581 
M A Y 
firft of tliefe treatifes has given the author a juft title to 
be regarded at lead 3 s a precurfor to fome of the molt re¬ 
markable modern difcoveries in pneumatic chemiltry. His 
nitro-aerial or ign'eo-aerial fpirit, a conftituent part of at- 
mofpherical air, and the food of life and flame, the exift- 
ence of which he proves by many ingenious and decifive 
experiments, is the fame with the modern dephlogifticated 
or pure air, or oxygen ; and, though his fpeculations about 
it are mixed with much hypothecs, yet the idea he" enter¬ 
tained of its important agency in the operations of nature 
feems confirmed by the late chemical theories. In parti¬ 
cular, its abforntion by the blood in refpiration, and the 
production of animal heat by its means, are admitted fads 
in modern phyfiologv. Mayow was acquainted with a 
method of transferring air from veflel to vellel under wa¬ 
ter ; and had invented an apparatus for detaching aerial 
fluids, by means of mixtures, or the focus of a burning- 
glafs, in veflels inverted in water. There can be no doubt, 
in fliort, that had he lived at the prefent day, and enjoyed 
the advantage of the improvements of the laft half-cen¬ 
tury, he would have ranked among the very firft of che¬ 
mical philofophers. With refpect to the mechanifm of 
refpiration, he was the firft who rightly remarked that all 
the intercoftal mufcles confpire in the elevation of the ribs. 
His theory of the nitro-aerial fpirit runs through all his 
liypothefes; and he regards it as the caufe of inufcular 
motion and nervous influence. It is the want of a due 
degree of the latter, to w hich he aferibes the rickets, then 
confidered as a new difeafe. The attention of the public 
to this writer was recalled by Dr. Beddoes in a re-publi¬ 
cation of his chemical trails in 1790; and with the excu- 
fable partiality of an admirer of lingular and neglected 
genius, he attributed to him a lhare of relative merit per¬ 
haps beyond his due, and fomewhat derogatory from the 
jult claims of later chemifts. His work is undoubtedly an 
extraordinary phenomenon for the time, though not with¬ 
out a large admixture of the fpirit of hypothefis which 
v\as the fault of that age. Gen. Biog. 
MAYPO', a river of Chili, which runs into the Pacific 
Ocean in lat. 33. 26. N. 
MAY'PURG, a river of Guiana, which runs into the 
Atlantic in lat. 2. 10. N. Ion. 51.46. E. 
MAY'RI, a town of Cuba : twenty-five miles fouth of 
Havannah. 
MAYS, f. in botany. See Zea. 
MAY'SEMERE, a village in Gloucefterfhire, two miles 
north-weft from Gloucelter. The turnpike-road from 
Gloucefter to Worcefter and Ledbury runs through it. 
MAYSSUR'. See Mysore. 
MAY'SVILLE, a polt-town of America, in Mafon 
county, Kentucky ; 484 miles from Wafhington. 
MAYTE'NUS, f. [formed of the Chili name maiten.'] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs diandria, order monogynia, 
natural order jafminete, JuJf. Generic characters—Calyx: 
perianth inferior, very final!, of one leaf, five-lobed. Co¬ 
rolla : of one petal, bell-lhaped, undivided. Stamina: 
filaments two, inferted into the corolla; antherae .... 
Piftillum : gerrnen fuperior, roundifh; ftyle undivided; 
ltigma Ample. Pericarpium : capfule fmall, ovate, cora- 
prefied, of two cells and two valves, burftingat the edges, 
the partitions continued half-way along the middle of the 
valves, which are at length reflexed. Seeds: folitary, 
ovate-oblong, attached to the bottom of each cell ; em¬ 
bryo flat, in a flefhy albumen.— EJfential Character. Calyx 
five-lobed ; corolla bell-fhaped, undivided ; capfule fupe¬ 
rior, comprelTed, of two cells and two valves; feeds folitary. 
Maytenus boaria, a fingle fpecies. It is a fhrub or 
fmall tree, with the habit of a Phillyrea ; about twenty 
feet high, much branched. Leaves fometimes oppofite, 
fometimes alternate, evergreen, nearly feflile, elliptical, 
acute, ferrated, fmooth ; dark green above, brighter be¬ 
neath ; with a prominent rib, and feveral veins. The 
flowers, which Feuillee did not meet with, are deferibed 
by Juflieu as fcattered. The laft-mentioned author fays 
one cell of the fruit, with its feed, is frequently abortive. 
Vol. XIV. No. 996, 
M A Z 
Native of Chili. “ The maiten," fays Feuillee, “ is the 
counter-poifon of the llithi, (a plant whofe clafs and genus 
are unknown to us,) the mere (hade of which caufes fuch 
fwellings as to deform the human body. In cafe of fimi- 
lar accidents, a decodtion of the branches of the maiten, 
ufed as a fomentation to the parts afflidted, is the molt 
fpeedy cure.” Feuill. Chil. iii. 33. t. 23. 
MAY'TO, a town of Mexico, in the province of Xa- 
lifco: fifty miles weft-north-weft of Purification. 
MAYTZ, a town of Pruftia, in the province of Bar- 
tenland : eighteen miles fouth of Raftenburg. 
MAYZE. See Cape Mayzi, vol. iii. 
MAYZEROY', a town of France, in the department 
of the Mofelle : feven miles feuth-fouth-weft of Boulay, 
and eight eaft of Metz. 
MA'ZA, /. [Greek.] A name given by the ancients to 
a fort of food, in common ufe among the poorer fort of 
people. It was made of the meal of parched barley, 
fprinkled with fome liquid, and was eaten with honey. 
Hippocrates every-where fpeaks of this as of a coarfe kind 
of bread, and advifes the changing the common finer 
bread, in the fpring feafon, for this coarfer kind, as a 
thing very conducive to health. He feems conftantly 
to cor.fider bread as the drier, and the maza the moifter, 
diet. Among the Athenians, maza was a fort of cake 
made of flour boiled with water and oil, and fet, as the 
common fare, before fuch as were entertained at the public 
expenfe in the Prytaneum, or common-hall. We may con- 
fider it as a fort of flummery, or hafty-pudding. 
MAZA'CA, in ancient geography, a town of Cappa¬ 
docia, in the prefecture of Cilicia,'called alfo Maza, and 
furnamed Cafarea. Strabo gives it the title of Metropolis 
of Cappadocia, furnamed Eufebiw, and places it on Mount 
Argseus. 
MAZAGAN', a town of Africa, in the empire of Mo¬ 
rocco, built by the Portuguefe in 1506, and named by them 
Cajlillo Real. Under the walls of this place, on the north 
fide, a dock has been made, which will admit fmall velfels; 
but large (hips are obliged to anchor fix miles out at fea, 
on account of the Cape of Azamore, which ftretches to 
the weft, and which it would be difficult to double, if a 
fouth-weft wind (hould drive them from their anchors. 
Mazagan was befieged, without effeCt, in 1562, by the 
fherifte of Morocco ; and remained in the pofleffion of the 
Portuguefe till 1762, when the emperor laid fiege to it jult 
as it was determined to be abandoned by the court of Lif- 
bon. The town of Mazagan is at prefent entirely ruined, 
and almoft uninhabited. The Moors have taken away 
the timber of the houfes, and left the walls (landing. At 
a little diftance to the fouth-weft of Mazagan is an old 
tower, called Borijha-, whence the name of Bridja, which 
the Moors confound with that of Mazagan. It is iixty- 
five miles north of Morocco. Lat. 32. 54. N. Ion. 8.46. W. 
MAZALIG', a town of Africa, in the country of Su- 
gulmeffa: fifty miles north-eaft of Stigulmefla. 
MAZALQUI'VIR. See Mers il Kebeer. 
MAZAMET', a town of France, in the department of 
the Tarn ; fixteen miles north of Carcaflone, and nine 
fouth-eaft of Callres. 
MAZAN', a town of France, in the department of the 
Vauclufe: fifteen miles north-eaft of Avignon. 
MAZANDERAN', or Mezenderan, a province of Per- 
fia, bounded on the north by the Cafpian Sea, on the eaft by 
Choralan, on the fouth by Chuliftan and Irak, and on 
the weft by Ghilan. The fouthern part is mountainous; 
and nearly defert; neverthelefs it contains fome charming 
valleys, and the air is healthy : this part is called Tabtrijlan. 
Towards the north it is aftonilhingly fertile, fo that it is 
called The Garden of Perfia ; and, from the month of 
September to April, the whole country appears like a vaft 
parterre of flowers. The inhabitants collect filk, but in¬ 
ferior in quality to that produced in Ghilan ; a great deal 
of cotton, which they dye and manufacture; fugar; ex¬ 
cellent fruit, efpecially raifins, of fome of which they 
make wine, but dry the chief for fale 3 a great deal of 
7 i rice^ 
