M Y R 
M Y R 
fouthern borders of Thefl'aly, who accompanied Achilles 
to the Trojan war. They received their name from 
Myrmidon, a fon of Jupiter and Eurymedufa, who married 
one of the daughters of Asolus, fon of Helen. His fon 
Aftor married Angina, ,the daughter of the Afopus. He 
gave his name to his l'ubje&s,-who dwelt near the river 
Peneus in Thefl'aly. According to fome, the Myrmidons 
received their name from their having been originally 
ants, piupfAws;. According to Strabo, they received it 
from their induftry, becaufe they imitated the diligence 
of the ants, and like them were indefatigable, and were 
continually employed in cultivating the earth. 
The word is now ufed for any £ude ruffian ; or for a 
conftable, or any low officer of the police.—The mafs of 
the people will not endure to be governed by Clodius and 
Curio, at the head of their myrmidons, though thefe be 
ever fo numerous, and compofed of their own reprefen- 
tives. Swift. 
MYRMIL'LO, f . Among the Romans, a kind of Gallic 
armour ufed in theatrical Ihows : but fome will have it to 
be the fame that Achilles’s myrmidons wore; whence it 
had this name. 
MYRMILLO'NF.S, f. A kind of gladiators in ancient 
Rome, who fought againft the Retiarii. Their arms were 
a fword, head-piece, and fhield. On the top of the head- 
piece they wore a fifh embofied, called Mo^v^oj, whence 
their name is by fome fuppofed to be derived. The 
.Retiarii, in their engagements, made ufe of a net, in which 
they endeavoured to entangle their adverfaries; and fung 
during the fight, Non te peto, pijcem peto; quid me fugis 
Galle'l “ I aim not at thee, but I aim at thy fifh; why 
doft thou fhun me, O Gaul ?” The Myrmillones were 
called Galli, becaufe they wore Gallic armour. They 
were alfo named Secutores. This kind of gladiators was 
fupprefled by Caligula. 
MYROB'ALANS, f. [myrobalanus, Lat.] See Phyl- 
lasthus and Spondias. —The myrobalans are a dried 
fruit, of which we have five kinds : they are flefhy, gene¬ 
rally with a ftone and kernel, having the pulpy part more 
orlefs of an auftere acrid tafte : they are the production 
of five different trees growing in the Eaft Indies, where 
they are eaten preferved. Hill. — The myrobalan hath 
parts of contrary natures ; for it is fweet, and yet aftrin- 
gent. Bacons Nat. Hijl. 
MYROBATIN'DUM, ff. in botany. See Lantana. 
MYRODEN'DRUM, /. [from the Gr. y.vpov, ointment, 
and hvtyov, a tree.] In botany, a genus of the clafs poly- 
andria, order monogynia. Generic Characters—Calyx : 
perianthium one-leafed, five-toothed, acute. Corolla : 
petals five, oblong, acute, fpreading, much larger than 
the calyx. Stamina : filaments twenty, capillary, inferted 
into the receptacle; antherae roundifli. Piftillum : ger- 
raen roundifli, fmall, fuperior; flyle long, curved inwards, 
villofe; ftigma capitate, five-lobed. Pericarpium: five- 
celled. Seeds: folitary.— Ejfential Character. Corolla 
five-petalled, fpreading, much larger than the five-toothed 
calyx; ftigma capitate, five-lobed. Pericarpium five- 
celled, with one feed in each cell. 
Myrodendrum balfamiferum, a fingle fpecies. It is a 
tree of fifty or fixty feet high, and two feet in diameter ; 
the bark thick, reddifh, and rough : the wood hard and 
brown •. it throws out from the top feveral large branches, 
which divide into branchlets befet with alternate, entire, 
fmooth, green, firm, long leaves, terminating in a point. 
Thefe leaves are largeft at their bale, where they partly 
embrace the branchlets : the young leaves are reddifh : 
thole of the young trees are fix inches long, and two 
broad. The flowers are borne in heads or clufters from the 
bofoms of the leaves at the extremities of the branchlets, 
and are of a white colour. The bark of this tree affords 
a red balfamic fluid refembling ftyrax in fcent: this liquor, 
after it has exuded from the bark, becomes hard, brittle, 
and tranfparent; and, when burnt, affords a very agreeable 
odour. The negroes and the natives of Guiana ufe the 
bark to make flambeaux ; the natives alfo ufe the wood 
451 
in building their lioufes. The tree is called red-wood by 
the Creoles; and by others is called houmiri, and touri. 
It grows in the forefts of Guiana. The refin, according 
to Aublet, might be ufed medicinally in the fame manner 
as the balfam of Peru. 
MYRO'DIA, f. [fo named by Swartz, at the fuggeflion 
of the late Mr. Dryander, from pv^ov, balfam, and o£w, to 
fmell; alluding to the powerful and lufeious fcent of the 
whole plant, even after it has long been dried, which re- 
fembles that of melilot-ointment.] In botany, a genus of 
the clafs monadelphia, order polyandria, natural order 
malvacese, or rather perhaps melias, Jnff. Generic Cha- 
radfers—Calyx: perianthium inferior, of one leaf, tubu¬ 
lar, coriaceous, tearing irregularly at the margin, without 
any uniform teeth, permanent. Corolla: petals five, in¬ 
ferted into the receptacle, oblong, oblique, obtufe, re¬ 
curved and fpreading, tapering at the bafe, longer than 
the calyx. Stamina : filaments united into a long (lender 
tube, (heathing the ftyle, dilated and plaited at the fum- 
mit, with five teeth; antheras numerous, kidney-fliaped, 
felfile, crowded about the top of the tube. Piftillum: 
germen fuperior, ovate; ftyle thread-fhaped, furrowed, 
lwelling at the top, rather longer than the ftamens; ftigma 
large, capitate, fomewhat peltate. Pericarpium: drupe 
nearly globofe, dry and fibrous, abrupt and crowned 
with the bafe of the ftyle, of two or three cells. Seeds: 
folitary, angular at one fide, convex at the other.— Effen¬ 
tial Charaffer. Calyx fimple, tubular, fplitting irregularly. 
Petals five; ftyle thread-fliaped ; drupe dry, of two or 
three cells; feeds folitary. 
i. Myrodia turbinata : leaves elliptical; calyx turbi¬ 
nate, half the length of , the ftamens. Native of the 
Caribbee iflands, Montferrat, St. Chriftopher’s, and St. 
Lucia, on the banks of rivers and torrents. The French 
call it Bois Anglois, or Englifh tree. The height of this 
tree is from thirty to fifty feet. Branches round, with a 
brown fmooth bark. Leaves alternate, on fhort thick 
ftalks, elliptical, pointed, entire, from four inches to a 
foot long, and nearly half as broad, pliable, bright green, 
fmooth, with one rib, and feveral tranfverfe curved 
veins, whofe innumerable branches are finely reticulated. 
Flower-ftalks, axillary, folitary, fcarcely fo long as the 
footftalks, fimple, fmgle-flowered, bearing numerous im¬ 
bricated awl-ihaped brafiles on their lower part; calyx 
about half an inch long, green, befprinkled externally 
with very minute, reddi(h, glandular, refinous dots, and 
filky within ; its mouth covered, before it expands, with 
an orbicular deciduous lid ; petals whitifh, about twice 
as long as the calyx, finely down at the back. Stamens 
about the length of the petals; their tube llightly curved ; 
the antherse about twenty, all crowded together into a 
globular bead at the top, each oval, with a longitudinal 
furrow. Fruit the fize of a large cherry, of a dry fibrous 
texture, and fcarcely perfedting more than one feed. The 
melilot-fcent is very powerful in a fpecimen which has 
been dried above thirty years. 
a. Myrodia longiflora: leaves oblong; calyx cylindri¬ 
cal, one-third the length of the ftamens. Gathered by 
Aublet on the banks of frefti-water rivers in Guiana, 
bearing flowers and fruit in May. That botanift de- 
feribes it as a flrrub, only eight or ten feet high ; its 
trunk three or four inches, at mod, in diameter; wood 
white and foft; the bark grey and cracked, filamentous, 
and capable of ferving for cordage. This laft circum- 
ftance perhaps induced Jufiieu the more readily to range 
the genus under Malvacese. The branches are long, 
flexible, ftraight, and fubdivided. Leaves alternate, 
fmooth, green, pliable, elliptic-oblong, pointed, entire; 
the largeft nine inches long, and three broad. Flowers 
axillary ; their ftalks l’ometimes inferted into that of the 
leaf, two, three, four, or five, together, roughifh or glan¬ 
dular; calyx rough, cylindrical, without any lid (as far 
as we can perceive), an inch and a half long, opening 
with three, four, or five, teeth, or fometimes fplitting 
down at one fide; petals white, wavy, recurved, above 
twice 
.1 
