M E S 
3D4 
obtufe, permanent, leaves, the two outward oppofite 
ones fmaller. Corolla : petals four, abrupt, undulated. 
Stamina : filaments numerous, capillary, the length of the 
corolla, united at the bale into a fort of cup; antherse 
ovate. Piftillum: germen fuperior, roundilh ; ftyle cy¬ 
lindrical j ftigma thickilh, concave. Pericarpium -. nut 
roundilh, pointed, marked with four longitudinal ele¬ 
vated futures. Seed: folitary, roundilh .—Fjfential Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx fimple, of four leaves ; corolla of four 
petals ; nut llightly four-fided, fingle-feeded. 
Mefua ferrea, or Indian rofe-chefnut, a fingle fpecies. 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies, and much cultivated, ac-.■ 
cording to Rheede, in Malabar, for the beauty of its flow¬ 
ers, which expand there in July and Auguft. It bears 
fruit in fix years from the nut, and continues to bear dur-_ 
ing three centuries. The lame author l'ubjoins a long ac¬ 
count of its medical virtues ; and Rumphius fays, it im¬ 
planted in Amboyna, about houfes, for the Hi ad e it affords, 
and for the odour of its flowers, which alfo, when dry, 
are mixed with other aromatics, fuch as the white fandal- 
wood, and ufed for perfuming ointments. This tree 
grows to a large fize, having a variegated, thick, hard, 
fmooth, much-branched, trunk, like that of a lime-tree. 
Bark fmooth, brown, aromatic, of a lharp and bitter taffe ; 
root fibrous, red, covered with a fmooth yellow bark, bit¬ 
ter, but fweet-fmelling. Leaves oppofite, on Ihort Italics, 
fmooth, thickilh ; of a Ihining-green on the upper fide ; 
glaucous-blue underneath, like the bloom of grapes. 
Flowers in fize and lliape like thofe of the fweet-briar or 
eglantine, but with only four white petals 5 their fmell 
partakes both of the role and violet. Fruit fmooth and 
greenilh, but reddilli and wrinkled when ripe, with a rind 
like that of the chelhut, and three or four kernels within, 
the lliape, fize, fubftance, and tafte, of cliefnuts. The 
fpecific name (ferrea) is taken from the clofe texture and 
liardnefs of the wood. 
Propagation and Culture. This plant may be increafed 
by feeds, layers, and cuttings. The leeds lliould be fown 
an the fpring, in pots of light earth, plunging them in a 
bark hot-bed in the Hove. When the plants have attained 
fome growth, they lliould be planted in feparate pots and 
be re-plunged in the bark-bed, where they mult be kept. 
The layers lliould be made from the young branches, and 
lliould be laid down in the autumn or early fpring, being 
taken oft' when well rooted, and planted in feparate pots, 
having the fame management as the others. The cuttings 
lliould be taken from the young branches, and be planted 
in the fummer in pots of light mould, and plunged in the 
bark-bed. When they have Itricken root, they Ihould be 
removed into feparate pots. They afford variety among 
other ftove-plants. 
MES'UE. Of this name there appears to have been two 
Arabian phyficians, both writers, which circumftance has 
produced confufion in the accounts of biographers. 
MES'UE the Elder, was born at Nifabour, in the pro¬ 
vince of Khorafan, and fiourilhed in the ninth century. 
He is laid to have died in 846, or, according to other ac¬ 
counts, in 865. His father was an apothecary at Nifabour. 
Mefue was educated in the profeffion of phyfic by Gabriel 
the'fon of George Baektilhua, and through his favour was 
appointed phyfician to the hofpital of his native city. 
Although a Chriftian of the Neftorian left, lie was in great 
favour with feveral fuccelfive caliphs, being reputed the 
ableft ficholar and phyfician of his age. When the caliph 
Haroun al Rale hid appointed his fon, Almamon, to the 
viceroyalty of the province of Khorafan, Mefue was no¬ 
minated his body-phyfician, and was placed by him at the 
head of a college of learned men, which lie inftituted 
there. On his accellion to the throne of the caliphs, in 
the year 813, Almamon brought Mefue to Bagdad, and 
made him a profellbr of medicine there, as well as fuper- 
intendantof the great hofpital, which fituations he occu¬ 
pied a great number of years. He was alfo employed, un¬ 
der the aufpices of the lame caliph, in transferring the 
fcience of the Greeks to his own country, by tramlating 
M E T 
their works. Freind is of opinion that Mefue wrote 5 a 
the Syriac tongue, which prevailed in his native province 
long before and after his time ; for not only he, but the 
Backtilhuas, are reckoned Syrians by Abulpharagius and 
Abi Olbaia, though born at Nifabour. He was the au¬ 
thor of fome works, which are cited by Rhazes and other 
writers, which appear to have perilhed; for the works, 
which are now extant in his name, do not correfpond 
with thefe citations, nor with the charafter of them given 
by Haii Abbas. 
MES'UE the Younger. A writer of this name, or 
Mesuach, who was later than Rhazes, and a Chriftian, 
of the left of Jacobites, is mentioned by Leo Africanus. 
He ftudied medicine and philofophy at Bagdad, and prac- 
tifed at Cairo, where he died in the year 1015, at the age 
of ninety. He wrote fome treatiles on potable liquors, 
and on the compofition of medicines; and perhaps to 
him may be attributed the work entitled, “ Joannis Mefue 
Damafceni de Re Medica, lib. iii.” edited byjac. Sylvius, 
Paris, 1549, folio, and often reprinted. Of this volume, 
the firft book relates to the choice, correftion, preparation, 
exhibition, See. of medicines ; the fecond treats of iimple 
purgative medicines ; and the third, of antidotes. It 
will eafily be conceived that fuch a work is at prefent an 
objeft of curiofity rather than of inftruftion. Freind's 
Fiji, of Phyjick. Gen. Biog. 
MESURA'CA, a town of Naples, in Calabria Citra % 
eight miles fouth-weft of St. Severina. 
MESURA'DA, a feaport town of Africa, in the coun¬ 
try of Tripoli, and relidence of a governor. Caravans 
travel from hence into the interior parts of Africa ; which 
of courle occaftons a confiderable commerce. It is the 
principal place of a diftrift, anciently called Cyrenaica, 
and Pentapolis , from its five cities. It is one hundred 
miles eaft-lbuth-eaft of Tripoli. Lat. 32.10. N. Ion. 15. 
10. E. 
MESURA'DO, a river of Africa, which rifes in the 
mountains that feparate Negroland from Guinea, and 
runs into the Atlantic in lat. 6. 25.N. Ion. 10. 35. W. 
MES'VRE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Saone and Loire: five miles fouth of Autun, and feven 
north-weft of Mont Cenis. 
MESYM'NIUM, f. [Greek.] A name "which the an- 
cients gave to a part of their tragedy, or to certain verfes 
in their tragedies. The mefymnium was a kind of bur¬ 
den, or chorus 5 as lo Paean; O Dithyrambe ; Hymen, O 
Hymeruee ; or the like ; which, when placed at the end of 
a ftrophe, was called ephymnium; and when inferted in 
the middle of a ftrophe, mefymnium. 
MET, the preterite and part, of meet. —A fet of well- 
meaning gentlemen in England, not to be met with in 
other countries, take it for granted they can never be 
wrong lb long as they oppole minifters ofjtate. Addifon’s 
Freeholder. 
ME'TA, in the Roman circus, was a pile of ftones of 
a pyramidal form, intended as a boundary of the ftadium, 
or chariot-courfe. When the meta was palled the feventh 
time, the race was concluded. The greateft art and ma¬ 
nagement were required in avoiding the meta, and yet 
going as near it as poffible. If they went too near, they 
were in danger of breaking the chariot to pieces ; and, if 
they took too large a circuit in the turn, they gave their 
rivals an opportunity of getting within them, belides lofing 
a great deal of ground. 
ME'TA, a river of South America, which runs into 
the Oronoko near Santa Terela. 
ME'TA. See Mette. 
METAB'ASIS, f. [Greek.] In rhetoric, a figure by 
which the orator palfes from one thing to another. 
METAB'OLA, J'. [Greek.] In medicine, a change of 
time, air, or difeafe. 
ME'TAC, a town of Upper Siam: 130 miles north- 
weft of Porfelouc. 
METACAL', f. An Egyptian weight, ufed in the 
weighing of pearls, and confining either of a carat and a 
half 
