MEDIUM 



3723 



MEISSONIER 



ME'DIUM, a terra revived by the practices 

 of modern spiritualism to indicate the specially- 

 endowed person through whom it is claimed 

 mysterious phenomena and messages from the 

 other world are transmitted. The term is con- 

 nected with the ancient idea of specially- 

 endowed persons (like the ancient oracles), but 

 more particularly with the susceptibility dis- 

 played by the subjects of mesmerism or animal 

 magnetism. See HYPNOTISM; SPIRITUALISM. 



MEDULLA OBLONGATA, medul'a oblong 

 ga'ta. See BRAIN; NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



MEDU'SA, in Greek legend, one of three 

 daughters of the sea-god, Phorcys, known as the 

 Gorgons, whose home was on the shore of an 

 ocean where the sun never shone. Stheno and 

 Euryale, the sisters, were immortal, but Medusa 

 was mortal, and in her youth was very beauti- 

 ful. She boasted of her beauty to the goddess 

 Athene, who through jealousy changed her into 

 a monster with brazen teeth and claws and with 

 serpents for hair. She became so hideous that 

 all who beheld her were turned into stone. 

 Perseus cut off her head, which Athene placed 

 in the center of her shield. See PERSEUS; 

 MYTHOLOGY. 



MEDUSAE, medu'see, tiny jellyfish shaped 

 like an umbrella or bell, each with a short cen- 

 tral stem and several pairs of slender coiling 

 feelers which trail in the water. It is from the 

 resemblance to the head of the horrible Gorgon 

 Medusa with the snaky locks (see MEDUSA) 

 that this little animal is named. The eggs de- 

 velop into creatures which attach themselves to 

 stones or seaweed and grow to cylindrical polyps, 

 which in turn bud, almost like plants, into other 

 polyps, until a branching colony is formed. 

 Then the medusae swim away from the latter 

 to form new groups. Scientists now apply the 

 term to the free-swimming stage in the devel- 

 opment of any animal belonging to the group 

 which includes the hydra, sponge, sea anemone, 

 etc. (see COELENTERATA) . 



MEERSCHAUM, meer' shawm, a porous 

 substance that resembles white clay and is so 

 light that it will float on water. From this pe- 

 culiarity it received its name, which is the Ger- 

 man for sea foam. Meerschaum is a compound 

 of magnesium, silica and oxygen. It is obtained 

 in large quantities in Asia Minor, where it oc- 

 curs in small lumps in masses of clay. It is 

 used chiefly in the manufacture of tobacco 

 pipes; these are white in the bowl when new, 

 but color a rich brown by continued use and 

 careful handling; when the bowl is warm the 

 hand must not touch it. Meerschaum pipes of 



good quality sell at prices ranging from $3 to 

 $15. An inferior variety found in Spain is used 

 for a building stone. 



MEGANTIC, megan'tik, the county town of 

 Frontenac County, Quebec, formerly know r n as, 

 and still popularly called, "Lake Megantic." It 

 is situated in the extreme southeast part of the 

 province, on the north shore of Lake Megantic 

 and about twenty miles north of the United 

 States boundary. Steamers ply between the 

 towns and summer camps on the lake and on 

 Chaudiere River, which issues from the lake at 

 Megantic. The town is the terminus of one 

 line of the Quebec Central Railway, and is also 

 served by the Halifax-Montreal short line of 

 the Canadian Pacific. Megantic is 115 miles 

 south of Quebec, 175 miles east of Montreal 

 and seventy miles east of Sherbrooke. It is an 

 important tourist center, especially for summer 

 visitors to the Maine woods, but is also com- 

 mercially noteworthy for its large pulp and saw- 

 mills. Population in 19U, 2,399; in 1916, esti- 

 mated, 3,000. D.L.L. 



MEGAPHONE, meg' a John, a form of speak- 

 ing trumpet used to make the voice carry far- 

 ther than ordinary speaking distances, or to di- 

 rect sound to a given point in greater volume. 

 The name comes from two Greek words, megas, 

 meaning great, and phone, meaning sound. One 

 form of megaphone serves to help slightly-deaf 

 people to hear, the other to help increase the 

 range of the voice. The megaphone that as- 

 sists in hearing was invented by Edison for deaf 

 people or persons listening to far-off sounds. 

 Two large funnel-shaped receivers collect the 

 sound-waves, which are carried to the ear by 

 tubes. The other is the familiar funnel-shaped 

 horn used by a person who wishes to make his 

 voice heard a great distance or in a place where 

 there is considerable noise. Sailors use it in 

 hailing other ships or in speaking through fogs ; 

 on the stock exchange market quotations are 

 called through a megaphone; and one sees 

 these instruments at the mouths of announcers 

 in front of amusement tents. 



MEISSONIER, mehsonyay', JEAN Louis 

 ERNEST (1815-1891), a French* painter, among 

 the first to practice microscopic or miniature 

 painting in oils. Great detail and finish is char- 

 acteristic of all his work. While illustrating 

 books for Paris publishers as a means of live- 

 lihood, he perfected his art, and then exhibited 

 in the Salon year after year. The subjects of 

 his best-known works are historical and mili- 

 tary. Among the most famous is a set of four, 

 the Napoleon Cycle, one of which is called 1807. 



