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158 M U C 
fuddenly falls to take a pride in making much of them, ex¬ 
tolling them with infinite praifes. Sidney. 
When thou cameft firit, 
Thou ftroak’dft and mad’ft much of me; and would’ft 
give me 
Water with berries in’t. Shakefpeare's Tempejl. 
Much at one. Nearly of equal value; of equal in¬ 
fluence : 
Then prayers are vain as curfes, much at one 
In a Have’s mouth, againft a monarch’s power. Dryden. 
Much is often ufed in a kind of compofition with par¬ 
ticles both active and paflive : when it is joined with a 
paflive, as much loved, it teems to be an adverb ; when it 
js joined with an a drive, as much enduring, it maybe more 
properly confidered as a noun. Johnfon. —We rather con- 
flder the two words as a compound adjeftive, as they are 
commonly followed byafubftantive; as Much-loved friend j 
Much-enduring man. 
MUCH WEN'LOCK. See Wenlock. 
MUCHANDERGUR', a town of Hindooftan, in Vifia- 
pour : ten miles fouth of Currer. 
MUCHAWIEC', a river of Poland, which runs into 
the Bug at Brzefc. 
MUCH'EL, adj. for muclde or mickle ; [mycel, Sax.] 
Much : 
He bad in arms abroad won muchel fame, 
And fill’d far lands with glory of his might. Spenfer. 
MUCH'ELN, or Michelda, a town of Saxony, in 
Thuringia : thirty-feven miles north-eaft of Erfurt, and 
flxteen weft of Leipfic. Lat. 51. 18. N. Ion. 11. 55. E. 
MUCH'ELNEY, or Michelney, a village of England, 
in the county of Somerfet, on an ifland in the river Parret. 
Here was formerly a monaftery of black canons : all that 
remains is converted into a barn : one mile fouth of Iel- 
chefter. 
MUCHTE'TO, a town of the Ifiand of Corfica: one 
mile north of Cervione. 
MUCHI'MA, a town of Benguela, on the Coanza: fe- 
venty-fix miles north-north-eaft of Old Benguela. 
MUCH'LL See Mok^ia. 
MUCH'NESS,/] Quantity. Ohfolete. —This fiuggifh hu¬ 
mour is condemned long ago for a mifpender of time. 
And furely it is not alone very dangerous, in regard to the 
quantity and muchnefs of time which it filcheth; but alfo 
in regard of the quality and goodnefs : for it ordinarily 
feeds gluttonoufly on the very fat of time; it eats the 
very flower of the day; and confumes the firft fruits of 
our hours, even the morning feafon. Whately's Redemption 
of Time; 1634. 
MUCHO'DER, a town of Arabia, in the province of 
Yemen, between Taas and Jerim. 
MUCHUNDRUM', a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore : 
twelve miles eaft of Bangalore. 
MUCH'WHAT, adv. Nearly. Not in ufe.*—‘ The motion 
being conveyed from the brain of man to the fancy of 
another, it is there received ; and the fame kind of ftrings 
being moved, and muchwhut after the fame manner as in 
the firft imaginant. C/lanvilie's Scepfis —If we will difbe- 
lieve every thing, becaufe we cannot know all things, we 
fhall do muehwhat as wifely as he who would not ufe his 
legs becaufe he had no wings to fly. Locke. 
MU'CID, adj. [tnveidus, Lat.] Slimy; mufty. 
MUCIDAN', a town of France, and principal place of 
a dillridt, in the department of the Dordogne : eighteen 
miles fouth-fouth-weft of Perigueux, and twelve north- 
north-weft of Bergerac. Lat. 45. 2. N. Ion. o. 27. E. 
MU'CIDNESS, J\ Sliminefs; muftinefs. Ainfworth. 
MU'CILAGE, f. A fliiny or vifeous mafs ; a body with 
moifture lufficient to hold it together. — Diflolution of 
gum tragacanth, and oil of fweet almonds, do commingle, 
the oil remaining on the top till they be ftirred, and make 
the mucilage fomewhat more liquid. Bacon .■—The ingre¬ 
dients improve one another; for the mucilage adds to the 
M U C 
lubricity of the oil, and the oil preferves the mucilage 
from infpiflation. Ray on Creation. 
Mucilage in chemiftry, is a name given to an aqueous 
folution of the vegetable produft called gum, and to the 
mucilaginous matter extracted from feveral vegetables* 
fuch as the bulbs of the hyacinth, the lichens, and feveral 
others. From thefe fources it has recently been employed 
in calico-printing as a fubftitute for gum-arabic, to pre¬ 
vent die colours from running. Dr. Thomfon has tried 
the effedt of a number of metallic folutions upon a folu¬ 
tion of gum, few of which appear to produce any change. 
Nitrat ot mercury produces a white coagulum, which, 
however, difappears by {flaking, but returns when the fo- 
lution is much diluted. Prufliat of mercury gives to a 
folution of gum a flight opaque appearance, but makes no 
precipitate. He alfo found that potafh, ammonia, folu¬ 
tions of lime, barytic and ftrontian alum, fulphat of mag- 
neliaand aluminated potafn, had no effedt upon mucilage. 
Silicated potalh produced a white flaky precipitate, al¬ 
though the folution waS much diluted. Dr. Thomfon re¬ 
commends this fubftance as the belt teftof the prefence of 
gum. It mull be remembered, however, that an acid will 
produce the fame eft’edt upon lilicated potaih. 
Mucilage is ufed by fome writers to defignate a pecu¬ 
liar principle dillindt from gum. Mucilage, lays M. Chap- 
tal, appears to conftitute the firft alteration of the alimen¬ 
tary juices in vegetables. Molt feeds are almoft totally 
refolvable into mucilage, and young plants feem to be en¬ 
tirely formed of it. This fubftance has the greateft ana¬ 
logy with the mucous fluid of animals. Like that fluid, 
it is molt abundant in the earlier periods of life, and all the 
other principles appear to be derived from it; and in ve¬ 
getables, as well as animals, its quantity becomes lefs in 
proportion as the increafe of magnitude, or growth of the 
individual, becomes lefs, orceafes. Mucilage is not only 
the nutritive juice of plants and animals, but, when ex- 
tradted from either, it becomes the mod nourilhing and 
wholefome food with which we are acquainted. It is 
found in different Hates in plants : fometimes almoft alone, 
as in linfeed, &c. fometimes combined with fubftances in- 
foluble in water, which it keeps lufpended in the form of 
an emullion, as in euphorbium, celandine, See. fometimes 
united with an oil and forming the fat oils ; and fre¬ 
quently it is united with fugar, as in the gramineous 
feeds, the fugar-cane, maize, See. It is alfo found con¬ 
founded with the eftential lalts, with excefs of acid, as in 
barberries, tamarinds, forrel, &c. Mucilage fometimes 
conftitutes the permanent ftate of the plant, as in the tre- 
mella, conferva, &c. It is alfo feen in this ftate in lome 
animals, fuch as the medufa or lea-nettle, the holothu- 
rion, &c. The charadters of mucilage are the following : 
viz. infipidity, folubility in water, info liability in alcohol, 
coagulation by the adtion of weak acids, and the emiflion 
of a conflderable quantity of carbonic acid, when ex- 
pofed to the adiion of fire; at the lame time that it be¬ 
comes converted into coals, without exhibiting any flame. 
It is likevvife capable of pafling to the acid fermentation 
when diluted with water. The formation of mucilage ap¬ 
pears to be almoft independent of light, for the plants 
which grow in fubterraneous places abound with it; but 
light is required to enable mucilage to pafs into other 
ftates, for, without this principle, the fame plants would 
lcarcely obtain any confidence. Of the vegetable muci¬ 
lages, the principal are gum-arabic,gum-fenegal, and gum- 
tragaeanth. 
Mucilage, in pharmacy, &c. denotes a certain aque¬ 
ous folution, which is very thick and adhefive; fo called 
as refembling the mucus of the nofe. Mucilages are pre¬ 
pared chiefly from roots and feeds, pounded in a mortar, 
and infufed in hot water, and drained through a cloth ; 
and they are the mod relaxing, emollient, and loftening, 
remedies in medicine. The roots principally uled for 
this purpofe are thofe of althaea, mallows, fymphytum, 
&c. the leeds are thofe of quinces, fleawort, Sec. Muci¬ 
lages enter the compofition of feveral plafters. They are 
2 fometimes 
