median 
as medial cells. See medial. Median cephalic vein, 
the vein of the arm which connects the median and the 
cephalic vein. Also called medicephalic vein. It is one 
of the veins commonly selected for venesection. Median 
coverts, in ornith., those coverts of thesecondarieswhich 
intervene between the greater and lesser coverts. See cut 
under covert. Median foveola. See foveola. Median 
line, a line passing or supposed to pass exactly through 
the middle of something specified. Specifically (a) In 
anat. , the periphery of the median plane ; the dorsimeson 
or ventrimeson, or both of these, dividing the surface of 
the body into equal right and left halves ; also, any line 
which lies in the meson or median plane. (ft) In crystal., 
same as mean line and bisectrix. See bisectrix, 1. (c) In 
climatology, the average central course of a trade-wind. 
The mean position of the median line lies at least six or 
seven degrees north of the equator. 
Croll, Climate and Time, p. 231. 
Median nerve. () The principal nerve of the front of 
the arm, situated between the musculocutaneous and the 
ulnar, arising from the upper and lower cords of the bra- 
chial plexus by two heads which embrace the axillary ar- 
tery, and prolonged to the hand. (6) In bot., a nerve trav- 
ersing the middle of a leaf or leaf-like expansion. Me- 
dian plane, (a) In anat. and zoM., an imaginary vertical 
plane supposed to divide the body longitudinally into two 
equal parts, right and left; the meson. (6) In bot., of a 
flower or other lateral structure of a plant, a vertical 
plane which bisects the anterior and posterior sides, and 
which, if prolonged, would pass through the center of the 
paientaxis. Goebel. Also called anteropogterior plane. 
Median shade, in entom., a more or less distinct shaded 
band or mark running transversely across the middle of 
the anterior wing, found in most noctuid moths. Median 
stress. See stress. Median vein, (a) In anat., the 
middle superficial vein of the front of the forearm, di- 
viding at or near the bend of the elbow into the median 
basilic and median cephalic. The former of these soon 
joins one of the brachial veins which accompany the bra- 
Median and other Veins of Ann. 
I, tendon of biceps; 2, brachial artery; 3, bicipital fascia ; 4, inter- 
nal cutaneous nerves ; 5. external cutaneous nerves ; m, median vein; 
mb, median basilic ; we, median cephalic; , basilic ; c, cephalic; r, 
radial; au,pn, anteriorand posterior ulnar veins. Several unnamed 
veins are also shown. All tnese veins are superficial to df, df, the 
general deep fascia of the parts; nth or me is usually selectee! for vene- 
section. 
chial artery ; the latter soon unites with the radial to form 
the cephalic, which continues superficial up the arm to 
join the axillary or subclavian. (6) In entom., the third 
main longitudinal vein or rib of an insect's wing, count- 
ing from the anterior border. Median wall, in archego- 
niate plants, a wall in a plane at right angles to the basal 
wall, dividing the pro-embryo into lateral halves. Goebel. 
Median zone. See zone. 
Median 2 (me'di-an), a. and n. [< L. Media, 
< Gr. yir/Sia, Media, < MijAoi, the Medes: see 
Mede s .] I. a. Of or pertaining to Media, an 
ancient kingdom of Asia. Also Medic. 
Ev'ry day did change attire, 
In costly Median silk. 
Queen Eleanor's Fall (Child's Ballads, VII. 297). 
II. . Same as Mede 3 . [Rare.] 
medianimic (meMi-a-nim'ik), a. Same as me- 
rlin mistic. 
medianly (me'di-an-li), adv. [< median + -ly'*.] 
In or along the middle. 
The laryngeal sac opens medianly into the front of the 
larynx. Encyc. Brit,, II. 151. 
mediant (me'di-ant), n. [< It. mediante, < LL. 
median ( t-)s, ppr. of mediare, divide in the middle : 
see mediate.] 1. In Gregorian music, one of the 
principal tones of a mode, situated as nearly 
as possible midway between the dominant and 
the final, and ranking next in importance to 
them. It may be used as the first tone of any phrase of 
a plain-song melody except the first and the lust. The 
mediants of the several modes are : I., F II E III G 
IV., G; V., A; VI., D ; VII., C; VIII., F; IX., C; X.',' B' 
XL, D; XII., D; XIII., E; XIV., A. 
3682 
2. In modern music, the third tone of the scale. 
The scale is major or minor according as the 
mediant is a major or a minor third above the 
key-note. 
median-ventral (me"di-au-veu'tral), a. Same 
as mcdioventral. Huxley and Martin. 
mediastina, . Plural of mediastinum. 
mediastinal (me-di-as'ti-nal), a. [< mediasti- 
num + -<tl.] Of or pertaining to a mediastinum 
or middle septum or partition, particularly that 
of the thorax. 
mediastinet (me-di-as'tin), n. [< NL. medias- 
tinum, q. v.] Same as mediastinum. 
mediastinitis (me-di-as-ti-m'tis), . [< medi- 
astinum + -itis.] Inflammation of the proper 
tissue of the mediastinum. 
mediastinum (me'di-as-ti'mim), . ; pi. me- 
tlinxtina (-na). [NL., neut. of L. mediastinus, 
lit. being in the middle or midst (used only in 
the sense of 'a helper, assistant'), < wetlins, 
middle: see medium.] In anat., a median sep- 
tum or partition between two parts of an or- 
gan, or between two paired cavities of the body ; 
especially, the membranous partition separat- 
ing the right and left thoracic cavities, form- 
ed of the two inner pleural walls. Since in man 
these pleural folds do not meet, the term mediastinum is 
extended to the space between them. Anterior medi- 
astinum, the space between the sternum and the peri- 
cardium, containing the triangularis sterni muscle, parts 
of other muscles, areolar tissue, lymphatic glands, etc. 
Mediastinum testis, the septum of the testicle, or corpus 
Highmorianum, an incomplete vertical partition formed 
by an infolding of the tunica albuginea. Middle medi- 
astinum, nearly the same as the pericardiac cavity, con- 
taining the heart, ascending aorta, pulmonary artery, and 
superior cava, which are within the pericardium, and the 
phrenic nerves, roots of the lungs, and lymphatic glands. 
Posterior mediastinum, the space between the spine 
and the pericardium, containing the descending aorta, azy- 
gotis veins, thoracic duct> esophagus, and pneumogastric 
and splanchnic nerves. Superior mediastinum, the 
space corresponding to the upper part of the sternum, ex- 
tending from the manubrium in front to the spine behind. 
It contains the trachea, esophagus, thoracic duct, the arch 
of the aorta and the origin of the large arteries, the large 
veins, phrenic and pneumogastric nerves, thymus gland, 
etc. 
mediate (me'di-at), v. ; pret. and pp. mediated, 
ppr. mediating. [< LL. mediates, pp. of medi- 
are, divide in the middle (ML. also be in the 
middle, be or come between, mediate), < mc- 
dius, middle: see medium.'] I, intrans. 1. To 
occupy an intermediate place or position ; be 
interposed ; have the position of a mean. 
By being crowded they exclude all other bodies that be- 
fore mediated between the parts of their body. 
Sir K. Ditjb\i. 
Evernia vulpina must be admitted to mediate, as well in 
general habit as in an important detail of thalline struc- 
ture, between the other northern species and Usnea. 
E. Tuckerman, Genera Lichenum, p. (11). 
2. To have the function of a mean or means ; 
effect a connection between other things, or a 
transition from one to the other. 
Lotze, so to speak, turns the flank of the sceptical doc- 
trine, by insisting that, after all, knowledge can be nothing 
but a mediating process. Mind, X. 110. 
Prof. Jebb has, it is true, not augmented the number of 
previous theories as to the origin of the Iliad by any the- 
ory distinctly original; yet he has opened up a mediating 
view, which is of interest and may commend itself to 
many. Amer. Jour. Philol, VIII. 475. 
3. To intervene for the purpose of reconcilia- 
tion ; act as an intermediary for the settlement 
of a disagreement or discord; intercede. 
What man is able to mediate, and stand in the gap, be- 
tween God and man ? Donne, Sermon's, i. 
Bacon attempted to mediate between his friend and the 
Queen. Maeaulay, Lord Bacon. 
4f. To take an intermediate stand; act moder- 
ately ; avoid extremes. 
The law doth sometimes mediate, thinks it good 
Not ever to steep violent sins in blood. 
Webster, White Devil, i. 1. 
5. In spiritualism, specifically, to act as a me- 
dium. = Syn. 1. See interposition. 
II. trans. 1. To effect by intervention, in- 
terposition, or any intermediary action. 
Employed to mediate 
A present marriage, to be had between 
Him and the sister of the young French queen. 
Daniel, Civil Wars, viii. 
It Is singular that the last act of his political life should 
have been to mediate a peace between the dominions of 
two monarchs who had united to strip him of his own. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 13. 
2. To effect a relation between or a transition 
from, as between two things, or from one thing 
to another ; bring into relation by some inter- 
vening means or process. 
What we have is always a positive mediated by a nega- 
tive ; and if we could absolutely sever either from the 
other, we should come in both cases to the same result. 
E. Caird, Hegel, p. 215, 
mediation 
3. To harmonize ; reconcile ; settle, as a dis- 
pute, by intervention. 
No friends 
Could mediate their discords. 
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, ii. 2. 
4f. To further by interceding, or by acting as 
a mediator. [Bare.] 
Remember me by this ; and in your prayers, 
When your strong heart melts, mediate my poor fortunes. 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, i. 2. 
5. To divide into two equal or approximately 
equal parts. 
They styled a double step, the space from the elevation 
of one foot to the same foot set down again, mediated by 
a step of the other foot, a pace, equal to five feet. Holder. 
mediate (me'di-at), . [< LL. mediatus, pp.: see 
the verb. Cf. immediate, intermediate.] 1. Sit- 
uated between two extremes ; lying in the mid- 
dle; intermediate; intervening. 
Anxious we hover in a mediate state, 
Betwixt infinity and nothing. 
Prior, Solomon, iii. 
2. Acting as a means or medium; not direct 
or immediate in operation ; not final or ultimate. 
It is certain that the immediate cause of death is the 
resolution or extinguishment of the spirits : and that the 
destruction or corruption of the organs is but the mediate 
cause. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 399. 
3. Effected by or due to the intervention of a 
mean or medium ; derived from or dependent 
upon some intervening thing or act; not pri- 
mary, direct, or independent. 
We may, accordingly, doubt the reality of any object of 
mediate knowledge, without denying the reality of the im- 
mediate knowledge on which the mediate knowledge rests. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, ix. 
As a lecturer he [Christison] was . . . perfect, full of 
immediate knowledge as distinguished from mediate. 
Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, 3d ser., p. 302. 
Mediate agglutination. See agglutination. Mediate 
auscultation or percussion, in pathol. See auscultation. 
Mediate certainty, certainty founded on inference or 
reasoning : opposed to immediate or intuitive certainty. 
Mediate contraries. See contrary. Mediate evi- 
dence, or mediate testimony, in law, a phrase not hav- 
ing any technical meaning, but used by theoretic writers 
to indicate (a) evidence or testimony which does not go 
directly to demonstrate the fact sought to be proved, but to 
establish some intermediate fact from which an inference 
or further evidence may deduce that sought to be proved ; 
and (6) secondary evidence as distinguished from primary. 
Mediate good, something useful or good as aiding to 
the attainment of an ultimate good. Mediate imputa- 
tion. See imputation. Mediate inference, an infer- 
ence from two or more premises. Mediate knowledge, 
representative knowledge ; the knowledge of something 
through something else which is immediately perceived. 
Mediate mode. See immediate mode, under model. 
Mediate object, anything which is an object through 
something else which is the immediate object. 
The sensible qualities are the immediate objects of the 
senses; a substance invested with those qualities the me- 
diate. Buryersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman. 
Remote mediate mark. Seemarki. 
mediately (me'di-at-li), adv. In a mediate man- 
ner; by the intervention of a mean or medium ; 
indirectly ; by mediation. 
She hath a superior above her, by whom she ought to 
be ruled and ordered ; for she is not immediately under 
God, but mediately. Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1550. 
If the king granted a manor to A., and he granted a por- 
tion of the land to B., . . . B. held his lands immediately 
of A., but mediately of the king. Blackstone, Com., II. v. 
mediateness (me'di-at-nes), n. The state of 
being mediate, in any sense of that word. 
mediation (me-di-a'shon), n. [< ME. media- 
don, mediacioiin, < OF. mediation, F. mediation 
= Sp. mediacion = Pg. mediacao = It. media- 
zioiie, < ML. "mediatio(n-), < LL. mediare, divide 
in the middle, ML. also mediate: see mediate.] 
1. The act of mediating; intervention; inter- 
position. 
But by mediacyon of the lordes it was agreed that Roh- 
ert shulde haue euery yere durynge his life iii M. markes. 
Jtob. of Brunne, p. 102, note. 
It being the undeniable prerogative of the first cause 
that whatsoever it does by the mediation of second causes 
it can do immediately by itself without them. 
South, Works, IV. xi. 
2. Agency between parties with a view to rec- 
oncile them or to effect some arrangement be- 
tween them ; entreaty for another ; intercession . 
And noble offices thou mayst effect 
Of mediation, after I am dead, 
Between his greatness and thy other brethren. 
Shot., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 25. 
By Mediation of Cardinals sent by the Pope, a Truce for 
two Years is concluded between the two Kingdoms of 
England and France. Baker, Chronicles, p. 124. 
It is the Christian's unspeakable privilege, and his alone, 
that he has at all times free access to the throne of grace 
through the mediation of his Lord and Saviour. 
J. H. Neunnan, Parochial Sermons, i. 245. 
3. The state of being mediate, or of serving 
as a medium or means ; intermediate relation ; 
a coming between. 4f. Means; aid; help. 
