Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/78

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
52
RIGHT

MACAW TREE B2 lower back, upper tail, and wing coverts blue, the under surface orange-yellow. The blue and yellow macaw, A. ararauna, is one of the handsomest of the genus. MACAW TREE, the name given to several species of trees of the genus Acrocomm, natives of tropical America, as A. fusiformis and A. sclerocarpa, the fruit of which last yields an oil of a yellowish color of the consistence of but- ter, with a sweetish taste and an odor of violets, used by the natives of the West Indies as an emollient in painful affections of the joints, and largely im- ported into Great Britain, where it is sometimes sold as palm oil, to be used in the manufacture of toilet soaps. MACBETH, the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy of that name; a Scotch chief related to the reigning King Duncan, whom he assassinated in order to usurp his power, 1040. He fell in battle by the hand of Macduff, in 1057. McBXJRNEY, CHARLES, an Amer- ican surgeon; born in Roxbury, Mass., Feb. 17, 1845; was graduated at Har- vard College in 1866 ; and at the Columbia Medical School in 1870. He was Pro- fessor of Surgery in the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, New York City, and consvdting surgeon at St. Luke's, the Presbyterian, the New York Ortho- pedic, and other hospitals. When Pres- ident McKinley was shot Dr. McBurney was summoned as consulting surgeon. He died in 1913. MACCABEES, a name applied to a patriotic family whose achievements were most notable. Antiochus Epiphanes, a Syrian king, having been expelled from Egypt by the Romans, relieved his vex- ation by attempting to put down the Jewish worship. Palestine then being under his sway, the aged Mathathias, priest of Modin, was urged to set his people the example of sacrificing to the Greek gods. In place of doing so, he killed the king's messenger, and escaped to the mountains, his sons being com- panions of his flight. Their names were John called Caddis, Simon called Thassi, Judas called Maccabaeus, in connection with whom the name Maccabees origi- nated, Eleazar called Avaran, and Jona- than called Apphus. The revolt began 168 B. C, and in 165 Judas took Jeru- salem, and purified the Temple, in com- memoration of which the winter festival called the Feast of Dedication was annu- ally kept, and is alluded to in John x: 22. After achieving success, a Macca- bean, called also an Asmonjean, dynasty reigned for about a century, Herod the Great, slaughterer of the infants of McCALL Bethlehem, putting to death Hyrcanus, the last scion of the house, though he was inoffensive, pious, and the high priest. The books of Maccabees: Four books of our present Apocrypha, with a fifth not in that collection. (1) Maccabees: A work giving an account of the Maccabean struggle, with a simplicity and candor which render its statements eminently credible. It seems to have been written originally in Hebrew by a Palestinian Jew, probably a Sadducee. The Roman Church con- siders it an inspired production; the Protestant, uninspired but of high his- torical value. (2) Maccabees: A much less valuable production than I Maccabees. It was compiled by a person whose name is not given, from a more extended narrative written by Jason of Cjrrene. Jason's book seems to have been published about 160 B. c. (3) Maccabees: A book narrating events earlier than the Maccabean times. It commences with Ptolemy IV. (Philo- pator) 217 B. C. The author seems to have been an Alexandrian Jew, who wrote in Greek. (4) Maccabees: A work written to encourage the Jews, who lived in the midst of a contemptuous heathen popu- lation, to remain true to the Jewish faith. It contains the history of the Maccabean martyrdoms. It seems to have been written A. D. 39 or 40. (5) Maccabees: This work embraced the history of 178 years, from Heliodo- rus's attempt to plunder the treasury at Jerusalem, 184 B. c, to 6 B. c, when Herod was on the throne. There are many parallelisms with Josephus. It is a valuable historical production. MACCABEES, THE, a fraternal, mu- tual-benefit organization established for social and benevolent purposes in 1881. The present society united with the Mod- ern Knights in 1914. The Modern Mac- cabees admit to membership all male whites of good moral character between the ages of 18 and 70. The order pro- vides benefits in case of the disability of its members and at death. There are now more than 300,000 members of the organization, which controls a fund of $20,000,000. The head offices are at Port Huron, Mich., U. S. A, McCALL, SAMUEL WALKER, Gov- ernor of Massachusetts 1916-1918; born at East Providence, Pa., 1851, and grad- uated from Dartmouth 1874. He was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1876, and later became the editor of the Bos- ton "Daily Advertiser." In 1893 he be-