Messines
a village in Belgian Flanders. It was occupied by the Germans when they overran Belgium in the summer of 1914, and constantly under fire during the fighting around Ypres. In the battle of MESSINES RIDGE (q.v.) the village was captured by the Rifle Brigade of the New Zealand Division. The Germans had orders to hold the place at all costs and the fighting was intense in cellars and dugouts before the New Zealanders gained possession. On MESSINES RIDGE (Belgium). June 7, 1917, General Plumer's Second British Army attacked Messines Ridge te, , occupied by German troops, after twenty mines, the work of months, had been exploded. It was a one day's battle in which the British won high ground that commanded the country around for nine miles in the direction of Ypres. The British by this operation gained a position that had long threatened their lines in the Ypres region. 7,200 prisoners fell into British hands, including 145 officers. 67 guns, some of large caliber, were captured, as well as 294 machine guns and 94 trench mortars. The British losses were about 16,000. The Germans recaptured Messines Ridge in the spring of 1918, but lost it when the allied armies began their great offensive in the summer of that year.
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Mestizos
people of mixed origin in countries where Spanish Europeans have settled and intermingled with the natives, as in the Philippines.
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Mesurier
a British Arctic explorer, the discoverer of the Northwest Passage; born in Wexford, Ireland, Jan. 28, 1807; entered the navy in 1824; served in Back's Arctic expedition in 1836; and Ross's Franklin expedition in 1848. As commander of another Franklin expedition (1850-1854) he passed in a sledge from Barrow Strait, where his ship, the "Investigator," lay, to Melville Sound, connecting with the Arctic Ocean to the W. McClure was rescued by another expedition, made K. C. B., and after serving in Chinese waters, an admiral. He died in London, England, Oct. 17, 1873. McCOMB, a city of Mississippi, in Pike It is situated on the Liberty-White co. and the Illinois Central railroads. It is the center of a productive cotton, corn, and timber region and has important industries, including railway shops, cotton mills, brass foundries, lumber mills, etc. Pop. (1910) 6,237; (1920) 7,775.
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Meta
a river of South America, rising on the E. slope of the N. E. range of the Andes, about 40 miles S. flowing a general E. N. E. course into Venezuela, and entering the Orinoco river; length, about 500 miles.
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Metabola
a sub-class of insects, containing those having comthose h plete metamorphosis. The larva, pupa, and imago are all very different in appearance, and these several states constitute three quite distinct phases of life. The larva is known as a maggot, a grub, or a caterpillar. The pupa, which is always quiescent, is sometimes called a chrysalis. Dallas divides it into two sections: Mandibulata, containing the orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, a, and Neuroptera; and Haustellata, containing the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Aphaniptera.
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Metacarpus
the bony structure of the palm of the hand, between the wrist and the fingers; it comprises five shafted bones.
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Metacenter
the point of intersection of the vertical line passing through the center of gravity of a floating body in equilibrio, and a vertical line through the center of gravity of the fluid displaced, if the body be turned through a small angle, so that the axis takes a position inclined to the vertical. If the metacenter is above the center of gravity, the position of the body is stable; if below it, it is unstable.
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Metal Cement
Take plaster of Paris, and mix it to proper thickness by using water containing about one-fourth of gum Arabic. This cement is excellent for metal exposed to contact with alcohol, and for cementing metal to glass.
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Metal-Working Machinery
machines and devices for the shaping of raw metals into the finished forms required by commerce, or the engineer's designs. There are two main classes: First, those machines which make or perfect one article or design in great numbers, and with speed, and, second, those which are adapted to all kinds of work. The latter are called machine tools, and are controlled by the workmen, whereas the first class are usually to a large extent automatic.
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Metallurgy
In a limited sense metallurgy includes only the operations attendant on the separation of metals from their ores; but it really comprehends the whole art of working metals, from the mining of the ore to the production of the manufactured article. See METALS; MINERALS; ORES; REDUCTION OF METALS.
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Metals in Animal Magnetism
It is recorded by the magnetists that the various metals exercised a characteristic influence on their patients. Physical sensations of heat and cold numbness, drowsiness, and so on were experienced by the somnambules on contact with metals, or even when metals were secretly introduced into the room. Dr. Elliotson, especially, gave much prominence to the alleged power of metal to transmit the magnetic fluid. Gold, silver, platinum, and nickel were good conductors, though the magnetism conveyed by the latter was of a highly dangerous character. Copper, tin, pewter, and zinc were bad conductors. Elliotson found that a magnetised sovereign would throw into the trance his sensitives the sisters Okey, and that though iron would neutralise the magnetic roperties of the sovereign, no other metal would do so. Baron von Reichenbach propounded his theory of odylic force his sensitives saw a luminous emanation proceed from metals-silver and gold shone white; lead , blue; nickle, red, and so on. All these phenomena may be referred to suggestion. When
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Metamorphosis
a change or transformation in the form, shape, structure, or character of anything. In botany, a change, especially of an abnormal character, in an organ. It may be progressive or retrogressive. Calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistils are all transformed leaves. In entomology, it means a series of transformations which insects undergo in their progress from the egg to full maturity. There are analogous changes that are more or less co complete in the other orders. In zoölogy, metamorphosis takes place in many other animals besides insects. Thus a barnacle (Lepas) or an acornshell (Balanus) is at first a free and swimming creature, which ultimately becomes sedentary and attached to rocks or ships' bottoms. Metamorphosis exists also in Annelids, in Mollusks, in Medusas, etc.
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