736 



MAZZUCIIELLI MEASURES. 



Iris St Rod), the Madonna della Rosa, now at Dres- 

 den, and St Margaret. He soon returned to Parma, 

 and there executed the Cupid making a Bow, and 

 painted several works for the church J)ella Steccata. 

 But his health wus feeble, and he was imprisoned by 

 the overseers of that building, who had advanced him 

 the money for works which lie neglected to finish. 

 Being set at liberty, on condition of completing them, 

 he fled to Casalmaggiore, where he died, in 1540. 

 His works are not numerous, much of his time hav- 

 ing been wasted in the search after the philosopher's 

 stone. With a thorough knowledge of his art, Maz- 

 zola united great correctness of drawing. Algarotti 

 and Mengs accuse him of being sometimes guilty of 

 ant-elation in his attempts at grace, and Fiorillo 

 objects to his too great use of curved lines, and 

 lo his involving the limbs. His fire, grace, correct 

 drawing, boldness of touch, and ease of composition, 

 are undeniable. 



MAZZUCHELLI, GIAMMARIA, count, a nobleman 

 of Brescia, who flourished in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century, was the author of Notizie istorich 

 c critiche intorno alia Vita, alle Invenzioni ed agli 

 Scritti di Archimede Siracusano ; La Vita, di Pietro 

 Aretino. He also commenced a large and valuable 

 biographical work, Gli Scrittor id' Italia, of which he 

 only finished the two first letters of the alphabet, leav- 

 ing a large collection of materials for the subsequent 

 parts. Mazzuchelli died in 1765. During his life, was 

 published his Museum Mazzuchellianurn, sen Num- 

 ismata J'irorum Doctrina praestantium (1761, folio.) 



MEACO, or KIO ; a city of Japan, in Niphon, 

 160 miles south-west Jeddo ; Ion. 153 30' E. ; lat. 

 35 24' N. It was once the metropolis of the whole 

 empire : it is still the ecclesiastical capital, the resi- 

 dence of the dairi, or spiritual sovereign, and is the 

 centre of the literature and science of the empire, 

 the imperial almanac being published here, and most 

 of the books that circulate through Japan. It is 

 situated near the middle of the south coast, in a fer- 

 tile and spacious plain, surrounded by high moun- 

 tains, for the most part covered with stately temples, 

 monasteries, burying-places, and pleasure-houses. 

 Three rivers unite their streams in the centre of the 

 city, whence the place is divided into upper and 

 lower towns. This twofold city appears to have 

 been about twenty miles in length, and nine or 

 ten in breadth, when in its full splendour, besides its 

 large suburbs, and imperial palace, which is a city 

 by itself, and divided from the rest. The streets are 

 generally narrow, but straight. Population, near 

 500,000, exclusive of several thousands that compose 

 the dairi's court, and the bonzes and nuns, who 

 amount to above 52,000. Its temples are numerous, 

 and some of them very magnificent. Meaco, though 

 much decayed, in consequence of the civil wars, is 

 the grand storehouse of the manufactures of Japan, 

 and of foreign and home merchandise, and the princi- 

 pal seat of its commerce. See Japan. 



MEAD, RICHARD, a celebrated English physician, 

 was the son of a dissenting minister, and born at 

 Stepney, near London, in 1673. He studied at the 

 universities of Utrecht and Leyden, and became an 

 intimate with his fellow-pupil Boerhaave. He after- 

 wards travelled in Italy. He returned to England in 

 1696, and became very distinguished in his profes- 

 sion. In 1702, he published Mechanical Account of 

 Poisons, which he, long after, re-published in an 

 improved form. On the alarm occasioned by the 

 plague at Marseilles, in 1719, he published a Dis- 

 course concerning Pestilential Contagion, which 

 passed through many editions. He interested him- 

 self much in the introduction of inoculation for the 

 small-pox, and assisted in the preliminary experi- 

 ments made on condemned criminals. In 1727 



IK: was appointed physician to king George If. 

 Among his later writings are his treatises De Imperial 

 Sotis ac Lunae, in Corpora humana et Morbis imln 

 oi-iinitlis (174U) ; De Morbis Biblicis (1749) ; and 

 Mottita Mcilica (1750). He died in 1754. 



MEADOW LARK (sturnus ludovicianus, Lin.; 

 alauda magna, Wils.) This well-known and beautiful 

 species is found in pasture fields and meadows, espe- 

 cially the latter, from which circumstance its common 

 name is derived. The meadow lark is seldom or 

 never seen in woods, except where they are open, 

 and, instead of underwood, the ground is clothed 

 with grass. After the building season is over, these 

 birds collect in flocks. When they alight, it is gene- 

 rally on the highest part of the tree or shrub, whence 

 they pour forth a clear but melancholy note. Their 

 nests are generally built in or below a thick tuft of 

 grass, and are composed of dry grass. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, white, marked with specks, 

 and several blotches of reddish-brown, particularly at 

 the larger end. Their food consists of caterpillars, 

 grub-worms, beetles, &c. The meadow lark is about 

 ten inches and a half in length. The throat, breast, 

 and belly, are of a bright yellow, ornamented by an 

 oblong crescent of a deep velvety black, on the lower 

 part of the throat. 



MEAL-TUB PLOT. See Popish Plot. 



MEAN ; the middle between two extremes: thus 

 we say, the " mean motion of a planet," its " mean 

 distance,'' &c., to signify a motion, or distance, which 

 as much exceeds the least motion or distance as it is 

 exceeded by the greatest. The mean, or mean pro- 

 portion, is the second of any three proportions. In 

 an arithmetical proportion, the mean is half the sum 

 of the extremes ; in a geometrical, the mean is the 

 square root of the product of the extremes. Mean 

 time is the mean or average of apparent time. See 

 Time, and Equation of Time. 



MEASLES (rubeola, from ruber, red) ; an exan- 

 thematic disease, which appears to have been un- 

 known to the ancient physicians ; the time of its first 

 appearance in Europe is uncertain. It is communi- 

 cated by the touch of infected persons or things. It 

 is sometimes epidemic. Persons of all ages are liable 

 to its attacks ; but it is more common in infants, and 

 rarely affects an individual a second time. The 

 symptoms are hoarseness, cough, drowsiness, and, 

 about the fourth day, an eruption of small red spots 

 (hence the name measles; German, Masern, spots), 

 which, after three days, end in scales. There is 

 more or less of fever, attended with the usual febrile 

 affections. The measles, even when violent, are not 

 often of a putrid tendency, although such a disposi- 

 tion sometimes prevails. In the case of the simple 

 measles, the best treatment is abstinence from food, 

 and the use of mild, mucilaginous, sweetened drinks. 

 Bleeding is only proper in tlie inflammatory measles. 

 Some writers have treated the measles as merely an 

 inflammation of the skin ; but this is only a sympt 

 of the disease, and not the disease itself. 



MEASURES. The general principle that sim- 

 plicity and uniformity are the result of advancement 

 in civilization, is strikingly exemplified in the case 

 of measures. Formerly, every province, and almost 

 every place of importance, had its own measures, 

 which proved a most perplexing hinderance to 

 commercial intercourse. In modern times, many 

 attempts at uniformity have been made. Two modes 

 most naturally suggested themselves, either to 

 declare the measures of one place or province the 

 universal measure (as has been done in Britain, 

 where, by an act of parliament, in June, 1824, the 

 standard London measures and weights were 

 declared to be the standards for weights and mea- 

 sures throughout the realm, and in Prussia, where 



