M A I
M A I
hang by a thread from every fcalc or capfule of the fruit when that is fo ripe as to burft thofe fcales. Linn&i Gen. Plan, p. 254.. Dillen. Hort. Kith. p. 16S.
MAGNUM Os Carpi. This is the third bone of the fecond row in the carpus, and is the largeft of all the bones of that part. It is of a confiderable length, and has a kind of articu- lar round head, which is received into the cotyloide cavity formed by the two firft bones of the firft row ; and this arti- culation is capable of a fmall degree of flexion and extension. The digital fide is a cartilaginous bafis unequally and obliquely triangular, the apex being turned inward. It is articulated with the fecond metacarpal bone, and is alfo a little notched on the radial edge for its articulation with the fmall edge of the metacarpal bone. The radial fide is very fmall, and near the bafis, being articulated with the os pyramidak; the reft of this furface is without cartilage; the cubital fide is_ double, anfwenng to a like fide in the os uniforme with which it is articulated. The outer furface, which forms a part of the outer furface of the carpus, is broad, rough, and uneve-n, for the infertion of ligaments ; the inner furface is likewife rough, but narrower; and round both furfaces are feveral depreffions, ■which, while the bone is in the body, are filled with fmall glands, ligaments, &e, WinJlozv\ Anatomy, p. 84.
MAGODUS, among the Romans, a name given to thofe play- ers who fometimes acted the part of men, and fometimes of women. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.
MAGOSTANS, in botany, the name by which Garcias calls the genus of plants, afterwards named by Linnaeus garcinia. See the article Garcinia.
MAGRA, a word ufed by fomc writers for a fort of red earth, and by others for the cornelian, the red jafper, or any other ftone of a red colour.
MAGUDARIS, a name by which Diofcorides calls the fil- pbium. See Silphium.
MAGYDARIS, in botany, a name ufed by Theophraftus, and other of the old authors, for the laferpitium or laferwort. GV. Emac. Itid. 2. See Laserpitium.
MAHALEB, in the materia medica, the name of the fruit of a fort of wild cherry called cerafus fyfvefirts amara, or the wild bitter cherry, by Bauhine. The wood of the tree is of a greyifh caft and fine grain, with a mixture of red in the veins, and is very firm, and of a fweet fmell ; the leaves and flower carry, a rude refemblance of thofe of the common cherry ; the fruit is round, black, and refembles a cherry, having the fame fort of ftone in it, the kernel of which is like the bitter almond in taftc. It is commended in external applications, and the perfumers of France ufe it in their wafhballs. It is to be chofen frclh and fweet, for it very , often has an intolerable (tinting fmell, like that of bugs. Lemery's Diet, of Drugs.
MAHOMET Pigeon, the common Englifli name of a fpecies of pigeon, called by Moore the columba rwmidica alba. It is of the fame fhape and fize with the Barbary pigeon, and has all the characters of that fpecies, but is always perfectly white, which gives the red circle about the eyes a more lively look. Moore's Columbarium, p. 51.
MAJA, in zoology, the name of a bird defcribed by Nierem- berg as very common in the ifland of Cuba, and frequenting the fields of rice in large flocks. It is defcribed to be a fmall bird of a yellowilh colour, very delicate, and well taffed, and remarkable for having a ftomach on the back or outfide of the neck. Ray's Ornithol. p. 297.
MAIAGUE, in zoology, the name of a Brafilian bird of the web-footed kind, but having its hinder toe loofe. It is oi the fize of the common goofe ; its head is large and round ; its neck long, and it always carries it crooked like the fwan ; its beak is ftrong and hooked at the end ; it is all over of a browniih black in colour, except that its throat is yellow. It is found about the mouths of rivers, and feeds on fifli ; it builds on the ground i it is very nimble both in running, flying, and diving, and is not eafily taken, but is a very well- tafted fowl. Marggrave's Hift. Brafil.
MAIDEN (Cyd.) — Maiden ^iza, aflizes where no perfon is condemned to die, are thus called.
Maiden-ZwV, 'Adiantum, in medicine. See the article Ad 1-
ANTUM.
MAiDEN-rr;*/j, in our old writers, a noble paid by the tenants of fume manors on their marriage. This was faid to be given to the lord, for his omitting the cuftom of marcbeta, whereby lie was to have the firft night's lodging with his tenant's wife, but it feems more probably to have been a fine for a licence to marry a daughter. Blount.
MAILE, in our old writers, a fmall kind of money. Silver half-pence were likewife termed Mailes, 9 Hen. 5. By inden- ture in the mint, a pound weight of old lterling filver was to be coined into three hundred and fixty fterlings, or pennies, or feven hundred and twenty Mai la, or half-pennies, or one thoufand four hundred and forty farthings. Loivnd's Ell. on Coins, p. 38. Blount.
MAIN, (Cyd.) a term applied to feveral parts of a (hip, as the
Main-capjlan, Main-maj}, Main-top-majl , Main-fail, &c.
and iignifying the chief or largeft of the kind. See the articles
Capstan, Mast, Sail, &c.
. "M-AW-body of an army, is the body of troops that marches be
tween the advance and the rear guard. In a camp it \s ili.it part of an army which is encamped betwixt the right and (eft wing.
MAINIS, in ichthyology, a name ufed by Ariftotle, Athje- neus, and others of the old Greek writers, for the fifiS now* called the mena menerela, and menola. It is a fpecies of the fparus, and is diltinguiihed from all the other fpecies of that genus, by having four large teeth, and a variegated body, or- namented with a black fpot in the middle of the fides. This is the fifli the Narbons call jafcele. See the article Sparus.
MAINPERNABLE, in law, is applied to one that is bailable, or who may be let to bail. Terms of taw, Blount. See the ar- ticle Bail, Cyd.
MAINTAINERS, are thofe that maintain or fecond a caufe depending between others, by difburfing money, or making friends lor either party, &c, not being interefted in the fuit j or attornies employed therein. Stat. 19 Hen. 7. c. 14.. Blount.' See the article Maintenance, Cyd.
MAJOR (Cyd.) — Major Helids, in anatomy, a name given by Albinus to one of the muicles of the eye, called by Santo- rini and others, helids mufculus. This author diftmguimes it under the name Major, from another mufcle which he calls the minor helids, and which Santorini calls only flora mufaj- lares in plana helids fade, tho' it be a true and proper mufcle.
MAJORANA, Marjoram, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flowers and feeds are wholly like thofe of origanum, but the heads are rounder, more denfe, compact, and fhort, and compofed of four orders of leaves, placed regularly in the manner of fcales. Tcurn. Inft. p. iqq.
The fpecies of Marjoram, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The common fweet Marjoram. 1. The broad- leaved golden Marjoram. 3. The round-leaved hairy Mar- joram, with the fmell offavory. 4. The round-leaved fen- tellated Marjoram. And 5. The narrow-leaved woody Mar- joram.
Marjoram is an attenuant, di Solvent, and detergent. It is good in nervous cafes, and diforders of the hreaft and lungs. Its flowery tops, dried and powdered, and given a fcruple for a dofe, are greatly recommended in epileptic cafes. The dried plant is only kept in the mops.
The common fweet Marjoram, though a .plant {q commonly cultivated with us, never ripens its feeds in England : And, as it is an annual plant, we are obliged yearly to have a fup- ply of its feeds from Marseilles, and other places in the ibuth of France, where it grows wild in great abundance. It is to be fown in the latter end of March, or beginning of April, on a dry warm fpot; and when they are come up, they muft be carefully watered and cleared from weeds. In June the plants will be grown pretty ftrong, at which time fome beds of rich light earth fhould be prepared, to tranfplant fuch into as ftand too thick. Thefe muft he planted at four inches diftance, and the others left in the fame manner. Thefe are to be watered till they have taken root j and it is always found that thofe which have been tranfplant ed produce finer and larger knots of heads, than thofe which remain where they were fown. They flower toward the latter end of July, at which time they arc to be pulled up, and dried in a fhady place for ufe. Miller's Gardener's Diet.
MA1Z. The Indians 411 New England, and many of our other fettlements in America, had no other vegetable but Mai%, or Indian corn, for the making their bread of. They call it weaddn ; and where our colonies are at this time numerous,
[ there is yet much of the bread of the country made of this grain, not of the European corn.
The ear of the Maiz yields a much greater quantity of grain than any of our corn ears. There are commonly about eight rows of grains in the ear, often more if the ground be good. Each of thefe rows contains at leaft thirty grains, and each of thefe gives much more flour than a grain of any of our corn. The grains are ufually either white or yellowilh, but fome- times they are red, bluifh, grcenifh, or olive-colour'd, and fometimes ftriped and variegated.
This fort of grain, though fo eflentially necefTary to the na- tives of the place, is yet liable to many accidents. It does not ripen till the end of September ; fo that the rains often fall heavy upon it while on the ftalk, and the birds, in general, peck it, while it is foft and unripe. Nature has, to defend it from thefe accidents, covered it with a thick hufk, which keeps off" flight rains very well ; but the birds, if not frighted away, often eat thro' it, and devour great quantity of the grain.
There feem to be three or four diftinct fpecies of Maiz, In different parts of America. That of Virginia is very tall and robuft, growing to feven or eight foot high ; that of New England is fhorter and lower. And the Indians, further up in the country, have a yet fmaller kind in common ufe. The (talk of the Maiz is jointed like the fugar cane ; it is very foft and juicy, and the juice is fo fweet and faccharinc, that a fyrup, as fweet as that of fugar, has been often made of it; and things fweetened with it have been found not dift-inguifh- able from thofe done with fugar. It has not., been tried yet whether it will cryftallize into fugar ; but in all probability it
will.
The
