MOU
C w )
MOU
Horfes, and to oblige Paffengers to go and come one by one.
Thefe Umlmets are often fet near the Out-works of For- tified Places at the fide of the Barriers, thro' which People pafs on foot.
MOULTING, in Natural Hiflory, fee Molting. MOUND, a Term ufed for a Bank, Rampart, or other Fence, particularly of Earth.
MOUND, in Fleraldry, is a Ball or Globe with a Crofs upon it, (uch as our Kings are ufually drawn with, holding it in their left Hand, as they do the Scepter in-the Right. See Globe.
MOUNT, Mons, an Elevation of Earth, call'd alfo Mountain. See Mountain.
The Words Mount and Mountain are Synonymous ; but the former is fcarce ever ufed in Profe, unlcfs when accom- panied with fome proper Name, as MiountJEtna, Mount Gibel, Mount Libanon, Mount Sinai, Mount Atlas, Mount Parnafjm, &c.
In Gardening, Mount is fometimes alfo ufed for a Walk raifed on the fide of the Garden above the Level of the reft of the Plot.
Mounts of Piety, are certain Funds or Efrablilhments in Italy, where Money is lent out on fome fmall Security. "We had alfo Mourns of Piety in England, raifed by Contribu- tion for the Benefit of People ruin'd by the Extortions of the Jews.
MOUNTAIN, Mons, Mount, a Part of the Earth ri- ling to a confiderable Height above the Level of the Sur- face thereof. See Earth.
The Origin of Mountains is variouily afiigned by Philo- fophers : Some will have 'em co-cval with the World, and created along with it.
Others, among whom Dr. Burnet, will have 'em to take their Rife from the Deluge ; urging, that the extreme Ir- regularity and Diforder vifible in 'em, plainly (hews they don't come immediately out of the hand of God, but are the Wrecks of the Old World broken into the Abyfs.
Others again, allcdge from Hillory, that the Roots of many Hills being eaten away, the Hills themfelves have fubfided, and funk into Plains : Whence they conclude, that where the Corruption is natural, the Generation is fo too.
This, indeed, appears pretty evident, that fome Moun- tains mull have been generared gradually, and have grown up in Procefs of Time, from the Sea-Shells, ££c. found in many of 'em ; which may be accounted for from a violent Wind blowing the Sand, 0<s. into huge Heaps, which are afterwards made into a Mafs by the Rain, £?c. Some a- mong the Divines tell us, that the Earth was created per- fectly even; and that when God feparated the Water from the Land, he dug Channels in the Earth ; and the Earth fcoop'd our, he threw up in Mountains : but whether the Mountains be fufficient to fill all the Channels of the Ocean, let them look to it.
The Ufes o( Mountains are almoft infinite ; we Ihall only mention two or three, i. They ferve as Skreens to keep off the Cold and nipping Blafls of the Northern and Eati- ern Winds, i. They ferve for rhe Production of a great Number of Vegetables and Minerals, which are not found in any other Soil. 5. The long Ridges and Chains of lofty and topping Mountains being generally found ro run from Eaft to Weft, ferve to flop the Evagation of the Vapours towards the Poles, without which they would all run from .the Hot Countreys, and leave 'em destitute of Rain.
Mr. Ray adds, that they condenfe thofe Vapours, like Alembic-Heads, into Clouds, and fo by a kind of external Dillillation, give Original to Springs and Rivers ; and by amaffing, cooling, and conflipating them, turn them into Rain, and by that means render the fervid Regions of the torrid Zone habitable, See Springs, £S?c.
In Hiftory we have Inftances of Mountains travelling a confiderable Difiance, particularly Husket-Marvel-Hill, if I mif-remember not, in Herefirdfiire, which is faid to 'have made a confiderable Journey.
To meafure the Height of a Mountain, fee Altitude, &c.
Tho there is another way ufed by. Dr. Halley in the Mea- fure of Snowdon-HM in Wales, by means of a Barometer, the different Heights of whofe Mercury at the Top and Bot- tom of the. Mountain, give its perpendicular Altirude, ac- counting 82 Feet perpendicular Afcent, for every Inch va- ried in the Height of the Mercury. See Levelling. Mountains in the Moon, fee Moon. MOUNTING the Guard, Trenches, Breach, £-?c. denotes the going upon Duty; being upon Guard, in the Trenches 5 tunning to the Breach, $£c. See Guard, Trench ££c.
Mounting a Cannon, Mortar, &c. is the fetting it on its Carriage ; or the railing its Mouth. See Cannon, Mor- tar, Carriage,^.
Mounting in Manufactures, fomethingferving to raife or fet off a Work.
Thus the Frame or Border and its Dependencies makes the Mounting of a Looking-Glafs.
The Full, or But, theMwBJiisgof aMufquet, Carabine. S?c.
The Hilt, i£c. the Mounting ofa Sword. Mounting of a Fan, rhe Sticks which ferve to open and fhut it, whether they be of Wood, Ivory, Tortoife- fhellj Whale-Bone, Indian-Cane, &c. SeeFAN.
MOURNING, a particular Drefs, or Habit wore, to figmfy Grief, on fome melancholy Occafion. >
1 he Modes of Mourning are various in various Countries ; as are alfo the Colours rhat obtain for that End.
In Europe, the ordinary Colour for Mourning is Slack; in China, White; in Turky, Blue, or Violet; in Egypt, 2'elloiv ; in Ethiopia, Brown.
Theantienti^airuK and Roman Ladies mourn'd in White; and the fame Colour obtain'd formerly in Cajtile on the Death of their Princes. Her-era obferves, that the laft time it was ufed, was in 145H, at the Death of Prince john. Kings and Cardinals mourn in Purple.
Each People have their Reafons for the particular Cor lour o£ their Mwrsng : White is fuppos'd to denote Pu- rity; Yellow, that Death is the End of human Hopes, in regard Leaves when they fall, and Flowers when they fade, become Yellow. Brown denotes the Earth, whither the Dead return. Black, the Privation of Life, as being the Privation of Light. Blue cxpreffes the Happinefi which 'tis hoped the Deceafed does enjoy ; and Purple, or Violer, Sorrow en the one fide, and Hope on the other ; as being a Mixture of Black and Blue.
MOUTH, in Anatomy, a parr of the human Face, con- filling of ihe Lip, the Gwru, the Iniide of the Cheeks, and the Palate. Sec Face, Lips, Gums, lye.
All thefe Parts are lined with a glandulous Coat, which is continu'd over the whole inner Surface of the Mouth, and all its Parts, the Teeth excepted.
From the Glands of this Coat, thro innumerable little excretory Dufls, is feparated a kind of Salival Juice, which ferves to keep the Mouth, and all its Parts, moiil, fmooth, and llippery. See Saliva.
On the hind part of rhe Palate, perpendicularly over the Rima of the Larynx, hangs a round, foft, fmooth Body, like the End of a Child's Finger, form'd ny the Duplica- ture of the Membrane of the Palare, and cail'd rhe .tiula, which is moved by two Mufcles, call'd Sphenojtaphilinus and Pterygojiafhtlinus ; and fufpended by as many Liga- ments. See Uvula.
Undet the Membrane of the Palate, are a great number of Glands pretty confpicuous in rhe fore-part', like Grains of Millet; whofe excretory Dufls piercing the Mem- brane, open into the Mouth: but towards the hind-part they lie much thicker, and about the Root of the Uvula are gather'd fo clofe to one another, that they feem to form one large conglomerate Gland ; which is therefore, by t'erhcyen, call'd Glandula conglemerata Palatina. See Palate.
The Gums are, as it were, the Ligaments of the Teeth; which fee under Genciva.
. Bcfides the proper Parts of the Mouth, there are in and about it others, highly ferviceable and neceffary rhereto.
Among which are rhe Glands; the moll confiderable whereof are the Parotides, the GlanduU Maxillares, the Sub- lingual, and the Ton/tls or AmygdaU ; which fee in their refpeflive Places. See Parotides, iyc.
Thefe are the Salival Organs, whence fprings all that Liquor we call the Spittle, which flows into the Mouth bv the refpeflive Dufls, after its Separation from rhe Blood in the Bodies of the Glands : As the Demand of Spittle is greater in Aflions of the lower Jaw, /'. e. in Maftication Deglutition, much Talking, £&. fo does the Difpofition of thefe Salival Dufls favour that Difcharge on thofe Occa- fions.
Mr. Derhani obferves the Mouth, in tho feveral Species to be nicely adapted to the Ufes of fuch a Parr; well fized and maped for the catching of Prey, for the gathering and receiving Food, the Formation of Speech i$c
In fome Creatures it is wide and large, in' fome little and narrow; ,n fome with a deep Incifure up into the Head, for the better catching and holding of Prey, and more eafy Comminution of hard, large, and troublcfome Food ;m others w,,h a morter Incifure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous Food.
In Infefls ir is very notable : in fome forcipated to catch bold and tear the Prey ; in fome aculeated, to pierce and wound Animals, and fuck their Blood ; in others ftrongly ndgd wnh Jaws and Teeth, to gnaw and fcrape out their Food carry Burdens, perforate the Earth, nay, the hardeft Wood, and even Stones themfelves, for Houfes and Nells for their Young.
Nor is it lefs remarkable in Birds, being neatly fliaped for piercing the Air, hard and horny, to fupplythe want of leeth j hooked m the rapacious Kind, to catch and hold
their
