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MUEZZIN MULBERRY. 



tile taste ; that of the stomach and the intestines 

 assists in the digestion. A great part of the mucus 

 is absorbed again by the membranes which secrete 

 it : another part is carried outwards, either alone (as 

 in blowing the nose or spitting), or mixed with the 

 pulmonary transpiration, or with excremental mat- 

 ter, &c. 



MUEZZIN, or MUEDDIN, in Mohammedan 

 countries ; the crier who announces the hours of 

 prayer from the minaret. Five prayers are repeated 

 daily, one before sunrise, one at dawn, one at 

 noon, one at four in the afternoon, and one at sun- 

 set. As bells are not in use among the Mohamme- 

 dans, the muezzin proclaims the time, and reminds 

 the faithful of their duty. He tells them at day- 

 break that prayer is better than sleep, and, at dinner- 

 time, that prayer is better than food. 



MUFTI. Grand mufti (called, also, by the Turks, 

 sheik- Ulislam, which means head of the elected) is, 

 in Turkey, the chief minister of religion and law, and 

 follows in rank immediately after the grand visier. 

 In fact, he receives from the sultan honours even 

 beyond those of the visiers. His election depends 

 entirely upon the sultan, and, as long as he remains 

 in his office, he cannot be condemned to death. The 

 sultan can only depose him, and cannot confiscate 

 his property. The mufti, as interpreter of the 

 Koran, is consulted on judicial proceedings, parti- 

 cularly in criminal cases, and, in general, on all 

 affairs of importance. He usually gives his opinion 

 in few words, without adding the reasons. In diffi- 

 cult cases, he adds, " God knows what is best." In 

 his signature, he calls himself the poor servant of 

 God. His written sentence is called fetvah; and 

 hence the mufti himself is called sahibifetive, which 

 means master of legal decisions, and his secretary 

 is called fetvah-emini. The latter remains by him, 

 decides cases with which the mufti does not wish to 

 trouble himself, and presents the decision for his 

 signature. The fixed revenue of the mufti amounts 

 to 2000 aspers daily. (See Asper.) As he has, 

 moreover, the disposal of several places in the 

 imperial mosques, and is concerned in all the pro- 

 motions of the members of the legal profession, he 

 has many additional sources of income. In great 

 cities, there is an under mufti, who receives his 

 place from the grand mufti, but not without making 

 him valuable presents. 



MUGGENDORF ; a village in the Bavarian 

 circle of the Upper Maine, in a valley on the Wie- 

 sent, remarkable for the numerous caves in the 

 environs. Some of them contain stalactites, and 

 others great quantities of bones of unknown ani- 

 mals. 



MUGGLETONIANS; a religious sect which 

 sprang up in England, in the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, so called from their founder, Mug- 

 gleton, a tailor. He and an associate pretended to 

 the character of prophets, and to be the two wit- 

 nesses mentioned in Revelation. 



MUHAMMED. See Mohammed. 



MUHLBERG; acity of the Prussian territories, in 

 the province of Saxony, celebrated in history for the 

 battle between the Protestants, under John Frederic, 

 elector of Saxony, and the Catholics, under the 

 emperor Charles V. (q. v.), April 24, 1547. See 

 Germany ; Smalcaldic League. 



MUKANNA, ATAN HAKEM (called also Mokanna, 

 or Borkai), born in Khorasan, 775, pretended that 

 the spirit of God, which had been transmitted from 

 Adam, through Noah and all prophets, rested on 

 him. Being hard pushed by the caliph Mohammed 

 I., he burned himself, with all his treasures, in Sam. 

 His followers were called Moveidites, and paid him 

 divine honours. 



MULATTO (Spanish, mixed) is commonly usrd 

 to signify the offspring of a black and a white. The 

 mulatto is of a yellow colour, with frizzled or woolly 

 hair, and resembles the F.uropean more than the 

 African. The descendants of Europeans and Indians 

 are called mestizos (q. v.). In Spain, the term mulatto 

 is often applied to those persons in whom the Moorish 

 blood has been mingled with the Spanish. 



MULBERRY (mortis) ; a genus of plants allied 

 to the nettle, and belonging to the natural family 

 urticeee. The species are trees, bearing alternate, 

 simple, and often lobed leaves, and inconspicuous 

 flowers, which are disposed in aments. The fruit is 

 edible. The white mulberry (M. alba] is the most 

 interesting of the genus, on account of the leaves 

 being used for food by silk-worms. It grows to the 

 height of forty or fifty feet, with a trunk two or 

 more feet in diameter. The leaves are often divided 

 into several lobes. The berries are white, some- 

 times, however, varying to red, and possess a sweet 

 and insipid taste. It is a native of China, and the 

 Chinese claim the art of rearing silk-worms, and 

 manufacturing stuffs, from a very remote period. 

 From China, this art was introduced into India and 

 Persia, and was practised there for many ages before 

 it reached Europe. The Greeks became acquainted 

 with silk subsequent to the time of Alexander ; and 

 it was not till the end of the republic that the 

 Romans, for the first time, saw this precious article. 

 For many ages, silk bore an enormous price at 

 Rome ; but about the middle of the sixth century, 

 during the reign of Justinian, two monks arrived at 

 Constantinople from India, bringing with them the 

 white mulberry, and the eggs of the silk- worm. 

 From Constantinople, the white mulberry was intro- 

 duced into Greece, and, about the year 1130, into 

 Sicily and Italy. The first mulberry that was planted 

 in France was living in 1802, and there still remain 

 some stocks that are apparently of nearly the same 

 age. It is now cultivated and naturalized throughout 

 the south of Europe, and in some of the central parts 

 of that continent. In southern climates, the leaves 

 appear to contain a less proportion of water, and 

 more of that substance which causes the worms to 

 produce silk in greater abundance, and of a finer 

 quality. In Greece, Asia Minor, and Persia, it is 

 usual to give to the worms the branches, with the 

 leaves attached to them ; but, in Spain, Italy, and 

 France, the leaves are carefully stript from the trees, 

 taking care to despoil each tree entirely, otherwise 

 the sap will be unequally attracted. The varieties 

 of this tree are very numerous. The most approved 

 mode of cultivation is from seed, and is practised 

 exclusively in the south of France. A moderately 

 fertile soil is the most suitable. 



The black mulberry (M. nigra) is a tree about as 

 large as the preceding, said to be a native of Persia, 

 but which has been cultivated in Europe from a very 

 remote period. The fruit is blackish purple, sugary, 

 with a slight acidity, and very agreeable. It is, how- 

 ever, in perfection only for a few moments, and that 

 at the time when it can be detached from the tree by 

 a slight shaking of the branches. The Romans, 

 indeed, preferred it to every foreign fruit. This tree 

 often yields a prodigious quantity. The leaves are 

 sometimes substituted for those of the white mul- 

 berry for silk-worms. 



The red mulberry (M. rubra) is one of the most 

 valuable of American trees, from the properties of 

 the wood. The leaves are large, cordate, entire, or 

 divided into two or three lobes, rough and hairy 

 while young. The fruit is deep red, and of an agree- 

 able sugary flavour, mingled with a slight acidity. 

 It is rather rare in the Atlantic slates, but is abun- 

 dant in the west, on the Ohio and its tributaries, and 



