These 12 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Meg Merrilies, Megalonyx, Megalosaurus.
mer'i-lez, in Scott's Guy Mannering, a half insane gypsy who plays a most picturesque and effective part in the romance. She is devoted to the Bertrams, and is wounded fatally while, trying to restore Henry Bertram to his rights as heir of Godfrey Bertram, Laird of Ellangowan. In the dramatization of the novel, Charlotte Cushman became famous in the role of Meg Merrilies.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a genus of large, sloth-like edentates from the post- Pliocene of North America. It has the same dental formula as Megatherium and Mylodon. The fore limbs are shorter than the hind limbs, and the calcaneum is excessively long. The animal was named in 1797 by Jefferson, President of the United States, who thought the remains were those of a gigantic carnivore at least five feet in height. Cuvier was the first to recognize Megalonyx as an edentate.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a gigantic Oölitic reptile of the Deinosauria (Orthoscelida, Huxley), occurring also in the Weald Clay. Its length has been variously estimated from 40 to 50 feet. Owen says that some of the remains "indicate a reptile of at least 30 feet in length." As the cylindrical bones contain medullary cavities, it is clear that Megalosaurus was terrestrial. That it was carnivorous is evidenced by the teeth. The oldest known beds from which any remains of Megalosaurus have been obtained are at the Lower Oölites at Selsby Hill and Chipping Norton, Gloucestershire, England.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a genus of Candidæ, differing from other members of the family in its dental formula, which approximates to that of the Civets. It contains but a single species, M. lalandii, the long-eared fox.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an instrument invented Thomas by A. Edison for carrying the sound of the voice long distances without the aid of wires.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
moundbird; the typical genus of the family Megapodidæ; often referred to the Cracidæ. Authorities vary greatly as to the number of species. They are found in the Samoa Islands, the Tonga group, the New Hebrides, the N. portion of Australia, in New Guinea and the neighboring islands, in the Celebes, the Pelew islands, the Ladrones, the Philippines, Labuan, and the Nicobars. They are about the size of small fowls, the head generally crested, the tail very short, feet enormously developed, and, with the exception of Megapodius wallacii, from the Mollucas, have somber plumage.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the humpbacked whale. M. longimana is the long-finned whale, found in the Atlantic area, as far as Davis' Straits; M. lalandii is the Cape humpback, from the SKELETON OF MEGALOSAURUS South Atlantic; M. novæ zelandiæ is from the South Pacific; and M. kuzira, the Japanese humpback, ranges to the Aleutian and Californian coasts. They yield little oil or baleen. An adult averages 50 feet in length.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in ancient geography, a small mountainous region of Hellas, or Greece proper, lying between Attica and the Isthmus of Corinth. The people were excellent sailors, and founded several the most famous were Byzantium (667 colonies, of which b. c.), Chalcedon, and in Sicily. The capital was Megara, long Megara (Hyblæa) an important commercial city, and famous for its white shell marble, and for a white kind of clay, of which pottery was made. MEGATHERIUM (-ther'i-um), a genus of extinct edentates, family Megatheriidæ , founded on a nearly complete skeleton discovered on the banks of the Lujan, about 9 miles from Buenos Aires, and sent by the Marquis of Loretto, the viceroy, to the Royal Museum of Madrid. There are two skeletons in England; one found near Rio Salado, in 1832, now in the Museum of the College of Surgeons; the other, found at Luxan, in 1837, now in the British Museum of Natural History, South Kensington. The best-known species, M. americanum, was nearly as large as an elephant, though the limbs were shorter. Its mounted skeleton measures 18 feet in length, of which the tail occupies five.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a river or estuary of Bengal, which carries the waters of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra to the sea; its most noteworthy characteristic is the "bore" or tidal wave which advances swiftly at the height of 20 feet.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Rumania, a departmental unit of administration in the W. part of the country, lying between the Banat and Transylvania, bounded on the S. by the Danube river. Pop., mixed Rumanian and Magyar, about 250,000. Area, 1,910 square miles. The chief center is Turnu-Severin.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Viceroy of Egypt; born in Kavala, Macedonia, in 1769. He entered the Turkish army, and served in Egypt against the French; rose rapidly in military and political importance; became Pasha of Cairo, Alexandria, and subsequently of all Egypt. Together with his son Ibrahim he aided in bringing a large part of the Sudan under Egyptian rule. In 1824-1827 he assisted the Sultan in endeavoring to reduce the Morea, which led to the destruction of his fleet by the allied European powers at Navarino (1827). Subsequently he turned his arms against the Sultan, and in his efforts to secure dominion over Syria by armed invasion, he was so far successful SKELETON OF MEGATHERIUM that the European powers had to interfere and compel him to sign a treaty in 1839, which gave him the hereditary pashalic of Egypt in lieu of Syria, Candia, and Hejaz. In his latter days he sank into dotage. He died in Cairo, Egypt, Aug. 2, 1849.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
THOMAS, Premier of Canada; born in 1876, at St. Marys, western Ontario. He graduated from Toronto University in 1897 and for a short time after taught school. He removed to Winnipeg where, after studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1903. He entered politics and in 1908 was elected as a Conservative to the Dominion notable as Parliament. He soon became a speaker, and was re-elected in 1911. Two years later he was appointed Solicitor-General. In 1915 he became a member of the Privy Council and on the reorganization of the Cabinet in 1917, with a coalition membership, he was made Minister of the Interior. He remained in that post until his appointment as Premier. He succeeded Sir Robert Borden, who resigned on July founded in 928 by Henry I. 10, 1920.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia