M E 0 
ble of the difficulties attending the want of 
copper money, and made some abortive 
attempts to supply the deficipiicy. Charles 
II. caused the making of halfpence and 
farthings at the Tower, in 1670, hut their 
circulation, by proclamation, did not take 
place till two years after; these were of 
pure Swedish copper, from dies engraved 
by Rocthier. Their progress througli the 
hands of the public was uninterrupted till 
1684, when they were dropped on account 
of some disputes arising concerning the 
use of British copper : after this period 
there was a coinage of tin farthings, which 
contained a centre of copper, and the in- 
scription Nximmorum Famulus, 168.5-1686 ; 
halfpence of the same description were 
issued in the next year, and copper was 
not adopted again till 1693, at which time 
all tire tin money was called in. Mr. Pin- 
kerton closes his accurate observations on 
tliis subject, by saying, “ All the farthings 
of the following rei"n of Anne are trial- 
pieces, save that of 1714, Irer last year. 
They are of the most exquisite workman- 
ship, exceeding most copper coins of an- 
cient or of modern time, and will do honour 
to the engraver, Mr. Croker, to the end of 
time. The one whose reverse is Peace in a 
ear. Pax missa per Orbem, is the most 
esteemed ; and next to it the Britannia 
under a portal; tlie other farthings are not 
so valuable. 
The copper coins of the succeeding 
reigns, up to the present, are tolerably ex- 
ecuted, and those really from the royal 
mint are of excellent copper ; but the ex- 
treme smallness of them offered such in- 
ducements to forgery that the country was 
inundated by thousands of base imitations, 
which would bo disgraceful to the most 
barbarous nations. Aware of tlie stigma 
attending this shameful state of the public 
money, government recently issued two'- 
penny, penny, halfpenny, and farthing 
pieces of the best copper, which w'ere badly 
executed, and so extremely clumsy and in- 
eonveuient that they excited general dis- 
content ; this disapprobation did not, how- 
ever, long continue, for tlie price of copper 
rising considerably the coins were univer- 
sally melted by speculators, and they were 
replaced by the present reduced jiieces of 
pence, halfpence, and farthings,, which are 
neat and tolerably convenient. The silver 
is in a shocking state of decay from wear ; 
even that from the mint; but of the sln'l- 
lings in constant circulation not a fiftieth 
part are genuine,, and not a thousandth 
meet 
part of the sixpences; indeed, the latter* 
are beneath notice as a coin. 
MEDALLION, or medalion, a medal 
of an extraordinary size, supposed to be 
anciently struck by the emperors for their 
friends, and for foreign princes and am- 
bassadors ; but that the smallness of their 
number might endanger the loss of the 
devices they bore, the Romans generallv 
took care to stamp the subject of them 
upon their ordinary coins. 
Medallions, in respect of the other coins, 
were the same as modern medals in respect 
of modern money they were exempted 
from all commerce, and had no other value 
but vvhat was set upon them by the fancy 
of the owner. 
MEDEOLA, in botany, a genus of the 
Hexandria Ti igynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of SarmentaceS. Asparagi, 
Jussieu. Essential character ; calyx none ; 
Corolla, six parted revolute; berry three 
seeded. There are three species, natives 
of the Cape of Good Hope. 
MEDICAGO, in botany, medick or (re- 
foil, a genus of theDiadelphiaDecandria class 
and order. Natural order- of Papilionacere or 
Leguminosae. Essential cliaracter : legume 
compressed, bent in ; keel bent down from 
the banner. There are eleven species. These 
are cliiefly herbs ; the leaves commonly ter- 
nate; stipules small, fastened to the bottom 
of the petiole ; peduncles axillary and ter- 
minating, one or many-flowered in spikes 
or glomerate. M. saliva, cultivated medick 
or lucern, is a valuable plant ; it has a pe- 
rennial root, with annual stalks, smooth and 
striated, about two feet in height; leaves 
teinate ; leaflets elliptic, entire at the ba.se. 
The common colour of the flower is a fine 
violet purple. For a full an i clear desci-ip- 
fion of tills genus the reader is referred te 
Martyn’s edition of Millar’s Botany. 
MEDICINE, the healing art, or science 
of therapeutics. In this extensive and ge- 
neral sense, it includes the Materia Medica, 
or substances employed in medicine ; Phar- 
macy, or the mode of compounding them ; 
and Praxis, or the phaenomena of diseases 
and practice of medicine. In a more limit- 
ed, and perhaps a more correct sense, how- 
evci', the term is confined to the last divi- 
sion ; and in this sense alone we shall uit- 
derstarid it in the present instance, referring 
the reader to the article Materia Medica 
for the substances employed in the art of 
healing, and to the article Pharmacy for 
the mode of compounding them,, and their 
