Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/795

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MAIMONIDES.
707
MAINE.

followed to a certain extent by Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. There is an English translation of the (Guide of the Perplexed by Friedländer (3 vols., London, 1885). The Arabic of the original with French translation was published by Munk (Paris, 1856-66). Consult: Wünsche and Winter, Die jüdische Litteratur, vol. ii. (Trier, 1894); Karpeles, Geschichte der jüdischen Litteratur (Berlin, 1886); Grätz, History of the Jews, vol. iii. (Eng. trans., Philadelphia, 1873); Guttmann, Das Verhältniss des Thomas von Aquino zum Judentum (Göttingen, 1891); Bacher, Bibelexegese Moses Maimunis (Strassburg, 1897); Joel, Die Religionsphilosophie des Mose ben Maimun (Breslau, 1859); Kaufmann, Geschichte der Attributenlehre (Gotha, 1877); Yellin and Abrahams, Maimonides (Philadelphia, 1903, with bibliography, pp. 219-233).

MAIN, mīn. A river of Germany and the largest right affluent of the Rhine. It rises in two headstreams in the Fichtelgebirge in Northeastern Bavaria, and flows in a westerly direction through the northern part of Bavaria, and then on the borders of Hesse and the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau, joining the Rhine at Mainz (Map: Germany, C 4). The entire length of the Main is 307 miles, and it is navigable from its confluence with the Regnitz, a distance of about 205 miles. The principal towns on its banks are Würzburg and Frankfort. The Main, in spite of its length, is not very important from a commercial point of view, owing to frequently occurring shoals and the tortuousness of its course. It has, however, been canalized between Mainz and Frankfort, so as to admit vessels of 1000 tons, and its waters communicate with those of the Danube by means of the Ludwigs-Kanal.

MAINE, mā̇n. One of the ancient provinces of France, bounded on the north by Normandy, on the east by Orléannais, on the west by Brittany, and on the south by Anjou and Touraine. It corresponds to the modern departments of Sarthe and Mayenne. The Crown obtained final possession of it in 1481, after the House of Anjou had become extinct. The capital was Le Mans.

MAINE (called ‘The Province or Countie of Mayne’ in the charter granted by Charles I. in 1639, because regarded as part of ‘the Mayne land of New England’). A North Atlantic State of the United States, belonging to the New England group. It is the most northeasterly State of the Union, and lies between latitudes 43° 4’ and 47° 28’ N.. and between longitudes 66° 57’ and 71° 7’ W. It is bounded on the northwest by the Canadian Province of Quebec, on the northeast by the Province of New Brunswick, on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the State of New Hampshire. Its extreme length is a little over 300 miles, its extreme width 185 miles, and its total area 33,040 square miles, the land amounting to 29,895 square miles. Maine is nearly as large as all the rest of the New England States combined, and thirty-fifth in size among the States of the Union.

Topography. The surface of the State is in general moderately hilly, becoming mountainous in the west and north. The elevation rises from the coast northward and from east to west toward the interior. Along the coast in the southwest corner the surface falls into low, flat, and even marshy land, and the country maintains its low and generally level character as far as the Kennebec River. East of the Kennebec the coast region rises to abrupt and bold elevations of 1000 to 1500 feet. The general slope of the State is determined by the main plateau which crosses it in a northeasterly direction and is the continuation of the Appalachians. This system appears here only in somewhat isolated heights which, while preserving the continuity of the Appalachians, can scarcely be called a mountain range. The height of this divide varies from 2000 feet above sea level on the west, where it enters the State, to 600 feet at its eastern extremity, where it dies away in the Aroostook region on the border of New Brunswick. The most prominent peak is Mount Katahdin, 5200 feet high. Nearer the western border stand Mount Abraham, 3388 feet, and Mount Bigelow, 3600 feet.

The fringe-like coast, with its tasseled edge of bold promontories and rocky islands, has given rise to the appropriate appellation of ‘hundred harbored Maine.’ The fiord-like harbors are the result of the drowning of the river valleys scored out by glacial action, and extending seaward far beyond the present shore line. This has provided Maine with excellent natural harbors, perfectly protected by the islands, but suffering from a serious disadvantage in the great rise and fall of the tides and the resulting swift currents. At Portland the tide rises 11 feet, increasing northward. Yet in spite of this disadvantage the coast between Portland and Eastport contains proportionately the greatest number of good harbors to be found anywhere along the coast of the United States.

There are upward of 600 lakes and ponds, aggregating a total area of over 2300 square miles, or one-fourteenth the total area of the State. They lie for the most part in the elevated plateau region, and are of great natural beauty. The most noted are: Moosehead Lake, 120 square miles in extent, the largest inland body of water in New England, and the source of the Kennebec River; the Rangeley Lakes, with an area of 90 square miles, the headwaters of the Androscoggin River; Chamberlin Lake, supplying the Saint John; and Chesuncook Lake, connected with the Penobscot River.

The largest rivers of Maine are naturally those of the southern slope. The chief of these are the Saco, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Penobscot, and Saint Croix, the last named on the eastern boundary. They are of little value for commerce, being navigable only a few miles inland—the Kennebec 26 miles to Augusta; the Penobscot 27 miles to Bangor. They rise at high elevations, and their precipitous character offers the explanation of their value as sources of water power. The power available for industrial purposes is enormous, the Adroscoggin alone having developed over 70,000 horse-power. Besides, the lakes in connection with these rivers furnish reservoirs for the storage of water, and thus make possible a uniform and constant supply of power through all the year. It is estimated that about 2,000,000 horse-power is available. This is utilized especially at the falls which characterize most of the rivers, and which are due to the unyielding granite beds that cross their path. The Saint John River traverses the