M E I. 
64 
fmall, are generally fingly difperfed, Sometimes grouped 
together ; their furfaces are fmooth and finning, feldom 
rough, and, as it were, corroded. Internally it is fplen- 
dent; luftre intermediate between vitreous and relinous. 
Fra&ure perfectly conchoidal; the fragments are inde¬ 
terminately angular, and pretty iharp-edged. 
It is feldom found perfectly tranfparent 5 oftener 
tranflucent and opaque, and poflefl.es a very diftinfit dou¬ 
ble refraction. It is foft, more fo than amber ; brittle; 
eafily frangible, and yields a yellowifh-grey powder. 
Specific gravity 1.550, Klaproth; 1.5858, Haiiy; 1.666, 
Abich. The purer cryltals become (lightly eleCtric by 
friftion. Expofed to the flame of a candle, or on a burn¬ 
ing coal, it firft becomes opaque, and white fpotted with 
black, which foon gives way to a pure white. No fmoke, 
flame, or odour, are perceived during this procefs. Pro¬ 
jected on melted nitre no real detonation takes place, but 
only a flight fcintiliation ; and the earthy part remains 
mixed with the nitre. It is entirely foluble in nitric acid 
without heat, and the fragments remain tranflucid ; in 
muriatic acid, on the other hand, the fragments become 
more or lefs opaque. Abich and Lampadius have given 
analyfes of mellite, which are commonly luperfeded by 
thofe performed by Klaproth, according to which this 
fubftance is compoled of 
Alumine - - 16 T 
Mellitic acid - 46 Vioo. 
Water of cryftallization - 38 J 
This analyfis has been confirmed by Vauquelin in the 
Ann. de Ch. vol. xxxvi. p. 203. 
This fubftance has been hitherto found only at Artern, 
in Thuringia, on a bed of bituminous wood and brown 
coal, accompanied by fmall cryftals of native fulphur, 
which by the inattentive obferver might be eafily mif- 
taken for the ftraw-yellow variety of mellite. Langen- 
bogen, in the Saal circle, has been mentioned as another 
locality of this mineral; as likewife Swifierland, where 
It is faid to have been found with flaggy afphaltum. 
Since the printing of our article Chemistry, an acid has 
been obtained from the above mineral called mellitic acid. It 
w r as difcovered by Klaproth in the year 1799 ; and the ex- 
iftence of it was afterwards confirmed by the refearches of 
Vauquelin. To procure this acid, it is merely neceftary to 
boil the mellite, reduced to powder, in about feventy 
times its weight of water. The alumine with which it is 
combined in its native ftate, is by this procefs precipi¬ 
tated ; and, after filtering the folution, and evaporating 
it to a fuflicient degree, the acid appears in a ftate of to¬ 
lerable purity. It may be ftill contaminated with the 
prefence of a little earthy matter ; but, by expofing it to 
the adtion of alcohol, this will be detached, and it may 
then be obtained cryftallized under the form of needles, 
or fliort prifms. In Vauquelin’s analyfis, the fubftance 
under enquiry was procured by adding the pulverized 
mellite to a folution of carbonat of potafli ; carbonic 
acid being evolved, and the mellitic acid uniting to the 
alkali. Nitric acid was afterwards prel’ented to take up 
the alkaline bafe, and the mellitic acid feparated, in the 
courfe of a few hours, in fliort prifmatic cryftals. Thus 
cryftallized, this acid has a browniih-yellow tinge; its 
tafte is (lightly four, accompanied with bitternei's ; and 
it is but fparingly foluble in water. Expofed to heat, 
it is eafily decompofed, and emits a denfe fmoke which 
has no odour. With the alkalies, earths, and metallic 
oxyds, it enters into combination, and forms a clafs of 
falts, which, in conformity with the principles of the 
prefent chemical nomenclature, are denominated mellats. 
The properties, of thefe, however, have been but very 
imperfedVly examined. Mellat of potafti cryftallizes in 
rilins, which apparently differ from thofe of the acid in 
eing longer. The form of mellat of foda is a cube, or 
three-fided table. The union of mellitic acid with am¬ 
monia yields fine tranfparent fix-lided prifms, which be¬ 
come opaque on expofure to the air. Barytes, ftrontian, 
and lime, form infoluble compounds ; as alfo does alu¬ 
mine. Solutions of filver, lead, and mercury, afford each 
M E L 
a white precipitate; but from iron a yellow compound 
is depofited. The acid, in many of its properties, bears a 
very near refemblance to the oxalic ; but, in others, it 
exhibits a fuflicient difference to forbid our confidering 
them identical. The produdts it affords when decom¬ 
pofed by heat, are pretty much like thofe yielded by the 
vegetable acids. 
MEL'LO-MESQUITEL'LA, a town of Portugal, in 
the province of Beira : twelve miles weft of Guarda, and 
twenty-four fouth-weft of Vifeu. 
MELLO'NA, in mythology, the goddefs of bees and 
honey. 
MELL'ONCOURT, a town of South-Wales, in the 
county of Glamorgan, fituated near a celebrated cataract, 
on the river Cledaugh. Here is a blaft-furnace, a finery, 
and a foundery : five miles from Neath. 
MELLO'NE, Melloo'n, or Metto'ne, a town of 
Birmah, on the river Ava : feventy miles north of Prone, 
and 132 fouth of the city of Ava. Lat. 20. 10. N. Ion. 
96. 9. E. 
MELLOO'R, a town of Hindooftan, in Madura : twelve 
miles north-eaft of Madura. 
MELL'OR, a populous townfliip in Lancafhire, near 
Blackburn. 
MELL'ORY, f. in botany. See Pandanus. 
MELLOUNOSH', a town of Africa, on the eaft coaft of 
Tunis : twenty miles fouth-eaft of Jemme. 
MEL'LOW, adj.' [from meappa, loft, Sax. or from 
tnollis, Lat.] Soft with ripenefs ; full ripe.—An apple 
in my hand works different eft’edts upon my fenfes : 
my eye tells me it is green ; my nofe, that it hath a mellow 
fcent; and my tafte, that it is fweet. Digby. 
A little longer. 
And Nature drops him down without your fin, 
Like mellow fruit, without a winter’s ftorm. Dryden. 
Soft in found : 
Of feven fmooth joints a mellow pipe I have, 
Which with his dying breath Damaetas gave. Dryden. 
Soft; unftuous.—Camomile fheweth mellow grounds fit 
for wheat. Bacon. —Drunk : melted down with drink. 
In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, 
Thou’rt fuch a tefty, touchy, pleafant fellow ; 
Haft fo much wit, and mirth, and 1 pleen, about thee, 
There is no living with thee nor without thee. Addifmb. 
To MEL'LOW, v. a. To ripen ; to mature; to foften 
by ripenefs; to ripen by age: 
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit, 
Which, mellow'd by the dealing hours of time, 
Will well become the feat of majefty. Shahefpeare. 
To foften.—They plow in the wheat-ftubble in Decem¬ 
ber ; and, if the weather prove frofty to mellow it, they 
do not plow it again till April. Mortimer's Hujb. —To 
mature to perfedtion.—This epilode, now the moft plead¬ 
ing entertainment of the .dEneis, was fo accounted in his 
own age, and before it was mellowed into that reputation 
which time has given it. Dryden. 
To MEL'LOW, v. n. To be matured ; to ripen. 
Though no ftone tell thee what I wa~s, yet thou 
In my grave’s infide fee’ll, what thou art now ; 
Yet thou’rt not yet fo good : till us death lay 
To ripe and mellow there, we’re ftubborn clay. Domic, 
MEL'LOWING,/ - The aft of making mellow. 
MELLOWNESS,' f. Maturity of fruits; ripenefs; 
foftnefs by maturity.—My reafon can confider greennefs, 
mellownej's, lweetnels, or coldnefs, fingly, and without 
relation" to any other quality that is painted in me by the 
fame apple. Digby of Bodies. 
The Spring, like youth, frefii bloflbms doth produce, 
But Autumn makes them ripe, and fit for ufe; 
So age a mature melloumefs doth let 
On the green promifes of youthful heat. Denham. 
Maturity 5 full age. 
MELTS : 
