126 MEN 
gobert king of Fi'ance in 632. It was altnofi: deftroyed 
in 1150 by the ernperor Frederic Barbarofla, and re-efta- 
blifhed by Otlio IV. In the contefts which arofe between 
the depol'ed eieftor Diether and his rival Adolphus, the 
latter made himlelf matter of the city by ftratagem, and 
i'ubjefted it to the archbiiliopric. The emperor Frederic 
Til. at firft, indeed reclaimed it, in the name of the em¬ 
pire; but, in the year i486, the emperor Maximilian I. 
renounced all right to it, and even extended to it the 
immunities which had been granted to the countries of 
Mentz. In the year 1631, the Swedes made themielves 
inafters of it; and in 1644 and 1688 alfo the French. In 
the year 1792, it was taken by the French, under the 
command of general Culiine; but in the following year 
it was re-taken. By the treaty of Campo Formio, 1797, 
it was ceded to France, and then became capital of the 
department of Mont Tonnere. Of this whole depart¬ 
ment, however, France is entirely deprived by the Treaty 
of Vienna, June 9, 1815. Lat. 49. 58. N. Ion. 8. 14. E. 
Mentz claims the honour of the invention of printing 
for John Fault, one of her citizens. See Faust, vol. vii. 
and the article Printing. 
MEN'TZEL (Chriftian), a learned phyfician and bota- 
nift, was the fon of a refpettable magiftrate of Furften- 
wald, in the Middle March of Brandenburg, where he 
svas born in 1622. He lludied at Berlin, Frankfort, and 
Konigfberg; and in 1648 was engaged at Dantzic in the 
education of youth. He afterwards vifited Holland, and 
thence made a voyage up the Mediterranean, where he 
iurveyed a variety of countries ; and, returning through 
Italy, took the degree of M. D. at Padua in 1654. 
Through the whole of this tour he purfued the botanical 
refearches which he had begun at Dantzic, and made 
large collections of plants. He engaged in the practice 
of phylic in his native country ; and in 1658 he entered 
into the fervice of Frederic William eleftor of Branden¬ 
burg, as army-phyfician. When the campaign was ended, 
he attended the eleftor in his progrelfes, and was made 
Ids phyfician and councilor. He continued for many 
years, at home and abroad, to attend that prince and his 
iucceffor, till at length he obtained permiflion to retire. 
He employed his latter years in ftudy, particularly of the 
Chinele language, in which he was thought to have at¬ 
tained a greater proficiency than any other perion in 
Europe. He died in 1701. Mentzel publilhed, 1. Cen- 
turia Plantarum circa; Gedanum fponte nafcentiam, 4to. 
1650. 2. Index Nominum Plantarum Multilinguis, Ber¬ 
lin, 1682, folio; and republiihed, with additions, under 
the title of “ Lexicon Plantarum Polyglotton univerfale,” 
1696 and 1715, folio: it contains the names of plants in 
a great number of languages, European and Oriental. 
There was added to it, “ Pugillus Plantarum Variarum, 
turn Hortenfium, turn Italicarum et Tyrolenfium qu,as 
ipfe legit;” with figures. He communicated to the aca¬ 
demy Naturae Curioforum, of which he was a member, 
feveral papers on fubjebts of medicine and natural hil- 
tory, which are printed in their Ephemcrides. His nu¬ 
merous foreign correfpondences enabled him to make 
large collections in natural hillory, of which he left leve¬ 
red volumes in manufcriptppreferved in the royal library 
of Berlin. Of thefe there are four volumes folio, relative 
to the natural productions of Brazil, collected by prince 
Maurice of Nailau; ten volumes folio, from the Chinele 
lexicon ; and two volumes of a Flora Japonica. Halleri 
Mill. Botnn. 
MENTZE'LIA, f. [named by Plunder in honour of 
the lilbjeCt of the preceding article.] In botany, a genus 
of the clafs polyandria, order monogynia, natural order 
of calycanthemas, (onagrae, Juj]’.) Generic characters— 
Calyx: perianthium five-leaved, fpreading, fuperior, de¬ 
ciduous ; ieaflets lanceolate, concave, acuminate. Co¬ 
rolla : petals five, obovate, acuminate, a little longer than 
the calyx, fpreading. Stamina : filaments many (thirty), 
the length of the calyx, ereCt, briltle-fhaped, the ten outer 
membranaceous at top; authene roumlilli. Piiliilum; 
MEN 
germ cylindric, very long, inferior; ftyl.e filiform, the 
length of the ftamens; ftigma Ample, blunt. Pericar- 
pium: capfule cylindric, long, one-celled, three-valved 
at top. Seeds : about fix, oblong, angular.— E[jential Cha- 
rafler. Calyx five-leaved ; corolla hve-petalled ; capfule 
inferior, cylindric, many-feeded. 
1. Mentzelia afpera: ftem branched; flowers axillary; 
petals notched, obtufe. This plant is annual. It riles 
with a flender fmooth ftalk three feet high; the branches 
are diftorted, and run into one another; thefe are gar- 
nilhed with haftate leaves, Handing alternately on the 
branches, upon fhort footftalks; they are covered with 
Ihort hooded prickles, which fallen themfelves into the 
clothes of thole who rub againlt them ; and thole parts 
of the branches eafily leparate from the plants, and ad¬ 
here to the clothes in like manner as the feeds of clivers. 
The flowers come out lingly from the joints of the ftalk, 
relting upon a cylindrical germen, which is near an inch 
in length, narrow at the bafe, but widening upwards to¬ 
wards the top. Upon the top of it comes out the ca¬ 
lyx, which is fpread open after the fame manner as that 
of Onagra; then the petals of the flower fpread open 
upon the calyx ; they are of a pale yellow colour. Native 
of America; of La Vera Cruz, according to Miller; of 
Curagoa, according to Jacquin ; of Jamaica, according to 
Browne; who lays it is very common in all the dry fa- 
vannahs about Kingfton. It was cultivated by Mr. Mil¬ 
ler, from ieeds lent over by Dr. Houltoun. 
2. Mentzelia liifpida: Hem forked; flowers folitary, at 
the forks of the Hem; petals entire, acutely pointed. This 
differs from the Lift in having the leaves more ovate, 
flowers principally from the forks of the ftem, with a 
much lhorter and ovate germen, and longer leaves of the 
calyx. Willdenow alfo points out the above difference 
of the petals. Native of Mexico. 
This genus is very nearly allied in habit as well as 
character to Loasa (fee that article); indeed fo much 
are they alike, that we greatly lufpeft they mull be one 
genus, for which Mentzelia, being the oldefl name, 
ought to remain, and the other ambiguous appellation 
would be happily fuperfeded. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe are annual plants, 
which peril'll loon after the feeds are ripe ; therefore the 
feeds muft be fown on a hot-bed early in the fpring, that 
the plants may be brought forward early in the leafon, 
otherwife they will not produce ripe feed in this country. 
When the plants are come up about an inch high, they 
fhould be each tranfplanted into a leparate halfpenny pot 
filled with light rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed 
of tanners bark, being careful to ihade them from the 
fun until they have taken new root; after which time 
they muft be conllantly watered every other day in warm 
weather, and lhould have frefh air every day admitted to 
them, in proportion to the warmth of the feafbn, and 
the heat ot the bed in which they are plunged. In about 
fix weeks or two months after tranfpJanting, if the plants 
have made a good progrefs, they will have filled the pots 
with their roots, when they fhould be fhifted into larger 
pots, which muft be filled with light rich earth, and then 
plunged into the bark-bed in the ltove, that they may 
have room to grow in height, obferving as before to 
water them daily, as alio to admit frefh air to them every 
day in warm weather. With this management they will 
grow three feet high, and produce ripe feeds at the end 
of Auguft or beginning of September. 
MENU', the name of a very celebrated law-giver among 
the Hindoos. Sir William Jones tranllated his code from 
the original Sanlkrit; and it is in the hands of the public 
under the title of “ Inftitutes of Hindoo Law, or the 
Ordinances of Menu.” The work comprifes, in twelve 
chapters and 2685 verfes, the Indian lyftcm of duties, 
religious and civil; and is held in the greateft reverence 
by all clalfes of Hindoos ; fo much fo, that, lhould a ferics 
ol Brahmans omit, for three generations, the reading of 
Mcuu, their facerdotai clafs would, as they aflert, be for- 
1 feitecL 
