M A U 
Jng the conic fe&ions, in which he has been followed by 
many* modern geometers. In his treatife De Lina's horariis, 
he made new difcoveries in the fcience of dialiing, and 
was the firft who obferved the interfe&ions of thefe lines 
with each other. He wrote on optics, and difcovered 
that it is the cryftalline humour which collects and unites 
on the retina of the eye, the rays which it receives from 
external objefts, and brings every pencil to its proper 
focus j and by means of it was able to explain the differ¬ 
ent phenomena of length and fhortnefs of fight. He alfo 
firft found out the true folution of the problem concerning 
the image of the fun appearing round, though the rays 
that form it are tranfmitted into a dark room through an 
angular aperture; and he made other important advances 
towards the difcovery of the nature of vifion. Maurolico, 
notwithflanding that he was for many years an invalid 
in confequence of his intenfe application, reached the ad¬ 
vanced age of eighty, and died in the year 1575. His 
principal works are, 1. An edition of the Spherics of 
Theodofius, 1558, folio, 2. Emendatio et Reffitutio Co- 
nicorum Apollonii Pergcei, 1654, folio. 3. Archimedis 
Monumenta omnia, 1685, folio. 4. Euclidis Phaenomena, 
1591, 4to. 5. Martyrologium, 1566, 4to. in which he led 
the way that was afterwards taken by Baronius. 6. Si- 
canicarum Rerum Compendium, 8vo. 7. Rime, 1552, 
Svo. 8. Opuf'cula Mathematics, 1675, 4to. 9. Arith- 
meticorum Libriduo, 8vo. 10. Photifmus de Lumine et 
Umbra, 4to. 11. Problemata mechanics ad Magnetem et 
ad Pyxidem nauticam pertinentia, 4fo. 12. Cofmogra- 
phia, 4to. Montucla's Hijl. Math. Gen. Biog. 
MAUROhl', a town of France, in the department of 
the Morbihan : ten miles north of Ploermel. 
MAUROU'X, a town of France, in the department of 
the Gers : ten miles fouth-eaft of LeCtoure. 
MAURS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Carnal: eighteen miles fouth-fouth-weft of Aurillac, and 
twenty-one fouth-weft of Mur de Barres. 
MAURSE'E, a confiderable lake of Pruflia, in the pro¬ 
vince of Culm : ten miles ealt of Raftenburg. 
MAURU'A, or Mauroo'a, one of the Society Iflands 
in the South Pacific Ocean, furrounded by a reef of rocks, 
without a harbour. It is faid that the people of Otaheite 
procure pearls from this ifland. Lat. 16. a6. S. Ion. 152. 
35 - W. 
MAURU'CA, a kingdom on the eaft coaft of Africa, 
fituated about lat. 14. 30. S. Ion. 37. 14. E. 
MAU'RUP, a town of France, in the department of 
the Marne : ten miles eaft of Vitry le Fran§ois. 
MAU'SCHEID, or Mo'sek, a town of Arabia: thirty- 
five miles north of Mocha. 
MAU'SETHURN, a fortrefs fituated on an ifland in 
the Rhine, one mile below Bingen. 
MAU'SIDS, a town of Arabia, in the province of Ye¬ 
men : twenty-four miles north of Mocha. 
MAUSOLE'UM, f. [Latin.] A magnificent tomb, or 
funeral monument, decorated with architecture and fculp- 
ture, and infcribed with an epitaph; erected in honour of 
fome emperor, prince, or other illuftrious perfon.—The 
tomb or maufoleum of Teuthras is feigned with a brilliancy 
of imagination and expreflion. T. Warton. 
The word comes from Maufolus, the name of a king of 
Caria, to whom Artemifia, his widow, erettedamoli ftately 
monument, that has fince been numbered among the feven 
wonders of the world ; calling it, from his name, Mau¬ 
foleum. It was (ixty-three feet long, almoft four hundred 
and eleven feet in compafs, and about thirty-five feet high, 
furrourided with thirty-fix columns, that were beautified 
in a wonderful manner. Pliny has defcribed it, lib. xxxvi. 
cap. 5. It was built by four different architects. Scopas 
ereCted the fide which faced the eaft, Timotheus had the 
Couth, Leochares had the weft, and Bruxis the north. Pi- 
this was alfo employed in railing a pyramid over this 
ftately monument; and the top was adorned with a chariot 
drawn by four horfes. The expenfe of this edifice w’as 
immenfe; and gave occafion to the philofopher Anaxa- 
Vol. XIV. No. 99j. 
M A U 
5 f)i. 
goras to exclaim, when he faw it, “How much money 
changed into (tones!” See Artemisia, vol ii. 
Afterwards the fame name was given to all coftly mo¬ 
numents. Thus the ftateiy monument was called, which 
Auguftus built, during his fixth confulfhip, between the 
Flaminia Via and the Tiber, to be a burial-place for him 
and his family, and which Strabo has defcribed in his fifth 
book. It is alfo the name which Florus, lib. iv. cap. 11. 
gives to the monuments of the kings of Egypt, wherein 
Cleopatra (hut herfelf up, and put herfelf to death. Many 
authorities teftify, that the Romans gave this name to 
thofe fepulchres whole ftruCture was magnificent. 
Mausoleum (Public), or Public Faults. Mr. Snarf, 
of Tooley-ftreet, has projected and given us a plan for a 
Maufoleum, or public burid-place, for the interment of 
all the dead indifcriminately ; in order to prevent the hor¬ 
rors of premature interment. The prefent cuftom, of fnut- 
ting up bodies in a (late of infulation from atmofpheric air, 
lie philofophically argues, (fee the article Re-animation,) 
is not only a caufe of frequent reftoration to partial re-ani- 
mation, but alfo of afterwards fmothering the feemingly 
defunct ; and, though not often difcovered 011 account 
of their latent fituation, yet the grounds are too prefump- 
tive, and the proofs too ftrong, for us to difallow the ex¬ 
treme probability of both. To prevent thefe evils in future, 
he has projected a plan for a fingular arrangement of vaults 
in every parifh, or other convenient divilion of inhabited 
territory. We give it in his own words. 
“ What if the fertilizing earth reftore 
The dubious fragment of a borrow’d life ! 
Shall we participate the heav’nly flame. 
Or grappling burft our eyes-balls with the vain attempt J 
“ As death is a debt we all owe, and muft one day or other 
pay, it behoves us, a£ men, to try to meliorate it by all 
lawful means, and not, by an inflexible predilection for 
cuftom, launch ourfelves into bootlefs miferies. All men 
are anxious about life, but few there are who have a be¬ 
coming folicitude about death or its collaterals. If, inftend 
of confining ourfelves to the barbarous practice of immu¬ 
ring each poor devoted victim in a clofe coffin and air¬ 
tight prifon, the legiflature would interfere in this molt 
momentous of all earthly duties, and oblige all furvivors 
to commit the remains of their friends or relatives to a 
vault where they would be effectually fecured from the 
ineffable horrors of fmothering ; it would be the greateft 
amelioration of mortal fufferings that ever men were in- 
fpired with. For (theological reafoning apart) this fub- 
jeCl I conceive to be paramount to all others, in uni- 
verfality as well as importance, feeing none are exempt. 
For hire, proxies may be found to meet almoft every ad- 
verfe thing in life ; but no bribe can procure a fubftitute 
here : here we all are principals ! all muft meet their fate in 
propria perfona. Let us, therefore, as brothers in affliction, 
join in phalanx, and triumph over that tyrant (cuftom), 
left he fhould tyrannize over us ! 
“ Objections may be ftarted, that, while we are fecuring 
the dead, we are endangering the living, by the cadaverous 
effluvia arifing from an unfealed vault of death ; but, 
knowing what I do, if I had not written, I fhould efteem it, 
that, having done no good, I had lived in vain, and was the 
worit of delinquents for this criminal negieCt. To pre¬ 
vent thefe molt obvious confequences, I propofethat each 
compartment of the maufoleum (if diftinftions of claflee 
are to be maintained in the grave), fhould have a ftrong 
door to prevent external depredations, with an iron grat¬ 
ing fufficiently large to admit light enough within; with¬ 
out, however, illuminating it fo much infide, as to make 
it vilible from without. As monumental fplendour is not 
the primary object of this invention (though that need 
not be fo negleCted as to injure trade), no matter the form, • 
provided we infure the maximum of advantage; they may 
be made circular, oblong, or any other fhape, according to 
exifting circumftances. But what appears indifpenfably 
neceflary is this, that they fhould have two oppofite en~ 
7 E trance® 
