MAS 



MAS 



arc supposed to be masters of, or because 

 the first founders of the society were 

 persons of that profession. These are 

 now very considerable, both tor number 

 and character, being found in every coun- 

 try in Europe, and consisting principally 

 of persons of merit and consideration. As 

 to antiquity, they lay claim to a standing 

 of some thousand years. What the end 

 of their institution is seems still a secret; 

 and they are said lo be admitted into the 

 fraternity by being put in possession of a 

 great number of secrets, called the ma- 

 son's word, which have been religiously 

 kept from age to age, being never divulg- 

 ed. 



MASONRY, in general, a branch of ar- 

 chitecture, consisting in the art of hewing 

 or squaring stones, and cutting them level 

 or perpendicular, for the uses of building: 

 but in a more limited sense, masonry is 

 the art of assembling and joining stones 

 together with mortar. 



MASSETER, in anatomy, a muscle 

 which arises from the superior maxillary 

 bone, and from the z,ygonia, and is insert- 

 ed into the angle and coronoid process of 

 the lower jaw. 



MASSONIA, in botany, so named from 

 Mr. Francis Masson, a genus of the Hex- 

 andria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Coronarize. Asphodeli, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : corolla in- 

 ferior, with a six parted border ; filaments 

 on the neck of the tube ; capsule three- 

 winged, three-celled, many-setded. There 

 are four species, all of them found at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



MAST, a long round piece of timber, 

 elevated perpendicularly upon the keel of 

 a ship, upon which are attached the yards, 

 the sails, and the rigging, in order to their 

 veceiving the wind necessary for naviga- 

 tion. A mast, according to its length, is 

 either formed of one single piece, which 

 is called a pole-mast, or composed of se- 

 veral pieces joined together, each of 

 which retains the name of mast separate- 

 ly. A top-mast is raised at the head or 

 top of the lower mast, through a cap, and 

 supported by the trestle-trees. It is com- 

 posed of two strong bars of timber, sup- 

 ported by two prominences, which are as 

 shoulders on the opposite sides of the 

 masts, a little under its upper end : 

 athwart these bars are fixed the cross- 

 trees, upon which the frame of the top is 

 supported. Between the lower mast- 

 head and the foremost of the cross-trees, 

 a square space remains vacant, the sides 

 of which are bounded by the two trestle- 

 trees. Perpendicularly above this is the 



foremost hole in the cap, wh<5e after-hole 

 is solidly fixed an the head of the lower- 

 mast. The top-mast is erected by a 

 tackle, whose effort is communicated 

 from the head of the lower-mast to the 

 foot of the top-mast, and the upper end 

 of the latter is accordingly guided into, 

 and conveyed up through the holes, be- 

 tween the trestle-trees and the cap, as be- 

 fore mentioned; the machinery by which 

 it is elevated, or, according to the sea- 

 phrase, swayed up, is fixed ii> the follow- 

 ing manner. The top-rope, passing 

 through a block which is hooked on one 

 side of the cap, and afterwards through 

 a hole, furnished with a sheave or pully 

 on the lower end of the top-mast, is again 

 brought upwards on the other side of the 

 mast, where it is at length fastened to an 

 eye-bolt in the cap, which is always on 

 the side opposite to the top-block. To 

 the lower end of the top-rope is fixed the 

 top-tackle, the effort of which, being trans- 

 mitted to the top-rope, and thence to the 

 heel of the top-mast, necessarily lifts the 

 latter upwards parallel to the lower mast. 

 When the top-mast is raised to its pro- 

 per height, the lower end of it becomes 

 firmly wedged in the square hole (above 

 described) between the trestle-trees. A 

 bar of wood or iron, called the fid, is 

 then thrust through a hole in the heel of 

 it, across the trestle-trees, by which the 

 whole weight of the top-mast re support- 

 ed. See SHIP building. 



MASTER of arts, is the first degree 

 taken up in foreign universities, and for 

 the most part in those of Scotland ; but 

 the second in Oxford and Cambridge; 

 candidates not being admitted to it till 

 they have studied seven years in the uni- 

 versity. 



MASTER in chancery. The masters in 

 chancery are assistants to the Lord Chan- 

 cellor and Master of the Rolls ; of these 

 there are some ordinary, and others ex- 

 traordinary : the masters in ordinary are 

 twelve in number ; some of whom sit in 

 court every day during the term, and 

 have referred to them interlocutory or- 

 ders for stating accounts, and computing 

 damages, and the like ; and they also ad- 

 minister oaths, take affidavits, and ac- 

 knowledgments of deeds and recogni- 

 zances. The masters extraordinary are 

 appointed to act in the country, in the 

 several counties of England, beyond ten 

 miles distance from London ; by taking 

 affidavits, recogniiances, acknowledg- 

 ments of deeds, &c. for the ease of the 

 suitors of the court. 



MASTER of the horse, a great officer of 



