MASTOLOGY MATERIALISM. 



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supplied in the Philadelphia museum, another at 

 Baltimore, and another belonging to the New York 

 lyceum. The mastodon in Philadelphia measures 

 eighteen feet in length, and eleven feet five inches 

 in height. The tusks are ten feet seven inches long. 

 It seems to have been provided with a trunk, and in 

 its food and manner of living to have much resem- 

 bled the elephant. There are no traces within the 

 period of tradition or history of the existence of 

 these animals as a living genus. When and how 

 they perished, if ascertained at all, must be revealed 

 by geological data. See Godman's American Natural 

 Ili.sfori/, vol. 2d. 



MASTOLOGY (from ^a*?, breast); that 

 branch of zoology which treats of the mammiferous 

 animals. 



MASTRICHT, or M^ESTRICHT (Trajectum ad 

 Mosam); a strong place in the kingdom of the 

 Netherlands, on the left bank of the Meuse, capital 

 of the province of Limburg ; fifteen miles north of 

 Liege, and forty-six east of Brussels ; Ion. 5 41' E. ; 

 lat. 50 51' N. ; population, 18,410. It is one of the 

 most ancient towns of the Netherlands, and belonged 

 formerly to the duchy of Lorraine. It contains ten 

 Catholic and Protestant churches, and several liter- 

 ary and charitable institutions. It is tolerably well 

 built, surrounded by walls and ditches, and is one of 

 the strongest places in the Netherlands. Near it are 

 large stone quarries, in which are subterraneous pas- 

 sages of great extent, where the farmers frequently 

 store hay, corn, and other articles. It has hitherto 

 carried on a brisk trade through its port on the Meuse. 

 and regular packet-boats ran to Liege and other 

 places on the river. (For the effects of the Belgian 

 revolution on this navigation, see Netherlands.) 

 Mastricht has been rendered famous by the numerous 

 sieges which it has sustained. In 1673 and 1748, it 

 was taken by the French, who bombarded it without 

 success in 1793, and again captured it in 1794. 



MATADOR (Spanish, one who kills). This word 

 is used in some games with cards. In ombre and 

 quadrille, it signifies one of the three principal cards, 

 which are always the two black aces, the deuce in 

 spades and clubs, and the seven in hearts and clubs. 

 This application is probably taken from the Spanish 

 bull-fights (q. v.), in which the man who gives the 

 deadly blow to the bull is called el matador. Others 

 derive the name from a band of volunteers, who were 

 established by the inhabitants of Barcelona, when 

 they fought against Philip V., and whose duty was to 

 punish with death those who murmured against the 

 government. 



MATANZAS; a seaport on the coast of Cuba, 

 30 leagues from the coast of Florida, and twenty 

 from Havanna; Ion. 81 36' W.; lat. 23 2' N.; popu- 

 lation, 11,341, or, including the garrison and 

 strangers, 14,340 ; 1941 free blacks, 3067 slaves. It 

 is situated on a bay of the same name, which affords 

 one of the largest, safest, and most convenient har- 

 bours in America, having a good castle for its 

 defence. It has considerable commerce, exporting 

 sugar, molasses, and coffee. The situation is 

 healthy. 



MATAPAN CAPE (anciently Ttnutntm). This 

 cape and Malea, or cape St Angelo are the two 

 most southern capes of the Morea, the former in lat. 

 36 23' 20" N.; Ion. 22 29' 38" E.: the latter in 

 lat. 36 25' N. ; Ion. 23 12' 8" E. 



MATERIA MEDICA, are the materials with 

 which physicians attempt to cure or alleviate the 

 numerous diseases of the human body, and compre- 

 hend a great variety of substances taken from the 

 mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms such as, 

 silver, copper, bismuth, mercury, lead, iron, anti- 

 mony, tin, arsenic, and zii.c, from amongst the 



metallic bodies; sulphur, lime, soda, nitre, magnesia, 

 borax, and several salts from amongst the minerals ; 

 and nearly two hundred substances belonging to the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms. All these articles 

 are susceptible of an infinite number of combinations, 

 and upon the skill and promptitude with which these 

 are made and applied, hinges the whole system of 

 the practice of physic. In early times, the articles 

 of the materia medica were still more numerous and 

 complex than at present; but as many substances 

 were then employed from fanciful and superstitious 

 motives, modern physicians have discarded these, 

 and adopted a few others, much more valuable and 

 certain in their effects. Thus in ancient times, 

 neither antimony, nor Peruvian bark, nor jalap, nor 

 ipecacuan, nor sarsaparilla, were known to exist ; 

 but the progress of chemistry, and the discovery of 

 America, have put us in possession of these simples, 

 which have proved of the greatest value to mankind. 

 Antimony, when formed into James's powder, and 

 bark, in all its combinations, have preserved many 

 thousands of lives annually from fevers. Jalap, next 

 to senna leaves, is the most efficacious of purgatives, 

 and ipecacuan is by far the best and safest emetic, 

 which has been yet discovered. To chemistry also 

 mankind are indebted for many valuable additions, 

 such as the preparations of mercury, and the know- 

 ledge of the efficacy of acid gases in the destruction 

 of the powers of contagion. The spirit of commerce, 

 too, has added its share to the stock of valuable 

 drugs. Egypt sends us senna, borax, and opium ; 

 Russia, rhubarb; from India we derive cinnamon, 

 cloves, cajeput, ginger, gamboge, &c.; while from 

 South America and the West Indies we import many 

 of the most active vegetables employed in physic. 

 Unfortunately, however, the wealthy inhabitants of 

 Great Britain are too fond of taking drugs, and 

 unwilling, generally, to employ abstinence and 

 abstemiousness in the cure of their maladies ; so 

 that they are very frequently sick or ailing, and 

 seldom give themselves that fair chance of living to 

 an advanced age, which the salubrity of their climate 

 would otherwise entitle them to expect. If it were 

 more the fashion to fast, and use the warm bath, 

 fewer persons would experience disease. See Medi- 

 cine. 



MATERIAL and MORAL ; two terms used in 

 military language, and derived from the French. 

 The former means everything belonging to an army 

 except the men and horses ; the latter means the 

 spirit of the soldiery, as to cheerfulness, courage, 

 and devotion to their cause. Thus it is said : 

 Though the material of the army was in a wretched 

 condition, yet in respect to its moral it was superior 

 to the enemy. 



MATERIALISM, in philosophy ; that doctrine 

 which considers matter or corporeal substance the 

 primitive cause of things. He who adopts this doc- 

 trine is called a materialist. In respect to psychol- 

 ogy, in particular, materialism means the doctrine 

 that the soul is a material substance. Materialism 

 is opposed to the doctrine of the spiritual nature of 

 the soul, or immaterialism. Both may be either 

 empirical or transcendental. Materialism is of the 

 first sort, if it founds all its positions and reasonings 

 on experience derived from the sensual world, and 

 therefore strives to explain the internal phenomena 

 from the extemal ; it is transcendental, if it looks 

 beyond experience. Materialism differs according 

 as it considers matter merely, or matter in an organ- 

 ized shape, as the original existence, and in the first 

 case sometimes adopts an ethereal matter, an invisi- 

 ble fluid, sometimes the light, water, &c., as the 

 primitive substance. It also differs according to the 

 hypotheses by which it explains the origin ofthings, 

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