M O R 
28 ; 
injure the health of others. When thele- unfortunate er¬ 
rors in public opinion Ihall be removed, and inoculation 
or vaccination Ihall be generally received, the public 
health will have attained a degree of perfedlion and per¬ 
manency, beyond which, perhaps, it cannot be expedited 
to advance, while the pallions, wants, and occupations, of 
men, neceffarily expofe them to various caufes of mortality. 
We fnall conclude with a very fhort and very linking 
exemplification of the title of our article. 
“ It is generally fuppofed that this earth is inhabited 
by one thoufand millions of men, and that thirty-three 
years make a new generation ; and, therefore, that in 
thirty-three years there die one thoufand millions. Thus 
the number of thofe who die on earth amounts to. 
Each year, Thirty millions. 
Each day, Three thouland four hundred. 
Each minute, Sixty. Each fecond, One. 
This calculation mull necelfarily llrike us. If the mor¬ 
tality be fo great every year and every hour, is it not 
probable that he -who reflects on it, may himfelf be one 
of thofe foon to fwell the lift of the dead ? It is at leaft 
certain, that it ought to lead us to think ferioully and 
often on this fubjedt. Now, at this very moment, one of 
our fellow-creatures is going out of the world; and be¬ 
fore another hour is paft, more than three thoufand fouls 
will have entered into an eternal ftate 1” 
To MOR'TALIZE, v. a. To make mortal: 
We know you’re ftefh and blood as well as men, 
And, when we will, can mortalize and make you fo again. 
A. Brome. 
MOR'TALLY, adv. Irrecoverably; to death.—In the 
battle of Landen you were not only dangeroufly, but in 
all appearance mortally, wounded. J Oryden. —Extremely;' 
to extremity. A low word. —Adrian mortally envied poets, 
painters, and artificers, in works wherein he had a vein 
to excel. Bacon's EJj'ays. 
Know all, who would pretend to my good grace, 
I mortally diflike a damning face. Granville. 
MOR'TAR, f. [mojvcepe, Sax. mortarium, Lat. mar- 
tier, Fr.] A ftrong veffel in which materials are broken 
by being pounded with a peftle.—Except you could bray 
Chriftendom in a mortar, and mould it into a new pafte, 
there is no poffibility of an holy war. Bacon. —The action 
of the diaphragm and mufcles ferves for the comminution 
of the meat in the ftomach by their conftant agitation 
upwards and downwards, refembling the pounding of 
materials in a mortar. Ray on Creation. 
Mortars have the form of an inverted bell. The mat¬ 
ter intended to be pounded is to be put into them, and 
there it is to be llruck and bruifed by a long inftrument 
called a peftle. The motion given to the peftle ought to 
vary according to the nature of the fubftances to be 
pounded. Thofe which are eafily broken, or which are 
apt to fly out of the martar, or which are hardened by the 
ftroke of the peftle, require that this inftrument Ihould 
be moved circularly, rather by grinding or bruifing than 
by ftriking. Thofe fubftances which are foftened by the 
heat occafioned by rubbing and percufiion, require to be 
pounded very flowly. Laftly, Thofe which are very hard, 
and which are not capable of being foftened, are eafily 
pounded by repeated ftrokes of the peftle. They require 
no bruifing but when they are brought to a certain de¬ 
gree of finenefs. But thefe things are better learned by 
habit and practice than by any directions. 
As mortars are inftruments which are conftantly ufed 
in chemiftry, they ought to be kept of all fizes and ma¬ 
terials ; as of marble, copper, glafs, iron, gritftone, and 
agate. The nature of the fubftance to be pounded, de¬ 
termines the choice of the kind of mortar. The hardnefs 
and dilfolving power of that fubftance are particularly 
to be attended to. As copper is a metal which is folu- 
ble by almoft all menltrua, and hurtful to health, this 
metal is rarely or never employed for the purpofe of mak- 
M O R 
ir.g mortars. . One of the principal inconveniences of 
pulverization in a mortar proceeds from the fine powder 
which riles abundantly from fome fubftances during the 
operation. If thefe fubftances be precious, the lofs will 
be coniiderable; and, if they be injurious to health, they 
may hurt the operator. Thefe inconveniences may be 
remedied, either by covering the mortar with a Ikin, in 
the middle of which is a hole, through which the peftle 
palfes ; or by moiftening the matter with a little water 
when this addition does not injure it; or, laftly, by co¬ 
vering the mouth and nofe of the operator with a fine 
cloth, to exclude this powder. Some fubftances, as cor- 
rofive fublimate, arfenic, calces of lead, cantharides, eu- 
phorbium, &c. are fo noxious, that all thefe precautions 
ought to be ufed, particularly when a large quantity is 
pounded. 
Large mortars ought to be fixed upon a block of wood, 
fo high, that the mortar ihall be level with the middle of 
the operator. When the peftle is large and heavy, it 
ought to be fufpended by a cord or chain fixed to a 
movable pole placed horizontally above the mortar : this 
pole confiderably relieves the operator, becaufe its elafti- 
city aflifts the railing of the peftle. 
MOR'TAR, f in the military art, a ihort piece of ord¬ 
nance, thick and wide, proper for throwing bombs, car- 
cafes, (hells, ftones, bags filled with grape-ihot, &c. See 
the articles Artillery, Bomb, Gun, Gunnery, &c. 
Thofe arms, which for nine centuries had brav’d 
The wrath of time on antique ftone engrav’d, 
Now torn by mortars (land yet undefac’d 
On nobler trophies by thy valour rais’d. Granville. 
MOR'TAR, f. [ morter , Dut. mortier, Fr.] In archi- 
teflure, is a preparation of lime and fand mixed up with 
water, Serving as a cement, and ufed by mafons and brick¬ 
layers in building of walls of ftone and brick.—Wolfius 
obferves, that the fand fhould be dry and (harp, fo as to 
prick the hands wffien rubbed, yet not earthy, fo as to 
foul the w'ater it is waftiedin: he alfo finds fault with 
mafons and bricklayers as committing a great error in 
letting their lime ilacken and cool before they make up 
their mortar, and alfo in letting their mortar cool and die 
before they ufe it; therefore lie advifes, that if you expeft 
your work to be well done, and to continue long, to work 
up the lime quick, and but a little at a time, that the 
mortar may not lie long before it be ufed. Johnfon. —Lime 
hot out of the kiln mixed foft with water, putting fand 
to it, will make better mortar than other. Mortimer .—I 
will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the 
wall of a jakes with him. Shahefpeare's K. Lear. 
Under the article Mineralogy, in the preceding vo¬ 
lume, p. 44.8, we noticed an approved method of com¬ 
pounding mortar, promifing to refume the fubjedt in this 
place. 
The improvement of mortar is certainly an object of 
great importance ; and different fchemes have been fug- 
gelled for giving it that degree of durability for which 
the mortar ufed by the ancients is fo juftly celebrated. 
The lime ufed in the ancient mortar, is faid to have been 
burnt from-the liardelt ftones, or often from fragments of 
marble. De Lorme obferves, that the bell mortar is that 
made of pozzolana for fand; adding, that this penetrates 
black flints, and turns them white. See Puteolana. 
Mr. Rich, who lately viftted the ruins of Babylon* 
fpeaking of a vail pile of brickwork which Hill remains, 
obferves, “ fo admirable is the cement, which appears to 
he lime-mortar, that, though the layers are fo clofe toge¬ 
ther, that it is difficult to obferve what fubftance is be¬ 
tween them, it is nearly impoffible to extraft one of the 
bricks whole.” (Obf. on the Ruins of Babylon, p. 36.) 
But in another place Mr. Rich lpeaks of the bitumen with 
which thefe Babylonian bricks were cemented together, 
which was plentifully produced in the neighbourhood 
of Babylon, and which binds ftronger than mortar, and 
in time becomes harder than the brick itfelf. It was alfo 
3 impenetrable 
