22 -MED 
thread-fliaped, united at the bafe into a Cube, equal in 
length to the corolla; antherae incumbent. Piftillum : 
germen fqperior, nearly round ; ftyle awl-fhaped, hairy, 
the fame length as the ftamens 5 ftigma Ample. Pericar- 
pium : capfule ovate, three-lobed, covered with numerous, 
long, twitted, hairs ; of one cell and three valves. Seeds s 
fix, roundilh .—EJJential CharaEier. Monogynous; calyx 
of five leaves; petals five; capfule with one cell, three 
valves, and fix feeds. 
Medufa anguifera, or fnake-bearing medufa, a fingle 
fpecies; the cay ckdm c/iom dat of the Cochin-Chinefe. 
It is a tree of middling fize, with afcending branches; 
leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, ferrated, pointed, fmooth ; 
flowers red, not many on a (talk ; capfule hairy, opening 
in three lobes, which expand horizontally. Loureiro. 
MEDU'SA’s HEAD', in botany. See Euphorbia 
caput-medufas, vol. vii. p. 74. 
MEDU'SA’s HEAD', in helminthology. See Asterias, 
vol. ii. p. 301. 
MEDUSE'AN, ad). Belonging to Medufa; refembling 
Medufa. 
MEDU'SULA,/ in botany, a genus of the clafs cryp- 
togamia, order fungi. Eflential generic characters—Fun¬ 
gus folid, globular, ftipitate, crowded; feeds external fili¬ 
form, flexile, colliquefcent. There is but one fpecies, 
which is called Medufula iabyrinthica. Tode, iii. 28. 
MED'WA, a town of Nubia, on the borders of Dar- 
Fur: eighty miles north of Cobbe. 
MED'WAY, a river peculiarly connected with the 
county of Kent, was called by the Britons Vaga, a name 
defcriptive of its finuous courfe and mazy wanderings. 
The Saxons changed this appellation to Medweg and Med~ 
wege, from which the prefent name is a corruption. This 
river has four principal fources, one in Kent, two in Suflex, 
2nd a fourth in Surry. The latter rifes at Blechingly, and, 
entering Kent, flows on to Eaton-bridge and Penfhurft, 
below which it is joined by one of the branches that rife in 
Suflex, and, being augmented by various fmaller ftreams, 
proceeds through a beautiful country to Tunbridge. A 
little above this town the river feparates into feveral chan¬ 
nels, the northernmoft of which is navigable, and is again 
joined by the other divilions about two miles below Tun¬ 
bridge. Thence proceeding to Twy ford-bridge and Yald- 
ing, it receives the united waters of the two remaining 
principal branches ; one of which flows from Waterdown- 
foreft in Suflex, and is fwelled by the Bewle and Theyfe 
rivulets; and the other of which rifes at Goldwell, near 
Great Chart, in Kent; this alfo receives feveral minor 
Breams in its progrefs,and is increafed by the waters of the 
former branch above Hunton. From Yalding, the Med¬ 
way flows in a winding direction to Maidftone ; and thence 
in a vvildly-devious channel, gradually augmenting in 
depth and breath, it purfues its piCturefque courfe to Ro- 
chtfter. Proceeding hence towards Sheernefs, it pafles 
Chatham, Upnor-caiile, and Gillingham-fort; after which 
it greatly increafes in width, and, (till preferring its mean¬ 
dering character, flows onward to the Thames, which it 
enters between the ifles of Graine and Shepey, having firft 
united its waters to thofe of the Swale. 
The Medway and its numerous tributary ftreams are 
calculated to overfpread a furface of nearly thirty fquare 
miles in the very mid ft of Kent. The tide flows nearly as 
high as Maidftone; but at Rochefier-bridge it is ftrong 
and rapid ; and below that, all the way to Sheernefs, a dii- 
tance of about twenty miles, the bed of the river is fo 
deep, and the reaches lo convenient, that many of' the 
largelt line-ot-b. tile fhips are moored here, when out of 
cotnmiflion, as in a wet dock, and ride as fafely as in any 
harbour of Great Britain. In the great ftorm of 1703, the 
Royal Charlotte was driven on-lhore here, and loft. The 
Medway was firlt made navigable to Tunbridge about the 
middle of the laft century, under the provifions of an aft 
of pailiament which pafled in the year 1740; though an 
aft had been procured for the purpofe in the reign of 
M E E 
Charles IT. By the laft aCV, the undertakers were incor¬ 
porated by the ftyle of “ The Proprietors of the Naviga¬ 
tion of the River Medway and were empowered to 
raife 30,0001. to complete the work, in fhares of 100I. each. 
The trade on this river is very great, and includes a vaft 
variety of articles, many of them of the very firft neceflity, 
and which, before the navigation was completed, could 
only be obtained by a circuitous land-carriage. The river 
is plentifully ftored with fifh of various fpecies ; and was 
in former times much celebrated for its falmon and bur¬ 
geons; the latter, in particular, werqfo abundant, that a 
confiderable part of the revenues of the bifhops of Ro- 
chefter were derived from a duty levied on their fale : they 
have now in a great meafure left the river, but are ftill oc- 
cafionally taken of confiderable bulk. On the Medway, 
and in the feveral creeks and waters belonging to it, within 
thejurifdiftion of the corporation of Rochefter, is an oyfter- 
fifhery ; and the mayor and citizens hold a court every 
year, called the Admiralty-court, for regulating this fifhery, 
and preventing abufes in it. The powers of this court 
have been eftablifhed and enforced by two a&s of parlia¬ 
ment. Beauties of England and Wales , vol. vii. 
MED'WAY, a town of the ftate of Maflfachufetts: 
twenty-one miles fouth-weft of Bofton. 
MED'WAY. See Midway. 
MED'WI, a town of Sweden, in Eaft Gothland, near 
the Wetter Lake, much frequented on account of a cele¬ 
brated medicinal fpring. 
MEDZIBOR', or Miadzibor. See Mittelwalde. 
MEDZIBOZ', a town of Poland, in Volhynia ; twenty 
miles fouth of Conftantinow. 
MED'ZIRON, a town of Perfia, in the province of 
Chorafan : fixty miles eaft of Mefchid, and 130 north of 
Herat. 
MEE'ADAY, a town of Birmah : thirty-fix miles north 
of Prone. Lat. 19. 25. N. 
MEE'CHING. See Newhaven. 
MEED,/, [ir.eb, Sax. miete, Teut.] Reward ; recom* 
pence. Rarely ufed but in poetry; 
He knows his meed, if he be fpide, 
To be a thoufand deaths, and fliame befide. Spenfer . 
Thanks to men 
Of noble minds is honourable meed. Shakefpeare * 
He mull not float upon his wat’ry bier 
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind 
Without the meed of fome melodious tear. Millom 
Prefent; gift: 
Plutus, the god of gold. 
Is but his fteward ; no meed but he repays 
Seven-fold above itfelf. Shakefpeare's Timon of Athens. 
MEEG'HEOUNG-YAY', or Crocodile Town, a 
town of Birmah, on the Irawaddy, a place of confider¬ 
able trade : twelve miles north of Loonghee. 
MEEK, adj. \minkr, Iflandic.] Mild of temper ; not 
proud ; not rough ; not eafily provoked ; foft; gentle.—> 
Mofes was very meek above all men. Numb. xii. 3.—Ex¬ 
prefling humility and gentlenefs: 
Both confefs’d 
Humbly their faults, and pardon begg’d, with tears 
Watering the ground, and with their fighs the air 
Frequenting, lent from hearts contrite, in fign 
Of lorrow unfeign’d and humiliation meek. Milton , 
MEEK'-EYED, adj. Modeft; having the appearance 
of meeknels; looking meekly ; 
But he, her fears to ceafe, 
Sent down the meek-eye'd Peace. Milton's Poems. 
MEEK'-SPIRITED, adj. Having a meek fpirit; hum¬ 
ble ; lowly.—We ought to be very cautious and meekfpi- 
rited, till we are alfured of the honefty of our anceltors. 
Collier . 
2> 
