The following are among the works relating to the motion of the
moon, which are of historic importance or present interest to the
student: Clairaut, Théorie de la lune (2nd ed., Paris, 1765); L.
Euler, Theoria motuum lunae nova methodo pertractata (Petropolis,
1772); G. Plana, Théorie du mouvement de la lune (3 vols., Turin, 1832);
P. A. Hansen, Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam
luna perlustrat (Gotha, 1838); Darlegung der theoretischen Berechnung
der in den Mondtafeln angewandten Storungen (Leipzig, 1862);
C. Delaunay, Théorie du mouvement de la lune (2 vols., Paris, 1860–1867);
F. F. Tisserand, Traité de mécanique céleste, tome iii.,
Exposé de l’ensemble des théories relatives au mouvement de la lune
(Paris, 1894); E. W. Brown, “Theory of the Motion of the Moon,”
Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, various vols.; also
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vols. iv. and vi.;
E. W. Brown, Introductory Treatise on the Lunar Theory (Cambridge
University Press, 1896); Hansen, Tables de la lune (London,
1857) (Admiralty publication); W. Ferrel, “On the Effect of the
Sun and Moon on the Rotary Motion of the Earth, “Astron. Jour.,
vol. iii. (1854); S. Newcomb, “Researches on the Motion of the
Moon” (Appendix to Washington Observations for 1875, discussion
of the moon’s mean motion); S. Newcomb, “Transformation of
Hansen’s Lunar Theory,” Ast. Papers of the Amer. Ephemeris,
vol. i.; R. Radau, “Inégalités planétaires du mouvement de la lune”
(Annales, Paris Observatory, vol. xxi.); S. Newcomb, “Action of
the Planets on the Moon,” Ast. Papers of the Amer. Ephemeris,
vol. v., pt. 3 (1896). Also, Publication 72 of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington (1907); E. W. Brown, Inequalities in the Moon’s
Motion produced by the Action of the Planets (the Adams prize essay
for 1907). (S. N.)
MOONSEED, in botany, a common name for Menispermum, a
genus of climbing deciduous shrubs, containing one species in
North America and another in Eastern Asia. The former,
M. canadense, is a handsome plant, suited to damp and shady
walls, with large reniform peltate leaves and yellowish flowers
borne in profusion on long pendulous racemes.
MOONSTONE, a variety of felspar, showing in certain directions
a bluish opalescence, whence its value as an ornamental
stone. When cut with a convex surface it displays a soft milky
reflection, forming a luminous band, but not sharply defined
as in cat’s-eye. The ordinary moonstone is a translucent
variety of orthoclase known as adularia (see Orthoclase),
whence the peculiar sheen has been
called “adularescence.” The effect is
probably caused by interference from
twin lamellae, or by numerous enclosures
of microscopic laminae, definitely
orientated, and it has been suggested
that these may often be flakes of
kaolin due to incipient decomposition
of the felspar. Practically all the
moonstone of commerce comes from
Ceylon, principally from the Dumbara
district of the Central Province. It
occurs as pebbles and irregular masses
in the gem-gravels and clay-deposits,
and is also obtained by quarrying an
adularia leptynite, as described by Dr.
A. K. Coomáraswámy. Very similar
in some respects to moonstone is the
chatoyant soda-felspar which was
called by T. Sterry Hunt peristerite,
from Gr. περιστερά, a dove, in allusion
to the resemblance of its lustre to that
of the bird’s neck. The original peristerite
was from Bathurst, near Perth,
Lanark county, Ontario, but it occurs
also at Macomb, St Lawrence county,
New York.
MOONWORT, or Moon-fern, in
botany, the popular name of a small fern (Botrychium Lunaria), belonging
to the order Ophioglossaceae (see
Ferns). It has a tuberous root-stock and a stout fleshy glabrous frond 3 to 6 in. long, with a sterile and fertile portion; the former bears several pairs of close-set, semi-circular or moon-shaped pinnae, the latter
is pinnately branched and covered, on the face opposed to
the sterile portion, with small globose spore-cases which burst
transversely. It is a widely distributed plant in the north and
south temperate and cold zones, and is found in pastures and
grassy banks in Britain.
From Strasburger’s Lehrbuch der Botanik, by permission of Gustav Fischer.
Botrychium Lunaria.
MOOR. (1) A heath, an unenclosed stretch of waste or
uncultivated land, covered with heather; also such a heath
preserved for game-shooting, particularly for the shooting of
grouse. The O. Eng. mór, bog, moor, is represented in other
Teutonic languages; cf. Dan. mor, Ger. Moor, O. Du. moer, &c.;
from an O. Du. adjectival form moerasch comes Eng. morass, a
bog. Probably mere, marsh, are not to be connected with these
words. (2) The verb “to moor,” to fasten a ship or boat to
the shore, to another vessel, or to an anchor or buoy, by cables,
&c., is probably from the root seen in mod. Du. meren, which
also gives the English nautical term “marline,” small strands of
rope used for lashings or seizings, and “marline-spike,” a small
iron tool for separating the strands of rope, &c.
MOORCROFT, WILLIAM (c. 1770–1825), English traveller,
was born in Lancashire, about 1770. He was educated as a
surgeon in Liverpool; but on completing his course he resolved
to devote himself to veterinary surgery, and, after studying the
subject in France, began practice in London. In 1795 he
published a pamphlet of directions for the medical treatment
of horses, with special reference to India, and in 1800 a Cursory
Account of the Methods of Shoeing Horses. Having been offered
by the East India Company the inspectorship of their Bengal
stud, Moorcroft left England for India in 1808. Under his
care the stud rapidly improved; in order to perfect the breed
he resolved to undertake a journey into Central Asia to obtain
a stock of Turkoman horses. In company with Captain William
Hearsey, and encumbered with a stock of merchandise for the
purpose of establishing trade relations between India and
Central Asia, Moorcroft left Josimath, well within the mountains,
on the 26th of May 1812. Proceeding along the valley of the
Dauli, they reached the summit of the frontier pass of Niti
on the 1st of July. Descending by the towns of Darba and
Gartok, Moorcroft struck the main upper branch of the Indus
near its source, and on the 5th of August arrived at the sacred
lake of Manasarowar. Returning by Bhutan, he was detained
some time by the Ghurkas, and reached Calcutta in November.
This journey only served to whet Moorcroft’s appetite for more
extensive travel, for which he prepared the way by sending out
a young Hindu, who succeeded in making extensive explorations.
In company with him and George Trebeck, Moorcroft
set out on his second journey in October 1819. On the 14th of
August the source of the Beas (Hyphasis) was discovered, and
subsequently that of the Chenab. Leh, the capital of Ladakh,
was reached on the 24th of September, and here several months
were spent in exploring the surrounding country. A commercial
treaty was concluded with the government of Ladakh,
by which the whole of Central Asia was virtually opened to
British trade. Kashmir was reached on the 3rd of November
1822, Jalalabad on the 4th of June 1824, Kabul on the 20th of
June, and Bokhara on the 25th of February 1825. At Andkhui,
in Afghan Turkestan, Moorcroft was seized with fever, of which
he died on the 27th of August 1825, Trebeck surviving him
only a few days. But according to the Abbé Huc, Moorcroft
reached Lhasa in 1826, and lived there twelve years, being
assassinated on his way back to India in 1838. In 1841 Moorcroft’s
papers were obtained by the Asiatic Society, and published,
under the editorship of H. H. Wilson, under the title of
Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjāb,
in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and
Bokhara, from 1819 to 1825.
See Graham Sandberg, The Exploration of Tibet (1904).
MOORE, ALBERT JOSEPH (1841–1893), English decorative
painter, was born at York on the 4th of September 1841. He was
the youngest of the fourteen children of the artist, William Moore,
of York who in the first half of the 19th century enjoyed a
considerable reputation in the North of England as a painter of
portraits and landscape. In his childhood Albert Moore showed
