MET 
MET 
f acidifiable 
' oxvdable by 
beat 
Metals 
^not acidifiable 
brittle 
maWeahle 
not oxvdable 
by heat 
volatile 
fixed 
infusible 
or 
granular 
. fusible 
Arsenic 
fMolybdena 
I Tungstin 
) Chrome 
LColunibium 
Osmium 
Uranium 
granular 
and brittle 
T'antalium 
Titanium 
Tellurium 
Manganese 
Cobalt 
Antimony 
Bismuth 
rZinc 
Lead 
Tin 
Iron 
Copper 
Mercury 
Iridium 
Rhodium 
Palladium 
Nickel 
Platina 
fusible and 
malleable j Silver 
LUold 
Metal, in heraldry. There are two me- 
tals used in heraldry, byway ofcolouis, viz. 
gold and silver, in blazon called or and 
argent. In the common painting of arms 
these metals are represented by white and 
yellow, which are the natural colours of 
those metals. In engraving, gold is ex- 
pressed by dotting the coat, &c. all over j 
and silver, by 'leaving it quite blank. 
It is a general rule in heraldry, never to 
place metal upon metal, nor colour upon co- 
lour ; so that if the field be of one of the 
metals, the heal ing must be of some colour; 
and if tiie field be of any colour, the bearing 
must be of one of the metals. 
METALLURGY, comprehends the 
whole art of working metals from the state 
of ore to the utensil ; hence assaying, gild- 
ing, refining, smelting, &c. are only branches 
of metallurgy. In a more limited sense, it 
includes only the operations which are fol- 
lowed in separating metals from tlieir ores. 
See Assaying, &c. 
METAPHOR, in rhetoric, a trope, by 
which we pot a strange word for a proper 
word, by reason of its resemblance to it ; or 
it may be defined, a simile or comparison 
intended to enforce and illustrate the thing 
we speak of, witliout the signs or forms of 
comparison. 
METAPHYSICS. See Philosophy, 
mental. 
METEOR, in physiology, a moveable 
igneous body, congregated in the air by 
means not thoroughly understood, and vary- 
ing greatly in size and rapidity of motion. 
Many attempts have been and are still 
made to account for the formation and ig- 
nition of these grand objects. Dr. Wood- 
ward, of the old school, seems to have ap- 
proaclied nearer to modern opinions, found- 
ed on recent observations, than any other' 
writer on the subject. That gentleman 
supposed them to originate from mineral 
particles raised from the earth by subterra- 
neous heat, accompanied by vapours fiom 
the same strata, which furnished the mine- 
rals, and being condensed by the pressure 
of the atmosphere, partake of the immedi- 
ate action ot the bodies they intersect in 
their passage. Derham thought the ignis 
fatuus a vapour on fire ; Beccaria, on the 
contrary, snppposed them to be vapour 
forced out of the 'earth by the descent of 
rain or snow, and not decidedly burning, 
but rather of the nature of cold phosphori. 
Franklin conjectures, in the Memoirs of the 
Manchester Society, that the dense fog of 
1783 may have been produced by smoke 
arising from the combustion of some of 
those vast globes, “ which we happen to 
meet with in our rapid course round the 
sun.” The generality of the meteors ob- 
served resemble each other, except in size , 
