MEDUSA ME1BOM. 



759 



ai e perceptible in the pith, but in some, entire ves- 

 sels, conveying proper juice, are present, as in the 

 gum elastic fig-tree, the proper juice of which is seer 

 exuding from different points of the pith, in an hori- 

 zontal section of the stem. Little is yet known, with 

 certainty, concerning the functions of the pith. It 

 appears, on the whole, to be a mere reiteration of 

 the cellular envelop, and subservient to the vessels 

 which surround, and occasionally pass through it. 



MEDUSA. See Gorgons. 



MEERMAN, JOHN, a Dutch scholar and states- 

 man, born at the Hague, in 1753, was the only son 

 of Gerard Meerman, known as the author of a The- 

 saurus Juris civilis et canonici, and Origines Typo- 

 graphies, and who had been created baron of the 

 German empire. The son received his early educa- 

 tion at the Hague and at Rotterdam, and while 

 hardly ten years old, translated and published, without 

 the knowledge of his father, Moliere's Mariage Force. 

 He then studied at Leyden, at Leipsic under Ernesti, 

 and at Gottingen under Heyne. After travelling- 

 through England, Italy, and France, he. took the 

 degree of doctor of laws, at Leyden. The number 

 of his writings, on different subjects, proves his ex- 

 tensive knowledge, and his zeal for virtue and piety. 

 In 1786, in company with his wife, he visited Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Ireland, Germany, Italy, and 

 Northern Europe, and published full and accurate 

 accounts of his travels, in eleven volumes. His time 

 and labours were also employed in the service of 

 the state, the church, and literary institutions. Under 

 the reign of Louis Bonaparte, he was director of the 

 fine arts and of public instruction in the kingdom of 

 Holland. Some years before his death, the dignity 

 of senator of France was conferred on him, and he 

 was called to Paris. After the Restoration, he return- 

 ed to his own country, and died in 1816. Besides his 

 Travels, his History of William, count of Holland, 

 and an edition with notes, of the Histoire des Voy- 

 ages fails par VEmpereur Charles V., by J. J'anden- 

 esse, deserve mention. As director of the arts and 

 sciences, he also rendered important assistance in the 

 preparation of the Jaarboeken van fVetenschappen en 

 Kunsten in het Konigryk Holland over de Jaren 

 1806 7. His widow, an esteemed poetess, has 

 written his life. His valuable library, the catalogue 

 of which is a literary curiosity, was sold by auction, 

 at the Hague, in 1824, and brought 171,000 Dutch 

 guilders, 32,000 of which were paid for the manu- 

 scripts. The prices have been printed. 



MEERSCHAUM. See Magnetite. 



MEGGER A ; one of the Furies. See Eumenides. 



MAGALONYX. See Megatherium. 



MEGALOPOLIS (i. e. large city); a city of Arca- 

 dia, one of the largest cities of Greece, on the Helis- 

 son, containing many temples, a stoa, &c. The 

 theatre of Megalopolis was the largest in Greece. 

 The city was built at the suggestion of Epaminondas, 

 after the victory of the Thebans at Leuctra, about 

 368 B. C., as a city of the Boeotian league, and was 

 peopled from thirty-eight cities. It is, at present, the 

 inconsiderable place Sinano. Philopcemen, Polybius, 

 and other distinguished men, were born here. 



MEGALOSAURUS (Greek, giant lizard) ; an 

 extinct species of lizard, of an enormous size, which, 

 according to Cuvier (Recherches sur les Ossements 

 Fossiles, vol. ii. part 2, p. 343), would be as large as 

 a whale, if we assign to it the proportions which its 

 characters indicate. It was discovered in England, 

 by Mr Buckland, and has also been found in France 

 and Germany. 



MEG AR A ; a daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, 

 given in marriage to Hercules, because he had deliv- 

 ered the Thebans from the tyranny of the Orchome- 

 nians. When Hercules went to hell, by order of 



Eurystheus, violence was offered to Megara, by Ly- 

 cus, a Theban exile, and she would have yielded to 

 her ravisher, liad not Hercules returned that moment 

 and punished him with death. This murder dis- 

 pleased Juno, and she rendered Hercules delirious, 

 so that he killed Megara and the three children he 

 had by her, in a fit of madness, thinking them to 

 be wild beasts. (See Hercules.) Some say that 

 Megara did not perish by the hand of her husband, 

 but tliat he afterwards manned her to his friend 

 lolas. 



MEGARA. See Megaris. 



MEGARIS, a small state of ancient Greece, west 

 of Attica, occupied the upper and wider part of the 

 isthmus of Corinth. The capital city, Megara, was 

 rendered illustrious, not only by the firmness with 

 which it maintained its independence, but also by a 

 school of philosophy, founded by one of its citizens, 

 Euclid, a disciple of Socrates. Pausanias (i. 40 44) 

 enumerates its many splendid public buildings. See 

 Reinganum's Das alte Megaris (Berlin, 1825.) 



MEGATHERIUM, or GIANT SLOTH; an 

 extinct genus of the sloth family, of which fossil 

 remains have been found only in America. Two 

 species have been discovered, the M. Cuvieri and the 

 M. Jejfersonii ; the latter was first described by pre- 

 sident Jefferson, under the name of megalonyx, or 

 great claw (Transactions of the Americ. Phil. Soc., 

 iv. 246). The megatherium unites some of the ge- 

 neric character of the armadilloes with some of those 

 of the sloth ; its size must have been equal to that of 

 the rhinoceros. Three specimens of the first species 

 have been discovered in South America, and one in 

 Georgia. The only fragments of the second species 

 hitherto discovered, were found in Green Briar 

 county, Virginia, in a saltpetre cave. See Godman's 

 Am. Nat. History, vol. ii. 173201. 



MEGRIM ; a species of headache ; a pain gener- 

 ally affecting one side of the head, towards the eye, 

 or temple, and arising, sometimes from the state of 

 the stomach, sometimes from rheumatic and gouty af- 

 fections. In French it is called migraine, derived from 

 hemicrania, from the Greek V< (signifying, in com- 

 pound words, half) and *,a (the skull). It 

 affects chiefly persons of weak nerves. 



MEHUL, STEPHEN HENRV, a celebrated musical 

 composer, and member of the institute of France, 

 born at Givet, in 1763, received his first lessons from 

 a blind organist at his native place, and became such 

 a proficient that, at the age of twelve, he was ap- 

 pointed joint organist to the abbey of Valledieu. 

 The desire of improving his talents attracted him to 

 Paris in 1779. He there studied under Edelmann, 

 and afterwards, under Gluck ; and, after the depar- 

 ture of the latter foi Vienna, Mehul presented to the 

 royal academy of music the opera of Cora and Alon- 

 zo; but his Euphrosine and Coradin was first per- 

 formed at the comic opera, in 1790. This was fol- 

 lowed, at different periods, by Stratonice, Irato, 

 Joseph, and many other operas, besides the ballets of 

 the Judgment of Paris, Dansomanie, and Perseus and 

 Andromeda. Mehul was one of the three inspectors 

 of instruction at the conservatory of music, from its 

 creation, in 1795, till its suppression, in 1815. He 

 was then appointed superintendent of music at the 

 king's chapel, and professor of composition at the 

 royal school of music. He was chosen a member of 

 the institute in 1796, and of the academy of fine arts 

 in 1816, and was also a knight of the legion of honour. 

 He died at Paris, 1817. Mehul read before the in- 

 stitute two reports Sur I'Etat Actuel de la Musique 

 en France, and Sur les Travaux des Sieves du Con 

 servatoire a Rome. 



MEIBOM, JOHN HENRY (in Latin Meibomius), a 

 celebrated physician, was a native of Helmstadt, 



