nerve stimuli, but many causes influence them, as their condition of nutrition, mental states etc. A good illustration is found in the muscles of the face. They vary with the emotions and mental states, and the expression of the face is the result of the action of a number of muscles.
Musko′gee, Okla., county-seat of Muskogee County, on the Arkansas River. It has rich agricultural surroundings, as well as natural gas, oil and coal in the vicinity. Among its important industries are an oil-refinery, a packing-plant, sash and door factories, bottling-works, foundries, cottonseed oil and flour mills and casket, soap and broom factories. Muskogee has fine public schools, three colleges, a business college, many churches and a large convention-hall. The city has the service of four railroads, the general offices and shops of two being located here. Population 25,278.
Mu′ses, in Greek mythology, goddesses included in the first place among the nymphs but afterward held to be quite distinct from them. They had the power of inspiring song, and so poets and musicians were considered their pupils and favorites. They were first honored by the Thracians, and, as this people first lived in Pieria around Mt. Olympus, the muses were called Pierides. There at first were three, though Homer sometimes speaks of a single muse and once refers to nine. This is the number given by Hesiod, who also gives their names; Clio, the muse of history; Euterpe, of lyric poetry; Thalia, of comedy; Melpomene, of tragedy; Terpsichore, of choral dance and song; Erato, of the poetry of passion; Polyhymnia, of hymns; Urania, of astronomy; and Calliope, of epic poetry. They usually were said to be the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Homer speaks of them as the goddesses of song and as dwelling on the top of Mt. Olympus. They were also called the companions of Apollo, singing while he played on the lyre at the banquets of the gods. They were said to have won victories over the sirens in musical tournaments. Their worship among the Romans was merely copied from the Greeks, and never became truly national or popular. The fountains of Aganippe and Hippocrene on Mount Helicon and the Castalian spring on Mount Parnassus were the most famous places sacred to the nine muses.
Muse′ums on the whole are a modern birth, although the name was in existence among the ancient Greeks. For, with the Greeks, a museum either was a place dedicated to the muses; or else was of the nature of a temple, school or university. The museum of Alexandria was in its day the great university of the world. The modern museum has arisen out of the modern scientific spirit, which demands actual objects instead of mere words for purposes of study and progress. The British Museum, then, which came into being in 1753, was the beginning of a great laboratory movement in general science. The first French museum was virtually established when in 1789 the magnificent collections of the Louvre were thrown open to the public. The first great American museum was Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1846. This institute partook of the nature of a national museum, for in it were deposited the various collections of documents and relics belonging to the nation, until in 1876 a separate national museum was opened. The British Museum still is the center of interest to scientists, chiefly owing to its wonderful collections of antiquities and its magnificent library. For the purposes of public exhibition it is generally regarded as preferable to show but a portion of the articles, such as are of a character to attract popular interest and educate the popular mind.
Mush′rooms, edible fungi. They grow in fields and pastures, occasionally in open, grassy woods, abound in the early autumn, may be found throughout the summer. They are cultivated for the market both outdoors and in caves, cellars and other dark, cool places. Their food-value is not high, but they are prized as a table delicacy. Poisonous toadstools are frequently mistaken for mushrooms, and great care must be used when gathering the fungi. In the Agricultural Year Book, Washington, 1897, Farlow says: “Avoid fungi when in the button or unexpanded stage, also those in which the flesh has begun to decay, even if only slightly. Avoid all fungi which have stalks with a swollen base surrounded by a sac-like or scaly envelope, especially if the gills are white. Avoid all fungi having a milky juice, unless the milk is reddish. Avoid fungi in which the cap or pileus is thin in proportion to the gills, and in which the gills are nearly all of equal length, especially if the pileus is bright-colored. Avoid all tube-bearing fungi in which the flesh changes color when cut or broken or where the mouths of the tube are reddish; and in case of other tube-bearing fungi experiment with caution. Fungi which have a sort of spider-web or flocculent ring around the upper part of the stalk should in general be avoided.” See Fungi and Basidomycetes. Consult Farlow as above and Falconer: How to Grow Mushrooms.
Mu′sic, Religious. One thing is characteristic of all genuine religious music and is manifest in all its multitudinous presentations whether in the cathedral or on the street. This is that music serves as a means for expressing religious feeling. Religious music thus is not an end in itself, but is used as a means for arousing religious feeling. While music, from the martial song to the lullaby, awakens feelings of the utmost variety, the music itself does not define these feelings; it is only through the aid of
