MARSHALLTOWN 137 MABTEN MARSHALLTOWN, a city and coun- ty-seat of Marshall co., la.; on the Chi- cago and Great Western, the Minneapolis and St. Louis, and the Chicago and Northwestern railroad; 75 miles N. E. of Des Moines. It is the seat of the Iowa State Soldiers' Home, and has National and State banks, public library, water- works, glucose factory, grain elevator, flour n;iills, meat-packing plant, carriage and furniture factories. Pop. (1910) 13,374; (1920) 15,731. MARSHFIELD, a town of Wood co., Wis., 95 miles N. W. of Menasha, on the Wisconsin Central railroad. It is in the center of an agricultural district and its manufacturing plants turn out bee sup- plies, wood veneer, household furniture, beds, springs, etc. Pop. (1910) 5,783; (1920) 7,394. MARSH GAS, in chemistry, CH4= CH tt methane; light carburetted hydro- gen, hydride of methyl, a hydrocarbon gas very abundant in nature. It is evolved from stagnant water, and great quantities are given off in coal pits where it is known as the fire damp of the min- ers. It is one of the usual products of the destructive distillation of organic matters. It may be formed in large quantities by the destructive distillation of a mixture of alkaline acetate with a hydrated alkali. Of all known compounds it is the richest in hydrogen, and, with the exception of the latter, is the lightest known gas (sp. gr. .5576, air=l). It is colorless, without taste or smell, and is neutral to test paper. MARSH MALLOW, the genus Altlixa, and specially A. offichmlis. It is a softly pubescent plant, with axillary cymes of large rosy leaves. Wild in a few places in England in marshes near the sea. A decoction of the roots and other parts yields a tasteless, colorless mucilage. Used as a demulcent for children, and in cases of irritation. MARSH MARIGOLD (Caltha), a genus of plants of the natural order Ranunculacese, having about five petal- like sepals, but no petals; the fruit con- sists of several spreading, compressed, many-sided follicles. C. palusti'is is a very common British plant, with kidney- shaped, shining leaves, and large yellow flowers, a principal ornament of wet meadows and the sides of streams in spring. It partakes of the acridity com- mon to the order; but the flower buds, preserved in vinegar and salt, are said to be a good substitute for capers. It is often called cowslip in the United States. MARSTON, JOHN, an English dra- matic author; born about 1575. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Ox- ford. He was entered at the Middle Tem- ple, where he became lecturer. He was the author of eight plays, all acted at the Blackfriars Theater with applause. Six of these were printed in one volume in 1633, and dedicated to the Viscountess Falkland. He assisted Ben Jonson and Chapman in the composition of "East- ward Ho." He also wrote three books of satires, entitled the "Scourge of Vil- lanie" (1599). He died in London, June 25, 1634. MARSTON MOOR, a plain in York- shire, England, where a decisive battle was fought between the Royalists under Prince Rupert, and the Parliamentary army under Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, July 2, 1644, in which the Royalists were completely routed. MARSUPIALIA (-a'li-a), or MAR- SUPIATA (-a'ta), in zoology, pouched animals or mammals having a marsupium or pouch. Under the designation Marsu- piata they were considered by Cuvier to be a subdivision of his order Canmssiers {Carnivora) , though their teeth were of various types, and many were vegetable feeders. Some have an analogy to the Insectivora, others to Carnivora, others to the Rodentia, from all of which they difi'er in possessing a marsupium or pouch. They are now generally termed Marsupialia, and elevated into a sub- class, called by Professor Huxley and others, Didelphia. The young are born of a small size and imperfect in condition, but are transferred to the marsupium, where they become attached to a long nipple which supplies them with milk. There is evidently in this arrangement a first faint approach to the oviparous one which characterizes birds. The majority of the species inhabit Australia and its adjacent islands, though the Didelphidie (opossums) are American, MARTEL, CHARLES. See CHARLES Martel. MARTEN, the popular English name for any individual of Cuvier's sub-genus Mustela, or of Nilsson's Martes. They are limited to the N. portion of both hemispheres, ranging S. as far as 35" S. in America; one species, the Indian marten, occurs in Java. The species are very similar in their habits, arboreal, and, as a rule, carnivorous, though less so than the weasels. According to Rolle- ston, the common European marten "was functionally the 'cat' of the ancients." But it is as fur-yielding animals that the martens are most important, and vast
