700 
M O N 
of Good Hope, like the whole genus. It was Tent to Kew 
in 1774., by Mr. MalTon, and decorates the green-houfe 
magnificently in fpring. Root perennial; fteras fome- 
tinies very lhort. Leaves numerous, moftly radical, on 
long italics, and compofed of five radiating hairy leaf¬ 
lets, doubly pinnatifid ; their fegments linear-lanceolate, 
bluntiih, decurrent. Flowers three inches broad, with 
deeply-cut petals, variegated with charming ihades of 
rofe-colour, ribbed, the eye purple and white ; each on a 
long, bent, fimple, ftalk, with a whorl of lanceolate braCles 
at its joint; calyx-leaves membranous at the edge, downy 
upward. This is fhown on the preceding Plate fig. 2. 
2. Monfonia lobata, or broad-leaved monfonia : leaves 
heart-iliaped, deeply lobed, toothed. Differs from the laft 
in having the leaves lobed, not compound, though they 
are fometimes fo deeply cut as almolt to approach the 
former. In the flowers there is fcarcely a permanent dif- 
tinftion. The petals of. the prefent fpecies are ufually 
greenifli at the back, white, with a tinge of red, above. 
It.is much to be (ulpebtcd that thefe are but varieties of 
each other. • f 
3. Monfonia ovata, or undulat'ed monfonia : leaves 
ovate-oblong, toothed, plaited ; fomewhat heart-fhaped at 
the bafe. Sent from the Cape to Kew-garden, in 1774., by 
Mr; MalTon, with both the former. This is more caulefi- 
cent than thofe, but more flender, and only a biennial. 
The leaves are nearly ovate, about an inch long. Flowers 
pale yellow, about an inch in diameter. The branches, 
flower-(talks, and calyx, are clothed with very long fpread- 
ing hairs. 
4. Monfonia fpinofa, or thorny monfonia : leaves el¬ 
liptical, pointed, entire; foot-ftalks permanent, harden¬ 
ing into thorns. Stem fhrubby, branched, befet with 
thorns, which are the hardened foot-ftalks of former 
leav.es. Flowers larger than in the laft. 
Propagation and Culture. The firil fort, as it rarely if 
ever ripens feeds in this climate, mull be increafed by 
cuttings of the root, which- would be planted in pots of 
good mould, and plunged in a tan hot-bed, watering them 
occafionally, when in a little time buds appear on the 
tops of tlie cuttings which are left out of the ground. 
They ihould be treated as hardy green-houfe plants, or be 
afterwards removed into feparate pots, andiheltered under 
a good garden-frame.in the winter feafon. The fecond 
fort may be beft railed in the fame manner. The third 
fort ihould be railed from feeds, which mull be fown in 
the early fpring, in pots of light earth, and plunged in a 
mild hot-bed. When the plants are come up, they ihould 
be removed into other pots (eparately, and be managed 
as the other kinds. See Grielum and Rhododendron. 
MONSOO'N, /. — MonJ'oons are ihifting trade-winds in 
the Eaft-Indian Ocean, which blow periodically ; foine 
for half a year one way, others but for three months, and 
then fliift and blow for fix or three months diredtly con¬ 
trary. Harris. —The movjbuns and trade-winds are con- 
ftant and periodical, even to the thirtieth degree of lati¬ 
tude, all round the globe, and feldom tranfgrefs or fall 
ihort of thofe bounds. Ray. 
In the Indian Ocean, the winds are partly general, and 
blow all the year round the fame way, as in the Ethiopic 
Ocean ; and partly periodical , i. e. hair the year blow one 
way, and the other half year on the oppofite points ; and 
thole points and times of ihifting differ in different parts 
of this ocean. Thele latter are what we call monfoons. 
The ihifting of thefe monfoons is not all at once ; and 
in fome places the time of the change is attended with 
calms, in others with variable winds; and particularly 
thofe of China, at ceafing to be wefterly, are very fubjedt 
to be tempeftuous; and luch is their violence, that they 
feem to be of the nature of the Weft-India hurricanes, and 
render the navigation of thofe feas very uniafe at that 
time of the year. Thefe tempefts the feamen call the 
breaking-up of the monfoons. 
Monlipons, then, are a fpecies of what we ctherwife call 
trade-winds. They take the denomination monjbon from 
M O N 
an ancient pilot, who firft croffed the Indian Sea by means 
of them. Though others derive the name fromaPortu- 
guefe word, fignifying motion or change of wind and fea. 
Lucretius and Apollonius make mention of annual 
winds which arife every year, etefia flabria, which feem to 
be the fame with what in the Eaft Indies we how call 
monfoons. 
MON'STER, f. [ monftre. Fr. monftruin , Lat.] Something 
out of the common order of nature.—It ought to be de¬ 
termined whether monjlers be really a diftinbt fpecies ; we 
find, that Tome of thefe monftrous productions have none 
of thofe qualities that accompany the effence of that fpe¬ 
cies from whence they .derive. Locke. 
Methinks heroick poefie till now, 
Like lome fantaftick fairy-land did (how, 
Gods, devils, nymphs, witches, and giants’ race, 
And all but man in man’s chief work had place: 
Then like fome worthy knight, with facred arms, 
Doth drive the monjlers thence, and end the charms. 
Cowley. 
Something horrible for deformity, wickednefs, or mifchief; 
If (he live long, 
And, in the end, meet the whole courfe of death, 
Women will all turn monfters. Shake)peare's K. Lear. 
Monster, in phyfiology, may be defined a birth or 
production of a living being, degenerating from the pro¬ 
per and ufual difppfition of parts in the fpecies to which 
it belongs: as, when there are too many members, or too 
few ; or fome of them are extravagantly out of propor¬ 
tion either on the fide of defect or excefs. The word 
comes from the Latin monjtrum, of monj'trando, “ Ihowing.” 
Whence alfo the box wherein relics were anciently kept 
to be fhown, was called monftrum. Dugdaie mentions an 
inventory of the church of York with this article : Item 
wnwm monftrum, cum ojjlbus jancli Petri in beryl, et cruci- 
fixo in fummitatc. 
Ariltotle defines a monfter to be a defeft of nature, 
when, adting towards fome end, it cannot attain to it, 
from fome of its principles being corrupted. 
Monfters do not propagate their kind ; for which reafon. 
fome rank mules among the nutiiber of monfters, as alfo 
hermaphrodites. 
Females which bring forth twins, are found mod liable 
to produce monfters. The reafon, probably, is owing to 
this; that, though the twins are covered with one com¬ 
mon chorion, yet they have each their feparate amnios, 
which by contiguity may chance to grow together, and 
fo occafion a confulion or blending of the parts. Hence 
fo many double creatures. 
It is much to be regretted, that the hiftories of mon¬ 
ftrous appearances in the (trudture of the human body 
which are to be found in the works of the older writers, 
and even of many of the moderns, are fo little to be de¬ 
pended on. Few authors have contented themfelves with 
giving a fimple detail of facts that were extraordinary ; 
but, from an over anxiety to make them ftiil more won¬ 
derful, or from having given an implicit belief to the ac¬ 
counts received from the credulous and ignorant, they 
have commonly added circumftances too extravagant to 
deferve the attention of a reafonable mind, which prevent 
the reader from giving credit to any part of the narration, 
This has been fo general, that, whenever the hiftory of 
any thing uncommon appears, the mind is imprelfed with 
a doubt of its authenticity, and requires Lome ltronger 
evidence of the fadts than the iingle teftimony of an indi¬ 
vidual in other refpedts unimpeached in his veracity. 
The early volumes of the Philofophical Tranfadtions 
contain a great many curious hiftories of this kind. From 
thole volumes, and from other l’ources, we (hall make a 
leledtion of luch as appear to 11s molt deferving of credit: 
We have faid that united fcetufes form a very nume¬ 
rous clafs of monfters, both in the human fubjedt and ill 
animals. We meet with this kind of unnatural arrange¬ 
ment in almoft every poffible degree, from the (light indi- 
' cations 
