MAL 



MAL 



and M. umbelliflora, both natives of Ja- 

 maica. 



MALE, among zoologists, that sex of 

 aniimls which has the parts of generation 

 without the body. 



The term male has also, from some 

 similitude to that sex in animals, been 

 applied to several inanimate things : 

 thus we say, a male-flower, a male-screw, 

 &c. 



MALIC add, in chemistry, was disco- 

 vered by Scheele about the year 1785. 

 It is found in the juices of a great many 

 fruits, and it derives its name from the 

 circumstance of its being obtained in 

 great abundance from the juice of apples, 

 in which it exists ready formed. It is thus 

 obtained : saturate the juice of apples 

 with potash, and add to the solution ace- 

 tate of lead till no more precipitation en- 

 sues. Wash the precipitate carefully 

 with a sufficient quantity of water; then 

 pour upon it diluted sulphuric acid till 

 the mixture has a perfectly acid taste, 

 without any of that sweetness which is 

 perceptible as long as any lead remains 

 dissolved in it ; then separate the sulphate 

 of lead, which has precipitated, by filtra- 

 tion, and there remains behind pure malic 

 acid. The French chemists have ascer- 

 tained that it may be obtained in the 

 largest quantities from the juice of the 

 sempervivum tectorum, where it exists 

 abundantly combined with lime. Malic 

 acid is very soluble, in water, and decom- 

 poses spontaneously, by undergoing a 

 kind of fermentation. It is composed of 

 oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. It com- 

 bines with alkalies, earths, and metallic 

 oxides, and forms MALATES, which see 

 above. 



Dr. Thomson has shewn in what the 

 citric and malic acids agree, and in what 

 they differ. The citric acid shoots into 

 crystals; but the malic will not crystal- 

 lize. The citrate of lime is almost inso- 

 luble in boiling water, but the malate of 

 lime is easily soluble in that liquid. Malic 

 acid precipitates mercury, lead, and sil- 

 ver, from the nitrous acid, and likewise 

 the solution of gold when diluted with 

 water ; whereas the citric acid does not 

 alter any of these solutions. 



MALICE, a formed design of doing 

 mischief to another. Malice is of two 

 kinds ; express or implied. Malice ex- 

 press, in cases of homicide, is, where one 

 with a deliberate intention, evidenced by 

 external circumstances, kills another. 

 This intention may appear by lying in 

 wait, antecedent menaces, former grudg- 

 es, and concerted schemes to do one 



some bodily harm. Malice implied is va- 

 rious ; as where one voluntarily kills ano- 

 ther without any provocation, or where 

 one wilfully poisons another ; in such 

 cases, the law implies malice, though no 

 particular enmity can be proved. See 



HOMICTDX. 



In this latter case, the act, if it is in it- 

 self necessarily injurious to another, im- 

 plies malice. As to stab one is the best 

 evidence of a design to injure him, be- 

 cause the ai* necessarily must injure him, 

 and malice is but a design to injure ; and 

 if it really were an accidental injury, that 

 must be shown from other circumstances 

 which are generally to be proved on the 

 part of the defendant. Malice being a de- 

 sign to injure, any injurious act implies 

 malice, but in common speech it is more 

 frequently applied to the continued work- 

 ings of a long preconceived hatred and 

 ill-will. 



MALLEABLE, a property of metals, 

 whereby they are capable of being ex- 

 tended under the hammer. See DUCTILI- 

 TY and METAL. 



MALLET, a kind of large wooden 

 hammer, used by artificers who work 

 with a chissel, as sculptors, masons, 

 and stone-cutters, whose mallets are 

 commonly round; and by joiners, car- 

 penters, &c. who work with square-head- 

 ed mallets. 



MALLEUS, in anatomy, a bone of 

 the ear, so called from its resemblance 

 to a mallet, and in which is observed 

 the head, the neck and handle, which 

 is joined to the membrane of the tym- 

 panum. 



MALOPE, in botany, a genus of the 

 Monadelphia Polyandria class and order. 

 Natural order of Columniferae. Malva- 

 ceae, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx 

 double, outer three-leaved ; arils glome- 

 rate, one seeded. There are two species, 

 viz. M. malacoides, and M. parviflora, the 

 former has greatly the appearance of 

 mallow, but differs from it in having the 

 cells collected into a button, somewhat 

 like a blackberry ? the bunches spread, 

 and lie almost flat upon the ground, ex- 

 tending a foot or more each way. The 

 flowers are produced singly upon long 

 axillary peduncles, they are in shape and 

 colour like those of mallow. It is a na- 

 tive of the meadows of Tuscany and of 

 Barbary. 



MALPIGHIA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of Marcello Malpighi, professor 

 of medicine at Bologna, a genus of the 

 Decandria Trigynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Trihilatse. Malpighiae, Jus- 



