718 



MASS MASSACHUSETTS. 



Intimately connected with the dogma that the 

 mass is a sacrifice is the dogma of the masses for the 

 dead, which is equally offensive to the Protestant. As 

 the Catholic church maintains that the believers who 

 depart from this world without having sufficiently 

 atoned by suffering for their sins, are obliged to suf- 

 fer in the other world a temporary punishment, it 

 also believes that the sacrifice of the mass, that is, of 

 Jesus Christ, may be made efficacious for the remis- 

 sion of this punishment. Catholics admit that the 

 abuses which have been connected with the mass are 

 enormous ; but, say many of them, they have been 

 abolished by the council of Trent. Protestants, 

 however, cannot find that these abuses have been 

 eradicated, though they may have diminished. If in 

 Catholic countries perhaps without exception 

 masses for the dead can be procured for a certain 

 fee, so that the persons for whom they are said are 

 either entirely released from purgatory, or many 

 years of their pain remitted, this special application 

 of the great offering of Jesus seems to them to devi- 

 ate most essentially from the true meaning of the 

 scriptures. In Italy, for instance, it was very com- 

 mon to find the power of releasing from purgatory a 

 certain number of souls for a certain number of years, 

 attributed to a number of masses, said at particular 

 altars ; and the cheapness of the price for which 

 such great benefit could be procured for the souls of 

 the departed was not unfrequently extolled. 



The dispute relative to the mass is by no means 

 restricted to the two parties, the Protestants and 

 Catholics. Not a few of the Catholics are desirous 

 of essential changes, particularly the disuse of a lan- 

 guage which is not understood by the people, and of 

 many masses connected with legends, evidently and 

 acknowledgedly fictitious. Thus Mr von Reichlin 

 Meldegg, professor of ecclesiastical history and dean 

 of the (Catholic) theological department at the uni- 

 versity of Freiburg, has lately advocated these and 

 other changes, for which, of course, he has been 

 violently attacked by the Roman party. (See a 

 pamphlet entitled tVider romische Verketzerungs- 

 sucht. Gutachten eines aufrichtlgen Canonisten 

 (Against the Disposition of Rome to proscribe for 

 Heresies. Opinion of a sincere Canonist), Leipsic, 

 1831.) The advocates of the use of a language, in 

 the mass, which is not understood by the people, 

 maintain that the liturgy of the mass was not 

 always foreign to the people ; that it was translated 

 into Ethiopian, Armenian, Coptic, Russian, Scla- 

 vonic, Illyrian, &c., but that it has not been changed 

 as the languages went on changing. " So that the 

 Oriental Christians," they say, " understand the 

 liturgy in use among them no better than the 

 European nations the Latin liturgy."* (See Diet. 

 de Theol., vol. v. p. 291.) Gregory I., or the Great 

 (he died about 604), first settled the ceremonies and 

 usages of the mass. 



MASSA-CARRARA; a duchy of Italy, bounded 

 principally by Tuscany and the duchy of Modena, 

 celebrated for the production of the beautiful white 

 Carrara marble, much used in sculpture. It is de- 

 pendent on the duchy of Modena. 



MASSACHUSETTS ; one of the United States of 

 America, bounded north by Vermont and New Hamp- 

 shire, east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by the Atlan- 

 tic, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and west by New 

 York ; lat. 41 15' to 42 54' N. ; Ion. 69 54' to 

 73 30' W. ; length, from east to west, 180 miles ; 

 breadth from north to south, ninety-six ; area, 7800 

 square miles ; population, in 1790, 388,727 ; 1800, 

 122,845; 1810, 472,040; 1820, 523,287; 1830, 



^ Silesia have latelv petitioned to have the 

 em m the German language. 



610,014, viz. white males, 294,449 ; white females, 

 308,559 ; free blacks, 7006. The state is divided 

 into fourteen counties, and 303 towns. The principal 

 rivers are the Connecticut, which is navigable by 

 steam-boats of small draught, the Merrimac, Charles, 

 Concord, Blackstone, Miller's, Chickopee, Deer- 

 field, Westfield, and Housatonic. All these rivers 

 abound in falls, which afford valuable mill-seats, ap- 

 propriated to manufacturing operations. The chief 

 mountains are a part of the Green mountain ridge, 

 which extends from north to south through the west- 

 ern part of the state. The most elevated summits 

 of this ridge are Saddle mountain, near the north- 

 western angle of the state, and Tahconick, on the 

 western border. Mount Tom, and mount Holyoke, 

 near the Connecticut river, are remarkable eleva- 

 tions, which afford, from their summits, a beautiful 

 prospect of the surrounding country. A second 

 ridge passes through the state near its centre. The 

 greatest elevation of this ridge is Wachuset, in the 

 town of Princeton. The state abounds in small lakes, 

 which are usually called ponds. The largest of these 

 are the Assawampset and Long ponds, in Middle- 

 borough, Podunk,and Quabaug ponds, in Brookfield, 

 and the Naukeag ponds, in Ashburnham. The last- 

 named are situated more than 1100 feet above the 

 level of the ocean ; and several other ponds, in the 

 western part of the state, have a still higher eleva- 

 tion. The soil, for the most part, is fit for cultiva- 

 tion, and much of it is well, and some of it very 

 highly, cultivated. In the south-eastern counties, 

 the soil is sandy, and not very productive : in the 

 eastern and middle counties, it is in general good, 

 though not luxuriant. The same may be said of the soil 

 of the western parts, with the exception of extensive 

 tracts, which are mountainous and rocky. The state 

 is in general hilly, but, in the eastern parts of the 

 state, the hills are of moderate elevation. The soil 

 is well adapted to the growth of grass and fruit 

 trees. Nearly all the fruits of temperate climates are 

 cultivated with success, and also Indian corn, rye, 

 and other kinds of grain. The mountains of Berk- 

 shire afford an abundance of iron ore. Bog ore is 

 found in Worcester and Plymouth counties, and it is 

 extensively worked. Anthracite coal is found in 

 Worcester. There is a lead mine in Southampton, to 

 which a subterranean passage of 1000 feet in length 

 has been opened, chiefly through solid rock. The 

 cheapness of lead from the mines of Missouri and 

 Illinois has suspended the works upon this mine. 

 Marble and limestone are found in exhaustless quar- 

 ries in West Stockbridge, Lanesborough, and Hins- 

 dale. The middle and eastern parts of the state 

 abound in quarries of granite of the best description 

 for building stone. Quarries of soap-stone are found 

 in Middlefield. The occupations of the inhabitants 

 are agriculture, commerce, navigation, fishing, and 

 manufacturing. Agriculture is pursued almost exclu- 

 sively by owners of small farms, who labour with 

 their own hands. The commerce of the state extends 

 to all parts of the world. The shipping of this state is 

 more numerous than that of any other in the Union, 

 and, in the extent of its foreign commerce, it is second 

 only to New York. The value of imports into the 

 state of Massachusetts in the year ending September 

 30, 1829, was 12,520,744 dollars, of which 12,289,308 

 dollars in value, were imported in American vessels. 

 The value of exports from the state, in the same 

 year, was 8,254,937 dollars. The amount of tonnage 

 entered at the ports of the state from foreign ports, in 

 the same year, was 177,550 tons,and the amount which 

 departed from the same ports was 140,187. Of this 

 amount 117,608 tons entered at, and 88,593 departed 

 from, the port of Boston. The amount of ship- 

 ping owned in the state on the last day of De- 





