Single-source entries: M (62)

These 14 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Menu, Menzaleh, Menzel.

Menzaleh

LAKE, a coast lagoon of Egypt, extending E. from the Damietta branch of the Nile, and separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow strip of land, with several openings. Its surface, 460 square miles in extent, is studded with islands, the most interesting of which is Tennees, the ancient Ten nesus, with Roman remains of baths, tombs, etc. Its waters are full of fish, and its shores abound in wild fowl. The Suez Canal passes through the E. portion. The lake has an average depth of not more than three feet, except when the Nile, mouths of whose delta reach it, is in flood; and it is being gradually drained.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Menzel

ADOLF VON (ment'sel), a German artist; born in Breslau, Prussia, Dec. 8, 1815. He is best known for his drawings and oil paintings illustrative of the times of Frederick the Great and William I., emperor-pictures characterized by historical fidelity, strong realistic conception, originality, and humor. His "Adam and Eve," "Christ among the Doctors," and "Christ Expelling the Moneychangers" are also notable pictures. He died Feb. 9, 1905. (mef-is-tof'uh- MEPHISTOPHELES lēz), the name of one of the best-known personifications of the principle of evil. The word has been very variously explained, but is probably of Hebrew origin, like most names of devils in the history of magic, confounded with, and approximated in form to, the Greek, μηφωστoφίλης "one who loves not light." Mephistopheles owes all his modern vitality to Goethe's "Faust."

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mer de Glace

a famous glacier of Switzerland. It flows from the north shoulder of Mount Blanc to the valley of Chamounix--a stream of ice two miles wide and nine miles long. The flow in the summer season is about an inch an hour. It is the best known glacier in the world. It has been studied by scientists for centuries. See Tyndall ; Agassiz

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Merath

a town, district, and division in the Northwestern Prov. inces of British India. The town lies 40 miles N. E. of Delhi, about half-way between the Ganges and the Jumna. Here in 1857 the great mutiny broke out. Pop. about 116,000. MEGÆRA (me-jē'rä), one of the Furies.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercantile Law

that department of law which pertains to or is characteristic of commercial transactions. See LAW.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercator

GERARD (mer-kä'tor), a Flemish mathematician and geographer; born in Rupelmonde, Belgium, Mar. 5, 1512. He is distinguished especially for the method of laying down charts and maps which goes by his name. He died in Duisburg, Prussia, Dec. 2, 1594.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercator's Chart

or PROJEC- TION, a mode of projection or representation of a portion of the surface of the earth on a plane, in which the meridians are represented by equi-distant parallel straight lines, and the parallels of latitude by straight lines perpendicular to them. This chart is particularly adapted to the purposes of navigation, inasmuch as the plot of a ship's course, or a rhumb line between two points poi upon it, is represented by a straight line. On this account, as well as on account of the facilities which it affords for making calculations necessary in navigation, Mercator's chart is now almost universally adopted for sailing purposes.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercedes

a town in Argentina, 36 miles from Buenos Ayres. Situated in the midst of a great sheep-raising section; it is a flourishing town of the province of Buenos Ayres. Pop. about 50,000.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercedes

capital of department of Soriano, Uruguay, on Rio Negro, 150 miles N. W. of Montevideo. Is a great resort for visitors and invalids. Has large trade in wool and cattle products. Pop. about 16,000.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercerized Cotton

the name applied to cotton fabrics after they have been subjected to a chemical process which gives to them a silky luster which remains permanent. The process was invented by John Mercer, an English chemist, in 1844, and it has been successively improved by others. The agents used are caustic soda or caustic potash, and the mercerizing is performed by machinery. By treatment with acids it is possible to give to the fabrics all the external qualities of silk. MERCHANT LAW. See LAW. MERCHANT MARINE. See SHIP- PING.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercia

the great Anglian kingdom of central England. The name, originally limited to the district around Tamworth and Lichfield and the Upper Trent valley, refers to a "march" or frontier that had to be defended against hostile Welshmen. The first setwere most probably made in the tlements second half of the 6th century, but Mercia first rose into real importance, and indeed grew into middle England, under the vigorous rule of Penda (626-655). His nephew, Wulfhere (659-675), pushed back the Northumbrians, and extended the boundary S. to the Thames, and Ethelbald (716-755) spread his conquests round all the neighboring states. But the mightiest kings of Mercia were Offa (757-795) and Cenwulf (796-819), and after their time its power rapidly declined before the invasions of the Danes on the one side, and the spread of the West Saxon kingdom on the other. At length it became one of the great earldoms, and Elfgar, Leofric, Edwin, and Morcar retained at least the shadow of past power. ar-

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Mercurius

Known to the Greeks as Hermes . A celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks. He was the messenger of the gods, and conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions. He presided over orators, merchants, and was also the god of thieves. The invention of the lyre is ascribed to him. This he gave to Apollo , and received in exchange the Caduceus , which the god of poetry used to drive the flocks of King Admetus .

Only in 1000 Classical Characters

Mercury

the planet nearest the sun. From its brightness and quick way of shifting its position, the Greeks gave this planet the appropriate name of Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods. It is so near the sun that it appears as an evening or as a morning star . As a morning star it is seen to better advantage in March and April. It is a brilliant evening star in September and October. Mercury is the swiftest, the smallest, and the lightest of the planets. It has no satellites. It rotates once in eighty-eight days, the length of time required to pass around the sun; that is, a rotation for each revolution. It occasionally passes between the earth and the sun. A transit occurred in 1894, and another in 1907. See Saturn

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia