MAR 



MAR 



considered as so many fixed points, to 

 which the motions of the comets, and of 

 the other planets that are under them, are 

 referred. Hence will appear the impor- 

 tance of an intimate acquaintance with 

 them; the attainment of which is an ob- 

 ject of no less difficulty than it is of mo- 

 ment. However, this difficulty did not 

 deter Mitraldi, who to the great injury of 

 his health, applied himself to observe 

 them with the most constant attention, at 

 all seasons of the year. By this means he 

 became so intimate with the fixed stars, 

 that on being shown any one of them, 

 however small, he could immediately tell 

 to what constellation it belonged, and its 

 place in that constellation. He has been 

 known to discover those small comets 

 which astronomers often take for the stars 

 of the consellation in which they are seen, 

 for want- of knowing precisely of what 

 stars the constellation consists, when 

 others on the same spot, and with eyes 

 directed equally to the same part of the 

 heavens, could not for a long time see 

 any thing of them Whenever Maraldi 

 found it necessary to relax in his astrono- 

 mical labours, by way of amusement he 

 applied to the study of natural history, 

 making observations on insects, curious 

 petrifactions, &c. To the subject of bees 

 he paid particular attention, not only ac-' 

 quainting himself with what ancient and 

 modern writers have said concerning 

 them, but providing himself with glass 

 hives, that he might observe their labours 

 and economy. On these and other sub- 

 jects in natural history, he drew up a 

 number of very interesting papers, which 

 were received with great applause by the 

 Academy of Sciences, and ar inserted 

 in different volumes of their n\emoirs. 

 In the year 1699, Maraldi was admitted a 

 member of that body. In 1700, he was 

 employed Under Cassini in prolonging 

 the French meridian to the northern ex- 

 tremity of France, and had no small share 

 in completing it. When this business 

 was finished, he paid a visit to Italy, 

 where the astronomers every where glad- 

 ly availed themselves of his advice and 

 assistance in making their observations ; 

 and Eustachio Manfredi has made due 

 acknowledgments of his great obliga- 

 tions to him. Being 1 come to Rome, on 

 the invitation of Pope Clement XI. he 

 assisted at the assemblies of the congre- 

 gation then sitting in that city, for the 

 purpose of reforming the calendar. Bian- 

 chini also availed himself of his advice 

 and aid, in constructing the great meri- 

 dian line at the baths of Dioclesian. 

 \Vliilc he continued at Rome, he had an 



opportunity of observing an eclipse cf 

 the fourth satellite of Jupiter, in the up- 

 per part of his circle, from which he was 

 led to the conclusion, that its inclination 

 is three minutes less than as fixed by Cas- 

 sini. In 1703, Maraldi returned to France, 

 with a rich treasure of subjects in natural 

 history, chiefly collected at Verona, which 

 he presented to the Academy of Sciences. 

 In the year 1718, he was employed, with 

 three other academicians, in prolonging 

 the French meridian to the southern ex- 

 tremity of that kingdom. Still, however, 

 the greatest part of his time was occu- 

 pied within the walls of the observatory 

 of Paris, where he was incessantly em- 

 ployed in observing every thing that was 

 curious and useful in the motions and 

 phenomena of the heavenly bodies, in in- 

 genious applications of the methods laid 

 down by Cassini, in verifying theories 

 with which it is of consequence to be ac- 

 quainted, in correcting other theories 

 which are susceptible of improvement, 

 and in completing his catalogue. This 

 last mentioned great work he did not 

 live entirely to finish ; for just after he 

 had placed a mural quadrant on the ter- 

 race of the observatory, in order to ob- 

 serve some stars towards the north and 

 the zenith, he fell sick of a fever, and died 

 in December 1729, in the sixty-fifth year 

 of his age. He is highly commended for 

 seriousness, integrity, sincerity, a gene- 

 rous spirit, the purest morals, and an in- 

 teresting simplicity of manners. He was 

 not proud of the rank which he held in 

 the scientific world, and was never more 

 gratified than when he could render ser- 

 vice to others, by communicating to them 

 freely the discoveries and improvements 

 which he had made, at the expense of in- 

 conceivable labour and application. He 

 did not publish his catalogue, or any 

 other of his productions, but communi- 

 cated an immense number of papers to 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences, which 

 are Inserted in their " Memoirs" for al- 

 most every year from 1699 to 1729, and 

 not uncommonly several papers in the 

 same year. 



MARANTA, in botany, Indian arrow- 

 root, a genus of vhe Monandria Monogynia 

 class and order. Natural order of Scita- 

 minex. Cannae, Jussleu. Essential cha- 

 racter : calyx three-leaved ; corolla trifid ; 

 nectary three-parted, the third part bear- 

 ing the anther on its upper side. There 

 are five species, of which M. arundinacea, 

 Indian arrow-root, has a thick, flesh)\ 

 creeping root, full of knots, from which 

 arise many smooth leaves, six or seven 

 inches long, and three broad towards 



