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MERINO SHEEP MERGE. 



rfi>, mid-day), is a great circle of the celestiul sphere, 

 passing through the poles of the earth and the zenith 

 ami uulir. TO-MHI; tin- equator at right angles, and 

 dividing tin* sphere into an eastern and western hemi- 

 splii-rr When the sun is on this circle, it is noon or 

 mid day, to all places situated under that meridian, 

 whence the derivation of the word, as above stated. 



Meridian, in geography; a corresponding terres- 

 trial circle in the plane of the former, and which, 

 therefore, passes through the poles of the earth. All 

 places situated under the same meridian have their 

 nixm or mid-night at the same time ; but, under dif- 

 ferent meridians, it will arrive sooner or later, accord- 

 ing as they are situated to the eastward or westward 

 of each other ; viz. the sun will be upon that meri- 

 dian soonest which is most to the eastward, and that 

 at the rate of an hour for every fifteen degrees. 



First Meridian is that from which all the others 

 are reckoned, which, being totally arbitrary, has been 

 variously chosen by different geographers. Ptolemy 

 makes his first meridian pass through the most 

 western of the Canary islands ; others have chosen 

 cape Verd ; some the Peak of Teneriffe, others the 

 island of Ferro, &c.; but most nations now consider 

 that the first meridian which passes over their metro- 

 polis, or their principal observatory. Thus the Brit- 

 ish reckon from the meridian of Greenwich ; the 

 French from Paris ; the Spanish from Madrid ; the 

 Americans from Washington, &c. 



Meridian of a Globe is the brazen circle in which 

 it turns, and by which it is supported. The Brazen 

 Meridian is divided into 360 equal parts, called de- 

 grees. In the upper semicircle of the brass meridian 

 these degrees are numbered from to 90, or from the 

 equator towards the poles, and are used for finding 

 the latitudes of places. On the lower semicircle of 

 the brass Meridian they are numbered from to 90, 

 from the poles towards the equator, and are used in 

 the elevation of the poles. 



Meridian Line is a north and south line, the exact 

 determination of which is of the greatest importance 

 in all cases relating to astronomy, geography, dial- 

 ling, &c., because on this all the other parts have 

 their dependence. The most celebrated meridian 

 line is that on the pavement of the church of St 

 Petronio, in Bologna, which was drawn to the length 

 of 120 feet, by the celebrated Cassini. Without 

 knowing the meridian line of a place, it would be 

 impossible to make a dial, set a clock, or measure 

 degrees on the earth's surface. For the measure- 

 ment of degrees of the meridian, see the article 

 Degrees, Measurement of. 



Meridian Line, on a dial, is the same as the 12 

 o'clock hour line. 



Magnetic Meridian ; a great circle passing through 

 the magnetic poles. See Magnetism. 



Meridian Altitude ; the. altitude of any of the 

 heavenly bodies when they are upon the meridian. 



MERINO SHEEP. See Sheep. 



MERLIN, AMBROSE, a British writer, who flour- 

 ished about the latter end of the fifth century. The 

 accounts we have of him are so mixed up with fiction, 

 that to disentangle his real life from the mass would 

 be impossible. He was said to be the son of a de- 

 mon and a daughter of a king of England who 

 was a nun. His birth-place was Carmarthen, in 

 Caledonia. He was instructed by his father in 

 all branches of science, and received from him the 

 power of working miracles. He was the greatest 

 Rage and mathematician of his time, the counsellor 

 an! friend of four English kings, Vortigern, Ambro- 

 oius, Uther Pendragon, and Arthur. Vortigern, at 

 the advice of his magicians, had resolved to build an 

 impregnable tower, in order to secure himself against 

 the Saxons ; but the foundation was scarcely kid, 



when the earth opened by night and swallowed it up. 

 The magicians informed the king, tliat to give firm- 

 ness to the foundation, he must wet it with the blood 

 of a child born without a father. After much search 

 the young Merlin was brought to the king. After 

 Merlin had heard the dictum of the magicians, he 

 disputed with them, and showed them that under the 

 foundation of the tower was a great lake, and under 

 the lake two great raging dragons, one red, repre- 

 senting the British, one white, representing the Sax- 

 ons. The earth was dug open, and no sooner were 

 the dragons found, than they commenced a furious 

 battle ; whereupon Merlin began to weep, and to 

 utter prophecies respecting the future state of Eng- 

 land. The miracles ascribed to him are numerous. 

 He is said to have escaped from the Saxons in a ship 

 of glass. Instead of dying, it was supposed that he 

 fellinto a magic sleep, from which, after a long peri- 

 od, he would awake ; and to this fable Spenser alludes 

 in his Faery Queen. In the British museum is Le 

 Compte de la Vie de Merlin et de ses Faiz et Compte 

 de ses Prophecies (2 vols., folio, on vellum, without 

 date or place). We have also the Life of Merlin, 

 surnamed Ambrosius, by T. Heywood. See War- 

 ton's History of Poetry, and Spenser's Faery Queen, 

 &c. 



MERLON, in fortification, is that part of a para- 

 pet which is terminated by two embrasures of a bat- 

 tery. Its height and thickness are the same with that 

 of the parapet ; but its breadth is generally nine feet 

 on the inside, and six on the outside. It serves to 

 cover those on the battery from the enemy ; and it is 

 better when made of earth, well beat and close, than 

 when built with stones, because they fly about, and 

 wound those they should defend. 



MERMAID (from the Anglo-Saxon mere, sea); a 

 fabulous creature, which seamen have described as 

 having the head and body of a woman with the tail 

 of a fish. Mermaids are represented as having long 

 green hair, breasts, and arms, and as sometimes seen 

 floating on the surface of the ocean. Shakspeare 

 gives them a voice : 



I heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, 

 Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, 

 That the rude sea grew civil at her song. 



Oberon, in Midsummer Night's Dream. 



This reminds us of the ancient syrens, who, however, 

 were winged and clawed. (See Syrens.) Mermen 

 have also been seen, if we may trust the sailors. 

 The stories have probably arisen from the appear- 

 ance of Phocae, and similar creatures. 



MERGE ; a city and state of ancient Ethiopia, in 

 the north-easterly part of Africa, upon a fruitful 

 peninsula, surrounded by sandy deserts, and bounded 

 by the Astapus (Bahr el Abiad), the White river, or 

 properly the Nile, on the west, and the Astaboras 

 (now the Tacazze) on the east, as far as the modern 

 province of Gojam. It now forms the district of 

 Atbar, between 13 and 18 north latitude, with a 

 town of the same name, and lies in the kingdom of 

 Sennaar, which constitutes a part of Nubia. The 

 people of the ancient priestly state of Meroe, accord- 

 ing to Herodotus, were negroes, and are the only 

 black nation of which we have any account, that has 

 made much progress in intellectual cultivation. 

 They had a fixed constitution, a government., laws, 

 and religion. The government was in the hands of 

 a caste of priests, which chose a king from their own 

 number, who was obliged to live and act according 

 to certain prescribed rules. The priests at Meroe 

 could doom the king to death in the name of the gods . 

 and he must submit. It was customary for the friends 

 (ministers) of the king to share the same fate with 

 their master, even death. Ergamenes, king of 

 Meroe, in the third century B. C., during the reign 



