MAN 
traordinary irregularity took place in the 
tube, the corresponding spaces were pro- 
portioned both ways from that point, whe- 
ther high or low, that answered to the mean. 
The observed and equated manometrical 
spaces being thus laid down on the paste- 
board containing the measures of the tube ; 
the 212“ of the thermometer, in CKact pro- 
portion to the sections of the bore, were 
constructed alongside of them : hence the 
coincidences with each other were easily 
seen ; and the number of thermometrical 
degrees answering to each manometrical 
space, readily transferred into a table pre- 
pared for the purpose.” 
MANOR, was a district of ground held 
by lords or great personages, who kept in 
their own hands so much land as was neces- 
sary for the use of their families, which 
were called demesne lands, being occupied 
by the lord, or dominus manerii, and his 
servants. The other lands they distributed 
among their tenants, which the tenants held 
under various services. The residue of the 
manor being uncultivated, was termed the 
lord’s waste, and served for common of 
pasture to the lord and his tenants. All 
manors existing at this day must have ex- 
isted as early as King Edward I., and must 
have a Court Baron. 
MANTELETS, in the art of war, a kind 
of moveable parapets, made of planks about 
three inches thick, nailed one over ano- 
ther, to the height of almost six feet, gene- 
rally cased with tin, and set upon little 
wheels, so that in a siege they may be 
driven before the pioneers, and serve as 
blinds to shelter them from the enemy’s 
small shot. 
MANTICORA, in natural history, a ge- 
nus of insects of the order Coleeptera : an- 
tenn® filiform, the joints cylindrical ; four 
feelers, filiform ; thorax rounded before, 
emarginate behind j head projecting ; man- 
dibles exserted ; shells united without 
wings. There is but a single species, viz. 
M. maxillosa, that inhabits the Cape of 
Good Hope. 
MANTIS, in natui al history, a genus of 
insects of the order Hemiptera. Head un- 
steady ; mouth armed with jaws ; feelers 
filiform; four wings, membranaceous, con- 
volute, the under ones plaited ; fore legs 
compressed, serrate or toothed beneath ; 
armed with a^single claw and lateral-jointed 
process; the four hind ones smooth, and 
formed for walking ; thorax (usually linear) 
elongated, and narrow. There are upwards 
of sixty species : the chief is M. oratoria, or 
MAN 
camel-cricket, which is found in the south- 
ern parts of Europe, and is entirely of a , 
beautiful green colour. It is nearly three 
inches in length, of a slender shape, and in 
its general sitting-posture, is observed fo 
hold up the two fore, legs, as if in the a,ct of 
devotion : hence it has been regarded as sa- 
cred, and a notion has prevailed, that a tra- 
veller having lost his way would be safely 
directed by observing the quarter to which 
the animat pointed when take,n in thg hand. 
This insect is of a predacious disposition, 
living on smaller insects, which it watches 
for with great anxiety ; it is also quarrel- 
some, and when kept with others of its own 
species in a state of captivity, they will at- 
tack each other with the utmost violence, till 
one is destroyed. The conqueror devours 
his antagonist. M. precas-ia is said to be 
the idol of the Hottentots. 
MANUFACTURE of cotton. ' To this 
article we referred froiw.the word Cotton, 
having been deprived, l)y accident, of the 
information which ,we are now enabled to 
lay before the public on this interesting 
part of English manufactures. 
We shall begin with the description of the 
fabrication of cotton yarn by the spinning 
jenny, both because of its more ancient use, 
and as it leads best to the general knowledge 
of the manufacture. 
Preparation of the Cotton-wool. The raw 
cotton is imported in large bales, compres- 
sed very closely together by engines, and 
contains the seeds of the plant mixed 
through it in considerable quantities, toge- 
ther with more or less tbreign matter, from 
which it must be freed . for this purpose it 
is in general sufficient to beat it well with 
sticks, by which it undergoes a process si- 
milar to the threshing of corn. This is 
usually performed on a frame, similar to a 
table, the upper surface of which is formed 
by small cords stretched tightly across, 
nearly in contact, the elasticity of which 
assists the operation, while their intervals 
afford a free passage for the separation of 
the seeds and other substances in the cotton. 
In this process the cotton recovers its ori- 
ginal volume, and loses the hard consistenee 
into which it had been pressed in the bales. 
Picking Engine. An engine has been con- 
trived to render this operation more perfect, 
which is used in some manufactories : this 
consists of two revolving liuted rojiers of 
metal, about an mch in diameter, and sixteen 
inches long, placed horizontally one over 
the other; a kind of comb of steel in the 
same direction moves before these rollers. 
