Latin Union; Monetary Commission; Monetary Conferences.
Bibliography. The mass of literature relating to money is so enormous that the selection of references must be confined chiefly to those which deal with the question from the American viewpoint. Reference should, however, be made to the Reports of the International Monetary Conferences of 1867, 1878, 1881, and 1892, and the Reports of the English Commissions on the Depression of Trade, on the Relative Value of Gold and Silver, and on the Indian Currency. Among works which deal with the theory of money, mention may be made of: Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange (New York, 1894); id., Investigations in Currency and Finance (London, 1884); Nicholson, Money and Monetary Problems (3d ed., ib., 1895); Walker, Money (New York, 1878); id., Money, in Its Relation to Trade and Industry (ib., 1883). In reference to the money question in the United States, the following works may be consulted with profit: Gouge, Paper Money and Banking in the United States (Philadelphia, 1833); Sumner, History of American Currency (New York, 1878); Knox, United States Notes (ib., 1884); Laughlin, History of Bimetallism in the United States (ib., 1886); Taussig, The Silver Situation in the United States (1893); Laughlin, Report of the Monetary Commission of the Indianapolis Conference (Chicago, 1898); Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance (New York, 1898); Watson, The History of American Coinage (ib., 1899); Bullock, The Monetary History of the United States (ib., 1900); White, Money and Banking (2d ed., Boston, 1902).
MONEYWORT. A popular name for various plants of the genus Lysimachia (q.v).
MONFORTE DE LEMOS, mō̇nfōr′tā̇ dā̇ lā′mō̇s. A town of Northwestern Spain, in the Province of Lugo, situated in a fertile valley, 35 miles south of Lugo, with which it has railroad connection (Map: Spain, B 1). Near by is a hill on which are the ruins of a castle of the lords of Lemos. The town has a secondary school installed in an attractive old Jesuit convent. The chief industry is cattle-raising, and there are some manufactures of cloth, soap, and chocolate. Population, in 1900, 12,999.
MONGE, mō̇Nzh, Gaspard (1746-1818). A French mathematician, born at Beaune. He was educated at Beaune and at Lyons, and when only sixteen years old obtained a position to teach physics and mathematics at the latter place. From there he went, in 1765, to the school of engineering at Mézières as designer. He was soon made assistant, and in 1768 professor of mathematics in the military school itself. In 1780 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and in 1783 was appointed examiner of the naval pupils. From that time he lived in Paris. In 1792 he was appointed Minister of Marine, and the next year he took an active part in organizing the national defense. He was also active in the organization of public education, was one of the first professors in the Ecole Normale, and was one of the founders of the Ecole Polytechnique. He went with Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798, undertook the direction of the Egyptian Institute, and conducted the search for Egyptian antiquities. In 1805 he was appointed Senator, and in 1806 received the title of Comte de Péluse. After the Restoration he lost his offices, and at this time he fell into a state of melancholy from which he never recovered. He is famous chiefly as the founder of descriptive geometry (see Geometry), a science long kept as a Government secret. But he made important contributions to other branches of mathematics as well. The development of modern geometry dates from him; he introduced into analytic geometry of three dimensions a thorough treatment of linear equations, completed the study of surfaces of the second degree which had been begun by Euler, and established the principles of the integration of partial differential equations in connection with the theory of surfaces. Following are his principal publications: Traité élémentaire de statique (1788; 8th ed. 1846); Géométrie descriptive (1795; 7th ed. 1847; new German ed. 1900); Application de l'analyse à la géométrie des surfaces du premier et deuxième degré (1795; 5th ed. 1850). Consult: Dupin, Essai historique sur les travaux scientifiques de Monge (Paris, 1819); Brisson, Notice historique sur Monge (Paris, 1818); Obenrauch, Monge, der Begründer der darstellenden Geometrie als Wissenschaft (Berlin, 1893-94).
MONGHYR, mon-gēr′, or MUNGHIR. The capital of a district in Bengal, British India, on the south bank of the Ganges, having steam ferry communication with its railway station on the north bank, 34 miles northwest of Bhagalpur (Map: India, E 3). The city, extending for six miles along the river bank, has a picturesque appearance, and is dominated by a fort containing the district offices and headquarters, on a rocky elevation. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Monghyr was noted for its manufactures of firearms, swords, and ironware, which are still in local demand. Cotton, cloth, shoes, furniture, and soap are manufactured, and there is a large trade in agricultural produce, especially butter. Population, in 1891, 57,077; in 1901, 35,880.
MONGIBELLO, mō̇n′jē̇-bĕl′lō̇. The Sicilian name for Etna (q.v.).
MÖNG NAI, mẽng nī. An eastern State of the feudatory Southern Shan States, British Burma. Area, 2716 square miles. Population, estimated at 24,000. Capital, Möng Nai.
MONGOL DYNASTIES (Mongolian, probably from mong, brave). From the earliest times the tribes that became known as Mongols about the twelfth century dwelt in Eastern Asia, in and about the modern Mongolia. They were organized and made a great conquering power by Genghis Khan (1162-1227). The great Asiatic empire which was made his by conquest was divided among his sons, of whom Ogotai received Northern China and Mongolia and succeeded his father as Great Khan. Under Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis, who became Great Khan in 1259, the empire was practically divided into four parts. The first, actually ruled by the Great Khan, included China, Korea, Mongolia, Manchuria, and Tibet, with its capital at Peking. (See Kublai Khan and Chinese Empire.) The second, the Middle Tatar Empire, given by Genghis to his son Tchagatai, included Sungaria, Transoxiana, Afghanistan, and a part of Chinese Turkestan. Its history differs in no way from that of other Asiatic States until, under a weak descendant of Tchagatai, the real power
