MESA 



3749 



MESQUITE 



120,000. In the neighboring arid regions the 

 wandering Turkomans breed horses which are 

 famed throughout the world. 



MESA, ma'sah, a Spanish name meaning 

 table, applied especially in the western part of 

 the United States to tablelands along the Colo- 

 rado River and its tributaries in Colorado, 

 Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. These were 

 once parts of plateaus which through a long 

 period of time have been partly worn away by 

 streams, the process being known as erosion. 

 Two of the best-known mesas are the Mesa 

 Encantado (the Enchanted), in New Mexico, 

 and the Mesa Verde (the Green) , in Colorado. 

 The Acoma Indians believe that their ances- 

 tors once lived upon the top of the Enchanted 

 Mesa. On the rocky sides of the Mesa Verde 

 are many ruins of old cliff dwellings, relics of 

 the remote past (see CLIFF DWELLERS). Mesas 

 generally have steep sides because of the action 

 of the streams which left them standing. On 

 the broad, level tops, covered witli grasses, des- 

 ert bushes, mesquite and chico, or greasewood, 

 are often found beautiful lakes. Here were 

 once the best ranges for wild cattle, and at the 

 present time these places afford pasturage for 

 cattle and sheep. 



MESHHED, or MESHED, mesh'hed, the 

 capital of the province of Khorassan, situated 

 in the northeastern part of Persia, about 110 

 miles from the Afghan frontier. It is noted 

 chiefly for its superb mosque, which contains 

 the sacred shrine of Imam Reza, a descendant 

 of the founder of the Shiites, and which is vis- 

 ited each year by 100,000 pilgrims of this sect. 

 The magnificence of this mosque is scarcely 

 equaled in all Persia. The manufactures of 

 Meshhed, which include rugs, shawls, silks, 

 porcelain and sword blades, are conspicuous for 

 their high degree of excellence. Population, 

 about 60,000. 



MES'MEJfc, FRIEDRICH ANTON (1733-1815), a 

 German physician, the first exponent of the 

 theory of animal magnetism. He was born 

 near Constance, in Switzerland. In 1772 he de- 

 cided that a powerful influence could be ex- 

 erted by one person over another, and this 

 power he called animal magnetism. In 1778 he 

 lectured on the subject in Paris, where he cre- 

 ated a sensation and made many converts to 

 his views, although he was regarded as an im- 

 postor by regular physicians. He was offered 

 an annual pension of about $4,000 to reveal his 

 secret, but. he refused to divulge it. On ac- 

 count of suspicions which arose, a commission 

 from the Academy of Sciences was appointed 



in 1785 to investigate his discoveries. This 

 commission reported unfavorably to his pre- 

 tentions, and he fell into disrepute. He then 

 visited England and soon went to Switzerland, 

 where he spent the rest of his life in obscurity 

 at Meersburg. See HYPNOTISM. 



MESMERISM, mes'meriz'm, the process by 

 which one person produces in another an un- 

 conscious condition resembling sleep, now 

 known popularly as hypnotism. The theory 

 was first practiced by Friedrich Mesmer, for 

 whom it is named. See HYPNOTISM, and the 

 subjects there referred to. 



MESOPOTAMIA, mes opo ta'mia, a name 

 given by the ancient Greeks to the land en- 

 circled by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, cov- 

 ering an area of about 143,000 square miles. 

 The country, according to tradition, was the 

 first settled home 

 of the patriarchs 

 of the Bible. It 

 is now a part of 

 Turkey in Asia, 

 and its inhabit- 

 ants include Jews, 

 Armenians, Arabs 

 and Kurds. A 

 number of schools 

 are conducted by LOCATION MAP 



English, French, German and American mis- 

 sionaries. Mohammedanism is the established 

 religion, but other religions have a semiofficial 

 recognition. Population about 2,000,000. 



MESOZOIC, mesozo'ik, ERA, the great di- 

 vision of geologic time extending from the 

 Paleozoic to the Cenozoic Era. It is divided 

 into the Triassic System, the Jurassic Period 

 and the Cretaceous System, each of which is 

 described under its title. See, also, GEOLOGY; 

 CENOZOIC ERA; PALEOZOIC ERA. 



MESQUITE, meskeet', a shrub of arid 

 regions, particularly of the Southwestern United 

 States, Mexico, and parts, of Western South 

 America. It is also found in the Hawaiian 

 Islands, transplanted by missionaries. Mes- 

 quite requires very little moisture, and will 

 grow in deserts too hot and dry for other plants. 

 Those who know the desert know the mesquite ; 

 and romance, sometimes overdrawn, is woven 

 about it in stories of desert life. 



When it has plenty of water it grows to be a 

 tree fifty or sixty feet in height, with a trunk 

 three feet in diameter. . The wood is valuable 

 for building purposes, and for fence posts and 

 fuel. The seeds are good food for cattle and 

 horses. Two kinds of gum are obtained from 



