in the army and in the staff as the “man of gold,” the ideal character whom every one admired and who had no enemies.
Authorities.—Gesammelte Schriften und Denkwürdigkeiten des General Feldmarschalls Grafen Helmuth von Moltke (8 vols., Berlin, 1892–1893); Moltke's militärische Werke (Berlin, 9 vols., 1892–1900); Feldmarschall Moltke, by Max Jähns (3 vols., Berlin, 1894–1900); Feldmarschall Graf Moltke: Ein militärisches Lebensbild, by W. Bigge, Oberst, &c. (2 vols., Munich, 1901). (H. S. W.)
MOLUCCAS, or Spice Islands, a name which in its wider
sense includes all the islands of the Malay Archipelago between
Celebes on the W., New Guinea on the E., Timor on the S., and
the open Pacific Ocean on the N. They are thus distributed
over an area between 2° 43′ N. and 8° 23′ S. and 124° 22′
and 135° E., and include: (1) the Moluccas proper or Ternate
group, of which Halmahera is the largest and Ternate the capital;
(2) the Bachian, Obi, and Xulla groups; (3) the Amboyna group,
of which Ceram (Serang) and Buru are the largest; (4) the Banda
Islands (the spice or nutmeg islands par excellence); (5) the
south-eastern islands, comprising Timor-Laut or Tenimber, Larat,
&c.; (6) the Kei Islands and the Aru Islands, of which the former
are sometimes attached to the south-eastern group; and (7) the
south-western islands or the Babar, Sermata, Leti, Damar,
Roma and Wetar groups. At the close of the 16th century
this part of the archipelago was divided among four rulers
settled at Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera and Bachian. The
northern portion belongs to the Dutch residency of Ternate,
the southern portion to that of Amboyna.
The name Moluccas is said to be derived from the Arabic for “king.” Argensola (1609) uses the forms islas Malucas, Maluco, and el Maluco; Coronel (1623), islas del Moluco; and Camoens, Maluco. Since 1867, when the political unity, under a governor, was dissolved, the Moluccas are often named by the Dutch the “Great East” (Groote Oost). Most of the islands are mountainous, with still active volcanoes. As they lie near or under the equator, the monsoons blowing over them are less regular, and the rainfall, of large volume throughout the year, is dependent on the height and direction of the chains. The vegetation of the small and narrow islands, all encompassed by the sea, is very luxuriant, and the products, principally nutmegs, mace, and other spices, include also rice and sago. The inhabitants are of mixed descent. In some islands are people of obvious Papuan blood, while in others are Polynesian or Malayan tribes. With these three main races have crossed traders and colonists, Macassars, Buginese, Javanese and Europeans.
The geology of the Moluccas is very imperfectly known. The great chain of volcanoes which runs through Sumatra and Java is continued eastwards into the Moluccas, and terminates in a hook-like curve which passes through the Damar Islands to the Banda group. Outside this hook lies a concentric arc of non-volcanic islands, including Tenimber, the Lesser Kei Islands, Ceram and Buru; and beyond is still a third concentric arc extending from Taliabu to the Greater Kei Islands. The islands of these outer arcs consist chiefly of crystalline schists and limestones, overlaid by Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits. On the whole it appears that the older rocks are found more particularly towards the interior of the curve, and the newer rocks towards the exterior. Eruptive rocks of supposed Cretaceous age are met with in these outer islands, but Tertiary and recent volcanic lavas are confined to the innermost arc. Halmahera lies outside these arcs. It appears to consist chiefly of gabbro, peridotite, serpentine and other very basic eruptive rocks, which are believed to be of Cretaceous age. Nummulitic limestone occurs in the south-east. Upon the floor of older rock rise a number of volcanoes, some of which are now extinct while others are still active. Most of them lie near the west coast or on the islands off this coast; and they are arranged in lines which run approximately from north to south, with, generally, a slight convexity towards the west.
See further Malay Archipelago, and separate articles on the principal islands and groups.
MOLY (Gr. μῶλυ), a mysterious plant with magical powers described in Homer, Odyssey, x. 302–306. Hermes pulls it up and gives it to Odysseus as a protection against the arts of Circe. It is further described as “ having a black root and a flower like milk, and hard for mortals to pull up.” There has been much controversy as to the identification. Philippe Champault—Phéniciens et Grecs en Italie d’après l’Odyssée (1906), pp. 504 seq.—decides in favour of the Peganum harmala (of the order Rutaceae), the Syrian or African rue (Gr. πήγανον), from the husks of which the vegetable alkaloid harmaline (C13H14N2O) is extracted. The flowers are white with green stripes. Victor Bérard—Les Phéniciens et l’Odyssee, ii. 288 seq.—relying partly on a Semitic root, prefers the Atriplex halimus (atriplex, a Lat. form of Gr. ἀτράφαξυς, and ἅλιμος, marine), order Chenopodiaceae, a herb or low shrub common on the south European coasts. These identifications are noticed by R. M. Henry in Class. Rev. (Dec. 1906), p. 434, who illustrates the Homeric account by passages in the Paris and Leiden magical papyri, and argues that moly is probably a magical name, derived perhaps from Phoenician or Egyptian sources, for a plant which cannot be certainly identified. He shows that the “difficulty of pulling up” the plant is not a merely physical one, but rather connected with the peculiar powers claimed by magicians. In Tennyson's Lotus Eaters the moly is coupled with the amaranth (“propt on beds of amaranth and moly”).
MOLYBDENITE, a mineral consisting of molybdenum disulphide, MoS2. It closely resembles graphite in appearance, but may readily be distinguished from this by its greater density (4·7) and by its behaviour before the blowpipe. Crystals have the form of six-sided plates or scales, but they are never sharply defined, and their reference to the hexagonal system is doubtful. They have a perfect cleavage parallel to the large surface of the plates, and the flakes are readily bent, but are not elastic. The mineral is very soft (H= 1 to 112) and unctuous, and makes a bluish-grey mark on paper: it is opaque and has a bright metallic lustre. The colour is lead-grey differing slightly from that of graphite in having a bluish tinge. The name molybdenite is from the Greek μόλυβδος, meaning lead or lead ore, with which graphite (black-lead) and molybdenite were confused; the latter was distinguished by P. J. Hjelm, who in 1782 discovered the element molybdenum in this mineral.
Molybdenite occurs as disseminated scales in crystalline rocks—such as granite, gneiss, schist and marble—and also in quartz-veins. It has been found in small amounts at many localities, but only those which have yielded large crystals need be specially mentioned here, viz. in a pyroxene-rock at Aldfield in Pontiac county, Quebec; with native bismuth at Kingsgate in Gough county, New, South Wales; with wolframite and scheelite in quartz-veins at Caldbeck Fells in Cumberland; and recently, as crystals 6 in. across, at Slangsvold near Raade in Norway.
Molybdenite has been used mainly for the preparation of molybdates for use as chemical reagents. Recently, however, it has been used in the manufacture of molybdenum steel (ferro-molybdenum), which by reason of its hardness and toughness is specially suitable for tools. (L. J. S.)
MOLYBDENUM [symbol, Mo; atomic weight, 96 (O＝16)]
a metallic chemical element. The name is derived from
Gr. μόλυβδος, lead, and was originally employed to denote
many substances containing or resembling lead; ultimately
the term was applied to graphite and to molybdenum sulphide.
The difference between these two latter substances was first
pointed out by Cronstedt, and in 1778 C. Scheele prepared
molybdic acid from the sulphide. Molybdenum occurs in
nature chiefly as the minerals molybdenite (MoS2) and wulfenite
(PbMoO4), and more rarely as molybdic ochre (MoO3) and
ilsemannite; it also occurs in many iron ores. The metal may be
obtained by heating the trioxide with carbon in the electric
furnace (H. Moissan, Comptes rendus, 1893, 116, p. 1225), or by
the Goldschmidt method (Rosenheim and Braun, Zeit. anorg.
Chem., 1905, p. 311) or by dissociating the tetra- and
pentachloride in a graphite crucible with an electric current below
1330° (J. N. Pring and W. Fielding, Jour. Chem. Soc., 1909, 95,
p. 1497). It forms a grey coloured powder of specific gravity
9·01; it is malleable, and not as hard as glass. It is rapidly
oxidized on heating to a temperature of 500°–600° C., and also
when fused with nitre or potassium chlorate. It is soluble in
dilute nitric acid, and in concentrated sulphuric acid; in the
