MUT 



MOU 



MOTH. The perfect insect of an 

 extensive class of lepidopterous in- 

 sects, furnished with scaly wings. 

 The household nuisances known un- 

 der this name are usually of the tribe 

 tineans ( Tineada). The clothes moth 

 is the Tuica vcsiianella; the carpet 

 moth, T. tapetzella; the fur moth, T. 

 jicllwnella. 



They lay their eggs in the spring, 

 and the moth dies immediately after ; 

 their eggs are hatched in 15 days ; 

 the white caterpillars begin at once 

 to feed on the fabric, covering them- 

 selves with fragments of its texture, 

 which they mould into a tube. With 

 these protections they move about 

 all the summer; in the autumn they 

 fix their habitation, remain torpid in 

 the winter, change to crysalids in 

 spring, and some twenty days after, 

 in May and June, come out as moths 

 to lay their eggs in the evenings. 



Preventives^ — In spring bring out 

 all the clothing, feathers, &c., sub- 

 ject to their ravages, expose them to 

 the sun for some hours, taking care 

 to brush and shake them thoroughly ; 

 by this means the insects are dis- 

 lodged. When they are in the crev- 

 ices of walls, &.C., all suspected pla- 

 ces should be reached with spirits of 

 turpentine or tobacco smoke. There 

 should be placed in clothes-drawers 

 camphor, tobacco leaves, pennyroyal, 

 and lavender ; it is found, also, that 

 cedar wood is offensive to moths. 

 Where there is no cause against it, 

 substances infested may be dipped in 

 boiling water, or a solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate, -vhich is a violent poi- 

 son. 



The Tinea granella sometimes at- 

 tacks stored wheat and other grains, 

 but they are destroyed by kiln-drying 

 at 180° Fahrenheit. 



MOTHER- W^\TER. In chemis- 

 try, the solution from which crystals 

 have been obtained, and which furnish 

 a second supply when evaporated. 



MOTION. " In mechanical philos- 

 ophy, motion is the change of place ; 

 that is, of the part of space which 

 the body occupies, or in which it is 

 extended. Motion is real or absolute 

 when the moving body changes its 

 506 



place in absolute space ; it is relative 

 when the body changes its place only 

 with relation to surrounding bodies; 

 and it is apparent when the body 

 clianges its situation with respect to 

 other bodies that appear to us to be 

 at rest. All the phenomena of mo- 

 tion are derived by mathematical de- 

 ductions from the three following 

 laws of motion of Newton : 



" 1. A body must continue forever in 

 a state of rest, or of uniform motion in 

 a straight line, if it be not disturbed by 

 the action of an external cause. 



" 2. Every change of motion pro- 

 duced by any external force is pro- 

 portional to the force impressed, and 

 in the direction of the straight line in 

 which the force acts. 



"3. Action and reaction are equal, 

 and in contrary directions ; that is, 

 equal and contrary changes of mo- 

 tion are produced on bodies which 

 mutually act on each other." 



MOTOR. Producing motion. 



MOTTLED. Maculatus. Stained 

 with coloured blotches or dots 



MOULD. Finely divided soil, rich 

 in vegetable matter : it is to be dis- 

 tinguished from decayed leaves, &c., 

 which constitute vegetable mould or 

 humus. 



M O U L DB O A R D. The large 

 curved side of a plough, which turns 

 the furrow slice. 



MOULDEB.ERT, MOLLEBART. 

 A Flemish levelling machine, figured 

 in the article Barren Lands. 



MOULDINESS, MOULD, MIL- 

 DEW. Minute cryptogamic plants, 

 of a grayish aspect usually, but of all 

 colours, which appear upon damp 

 linen, cotton, and vegetable substan- 

 ces, as bread ; they belong to the 

 genera Aspergillus, Mucor, and other 

 mucedines, and are to be avoided only 

 by dryness, and proper exposure to 

 the sun and dry air. The genera 

 which appear on plants, as the hop, 

 pea, &c., are very numerous. 



M O U L D I N G. The curved or 

 straight lines, or fillets, used in archi- 

 tecture, as decorations, or members 

 of the common orders. 



MOULTING. Change of plumage. 

 It takes place annually for the entire 



