Maranham
or MARANHÃO (märän-yang'), a maritime state of Brazil, bounded on the N. by the Atlantic Ocean; area, 150,795 square miles; pop. (1920) 920) about 520,000. The chief city i ity is Maranham, or San Luiz de Maranham, on an island between the mouths of the Mearim and the Itapicurú. It is a well-built town, clean, gay, and hospitable and has a cathedral and bishop's palace, a hospital, a technical school, some sugar and spinning and weaving factories, and docks that admit ships drawing 14 feet. Pop. about 45,000.
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Maranos
A Jewish secret fraternity which arose in Spain in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries during the persecution of the Hebrew race in that country. Its members met in the greatest secrecy at inns, disguised, and used grips, signs and passwords. (See Freemasons' Magazine, 1860, III., p. 416.)
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Maraschino
a fine liquor distilled from a small black wild variety of cherry. The best-known kinds are the maraschino de Zara, from Zara in Dalmatia, and that from Corsica. An inferior kind is made in Germany.
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Marat
JEAN PAUL (mä-rä'), a French revolutionist; born in Baudry, Neufchâtel, Switzerland, May 24, 1744. After studying medicine in Paris he wrote a work in 1775 which had for its title, "Man, or the Principles and Laws of the Influence of the Soul and the Body on Each Other." When the Revolution began, he supported it, denouncing aristocrats and preaching massacre. He joined Danton's Club of the Cordeliers, and published a daily paper, called "The People's Friend." He was chosen deputy to the National Convention, where his violence and extravagance led to his arrest, but he was acquitted. He was also president of the Jacobin Club. He denounced the generals of the French army as traitors to their country, and put the members of the Convention under arrest. The fall of the Girondists was a triumph for him and his friends, but it led quickly to his own end. He was killed by Charlotte Corday in Paris July 13, 1793.
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Marathon Races
speed and endurance races, which take the name from the traditional feat of Phidippides, who carried the news of the Greek victory at Marathon to Athens. They have become a part of nearly all important athletic meets, and especially of the international Olympic Games. The distance covered is about 25 miles.
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Marble Faun, The
The, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published simultaneously in Boston and London in 1860. The London publishers gave it the title of Transformation. The scene is laid in Rome. The principal characters are Kenyon, an American sculptor, Hilda and Miriam, two art students, and Donatello, a young Tuscan count. Donatello's resemblance to the statue of the Marble Faun by Praxiteles gives the title to the book. According to rumor, he is a descendant of an ancient faun; in the opening of the story he is represented as possessed of the simple, joyous, irresponsible nature which might belong to such a creature. He falls in love with Miriam, an artist, and for her sake impulsively commits a murder. The remorse for his crime and his passion for Miriam awaken him to a sense of responsibility and the higher destiny of man.
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Marble-chips
The chips from a marble-yard are the very best material to use as a limestone-flux in cupolas, being comparatively free from the deleterious substances usually found in the commoner kinds of limestone. See FLUX; LIMESTONE-FLUX. Marsh-gas, usually called fire-damp by miners, is often abundantly disengaged in coal-mines from apertures or "blowers," which emit for a length of time a copious stream or jet of gas, probably existing in a state of compression pent up in the coal. When the mud at the bottom of pools in which water-plants grow is stirred it suffers bubbles of gas to escape, which if collected are found to be a mixture of marsh-gas and carbonic anhydride; and it is thought by some that these two gases represent the principal forms in which the hydrogen and the oxygen respectively were separated from wood during the process of its conversion into coal. See AIR; VENTING. Martin Steel is made in the reverberatory furnace by adding malleable iron to the molten pig iron after the latter has been melted. See STEEL.
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Marblehead
a town and port of entry in Essex co., Mass.; on Massachusetts bay and on the Boston and Maine railroad; 17 miles N. E. of Boston. It contains Abbot Hall with a public ublic library and art gallery, a high school, improved waterworks, Natio National banks, and weekly newspapers. There are 30 shoe factories, seed-growing and fisheries industries. Pop. (1910) 7,388; (1920) 7,324.
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Marburg
a quaint old town in the Prussian province of Hesse- Nassau, situated on the Lahn, 50 miles N. of Frankfort; built on a terraced hill crowned by a castle dating from 1065. In its Rittersaal (1277-1312) was held in 1529 the conference between the Wittenberg and the Swiss reformers regarding the Lord's Supper. The fine Gothic Church of Elizabeth, with two towers 243 feet high, was built in 1235-1283 by the Teutonic Knights over the splendid shrine of St. Elizabeth and was thoroughly restored in 1850-1867. The university occupies new Gothic buildings of 1879; in 1914-1915 had 118 professors and teachers and 2,040 students in theology, jurisprudence, medicine, and philosophy. It was founded in 1527 in the Reformed interest by Philip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse. Pop. about 25,000.
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Marcasite
a bisulphide of iron. The term includes several varieties of iron pyrites, which have been named after the form they present: viz., cellular pyrites, cockscomb pyrites, hepatic pyrites, or leberkies, etc. It is used in the manufacture of sulphur, sulphuric acid, and sulphate of iron; but not to so great an extent as the ordinary sulphide.
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Marcellinus
a Pope and saint, succeeded Caius in 296. He signalized himself by his courage in a severe persecution. The Donatists charged him with having sacrificed to idols; from which accusation he was vindicated by Augustine. He died in 304.
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Marcellus
A Roman who distinguished himself in the civil wars of Caesar and Pompey by his firm attachment to the latter. He was banished by Caesar, but was afterwards recalled at the request of the Senate. Pope, in his Essay on Man, epistle iv., has a couplet referring to him : "And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels, Than Caesar with a senate at his heels." There were some other Romans of the same name, of minor repute. Marius, C. A celebrated Roman who signalized himself under Scipio at the siege of Numantia. He was appointed to finish the war against Jugurtha , who was defeated and betrayed into the hands of the Romans. After this, new honors awaited Marius. He was elected consul, and was sent against the Teutones. The war was prolonged, and Marius was a third and fourth time invested with the consulship. At length two engagements were fought, and the Teutones were defeated, a vast number of them being left dead on the battlefields. After many vicissitudes Marius died, B. c. 86, directly after he had been honored with the consulship for the seventh time. There were a number of others of the same name, but of minor note.
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