Medicean 
see medic 1 ), + -e-an.] Of or pertaining to the 
Medici, an illustrious family of Florence, ap- 
pearing first as merchants of the medieval re- 
public, and at the dawn of the Renaissance, in 
the fifteenth century, raised to supreme power 
through their liberality and merit. From this time 
on, for three centuries, amid fortunes of varying brilliancy, 
this family produced popes, sovereigns, and tyrants, and it 
occupies a large place in the history of Europe. In the flue 
arts and literature the epithet has particular reference to 
Cosiino del Medici, known as Cosimo the Elder, and to Lo- 
renzo the Magnificent. The former was virtual master of 
the Florentine republic from 1484 to 1464, and was a gen- 
erous patron of the new art and letters founded on antique 
models; the latter was chief of the state in fact, though 
not in name, from 1469 to 1492, a brilliant protector of all 
learning particularly of that of Greece surviving from the 
wreck of Constantinople, and a powerful benefactor of the 
arts. The Popes Leo X. (Lorenzo's son) and Clement VII. 
(Giulio del Medici) carried on the traditions of the family 
in the fields of intellectual cultivation and achievement 
Medicean Library. Same as Laurentmn Library (which 
see, under LawrenMmi)- Medicean stars, the namegiveu 
by Galileo to the satellites of Jupiter. 
medicephalic (ine"di-se-fal'ik or -sef'a-li k )> 
[< medi(an) + cephalic.] Connecting the median 
vein of the arm with the cephalic : specifically 
used of the median cephalic vein. Cones, 1887. 
medicerebellar (me-di-ser-f-bel'ar), a. [< me- 
di(an) + cerebellar.] Situated in the middle of 
the cerebellum: specifically applied to the an- 
terior cerebellar artery. 
medicerebral (me-di-ser'e-bral), a. and n. [< 
medi(an) + cerebral.] I. a. Lying about the 
middle of each cerebral hemisphere: specifi- 
cally applied to the middle cerebral artery. 
II. re. The medicerebral artery, a branch of 
the internal carotid. 
medicinable (me-dis'i-na-bl, formerly med'i- 
si-na-bl), a. [< "ME. medicinable, < OF. medici- 
nabl'e, medecindble; as medicine, v. t., + -able.] 
Capable of medicining or curing; medicinal; 
healing; wholesome. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
Al maner eggis of foulis that ben holsum and medicy- 
ncMe to ete for man kynde. 
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 12. 
Some griefs are medicinable ; that is one of them, 
For it doth physic love. Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 2. 33. 
No man hath sought to make an imitation by art of nat- 
ural baths and medicinable fountains. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 199. 
The physicians make the galls and stones in the heads 
of Carps to be very medicinable. 
1. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 145. 
Medicinable ring, a ring supposed, as in the middle ages, 
to prevent or remove disease. Compare cramp-ring. 
medicinal (me-dis'i-nal, formerly med'i-si-nal), 
a. [< OP. medicinal, medecinal, P. medicinal = 
Pi. medecinal, medicinal = Sp. Pg. medicinal = 
It. medicinale, < L. medicinalis, of or belonging 
to medicine, medical, < medicina, medicine: see 
medicine.] 1. Having the properties of a medi- 
cine ; adapted to medical use or purposes; cu- 
rative; remedial. 
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees 
Their medicinal gum. Shak., Othello, v. 2. 351. 
To the body and mind which have been cramped by 
noxious work or company, nature is -medicinal and restores 
their tone. Emerson, Misc., p. 21. 
2f. Pertaining to medicine ; medical. 
Learned he was in med'c'nal lore. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 223. 
medicinally (me-dis'i-nal-i), adv. In a medici- 
nal manner; with the effect of a medicine : for 
medicinal purposes : as, some kinds of food act 
medicinally ; to use a mineral medicinally. 
medicine (med'i-sin, more often med'i-sn), re. 
[< ME. medecine, medycyne, medcin, medcyn, 
medsyn, < OF. medecine, also mecine, F. medecine 
= Pr. medecina, medicina, metzina = Sp. Pg. It. 
medicina = D. medicijn =G. Dan. Sw. medicin, 
< L. medicina, (so. ars) the healing art, medicine, 
(so. officina or taberna) a physician's shop, (sc. 
res) a remedy, medicine ; fern, of medicinus, of or 
belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician 
or surgeon (> OF. medecin, F. me'decin, > E. obs. 
medicine (def . 4), a physician), < medicw, a phy- 
sician, surgeon: see medic 1 .'] 1. A substance 
used as a remedy for disease ; a substance hav- 
ing or supposed to have curative properties; 
hence, figuratively, anything that has a curative 
or remedial effect. 
Than par auenture send sail he 
Sum of hia angels to that tre, 
Of whi[l]k springes the oile of life, 
That medcyn es to man and wife. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 65. 
Thei perceyveden wel that no Syknesse was curable by 
gode Medycyne to leye thereto, but zif men knewen the 
nature of the Maladye. Mandecille, Travels, p. 120. 
If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me 
love him, I'll be hanged. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 2 19. 
3684 
Nature too unkind, 
That made no medicine for a troubled mind. 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iii. 2. 
The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other 
woes of mankind is wisdom. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 39. 
2. The art of preventing, curing, or alleviating 
diseases and remedying as far as possible the 
results of violence and accident. Practical medi- 
cine is divided into medicine in a stricter sense, surgery, 
and obstetrics. These rest largely on the sciences of 
anatomy and physiology, normal and pathological phar- 
macology, and bacteriology, which, having practical re- 
lations almost exclusively with medicine, are called the 
medieal sciences and form distinct parts of that art. Ab- 
breviated med. 
Ne hide it nought, for if thou f eignest, 
I can do no medicine. Gower, Conf. Amant., i. 
3. Something which is supposed to possess 
curative, supernatural, or mysterious power; 
any object used or any ceremony performed 
as a charm: an English equivalent for terms 
used among American Indians and other savage 
tribes. 
And as an angler med'cine [i. e. bait], for surprize 
Of little fish, sits pouring from the rocks 
From out the crooked horn of a fold-bred ox. 
Chapman, Odyssey, xii. (Hares.) 
Among the North American Indians, the fetish-theory 
seems involved in that remarkable and general proceed- 
ing known as getting medicine. 
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, II. 141. 
The medicine used as bait, sometimes denominated 
barkstone, is the product of a gland of the beaver. 
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXV. 20. 
4f. A physician. [A Gallicism.] 
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal ; 
And with him pour we in our country's purge 
Each drop of us. Shak., Macbeth, v. 2. 27. 
Cephalic medicines. See cephalic. Clinical medi- 
cine. See clinical. Domestic, eclectic, forensic, 
Hermetic medicine. See the adjectives. Institutes 
of medicine. See institute. Logical medicine. See 
logical. 
medicine (med'i-sin), v. t. ; pret. and pp. medi- 
cined, ppr. medicining. [< medicine, n.] To treat 
or affect medicinally ; work upon or cure by or 
as if by medicine. [Obsolete or poetical.] 
But, being hurt, seeke to be medicynd. 
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 877. 
Great griefs, I see, medicine the less. 
Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 243. 
medicine-bag (med'i-sin-bag), n. A bag or 
pouch containing some article or articles sup- 
posed to possess curative or magical powers 
for the remedy or prevention of disease or mis- 
fortune, worn on the person by American In- 
dians and other uncivilized peoples ; a portable 
receptacle for remedies or magic charms. 
The American sorcerer carries a medicine-bag made with 
the skin of his guardian animal, which protects him in 
fight. E. B. Tylor, Encyc. Brit., XV. 200. 
medicine-chest (med'i-sin-chest), re. A chest 
for holding medicines, together with such in- 
struments and appliances as are necessary for 
the purposes of surgery. 
medicine-man (med'i-sin-man), re. Among 
American Indians and other savage races, a man 
supposed to possess mysterious or supernatural 
powers: a name used in English to translate 
various native names. Among the Indlanamedicine- 
men are persons prepared for their ofllce by a long and 
severe course of training, of a kind supposed to endow 
them with magical powers of cure and prophecy. 
In fact, for a year or two he held the position doubt- 
less to his own amusement of a medicine man, to whom 
any mystery was easy. Nineteenth Century, XIX. 186. 
medicine-pannier (med'i-sin-pan"yer), . In 
the United States army, a pannier for the trans- 
portation of medicines either in wagons or on 
pack-animals. 
mediciner (med'i-si-ner), re. [< medicine + 
-er 1 .] A medical man; a physician. 
Better fashioned mediciners have brought fewer patients 
through. Scott, Abbot. 
medicinerea (me"di-si-ne're-a), n. [NL., < L. 
mcdius, median, + NL. cinerea, q. v.] The cine- 
rea or gray matter of the lenticula and of the 
claustrum of the brain, which occupies a posi- 
tion intermediate between the ectocinerea and 
the entocinerea. 
What may, for the sake of a general term, be called me- 
dicinerea. Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VIII. 136. 
medicine-seal (med'i-sin-sel), n. One of cer- 
tain small greenish square stones found near 
old Boman towns and stations throughout Eu- 
rope, engraved with inscriptions on one or more 
borders, which were used as seals by Eoman 
physicians to stamp the names of their medi- 
cines on wax or other plastic substance. 
medicine-Stamp (med'i-sin-stamp), n. Same 
as medicine-seal. 
medieval 
medicine-Stone (med'i-sin-ston), re. A smooth 
stone found among American prehistoric re- 
mains. It was probably used as a sinker or 
plummet for fishing. H. W. Henshaw, Amer. 
Jour. Arclweol., I. 110. 
medicis (med'i-se), re. A covering or wrap for 
the shoulders and breast, consisting generally 
of a loosely gathered piece of tulle or blond, 
worn about the close of the eighteenth century. 
medickH, n. and re. See medic 1 . 
medick 2 , re. See medic s . 
medico (med'i-ko), n. [< Sp. medico = Pg. It. 
medico, a physician: see medic 1 .] A doctor. 
[Cant.] 
medicochirurgical (med"i-k6-kl-rer'ji-kal), a. 
[< L. medicus, medical, + cMrurgicus, chirur- 
gical : see chirurgie, chirurgical.] Pertaining or 
relating to medicine and surgery; consisting 
of both physicians and surgeons: as, a medico- 
chirurgical journal; the Medicochirurgical So- 
ciety. 
medicolegal (med"i-ko-le'gal), a. [< L. medi- 
eus, medical, + legalis, legal: see legal.] Per- 
taining to medical jurisprudence, or to law as 
affected by medical facts. 
medicst (med'iks), re. [PI. of medic 1 : see-ics.] 
The science of medicine. 
In medicki, we have some confident undertakers to res- 
cue the science from all its reproaches and dishonours, 
[and] to cure all diseases. 
J. Spencer, Prodigies, p. 402. (Latham.) 
medietas linguae (me-di'e-tas ling'gwe). [L.: 
medietas, middle, middle course, half (see moi- 
ety); lingua;, gen. of lingua, tongue, speech.] 
A jury composed half of natives and half of 
foreigners (hence said to be de medietate lingua;, 
of half-tongue), formerly allowed under the 
English common law for the trial of an alien. 
In the United States the practice is still per- 
mitted by the laws of Kentucky. 
mediety (me-dl'e-ti), . ; pi. medieties (-tiz). 
[= F. medieie( vernacularly moitie, >E. moiety), 
< L. medieta(t-)s, the middle, middle course, the 
half, moiety, < medius, middle: see medium.] 
The middle state or part; half; moiety. 
Which [sirens] notwithstanding were of another descrip- 
tion, containing no fishy composure, but made up of man 
and bird ; the human mediety variously placed not only 
above but below. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 19. 
The archdeacon of Richmond [in 1246] granted the me- 
diety of Poulton and Biscopham to the priory of St. Mary, 
Lancaster. Baines, Hist. Lancashire, II. 507. 
There were two rectors, the living being held in medie- 
ties. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 715. 
medieval, mediaeval (me-di-e'val), a. and n. 
[< L. med ius, middle, + axum, age, period: see 
medium and age.] I. a. Pertaining to or char- 
acteristic of the middle ages: as, medieval art 
or architecture ; the medieval spirit ; a medieval 
habit of thought. See middle ages, under age. 
The darkest portion of the medieval period was different 
in different countries. ... In a general way, however, it 
may be assigned to the tenth century. 
Hallam, Middle Ages. 
Medieval architecture, the most important branch of 
medieval art, including a great number of varied styles. 
This architecture embodies a union of the Greek system 
Medieval Architecture of the best period. West front of Amiens 
Cathedral, France ; i3th century. 
of columnar construction with the Eoman vaulting and 
arches, with the consequences flowing logically from the 
new combination. It may be considered as originating 
