet, potatoes are 

 grown, and, round Bar-le-Duc and 

 Bussy, the vine ; among in- 

 dustries are quarrying, timber 

 working, and foundries. The 

 capital is Bar-le-Duc, other towns 

 of note being Commercy, Verdun, 

 Montmedy, Clermont, Ligny-en- 

 Barrois, and Varennes. The dept. 

 suffered severely during the Great 

 War, large areas round Verdun 

 being completely desolated. Area, 

 2,408 sq. m. Pop. 278,000. 



Meuse, BATTLES OF THE. Fought 

 between the French and the 

 Germans, Aug. 25-27, 1914. After 

 the defeat of the 4th and 3rd 

 French armies in the great battles 

 of Virton - Ardennes, Aug. 20- 

 24, 1914, and of the 5th French 

 army at Charleroi, the 4th 

 French army (Langle de Gary) was 

 ordered to establish itself on the 

 left bank of the Meuse, and to hold 

 then* while maintaining contact 

 with the 5th army, then in rapid 

 retreat. The front of its five corps 

 ran from Mezieres to Sassey, S. of 

 Stenay. At Sassey it was in contact 

 with the 3rd army, but W. of 

 Mezieres a gap of 30 miles opened 

 between it and the 5th army, into 



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