MED MED 17 
pofllble, comprehend its mode of action, than that of our 
own brain and nerves. It is branched off and difrufed, 
like the nervous thatter, to every part of the vegetable 
body 5 and hence may beeafffy fuppofed to give lite and 
vigour to the whole, though no more than nerves the 
organ or the direCt fource of nonrifhment; for its Itrufture 
is fuch that it can tranfmit no fluids for that purpofe from 
the vafcular fyftem, at leaft not in any way that we can 
comprehend, till it has taken upon itfelf a different orga¬ 
nization from what is natural to it. The pith, however, 
is certainly moll vigorous and abundant in young and 
growing branches, and muff be fuppofed fubfervient, in 
jome way or other, to their increafe. 
MEDUL'LAR, or Medul'lary, adj. [from medulla, 
Lat.] Pertaining to the marrow.—Thefe little emifl’aries, 
united together at the cortical part of the brain, make 
the medullar part, being a bundle of very fmall thread like 
channels or fibres. Cheyne's Phil. Principles .'—The back, for 
the fecurity of that medullary fubftance that runs down its 
cavity, is bent after the manner of the catenarian curve. 
Cheyne. 
MEDUL'LARY, f. The finer part of the marrow of 
the bones. Scott. 
MEDULLI'NA, a woman’s name; a Roman lady, who 
was raviihed by her father, and afterwards flew him. 
MEDUMACK', a river of United America, in the dif- 
trift of Maine, which runs into the fea in lat. 44. N. Ion. 
69. 15* W. 
MEDU'NA, a town of Italy, in the country of Friuli: 
twelve miles weft of Concordia. 
MEDU'NA, a river of Italy, which runs into the Li- 
venza, about one mile fouth of Meduna, in the country 
of Friuli. 
MED'UNCOCK, a plantation of America, in Lincoln 
county, Maine: forty miles ealt-fouth-eaft of Wifcaflet; 
containing 380 inhabitants. 
ME DUS, a fon of a 35 geus and Medea, who gave his 
name to a country of Afia. Medus, when come to years 
of maturity, went to feek his mother, whom the arrival 
of Theleus in Athens had driven away. See Medea. He 
came to Colchis, where he was feized by his uncle Perfes, 
who had ufurped the throne of Hsetes, his mother’s father, 
becaufe the oracle had declared that Perfes ffiould be 
murdered by one of the grandfons of -ffietes. Medus af- 
fumed another name, and called himfelf Hippotes, fon of 
Creon. Meanwhile Medea arrived in Colchis difguifed 
in the habit of a prieftefs ot Diana ; and* when ftie heard 
that one of Creon’s children was imprifoned, (lie re- 
folved to haften the deftruCtion of a perfon whofe 
family ftte detefted. To effect this with more certain¬ 
ty, (lie told the ufurper, that Hippotes was really a 
fon of Medea, fent by his mother to murder him. She 
begged Perfes to give her Hippotes, that (lie might facri- 
fice him to her refentment. Perfes confented. Medea 
difcovered that it was her own Ion, and (lie inftantly 
armed him with the dagger which (he had prepared againlt 
his life, and ordered him to (tab the ufurper. He obeyed, 
and Medea difcovered who (he was, and made her fon 
Medus fit on his grandfather’s throne. 
MEDU'SA, in fabulous hiftory, one of the three Gor- 
gons, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She was the only 
one of the Gorgons who was fubjeft to mortality. She is 
celebrated for her perfonal charms, and the beauty of her 
locks. Neptune became enamoured of her, and obtained 
her favours in the temple of Minerva. This violation of 
the fanCtity of the temple provoked Minerva; and (he 
changed the beautiful locks of Medufa, which had in- 
fpired Neptune’s love, into ferpents. According to Apol- 
lodorus and others, Medufa and her filters came into the 
world with fnakes on their heads inltead of hair, with 
yellow wings, and brazen hands. Their body was alio 
covered with impenetrable fcales ; and their very looks 
had the power of killing or turning to ftones. Perfeus 
rendered his name immortal by the conqueft of Medufa. 
He cut off her head; and the blood that dropped from 
Vol. XV. No. J020, 
the wound produced the innumerable ferpents that infeft 
Africa. The conqueror placed Medufa’s head on the tegis 
of Minerva, which he had ufed in his expedition. The 
head (till retained the fame petrifying power as before, as 
it was fatally known in the court ot Cepheus, Some 
fuppofe, that the Gorgons were a nation of w omen, whom 
Perfeus conquered. See Andromeda, vol. i. and Gor- 
cones, vol. viii, 
MEDU'SA,in natural hiffory, a genus of vermes, 
of the order ot mollufca, or gelatinous worms. Generic 
characters—Body gelatinous, orbicular, and generally fiat 
underneath ; mouth central beneath. 
Thefe animals confift moftly of a tender gelatinous 
tranfparent mafs, of different figures, furnilhed with arms 
or tentacular procefles proceeding from the lower fur- 
face. The larger fpecies when touched caufe a (light 
tingling and rednefs, and are ufually denominated fea- 
nettles. They are fuppofed to conliitute the chief food of 
cetaceous filh; and molt of them (hine with great fplen- 
dour in the water. The form of the body, when at reft, 
is in general the fegment of a fphere. Thefe animals fwim 
well, and appear to perform that motion by rendering 
their body more or lefs convex, and thus ftriking the wa¬ 
ter. When left on the (bore, they are motionlefs, and look 
more like flat cakes of jelly than living animals. 
M. Peron, during his voyage to the South Seas, col¬ 
lected a great number of this remarkable genus of ani¬ 
mals. In an account prefented by him to the National 
Inftitute in the year 1809, their Angularities are well ex- 
prefled in the following terms: “ Their fubftance feems 
to be merely a coagulated water; yet the moft important 
functions of life are exercifed in it. Their multiplication 
is prodigious ; yet we know nothing of the peculiar mode 
in which it is effected. They are capable of attaining 
feveral feet in diameter, and the weight of fifty or fixty 
pounds; yet their nutritive fyftem efcapes our eyes. They 
execute the moft rapid and long-continued movements; 
yet the details of their mufcular fyftem are imperceptible. 
They have a very aCtive fpecies of refpiration, the true 
feat of which is a myftery. They appear extremely feeble; 
yet filli of confiderable fize form their daily prey, and dif- 
folve in a few moments in their ftomach. Many fpecies 
of them (hine in the night like balls of fire, and (bine (ling 
or benumb the hand that touches them; yet the princi¬ 
ples and agents of both thefe properties'remain to be dif¬ 
covered.” The fpecies are divided into two feclions. 
I. Body with ciliate ribs. 
1. Medufa infundibulum. Specific charafler, body 
ovate, with nine ciliate ribs. It inhabits the Indian, Me¬ 
diterranean, and North, feas ; is about three inches and a 
half long. The body is obtufely eight-angled, hollow, 
tranfparent, open at the larger extremity, and of a firm 
gelatinous fubftance. It contracts and expands with great 
facility : ribs purplifti, and furniflted with a fingle row of 
(hort and (lender fibres. This is probably one ot thole 
luminous animal* which Mr. Macartney firit examined in 
Oftober 1804, at Herne-bay, a fmall watering-place upon 
the northern coalt of Kent, and which he has named 
Beroe fulgens. He defcribes it as a moft elegant crea¬ 
ture, of a colour changing between purple, violet, and 
pale blue; the body truncated before, and pointed be¬ 
hind ; but the form is difficult to allign, as it is varied 
by partial contractions, at the animal’s pleafure. He has 
represented the two extremes of form that this creature 
alfumes : the firft is fomewhat that of a cucumber, which, 
as being the one it takes when at reft, (hould perhaps be 
confidered as its proper fhape : the other refembles a pear, 
and is the figure it has in the molt contracted date. The 
body is hollow, or forms internally an infundibular cavity, 
which has a wide opening before, and appears alfo to have 
a fmall aperture polterioily through which it difcharges 
its excrement. The polterior two-thirds of the bony are 
ornamented with eight longitudinal ciliated ribs, the pro- 
celfes of which are kept in Inch a rapid rotatory motion, 
F while 
