M E t 
lies, earths, and metallic oxides, and forms 
with them salts which are distinguished by 
the name of mellats. The properties of these 
compounds will be considered afterwards. 
From the analysis of M. Klaproth, we 
learn that the meliite is composed of 
4(i mellitic acid 
] 6 alumina 
38 water 
100 . 
From other analyses by the same chemist, 
he infers that mellitic acid is composed of 
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but the pro- 
portions are not yet known. 
MELOCflIA, Jcz'ys mallow, a genus of 
the pentandria order, in the monadelphia 
class ot plants, and in the natural method 
ranking under the 37th order, co'umnifene. 
The capsule is quinqiielafcular and monsper- 
mous. There are 11 species: but the only 
remarkable one is the olitorius, or common 
Jew’s-mallow, which is a native ot the warm 
parts of Asia and America. It is an annual 
plant. The flowers sit close on the opposite 
side of the branches to the leaves, coming, 
out singly t they are composed of iue small 
vellow petals, and a great number of stamina 
surrounding the oblong geriuen, which is 
situated in the centre of the (lower, and after- 
wards turns to a rough swelling capsule two 
inches long, ending in a point, and having 
four cells tilled with angular greenish seeds. 
This species is cultivated about the city of 
Aleppo in Syria, and in the Fast Indies, as a 
pot-herb; the Jews boiling the leaves, and 
eating thc-m with their meat. 
MELODINUS, a genus of the class and 
order pentandria digynia. It is contorted; 
nect. in the middle ot the tube, stellate ; berry 
two-ceiled, many-seeded. There is one spe- 
cies, a shrub of New Caledonia. 
MELODY, in music, the agreeable effect 
of different sounds, ranged and disposed in 
succession ; so that melody is the ettect ot a 
single voic e or instrument, by which it is dis- 
tinguished from harmony. 
MELOE, a genus of insects of the order 
coleoptera ; the generic character is; anten- 
na: moniliform, with the last joint ovate ; tho- 
rax roundish ; wing-sheaths soft, flexile ; head 
inflected. Among the principal species of 
meloe may he numbered the meloe prosca- 
rabaeus, commonly called the oil-beetle, ft 
is of considerable size,, often measuring near 
an inch and a half in length ; its colour is vio- 
let-black, especially on the antenna: and 
limbs; the wing-sheaths are very slant, in 
the female insect especially, scarcely cover- 
ino- more than a third of the tody, and are of 
an oval shape. This species is frequent m the 
advanced state of spring in fields and pas- 
tures, creeping slowly, the body appealing so 
swoln or distended with eggs as to cause the 
insect to move with difficulty. On being 
handled it suddenly exsndes from the joints 
of its legs, as well as from some parts ot the 
boclv, several small drops of a clear, deep- 
yellow oil or fluid, of a very peculiar and 
penetrating smell. 1 his oil or fluid has been 
fughlv celebrated for its supposed efficacy in 
rheumatic pains, &c. when used as an embro- 
cation on the parts affected; for this purpose 
also the o'l expressed from the whole insect 
has been used with equal success. I he te- 
Kiale of this species deposits her eggs, which 
MEL 
are very small, and of an orange-colour, in a 
large heap or mass beneath the surface ot 
the ground ; each egg, when viewed by the 
microscope, appears of a cylindric shape, 
with rounded ends; from these are hatched 
the laws, which; at their first appearance 
scarcely measure a line in length, and aic ot 
an ochre-yellow, with black eyes ; they are 
furnished with short antenna:, six legs ot mo- 
derate length, and a long, jointed, taper- 
ini bodv, terminated by two lowed fila- 
ments or processes. These larva; are found 
to live by attaching themselves to other in- 
sects, and absorbing their juices. 1 hey are 
sometimes seen strongly fastened to common 
flies, &c. a practice so' extraordinary as to 
have caused considerable doubt whether 
they could possibly have been the real larva* 
of the meloe proscar-abtvus. 1 he accurate 
observations ot'Degeer, however, have com- 
pletely proved that fact. 
The meloe scabroms extremely resembles 
the preceding, and is found in similar situa- 
tions, but differs in being of a reddish purple 
colour, with a cast of deep gilded green. 
Meloe vesicatorius, blister-fly ou Spanish' 
flv, is an insect of great beauty, being en- 
tirely of the richest gilded grass-green, with 
black antenna;. Its shape is lengthened, and 
the abdomen, which is pointed, extends 
somewhat beyond the wing-sheaths; its usual 
length is about an inch, i his celcbmted in- 
sect, the cantharis of the materia medica, 
forms, as is well known, the safest and most 
efficacious epispastic, or blister-plaster , lais- 
iim, after the space of a few hours, the cuticle, 
and causing a plentiful serous discharge from 
the skin. It is supposed however that the 
cantharis of Dioscorides, or that used by tne 
antients for the same purpose, was a different 
species, viz. the meloe cichorei of Linnaeus, 
an insect nearly equal in size to the meloe 
proscarabmis, and ot a black colour, with 
three transverse vellow bands on the wing- 
shells. The meloe vesicatorius is principally 
found in the warmer parts of Europe, as 
Spain, the south of France, (&c. It is also 
observed, though far less plentifully, in some 
parts of our own country. See Elate Mat. 
Hist. fig. 263. 
MELON. See Cucumis. 
MELOTH1UA, a genus of the mono- 
gvnia order, in the triandrria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking under the 
34th order, cucurbitacea?. 1 lie calyx isquin- 
quefid; the corolla campanulated and mo- 
nopetalous ; the berry trilocular and mono- 
spermous. There is only one species, viz. 
the pendula, a native of Carolina, \ irginia, 
and also many of the American islands, i he 
plants strike out roots at every joint, which 
fasten themselves into the ground, by which 
means their stalks extend to a great distance 
each way. The flowers are very small, m 
shape like those of the melon, of a pale sul- 
phur-colour. The fruit in the West Indies 
- rows to the size of a pea, is of an oval figure, 
and changes to black when ripe; these are 
bv the inhabitants sometimes pickled when 
they are green. In Britain the liuit are much 
smaller, and are so hidden by the leaves that 
it is difficult to find- them. The plants are 
too tender to be reared in this country with- 
out artificial heat. 
MELYRIS, a genus of insects of the order 
coleoptera : the generic character is, antennae 
M E M 
157 
entirely perfoliate; head inflected under 
the thorax; thorax margined ; lip elevate, 
emarginate ; jaw one-toothed, poinU-d. 1 here 
are three species. See Elate Nat. Hist, fig* 
264. 
MEMBRANE. See Anatomy. 
MEMECYLON, a genus of the octan- 
dria monogynia class and order. 1 he cahx 
is superior; corolla o ne- petal led ; anlh. in- 
serted in the side of the apex of the filament , 
berry crowned with cylindrical calyx. 1 heie 
are three species, trees ot the East Indies. 
MEMORY, artificial, a method of 
assisting the memory, by forming certain 
words, the letters of which shall signiiy 
the date or awa to be reinemberc-d. In or- 
der to this, the following series of vowels, diph- 
thongs, and consonants, together with their 
corresponding numbers, must be exactly 
learned, so as to be able at pleasure to form 
a technical word, that shall stand for any 
number, or to resolve such a word already 
formed. 
Ifl i e,\ 
i 1 o \ 
u 
| an | oi i el i ou y 1 
1 I 2 I 
3 4 
1 5 
j 6 1 7 1 8 9 0 | 
U \ d | 
* / 
l 
1 s 1 / | k 1 n 1 z 1 
The first five vowels, in order, naturally re- 
present 1, a, 3, 4, 5 ; the diphthong an ~ 6, as 
being composed of a and u, or 1 -f- 5 “ 6 ; and 
for the like reason, oi — 7, and ou ~ 9. t he 
diphthong ei will easily be remembered for 8, as 
being tire initials of the word. In like manner, 
where the initial consonants could conveniently 
be retained, they are made use of to signify the. 
number, as t for 3, f for 4, s for G, and n lor 9. 
The rest were assigned without any particular 
reason, unless that possibly p may be more easily 
remembered for 7 or septem, k for 8, or oxtm, 
d for 2, or duo ; b for I, as being the first conso- 
nant ;and / for 5, being the Roman letter for 50; 
than any others that could have been put in. 
their places. 
It is farther to be observed, that z and y be- 
ing made use of to represent the cypher, where 
many* cyphers meet together, as 1003, 1000000, 
&c. instead of a repetition of a z y z y z y, &c. 
let g stand for 100, th for a thousand, and m for 
a million. Thus ag will be 10O, ig 300 ; oug 900, 
&c. atb 1000, am 1000000, hum 59000000, & c. 
Fractions may be set down in the following 
manner: let r signify the line separating the 
numerator and denominator, the liist coining ■ 
before, the other after it; as iro f , urp y, pourajr 
7 q & c . When the numerator is 1, or unit, it 
need not be expressed, but begin the fraction 
with r ; as re ri f, ro &c. So in decimals, , 
rug yy rat ^ J l o o o“* 
This is the principal part of the method; 
which consists in expressing numbers by ar- 
tificial words. The application to history and 
chronology is also performed by artificial 
words. The art herein consists in mak- 
ing such a change in the ending of the 
name of a place, person, planet, coin, &t. 
without altering the beginning of it, as shall 
readily suggest the thing sought, at the 
same time that the beginning of the word 
being preserved, shall be a . leading or 
prompting syllable to the ending ot it so 
changed. Thus, in order to remember 
the years in which Cyrus, Alexander, aixl 
Julius Caesar, founded their respective mo- 
narchies, the following words may be form- 
ed; for Cyrus, Cyrwte ; for Alexander, Alex- 
