Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/103

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MAGDALA 77 MAGDEBURG to the "Century Magazine." The appear- ance of "Munsey's Magazine," in 1889, in- troduced a new type of magazines in this country; that containing stirring fiction with a wide popular appeal, with pro- fuse illustrations, sold at low prices, usually ten cents. The "Ladies' Home Journal," also a popular publication, is the representative type of still another class, which adds to its fiction other mat- ters of everyday interest. It has had many imitators, some of which now ap- proach it close as a rival in its large cir- culation, reaching close to two million readers. MAGDALA (mag-da'la), a hill-for- tress and small town of Abyssinia {q. v.), 300 miles S. of Annesley Bay, on the Red Sea, perched on a plateau 9,110 feet above sea-level. It was the place of captivity of the British prisoners for whose rescue an expedition was sent cut under Sir Robert Napier (Lord Napier of Magdala); and on April 13, 1868, the town was burned and its de- fenses destroyed. MAGDALEN COLLEGE (England), a famous Oxford College founded in 1848 as St. Magdalen Hall and College of St. Mary Magdalen in 1458 by William of Waynefiete. Magdalen College, a school in connection with the college preparing for the college and university, was founded in 1480. Waynefiete established four professorships: moral and meta- physical philosophy, chemistry, physics, and pure mathematics. The college buildings, among the most beautiful in England, dating from 1475, stand among extensive grounds containing a deer park. Magdalen is rich in historic asso- ciations. The attempt of James II. to force a Roman Catholic president on the college was one of the causes for his downfall. MAGDALENA, South America, north- ernmost province of Colombia, bounded by the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela, and the provinces of Santander and Bolivar. Area is 20,463 square miles, and many tropical products are grown, including coffee, sugar, cacao, hardwoods, etc. Pop. about 150,000, of which 40,000 are barbarian Indians. MAGDALENA (mag-da-la'na), the principal river of Colombia, rising in the Central Cordillera, lat. about 2° N., and only 8 miles from the source of the Cauca. These streams flow N. on either side of the Cordillera, u,niting about 130 miles from the sea. The Magdalena, which ends in a large delta, is closed to sea-going vessels by a bar with danger- ous shifting sands; merchandise is con- veyed by a railway (18 miles) from Bar- ranquilla to Puerto Colombia, the ship- ping port, where a pier has been built. The river is navigable to Honda, 500 miles, where the rapids begin; above these it has been navigated by a Ger- man steamer to Neiva since 1875, and a railway (20 miles) alongside the rapids connects the upper and lower sections. The Magdalena's drainage area is calcu- lated at 92,900 square miles. MAGDALENA BAY, a seaport of Mexico, located in Lower California on the Pacific coast. It possesses one of the best natural harbors on the whole Pa- cific coast. A rumor that a Japanese warship had entered the harbor in 1913 with a view to securing the port for Jap- anese interests caused the United States Senate in 1913 to declare such an action would be a violation of the Monroe Doc- trine. MAGDALEN, or MAGDALENE, MARY, that is, Mary of Magdala, a woman mentioned in the New Testament as having had seven devils cast out of her, as watching the crucifixion, and as having come early to the sepulcher on the resurrection morning. She was er- roneously identified as the "woman who was a sinner" (Luke vii: 37), and hence the term Magdalen came to be equiv- alent to a penitent fallen woman. MAGDALENE COLLEGE (Eng- land) , a Cambridge University college. Founded by Baron Audley of Walden, Chancellor of England, it dates from 1519, but really began its career in 1542. A Benedictine house, called Monk's Hostel, founded in 1442, first occupied the site. Buckingham College, the first educational institution erected here, was supported by property in London and the spoil of the monasteries. A peculiar feature of the foundation of Magdalene College is the appointment of the master by the owner of Audley End, seat of the founder. The college is noted for three libraries, the college library proper, the Peckard, and the Pepysian. The last oc- cupying a separate building contains the collection of Samuel Pepys, the diarist, and the manuscript of his work, and rare documents, including the love letters of Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn. MAGDALEN ISLANDS, a small group near the center of the Gulf of St. Law- rence, 54 miles N. W. of Cape Breton Is- land. The largest is Coffin's Island. The people are supported by the lobster, cod, herring, and seal fisheries. MAGDEBURG (mag'de-borc), a city of Prussia, province of Saxony, on the Vol. VI — Cyc— F