Encyclopædia Britannica;
Or, A NEW and COMPLETE
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS and SCIENCES.
M A C
MACAO, an iſland of China, in the province of Canton, fifty miles ſouth of Canton.
Macao, in ornithology. See Psittacus.
MACCABEES, two apocryphal books of ſcripture; ſo called from Judas Mattathias, ſurnamed Maccabeus. The ſirſt book of the Maccabees is an excellent hiſtory, and comes neareſt to the ſtyle and manner of the ſacred hiſtorians of any extant. It contains the hiſtory of forty years, from the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Simon the high prieſt; that is, from the year of the world 3829 to the year 3869, 131 before Chriſt. The ſecond book of the Maccabees begins with two epiſtles ſent from the Jews of Jeruſalem to the Jews of Egypt and Alexandria, to exhort them to obſerve the feaſt of the dedication of the new altar erected by Judas on his purifying the temple. After theſe epiſtles follows the preface of the author to his hiſtory, which is an abridgment of a larger work, compoſed by one Jafon, a Jew of Cyrene, who wrote the hiſtory of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, and the wars againſt Antiochus Epiphanes and Eupator his ſon. This ſecond book does not, by any means, equal the accuracy and excellency of the ſirth. It contains a hiſtory of about fifteen years, from the execution of Heliodorus's commiſſion, who was ſent by Seleucus to fetch away the treaſures of the temple, to the victory obtained by Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor; that is, from the year of the world 3828, to the year 3843, 147 years before Chriſt.
MACCLESFIELD, a market-town of Cheſhire, thirty-five miles eaſt of Cheſter, from whence the noble family of Parker take the title of earl.
M A C
MACE, the ſecond coat or covering of the kernel of the nutmeg, is a thin and membranaceous ſubſtance, of an oleaginous nature and a yellowiſh colour; being met with in flakes of an inch and more in length, which are divided into a multitude of ramifications. It is of an extremely fragrant, aromatic and agreeable flavour, and of a pleaſant, but acrid and oleaginous taſte.
Mace is carminative, ſtomachic, and aſtringent; and poſſeſſes all the virtues of nutmeg, but is leſs aſtringent.
MACEDONIA, a province of European Turky, bounded by Servia and Romania, on the north and eaſt; by the gulphs of Salonichi, Conteſſa and Theſſaly, on the ſouth; and by Albania and Epirus, on the weſt.
MACERATION, is an infuſion of, or ſoaking ingredients in water or any other fluid, in order either to ſoften them, or draw yout their virtues.
MACHIAN, a ſmall iſland of the Moluccas, which produces the beſt cloves: it is ſituated under the equator, in 125° E. long. and is ſubject to the Dutch.
MACHINE, in general, whatever hath force ſufficient to raiſe or ſtop the motion of a heavy body. See Mechanics.
MACHINERY, in epic and dramatic poetry, is when the poet introduces the uſe of machines, or brings ſome ſupernatural being upon the ſtage, in order to ſolve ſome difficulty, or to perform ſome exploit out of the reach of human power. See Composition.
MACKERNA, or Mackan, the capital of a province in Perſia of the ſame name; ſituated in E. long. 66°, and N. lat. 26°.
MACKEREL, in ichthyology. See Scomber.
Vol. III. No. 69.
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MACROCERCI,
