MELVILLE PENINSULA 



3727 



MEMNON 



grass and flowers grow, but the rest of the 

 year it is ice-bound the home of the reindeer 

 and musk ox. Deposits of coal have been 

 found on the island, which is of lime and sand- 

 stone formation. 



MELVILLE PENINSULA, met' vil pen in' 

 sula, a wild, desolate peninsula of North 

 America, extending north of Hudson Bay, in 

 the North West Territories of Canada. The 

 Rae Isthmus connects it with the mainland, 

 it is separated from Cockburn Island on the 

 north by Fury Strait and Hecla Strait, and 

 from Baffin Land on the east by Fox Channel. 

 The discovery of this region should be credited 

 to the early expeditions of Sir John Franklin, 

 although it was named by Sir William Parry, 

 who passed the winter of 1821-1822 on the 

 peninsula and was the first white man to ex- 

 plore it. 



MEMBRANES, mem'braynz, derived from a 

 Latin word membrana, meaning parchment, is 

 the term applied, to thin sheets of plastic tissue 

 which cover and line various organs and cavi- 

 ties of the body. Among the most important 

 are mucous, serous and fibrous membranes. 



Mucous Membranes line those passages which 

 open externally and through which matter is 

 taken into the body or eliminated from it. 

 They are soft, velvety and of a dark-red color, 

 and secrete a clear, sticky fluid (see Mucus) 

 which keeps the membranes moist and flexible 

 and serves to protect them. The mucous mem- 

 branes form the lining of such parts of the body 

 as the mouth, the alimentary canal, the inner 

 surfaces of the eyelids and the Eustachian 

 tubes. Some of them secrete not only mucus, 

 but other fluids for special purposes. These 

 special secretions are represented by the saliva 

 and the gastric and pancreatic juices, -which 

 help digest the food (see DIGESTION). 



Serous Membranes are those which line cavi- 

 ties not in open communication with the air. 

 The largest and most important of these, the 

 peritoneum, is a thin, closely-woven network 

 of cells covered by a single layer of flat cells. 

 It lines the abdominal cavity and also covers 

 the outside of all the abdominal organs, help- 

 ing to hold them in place. It is kept moist by 

 a fluid produced by the lymphatic circulation 

 (see LYMPH), and its smooth surface permits 

 the organs of the abdomen to move easily. 

 Other important examples of serous membrane 

 are the lining of the sac around the heart (the 

 pericardium} and that surrounding the lungs 

 (pleura). Synovial membrane is the name ap- 

 plied to a form of serous membrane which 



lines the .cavities of the joints. The sy no vial 

 membrane secretes a fluid resembling the white 

 of an egg, the purpose of which is to moisten 

 and oil the joint so it will turn smoothly and 

 easily. 



Fibrous Membranes are not moistened by a 

 fluid, but add to the strength of the parts they 

 surround, and are represented by the perios^ 

 teum around bones, the dura mater on the in- 

 side of the skull and the fibrous membrane of 

 the spleen. The periosteum not only covers 

 bones, but it affords an attachment for mus- 

 cles, carries blood vessels and nerves, nourishes 

 the bone and reproduces its cells. S.C.B. 



MEM 'LING, or MEM'LIC, HANS (1430?- 

 1494), one of the early Flemish painters, no- 

 table for the great number of his canvases. His 

 works are noted for their accuracy, grace, 

 beauty and tenderness of feeling; however, he 

 had a tendency of crowding many figures i f nto 

 one scene, which often marred the unity of his 

 conception. He was a pupil of Van der Wey- 

 den, whom he surpassed. His most noted 

 works are sacred subjects, including The Last 

 Judgment, Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of 

 the Virgin, Marriage of Saint Catharine, Adora- 

 tion, several Madonnas, and fourteen small 

 paintings that adorn the shrine containing 

 Saint Ursula's relics at Cologne, Germany. 

 Very little is known about Memling. He was 

 born at Bruges, where he spent most of his 

 life. Many of his paintings are still to be 

 found there, the most notable being the deco- 

 rations for the Hospital of Saint John. 



MEM'NON, in Greek legend, the son of 

 Tithonus and Eos, and king of the Ethiopians, 

 whose kingdom was on the west bank of the 

 Nile. He went to help his uncle, Priam, against 

 the Greeks, after the death of Hector. Among 

 his valorous deeds was the slaying of Antilo- 

 chus, but he was slain himself by Achilles be- 

 fore his warriors could come to his aid. Zeus, 

 taking note of the tears of his mother, bestowed 

 immortality upon him. Every morning his 

 mother wept for him, and the sparkling dew 

 drops were said to be her tears. See TROY. 



The "Vocal Memnon." One of the colossal 

 statues of Amenhotep III, set up at Thebes 

 by one of the Pharaohs, which, becoming popu- 

 larly known as the Vocal Memnon, acquired a 

 wide fame. Each morning it emitted musical 

 sounds when the sun's rays touched the statue. 

 This action was probably due to the passage 

 of air through the damp, porous stone, caused 

 by the sudden change of temperature at early 

 sunrise; however, the impressionable natives 



