MOIRAI 



5467 



MOLAY 



the signature Delta he contrilnit. <l 

 nun li verse to Blaukwood's Maga- 

 zine, and wan ulno the author of 

 one or t \\ < > 

 works on sub- 

 jectacoimnti .1 

 with liia pro- 

 fession. He is 

 remembered 

 rliirlly by his 

 Autobiography 

 . t M a n s i e 

 \Viuii-h, a di- 

 x ' f rt '"8 Picture 



of humble Scottish humorist 

 Scottish life in 



the style of Moir*s more famous 

 contemporary Gait. Moir died 

 July i, 1851. 



Moirai. In classical mythology, 

 Greek name for the Fates, god- 

 dnmnnn who presided over the des- 

 tiny of man. The Latin name for 

 them was Parcae. See Fates. 



Moire (Fr., watered). Term 

 applied to fabrics bearing an 

 irregular wavy or jagged figure 

 produced in cloth finishing. This 

 watered effect is the same that is 

 seen when two layers of light cloth, 

 such as plain cotton voile, are 

 superimposed. The permanent 

 watered or moire effect is obtained 

 by the use of water and pressure. 

 The cloth is laid in layers, and an 

 impression of the back of one layer 

 is made on the face of the next. 

 Silk fabrics so treated are generally 

 named moires, worsted fabrics 

 moreens, and cotton fabrics moir- 

 ettes. The perfection of the result 

 is judged by the largeness of the 

 size of the figures. 



Moissac. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Tarn-et-Garonne. It lies 

 on the right bank of the Tarn, 17 

 m. by rly. W.N.W. of Montauban 

 on the important Canal Lateral, 

 and is a centre of local agricultural 

 and wine trade. The S. portal of the 

 ancient church of S. Pierre is a 

 remarkable example of 12th cen- 

 tury Gothic sculpture. The adjoin- 

 ing cloister, built c. 1100, is also 

 part of the remains of a famous 

 abbey, founded in the 7th century, 

 affiliated to the order of Cluny in 

 the llth, and suppressed during the 

 Revolution. Pop. 8,700. 



Moissan, HENRI (1852-1907). 

 French chemist. Born in Paris, 

 Sept. 28, 1852, he became a demon- 

 strator at the 

 school of phar-' 

 macy, 1879; 

 professor of 

 toxic ology, 

 1886; and 

 professor of 

 mineral chem- 

 istry, 1889. In 

 1900 appoint- 



Heari Moissan. ^ Professor of 

 French chemist chemistry at 



'.rl.omii-. in 1906 ho was 

 awarded the \oln-l pii/.e for chem- 

 istry. He died in l'ari8,Fcb.20, 1907. 



Moissan ia famous for his re- 

 searches on, and isolation of, fluor- 

 ine, for which he received the La- 

 cazo prize in 1887. From a study 

 <>f t In- three states of carbon he was 

 able to announce in 1893 the pro- 

 duction of artificial diamonds by 

 the sudden cooling of a molten 

 iron mass containing dissolved 

 carbon. This announcement caused 

 a great sensation at the time, but 

 the diamonds produced by this 

 method have never been commer- 

 cially successful. Moissan was also 

 responsible for the development of 

 tho electric furnace which he used 

 in many of his studies of the so- 

 called infusible compounds, and 

 for an improved method of acety- 

 lene production. 



Moivre, ABRAHAM DE (1667- 

 1754). ' Anglo-French mathe- 

 matician. Born May 26, 1667, at 

 Vitry in Champagne, he came to 

 England 1688, where he remained 

 for the rest of his life. He became a 

 personal friend of Sir Isaac Newton, 

 to whom he owed much of his 

 mathematical training. De Moivre 

 contributed a large number of 

 mathematical papers to the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, and was 

 made a fellow of the Royal Society 

 1697. His chief title to fame is the 

 theorem in trigonometry known 

 by his name, a theorem which 

 opened up a large branch of 

 mathematics. His book The Doc- 

 trine of Chances, first published 

 in 1718, was for a long time a 

 classic. He died Nov. 27, 1754, in 

 London. See Trigonometry. 



Moji. Seaport and town of 

 Japan, in Kyoshiu. It is in the 

 N.E. of the island on the Strait of 

 Shimonoseki, at the entrance to 

 the Inland Sea. The chief export is 

 coal; others of minor importance 

 are cotton thread, refined sugar, 

 cement, and timber. Ginned cotton, 

 raw sugar, petroleum, and bean- 

 cake are imported. The port be- 

 came important in 1887, when it 

 was made the terminus of the 

 Kyoshiu rly. Its pop. has in- 

 creased from 3,000 in 1889 to 

 56,000 ; its growth was greatly 

 stimulated by the traffic due to 

 the war operations of 1894-95, 

 1900, and 1904-5. 



Mojos. Spanish name for a 

 South American Indian tribe of 

 Arawakan speech, between the 

 Beni and Guapore rivers, Bolivia. 

 Numbering about 30,000, they 

 devote more attention than the 

 neighbouring Chiquitos to hunting 

 and fishing, and have partly aban- 

 doned bows and arrows for the 

 lasso. Best of Amazonian boat- 

 men, their dug-outs are prepared 



Midi tho aid of fire. They use lip- 

 pendants of quarto or resin-filled 

 canes. Pron. Mohos. See American 

 Indians. 



Mokshansk. Town of E. 

 Russia. It is in the government, 

 and 25 m. N.W., of Penza, on the 

 Moksha, a tributary of the Oka. 

 Potash and ropes are manu- 

 factured, and there is considerable 

 trade in cereals, tar, salt, and agri- 

 cultural products. Pop. 10,000. 



Mokume (Jap., wood grain). 

 Name given to a beautiful art 

 metal product made by soldering 

 together, one upon the other, thin 

 sheets of gold and silver, and of 

 certain copper alloys which have 

 been " pickled " to give them 

 various prominent colours. Conical 

 holes are drilled into the surface 

 of the soldered mass through the 

 sheets, and grooves are cut in the 

 surface, to various depths. The 

 mass is then hammered out until 

 the holes or grooves have disap- 

 peared, the final product being a 

 beautifully variegated surface sug- 

 gesting a slab of finely grained and 

 polished wood. 



Mola di Bari (anc. Turrea 

 Julianae). Harbour of Italy, in the 

 prov. of Bari. It stands on the 

 Adriatic, 12 m. by rly. S.E. of Bari. 

 Cattle, grain, wine, and oil are 

 exported. Pop. 14,000. 



Molasse. In geology, name 

 given to a belt of grits, limestones, 

 and clays of Switzerland, Bavaria, 

 etc. The rocks belong to the Oligo- 

 cene system (q.v.). Pron. mo-lass. 



Molasses. By-product in 

 sugar refining, the uncrystallisable 

 part of the sugar. It is a thick, 

 brownish -yellow liquid useful as a 

 food. Rum is produced by ferment- 

 ing molasses. See Rum ; Sugar. 



Molassine. Name for a pre- 

 paration of desiccated peat, satur- 

 ated with the molasses of beet 

 sugar, as a food for horses, oxen, 

 sheep, pigs, and poultry. The pro- 

 portion of sugar exceeds one-third 

 of the weight. 



Molay, JACQUES BERNARD DE 

 (c. 1243-1314). French grand 

 master of the order of the Tem- 

 plars. Born at Molay, in the 

 Juras, he entered the Templars at 

 Beaune about 1265 and early dis- 

 tinguished himself in Palestine. 

 Elected grand master of the order 

 in 1298, he retired with the Tem- 

 plars to Cyprus in 1299 until sum- 

 moned to France by Pope Clement 

 V in 1306. On Oct. 13, 1307, he 

 was arrested with all the members 

 of his order in France by order of 

 Philip the Fair. Put to the torture, 

 he confessed the truth of certain 

 serious allegations against the Tem- 

 plars, and spent several years in 

 prison before being brought up for 

 sentence. He then recanted his 



