was invited by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Paris to ascertain the length of the standard meter in terms of the wave length of cadmium light. This investigation was of great importance in that it enables the Meter of the Archives to be reproduced at any time by reference to certain known quantities which are not only constant, but also are readily reproducible. In connection with Professor Morley, Professor Michelson carried on a series of elaborate experiments designed to show the relative motion of matter and ether. He also devised the echelon spectroscope, by which he was able to secure greater dispersion than with a prism, and thus was able to study the Zeeman effect and other phenomena. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the International Committee on Weights and Measures, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and of other learned bodies.
MICHETTI, mē̇-kĕt′tē̇, Francesco Paolo (1851—). An Italian painter, born at Tocco da Casauria. He was a pupil of Morelli at the Naples Academy, and belongs to the new school of Italian painters. His works are genre subjects of peasant life in Southern Italy, painted with a rich color and much dramatic insight. His “Corpus Domini” (1877), “Domenica delle Palme” (1879), “Ottava,” “I Morticelli,” and, above all, “Il Voto” (1884), at the Capitoline Museum, Rome, are good examples of this school of Italian art.
MICHIE, mĭK′ĭ, Peter Smith (1839-1901). An American educator and soldier. He was born in Brechin, Scotland, came to the United States in 1843, and was brought up in Cincinnati. He graduated second in the class of 1863 at West Point and entered the engineer corps; served in the campaign of 1864 against Richmond; was chief engineer of the Army of the James (1865); and was at the head of all engineering operations of the left column at Hatcher's Run and in the pursuit of Lee's army. After the war, having attained brevet rank of brigadier in 1865, he was for a year engaged in the Government survey of the theatre of the war; from 1867 to 1869 he taught various branches at West Point; was member of a coastal fortification commission which visited Europe in 1870; and for the last thirty years of his life was professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. He wrote: Elements of Wave Motion Relating to Sound and Light (1882); Life of General Upton (1885); The Personnel of the Seacoast Defense (1887); Analytical Mechanics (1887); Hydrodynamics (1888); and General McClellan (New York, 1901), in the “Great Commanders Series.”
MICHIELS, mē̇′shē̇′ĕl′, Alfred (1813-92). A French historian and writer on art and literature, born in Rome of Dutch-Burgundian parents. He began his law studies at Strassburg (1834), but made his home in Paris. His publications include: Études sur l'Allemagne (1830); Histoire des idées littéraires en France au XIXe siècle et de leur origines dans les siècles antérieurs (1842); Angleterre (1844), of which a fourth edition (1872) was called Voyage d'un amateur: Histoire de la peinture flamande et hollandaise (1845, new ed., enl., 1865-76), and its sequel, L'art flamand dans l'est et le midi de la France (1877); L'architecture et la peinture en Europe depuis le IVe au XVIe siècle (3d ed. 1873); Rubens et l'école d'Anvers (4th ed. 1877); Histoire secrète du gouvernement autrichien (4th ed. 1879); Le comte de Bismarck (1871); Histoire de la guerre franco-prussienne (1872); Van Dyck et ses éleves (1880); Le monde du comique et du rire (1887).
MICHIGAN, mĭsh′ĭ-gan (Algonquin michi, great + guma, water). One of the States of the American Union, situated in the region of the Great Lakes. It lies between 41° 42′ and 47° 32′ north latitude and 82° 24′ and 90° 31′ west longitude, and consists of two natural divisions, the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula, with an extreme length of 318 miles, and an extreme width at Keweenaw Point of 164 miles, is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and on the south by Wisconsin and Lakes Michigan and Huron. On the east the Saint Mary's River separates it from the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the Menominee River forms about one-half of its Wisconsin boundary. The Lower Peninsula is in the form of a mitten, the thumb being separated from the hand by Saginaw Bay, the whole division being surrounded, except in the south, by Lakes Michigan and Huron, the Saint Clair River, Lake Saint Clair, the Detroit River, and Lake Erie, and bounded on the south by the States of Indiana and Ohio. It has a length of 300 miles from north to south, and an average width of 200 miles. The State has an area of 58,915 square miles, including 1485 square miles of water, ranking eighteenth in size among the States of the Union.
Topography. Michigan occupies an exceptional position. Lying within the embrace of the three largest of the Great Lakes, it possesses a coast line longer in proportion to its area than that of any other state in the Union. Further, the coast waters possess many good harbors and are navigable for large craft. Ships of 2000 tons can sail within sight of land all round the State. The surface of the State is in general level and monotonous, the northern peninsula being somewhat rugged and rocky. The highest elevation is in the west end of the northern peninsula in the Porcupine Mountains, a gentle ridge running northeast and southwest into Wisconsin. It includes the famous Copper Range. The highest point in the State is about 1800 feet above the sea, or about 1200 above lake level; in the southern peninsula the elevation nowhere exceeds 600 feet above the lakes. The mean elevation of the State is less than 200 feet above lake level. There are two high areas to the southeast and northwest of Saginaw Bay, respectively. The glacial sheet descending from the northeast encountered this resisting wall and split, turning in the direction of the softer rocks on each side into the Huron-Erie and the Lake Michigan regions, and cutting out basins for the present lakes. Southern Michigan is marked by two parallel ridges or topographic axes running northeast and southwest. The southern axis runs along a line roughly from Ann Arbor to Pontiac; the northern axis runs from the region north of Saginaw Bay southwest toward the Muskegon River.
The rivers of Michigan follow the morainal valleys around in a circular course—usually southward. The largest streams in the Upper Peninsula are the Taquamenon and Ontonagon, draining into Lake Superior, and the Ford, Es-
