MAFIA 76 tive part in relief measures in Belgium and wrote much and vividly against Ger- man cruelties and misrule. In 1920 he UAGAZINES MAURICE MAETERLINCK visited the United States and gave a series of lectures. MAFIA (ma-fe'a), THE, a Sicilian secret society akin to the Camorra (q. V.) in Naples. The Mafia, under one designation or another, runs back to the Middle Ages. It punished crimes against itself by death. Under the Bourbons its simplest fomi was brigandage and se- questration of the person, to be held to ransom, default of which implied death. When Sicily was annexed to Italy out- lawry was increased by the addition of the partisans of the Bourbons, who pre- tended to be in insurrection. The dis- orders were suppressed by the bersa- glieri, who scoured the country and tried by drum-head court-martial all the men they caught with arms, or who were ac- cused of brigandage, and shot the con- demned on the spot. After the re-establishment of civil rule in the island there was a revival of the Mafia. Minor crimes are still somewhat protected by the organization, but the policy of the government has been one of steady legal pressure and change of venue to the Continent for the trial of the criminals, and this is gradually paralyz- ing the Mafia. This policy resulted in the emigration of large numbers of the Mafiosi to the Southern States of the United States. In New Orleans an at- tempt to stamp out the organization re- sulted in 1890 in complications between Italy and the United States. The Italian government in recent years has succeeded partially in controlling the Mafia, and its influence in the United States has ceased to become important. MAGALLANES, the southernmost province of Chile, including all the is- lands located along the western and southern coasts. Most of the settlers live in Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan. Area 75,000 square miles; pop. 23,000. MAGAZINES, periodical publications, usually monthly, and generally limited to fiction and articles of current inter- est, largely illustrated, the word meaning a "store room" of interesting literature. This form of publication had its origin as far back as 1663, when the French his- torian, Mezeray, attempted to establish a weekly journal of literary comment, but failed. Two years later, in 1665, the first successful magazine was established, in the "Journal des Savants," in which were reviewed new books and other mat- ters of literary interest. In the English language Daniel Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe," may properly be con- sidered the father of the magazine, in that he instituted the practice of pub- lishing periodical journals. The oldest of this class of works, however, is the "Gentleman's Magazine," founded in 1731, in London, by Edward Cave. In America the first magazine was published in Philadelphia, on Feb. 13, 1741, by An- drew Bradford, and edited by John Webbe. The idea, however, originated with Benjamin Franklin, who incautious- ly divulged his project of publishing such a periodical to Webbe. Franklin did, in fact, issue the first number of his "Gen- eral Magazine" three days after the ap- pearance of Bradford's publication, on February 16, 1741, but through Webbe's dishonorable act lost the honor of hav- ing issued the first American magazine. Webbe's publication died after its second issue, while Franklin's survived through six numbers. Before the Revolution sixteen maga- zines were published in the Colonies, and forty more appeared before the close of the century, most of them failing shortly after their appearance. Of the modem magazines in this country the first was "Harper's," founded in New York m 1850. The "Atlantic Monthly" was es- tablished in Boston in 1857, and was sib- sequently edited by such prominent lit- erary men as Lowell. Fields, Howells, Aldrich, and Scudder. "Scribner's" was founded in 1870, but was later merged in-
