58$ M E A 
learned publication, and in the colleftion of fcarce and 
valuable books, manufcripts, and literary curiofities, of 
which no individual of his time, in this kingdom, pof- 
feflld fo choice and ample a colleflion. Of all his trea¬ 
sures he made the mod liberal life; for he not only freely 
.admitted learned men of all countries to fee and examine 
them, but he likewife entertained them at his table, and 
treated them with lingular urbanity. Dr, Johnfon ufed 
to fay, that “Mead lived more in the broad lunfhine of 
life than almoft any man.” 
The whole works of Dr. Mead have frequently been 
collected and puldiflied in various countries of Europe. 
A French tranflation of them by Code, 1774, in 2 vols. 
8vo. is elleemed for its numerous notes. Memoirs of Rich¬ 
ard Mead, M, D. 1755. 
ME'ADIA, [. in botany. The plant Dodecatheon was 
fo called by Catefby, in compliment to Dr. Richard Mead, 
the celebrated phyfician, who, whatever might be his me¬ 
rit in his profeflion, was not judged by his contemporaries 
to deferve this botanical honour; and Linnaeus therefore 
did not confirm it. The^only work of Dr. Mead’s ever 
mentioned as giving him a claim to fuch diftinftion, is his 
Mechanical Account of Poifons, in which, however, there 
is nothing botanical. Crantz made a fecond attempt to 
refiore the name of this eminent phyfician, elegant fcho- 
lar, and patron of literature, to botany, but without fuc- 
cefs. His words are, “ reftituo Meadio plantain, magis 
forte merenti, quam plurimi alii, quibus fexuales concef- 
fere.” Than which furely nothing is more true. Martyn's 
Miller. — See Dodecatheon, vol. vi. 
MEA'DIA, in geography, a town of Hungary, in the 
bannat of Temefvar, on a fmall river which runs into the 
Danube : fifty-two miles fouth-eaft of Temefvar. Lat. 45. 
10. N. Ion. 21. 59. E. 
MEAD'OW, f. [fee Mead.] In its general fignifica- 
tion, means pafture or grafs lands, annually mown for hay; 
but is more particularly applied to lands that are fo low as 
to be too moift for cattle to graze upon them in winter 
without fpoiling the fward. For the management and 
■watering of meadows, fee the article Irrigation, vol. xi. 
P- 383- 
MEAD'OW-GRASS. See Poa, Cynosurus, and 
Grass. 
MEAD'OW FOX'-TAIL GRASS, a fort of field-grafs, 
that may be cultivated to advantage on the more moift 
forts of foil. It is faid to be early and productive, but 
rather coarfe. See Alopecurus pratenfis, and Grass. 
MEAD'OW QUEE'N,/ A flower. See Spiraea. 
Bring too fome branches forth of Daphne’s hair. 
And gladdeft myrtle for thefe pods to wear, 
With fpikenard weav’d, and marjorem between. 
And flarr’d with yellow golds, and meadow's queen. 
B. Jonfori's Mafques. 
MEADOW RIV'ER, a river of America, which runs 
into Lake Huron in lat. 45. 38. N. Ion. 84. 30. W. 
MEADOW RU'F.. See Thalictrum. 
MEADOW-SAFFRON. See Colchicum. —The mea- 
dow-fajfron hath a flower confiding of one leaf, fliapedlike 
a lily, rifing in form of a fmall tube, and is gradually 
widened into fix fegments; it has likewife a folid bulbous 
root, covered with a membranous fkin. Miller. 
MEADOW SAX'IFRAGE. See Peucedanum and 
MEADOW-SWEE'T. See Spirtea. 
MEADOW TRE'FOIL. See Menyanthes. 
ME'ADVILLE, a thriving pod-town, feated on French 
Creek, a branch of the Alleghany-river, in Crawford- 
county, Pennfylvania; and the feat of judice for the 
counties of Warren and Crawford. It contains about 
one hundred houfes, and feveral (tores; and is a place of 
confiderable bufinefs: twenty-three miles north-wed of 
•Fort Franklin. Lat. 41. 36. N. 
ME'AGER, adj. [maigre, Fr. macer, Lat.] Lean; want¬ 
ing flefli 3 ftarven.*—Whatfoever their neighbour gets, they 
M E A 
lofe, and the very bread that one eats makes t’other meager. 
L'EJlrange. " J 
Thou art fo lean and meagre waxen late. 
That fcarce thy legs uphold thy feeble gate. Hudibr&s. 
Fierce famine with her meagre face. 
And fevers of the fiery race, 
In fwarms th’ offending wretch furround. 
All brooding on the bladed ground : 
And limping death, ladl’d on by fate, 
Comes up to diorten half our date. Dryden. 
Poor; hungry: 
Canaan’s happy land, when worn with toil, 
Requir’d a iabbath-year to mend the meagre foil. Dryden. 
To ME'AGER, v. a. To make lean.—It cannot be, that 
I fhould be fo fliamefully betrayed, and as a man meagered 
with long watching and painful labour, laid himfelf down 
to deep. Knolles's Hijlory of the Turks. 
ME'AGERLY, adv. Leanly ; poorly. 
ME'AGERNESS, f. Leannefs ; want of flefh.—Scant* 
nefs ; barenefs.—Poynings, the better to make compenfa- 
tion of the meagernejs of his fervice in the wars by a£ts of 
peace, called a parliament. Bacon. 
MEAGOM', a town of Hindoodan, in Guzerat: ten 
miles north of Baroach. 
ME'AH, [Hebrew.] The name of a place mentioned 
in Scripture. 
MEAHGUR'RY, a town of Hindoodan, in Candeifh : 
thirty miles fouth-ead of Chuprah. 
MEAHMOO', a town of Birmah, on the Irawaddy, 
with a manufacture of coarfe cloth : forty-two miles welt 
of Ava. 
MEAK, f. A hook with a long handle.—A meake for 
the peafe, and to fwing up the brake. Tujfer. 
ME'AKING, a town of Birmah, on the right bank of 
the Ava : eight miles north of Penongmew. 
MEAL, /, [male, Sax. repad or portion.] The aft of 
eating at a certain time,—The quantity of aliment necef- 
fary to keep the animal in a due date of vigour, ought to 
be divided into meals at proper intervals. Arbuthnot an Ali¬ 
ments. —A repad; the food eaten.—Give them great meals 
of beef, and iron and deel, they will eat like wolves, and 
fight like devils. Shakefpeare. 
They made m’ a mifer’s feaft of happinefs. 
And could not furnifli out another meal. Dryden. 
A part; a fragment.—That yearly rent is dill paid into 
the lianaper, even as the former caiualty itfelf was wont to 
be, in parcel meal, brought in and anfwered there. Bacon. 
MEAL, /. [maslepe, Sax. meet, Dut. mahlen, to grind. 
Get - .] The flour or edible part of corn.—In the bolting 
and lifting of near fourteen years of fuch power and fa¬ 
vour, all that came out could not be expected to be pure 
and fine meal, but mud have a mixture of padar and bran 
in this lower age of human fragility. Wotton. 
The meal, or dour, of Britain, is the fined and whited 
in the world. The French is ufually browner, and the 
German browner than that. Our flour keeps well with 
us ; but in carrying abroad it often contrafls damp, and 
becomes bad. All flour is fubjeft to breed worms ; thefe 
are white in the white flour, and brown in that which is 
brown ; they are therefore not always diftingiufhable to 
the eye; but, when the flour feels damp, and fmells rank 
and nmfly, it may be conjectured that they are there in 
great abundance. In this cafe, if the meai be exhibited 
in a good light, it will be obferved to be in continual mo¬ 
tion ; and, on a nicer infpeflion, there will be found in it 
a great number of little animals of the colour of the flour, 
and very nimble. If a little of this meal be laid on the 
plate of the double microfcope, the in (efts are very dif- 
tinftl.y feen in great numbers, very brifk and lively, con¬ 
tinually crawling over one another’s backs, and playing a 
thoufand antic tricks together; whether in diverfion, or 
in fearch of food, is not eafy to be determined. Thefe 
animals 
