28 



MOLYN MONAGHAN. 



lead -gray ; lustre metallic; specific gravity 4-591. 

 It does not melt before the blow-pipe, but emits sul- 

 phureous fumes. It is nowhere found in large quan- 

 tities, iilihough known to exist in numerous places. 

 Its principal European localities are Altenberg, in 

 Saxony, and Schlaggenwald, and Zinnwald, in Bohe- 

 mia. In the United States of America the largest 

 and best pieces have been found in the gneiss quar- 

 ries of Haddam, Connecticut, where plates half an 

 inch thick, and four inches over, have been met 

 with. At this place, it often exhibits the low six- 

 sided prism. It also occurs at Brunswick, in Maine, 

 in the same rock, and at Chesterfield, Massachusetts, 

 in granite. 



MOLYN, PETER. See Tempesta. 



MOLYNEUX, WILLIAM; a mathematician and 

 astronomer, born at Dublin, in 1656, whence he re- 

 moved to the Inner Temple, London, in 1675. Being 

 possessed of a competent fortune, he never engaged 

 in the law as a profession, but, returning to Ireland 

 in 1678, occupied himself with researches into various 

 departments of natural philosophy, particularly astro- 

 nomy. Having been appointed joint-surveyor of pub- 

 lic works and chief engineer, he had a commission to 

 examine the principal fortresses in Flanders. After 

 his return, in 1686, he published his Sciothericum 

 Telescopicum, containing an account of a telescope- 

 dial of his invention. In 1689, he removed to Lon- 

 don, on account of the political commotions of Ire- 

 land, and, in 1692, published a treatise on dioptrics, 

 under the title of Dioptrica Nova (4to). Going back 

 to his native country, he was chosen member of par- 

 liament for Dublin, in 1692; and, in 1695, he was 

 elected representative of the university. He died 

 October 11, 1698. Mr Molyneux was a fellow of 

 the Royal Society, and a contributor to the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions.' His son, Samuel Molyneux, 

 who was secretary to George II., when prince of 

 Wales, was also a cultivator of the mathematical 

 sciences, and made some improvement in the con- 

 struction of telescopes, of which doctor Robert 

 Smith published an account, in his treatise on optics. 



MOLZA, FRANCESCO MARIA, an Italian poet, was 

 born at Modena, in 1489, of a distinguished family, 

 lived principally in Rome, on terms of friendly inter- 

 course with the most eminent scholars, and died 

 1544. His talents would have opened to him a bril- 

 liant career, had not his excesses obstructed his 

 progress. Among his poems, the stanzas on the por- 

 trait of Ginlia Gonzaga, and the Ninfa Tiberina, a 

 poetical picture in ottave rime, are the most highly 

 esteemed. His Capitolo in Lode dei Fichi is full of 

 indelicacies ; Annibal Caro wrote a commentary 

 upon it. Molza is favourably known as a Latin 

 poet. A complete collection of his works first ap- 

 ueared in 1747, with an account of his life, by the 

 abbate Serassi. 



MOMENT; an indefinitely small portion of time, 

 having the same relation to duration as a point has 

 to a line. 



MOMENTUM, in mechanics, is the same with 

 impetus, or quantity of motion, and is generally esti- 

 mated by the product of the velocity and mass of the 

 body. This is a subject, however, which has led to 

 various controversies between philosophers, some 

 estimating it by the mass into the velocity, as stated 

 above, while others maintain that it varies as the 

 mass into the square of the velocity ; but this differ- 

 ence seems to have arisen rather from a misconcep- 

 tion of the term than from any other cause, those who 

 maintain the former doctrine understanding momen- 

 tum to signify the momentary impact, and the latter 

 the sum of all the impulses, till the motion of the 

 body is destroyed. 



MOMIERS; a Protestant sect, of recent origin, 



in Geneva and some other pans of Switzerland, 

 founded by Empeytaz, a student of theology and fol- 

 lower of the baroness von Kriidener, about 1813. He 

 held conventicles for the edification of those who 

 were not satisfied with the ordinary religious exer- 

 cises; and, when he had completed his course of 

 theology, the consistory of Geneva required of him a 

 promise to discontinue these private meetings. This 

 Empeytaz refused, and published a work on the di- 

 vinity of Christ, in which he charged the clergy of 

 Geneva with denying the divinity of Christ. The 

 clergy of Geneva then required of all young candi- 

 dates a promise to abstain from treating of the nature 

 of Christ, original sin, grace and predestination, in 

 the pulpit. This excited some discontents, and 

 Malan, a clergyman of Geneva, at the head of the 

 dissatisfied, and in connexion with Mr Drummond, 

 an Englishman, with Empeytaz and others, formed a 

 new church, or Orthodox church, and attacked their 

 adversaries in pamphlets, with charges of Arianism, 

 Socinianism, deism, and atheism. The Genevese 

 clergy kept silence; and, since 1823, Malan has 

 erected a house of worship, and administers the 

 Lord's supper. His doctrines are of a mystical 

 character. The name Momiers was at first given to 

 the sect by way of contempt (from momerie, mum- 

 mery), but has since been used as their appropriate 

 designation. See Hist, veritable des Momiers (Paris, 

 1824) ; Geschichte der sogen. Momiers (Basil, 1825.) 



MOMUS; the god of satire and pleasantry among 

 the ancients. He was son of Nox, according to 

 Hesiod. He blamed Vulcan, bebause, in the human 

 form, which he had made of clay, he had not placed 

 a window in the breast, by which whatever was done 

 or thought there might be easily brought to light. 

 He censured the house which Minerva had made, 

 because the goddess had not made it movable, by 

 which means a bad neighbourhood might be avoided. 

 In the bull which Neptune had produced, he observed 

 that his blows might have been surer if his eyes had 

 been placed nearer the horns. Venus herself was 

 exposed to his satire; and when the sneering god 

 could find no fault in the body of the goddess, he ob- 

 served that the noise of her feet was too loud for the 

 goddess of beauty. These illiberal reflections upon 

 the gods were the cause that Momus was driven from 

 heaven. He is generally represented raising a 

 mask from his face, and holding a small figure in his 

 hand. 



MONA ; the ancient name of the island of An- 



flesea. (q. v.) The marquis of Anglesea was created 

 uke of Mona in 1831. 



MONACO ; an Italian principality, lying between 

 the Sardinian province Nizza (Nice) and the Mediter- 

 ranean, with a population of 7000 inhabitants, and a 

 superficial area of 535 square miles. In the tenth 

 century, the emperor Otho I. conferred it on a prince 

 of the house of Grimaldi, which became extinct, in 

 the male line, in 1731. In 1641, the reigning prince, 

 having put his territories under the protection of 

 France, was created duke of Valentiqois. The daugh- 

 ter of the last prince having married Francis de 

 Matignon (1716), the princely and ducal titles passed 

 to the French family of Matignon. In 1793, Monaco 

 was incorporated with France, but, in 1814, was re- 

 stored to its princes, and placed under the protection 

 of Sardinia. The capital, Monaco (Monceci Arx), 

 with 1200 inhabitants, is a fortified place, situated on 

 the sea, in the midst of olive, orange and lemon 

 groves. Lat. 43 43' N. ; Ion. 7 22' E. 



MONAGHAN; a county of Ireland, in the pro- 

 vince of Ulster, bounded N. by Tyrone, E. by Ar- 

 magh, S. by Cavan, and W. by Fermanagh. It is 

 above thirty miles in length, and twenty in breadth. 

 The surface is hilly, and abounds with small lakes 



