M I T 
defecrated into idolatry, they made Mithras to be the 
Apollo, or the Sun. Whence thefe fculptures had a num¬ 
ber of fymbols, relating to the folar circuit of the year 
through the twelve zodiacal conftellations. The two 
figures attending on the archimagus, are inferior officers 
to him. There is a myftery in their (landing crofs-legged, 
like our effigies of croifaders in churches, and it means 
the fame thing: for the crofs was one part of the mithriac 
Ceremonies. Thefe two, by the different attitude of their 
torches, reprel'ent Day and Night, as Mithras reprefents 
the Sun. The figure imperfeftly drawn, at the tail of the 
liorfe, is probably a genius, twifted round with a fhake ; 
which means the vitality imparted to all things by the 
folar power and circle. The other figures are officiating 
priefts, and dreff in fuch a fymbolic manner, as intimates 
the fun’s influence, and annual motion.” Phil. Tranf. 1749. 
Mithras is alfo a name of the fun in the mythology 
of the Hindoos. SeeSuRYA. 
MITH'REDAH, [from the Heb.] The name of a man. 
MITH'RIDATE, f. in pharmacy, an antidote or com- 
pofitiou, in form of an eleftuary; ferving either as a 
remedy or a prefervative againft poifons. Mithndate was 
formerly one of the capital medicines in the apothecaries’ 
ihops, being compofed of a vaft number of drugs ; among 
which are opium, myrrh, agaric, laftron, ginger, cinna¬ 
mon, fpikenard, frankincenfe, caftor, pepper, gentian, &c. 
It is accounted a cordial, opiate, fudonfic, and alexiphar- 
mic. Matthiolus fays, it is more effeftual againft poifons 
than Venice treacle, and much eafier to be made. 
It takes its name from its inventor, Mithridates, king 
of Pontus, who is reported to have fo fortified his body 
againft poifons, with antidotes and prefervatives, that, 
when he had a mind to dilpatch himfelf, he could not 
find any poifon that would take efteft. The leceipu was 
found in his cabinet, written with his own hand, and was 
carried to Rome by Pompey. It was tranflated into verfe 
by Damocrates, a famous phyfician, and hence called 
Confeiiio Damocratis; and was afterwards tranflated by 
Galen, from whom we have it. It has undergone confi- 
derable alterations fince the time of its royal prefcnbej, 
But you of learning and religion, 
And virtue, and fuch ingredients, have made 
A mithridate, whofe operation _ 
Keeps off, or cures, what can be done or faid. Donne. 
MITH'RIDATE MUS'TARD, f. in botany ; fee 
Thlaspi. Baftard ditto; fee Biscutella. 
MITHRIDATE'A, J’. [received its name from Com- 
merfon, we prefume in memory of Mithridates, who, from 
the celebrated hodge-podge which he is reported to have 
invented as a counter-poifon, muft have been converfant 
with herbs and their reputed properties at lead: but we 
can trace no reafon for the application of the name to 
'this particular plant.] In botany, a genus of the clals 
monandria, order monogynia, natural order of fcabndas, 
Linn, (article, Juj]'.) Generic charafters—Calyx: com¬ 
mon receptacle of one leaf, flefhy, bell-fhaped, in four 
larsre ovate fpreading fegments ; the upper furface covered 
with innumerable minute imbedded florets jperianthium 
fcarcely any. Corolla: none. Stamina: filament one, 
very fhort, eredf; anthera ereft, channelled, embracing 
the ftyle. Piftillum: germen oval; ftyle fhorter than the 
ftamen ; ftigma Ample. Pericarpium none ; common re¬ 
ceptacle enlarged, pulpy, turbinate, concave, its fegments 
folded inward, lodging the feeds in its flefhy fubftance. 
Seeds: folitary to each floret, oval.— Ejjential Character. 
Common receptacle many-flowered, four-cleft; calyx 
none; corolla none; feeds folitary, imbedded in the 
flefhy receptacle. 
Mithridatea quadrifida, ambora, drum-tree, or monkey- 
apple. Gathered by Sonnerat in Madagafcar, as well as 
in the ifles of Bourbon and Mauritius. Comerfon found 
it in the latter. The wood of this tree is light, white, 
and pithy, as in Ficus, to which the genus is 1110ft nearly 
allied. Leaves on the young fmooth branches nearly op- 
Vgl. XV. No. 1.068. 
M I I' 593’ 
pofite, (talked, elliptical, obtnfe, entire, evergreen, very 
fmooth, with a ftrong midrib, fending off numerous tranf 
verfe veins; their fize on young trees is a fpan in length, 
and above two inches in breadth; on old ones about oue- 
third as much. Flowers in fmooth clufters, from the 
older branches or the trunk; their partial ftalks about ait 
inch long. The ripe fruit is two or three inches wide, 
of a depreffed roundifli unequal form, hollow; its pulpy 
fubftance, in which the feeds are vertically imbedded, as 
in Dorftenia, being about ofte-third of an inch thick. 
The pulpy coat, which envelopes the feeds, is laid to be 
orange-coloured, and to be ufed for a dye, like the Ame¬ 
rican arnotto, Bixa Orellana. Ambora is the Madagafcar 
name of this tree. See Ficus and Dorstenia. 
MITHRIDA'TES, the name of feveral kings of Pon¬ 
tus. See that article, and Rome. 
MIT'IGABLE, adj. Capable of mitigating.—By the 
praftices of holy men, God alfo fhewed that the rigour of 
that ceremonious law was mitignble. Barrow. 
MIT'IGANT, adj. [mitigans, Lat.] Lenient; lenitive. 
To MIT'IGATE, v. a. [mitigo, Lat. mitiger, Fr.] To 
temper; to make lefs rigorous.—We could greatly wifh, 
that the rigour of their opinion were allayed and miti- 
gated. Hooker. —To alleviate ; to make mild; to affuage.—- 
All it can do is, to devife how that which muft be endureef 
may be mitigated, and the inconveniences thereof coun¬ 
tervailed as near as may be, that, when the beft things 
are not poffible, the beft may be made of thofe that are. 
Hooker. 
Mifhaps are mafter’d by advice difereet, 
And counlel mitigates the greateft finart. Spcnfer . 
To mollify; to make lefs fevere; to foften: 
I undertook 
Before thee ; and, not repenting, this obtain 
Of right, that I may mitigate their doom. 
On me deriv’d. Milton. 
To cool; to moderate.—Sometime the flame was miti¬ 
gated, that it might not burn up the beads that were (ent? 
againft the ungodly. Wifdom xvi. 18.—A man has fre¬ 
quent opportunity of mitigating the fiercenefs of a party, 
of foftening the envious, quieting the angry, and rectify¬ 
ing the prejudiced. Addifon. 
MIT'IGATING, f. The aft of foftening, or affuaging. 
MITIGA'TION, J\ Abatement of any thing penal, 
harfli, or painful.—The king would not have one penny 
abated of that granted to him by parliament, becaule it 
might encourage other countries to pray the like releafe 
or mitigation. Bacon. —They caufed divers fubjefts to be, 
indifted of fundry crimes ; and when the bills were found 
they committed them, and fuffered them to languith long 
in prifon, to extort from them great fines and ranfoms, 
which they termed compolitions and mitigations. Bacon. 
MIT'IGATIVE, adj. Lenitive; having power to alle¬ 
viate. Cotgrave. 
MIT'IGATOR, f. An appeafer. Huloet. 
MITIUSCHO'V, an ifland in the Frozen Ocean, near 
the weftern coaft of Nova Zembla, at the entrance of the 
Matochik Schan. Lat. 75. 20. N. Ion. 55. 38. E. 
MIT'LBACH, a river of Silefia, in the principality of 
Neifle, which runs into the Neilie two miles eait-fout Il¬ 
ea ft of Ottmuchau. 
MIT'NACH, a river of Bavaria, which runs into the 
Regen four miles weft of Cham. 
MI'TOC, a lake of Thibet, about thirty-fix miles in 
circumference. Lat. 31. 50. N. lon.93.24.E. 
MITOM'BA, a kingdom of Africa, in the country of 
Sierra Leone, fituated on the banks of the river Sierra 
Leone, which is alfo called Mitomba. 
MI'TRA, f. in botany. See Helve tn.vand Or puro- 
RHIZA. 
MITRAI'LLE, f. [French.] Small pieces of old iron, 
fuch as heads of nails, &c. with which pieces of ordnance 
are loaded ; commonly called grape-ihot. 
7 M 
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