molla 
medan title of honor or compliment given to va- 
rious religious dignitaries, as heads of orders, 
and others exercising functions relating to the 
sacred law, as well as to students of that law. 
It is not conferred by formal authority, but is 
an expression of public respect, like master. 
2. A superior judge of the Moslem sacred law. 
The nomination [of the mufti of Constantinople] must 
fall on one of the mottahv, who form the upper stratum of 
the hierarchy of ulema. Encyc. Bnt., XXII. 861. 
mollet, " A Middle English form of mull 1 . 
inollemoke, n. Same as mallemuck. 
Molles (mol'ez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L. mollis, 
soft. Cf. mollusk.] In Lamarck's classification 
(1801-12), an order of Vermes, containing the 
tapeworms and flukes. 
inolleton (mol'e-ton), n. [F., < mollet, dim. of 
moil, mol, soft, < L". moltis, soft.] Swanskin ; a 
kind of woolen blanketing used by printers as 
an elastic impression-surface. Simmonds. 
mollewellet, [ME. ; origin obscure. Cf . mil- 
well.'] The sea-calf. Nominate MS. (Halliwell.) 
moll-hern (mol'hern), n. The common Euro- 
pean heron, Ardea cinerea. [Local, Eng.] 
Mollia (mol'i-a), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of L. 
mollis, soft: see moll 2 , Molles.j In Lamarck's 
classification (1801-12), an order of his class 
Badiaria, containing the acalephs. 
molllcity (mo-lis'i-ti), n. [Irreg. < L. mollities, 
softness (see mollities), + -ity.'] Softness; mol- 
lities. 
mollie (mol'i), n. [Abbr. of mallemarokiny. 
Cf. >o% 2 .] A meeting of ship-captains held 
on board one of several whaling-ships when 
ice-bound in company. See the quotation. 
[Naut. slang.] 
Whenever the whaling fleet is stopped for a number of 
days in the ice, it is the practice for the captains to as- 
semble on board one or the other of the ships to discuss 
the prospects of the season's catch. These interviews 
are called Mollies, and are announced by a bucket hoisted 
as a signal at the fore-royal masthead. . . . Generally 
speaking, a Mollie means making a night of it. 
Schley and Soley, Rescue of Greely, p. 183. 
inollient (mol'i-ent), a. [= Sp. moliente, < L. 
mollien(t-)s, ppr. of mottire, soften, < mollis, 
soft: see moll*.~\ Softening; emollient; sooth- 
ing. Bailey, 1727. 
molliently (mol'i-ent-li), adv. With softening 
or soothing effect. 
mollifiable (mol'i-fl-a-bl), a. [= Sp. molifica- 
ble = Pg. mottrftcavel; as mollify + -able."] Ca- 
pable of being mollified, softened, or soothed. 
Ash. 
mollification (mol'i-fi-ka'shgn ), n. [< F. molli- 
fication = Pr. mollificacio = Sp. molificacion = 
Pg. mollificacao = It. mollificasionc, < ML. molli- 
ficatio(n-), < LL. mollificare, soften: see mol- 
' ! The act of mollifying or softening. 
For induration, or mollification, it is to be enquired 
what will make metals harder and harder, and what will 
make them softer and softer. 
Bacon, Physiological Remains. 
2. Pacification; an appeasing; something that 
will soothe. 
Some mollification for your giant, sweet lady. 
Shak., T. N., i 5. 218. 
mollifier (mol'i-fi-er), w. One who or that 
which mollifies. Bacon. 
mollify (mol'i-fi), v. ; pret. and pp. mollified, 
ppr. modifying. [< F. mollifier = Pr. molliflcar 
= Sp. moUficar = Pg. mottificar = It. mollifi- 
care, < LL. mollificare, soften, < mollificus, mak- 
ing soft, < L. mollis, soft, + facere, make : see 
-/2/-] I. trans. 1. To soften; make soft or 
tender. 
When they haue killed a great beast, they cut out all 
the veines and sinewes . . . and likewise all the Suet: 
which done, they diue them in water to inMijie them. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 213. 
They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither 
iiwlUJied with ointment. Isa. L (i. 
2. To soothe; mitigate; appease; pacify; calm 
or quiet. 
All things tending to the preservation of his life and 
health, or to the mollifying of his cares, he [a king reli- 
gious and zealous in God's cause] procureth. 
Raleigh, Hist. World, V. U. 3. 
Chiron mollify'd his cruel mind 
With art, and taught his warlike hands to wind 
The silver strings of his melodious lyre. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, i. 
3. To make less harsh; qualify; tone down; 
moderate; abate. 
Mince the sin and mollify damnation with a phrase. 
Dryden. 
They would . . . soouer prevail with the houses to mol- 
lify their demands. Clarendon, Great Rebellion. 
4. To induce or incline by making tender. 
3824 
If it wrought no further good in him, it was that he, in 
despight of himselfe, withdrewe himselfe from harkeniug 
to that which might mollifie his hardened heart. 
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
I shall deliver words will mollify 
The hearts of beasts to spare thy innocence. 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, v. 2. 
=Syn. 2 and 3. To mitigate, ease, moderate. 2. To 
soothe, quiet. 
II. in trails. To become soft or tender. 
[Bare.] 
Philanax, feeling his heart more and more mollifying 
unto her, renewed the image of his dead master in his 
fancy. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iv. 
molligut (mol'i-gut), n. The angler or goose- 
fish, Lopltius piscatorius. [Connecticut, U. S.] 
molline (mol'in), n. [< L. mollis, soft, + -wie 2 .] 
A base for ointments used in the treatment of 
skin-diseases. It is essentially a soft soap mixed with 
excess of fat and glycerin. It is made of caustic potash 
lye having a specific gravity 1.145, glycerin, and cocoanut- 
oil, in the proportions 100 parts of oil, 40 parts of lye, and 
30 parts of glycerin. The saponincation of the oil is care- 
fully performed without heat. The glycerin is afterward 
thoroughly incorporated by carefully heating and mixing, 
and the result is a yellowish-white substance of soft con- 
sistence containing 17 per cent, of uncombined oil, which 
is easily removed from the skin by either warm or cold 
water. 
It is necessary to say that no lard is ever used, a sub- 
stitute being found in a saponaceous preparation which is 
known under the name of molline. 
Lancet, No. 3423, p. 698. 
Mollinedia (mol-i-ne'di-a), n. [NL. (Ruiz 
and Pavon, 1794), named after F. Mollinedo, a 
Spanish chemist and naturalist.] A genus of 
dicotyledonous apetalous plants of the natural 
order Honimiacece and the tribe Monimiea; 
characterized by sessile or stalked drupes on a 
disk-shaped receptacle, from which the perianth 
falls off like a lid, by subsessile anthers with 
the cells united into one at the apex, and by 
an indefinite number of stamens. They are trees 
or shrubs, with opposite leaves and insignificant green 
flowers, which are usually dioecious and grow in axillary 
or subterminal clusters. There are 30 species, natives of 
Australia and the warmer parts of America. Several 
species are highly aromatic, like the nutmeg. See ink- 
berry, 8. 
mollinet (mol ' i - net), n. [< OF. molinet, F. 
moulinet (= Sp. molinito), a small mill, dim. of 
moulin = Sp. molino = Pg. moinho = It. molino, 
a mill : see mill 1 . Cf. moulinet.'] A mill of small 
size. Bailey, 1731. 
mollipilose (mol-i-pl'16s), a. [<L. mollis, soft, 
+ piliis, a hair : see pilose."] Having soft or fine 
pelage or plumage, as a quadruped or bird ; be- 
ing fleecy, fluffy, or downy, as hair or feathers. 
mollipilosity (mol"i-pl-los'i-ti), . [< mollipi- 
lose T -ity."] Fleeciness or nuffiness of the pel- 
age or plumage of quadrupeds or birds. 
mollities (mo-lish'i-ez), n. [L., softness, < mollis, 
soft.] In med., softness; softening Mollities 
cerebrl, softening of the brain. MoUities osslum, soft- 
ening of the bones ; osteomalacia. 
mollitious (ino-lish'us), a. [< L. mollifies, soft- 
ness : see mollities.'] Luxurious. 
Here, mollitious alcoves gilt, 
Superb as Byzant domes that devils built ! 
Browning, Sordello, ill. 
mollitude (mol'i-tud), . [< L. mollitudo, soft- 
ness, < mollis, soft.] Softness; effeminacy. 
Campbell. 
Mollugineae (mol-u-jin'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Feuzl, 
1840), < Mottugo (Mollugin-) + -ecu.'] A tribe 
of dicotyledonous polypetalous plants of the 
natural order Ficoidece, characterized by a deep- 
ly five-parted calyx, and by having from three to 
five petals, or sometimes none, and hypogynous 
or partly perigynous stamens. It includes 14 gen- 
era, Mollugo being the type, and about 73 species, the ma- 
jority of which grow in Africa ; but a few genera, as Mol- 
lugo and Glinus, are very widely distributed. 
MollugO (mo-lu'go), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1737), < 
L. mottugo, a plant also called lappago, < mollis, 
soft.] A genus of plants of the natural order Fi- 
coidete and the tribe Mollugineai, characterized 
by a capsular fruit, a three- to five-celled ovary 
containing many ovules, and stipulate leaves 
which often appear to be whorled. They are erect 
or diffuse herbs, usually having forked branches, linear- 
obovate or spatulate leaves, and iucouspicuous greenish 
flowers in axillary umbel-like cymes. About 13 species 
have been enumerated, which are common in the warmer 
parts of the globe. M. verticillata is common through- 
out the United States. See carpet-weed, and Indian chick- 
weed (under chickweed). 
mollusc, . See mollusk. 
Mollusca (mo-lus'ka), n. pi. [NL., pi. of mol- 
liiscum, a soft-bodied animal, a mollusk: see 
mollusk.'] One of the leading divisions of in- 
vertebrated animals ; an extensive series of in- 
vertebrates whose bodies are soft, without any 
jointed legs, and commonly covered with a hard 
Mollusca 
shell in one, two, or more pieces, and whose 
principal parts are neither segmented into a 
series of longitudinal rings, as in insects, crus- 
taceans, and worms, nor radiately arranged, 
asinechinoderms; the mollusks, as the univalve 
or bivalve shell-fish of ordinary language. Mol- 
lusks have no trace of a notochord or urochord, which 
distinguishes them from certain organisms, as ascidians, 
formerly classed with them. They are primitively bilater- 
ally symmetrical, or have a right and left "side" along a 
main axis ; this form is best expressed in the chitons, and is 
evident in bivalves, slugs, etc., but its expression is often 
obscured by a twisting to which the body is subjected in 
various univalves, as those whose shells are spiral. (See 
Isttpleura, Anisopteura.) There is always a well-defined 
alimentary canal, with definite walls. A nervous system 
is well developed as a set of ganglia with connecting com- 
missures, one characteristic feature of which is the forma- 
tion of a nervous ring or collar around the gullet, and 
another is the torsion of the visceral commissures in 
those forms whose bodies are twisted as above said. (See 
Euthyneura, Streptoneura.) Most mollusks have a distinct 
head, which, however, is not apparent in bivalves, leading 
to a division of headless mollusks (Acephala or Lipo- 
cephala). A characteristic organ of Glossophora or mollusks 
with heads is the odontophore, buccal mass, or lingual 
ribbon, whose radula serves as a rasping-organ in a mouth 
otherwise soft and toothless. Various modifications of the 
radular teeth give rise to several descriptive terms. (See 
ptenoglossate, rachiglogsate, rhiindoyloszate, tcenioglossate.) 
There is always a heart, with a ventricle and at least one 
auricle, and dorsal in position. Its relative situation with 
respect to the gills differs in certain groups of mollusks. 
(See opisthobranchiate, prosobranchiate.) The circulation 
is double. The respiratory system is branchial, and in some 
cases, as of snails and slugs, modified for breathing air into 
a kind of lung. (See Pulmonata, Gasteropoda.) The primi- 
tive typical gills are paired organs called ctenidia; but 
these undergo many modifications, and their function of 
respiration may be assumed vicariously by other parts of 
the body not homologous with them. These modifications 
give rise to the names of many subordinate groups of mol- 
lusks, especially of gastropods, besides that of the great 
series Lamellibranchiata. The renal organs of mollusks 
are technically called nephndia, or organs of Bojanus. 
(See cut under Lamellibranchiata.) The sexual organs are 
developed, either in the same individuals, or in different in- 
dividuals of opposite sexes. The characteristic organ of lo- 
comotion is the foot or podium, a development of the un- 
der surface of the body, which may be a broad flat sole (see 
cut under Gasteropoda), upon which the mollusk creeps, or 
otherwise shaped. It is often wanting, as in the oyster, 
or may give rise to a thready byssus by which the animal is 
rooted, as in the mussel. Forms of the podium give names 
to most of the leading groups of mollusks, as cephalopods, 
pteropods, scaphopods, heteropodg, gastropods, and pelecy- 
pods. A large part of the soft integument of mollusks 
forms what is called the mantle or pallium, from which 
the shell, when present, is developed (see integropalliate, 
iinupalliate), and the impression of the edge of the mantle 
on the insideof the shell is thepallial line. Some mollusks 
are entirely naked, or have only a rudimentary and conceal- 
ed shell, as land-slugs and sea-slugs, and also most of the 
living cephalopods. The body of cephalopods is strength- 
ened by an internal skeleton, the calamary or cuttlebone, 
though no mollusk has an articulated internal skeleton. 
But the great majority of mollusks have a hard shell 
(whence the old names Testacea, Ostracodermata\ of a 
horny or chltinous or more decidedly calcareous substance. 
Those whose shell is single are called univalves; those in 
which it forms a hinged pair of shells are bivalves; but 
the former may have an additional shelly piece, closing the 
aperture, the operctdum ; and the two main valves of the 
latter may be supplemented by accessory valves (see cut 
under accessory).' Bivalves are the natural group of head- 
less or lamellibranch mollusks ; but univalves include sev- 
eral orders, though the word is chiefly used of the numer- 
ous and conspicuous gastropods. A few mollusks are 
technically midtivalve; such are the chitons, hence called 
Polyplacophora, having several segments of the shell in 
lengthwise series. (See cut under chiton.) Cirripeds used 
to be considered multivalve raollusks. The shell is usually 
covered outside with a rough skin or epidermis; inside it 
may be beautifully lustrous, as with mother-of-pearl. Most 
mollusks live either in salt, brackish, or fresh water ; land- 
mollusks are mostly found in damp places. Most are loco- 
motory, either by creeping or by swimming; some swim 
by flapping their shells, others by moving various appen- 
dages ; many adhere to or even burrow deeply in rocks ; a 
few are parasitic. Some are carnivorous, others herbiv- 
orous ; most are oviparous, a few ovoviviparous. Many 
are important as food, and the shells of many are put to 
useful or ornamental purposes. Certain bivalves furnish 
pearls. The Mollusca have been variously rated, limited, 
and classified ; at one time the bodies of the animals were 
differently named from their shells. (See Limax.) (1) 
The name was originally proposed by Jonston in 1650 for 
naked cephalopods and for Aphysia, and adopted by Liu- 
nirus in 1758 as his second order of Vermes, including 
similar naked forms and some heterogeneous elements. 
Linna'us made the Testacea or shelled mollusks his third 
order of Verines; and these two groups were combined 
as a class by Poli in 1781. (2) About 1800 Cuvier made 
Mollusca the second of his four branches of the animal 
kingdom, with seven classes, Cephalopoda, Gasteropoda, 
Pteropoda, Acephala, Brachiopoda, Nuda. and Cirrhopoda 
(the Nuda being ascidians. and the Cirrhopoda being 
crustaceans). (3) In Lamarck's system, 1819, Mollusca, as 
a class, were exclusive of the bivalves (called by him Con- 
chifera), and were divided into five orders, Pteropoda, Gas- 
teropoda, Trachelipoda, Cephalopoda, and Heteropoda. (4) 
In 1839 Swainson extended Mollusca to all invertebrates 
except the articulates. (5) The cirripeds having been rec- 
ognized as crustaceans by Thompson in 1830, and the same 
naturalist having at the same time investigated the poly- 
zoans, the relation of the latter to the brachiopods led H. 
Milne-Edwards in 1844 to associate the two Cuvierian 
groups Brachiopuda and Nuda with the Polyzoa in u divi- 
sion called Mollitscoidea (the vertebrate affinities of the 
Nuda or ascidians not being recognized till much later, in 
186$), (U) These dissociations from Mollusca in a former 
