MAR 



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MAS 



ments were made of it. 2. In astro- 

 nomy, a planet of our system, the fourth 

 in order from the sun, and consequently 

 the next above our earth ; thus named 

 from its red (fierce) colour. Its symbol is 

 <J , intended to represent a man holding 

 a spear. Mean diameter 4398 miles ; mean 

 distance from the sun 142,000,000 miles; 

 period of revolution round the sun 686d. 

 23h. 30' 39", or 1'8S1 years; period of ro- 

 tation, Id. Oh. 39' 21" 5.'" 



MARSEILLAISE HYMN. The popular 

 name, erroneously applied, of the national 

 anthem of France. 



MAR'SHAL. Originally one who had 

 charge of horses, from Teutonic, marc, 

 a horse, and sealk or schalk, a servant. 

 The word is now a title of certain officers 

 who have very different employments ; 

 as the Earl Marshal (q.v.) of England, &c.; 

 the Marshal of the Queen's Bench, who has 

 the keeping of the Queen's Bench prison 

 in Southwark ; the Marshal of the Ex- 

 chequer, to whom the court commits the 

 queen's debtors. In some countries of Eu- 

 rope, a marshal is a military officer of the 

 highest rank. In America, marshals are 

 appointed by the President and Senate of 

 the United States, and answer to our 

 sheriffs of counties. 



MAR'SHALLING. 1. In heraldry, the dis- 

 posing of several coats of arms, belonging 

 to distinct families, in the same escutcheon. 



2. The disposing of persons at public 



solemnities in their proper places, accord- 

 ing to their ranks, &c. 



MAR'SHALSEA. A prison in Southwark, 

 belonging to the marshal of the queen's 

 household. The Marshalsea Court was 

 originally instituted to hear and determine 

 reuses between the servants of the royal 

 household and others within the verge of 

 the court, which extends twelve miles 

 round Whitehall. It sits every week, and 

 the judges are the steward of the house- 

 hold and knight-marshal for the time 

 being. 



MARSH MIAS'MA. Infectious vapours 

 arising from certain marshes and marshy 

 soils. 



MARSU'PIAL, Lat. marsupialis, purse- 

 shaped. Applied, 1. To animals of the 

 order Mamupialia. 2. To parts, as mus- 

 cles, for their shape. 



MARSVTIA'LIA. An order of mammi- 

 ferous animals, having external abdomi- 

 nal pouches for their young (tnanupium, 

 a pouch). The opossums, phalauirers, 

 potoroos, and kangaroos are examples. 

 Epithet marsupial. A distinguishing pe- 

 culiarity of the Marsupialia is the pre- 

 mature production of their young, whose 

 state of development at birth is extremely 

 email. Incapable of motion, and hardly 

 exhibiting the germs of limbs and other 

 extertjil organs, these diminutive beings 



attach themselves to the mammae of the 

 mother, and there remain fixed until they 

 have acquired a degree of development 

 similar to that in which other animals are 

 born. The skin of the abdomen is almost 

 always so arranged about the mamma; as 

 to form a pouch, in which these imperfect 

 little animals are preserved as in a second 

 uterus, and to which, long after they can 

 walk , they always flee for shelter. 



MAR'SCPSTE, from marsupium, a purse. 

 The name given by Dr. Mantelltoa aenus 

 of CrenoXdea found in the chalk of Sussex, 

 Wiltshire, and Yorkshire, and bearing 

 some resemblance in shape to a purse. The 

 individuals are called clusterstones by the 

 quarrymen of Sussex, which, in fact, con 

 veys a pretty correct idea of their generaj 

 appearance. 



MARTEI/LO TOWERS. Circular buildings 

 of masonry erected along the .British 

 coast, intended as a defence against the 

 meditated invasion of Napoleon. 



MAR'TEN. A name common to several 

 animals of the weasel tribe, but espe- 

 cially applied to the mustela martes, Lin. 

 There are several martens common in 

 North America, and distinguished by the 

 names Pekan, Vision, Mink, &c. 



MAR'TI.N, \ The house swallow (Hir- 



MART'LET. ) undo nrbica, Lin.), called in 

 France martinet, and in Spain martinete. 

 The Germans call it mauer-schu-albe, wall- 

 swallow. 



MAR'TINETS. 1. In ships, small lines 

 fastened to the leech of a sail to bring it 

 close to the yard when the sail is furled. 

 -2. A cant phrase for severe military 

 disciplinarians, derived from a Colonel 

 Martinet in the French army, who devised 

 a peculiar whip for military punishment. 



MAR'TINGAL, Yr. martingale. 1. A strap 

 of leather fastened to the girth under a 

 horse's belly, and at the other end to the 

 musroll, passing between the forelegs. 



2. In ships, a rope extending from 



the jib-boom, to the end of a bumpkin 

 under the cap of the bowsprit. 



MART'LET. A martin (q.v.). Martlets 

 n heraldry are little birds without feet, 

 used to make a distinction in the escut- 

 cheons of younger brothers. 



MAS'CLE. In heraldry, a bearing in the 

 form of a perforated lozenge. 



MASH, Gcr.ic/ii,tomix. 1 To math 

 is to beat into a confused mass. With 

 brewers, to mix malt and water together 

 n a mash-tub preparatory to brewing ard 

 distillation. This process is called mash- 



2. A mash is a sort of warm drink 



for a horse, made by pouring hot water 

 on malt. 



MA'SON, Fr. mafon. A person employed 

 under the direction of an architect in the 

 raising of a stone building. The/V^e and 

 accepted masont form a very ancient so- 

 ciety, so called because the fouuiier* ot 



