MON 4 



one string with which to try the variety 

 and proportion of musical sounds : in- 

 vented by Pythagoras. 



MONOCHROMATIC, from /MVO;, one, and 

 XevfMe,, colour. Consisting of one colour. 



MoN'ocHROMEj^itavef, and ,&*, colour. 

 A painting executed in a single colour. 



MONOCOTYL'EDON, from [AOVOS, one, and 

 cotyledon. A plant with only one cotyle- 

 don or seed-lobe. The grasses are all 

 regarded as monocotyledonous plants. 



MONOCOTYLED'ONES. One of the three 

 great tribes, and the most important of 

 the three, into which the vegetable king- 

 dom is divided, according to the natural 

 system of botany. The Acotyledones 

 and Dicotyledones are the other tribes. 

 Grasses, lilies, palms, aloes, &c. are ex- 

 amples of the acotyledonous tribe. 



MONOC'UI.US. A genus of apterous in- 

 sects, which mostly frequent stagnant 

 waters: named from/tM>vo;, and oculus ; 

 but they have often two eyes, though 

 these are placed very close to each other. 



MON'ODELPHS, from f&oyof, and JEX^J, 

 a womb. Animals having no external 

 marsupium ; antithetical to Didelphs. 



MUN'ODON. A generic name of the 

 Narwhal, (JIf. monoceros, I,in.), from 

 ftetot, one, and odouf, a tooth, being 

 characterised and distinguished from all 

 the rest of the cetacea by a single tusk of 

 ten feet or so in length. See MONOCEROS. 



MONOS'CIA, from [MVO$ , one, and olxia., 

 a house. The name of the 21st class of 

 plants in the sexual system of Linnaeus, 

 consisting of such as have male and fe- 

 male organs in separate flowers, but 

 growing on the same plant. The orders 

 depend on the circumstances of the male 

 flowers. 



MON'OGIIAM, from poyos, one, and 

 ygauf/M, a letter A character composed 

 of one, two, three, or more letters, inter- 

 woven, being an abbreviation of a name, 

 &c. , anciently much used on seals, arms, 

 rnonuments, &c. 



MON'OGRAFH, from f&oi/of, one, and 

 WatQu, to describe. A treatise on a single 

 subject ; as a monograph of an Egyptian 

 mummy. 



MONOOYN'IA, from /^t,ov6;,one, and -yvv/t, 

 a female. The name of an order of plants 

 in the sexual system of Linnaeus, com- 

 prehending such as, besides their agree- 

 ment in the classic character, have only 

 one style. 



MONOLITH'IC, from ju,ovo;, one, and 

 X/0oj, a stone; consisting of a single 

 stone. 



MONOMA'NIA, from [AOVO;, one, and 

 mania. A form of mania in which the 

 mind of the patient is absorbed by one 



MON 



MONO'MIAL, from /MI,C; one, and oiof^t, 

 a name. An algebraic quantity consist- 

 ing of only one term, as ax' , distinct from 

 a binomial, trinomial, &c. 



MO.SOPET'ALOCS, from utto;, one, and 

 3-ETatXsv, a petal. One-petullc-d ; applied 

 to flowers which have only one petal, or 

 which have the corolla formed of one 

 piece. 



MONOPHYL'LOUS, from f&ovo;, alone, and 

 ^uXXi, a leaf. Having only one leaf: 

 applied to calices consisting of not more 

 than a single leaf. 



MONOPH'YSITES, from [AOVO;, one, and 

 (futris, nature. A sect of Christians who 

 maintain that Jesus Christ had only one 

 nature. 



MONOP'OLY, from yotevoj, alone, and 

 vruKica, to sell. An exclusive privilege, 

 secured to one or a few persons, to carry 

 on some branch of trade or manufacture, 

 by royal grant. Such grants were very 

 common in England previous to the ac- 

 cession of the House of Stuart, and were 

 only abolished in 1624 (by 21 Jac. 1. c. 3), 

 to avoid the total ruin of the industry of 

 the country. Patentees are justly mo'no- 

 polists during the period of their patent*. 



MONOPO'LYLOOUE, uovof, one, <ro*.us, 

 many, and Aoyoj , discourse. An entertain- 

 ment in which a single actor sustains 

 many characters.. 



MONOP'TEEAL, fju>vog and trri^ev, wing. 

 In architecture, a circular enclosure of 

 columns without a cell. 



MON'ORHYME, aavo,-, and %vQu.o;, mea- 

 sure. A composition in verse, in -which 

 all the lines end with the same rhyme. 



MONOSPER'MOUS, from [tonef, one, and 

 trtrta/Mx, seed. One-seeded: applied to 

 seed-vessels. 



MONOTHAL AMOUS, from /xovo;, single, 

 and 6ct)iat[ACi, a chamber. One-cham- 

 bered : applied to shells when the cham- 

 ber is not divided by partitions. 



MONOTHE'ISM, from ^05, and 0=9?, 

 God. The doctrine or belief of the exist - 

 ence of one God only, opposed to poly- 

 theism or plurality of Gods. 



MONOTONY, 1 from fMto;, one, and 



Mo - N/OTONE > /TOVSJ, sound. 1. Sameness 

 of sound : want of inflections of voice in 



speaking or reading. 2. Repetition of 



the same sound in music. 



MONOTRIO'LYPH. The space of one tri- 

 glyph (monos and triglyph), and two me- 

 topes between two Doric columns. 



MONS MEN'S^E. The table mountain. A 

 modern asterism, situated between the 

 south pole of the world and the ecliptic. 



MONSOO'NS. Periodical winds in the 

 Indian seas, which blow one half of the 

 year from the same quarter 01 point of 



