Meissen
a town in the former kingdom of Saxony, on the left bank of the Elbe, 14 miles N. W. of Dresden. Its chief building is the cathedral (1266-1479), one of the finest Gothic churches in Germany, surmounted by an exquisite spire (263 feet) of open work, and containing many fine brasses. The castle was built in 1471-1483, and in 1710 was converted into the porcelain factory over which Böttger presided. In 1863 the castle was restored, its walls being adorned with frescoes by modern painters, the porcelain factory having been removed in 1860 to other premises; 800 men are employed. Other manufactures are iron, machinery, jute, and cigars. Here is the celebrated school of St. Afra, where Gellert and Lessing were educated. It was founded by Duke Maurice in 1543, and till 1879 occupied the former Afra monastery (built in 1205). Meissen was as a stronghold against the Slav and was long the capital of the margrav ate and burgraviate of Meissen, which was subsequently merged in the duchy of Saxony. The town was burned down by Th the Swedes under Banér in 1637. Pop. about 35,000.
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Meissonier, Jean
ma-so-ne-a', Jean (1815-1891), a celebrated French painter. He was born at Lyons and died at Paris. His specialty was historical paintings. His favorite subjects were military pictures, representing guards, soldiers playing cards or drinking, and the like. Some of his paintings hang in the Louvre. The most celebrated of all his pictures are a set of four, known as the Napoleon Cycle. One of them, called 1807, is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York . It was purchased in 1887 at a cost of $66,000. See Corot ; Millais ; Bonheur
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Meissonnier
JEAN LOUIS ERholds honorary degrees from various NEST (mā-so-nya'), a French painter; France, Feb. 21, 1815. Fr cessively as instructor, assistant pro- Among his most celebrated works are: fessor, associate professor of philosophy, "The Cuirassiers, or 1805"; "Friedand dean at Brown University, he be- land, or 1807"; and "French Country, came president of Amherst College, 1814." All his works were painted with Flemish care and finish, but were, nevertheless, thoroughly original in their treatment. His pictures, though generally of small size, obtained very large sums, and he stood at the head of a crowd of enthusiastic imitators. He was likewise very successful as a designer r of book illustrations. The best of these last are the sketches for "Paul and Virginia," Balzac's novels, etc. He died in Paris, Jan. 31, 1891.
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Mekhong
or MEKONG (mā-kong'), the greatest river of the Siam peninsula usually identified with the Lan-tsan, which rises in the neighborhood of Chiamdo in Tibet (its exact sources are not known); it pursues a generally S. direction to the China Sea, which it enters by several months in Cochin-China (which country is indeed formed by its deltaic deposits); total length 2,500 miles; but not navigable higher than lat. 14° N., owing to rapids and cliffs which beset its bed in the mountainous regions. maritime
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Mekran
district of southern Asia, forming part of Persia and of Baluchistan; it is mostly arid and barren, but there are fertile tracts along the river valleys yielding excellent dates.
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Melanchthon
PHILIP, (melangk'thon), a German reformer; born in Bretten, Baden, Feb. 16, 1497. His family name was Schwarzerde, of which Melanchthon is intended to be the Greek equivalent. He studied at Heidelberg and Tübingen, and in 1518 was appointed Greek professor at Wittenberg, where he became the friend of Luther, and a convert to his doctrines. Luther was at that time Professor of Divinity there. In the following year he took part with Luther PHILIP MELANCHTHON in the disputation with Dr. Eck at Leip- . sic The Augsburg Confession was drawn up by Melanchthon in 1530, and under the sanction of the Elector of Saxony, he aided in framing a code of ecclesiastical constitutions. He wrote numerous theological treaties, Latin poems, works on history, philosophy, etc., and died in Wittenberg, Germany, April 19, 1560.
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Melanchthon, Philip
me-lank'thon, Philip (1497-1560), a German reformer. His original name was Schwarzerde, meaning black earth, which, by translation into Greek, becomes Melanchthon. He was educated at the University of Tubingen. He became professor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518, and was a co-laborer of Luther. He had a prominent hand in drawing up the Augsburg Confession, the creed of the Lutheran churches. He took part in numerous conferences between the Catholics and the Lutherans. He was a man of scholarship and peace, ever reluctant to adopt extreme measures. As illustrative of the different temperaments of the two men, Luther and Melanchthon are said to have expounded the words, "He descended into Hell," quite differently. Melanchthon suggested that it was "to talk with Plato, Socrates, and the other wise ancients"; Luther boldly asserted that it was "to grapple in a hand-to-hand conflict with Satan himself."
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Melanesia
a group of islands stretching from the N. E. of New Guinea to the tropic of Capricorn, and including New Britain Archipelago (with the Admiralty Islands), Solomon Islands, Queen Charlotte or Santa Cruz Islands, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, and the Fiji Islands.
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Melanite
black a variety of garnet; a lime-iron garnet in which the protoxides are almost wholly lime. Dana includes most of the black garnet in his group, andradite, but excludes that from Arendal, Norway, referring it to the magnesia-alumina garnet group, for which he adopts the name of pyrope.
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Melba
NELLIE (MITCHELL), an Australian prima donna; born in Melbourne, Australia, May 19, 1865; studied under Madame Marchesi in Paris, and made her début in "Rigoletto" at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, Oct. 15, 1887; appeared as Lucia, at Covent Garden, London, in 1889; the following lowing year as Ophelia at the Paris Grand Opera, and as Juliet in London. Since then she has sung in all the principal cities of Europe and the United States. She was a member of the Chicago Opera Company 1915-1916.
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Meleagris
a breed of turkey; a genus of gallinaceous birds of the family Meleagridæ, or the sub-family Meleagrinæ. They are the largest birds of the order to which they belong. Head naked, with wattles or folds of brightcolored skin, tuft of long hair on the breast, plumage more or less metallic.
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