MAG 



MAG 



net with hexangular spots, including a 

 white ring 1 , and striate between the net 

 and ring. See ZOOPHYTA. 



MADREPORITE, a mineral found in 

 the valley of Russback, in Salzburg 1 , and 

 so called from its external resemblance 

 to madrepore. It is found in large mas- 

 ses, is brittle and moderately heavy. Its 

 component parts are, 



Carbonate of lime . . . 93.00 

 Carbonate of magnesia . 0.50 

 Carbonate of iron . . . 2.25 



Charcoal 0.50 



Silica 4.50 



Loss 



99.75 

 . 25 



100 



MADRIER, in the military art, a long 

 and broad plank of wood, used for sup- 

 porting the earth in mining and carrying 

 on a sap, and in making cotters, caponiers, 

 galleries, and for many other uses at a 

 siege. Madriers are also used to cover 

 the mouths of petards, after they are 

 loaded, and are fixed with the petards to 

 the gates or other places designed to be 

 forced open. 



MADRIGAL, in the Italian, Spanish, 

 and French poetry, is a short amorous 

 poem, composed of a number of free and 

 unequal verses, neither confined to the 

 regularity of a sonnet, nor to the point of 

 an epigram, but only consisting of some 

 tender and delicate thought, expressed 

 with a beautiful, noble, and elegant sim- 

 plicity The madrigal is usually consid- 

 ered as the shortest of all the lesser kinds 

 of poetry, except the epigram : it will ad- 

 mit of fewer verses than either the sonnet 

 or the roundelay ; no other rule is regard- 

 ed in mingling the rhymes, and the dif- 

 ferent kinds of verse, but the fancy and 

 convenience of the author: however, this 

 poem allows of less licence than many 

 others, both with respect to rhyme, mea- 

 sure, and delicacy of expression. 



MAGAZINE, a place in which stores 

 are kept, of arms, ammunition, provisions, 

 &c. Every fortified town ought to be 

 furnished with a large magazine, which 

 should contain stores of all kinds, suffici- 

 ent to enable the garrison and inhabitants 

 to hold out a long siege, and in which 

 smiths, carpenters, wUeelrights, &c. may 

 be employed, in making every thing be- 

 longing to the artillery, as carriages, wag- 

 gons, &.c. 



MAGAZINE, powder, a place in which 



powder is kept in large quantities, and 

 which, on account of the nature of the sub. 

 stance preserved, should be arched and 

 bomb-proof. According to the plan of 

 Vauban, they are sixty feet long and twen- 

 ty-five broad in the inside. The founda- 

 tions are eight or nine feet thick, and 

 about as many feet high from the founda- 

 tion to the spring of the arch. As some 

 inconveniencies have arisen from this 

 structure, Dr. Huttou proposes to find 

 an arch of equilibration, which he would 

 have constructed to a span of twenty 

 feet, the pitch being ten feet; the ex- 

 terior walls at top forming an angle of 

 113, and the height of the angular point 

 above the top of the arch to be seven 

 feet. 



MA.GGOT. See MUSCA. 



MAGI, OI-MAGIANS, an ancient reli- 

 gious sect in Persia, and other eastern 

 countries, who maintained, that there 

 were two principles, the one the cause 

 of all good, the other the cause of all 

 evil ; and abominating the adoration of 

 imagesjworsinpped God only by fi re,which 

 they looked upon as the brightest and 

 most glorious symbol ot Oromasdes, or 

 the good God ; as darkness is the truest 

 symbol of Arimamus, or the evil god. 

 This religion was reformed by Zoroaster, 

 who maintained that there was one su- 

 preme independent being ; and under 

 him two principles or angels, one the 

 angel of goodness and light, and the 

 other of evil and darkness : that there is a 

 perpetual struggle between them, which 

 shall last to the end of the world ; 

 that then the angel of darkness and his 

 disciples shall go into a world of their 

 own, where they shall be punished in 

 everlasting darkness ; and the angel of 

 light and his di.sciples shall also go into 

 a world of their own, where they shall be 

 rewarded in everlasting light. The 

 priests of the magi were the most skil- 

 ful mathematicians and philosophers of 

 the ages in which they lived, insomuch 

 that a learned man and a magian became 

 equivalent terms. The vulgar looked on 

 their knowledge as more than natural, 

 and imagined them inspired by some su- 

 pernatural power; and hence those who 

 practised wicked and mischievous arts, 

 taking upon themselves the name of ma- 

 gians, drew on it that ill signification 

 which the word magician now bears 

 among us. This sect still subsists in 

 Persia, under the denomination of gaurs, 

 where they watch the sacred fire with 

 the greatest cure, and never suffer it to 

 be extinguished. See GAURS, 



