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MAGN^EAN INSTITUTE MAGNESIA. 



in case of any breach of the charter, and the delay 

 or denial of redress, to make war on the king, to 

 seise his castles and lands, and to distress and annoy 

 him in every possible way (saving only the persons 

 of the royal family), till justice was done. Many 

 parts of the charter were pointed against the abuses 

 of the power of the king as lord paramount ; the 

 tyrannical exercise of the provisions of the forest 

 laws was checked, and many grievances incident to 

 feudal tenures were mitigated or abolished. But 

 beside these provisions, it contains many for the 

 benefit of the people at large, and a few maxims of 

 just government, applicable to all places and times, 

 of which it is hardly possible to overrate the impor- 

 tance of the first promulgation by the supreme autho- 

 rity. " No scutage or aid shall be raised in our 

 kingdom (except in three given cases) but by the 

 general council of the kingdom." This principle, 

 that the consent of the community is essential to just 

 taxation, has been the life of the British constitution. 

 The thirty-ninth article contains the celebrated 

 clause which forbids arbitrary imprisonment and 

 punishment without lawful trial ; " Let no freeman 

 (nullus liber homo) be imprisoned or disseized, or out- 

 lawed, or in any manner injured or proceeded against 

 by us, otherwise than by the legal judgment of his 

 peers, or by the law of the land. We shall sell, 

 delay, or deny right or justice to none." This article 

 contains the writ of habeas corpus (q. v.) and the 

 trial by jury, the most effectual securities against 

 oppression, which the wisdom of man has devised, 

 and the principle that justice is the debt of every 

 government, which cannot be paid without render- 1 

 ing law cheap, prompt, and equal. The twentieth 

 section is hardly less remarkable : " A freeman shall 

 be amerced in proportion to his offence, saving his 

 contenement, a merchant saving his merchandise, and 

 the villain saving his wagonage." The provision 

 which directs that the supreme civil court shall be 

 stationary, instead of following the king's person, is 

 an important safeguard of the regularity, accessibi- 

 lity, independence, and dignity of public justice. 

 Blackstone has given an edition of the Charter, with 

 an introduction, in his Law Tracts. See also the his- 

 tories of Hume and Mackintosh. 



MAGN^EAN INSTITUTE ; founded by professor 

 Arnus Magnseus, for the publication of Icelandic 

 manuscripts at Copenhagen. 



MAGNA GRMCIA ; the southern part of Italy, 

 which was inhabited by Greek colonists. D'Anville 

 bounds it, on the north, by the river Silar or Selo, 

 which empties into the gulf of Psestum. But it seems 

 more natural to annex Campania to it, and to take 

 for the boundaries on the one side, the Vulturnus, 

 where the territory of Cuma ceased, and on the other 

 the Frento or Fortore, which forms the boundary of 

 Apulia, and flows into the Adriatic, as the Grecian 

 colonies reached to that point. The tribes, indead, 

 which had emigrated into Italy from the north, in 

 the earliest times, spread through all Italy, but 

 always confined by the Apennines, and in the in- 

 terior of the country. Several centuries after, 

 Greeks came hither, began to build cities on the 

 unoccupied coasts, and intermingled by degrees 

 with the inhabitants of the interior. The foun- 

 dation of these Grecian colonies was unquestion- 

 ably after the destruction of Troy. Athenians, 

 AchaBans, Euboeans, &c., with some Trojans, repair- 

 ed hither. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 

 the followers of ^Cneas were scattered through the 

 different parts of Italy. Some landed in lapygia, 

 others retired to both sides of the Apennines, and 

 founded colonies. Subsequently the Romans sent 

 colonies to Calabria, and partly in that way, partly by 

 conquest, became (272 B. C.) masters of all the 



Greek colonies. The Greek was no longer the sole 

 language in Calabria ; the Latin was also spoken ; 

 and an intermixture of the Grecian and Roman man- 

 ners and usages took place, which is yet perceptible. 

 Magna Graecia comprised the provinces of Campania, 

 Apulia, lapygia, Lucania, and Bruttii. The most 

 celebrated republics were Tarentum, Sybaris, Cro- 

 tona, Posidonia, Locris, and Rhegium. 



MAGNATES (in low Latin, the Great) was for- 

 merly in Poland, and is still in Hungary, the name 

 applied to the noble estates, who took part in the 

 administration of the government. In Poland, they 

 were the spiritual and temporal senators, or the coun- 

 sellors and high nobility. Among the senators were 

 reckoned the archbishop of Gnesen, and formerly the 

 archbishop of Lemberg, the bishops, waywodes, the 

 castellans, and royal officers or ministers. In Hun- 

 gary, the barons of the kingdom are considered as 

 Magnates. These are 1. the greater; to wit, the 

 Palatine, royal and court judges, the Ban or governor 

 of Croatia, Sclavonia, and DaTmatia, the treasurer and 

 the highest officers of the court ; 2. the smaller, or 

 counts and barons. To the prelates, inferior nobles 

 and royal free towns, this denomination does not 

 extend. 



MAGNESIA ; one of the earths, having a metallic 

 basis called magnesium. It exists in nature, under 

 various states of combination, with acids, water, and 

 other earths, and is found in various mineral 

 springs, and the water of the ocean, united with 

 sulphuric and muriatic acids. It may be obtained 

 by pouring into a solution of its sulphate a solution 

 of subcarbonate of soda, washing the precipitate, 

 drying it, and exposing it to a red heat. It is usually 

 procured in commerce, by acting on magnesian lime- 

 stone with the impure muriate of magnesia, or bittern 

 of the sea-salt manufactories. The muriatic acid 

 goes to the lime, forming a soluble salt, and leaves 

 behind the magnesia of both the bittern and the 

 limestone ; or the bittern is decomposed by a crude 

 subcarbonate of ammonia, obtained from the distilla- 

 tion of bones in iron cylinders. Muriate of ammonia 

 and subcarbonate of magnesia result. The former is 

 evaporated to dryness, mixed with chalk, and sub- 

 limed. Subcarbonate of ammonia is thus recovered, 

 with which a new quantity of bittern may be decom- 

 posed. 100 parts of crystallized Epsom salt require, 

 for complete decomposition, 56 of subcarbonate of 

 potash, or 44 dry subcarbonate of soda, and yield 16 

 of pure magnesia after calcination. Magnesia dis- 

 solves very sparingly in water, requiring 5142 times 

 its weight of water at 60", and 36,000 of boiling 

 water, for solution. The resulting liquid does not 

 change the colour of violets ; but when pure mag- 

 nesia is put upon moistened turmeric paper, it causes 

 a brown stain. It possesses the still more essential 

 character of alkalinity in forming neutral salts with 

 acid in an eminent degree. It absorbs both water 

 and carbonic acid, when exposed to the atmosphere. 

 It is infusible, except in the intense heat of the 

 compound blow-pipe. The salts of magnesia are in 

 general very soluble, and crystallizable, and possesseo 

 of a bitter taste. The Carbonate is prepared for 

 medicinal use, by dissolving equal weights of sulphate 

 of magnesia and carbonate of potash, separately, in 

 twice their weight of water ; mixing them together, 

 and diluting with eight parts of warm water ; the 

 magnesia attracts the carbonic acid, and the com- 

 pound, being insoluble, is precipitated, while the 

 sulphate of potash that remains continues in solution. 

 The mixture is made to boil for a few minutes; 

 after cooling a little, it is poured upon a filtre ; the 

 clear fluid runs through, and the precipitate of car- 

 bonate of magnesia is washed with water till it is 

 tasteless. When the process is conducted on a 



