MOT 
xfcribe them to volition, like tliofe that depend entirely 
on that faculty in animals. If we let a pole in the ground 
near a twining plant, it always lays hold of the pole for 
iupport, in whatever place we put it. The fame thing 
occurs in .he tendrils of the vine; which always attach 
themfelves to the lupport prefented them, on whatever 
lide it may be placed, provided they can reach it; but 
thefe motions are entirely vital : the twining plants and 
the tendrils direft themfelves to every quarter, and con- 
fequently cannot fail of meeting with the bodies within 
their reach. Thefe motions are performed as long as the 
parts continue to grow ; but, when they ceafe to elon¬ 
gate, if they have not been able to reach any body on 
which they can fix, they bend back upon themfelves. 
This and other obfervations lhow how far the vital mo¬ 
tions in plants may be modified by external caufes, and 
how efl'entially they differ from thofe that are the eftedt of 
volition in animals. 
Some plants appear endowed with no fort of motion : 
fome have leaves that can move in different directions : 
their motions are generally modified by different caufes ; 
but none appear fo eminently poflefled of this quality as 
the Hedyfarum gyrans of Linnaeus. No part of this 
plant fliows any figns of irritability upon application of 
ftimuli; and the motion of its foliola ceafes when the 
leaflets are agitated by the wind. When the fun is warm, 
the little leaves of the hedyfarum are alfo immovable ; 
but, when the weather is warm and moiff, or when it 
rains, they move very freely. This motion feems indif- 
penfably neceffary to the plant; for it begins as foon as 
the firft leaves unfold, and continues even during the 
night; but in time it grows weaker. In our doves it is 
molt confiderable during the firft year ; in the fecond, it 
is not very fenfible: in its native place all the leaves have 
a motion never obferved here. The moving leaflets are 
moft agitated while the plants are in full flower, and the 
procefs of fructification goes on. The ofcillatory motion 
is lo natural to it, that it not only remains for three or 
four days in the leaflets of a branch that has been cut off 
and put in water, but is even continued though the 
branch be expofed to the air. The leaves feem to perform 
the office of the heart in vegetables. When a plant is 
-ftripped of its leaves, the progrefs of vegetation is arrefted; 
and fuch vegetables refemble thofe animals which have a 
periodical fleep, induced by a diminution of the aftion of 
the heart. See the article Hedysarum, vol. ix. p. 303. 
To MO'TION, v. a. To propofe.—I want friends to 
motion fuch a matter. Burton's Anat. of Mel. 
Sir, the thing 
(But that I would not feem to counfel you) 
I ffiould have motion’d to you at the firft. B. Jonfon. 
To MOTION, v. n. To advife; to make propofal; to 
offer plans: 
Well haft thou motion'd, well thy thoughts employ’d, 
How we might beft fulfil the work which here 
God hath aifign’d us. Milton's Paradife Loft. 
MO'TIONER, f. A mover. Not in nfe. Cotgrave. 
MO'TIONLESS, adj. Wanting motion; being with¬ 
out motion: 
Should our globe have had a greater fliare 
Of this ftrong force, by which the parts cohere; 
Things had been bound by fuch a pow’rful chain, 
That all would fix’d and motionlefs remain. Blachnore. 
MOTI'R, a fmall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea, of 
a triangular form, about twenty-four miles fouth from 
Ternate. Lat. o. 26. N. Ion. 117. 19. E. 
MO'TIVE, adj. [rnotivus, Lat.] Caufing motion ; hav¬ 
ing moment.—Shall every motive argument ufed in fuch 
kind of conferences be made a rule for others ftiil to con¬ 
clude the like by, concerning all things of like nature, 
when as probable inducements may lead them to the 
contrary ? Hooker. —Having the power to move ; having 
power to change place j having power topafs foremoft to 
M O T 119 
motion.—The nerves ferve for the conveyance of the mo¬ 
tive faculty from the brain ; the ligatures for the ftrength- 
ening of them, that they may not flag in motion. Wilkins, 
MO'TIVE,/ [old Fr. motive, caufe.] That which de¬ 
termines the choice ; that which incites the adtion.— 
What can be a ftronger motive to a firm truft on our 
Maker, than the giving us his Son to fuffer for us ? Ad- 
difon. —The motive for continuing in the fame ftate is 
only the prefent fatisfadlion in it; the motive to change 
is always fome uneafinefs. Locke. 
Why in that rawnefs left you wife and children, 
Thofe precious motives, thofe ftrong knots of love, 
Without leave-taking ? Sha/teJ'peare's Macbeth. 
Mover. Not in ufe : 
Heaven brought me up to be my daughter’s dower; 
As it hath fated her to be my motive 
And helper to a hufband. Shakejpcare's All's Well. 
Her wanton fpirits look out 
At every joint and motive of her body. Shakefpeare. 
MOTIV'ITY, / The power of moving. Bailey. 
MOT'LAU, a river of Pruffia, which joins the Rodaun 
at Dantzig, near which the united ftream joins the Viftula. 
MOT'LEY, adj. [fuppofed to be corrupted from med¬ 
ley ; perhaps from mothlike, coloured, fpotted or varie¬ 
gated like a garden-mot/*.] Mingled of various colours: 
They that come to fee a fellow 
In a long motley coat fpotted with yellow, 
Will be deceiv’d. Shakefpeare's Hen. VIII. 
Expence, and after-thought, and idle care, 
And doubts of motley hue, and dark defpair. Dryden. 
MOT'LEY-MINDED, adj. Fond of imitating a pro- 
fefled fool.—This is the motley-minded gentleman, whom 
I have fo often met in the foreft. Shakejp. As you like it. 
MOT'MOT, / in ornithology. See Ramphastos mo- 
motus. 
MO'TO, a town of Guzerat: five miles eaft of Pattun, 
MOTODZIEC'NO, a town of Lithuania, in the pala¬ 
tinate of Wilna: fixty-four miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Wilna. 
MO'TOL, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 
Brzefc : fixty miles eaft of Brzefc. 
MOTO'LA, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of 
Congo. 
MOTO'LA, a town of Naples, in the province of 
Otranto; the fee of a bithop, fuffragan of Tarento : fifty- 
nine miles weft-north-weft of Lecce, and 134. eaft of Na¬ 
ples. Lat. 40. 52. N. Ion. 17. a. E. 
MOTOO'RAH, a town of Bengal: fifty miles fouth- 
fouth-weft of Calcutta. Lat. 22. 2. N. Ion. 87. 48. E. 
MOTOOTABOO', one of the fmaller Friendly Iflands: 
three miles north-weft of Tongataboo. 
MOTOR,/ [moteur, Fr. from movco, Lat.] A mover. 
—Tell motion it is worfe than mad, whofe motor's not 
Almightie. Davies’s Wit's Pilgrim. —Thofe bodies being 
of a congenerous nature, do readily receive the impref- 
fions of their motor, and, if not fettered by their gravity, 
conform themfelves to fituations wherein they beft unite 
unto their animator. Brown's Vulgar Errors. 
MO'TORY, adj. [motorius, Lat.] Giving motion.— 
The bones, were they dry, could not, without great dif¬ 
ficulty, yield to the plucks and attractions of the motory 
mufcles. Hay on the Creation. 
MOTOU'A, one of the fmaller Kurule Iflands. Lat. 
49.10. hJ. Ion. 154. E. 
MOTOUA'LIS, a fmall nation of Syria, inhabiting to 
the eaft of the country of the Drufes, in the valley which 
feparates their mountains from thofe of Damafcus; of 
which the following account is given by Volney in his 
Travels, vol. ii. 
The charadteriftic diftindtion between them and the 
other inhabitants of Syria is, that, like the Perfians, they 
are of the left of Ali, while all the Turks follow that of 
Omar or Moavviyah. This diftindtion, occafioned by the 
fchiftn 
