M A S 
M A S 
M A T 
vant money for payment of every thing had 
on his account, the master shall not be char- 
ged. Esp. N. P. 1 15. Or if a person forbids 
his tradesmen to trust his servant on his ac- 
count, and he continues to purchase upon 
credit, he is not liable. The act of a ser- 
vant, though he has qutted his master’s ser- 
vice, has been held to be binding upon the 
master, bv reason of the former credit given 
him on his master’s account, and it not being 
known to the party trusting that he was dis- 
charged. 4 Bac. Abr. 586. 
The master is also answerable for any in- 
jury arising by the fault or neglect of his ser- 
vant when executing his master’s business, 6 
T. 11. 659 : but if there is no neglect or default 
in the servant the master is not liable. Esp. 
llep. 53 3. 
If a smith’s servant lames a horse whilst 
shoeing him, or the servant of a surgeon 
makes a wound worse, in both these cases an 
action for damages will lie against the master, 
and not against the servant. But the damage 
must be done while the servant is actually 
employed in his master’s service, otherwise 
he is liable to answer for his own misbeha- 
viour or neglect. 
A master is likewise chargeable if his ser- 
vant casts any dirt, See. out of the house into 
the common street ; and so for any other nui- 
sance occasioned by his servants, to the da- 
mage or annoyance of any individual, or the 
common nuisance of his majesty’s people. 
Lord Raym. 264. 
A servant is not answerable to his master 
for any loss which may happen without his 
wilful neglect; but if be is guilty of fraud or 
gross negligence, an action will lie against 
him by his master. 
A master is not liable in trespass for the 
wilful act of his servant; as by driving his 
master’s carriage against another, done with- 
out the direction or assent of his master, no 
person being in the carriage when the act 
was done. But he is liable to answer for any 
damage arising to another from the negli- 
gence or unskilfulness of his servant acting in 
his employ. M'Manus v. Crickitt, Mich. 
41 G. III. 
Master of arts, is the first degree taken 
up m foreign universities, and for the most 
part in those of Scotland, but the second in 
Oxford and Cambridge; candidates not be- 
ing admitted to it till they have studied seven 
years in the university. 
Master in chancery. The masters in 
Chancery are assistants to the lord chancellor 
and master of the rolls ; of these there are 
some ordinary, and others extraordinary : the 
masters in ordinary are 12 in number, some 
of whom sit in court every day during the 
term, and have referred to them interlocutory 
orders for staling accounts, and computing 
damages and the like ; and they also admi- 
nister oaths, take affidavits, and acknow- 
ledgments of deeds and recognizances. The 
masters-extraordinary are appointed to act 
in the country, in the several counties of 
England, beyond 10 miles distant from Lon- 
don ; by taking affidavits, recognizances, ac- 
knowledgments of deeds. See. for the ease of 
the suitors of the court. 
Master of the faculties, an officer 
under the archbishop of Canterbury, wh-o 
grants licences and dispensations. 
Master of the horse, a great officer 
<*f the crown, who orders all matters relating 
to the king's stables, races, breed of horses, 
and commands the equerries and ali the 
other officers and tradesmen employed in the 
king’s stables. His coaches, horses, and at- 
tendants, are the king’s, and bear the king’s 
arms and livery. 
Master of the ordnance, a great of- 
ficer, who has the chief command of the 
king’s ordnance and artillery. 
Master of the rolls, is an assistant to 
the lord chancellor of England in the high 
court of chancery ; and in his absence hears 
causes there, and gives orders, liis sa- 
lary is 1200/. per annum. 
Master of a ship, the same with cap- 
tain in a merchantman ; but in a king’s ship 
he is an officer who inspects the provisions 
and stores, and acquaints the captain with 
what is not good, takes particular cave of the 
rigging and of -the ballast, and gives directions 
for stowing the hold ; he navigates the ship 
under the directions of his superior officer ; 
sees that the log and log-book are duly 
kept ; observes the appearance of coasts ; and 
notes down in his journal any new shoals or 
rocks under water, with tlieir bearing and 
depth of water, &c. 
Master at arms, in a king’s ship, an 
officer who daily, by turns, as the captain ap- 
points, is to exercise the petty officers and 
ship’s company ; to place and relieve senti- 
nels ; to see the candles and fire put out ac- 
cording to the captain’s orders ; to take care 
the small arms are kept in good order, and to 
observe the directions of the lieutenant at 
arms. 
MASK, in field fortification : it sometimes 
happens that a ditch or fosse must be dug in 
an exposed situation ; in this case it will be" ab- 
solutely necessary for the artificers and work- 
men to get under cover by means of mask- 
ing themselves in such a manner as to answer 
the double purpose of executing their imme- 
diate object, and of deceiving the enemy with 
respect to the real spot they occupy. 
To effect the latter purpose several masks 
must be hastily thrown up, whilst the men are 
employed behind one ; by which means the 
enemy will either mistake the real point, or 
be induced to pour his fire in several direc- 
tions, and thus weaken its effect. 
A mask is generally six feet high. Bags 
made of wad or wool are too expensive on 
these occasions ; nor are gabions, stuffed with 
fascines, seven or eight feet high, to be pre- 
ferred ; for if the fascines are tied together 
they will leave spaces between them in the ga- 
bions; and if they are not bound together, 
they will be so open at top as to admit shot, 
&c. 
In order to obviate these inconveniences 
the following method has been proposed : 
Place two chandeliers, each seven feet high 
and two broad, between the uprights, after 
' which fill up the vacant spaces with fascines 
nine feet high, upon six inches diameter. One 
toise and a half of epaulement will require two 
chandeliers and 60 fascines to mask it. 
The engineer, or artillery officer, places 
himself behind this mask, arid draws his plan. 
As you must necessarily have earth, &c. to 
complete your work, these articles may be 
brought in shovels, sacks, or baskets ; and 
if the quarter whence you draw them should 
be exposed to the enemy’s fire, cover that 
0 2 
107 
line, as well as the line of communication, 
between the trenches, or the parallels, with a 
mask. 
If you cannot procure earth and fascines, 
make use of sacks stuffed with wool, &c. and 
let their diameters be three feet, and their 
length likewise three ; and let the outside be 
frequently wetted to prevent them from 
catching fire. 
MASTOIDES. See Anatomy. 
MATCH, a kind of rope slightly twisted, 
and prepared to retain fire for the uses of ar- 
tillery, mines, fireworks, &c. It is made of 
hempen tow, spun on the wheel like cord, 
but very slack ; and is composed cf three 
twists, which are afterwards again covered 
with tow, so that the twists do not appear : 
lastly, it is bo. led in the lees of old wines. 
This, when once lighted at the end, burns on 
gradually and regularly, without ever going 
out, till the whole is consumed: the hardest 
and driest match is generally the best. 
Match, quick, used in artillery, is made 
of three cotton strands drawn into lengths, and 
put into a kettle just covered with white-wine 
vinegar, and then a quantity of saltpetre and 
mealed powder is put into it, and boiled till well 
mixed'. Others put only saltpetre into water, 
and after that take it out hot, and lay it into 
a trough with some mealed powder, moisten- 
ed with some spirits of wine, thoroughly 
wrought into the cotton by rolling it backwards 
and forwards with the hands; and when this 
is done they are taken out separately, drawn 
through mealed powder, and dried upon a, 
line. 
MATERIA MED1CA. “ The materia 
medica (says Dr. Darwin) includes all those 
substances which may contribute to the re- 
storation of health.” If, how ever, medicine 
be defined the art of 'preventing, as well as 
of curing, diseases, the science of which we 
are now to treat ought, by consequence, to 
comprehend the preservatives of living ex- 
istence, as well as the restoratives of healthy 
action. Instead, therefore, of restricting 
this article to the mere enumeration and dis- 
cussion of drugs, we shall, in the first place, 
introduce some general remarks on those sub- 
stances which are employed as articles of diet 
or food. 
PART I. 
DIETETICS. 
Organic life appears to be influenced and 
supported by two leading principles: 1st, 
fibrous excitation ; and, 2dly, the substitu- 
tion of nutritious particles, in place of those 
which are constantly dissipated or abraded. 
The power by which this last object is effected 
has been denominated by the author of Zoo- 
nomia, animal appetency. The principal and 
prime organs by which it is exerted, or the, 
media through which new matter is originally" 
communicated, are those which are termed 
‘ the digestive and assimilating! it has, how- 
ever, recently been conjectured that the or- 
gans of digestion are not the sole organs of 
nutrition, but that both the external surface 
of the body, and likewise the lungs, are me- 
dia for the admission into the system of pro- 
per nutritive matter. Accordingly we find 
the class nutrientia, in the materia medica of 
the author just quoted, to comprehend not 
merely those substances which are received 
