MASTERSINGERS 



3693 



MASTODON 



MAS ' TERSING ' ERS ( German, Meistersing- 

 er), societies or guilds of singers, popular in 

 Germany from the fourteenth to the sixteenth 

 centuries. The old Minnesingers had strolled 

 through the country singing verses of chival- 

 rous knights and fair ladies. The Master- 

 singers were organized in the more important 

 towns, such as Mainz, Strassburg and Nurem- 

 berg, by the German burghers who wanted to 

 entertain themselves in the long winter even- 

 ings by singing the songs of the old minstrels. 

 Gradually they began to compose their own 

 songs, their simple verses being written upon 

 the subjects taken from Bible stories. Charles 

 IV gave them a charter and a coat of arms. 

 Hans Sachs, the shoemaker of Nuremburg, was 

 the greatest poet among them (see SACHS, 

 HANS). Singing contests were held, the prize 

 consisting sometimes of money and sometimes 

 of a wreath of flowers. The organization re- 

 sulted in the laying down of tedious rules and 

 formulas, to which the tunes and, verses must 

 conform, which made them stupid and often 

 absurd, and after the sixteenth century the 

 Mastersingers gradually disappeared. The last 

 society survived at Ulm until 1839. The cus- 

 toms of the Mastersingers are picturesquely 

 treated in Richard Wagner's music drama, The 

 Mastersingers oj Nuremberg. 



MASTICATION, mas ti ka' shun, the first 

 step in the process of digestion. It takes place 

 through the grinding action of the teeth and 

 the mixing of the food with saliva. The term 

 is derived from a Latin word meaning to chew. 

 The food, however, is not only chewed by the 

 teeth into small pieces and reduced to a pasty 

 mass by the saliva, which is the mechanical 

 part of the process, but it undergoes some 

 chemical change. That is, the saliva contains 

 a ferment called ptyalin, which has the power 

 of turning the starch in the food into sugar. 

 As starch dissolves very slowly in water and 

 sugar dissolves very rapidly, the chemical ac- 

 tion of the saliva plays a part in beginning the 

 digestive process. Meat and eggs, which con- 

 tain no starch, need comparatively less chew- 

 ing than such starchy foods as crackers and 

 bread, but all foods should be chewed well. 

 "Bolting" the food, that is, eating so hastily 

 that large, hard lumps pass into the stomach, 

 causes the digestive organs to overwork, and 

 the result is indigestion. Persistence in this 

 habit may lead to chronic dyspepsia. See 

 FLETCHERIZING; DIGESTION. W.A.E, 



MASTIFF, mas'tif, one of the oldest fami- 

 lies of dogs, belonging to the hound breed. It 



is the largest and most muscular dog known, 

 and is prized for its courage and power, in- 

 herited from bulldog ancestors, and for its 

 ability to watch and guard premises and per- 

 sons, the latter a strongly-marked instinct. It 



THE MASTIFF 



is a noble-looking animal, with a strong, mas- 

 sive head, hanging ears, and deep, overlapping 

 lips. The coat is short, of a light or dark fawn 

 color, except the ears, muzzle and nose, which 

 are black. The height of the shoulders is from 

 twenty-five to thirty inches. Despite its savage 

 appearance, the mastiff is gentle and docile, 

 and makes a desirable pet for children. 



MASTODON, mas' toh don, the name of a 

 group of extinct animals belonging to the ele- 

 phant family. The fossil remains of several 

 species which have been excavated in Europe, 

 Asia and America show that they existed in 



SKELETON OF A 

 MASTODON 



those geologic ages known as Miocene, Plio- 

 cene and Pleistocene (see GEOLOGY). The best- 

 known species, mounted specimens of which 

 may be seen in museums in many large cities, 

 roamed in great ^numbers over the United 

 States and Southern Canada. This mastodon 

 resembled the present elephant in general form 

 and appearance, but its legs were probably 

 shorter. The name, which comes from two 

 Greek words meaning breast and tooth, refers 

 to the peculiar structure of the molar teeth, 



