MUSKETRY 



5603 



MUSQUASH 



weH-construcUxl fire trench. See 

 Army: P.;illi-t !<; I5isley : Shoot- 

 ml I lie articles on Rifle and 

 tin- \arienis i>t her weapons. 



Musketry, Si 'nooL OF. Military 

 Mtebliahment .for providing train- 

 tin- theory and practice of 

 i itli- shooting. At the central school 

 of muski-try. Hythe, Kent, the 

 iiu-huli- instruction in aim- 

 MIL.', tiring, care of arms, mechanism 

 i >f t he rifle, theory of rifle fire, visual 

 tiaiimiL'. and ranging. The school, 

 established in 1854, affords accom- 

 modation for about 400 officers, 

 warrant officers, and N.C.O's, who 

 alone have now to attend the 

 school, the attendance of the rank 

 and till- being discontinued in 1880. 

 The courses were remodelled upon 

 the adoption successively of the 

 Snider (1866), Martini-Henry 

 (1870), and Lee-Metford, etc., rifles. 



The school at Hythe is also 

 known as the school of small arms. 

 At the head is a general officer 

 known as the commandant, and 

 under him are a chief instructor, an 

 experimental officer, several in- 

 -t i in -tors, and assistant instructors. 

 During the Great War Hythe was a 

 machine-gun school, and for a time 

 tin- musketry school of the Eastern 

 Command, the army school of mus- 

 ketry being transferred to Bisley. 



There is a school of musketry at 

 Bloemfontein, S. Africa, estab- 

 lished in 1904, and similar schools 

 have been established in India 

 (Pachmarhi, Satara, and Rawal 

 rlndi) and in Canada. Qualifica- 

 tion at any of these is equiva- 

 lent to qualification at Hythe. 



Muskogees (Algonquin, creeks). 

 North American Indian tribe 

 formerly ruling the Creek con- 

 federacy. Originally immigrant 

 from the W., the British colonists 

 in the 17th century found them in 

 Georgia and Alabama, whose many 

 sea-inlets suggested their name. 

 The Creek war, 1813-14, cost them 

 most of their land. By a convey- 

 ance, 1852, the Creeks ranked in 

 Oklahoma as one of the five civil- 

 ized tribes, until their separate 

 nationhood ceased in 1906. In 1915 

 the Creeks numbered 18,776. The 

 Muskogees give their name to the 

 Muskogian family, which em- 

 braces Chickasaws, Choctaws, Nat- 

 chez, and Seminoles. Preserving 

 in the Gulf states the culture of the 

 mound-builders, their ceremonial 

 life included a worship of the four 

 winds and of the sun. See American 

 Indians. 



Muskoka. Region of great 

 natural beauty in the Lakes 

 Peninsula, Ontario, Canada. It 

 contains a river and lake of the 

 same name. From 800 to 1,000 

 lakes are connected by hundreds of 

 streams all available for passage 



by canoe. The river risen in the 

 S.W. corner of Algonquin National 

 Park, and flows S. to Lake Simcoe, 

 through the R. end of Lake Mus- 

 koka. On it the S. Falls are the 

 chief of numerous waterfalls. The 

 lake is 20 m. long. The region is a 

 summer camping ground for Cana- 

 dians and Americans, and contains 

 several hotels. Steamers ply on the 

 larger lakes, and the region, which 

 is crossed by the G.T. Rly. and 

 C.P. Rly., is attractive for its hunt- 

 ing, angling, boating, and bathing. 

 Musk Ox (n i- i in 1.1 moschaiua). 

 Large ruminant mammal. Found 

 in the Arctic regions, it is placed by 

 zoologists between the sheep and 

 ox. Its flesh is tainted with a 

 musky flavour. It is covered with 

 long, thick, brownish hair ; and the 

 horns of the male are wide and 

 flattened on the forehead. Its 



Musk Ox. 



Specimen of the North American ruminant 

 found in Arctic regions 



range is now confined to the ex- 

 treme N. of America ; but formerly 

 it occurred in N. and Central 

 Europe, and its bones are found in 

 Great Britain. It lives amid the 

 deep snow of the most barren re- 

 gions, and seldom long survives re- 

 moval to Europe. The Canadian 

 government in 1920 entertained a 

 scheme to domesticate musk oxen 

 on a large scale on the vast tracts of 

 barren unoccupied territory in N. 

 Canada, with the object of creating 

 a profitable source of wool-supply. 



Musk Rat OB MUSK SHREW ( M>/<>- 

 gale). Small insectivorous mam- 

 mal, also known as Desman (q.v.). 



Muslin. Fine cotton fabric used 

 for dresses, curtains, etc. The name 

 is generally believed to come from 

 Mosul, a town on the Tigris, where 

 the fabric is said to have been first 

 made. Marco Polo refers to muslins 

 of silk and gold made at Mosul. 

 From early times India has been 

 noted for its fine muslins, those 

 of Dacca and Madras being speci- 

 ally delicate. There are also silk 

 muslins, often sold under their 

 French name of moussdine*, but 

 these are of less importance. 



Muspratt, .IAMBS (1793-1886). 

 British chemist. Born in Dublin, 

 Aug. 12, 1793, he wan for three 

 yeara a drug- 

 gist's appren- 

 tice, ana then 

 served in the 

 Peninsular 

 War with both 

 the army and 

 the navy. 

 Having re- 

 ceived a small 



property from 

 James Muspratt, f at ul_' B _ 

 British chemist 



tate after a 



long chancery suit, he started the 

 manufacture of chemicals, and in 

 1823 moved to Liverpool, where he 

 began to make soda by the Leblanc 

 process. He afterwards opened 

 other works and engaged in the 

 manufacture of sulphuric acid. A 

 friend of Liebig, 

 he undertook the 

 manufacture o f 

 super - phosphates 

 and other artificial 

 manures invented 

 by that chemist. 

 The founder of the 

 South Lancashire 

 alkali industry, 

 Muspratt died at 

 Sea forth Hall, 

 Liverpool, May 4, 

 1886. 



Muspratt, 



JAMES SHERIDAN 

 (1821-71). British 

 chemist. Born 

 March 8, 1821, at 

 Dublin, the eldest 

 son of James Muspratt, he stud- 

 ied chemistry at Glasgow and Uni- 



He t< 



J. S. Muspratt, 

 British chemist 



versity College, L 

 a post under 

 Liebig at Gies- 

 s e n, 1843, 

 where he car- 

 ried out im- 

 portant re- 

 searches on 

 sulphites, 

 toluidine, and 

 ni traniline. 

 Returning to 

 England, he 

 settled in Liverpool, where he died 

 April 3, 1871. His Dictionary of 

 Chemistry, 1854-60, a standard 

 work, was translated into Russian 

 and German. 



Musquash (Fiber zibethicus). 

 North American rodent allied to the 

 voles and beaver. It is found 

 chiefly in Alaska and Canada. The 

 head and body measures about a 

 foot, and the stout tail is com- 

 pressed from the sides to suit its 

 semi-aquatic habits, whilst the 

 hind feet are partially webbed. 

 Herbivorous, like the British water- 

 vole, it affects the margins of lakes 



