MERU MESOPOTAMIA. 



name, in the Prussian duchy of Saxony, with 8800 

 inhabitants. It is an old. badly built town. It has 

 a good gymnasium, an obstetrical institute, several 

 religious establishments, and some manufactures. 

 'Hit- cathedral lias four handsome towers, and an or- 

 gan of a remarkable size. The bishop Ditmar (died 

 1018), one of the best historians of the middle ages, 

 lies buried here. Merseburg is celebrated for its 

 beer. Lon. 12 0' E.; lat. 51 21' N. 



MERU, MOUNT, in the Hindoo cosmology and 

 mythological geography ; the sacred mountain, on 

 whose summit resides Siva, situated in the centre of 

 the earth, and sustaining and uniting earth, heaven, 

 and hell. It is surrounded by seven zones, or dwipas, 

 and seven seas, the salt sea, the sea of intoxicating 

 liquor, the sea of sugar, the sea of clarified butter, 

 the sea of curds, the sea of milk, and the fresh water 

 sea. Its four sides of four different colours, are 

 directed to the four cardinal points, and watered by 

 four rivers, issuing from a common source. 



MESCHID, or MESGHID, or IMAN ALI, or 

 MESCHED ALI ; a town of Arabian Irak, ninety 

 miles south of Bagdad ; Ion. 43 34' E. ; lat. 32 5' 

 N. ; population, 6000. It is near a large lake, called 

 Rahemat, which communicates with the Euphrates 

 by a canal. This town was built on the spot where 

 Ali, the cousin, friend, and one of the successors of 

 Mohammed, was interred. His tomb is annually 

 visited by a great number of Persian pilgrims, who 

 esteem this point of devotion equal to a pilgrimage 

 to Mecca. 



MESCHID, or MESCHED ; a city of Persia, in 

 Chorasan ; Ion. 57 E. ; lat. 37 35' N. ; population 

 stated at 50,000. Five of its twelve quarters are 

 now in ruins. The city is surrounded oy a strong 

 wall, seven miles in circumference, but the houses are 

 meanly built. Velvet, of the finest quality, and fur 

 pelisses, much esteemed, are manufactured here. 

 There is also a manufacture of beautiful pottery. In 

 time of peace, caravans pass continually through this 

 town, from Bukhara. Balk, Candahar, Hindoostan, 

 and all parts of Persia. 



MESENTERY (mesenterium, from the Greek 

 uitras, middle, and OTE^V, intestine); a membrane in 

 the cavity of the abdomen, attached to the lumbar 

 vertebra, and to which the intestines adhere. Its 

 uses are to sustain the intestines in such a manner 

 that they may possess both mobility and firmness to 

 support and conduct the blood-vessels, lacteals, and 

 nerves, to fix the glands, and give an external coat 

 to the intestines. 



MESMER, FREDERIC ANTHONY ; a German phy- 

 sician, author of the famous doctrine of animal mag- 

 netism, called also Mesmerism. He was born at 

 Mersburg, in Suabia, in 1734. He first made him- 

 self known in 1766, by the publication of a thesis 

 De Planetarum Jnjtuxu, in which he maintained 

 that the heavenly bodies exercised an influence on 

 the bodies of animals, and especially on the nervous 

 system, by means of a subtile fluid diffused through 

 the universe. But this whimsical association of the 

 Newtonian philosophy with the reveries of astrolo- 

 gers being too abstruse for general reception, he 

 added the notion of curing diseases by magnetism, 

 and went to Vienna to put his ideas in practice. 

 Father Hell had previously performed some pre- 

 tended cures by the application of magnets, and he 

 considering Mesmer as a rival, charged him with 

 borrowing, or rather stealing, his invention. The 

 new empiric thought it prudent, therefore, to 

 renounce the use of common magnets, and declare 

 that his operations were conducted solely by means 

 of the magnetism peculiar to animal bodies. He had 

 little success at Vienna, and his applications to the 

 academies of sciences at Paris and Berlin, and the 



royal society of London, were treated with neglect- 

 A Her an abortive attempt to cure Mile. Paradis, a 

 celebrated blind musician, by the exercise of his art, 

 Mesmer quitted Vienna for Paris, in 1778. There 

 he for some time in vain endeavoured to attract the 

 notice of men of science ; but at length he succeeded 

 in making a convert of M. Deslon, who, from being 

 his pupil, became his rival, and whom he then 

 represented as an impostor. Mesmer had the impu- 

 dence to demand from the French government the 

 gift of a castle and estate, as a reward for his pre- 

 tended discoveries; and the baron de Breteuil 

 actually carried on a negotiation with this pretender, 

 offering him a large pecuniary reward, if he would 

 establish a magnetic clinicum, and instruct three 

 persons chosen by government, in his process. The 

 latter condition induced him to reject the proposal, 

 and he removed, with some credulous patients, to 

 Spa. A subscription was opened, to induce h4m to 

 return to Paris and reveal the principles of his pro- 

 fessed discovery. He consequently went thither, 

 gained a number of proselytes, and received 340,000 

 livres. Government at length appointed a commit- 

 tee of physicians, and members of the academy ot 

 science?, among whom was Franklin, to investigate 

 the pretensions of Mesmer ; and the result of their 

 inquiries appeared in an admirable memoir, drawn 

 up by M. Bailly, which completely exposed the fu- 

 tility of animal magnetism, and the quackery of its 

 author. He afterwards resided some time in Eng- 

 land, under a feigned name, and then retired to 

 Germany, and, in 1799, published a new exposition 

 of his doctrine, which attracted no notice. He died 

 at his native place, in 1.815. He was the author of 

 Memoire de F. A. Mesmer sur ses Dicouvertes, and 

 other pieces. See Magnetism, Animal. 



MESNE ; he who is lord of a manor, and has 

 tenants holding of him, yet himself holds of a super- 

 ior lord. 



MESNE PROCESS; an intermediate process 

 which issues pending the suit, upon some collateral 

 interlocutory matter. Sometimes it is put in contra- 

 distinction to final process, or process of execution ; 

 and then it signifies all such processes as intervene 

 between the beginning and end of a suit. 



MESOPOTAMIA (Greek, signifying the land 

 between the rivers, called, by the Arabians, Al 

 dezira, or the island). The Greeks called by this 

 name the extensive region enclosed by the Tigris 

 and Euphrates, and bounded on the north by the 

 Taurus and Masius. The northern part of this 

 country was mountainous, and rich in grain, wine, 

 and pasturage ; but the southern part was flat, dry, 

 and unfruitful. The principal cities were Charran, 

 or Charrae, Edessa, Zoba (Nisibis), Antioch, Myg- 

 doniae, and Singara. This country has always been 

 inhabited by husbandmen, who lived a settled life, 

 and by shepherds, who wandered from place, to 

 place. The Mesopotamians sprang from the Chal- 

 deans, the primitive inhabitants, from the Cushites, 

 who, in the reign of Nimrod, built the cities of 

 Edessa and Nisibis, and from the descendants of 

 Shem, of the tribe of Thara. The latter first inhab- 

 ited the region around Ur Chasdim, and then dwelt 

 in and around Haran or Charrae ; but, in process of 

 time, they spread throughout the whole country, 

 even into Chaldea and Syria, so that the Cushites 

 were compelled either to retire before them or sub- 

 mit to them. It was originally a part of Nimrod's 

 dominion. After an interval of more than 700 years 

 (B. C. 2000), Kusan Rishathaim reigned in Mesopo- 

 tamia, who extended his dominion over the Euphra- 

 tes. The Israelites, who then possessed Palestine, 

 were compelled to pay him tribute for the space ot 

 eight years. In the golden age of the Assyrian 



