M A T 
I tint am frail flefli and earthly wight, 
Unworthy match for fuch immortal mat!, 
Myfelf well wote, and mine unequal fate,. Fairy Queen. 
A companion, male or female : 
Go, bafe intruder! over-weening (lave! 
Beftow thy fawning fmiles on equal mates. Shakefpeare. 
The male or female of animals.—Pliny tells us, that ele¬ 
phants know no copulation with any other than their 
own proper mate. Ayliffe. 
Part fingle, or with mate. 
Graze the fea-weed their paliure, and through groves 
Of coral ftray. Milton s Paradife Lojl. 
One that eats at the fame table, 
Mate of a Merchant Ship, the officer who commands 
In the ablence of the mailer, and ihares the duty with 
him at fea ; being charged with every thing that regards 
the internal management of the fliip, the direfling her 
courfe, and the government of her crew : 
What vengeance on the paffing fleet (lie pour’d ; 
The mafter frighted, and the mates devour’d, Rofcommon. 
As the mailer of a trading-veflel is the commander of it, 
Similar to the captain of a (hip of war, (and is in courtefy 
fo called,) fo the mates in the former are fimilar to lieute¬ 
nants in the latter, though they have never yet obtained 
that denomination. 
Mate cf a Ship of War, an officer under the direc¬ 
tion of the mailer, by whole choice he is generally ap¬ 
pointed, to affill him in the feveral branches of his duty. 
Accordingly, he is to be particularly attentive to the na¬ 
vigation in his watch, See. to keep the log regularly, and 
examine the line and glalfes by which the (hip’s courfe is 
ineafured, and to adjult the fails to the wind in the fore¬ 
part of the drip. He is alfo to attend diligently to the 
cables, feeing that they are well coiled and kept clean 
■when laid in the tier, and fufficiently Jerved when em¬ 
ployed to ride the Hi ip. Finally, he is to fuperintend 
and affill at the ftowage of the hold, taking efpecial care 
that all the ballad and provifions are properly flowed 
therein. 
The number of mates allowed to (hips of war and mer¬ 
chantmen, is always in proportion to the fize of the vef- 
fel. Thus a firft-rate man of war has fix mates, and an 
Eaft-Indiaman the fame number; a frigate of twenty guns 
and a (mall merchant-(hip have only one in each j and 
the intermediate (hips have a greater or fmaller number, 
according to their feveral flzes, or to the fervices on which 
they are employed. Other officers have alfo aflillants, 
called mates ; as the furgeon, gunner, carpenter, boatfwain, 
cook, &c. 
To MATE, v. a. To match ; to marry : 
The hind, that would be mated by the lion, 
Mud die for love. Shakejp. All's zuell that ends well. 
To be equal to: 
Parnaflus is its name; whofe forky rife 
Mounts through the clouds, and mates the lofty (kies. Dryd. 
To oppofe ; to equal : 
I, i 5 th’way of loyalty and truth, , 
Dare mate a founder man than Surrey can be, 
And all that love his follies. Shakefp. Henry VIII. 
[ Mater, Fr. matar, Span.] To fubdue; to confound; to 
crufh. Not in ufe .—The great effects that may come of in- 
dultry and perleverar.ee who knoweth not? For audacity 
doth almoft bind and mate the weaker forts of minds, 
Bacon's Natural Hi/lory. 
Why, this is ((range; go call the abbefs hither; 
I think you all are mated, or (lark mad. Shaliefpeare . 
MATE CREE'K, a river of Kentucky, which runs 
into the Licking in lat. 38. 4. N. Ion. 83. 41. W. 
MA'TEGRIFFON, f in the military art, a machine 
anciently ufed for throwing both darts and ftones. It 
M A T 527 
was both the deftroyer and terror of the Greeks. See 
Artillery. 
MATELE'A,/. in botany. See Hostea, vol. x. p. 422. 
MATEL'ICA, a town of the Popedom, in the marqui- 
f.ite of Ancona : ten miles welt of Ancona. 
MATEL'LES (Les), a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Herault: feven miles north of Montpellier, 
and twelve north-eaft of Gignac. 
MAT'ELOT,/ A boatman; a feam.an. Cole. 
M AT'ELOT AGE, f. The hire of a (hip or boat. Cole. 
MATEM'BO, one of the Querimba Klarids, near the 
coaft of Africa. Lat. 12. S. 
MATE'O (St.), a town of Mexico, in the province of 
New Bifcay: 120 miles fouth-well of Parral.—A town of 
New Navarre: 130 miles (outh-well of Cafa Grande.—rA 
town of Ealt Florida, on a river which runs into tlie gulf 
of Mexico: 120 miles welt of St. Auguftine. 
MATEOL'OGY,/. [from the Greek p.x.Tu.io<;, vain, 
and Myot;, a defcription.] A vain enquiry; an over-curious 
fearch, 
M ATEOTECH'NY, f. A vain or unprofitable fcience. 
MA'TER, / [Latin.] A mother. 
MA'TER DU'RA et PI'A, two membranous cover¬ 
ings of the brain and medulla (pinalis. See the article 
Anatomy, vol. i. p. 591, 2. 
MA'TER FELON,/ in botany, a name given by fome 
authors to the common knapweed. Our Englifh name 
matfellen feems a corruption of this. See Centaurea. 
MA'TER METALLO'RUM, a name given by the 
Saxon mineralogifls, and thofe of fome other places, to a 
peculiar kind of marcafite or mitndic, which they fuppofe, 
according to the expreffion, to be the mother or parent 
of metals. The marcafite they call by this name is the 
common yellow kind, but in a foul (late, it being ulually 
mixed with fome poor ore of iron, or with fome (tony mat¬ 
ter, which has made it concrete loofely and irregularly ; 
and it is found fotnetimes formed into thin undulated 
plates, and fometi.mes into complex maffes; but is always 
cavernous or fpungy, or full of (mailer or larger holes. 
Thefe are often empty ; but in fome pieces they contain 
parcels either of the pure native metals or of rich ores. 
Pieces of native copper are found in fome, and ores of 
iron and tin in others. And it is laid in Saxony, that 
native filver, in thin plates, is found in fome few. 
MAT'ERA, a city of Naples, in Bafilicata, the fee of 
an archbilhop : twenty-feven miles fouth-fouth-well of 
Bari, and 112 eaft of Naples. Lit.40. 51. N. Ion. 16. 35. E. 
MATERA'TA, a town of Iitria : fix miles eafl-fiouth- 
eaft of Umago. 
MATE'RIA, /. [Latin.] Matter; the fubflance of 
which any thing conlifls. 
MATE'RIA CHEM'ICA, a term ufed by authors to 
exprefs fuch bodies as are the peculiar objects of chemical 
experiments. The materia chemica, in a large fenfe, takes 
in all the bodies of the globe, all tilde being the fubjetts 
of chemiftry in its extenfive fenfe ; but the curious in 
chemical refearelies may be delirous of knowing, in gene¬ 
ral, what bodies they ought to procure, and have in rea- 
dinefs for them. 
As to the apparatus, or machinery, of a chemical labo¬ 
ratory, we have fully defcribed that under the article 
Chemistry, vol. fv. p. 191 Si feq. with figures of each 
inftrument; but every' chemical experimenter wiil find a 
contiderable advantage in (0 much mechanical talent as 
will enable him to make, or repair at leait, the molt com¬ 
mon of his apparatus. For this purpofe he lliould pofiefs 
a fet of mechanical tools, fuch as a lathe and vice, with 
files and ralps for metal and wood. The tools for making 
(crews, as well in the lathe as by the (crew-plate and taps, 
will alfo be neceilary. To thefe Ihould be added a fmall 
forge, anvil, and hammer, for the purpofe of forging fmall 
articles. A fet of brazier’s and tinman’s tools will be 
found very ufeful; and a little experience will enable the 
operator to make any article of tin or copper which is 
not very complicated. In addition to tiie aboye, the 
3 gits* 
