M E K 
reftor of the univerfity. By the indefatigable diligence 
■with which he applied to the duties of his feveral appoint¬ 
ments, he injured his conftitution, which was naturally 
delicate, and at length brought on a fever, which proved 
fatal to him in 1626, when he was only forty years of 
age. He was the author of, 1. Commentarius in Hofeam. 
2. Meditationes facrte in Evangelia, 8vo. 3. Anthropo- 
logia Sacra, 1663, 2 vols. 4to. 4. Philofophia Sobria; 
hoc eft, confideratio Qusftionum Philofophicarum, 
&c. 1665, 3 vols. 4to. Befides Difiertations, Orations, 
Deputations, Sennons, controverfial treatifes, See. Gen. 
JBiog. 
MEI'SSAC, a towm of France in the department of the 
Correze : nine miles fouth-eaft of Brive, and thirteen 
l'outh-fouth-weft of Tulle. 
MEPSSANG, a town of Africa, in Kaarta: fifty-two 
miles eaft of Kemmoo. 
MEISSAU', a town of Auftria : fourteen miles fouth- 
fouth-weft of Znaym, and thirty-four north-weft of Vienna. 
MEI'SSEN (Marggravate of), a principality' of Saxony, 
founded in the 10th century, and united in 1422 to the 
eleftorate of Saxony. Its boundaries have been various 
at different periods. 
MEI'SSEN, a city of the kingdom of Saxony, capital of 
the marggravate above-mentioned, fituated on the Elbe, 
at its confluence with the Meifi’e, whence its name. Out 
of feveral jurifdiftions that formerly belonged to this town 
arofe the four prefefturates of Meifien, to which pertain 
feveral villages. In the centre of the old citadel, the other 
f iarts of which are in a ruined ftate, is the part called Al- 
retjclijbuvg, in which is carried on the celebrated manu¬ 
facture of the excellent Mifnian porcelain. At this place 
is alfo a manufacture of cloth. The firft foundation of 
this town was begun by king Henry I. about the year 930. 
It is fourteen miles north-weft of Drefden. Lat. 51. 19. N. 
Ion. 13. 27. E. 
MEI'SSENHEIM, lately a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of Mont Tonnerre, fituated 01* the Gian. It 
was formerly a fief of the electorate of Mentz : twenty- 
eight miles north of Deux Ponts, and thirty weft-fouth- 
weft of Mentz. Lat. 49.42. N. Ion. 7. 36. E. 
MEK'AM, or Elmesata'na, a town of Syria: forty 
miles north-weft of Ana, and eighty fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Kerkifieh. 
MEK'AM A'Ll, a town of the Arabian Irak, on the 
Euphrates, oppofite Baflbra. 
MEK'AM ul KID'R, a town of the Arabian Irak, on 
the Euphrates: twenty-fix miles fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Hellah. 
MEKA'NAH, [Hebrew.] A name of a place. 
MEKA'RA, aname of the Hindoo goddefs Parvati, 
which fee. 
MEKEHO'AN, a town of Arabia, in the province of 
Oman, on the Perfian Gulf: forty-five miles weft-fouth- 
weft of Julfa. 
MEK'ELBURG, a town of Pruflia, in the province of 
Bartenland : twelve miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Bartenftein. 
ME'KES, a town of Curdiftan : thirty miles fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Betlis, and feventy-five fouth-weft of Van. 
MEK'KIAS, [Arab, a meaiure.] A name given to the 
nilometer, fituated on an ifland in the front of Old Cairo, 
about five hundred yards in breadth. It is there,«in front, 
that upon the graduations of a pillar the rife of the river 
Nile is meafured; and, from the obfervations made upon it, 
public criers go about the ftreets of Cairo, proclaiming the 
fucceflive heights of the water, in which are centered all 
hopes of fertility and abundance. This nilometer is faid 
to have been built by the Arabs. The ifland on which 
it Hands is called Rhoda, or Gardens, becaufe it is laid out 
in gardens, and inhabited only by gardeners.. See the 
article Egypt, vol. vi. p. 367. 
MEK'LAF al AS'FAT, a town of Arabia, in the coun¬ 
try of Yemen : feventy-five miles north of Hafee. 
MEKZA'RA, a countiy of Africa, on the fouth fide of 
the river Niger, between C^lhna and. Melli. 
MEL 81 
MEL, a pleafant and populous walled village or town 
of Italy, with a caftle, in the moft northern part of the 
Trevifan. It is built on a hill near the Piave, about twelve 
miles north-weft of Ceneda. 
MEL, a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, near the coaft of 
Africa. Lat. 10. 15. N. 
ME'LA, a river of Italy, which rifes on the confines of 
the Trentin, and, after crofting the Brelfan, runs into the 
Oglio near Uftiano. 
MF/LA, a department of Italy, fo named from the river. 
It is compofed of part of the Brelfan, with a population of 
about 190,689 inhabitants, who fend fifteen deputies to 
Milan. Brefcio is the capital. 
ME'LA, a river of the Morea, which runs into the fea 
eight miles fouth-weft of Patras. 
ME'LA, a town of Algiers. See Meelah, p. 23. 
ME'LA (Pomponius), an ancient geographical writer, 
was a native of Spain, and flouriflied A. D. 45. His great 
work, De Situ Orbis, divided into three Books, is written 
with elegance, great perfpicuity, and brevity. The beft 
editions are tbofe of Gronovius in 1722, and Reinhold in 
1761. Voflius gave an edition of it with copious notes. 
In the laft edition by Gronovius are added five books De 
Gsngraplda, written by fome later writer, probably by 
Jornandes. 
MEL'ADA, a fmall ifland in the Adriatic, a little to the 
north of Ifola Grofla. Lat. 44. 35. N. Ion. 15. 56. E. 
MELHL'NE, or Black Flux. See the article Patho¬ 
logy. 
MELAG'GE, a river which rifes in Algiers, formed by 
the union of feveral ftreams ; in the courfe of its palfage it 
takes the name of Serratt, and runs into the Mejerda on 
the borders of Tunis. 
MELA'GO CO'DI, in botany. See Piper. 
MELAIPOU'R, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Sehaurunpour: twenty miles eaft-north-eaft of Sehau- 
runpour. 
MELALEU'CA, f. [from the Gr. pt J\a?, black, and 
Mux.oi, white ; fo named by Linnaius, becaufe the princi¬ 
pal, and indeed original, fpecies, was called leucodendron r 
and arbor alba ; words lynonymous with its appellation in 
the Malay tongue, caja-puti, or white-tree.] In botany, 4 
genus of the clafs polyadelphia, order icofandria, natural 
order heljperideae, Linn, (myrti, Juff.) Generic characters 
—Calyx : perianthium luperior, of one leaf, turbinate, in 
five deep roundilh often-coioured, equal fegments. Co¬ 
rolla : petals five, roundjlh, inferted into the rim of the 
calyx, between its fegments. Stamina : filaments very 
numerous, in five lets, inferted into the calyx, either op¬ 
pofite to, or alternate with, the petals, various in length 
and ftrufture ; antheras roundilh, incumbent. Piftillum ; 
germen inferior, nearly globular; ftyle thread-fliaped, de¬ 
clining, fhorter than the ftamens ; ftigma obtufe. Peri- 
carpium : capfule globofe, coated, of three cells and three 
valves, the partitions from the centre of each valve. 
Seeds : numerous, minute^ angular.— EjJ'ential Ckaraflev. 
Calyx fuperior, in five deep lsgments ; petals five ; fta¬ 
mens numerous, very long, in five parcels ; ftyle one ; 
capfule of three cells. 
A fine genus of aromatic trees and fhrubs, with lateral 
inflorefcence, and fimple entire leaves, all, except the firft. 
lpecies, the produce of New Holland. According to the 
obfervations of Dr. Smith, in his excellent treatife on the 
Botanical Charafters of fome Plants of the Natural Order 
of Myrti, (Linn. Tranf. iii.) this genus was confounded, 
by the younger Linnaeus, the two Forfters, Schreber, and 
many other botanilts, whom jufiieu Teemed diipofed to 
follow, with three other genera ; fee Fabf.icia, Lepto- 
spermum, and Metrosideros. From the two firft it is 
clearly diftinguilhed, as their charafters will ihow ; from 
the laft it differs merely in having the ftamens alfembled 
in five fets, not limply icofandrous ; the habits of thele 
two genera, and every part of their fruftification, except, 
the ftamens, being alike. How very dirferent the form of; 
the fikunents.is in different ipecies of. Melaleuca will ap¬ 
pear 
