METASTASIO. 374 METAYE?,. for the generosity, integrity, and candor of his nature. His works enjoy iiiioxaniplcd [x)])!!- larity among all grades of his coimtrynien; in their pure classical subjects and foinis the edu- cated student finds instruction and deli^dit, while their facile musical grace and verbal simplicity adapt them to the popular apineciation. They were translated into many languages and set to music by celebrated composers. The best edi- tion of ':Metastasio is that of Paris ( 12 vols., 1780), with useful suiiplements in the Opcre postume (Vienna, 1795), and in the Floren- tine editions of 1820 and 1821). Consult: Ver- non Lee. Studies of the Eifihtecnth Ccniury in Ilahj (1880); Mussafia, Fieiro Melastasio (Vi- enna, 1882) ; Carducci, Lettcrc disperse c inedile di Pietro Metastasio (Bologna, 1883); Antona- Traversi, Lettere inedile e disperse di Pietro Metastasio, con un' appendice (Rome, 188G) ; O. Tommasini, "Pietro ilctastasio e lo svolgimento del melodramma italiano," in his Hcritti di sturia e critica (ib., 1891) ; Masi, "Pietro Metastasio," in his Parrueche e Sanculotti nel sccolo AT///. (Jlihin. 18SG). METAS'TASIS (Nco-Lat., from Gk. /itTO- craa((, removal, change, from litSinrdvai,^ methi- stanai, to remove, change place, from fieru, meta, after + laravai, hislmuii. to place, stand). A change in the seat of a disease from one part of the body to another. Rheumatism and gout are examples. Muscular rheumatism is more or less movable, changing from one set of muscles to an- other. Arthritic rheumatism is more liable to change persistently from one joint to another, or it may pass to an analogous tissue in another kind of organ, as to the serous membranes of the heart, or pericardium. Gout is well known for its flights from one point to anotlicr. A gouty manifestation, such as eczema, may disappear and be replaced by an attack of asttnna. In mumps (q.v.) metastasis may take place to the ovaries in girls or to the testicles in boys, with resulting ovaritis or orchitis respectively. In abscess, metastasis may take place to distant points as a joint or the kidneys. The courses of metastasis are oliscure. ME'TA SU'DANS (Lat., dripping goal). A great fountain facing the Coliseum at Rome, said to have been erected by Domitian and com- pleted in A.I). 97. Representations on mod;ils and references in literature, however, seem t" indicate that Domitian enlarged a fountain already in existence. Its name was given from its shape, which represented the goal of a circus. Only the partially restored brick interior of the fountain remains. MET'ATHETRIA (Neo-Lat. nom. pi., from Gk. inrd. iikIii. after + %)/oi', fln'rion. diminu- tive of %), llti'r. wild beast ) . The order Marsn- pialia. or marsupial manunals. In the classi- fieation of the Manunalia prepared by Huxley (t'rncredinijs of the Xniiloflietil NKrie/.i/ of l.nndon. 1S80). the inarsupials were placed in a class 'Melatheria' (compare HM)KI.imii. ) . between the Prototheria, or monotremcs, below them, and the Kntheria. or ordinary mammals, above them, and equivalent to both in rank. He enumerated eleven ehnrncters as distinguisliing the JTetatheria and giving it the rank he proposed. Subsequent in- vestigations, however, liave shown the invalidity of some of the supposed facts relied upon, and the prei)onderance of evidence that the niariupials cannot be separated from the higher mammals by any such a gap as separates them from tiie Prototheria. The term Metatheria is now retained, therefore, only as the designation of a section of the subclass Euthcria embracing the marsu]iials. Consult Ueddard, Maiiiiiitilia (Lon- don, l;i02). METATJKtrS, mc-tii'rus (It. Mctiiuro). A small river of Central Italy, emptying into the Adriatic, 4 miles south of Fano (.Map: Italy, G 4) . It was the scene of the defeat of Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, by Caius Nero and Marcus Li'iis in i!.c. 207. METAYER, ma'tu'yi'i' (Fr. metai/cr, farmer who tills the land for half the produce). An agricultural tenant who works the land with capital owned by the landlord, and |)ays as rental a fixed proportion of the crop. It may in general be said to be the resource of ;i eomnumity where cultivators are without capital. In the United States such a system of renting lanil on shares prevails mainly in the Soiitli, but as time pro- ' gresses money rents are substituted nuue and more ] for share rents, and this seems to be the natural tendency where the economic position of tlic ten- ants improves. The .system of metayage is still very common in Italy, parts of Aistria and Rus- sia, and in Portiigal and in the West Indies. It ' is, however, less common at )n'esent than it was fonnerly, the system of leasing land for a cash rental tending to displace it as agi-icultural capi- tal becomes more plentiful. Metayage is a sys- tem which possesses marked social adviint;iges, but equally marked economic disadvantages. The metayer cannot be rack-rented ; bad seiisons can- not drive him into bankruptcy; the increase in value of produce due to improved means of trans- portation redound to liis advantage as well as to that of the landlord. Metayage, therefore, tends to create a class of peasantry who are in Inr^ measure independent of the ]irice movements which are so great a source of anxiety to the small farmer who is compelled to make periodic money payments for rent. But. on the other hand, there is slight inducement for either niOta- yer or landowner to make improvements, since "one-half of the resulting increase in product goes to the other party on the division of the crop. Metayage has for this reason tcmlcd to perpetu- ate primitive conditions of agriculture. This evil is. however, not necessarily inherent in the .system, since it would be quite possible for land- owner and metayer to unite in making improve- ments, and this practice is not uncommon in France. It is also possible to make an agree- ment as to a separate return f(U- the capital in- vested. The economic disadvantages of divided responsibility would still remain, and for this reason mOtayage can hardly survive in highly ad- vanced economic condiliims. Its existence in 80 large a part of Kurope is probably to be ex- plained by the persistency of custom among the agricultural population. See Cruveilhier, Etude siir le m(laijaije (Paris. 1894). An excellent ac- count of the .system in practice is to.be found in Higgs, "Mf'tavage in Western France," in Eco- nomicJnurnai (March. 1894) . See also article on "iMf'tayage" in Palgrave. Dietinnarii (if I'dlilical Eeonnmi/. The standard works on political econ- omy usually devote some attention to the merits of iuf'tayage. Consult: Kspccially. .ilam Smith, Wriillh'nf Xntions; .Mill, I'ulilieul Eeimomy.
