'638 
MOM 
be conceived as the leaft part of time, but as a termina¬ 
tion or limit of time. Maclaurin's Fluxions. 
While I a moment name, a moment’s pad; 
I’m nearer death in this verfe than the laft; 
What then is to be done ? Be wife with l'peed; 
A fool at forty is a fool indeed. Young. 
When mankind had fo far regulated the meafure of 
time as to eflablifh the partition of the day into hours, 
they endeavoured further to divide and fub-divide the 
hours into periods of fhorter duration, to meet all the 
ufes and conveniences of common life, as well as to aid 
them in fcientific refearches. The hour was confequently 
portioned out into four points, each confiding of ten 
parts denominated moments, thefe latter into twelve others 
called uncias, and thole uncias into forty-feven fradtions 
called atoms; making, by fuch regulation, each hour to 
contain 4 points, 40 moments, 480 uncias, or the vad 
number of 22,560 atoms. This mode was fubfequently 
exploded, to make way for the divifion of the hour into 
four quarters anfwering to the four points, each of which 
was made to contain fifteen minutes indead of ten mo¬ 
ments, and of thole minutes into fixty moments, feconds, 
or indants; which caufied the hour to confid of 4 quar¬ 
ters, 60 minutes, or 3,600 moments, feconds, or indants, 
as at prefent in ufe; below which latter fractional fub- 
divifion it was not deemed requilite to defcend : and, as 
it is the flight of time only that is intended to be diflin- 
guilhed, and as only one idea can poflibly operate within 
fo Ihort a fpace, it would be inconfiflent to attempt any 
further reduction. 
The three different terms that have been given to the 
mod minute fractional part of duration, however fynony- 
mous in their meaning when applied to that exprefs 
purpofe, are not in ordinary ufage confidered as of the 
fame fignification. We generally underfland an injlant 
to imply a more direCl and immediate operation than a 
fecond, while a fecond is ufed in preference to a moment , 
whenever celerity of execution is expeCted. It appears, 
therefore, more proper, though perhaps it may not be 
really lb, to lay, we fliall perform any aCt in an injlant, 
than that we fliall do fo in a fecond, which latter feems to 
denote that fiome fmall confideration mud be allowed} 
while a moment has a yet further latitude conceded to it, 
probably from that term having formerly denoted a 
much more extended portion of time than it how cor- 
reCfly fignifles. Thus we have reflecting moments, but 
never reflecting feconds or indants. Moments are com- 
.mcnly ufed in a figurative fenfe ; feconds only fo applied 
occalionally; and indants always made to convey their 
direCt, poiitive, and literal, definition. A prudent man 
will paule a moment, before he undertakes any thing of 
Importance; a lei's experienced perfon will not take a 
jccond; and a fool, not an injlant. Brady's Claris Calendaria. 
MOMEN'TAL, adj. Important; valuable; of moment. 
—Not one momental minute doth Ihe fwerve. Sir P. 
Sidney's Ourania. 
MOMEN'TALLY, adv. For a moment.—Air but mn- 
mentally remaining in our bodies, hath no proportionable 
fpace for its converfion, only of length enough to re¬ 
frigerate the heart. Brown's Vulg. Err. 
MOMENTA'NEOUS, or Mo'mentany, adj. [momen- 
iane, momentaiuc, Fr. momentaneus, Lat. Momentum/ and 
momentary were indifcriminately ufed in the fixteenth 
century ; but momentany is, perhaps, the older of the two. 
Of monicntaneous we find no example.] Lading but for a 
moment.—Preferre endlels blyffe before vaineand momen¬ 
tany plealures. Woolton's Chr. Manuel, 1576.—Making it 
momentany as a found. Shakefpeare's Midf. N. Dream. — 
Trifles and mcmentany things. Burton's Anat. of Mel. — 
They fnatch at thole vanilhing (hadows of pleafure, which 
a poor momentany life can afford them. Bp. Hall. —Small 
difficulties, when exceeding great good is lure to enfue; 
and, on the other hand, momentany benefits, wlien the 
M O M 
hurt which they draw after them is unfpeakable, are not 
at all to be relpefted. Hooker. , 
Scarce could the lhady king, 
The horrid fum of his intentions tell, 
But Ihe, Iwift as the momentum / wing 
Of lightning, or the words he fpoke, left hell. Crajhaw. 
MOMENTA'NEOUSNESS, /. The date of being mo¬ 
mentary. Scott. 
MO'MENTARILY, adv. Every moment.—Why en¬ 
dow the vegetable bird with wings, which nature has 
made momentarily dependant upon the foil ? Sheii/lone. 
MO'MENTARINESS, J'. The date of being momen¬ 
tary. Scott. 
MO'MENTARY, adj. Lading for a moment; done in 
a moment.—Onions, garlick, pepper, fait, and vinegar, 
taken in great quantities, excite a momentary heat and 
fever. Arbutknot. 
Swift as thought the flitting Ihade 
Through air his momentary journey made. Dryden. 
MOMEN'TOUS, adj. [from momentum, Lat.] Import¬ 
ant ; weighty; of confequence.—If any falfe dep be made 
in the more momentous concerns of life, the whole l'chenip 
of ambitious defigns is broken. Addifon. 
Great Anne, weighing the events of war 
Momentous, in her prudent heart thee chofe. Philips. 
MOMEN'EOUSNESS, f. The date of being momen¬ 
tous. Scott. 
MOMENTUM,/ [Latin.] Impetus, force, or quan¬ 
tity of motion, in a moving body.—Mercury hath of late- 
years become a medicine of very general ufe. The ex¬ 
treme minutenefs, mobility, and momentum, of its parts, 
rendering it a mod powerful cleanfer of all obdruCtions, 
even in the mod minute capillaries. But then we ffiould 
be cautious in the ufe of it, if we conlider, that the very 
thing which gives it power of doing good above other 
deobdruents, doth alfo difpofe it to mifehief. I mean its 
great momentum. Bp. Berkeley. 
MOM'FLOT. See Man'fai.out, vol. xiv. p. 274. 
MOMIA'NO, a town of Idriaj.eiglit miles fouth of 
Capo d’ldria. 
MOM'MERY, or Mum'mert,/ [from mummer; mo- 
merie, Fr.] An entertainment in which malkers play 
frolics: 
All was jollity, 
Feading and mirth, light wantonnefs and laughter. 
Piping and playing, mindrelfy and mafleing. 
Till life fled from us like an idle dream, 
A fliew of mommery without a meaning. Rowe. 
MOMOR'DICA, [from mordco, Lat. the feeds having 
the appearance of being bitten.] Male Balsam-apple ; 
in botany, a genus of the clafs monoecia, order lyngenelia, 
natural order of cucurbitacese. Generic charadlers—■ 
I. Male flowers. Calyx: perianthium one-leafed, con¬ 
cave, five-cleft; fegments lanceolate, fpreading. Corolla 
five-parted, fadened to the calyx, more fpreading, large, 
veined, wrinkled. Stamina: filaments three, awl-fhaped, 
fhort; anthers on two filaments, bifid, eared at the Tides ; 
on the third Ample, one-eared only, confiding of a com- 
prefled body and a fariniferous line once reflex. II. Fe¬ 
male flowers on the fame plant. Calyx: perianthium as 
in the male, fuperior, deciduous. Corolla as in the male. 
Stamina: filaments three, very Ihort, without anthers. 
Pidillum : germ inferior, large; flyle Angle, round, trifid, 
columnar; fligmas three, gibbous, oblong, pointing out¬ 
wards. Pericarpium: pome dry, oblong, opening elaf- 
tically, three celled ; cells membranaceous, loft, didant. 
Seeds: feveral, compreiled.— Ejjhitial Charaftcr. Calyx 
five-cleft; corolla five-parted.' Male: filaments three. 
Female: flyle trifid; pome opening eladically. There 
are thirteen lpecies. 
1. Momordica 
