MOTHERVVELL MOTION. 



77 



most remarkable and useful of these caterpillars is 

 the silk-worm (q. v.), originally a native of China : 

 and other Eastern countries, from whence it was 

 imported into Europe during the reign of the emperor 

 Justinian. If, however, one species ministers to our 

 comfort and luxury, there are others which are capable 

 of committing great devastations among all articles 

 composed of woollen or fur, &c. Thus the tinea sarci- 

 tella destroys woollen clothes ; the T. pellionella 

 attacks furs ; the T. flavi-frontella damages collec- 

 tions of natural history ; the T. granella commits 

 great ravages among grain, &c. The clothes-moth 

 itself is perfectly innocuous. The devastation is com- 

 mitted by the caterpillar. This begins to form a 

 nest as soon as it quits the egg. For this purpose, 

 having spun a thin coating of silk round its body, it 

 cuts filaments of wool or fur close to the thread of the 

 cloth, and applies the pieces to the outside of its 

 case. This covering it never leaves, except in cases 

 of urgent necessity. t When it wishes to feed, it puts 

 out its head at either end of the case, as may be 

 most convenient. When it wishes to change its 

 position, it protrudes its head and about half its body, 

 and thus moves forward, dragging its case by fixing 

 its hinder legs firmly in it. When, from its increase 

 in size, the case becomes too small, it makes an 

 addition to it at each end. This operation can be 

 readily traced by transferring it from cloth of one 

 colour to another, when each addition will be con- 

 spicuous, from the difference of colour. After chang- 

 ing into a chrysalis, it remains quiescent for about 

 three weeks, when a small nocturnal moth, of a 

 silvery-gray colour, comes forth, but too well known 

 to almost every mistress of a family. The usual 

 mode of destroying these pests is by oil of turpentine, 

 camphor, or tobacco, all of which will answer the 

 purpose to a certain degree; but all have the dis- 

 advantage of communicating odours to the clothes, 

 to which they have been applied, extremely dis- 

 agreeable to many persons. As moths never attack 

 unwashed wool, and even abandon the places where 

 it is kept, this substance may be advantageously 

 substituted for the above-mentioned articles by plac- 

 ing it in layers between clothes, or keeping small 

 parcels in the corners of shelves or drawers. For 

 this plan to be effectual, the wool must be used as it 

 comes from the back of the animal, before any 

 cleansing process has been employed that will deprive 

 it of its natural oil or smell. 



MOTHERWELL, WILLIAM, a very beautiful 

 writer of Scottish ballads, was born in Glasgow in 

 1797, and at an early age was placed under the care 

 of an uncle in Paisley, from whom he received his 

 education. While a youth, he was employed, for 

 nearly two years, by Dr Watt, in assisting in the 

 compilation of the Bibliotheca Britannica, and in 

 that occupation displayed a passionate love of anti- 

 quarian lore, which characterized all his after years. 

 His labours on the Bibliotheca were limited to 

 thiit portion of the work which comprehends the 

 books and printers of the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries an employment highly congenial to his 

 spirit, and which was serviceable to him in after life, 

 when he became a collector of rare and valuable 

 editions After leaving Dr Watt, he obtained a 

 situation in the sheriff clerk's office in Paisley, 

 where he remained about ten years, during which 

 time he attended one or two sessions at the Glasgow 

 college. Among his earlier literary efforts were 

 several contributions to The Visitor, a little perio- 

 dical published at Greenock, and to the Ha.p of 

 Renfrewshire, a collection of songs with notes, the 

 editing of which he chiefly superintended. He after- 

 wards employed himself busily in the compilation of 

 an interesting collection of ballads, which he pub- 



lished in 1827, under the title of Minstrelsy, 

 Ancient and Modem, illustrated by an historical 

 introduction and notes. The ancient ballads in this 

 collection were principally collected in the western 

 counties of Scotland ; the modern ones were chiefly 

 his own. In 1828, he became editor of the Paisley 

 Advertiser newspaper, and after having conducted 

 that journal for about two years, he was offered the 

 editorship of the Glasgow Courier, which he ac- 

 cepted, and continued to direct to the time of his 

 death. While conducting the Paisley Advertiser, 

 he, in conjunction with his friend, Mr Kennedy, 

 author of Fitful Fancies, started the Paisley 

 Magazine, a miscellany which displayed much talent 

 and spirit, but which only survived for a year. 

 His connexion with the Glasgow Courier may be 

 considered as unfortunate for himself and the world 

 of letters. The period during which he conducted it 

 was one of great political commotion the period, 

 namely, immediately before and after the passing of 

 the Reform Bill ; and as he was a violent partisan 

 of the high tories, he devoted all his energies against 

 those liberal principles which were then in the ascen- 

 dant. Literature was thus in a great measure aban- 

 doned for politics, and his own health suffered under 

 the continued excitement consequent on conducting 

 a three-times-a-week newspaper. Although sub- 

 ject to severe fits of illness, the intimstion of his 

 death came unexpectedly upon the public of Glas- 

 gow, and he was sincerely lamented by all parties, 

 as one who whatever might be his political opinions 

 had struck the ancient lyre of Scotland in a strain 

 of tenderness that has not been surpassed. He died 

 of apoplexy, after three hours' illness, on the 1st of 

 November, 1835, and was buried in the Necropolis 

 of Glasgow, where an elegant monument has since 

 been erected to his memory. 



Two years before his death, he published a col- 

 lected edition of his poems, which was most favour, 

 ably received. Most of his pieces are distinguished 

 either by a spirit of warlike enthusiasm or of melting 

 tenderness and in either strain he is equally suc- 

 cessful. Of the former, The Sword Song of Thorn- 

 stein Raudi may be adduced as an example; of the 

 latter, his well-known Jeanie Morrison, or what 

 is perhaps still more exquisitely pathetic, his ballad 

 beginning, My head is like to rend, Willie. Mr 

 Motherwell left unfinished the greater portion of an 

 intended prose work, embodying the old wild legends 

 of the Norsemen. 



MOTHER WORT (leonurus cardiacd); a labiate 

 plant, which grows in waste places. The stem is 

 quadrangular, rigid, and the flowers are faint purple 

 and very hairy. The calyx is terminated by sharp 

 points. An infusion is a popular medicine among 

 the country people, but is much less used now than 

 formerly. Its properties are similar to those of other 

 labiatae. 



MOTION. The motion of a body is the change 

 of its place in space. All changes in the material 

 world consist of motion. The life of the organic 

 creation, and the action of inorganic bodies, consists 

 in motion : what we call rest, is only relative. Ex- 

 perience alone convinces us of the motion of bodies 

 in space. Zeno of Elea, endeavoured to prove this 

 fundamental idea of motion to be contradictory to 

 itself, in order to overthrow the testimony of expe- 

 rience. If we see that a body changes its external 

 relations, we conclude that it moves : its continuance 

 in the same relations is called rest. By a change of 

 the situation or relation of bodies we are often de- 

 ceived, and confound rest with motion. In some 

 cases, it is easy to perceive the error ; in others, it is 

 so difficult, that many centuries have been necessary 

 to dispel the illusion; for instance, in relation to the 



