Part 2 — Chapter III. (These four articles abrogated by the four articles following them, 118-122.) Article 118. The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended. (continued 109)

H. Helmholtz, On Thought in Medicine (Popular Lectures, series 2, lecture 5).

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th. Century. Physiological Views of Bichat.

Marie Francis Xavier Bichat, was born in 1771 and died in 1802, accomplishing his extraordinary work as an anatomist and physician within a lifetime of thirty-one years. "The peculiar physiological views of Bichat are to be found stated more or less distinctly in all his works; and it is a merit of his that he has always kept in sight the necessary connexion of this part of the science of medicine with every other, and, so far as he has developed his ideas upon the subjects of pathology, materia medica, and therapeutics, they seem all to have been founded upon and connected with the principles of physiology, which he had adopted. … Everything around living bodies, according to Bichat, tends constantly to their destruction. And to this influence they would necessarily yield, were they not gifted with some permanent principle of reaction. This principle is their life, and a living system is therefore necessarily always engaged in the performance of functions, whose object is to resist death. Life, however, does not consist in a single principle, as has been taught by some celebrated writers, by Stahl, Van Helmont, and Barthez, &c. We are to study the phenomena of life, as we do those of other matter, and refer the operations performed in living systems to such ultimate principles as we can trace them to, in the same way that we do the operations taking place among inorganic substances. … His essential doctrine … is that there is no one single, individual, presiding principle of vitality, which animates the body, but that it is a collection of matter gifted for a time with certain powers of action, combined into organs which are thus enabled to act, and that the result is a series of functions, the connected performance of which constitutes it a living thing. This is his view of life, considered in the most general and simple way. But in carrying the examination farther, he points out two remarkable modifications of life, as considered in different relations, one common both to vegetables and animals, the other peculiar to animals. … Those which we have in common with the vegetable, which are necessary merely to our individual, bodily existence, are called the functions of organic life, because they are common to all organized matter. Those, on the other hand, which are peculiar to animals, which in them are superadded to the possession of the organic functions, are called the functions of animal life. Physiologically speaking, then, we have two lives, the concurrence of which enables us to live and move and have our being; both equally necessary to the relations we maintain as human beings, but not equally necessary to the simple existence of a living thing. … The two lives differ, in some important respects, as to the organs by which their functions are performed. Those of the animal life present a symmetry of external form, strongly contrasted with the irregularity, which is a prominent characteristic of those of organic life. In the animal life, every function IS either performed by a pair of organs, perfectly similar in structure and size, situated one upon each side of the median dividing line of the body, or else by a single organ divided into two similar and perfectly symmetrical halves by that line. … The organs of the organic life, on the contrary, present a picture totally different; they are irregularly formed, and irregularly arranged. … This symmetry of the form is accompanied by a corresponding harmony in the functions of the organs of the animal life. … The functions of the organic life are constantly going on; they admit of no interruption, no repose. … In those of the animal life, the case is widely different. They have intervals of entire repose. The organs of this life are incapable of constant activity, they become fatigued by exercise and require rest. This rest, with regard to any particular organ, is the sleep of that organ. … Upon this principle, Bichat founds his theory of sleep. General sleep is the combination of the sleep of particular organs. Sleep then is not any definite state, but is more or less complete rest of the whole system in proportion to the number of organs which require repose. … The two lives differ also in regard to habit; the animal being much under its control, the organic but slightly. … But the principal and most important feature in the physiological system of Bichat, is the complete, and entire, and exclusive explanation of all the phenomena of the living system upon the principles of vitality alone. Former physiologists have not always kept this distinctly in view. … The human body has been regarded, too often, as a mass of matter, organized to be sure, but yet under the direction of physical laws, and the performance of its functions has been ascribed to the powers of inorganic matter. Hence, physiology has generally been somewhat tinctured by the favorite science of the age, with some of its notions. … With Bichat the properties of life were all in all. The phenomena of the system, whether in health or disease, were all ascribed to their influence and operation."

J. Ware, Life and Writings of Bichat (North American Review, July, 1822).

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MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18-19th Centuries. Pinel and the Reform in treatment of the Insane.

Philippe Pinel, "who had attained some distinction as an alienist, was appointed, 1792, to fill the post of superintendent of the Bicêtre, which then contained upwards of 200 male patients, believed not only to be incurable, but entirely uncontrollable. The previous experience of the physician, here stood him in good stead. He had been a diligent student of the authorities of his own and foreign countries on diseases of the mind, and in his earlier years had been appointed by the French government to report on the condition of the asylums at Paris and Charenton. On assuming the oversight of the Bicêtre, he found 53 men languishing in chains, some of whom had been bound for a great number of years. These were regarded by the authorities as dangerous and even desperate characters; but the sight of men grown gray and decrepit as the result of prolonged torture, made a very different impression on the mind of Pinel. He addressed appeal after appeal to the Commune, craving power to release, without delay, the unhappy beings under his charge. The authorities tardily and unwillingly yielded to the importunity of the physician. An official, who was deputed by the Commune to accompany the superintendent and watch his experiment, no sooner caught sight of the chained maniacs than he excitedly exclaimed: 'Ah, ça! citoyen, es-tu fou toi-même de vouloir déchaîner de pareils animaux?' The physician was not to be deterred, however, from carrying out his benevolent project, and did not rest satisfied until all of the 53 men had been gradually liberated from their chains. Singular as it may appear, the man who had been regarded as the most dangerous, and who had survived forty years of this severe treatment, was afterwards known as the faithful and devoted servant of Pinel. The reforms of Pinel were not confined to the Bicêtre, an establishment exclusively for men, but extended to the Salpêtrière, an institution for women. There is, perhaps, no more touching event in history than that of this kind-hearted and wise physician removing the bands and chains from the ill-fated inmates of this place of horrors. The monstrous fallacy of cruel treatment once fully exposed, the insane came to be looked upon as unfortunate human beings, stricken with a terrible disease, and, like other sick persons, requiring every aid which science and benevolent sympathy could provide with a view to cure. Governmental inquiries were instituted with a view to the attainment of better treatment, and in different countries, almost simultaneously, the provision of suitable and adequate accommodation for the insane was declared to be a State necessity."

W. P. Letchworth, The Insane in Foreign Countries, chapter 1.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The Discovery of Anæsthetics.

"In 1798, Mr. Humphry Davy, an apprentice to Mr. Borlase a surgeon at Bodmin, had so distinguished himself by zeal and power in the study of chemistry and natural philosophy, that he was invited by Dr. Beddoes of Bristol, to become the 'superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution which had been established at Clifton for the purpose of trying the medicinal effects of different gases.' He obtained release from his apprenticeship, accepted the appointment, and devoted himself to the study of gases, not only in their medicinal effects, but much more in all their chemical and physical relations. After two years' work he published his 'Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide.' … He wrote, near the end of his essay: 'As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.' It seems strange that no one caught at a suggestion such as this. … The nitrous oxide might have been of as little general interest as the carbonic or any other, had it not been for the strange and various excitements produced by its inhalation. These made it a favourite subject with chemical lecturers, and year after year, in nearly every chemical theatre, it was fun to inhale it after the lecture on the gaseous compounds of nitrogen; and among those who inhaled it there must have been many who, in their intoxication, received sharp and heavy blows, but, at the time, felt no pain. And this went on for more than forty years, exciting nothing worthy to be called thought or observation, till, in December 1844, Mr. Colton, a popular itinerant lecturer on chemistry, delivered a lecture on 'laughing gas' in Hartford, Connecticut. Among his auditors was Mr. Horace Wells, an enterprising dentist in that town, a man of some power in mechanical invention. After the lecture came the usual amusement of inhaling the gas, and Wells, in whom long wishing had bred a kind of belief that something might be found to make tooth-drawing painless, observed that one of the men excited by the gas was not conscious of hurting himself when he fell on the benches and bruised and cut his knees. Even when he became calm and clear-headed the man was sure that he did not feel pain at the time of his fall. Wells was at once convinced—more easily convinced than a man of more scientific mind would have been—that, during similar insensibility, in a state of intense nervous excitement, teeth might be drawn without pain, and he determined that himself and one of his own largest teeth should be the first for trial. Next morning Colton gave him the gas, and his friend Dr. Riggs extracted his tooth. He remained unconscious for a few moments, and then exclaimed, 'A new era in tooth-pulling! It did not hurt me more than the prick of a pin. It is the greatest discovery ever made.' In the next three weeks Wells extracted teeth from some twelve or fifteen persons under the influence of the nitrous oxide, and gave pain to only two or three. Dr. Riggs, also, used it with the same success, and the practice was well known and talked of in Hartford. Encouraged by his success Wells went to Boston, wishing to enlarge the reputation of his discovery and to have an opportunity of giving the gas to some one undergoing a surgical operation. Dr. J. C. Warren, the senior Surgeon of the Massachusetts General Hospital, to whom he applied for this purpose, asked him to show first its effects on some one from whom he would draw a tooth. He undertook to do this in the theatre of the medical college before a large class of students, to whom he had, on a previous day, explained his plan. Unluckily, the bag of gas from which the patient was inhaling was taken a way too soon; he cried out when his tooth was drawn; the students hissed and hooted; and the discovery was denounced as an imposture. Wells left Boston disappointed and disheartened; he fell ill, and was for many months unable to practise his profession. Soon afterwards he gave up dentistry, and neglected the use and study of the nitrous oxide, till he was recalled to it by a discovery even more important than his own. The thread of the history of nitrous oxide may be broken here. {2144} The inhalation of sulphuric ether was often, even in the last century, used for the relief of spasmodic asthma, phthisis, and some other diseases of the chest. … As the sulphuric ether would 'produce effects very similar to those occasioned by nitrous oxide,' and was much the more easy to procure, it came to be often inhaled, for amusement, by chemist's lads and by pupils in the dispensaries of surgeons. It was often thus used by young people in many places in the United States. They had what they called 'ether frolics.' … Among those who had joined in these ether-frolics was Dr. Wilhite of Anderson, South Carolina. In one of them, in 1839," a negro boy was unconscious so long that he was supposed for some time to be dead. "The fright at having, it was supposed, so nearly killed the boy, put an end to the ether-frolics in that neighbourhood; but in 1842, Wilhite had become a pupil of Dr. Crauford Long, practising at that time at Jefferson (Jackson County, Georgia). Here he and Dr. Long and three fellow-pupils often amused themselves with the ether-inhalation, and Dr. Long observed that when he became furiously excited, as he often did, he was unconscious of the blows which he, by chance, received as he rushed or tumbled about. He observed the same in his pupils; and thinking over this, and emboldened by what Mr. Wilhite told him of the negro-boy recovering after an hour's insensibility, he determined to try whether the ether-inhalation would make any one insensible of the pain of an operation. So, in March, 1842, nearly three years before Wells's observations with the nitrous oxide, he induced a Mr. Venable, who had been very fond of inhaling ether, to inhale it till he was quite insensible. Then he dissected a tumour from his neck; no pain was felt, and no harm followed. Three months later, he similarly removed another tumour from him; and again, in 1842 and in 1845, he operated on other three patients, and none felt pain. His operations were known and talked of in his neighbourhood; but the neighbourhood was only that of an obscure little town; and he did not publish any of his observations. … He waited to test the ether more thoroughly in some greater operation than those in which he had yet tried it; and then he would have published his account of it. While he was waiting, others began to stir more actively in busier places, where his work was quite unknown, not even heard of. Among those with whom, in his unlucky visit to Boston, Wells talked of his use of the nitrous oxide, and of the great discovery which he believed that he had made, were Dr. Morton and Dr. Charles Jackson. … Morton was a restless energetic dentist, a rough man, resolute to get practice and make his fortune. Jackson was a quiet scientific gentleman, unpractical and unselfish, in good repute as a chemist, geologist, and mineralogist. At the time of Wells's visit, Morton, who had been his pupil in 1842, and for a short time, in 1843, his partner, was studying medicine and anatomy at the Massachusetts Medical College, and was living in Jackson's house. Neither Morton nor Jackson put much if any faith in Wells's story, and Morton witnessed his failure in the medical theatre. Still, Morton had it in his head that tooth-drawing might somehow be made painless. … Jackson had long known, as many others did, of sulphuric ether being inhaled for amusement and of its producing effects like those of nitrous oxide; he knew also of its employment as a remedy for the irritation caused by inhaling chlorine. He had himself used it for this purpose, and once, in 1842, while using it, he became completely insensible. He had thus been led to think that the pure ether might be used for the prevention of pain in surgical operations; he spoke of it with some scientific friends, and sometimes advised a trial of it; but he did not urge it or take any active steps to promote even the trial. One evening, Morton, who was now in practice as a dentist, called on him, full of some scheme which he did not divulge, and urgent for success in painless tooth-drawing. Jackson advised him to use the ether, and taught him how to use it. On that same evening, the 30th of September, 1846, Morton inhaled the ether, put himself to sleep, and, when he awoke, found that he had been asleep for eight minutes. Instantly, as he tells, he looked for an opportunity of giving it to a patient; and one just then coming in, a stout healthy man, he induced him to inhale, made him quite insensible, and drew his tooth without his having the least consciousness of what was done. But the great step had yet to be made. … Could it be right to incur the risk of insensibility long enough and deep enough for a large surgical operation? It was generally believed that in such insensibility there was serious danger to life. Was it really so? Jackson advised Morton to ask Dr. J. C. Warren to let him try, and Warren dared to let him. It is hard, now, to think how bold the enterprise must have seemed to those who were capable of thinking accurately on the facts then known. The first trial was made on the 16th of October, 1846. Morton gave the ether to a patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Warren removed a tumour from his neck. The result was not complete success; the patient hardly felt the pain of the cutting, but he was aware that the operation was being performed. On the next day, in a severer operation by Dr. Hayward, the success was perfect; the patient felt nothing, and in long insensibility there was no appearance of danger to life. The discovery might already be deemed complete; for the trials of the next following days had the same success, and thence onwards the use of the ether extended over constantly widening fields. … It might almost be said that in every place, at least in Europe, where the discovery was promoted more quickly than in America, the month might be named before which all operative surgery was agonising, and after which it was painless."

Sir J. Paget, Escape from Pain (Nineteenth Century, December 1879).

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The Study of Fermentation and its results.

"It was some time ago the current belief that epidemic diseases generally were propagated by a kind of malaria, which consisted of organic matter in a state of motor-decay; that when such matter was taken into the body through the lungs, skin, or stomach, it had the power of spreading there the destroying process by which itself had been assailed. Such a power was visibly exerted in the case of yeast. A little leaven was seen to leaven the whole lump—a mere speck of matter, in this supposed state of decomposition, being apparently competent to propagate indefinitely its own decay. Why should not a bit of rotten malaria act in a similar manner within the human frame? In 1836 a very wonderful reply was given to this question. In that year Cagniard de la Tour discovered the yeast-plant—a living organism, which when placed in a proper medium feeds, grows, and reproduces itself, and in this way carries on the process which we name fermentation. By this striking discovery fermentation was connected with organic growth. Schwann, of Berlin, discovered the yeast-plant independently about the same time."

J. Tyndall, Fragments of Science, volume 1, chapter 5.

{2145}

The question of fermentation "had come to present an entirely new aspect through the discovery of Cagniard de la Tour that yeast is really a plant belonging to one of the lowest types of fungi, which grows and reproduces itself in the fermentable fluid, and whose vegetative action is presumably the cause of that fermentation, just as the development of mould in a jam-pot occasions a like change in the upper stratum of the jam, on whose surface, and at whose expense, it lives and reproduces itself. Chemists generally—especially Liebig, who had a fermentation theory of his own—pooh-poohed this idea altogether; maintaining the presence of the yeast-plant to be a mere concomitant, and refusing to believe that it had any real share in the process. But in 1843, Professor Helmholtz, then a young undistinguished man, devised a method of stopping the passage of organic germs from a fermenting into a fermentable liquid, without checking the passage of fluids; and as no fermentation was then set up, he drew the inference that the 'particulate' organic germs, not the soluble material of the yeast, furnish the primum mobile of this change,—a doctrine which, though now universally accepted, had to fight its way for some time against the whole force of chemical authority. A little before Cagniard de la Tour's discovery, a set of investigations had been made by Schulze and Schwann, to determine whether the exclusion of air was absolutely necessary to prevent the appearance of living organisms in decomposing fluids, or whether these fluids might be kept free from animal or vegetable life, by such means as would presumably destroy any germs which the air admitted to them might bring in from without, such as passing it through a red-hot tube or strong sulphuric acid. These experiments, it should be said, had reference rather to the question of 'spontaneous generation,' or 'abiogenesis,' than to the cause of fermentation and decomposition; its object being to determine whether the living things found by the microscope in a decomposing liquid exposed to the air, spring from germs brought by the atmosphere, or are generated 'de novo' in the act of decay—the latter doctrine having then many upholders. But the discovery of the real nature of yeast, and the recognition of the part it plays in alcoholic fermentation, gave an entirely new value to Schulze's and Schwann's results; suggesting that putrefactive and other kinds of decomposition may be really due, not (as formerly supposed) to the action of atmospheric oxygen upon unstable organic compounds, but to a new arrangement of elements brought about by the development of germinal particles deposited from the atmosphere. It was at this point that Pasteur took up the inquiry; and for its subsequent complete working-out, science is mainly indebted to him: for although other investigators—notably Professor Tyndall—have confirmed and extended his conclusions by ingenious variations on his mode of research, they would be the first to acknowledge that all those main positions which have now gained universal acceptance—save on the part of a few obstinate 'irreconcilables'—have been established by Pasteur's own labours. … The first application of these doctrines to the study of disease in the living animal was made in a very important investigation, committed to Pasteur by his old master in chemistry (the eminent and eloquent Dumas), into the nature of the 'pébrine,' which was threatening to extinguish the whole silk culture of France and Italy. … Though it concerned only a humble worm, it laid the foundation of an entirely new system and method of research into the nature and causes of a large class of diseases in man and the higher animals, of which we are now only beginning to see the important issues. Among the most immediately productive of its results, may be accounted the 'antiseptic surgery' of Professor Lister; of which the principle is the careful exclusion of living bacteria and other germs, alike from the natural internal cavities of the body, and from such as are formed by disease, whenever these may be laid open by accident, or may have to be opened surgically. This exclusion is effected by the judicious use of carbolic acid, which kills the germs without doing any mischief to the patient; and the saving of lives, of limbs, and of severe suffering, already brought about by this method, constitutes in itself a glorious triumph alike to the scientific elaborator of the germ-doctrine, and to the scientific surgeon by whom it has been thus applied. A far wider range of study, however, soon opened itself. The revival by Dr. Farr of the doctrine of 'zymosis' (fermentation),—long ago suggested by the sagacity of Robert Boyle, and practically taken up in the middle of the last century by Sir John Pringle (the most scientific physician of his time),—as the expression of the effect produced in the blood by the introduction of a specific poison (such as that of small-pox, measles, scarlatina, cholera, typhus, &c.), had naturally directed the attention of thoughtful men to the question (often previously raised speculatively), whether these specific poisons are not really organic germs, each kind of which, a real 'contagium vivum,' when sown in the circulating fluid, produces a definite 'zymosis' of its own, in the course of which the poison is reproduced with large increase, exactly after the manner of yeast in a fermenting wort. Pasteur's success brought this question to the front, as one not to talk about, but to work at."

W. B. Carpenter, Disease-Germs (Nineteenth Century, October, 1881).

ALSO IN: L. Pasteur, Studies in Fermentation.

Dr. Duclaux, Fermentation.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. Virchow and Cellular Pathology.

"That really gifted scholar and paragon of industry and attainment, Rudolph Virchow, announced in 1858 a theory known as Modern Vitalism which was borrowed from natural scientific medicine and is distinguished from the vitalism of the previous century in this, that it breaks up the old vital force, which was supposed to be either distributed throughout the entire body, or located in a few organs, into an indefinite number of associate vital forces working harmoniously, and assigns to them all the final elementary principles without microscopic seat. 'Every animal principle has a sum of vital unities, each of which bears all the characteristics of life. {2146} The characteristics and unity of life cannot be found in any determinate point of a higher organism, e. g., in the brain, but only in the definite, ever recurring arrangements of each element present. Hence it results that the composition of a large body amounts to a kind of social arrangement, in which each one of the movements of individual existence is dependent upon the others, but in such a way that each element has a special activity of its own, and that each, although it receives the impulse to its own activity from other parts, still itself performs its own functions.' This it will be seen is nothing but another way of expressing the cell doctrine to which most medical men are now committed, which means that our bodies are built up with cells, and that each cell has a unity and a purpose of its own. Sir Robert Hooke in 1677 discovered plant cells. Schwann discovered animal cells, and Robert Brown discovered cell nuclei, but it remained for Virchow, using the microscope, to supply the gap which had risen between anatomical knowledge and medical theory, that is, to supply a 'cellular pathology,' since which time the cell has assumed the role which the fibre occupied in the theories of the 17th and 18th centuries. Time alone can decide as to the ultimate validity of these views. This theory was from its announcement most enthusiastically received, and so far has responded to nearly all the requirements which have been made of it. Even its author was almost startled with its success. … As a result of Virchow's labors there has arisen in Germany what has been called the medical school of natural sciences of which Virchow is the intellectual father. This school seeks mainly by means of pathological anatomy and microscopy, experimental physiology and pathology, and the other applied sciences, or rather by their methods, to make medicine also an exact science."

Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.).

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The development of Bacteriology.

"The traditional expression contagium vivum received a more precise meaning in 1840 from Henle, who in his 'Pathologischen Untersuchungen,' showed clearly and distinctly that the contagia till then invisible must be regarded as living organisms, and gave his reasons for this view. … If we are forced to recognise the characteristic qualities of living beings in these contagia, there is no good reason why we should not regard them as real living beings, parasites. For the only general distinction between their mode of appearance and operation and that of parasites is, that the parasites with which we are acquainted have been seen and the contagia have not. That this may be due to imperfect observation is shown by the experiments on the itch in 1840, in which the contagium, the itch-mite, though almost visible without magnifying power, was long at least misunderstood. It was only a short time before that the microscopic Fungus, Achorion, which causes favus, was unexpectedly discovered, as well as the Fungus which gives rise to the infectious disease in the caterpillar of the silkworm known as muscardine. Other and similar cases occurred at a later time, and among them that of the discovery of the Trichinae between 1850 and 1860, a very remarkable instance of a contagious parasite long overlooked. Henle repeated his statements in 1853 in his 'Rationelle Pathologie,' but for reasons which it is not our business to examine, his views on animal pathology met with little attention or approval. It was in connection with plant-pathology that Henle's views were first destined to further development, and obtained a firmer footing. It is true that the botanists who occupied themselves with the diseases of plants knew nothing of Henle's pathological writings, but made independent efforts to carry on some first attempts which had been made with distinguished success in the beginning of the century. But they did in fact strike upon the path indicated by Henle, and the constant advance made after, about the year 1850, resulted not only in the tracing back of all infectious diseases in plants to parasites as their exciting cause, but in proving that most of the diseases of plants are due to parasitic infection. It may now certainly be admitted that the task was comparatively easy in the vegetable kingdom, partly because the structure of plants makes them more accessible to research, partly because most of the parasites which infect them are true Fungi, and considerably larger than most of the contagia of animal bodies. From this time observers in the domain of animal pathology, partly influenced, more or less, by these discoveries in botany, and partly in consequence of the revival of the vitalistic theory of fermentation by Pasteur about the year 1860, returned to Henle's vitalistic theory of contagion. Henle himself, in the exposition of his views, had already indicated the points of comparison between his own theory and the theory of fermentation founded at that time by Cagniard-Latour and Schwann. Under the influence, as he expressly says, of Pasteur's writings, Davaine recalled to mind the little rods first seen by his teacher, Rayer, in the blood of an animal suffering from anthrax, and actually discovered in them the exciting cause of the disease, which may be taken as a type of an infectious disease both contagious and miasmatic also, in so far as it originates, as has been said, in anthrax-districts. This was, in 1863, a very important confirmation of Henle's theory, inasmuch as a very small parasite, not very easy of observation at that time, was recognised as a contagium. It was some time before much further advance was made. … The latest advance to be recorded begins with the participation of Robert Koch in the work of research since 1876."

A. De Bary, Lectures on Bacteria, pages 145-148.

"M. Pasteur is no ordinary man; he is one of the rare individuals who must be described by the term 'genius.' Having commenced his scientific career and attained great distinction as a chemist, M. Pasteur was led by his study of the chemical process of fermentations to give his attention to the phenomena of disease in living bodies resembling fermentations. Owing to a singular and fortunate mental characteristic, he has been able, not simply to pursue a rigid path of investigation dictated by the logical or natural connection of the phenomena investigated, but deliberately to select for inquiry matters of the most profound importance to the community, and to bring his inquiries to a successful practical issue in a large number of instances. {2147} Thus he has saved the silkworm industry of France and Italy from destruction, he has taught the French wine-makers to quickly mature their wine, he has effected an enormous improvement and economy in the manufacture of beer, he has rescued the sheep and cattle of Europe from the fatal disease 'anthrax,' and it is probable—he would not himself assert that it is at present more than probable—that he has rendered hydrophobia a thing of the past. The discoveries made by this remarkable man would have rendered him, had he patented their application and disposed of them according to commercial principles, the richest man in the world. They represent a gain of some millions sterling annually to the community. … M. Pasteur's first experiment in relation to hydrophobia was made in December 1880, when he inoculated two rabbits with the mucus from the mouth of a child which had died of that disease. As his inquiries extended he found that it was necessary to establish by means of experiment even the most elementary facts with regard to the disease, for the existing knowledge on the subject was extremely small, and much of what passed for knowledge was only ill-founded tradition."

E. R. Lankester, The Advancement of Science, pages 121-123.

"The development of our knowledge relating to the bacteria, stimulated by the controversy relating to spontaneous generation and by the demonstration that various processes of fermentation and putrefaction are due to microörganisms of this class, has depended largely upon improvements in methods of research. Among the most important points in the development of bacteriological technique we may mention first, the use of a cotton air filter (Schröder and Von Dusch, 1854); second, the sterilization of culture fluids by heat (methods perfected by Pasteur, Koch, and others); third, the use of the aniline dyes as staining agents (first recommended by Weigert in 1877); fourth, the introduction of solid culture media and the 'plate method' for obtaining pure cultures, by Koch in 1881. The various improvements in methods of research, and especially the introduction of solid culture media and Koch's 'plate method' for isolating bacteria from mixed 'cultures, have placed bacteriology upon a scientific basis. … It was a distinguished French physician, Davaine, who first demonstrated the etiological relation of a microörganism of this class to a specific infectious disease. The anthrax bacillus had been seen in the blood of animals dying from this disease by Pollender in 1849, and by Davaine in 1850, but it was several years later (1863) before the last-named observer claimed to have demonstrated by inoculation experiments the causal relation of the bacillus to the disease in question. The experiments of Davaine were not generally accepted as conclusive, because in inoculating an animal with blood containing the bacillus, from an infected animal which had succumbed to the disease, the living microörganism was associated with material from the body of the diseased animal. This objection was subsequently removed by the experiments of Pasteur, Koch, and many others, with pure cultures of the bacillus, which were shown to have the same pathogenic effects as had been obtained in inoculation experiments with the blood of an infected animal."

G. M. Sternberg, Manual of Bacteriology, page 6.

"In 1876 the eminent microscopist, Professor Cohn, of Breslau, was in London, and he then handed me a number of his 'Beiträge,' containing a memoir by Dr. Koch on Splenic Fever (Milzbrand, Charbon, Malignant Pustule), which seemed to me to mark an epoch in the history of this formidable disease. With admirable patience, skill, and penetration Koch followed up the life-history of bacillus anthracis, the contagium of this fever. At the time here referred to he was a young physician holding a small appointment in the neighbourhood of Breslau, and it was easy to predict, and indeed I predicted at the time, that he would soon find himself in a higher position. When I next heard of him he was head of the Imperial Sanitary Institute of Berlin. … Koch was not the discoverer of the parasite of splenic fever. Davaine and Rayer, in 1850, had observed the little microscopic rods in the blood of animals which had died of splenic fever. But they were quite unconscious of the significance of their observation, and for thirteen years, as M. Radot informs us, strangely let the matter drop. In 1863 Davaine's attention was again directed to the subject by the researches of Pasteur, and he then pronounced the parasite to be the cause of the fever. He was opposed by some of his fellow-countrymen; long discussions followed, and a second period of thirteen years, ending with the publication of Koch's paper, elapsed before M. Pasteur took up the question. I always, indeed, assumed that from the paper of the learned German came the impulse towards a line of inquiry in which M. Pasteur has achieved such splendid results."

J. Tyndall, New Fragments, pages 190-191.

"On the 24th of March, 1882, an address of very serious public import was delivered by Dr. Koch before the Physiological Society of Berlin. … The address … is entitled 'The Etiology of Tubercular Disease.' Koch first made himself known, and famous, by the penetration, skill, and thoroughness of his researches on the contagium of anthrax, or splenic fever. … Koch's last inquiry deals with a disease which, in point of mortality, stands at the head of them all. 'If,' he says, 'the seriousness of a malady be measured by the number of its victims, then the most dreaded pests which have hitherto ravaged the world—plague and cholera included—must stand far behind the one now under consideration.' Then follows the startling statement that one-seventh of the deaths of the human race are due to tubercular disease. Prior to Koch it had been placed beyond doubt that the disease was communicable; and the aim of the Berlin physician has been to determine the precise character of the contagium which previous experiments on inoculation and inhalation had proved to be capable of indefinite transfer and reproduction. He subjected the diseased organs of a great number of men and animals to microscopic examination, and found, in all cases, the tubercles infested by a minute, rod-shaped parasite, which by means of a special dye, he differentiated from the surrounding tissue. 'It was,' he says, 'in the highest degree impressive to observe in the centre of the tubercle-cell the minute organism which had created it.' Transferring directly, by inoculation, the tuberculous matter from diseased animals to healthy ones, he in every instance reproduced the disease. To meet the objection that it was not the parasite itself, but some virus in which it was imbedded in the diseased organ, that was the real contagium, he cultivated his bacilli artificially for long periods of time and through many successive generations. {2148} With a speck of matter, for example, from a tuberculous human lung, he infected a substance prepared, after much trial, by himself, with the view of affording nutriment to the parasite. In this medium he permitted it to grow and multiply: From the new generation he took a minute sample, and infected therewith fresh nutritive matter, thus producing another brood. Generation after generation of bacilli were developed in this way, without the intervention of disease. At the end of the process, which sometimes embraced successive cultivations extending over half a year, the purified bacilli were introduced into the circulation of healthy animals of various kinds. In every case inoculation was followed by the reproduction and spread of the parasite, and the generation of the original disease. … The moral of these experiments is obvious. In no other conceivable way than that pursued by Koch could the true character of the most destructive malady by which humanity is now assailed be determined. And however noisy the fanaticism of the moment may be, the common-sense of Englishmen will not, in the long run, permit it to enact cruelty in the name of tenderness, or to debar us from the light and leading of such investigations as that which is here so imperfectly described."

J. Tyndall, New Fragments, pages 423-428.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The Theory of Germ Diseases.

"An account of the innumerable questions and investigations in this department of modern pathogenesis, of the various views on certain questions, etc., does not fall within the compass of our brief sketch. Nor are we able to furnish a consistent theory, simply because such an one does not [1889] exist. One fact alone is agreed upon, to wit, that certain of the lower fungi, as parasites within or upon the body, excite diseases (infectious diseases). As regards the modus operandi of these parasites two main theories are held. According to one theory, these parasites, by their development, deprive the body of its nutriment and endanger life particularly when, thronging in the blood, they deprive this of the oxygen necessary for existence. According to the other theory, they threaten life by occasioning decompositions which engender putrid poisons (ptomaines). These latter poisons were first isolated by P. L. Panum in 1856, and have been recently specially studied by Brieger (Ueber Ptomaine, Berlin, 1885-86). They act differently upon bodies according to the variety of the alkaloidal poison. Metschnikoff regards the white blood-corpuscles as antagonists of these parasites (thus explaining the cases of recovery from parasitic diseases), and in this point of view calls them 'phagocytes.' On the other hand E. Salmon and Theodore Smith ('Transactions of the Washington Biological Society, February 22d, 1886) were the first to demonstrate that sterilized nutritive solutions or germ-free products of change of matter of the virulent exciters of disease, when injected, afford protection. A. Chauveau as early as 1880 had brought forward evidence of the probability of this fact, and Hans Buchner in 1879 admitted the possibility of depriving bacteria of their virulence. Pasteur, however, believes he has demonstrated that by continued cultures (also a sort of bacillary Isopathy) 'debilitated' germs act as prophylactics against the corresponding parasitic diseases, and he even thinks he has confirmed this by his inoculations against hydrophobia—a view, at all events, still open to doubt. … The chief diseases regarded as of parasitic origin at present are: anthrax (Davaine, 1850); relapsing fever (Obermeier, 1873); gonorrhœa and blenorrhœa neonatorum (Neisser, 1879); glanders (Struck, 1882, Loeffler and Schütz); syphilis (Sigm. Lustgarten, 1884); diphtheria (Oertel, Letzerich, Klebs); typhus (Eberle, Klebs); tuberculosis (Koch, 1882); cholera (Koch, 1884); lepra (Armauer-Hansen); actinomycosis (Bollinger in cattle, 1877; Israel in man, 1884); septicæmia (Klebs); erysipelas (Fehleisen); pneumonia (Friedländer); malarial fever (Klebs, Tommasi-Crudeli, Marchiafava); malignant œdema (Koch); tetanus (Carle and Rattone, Nicolaier, Roeschlaub assumed a tetania occasioned by bacilli); cancer (Scheuerlen; priority contested by Dr. G. Rappia and Prof. Domingo Freire of Rio Janeiro); yellow fever (microbe claimed to have been discovered by Freire); dysentery (bacillary diphtheritis of the large intestine); cholera nostras (Finkler and Prior); scarlet fever (Coze and Feltz, '72); variola and vaccina (Keber, Zülzer, Weigert, Klebs); acute yellow atrophy of the liver (Klebs, Waldeyer, Eppinger); endocarditis (Ziegler); hæmophilia neonatorum (Klebs, Eppinger); trachoma (Sattler); keratitis (Leber—aspergillus); ulcus rodens corneæ (Sattler); gonorrhœal rheumatism (Petrone, Kammerer). If the bacterial theory of infection, constantly threatening life by such numerous pathogenic varieties of infecting organisms, must be looked upon as a gloomy one, the anti-bacterial Phagocyte Theory of Metschnikoff, professor of zoology in Odessa, is adapted to make one feel more comfortable, inasmuch as it brings into view the possibility of an antagonism to these infecting organisms, and explains the method of nature's cures. Metschnikoff observed that the wandering cells—the white blood corpuscles—after the manner of amœbæ, surround, hold fast, digest ('devour,' hence 'phagocytes'), and thus render harmless the bacteria which have entered the body. … The prophylactic effects of inoculation are explained on the theory that by means of this operation the wandering cells are prepared, as it were, for subsequent accidental irruptions of similar pathogenic bacteria, are habituated or compelled thereby to at once devour such organisms when they enter the body spontaneously, and thus to render them harmless. Inoculation would thus be a sort of training or education of the phagocytes. The immunity of many persons from infectious diseases, so far as it is not effected by inoculations, would by analogy be explained on the theory that with such individuals the phagocytes are from the outset so constituted that they at once render harmless any stray bacteria which come within their domain by immediately devouring them. … When … in spite of the phagocytes, the patients die of infectious diseases, the fact is to be explained by the excessive number of the bacteria present, which is so great that the phagocytes are unequal to the task of 'devouring' them all."

J. H. Baas, Outlines of the History of Medicine, pages 1007-1009.

{2149}

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. Sanitary Science and Legislation.

"Together with the growth of our knowledge of the causes of disease there has been … slowly growing up also a new kind of warfare against disease. It is this science of hygiene which is now promising to transform all the old traditional ways of dealing with disease, and which now makes possible the organisation of the conditions of health. And this science of hygiene, it must be repeated, rests on the exact knowledge of the causes of disease which we are now obtaining. … At the beginning of the eighteenth century Mead, a famous physician of that day, whose reputation still lives, had proposed the formation of a central board of health to organise common measures for the public safety. It was not, however, until more than a hundred years later, in 1831, under the influence of the terror of cholera, that this first step was taken; so that, as it has been well said and often since proved, 'panic is the parent of sanitation.' In 1842 Sir Edwin Chadwick issued his report on 'The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain.' This report produced marked effect, and may truly be said to have inaugurated the new era of collective action, embodying itself in legislation directed to the preservation of national health, an era which is thus just half a century old. Chadwick's report led to a Royal Commission, which was the first step in the elevation of public health to a State interest; and a few years later (1847) Liverpool, and immediately afterwards London, appointed the first medical officers of health in Great Britain. In 1848 another epidemic of cholera appeared, and a General Board of Health was established. During this epidemic Dr. Snow began those inquiries which led to the discovery that the spread of the disease was due to the contamination of drinking-water by the intestinal discharges of patients. That discovery marked the first great stage in the new movement. Henceforth the objects to be striven for in the evolution of sanitation became ever more clear and precise, and a succession of notable discoveries in connection with various epidemics enlarged the sphere of sanitation, and revealed new possibilities in the prevention of human misery."

H. Ellis, The Nationalisation of Health, pages 21-24.

"Of all countries of the civilized world, none has a sanitary code so complete and so precise as England. In addition, English legislation is distinguished from that of other countries, by the fact that the principal regulations emanate from Parliament instead of being simple administrative orders. Thus the legislation is the work of the nation, which has recognised its necessity in its own interest. Consequently the laws are respected, and, as a rule, religiously observed, without objection or murmur. In the whole country, the marvellous results which have been produced can be seen. Thanks to these laws, the rate of mortality has been lowered, the mean duration of life increased, the amount of sickness decreased. They have greatly alleviated the misery in the houses of the poor, who, thanks to sanitary measures, have a better prospect of recovering their health and the means of providing for their subsistence and that of their families. … The sanitary administration of England is, in accordance with the Public Health Act of 1875, in the hands of a central authority, the Local Government Board; and local authorities, the Local Boards of Health. The Local Government Board consists of a president, nominated by the Queen, and the following ex-officio members:—the Lord President of the Privy Council, all the principal Secretaries of State for the time being, the Lord Privy Seal, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Parliamentary Secretary, and a permanent Secretary. The President and Secretaries are, properly speaking, the directors of the Local Government Board, the other members being only consulted on matters of prime importance. Nine special departments are controlled by the Local Government Board:

1. Poor-law administration. 2. Legal questions. 3. Sanitary regulations respecting buildings. 4. Sanitary regulations respecting sewers, streets, etc. 5. Medical and hygienic matters. 6. Vaccination. 7. The Hygiene of factories. 8. The water supply of London. 9. Statistics.

Medical and sanitary matters are under the direction of a Medical Officer, and an Assistant Medical Officer."

A. Palmberg, Treatise on Public Health: England, chapter 1.

"The United States have no uniform legislation for the organization of public hygiene to the present day. Each State organizes this service as it chooses. … That which characterizes the sanitary organization of the States is the fact that, in a large number of States, the right is granted to the sanitary administrations to carry before the justices the infractions of the regulations on this subject. It is a similar organization to that of Great Britain, with a little less independence, and it is the logical result of the general system of administration which exists in the American Union. … Without doubt the day will come when the National Board of Health will be by act of Congress, with the consent of all the States, the real superior council of public hygiene of the American Union."

E. Sève, On the General Organization of Public Hygiene (Proceedings, International Sanitary Conference, 1881).

"The General Government [of the United States] can do little in the way of compulsory legislation, which might interfere with the action of the several States to control their own sanitary affairs. It is possible that upon the ground of power to legislate with regard to commerce, it might establish some general system of quarantine and do something toward the prevention of the pollution of navigable streams; but it could probably only do this with such restrictions and exceptions as would make its action of little practical value, unless, indeed, it should resort to its right of eminent domain, and become liable for all damages, individual or municipal, which its action might cause. … No one would deny that the General Government can properly create an organization for the purpose of collecting and diffusing information on sanitary matters; but comparatively few understand how much real power and influence such an organization might acquire without having the slightest legal authority to enforce any of its recommendations. The passing of sanitary laws, and the granting to a certain department the power to enforce these laws, will not ensure good public health unless the public at large supports those laws intelligently, and it can only do this through State and municipal sanitary organizations. The General Government might do much to promote the formation of such organizations, and to assist them in various ways. … By the 'act to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the United States, and to establish a national board of health,' approved March 3, 1879, the first step has been taken in the direction above indicated. {2150} The act provides for a national board of health, to consist of seven members, appointed by the President, and of four officers detailed from the Medical Department of the Army, Medical Department of the Navy, and the Marine Hospital Service, and the Department of Justice respectively. No definite term of Office is prescribed, the Board being essentially provisional in character. The duties of the board are 'to obtain information upon all matters affecting the public health, to advise the several departments of the government, the executives of the several States, and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, on all questions submitted by them, or whenever in the opinion of the board such advice may tend to the preservation and improvement of the public health.' The board is also directed to prepare a plan for a national public health organization in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences."

J. S. Billings, Introduction to "A Treatise on Hygiene and Public Health," edited by A. IL Buck.

ALSO IN: Sir J. Simon, English Sanitary Institutions

Sir J. Simon, Public Health: Reports of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council and Local Government Board.

United States National Board of Health, Annual Reports.

Massachusetts Board of Health, Annual Reports.

—————MEDICAL SCIENCE: End—————

MEDICI, The.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1378-1427, and after.

—————MEDINA: Start————

MEDINA: the City of the Prophet.

By Mahomet's Hegira or flight from Mecca to Yethrib, A. D. 622, the latter city became the seat of Islam and was henceforward known as Medina—Medinet-en-Neby—"the City of the Prophet."

S. Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque, chapter 2.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632.

MEDINA: A. D. 661. The Caliphate transferred.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 661.

MEDINA: A. D. 683. Stormed and sacked.

In the civil war which followed the accession of Yezid, the second of the Omeyyad caliphs, Medina was besieged and stormed by Yezid's army and given up for three days to every imaginable brutality on the part of the soldiery. The inhabitants who survived were made slaves.

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 50.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapter 47.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-750.

—————MEDINA: End—————

MEDINA DEL RIO SECO, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).

MEDIOLANUM.

Modern Milan. Taken by the Romans in 222 B. C. from the Insubrian Gauls.

See ROME: B. C. 295-191.

MEDIOMATRICI.

The original form of the name of the city of Metz, which had been called Divodurum by the Gauls at an earlier day.

MEDISM. MEDIZED GREEKS.

During the wars of the Persians against the Greeks, the former had many friends and allies, both secret and open, among the latter. These were commonly called Medized Greeks, and their treason went by the name of Medism.

MEDITERRANEAN FUND.

A special fund provided by the United States Congress, in 1803, for the War with Tripoli.

H. Adams, History of the United States, volume 2, chapter 7.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: When named.

"For this sea … the Greeks had no distinctive name, because it had so long been practically the only one known to them; and Strabo can only distinguish it as 'the Inner' or 'Our' Sea. … The now familiar appellation of Mediterranean is in like manner first used by Solinus [third century], only as a convenient designation, not as a strictly geographical term. … The first extant author who employs it distinctly as a proper name is Isidorus, who wrote in the seventh century."

E: H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, chapter 21, section 1, chapter 23, section 2, foot-note, chapter 31 (volume 2).

MEERUT, The Sepoy mutiny at.

See INDIA: A. D. 1857 (MAY).

MEGALESIA, The.

See LUDI.

—————MEGALOPOLIS: Start————

MEGALOPOLIS: B. C. 371. The founding of the city.

See GREECE: B. C. 371.

MEGALOPOLIS: B. C. 317. Defense against Polysperchon.

See GREECE: B. C. 321-312.

MEGALOPOLIS: B. C. 222. Destruction and restoration.

The last exploit of Cleomenes of Sparta, in his struggle with the Achæan League and its ally, the king of Macedonia, before the fatal field of Sellasia, was the capture of Megalopolis, B. C. 222. Most of the citizens escaped. He offered to restore their town to them, if they would forsake the League. They refused, and he destroyed it, so utterly that its restoration was believed to be impossible. But in the following year the inhabitants were brought back and Megalopolis existed again, though never with its former importance.

Polybius, Histories, book 2, chapter 55 and after (volume 1).

MEGALOPOLIS: B. C. 194-183. In the Achaian League.

"The city of Megalopolis held at this time [B. C. 194-183] the same sort of position in the Achaian League which the State of Virginia held in the first days of the American Union. Without any sort of legal preëminence, without at all assuming the character of a capital, Megalopolis was clearly the first city of the League, the city which gave the nation the largest proportion of its leading statesmen. Megalopolis, like Virginia, was 'the Mother of Presidents,' and that too of Presidents of different political parties. As Virginia produced both Washington and Jefferson, so Megalopolis, if she produced Philopoimen and Lykortas, produced also Aristainos and Diophanes."

E. A. Freeman, History of Federal Government, chapter 9, section 2.

—————MEGALOPOLIS: End————

—————MEGARA: Start————

MEGARA.

Megara, the ancient Greek city and state whose territory lay between Attica and Corinth, forming part of the Corinthian isthmus, "is affirmed to have been originally settled by the Dorians of Corinth, and to have remained for some time a dependency of that city. It is farther said to have been at first merely one of five separate villages—Megara, Heræa, Peiræa, Kynosura, Tripodiskus—inhabited by a kindred population, and generally on friendly terms, yet sometimes distracted by quarrels. …

See CORINTH: B. C. 745-725.

Whatever may be the truth respecting this alleged early subjection of Megara, we know it in the historical age, and that too as early as the 14th Olympiad, only as an independent Dorian city, maintaining the integrity of its territory under its leader Orsippus, the famous Olympic runner, against some powerful enemies, probably the Corinthians. It was of no mean consideration, possessing a territory which extended across Mount Geraneia to the Corinthian Gulf, on which the fortified town and port of Pêgæ, belonging to the Megarians, was situated. It was mother of early and distant colonies,—and competent, during the time of Solon, to carry on a protracted contest with the Athenians, for the possession of Salamis; wherein, although the latter were at last victorious, it was not without an intermediate period of ill-success and despair."

G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 9.

See, also, GREECE: THE MIGRATIONS.

{2151}

MEGARA: B. C. 610-600. Struggle with Athens for Salamis. Spartan arbitration favorable to the Athenians.

See ATHENS: B. C. 610-586.

MEGARA: B. C. 458-456. Alliance with Athens in war with Corinth and Ægina.

See GREECE: B. C. 458-456.

MEGARA: B. C. 446-445. Rising against Athens.

See GREECE: B. C. 449-445.

MEGARA: B. C. 431-424. Athenian invasions and ravages.

See ATHENS: B. C. 431.

MEGARA: B. C. 339-338. Resistance to Philip of Macedon.

See GREECE: B. C. 357-336.

—————MEGARA: End————

MEGARA OF CARTHAGE, The.

See CARTHAGE: DIVISIONS.

MEGIDDO.

The valley of Megiddo, forming the western part of the great Plain of Esdraelon, in northern Palestine—stretching from the valley of the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, along the course of the river Kishon—was the field of many important battles in ancient times. Thothmes III. of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, whose reign is placed about 1600 B. C., met there, near the city of Megiddo, and defeated a confederacy of Syrian and Canaanite princes who attempted to throw off his yoke. A remarkable account of his victory and of the spoils he took is preserved in inscriptions on the walls of the temple at Karnak.

H. Brugsch, History of Egypt, chapter 13 (volume 1).

It was at Megiddo, also, that Sisera, commanding the forces of the Canaanites, was beaten and driven to flight by the Israelites under Barak. Gideon's' assault on the Midianites was from the slope of Mount Gilboa, which rises out of the same valley. The latter battle has been called by historians the Battle of Jezreel, and Jezreel is one of the forms of the name of the valley of Esdraelon. It was there that the Philistines were arrayed when Saul fought his last battle with them, and on the slopes of Gilboa he fell on his sword and died. On the same historic plain, near the city of Megiddo, Josiah, king of Judah, fought against Necho, the Pharaoh of Egypt, B. C. 609, and was defeated and mortally wounded. The plain of Megiddo was so often, in fact, the meeting place of ancient armies that it seems to have come to be looked upon as the typical battle-ground, and apparently the name Armageddon in Revelations is an allusion to it in that sense. The ancient city of Megiddo has been identified in site with the present town of Ledjûn, which is the Legio of the Romans—the station of a Roman legion.

MEGISTANES, The.

"The king [of the Parthian monarchy] was permanently advised by two councils, consisting of persons not of his own nomination, whom rights, conferred by birth or office, entitled to their seats. One of these was a family conclave, … or assembly of the full-grown males of the Royal House; the other was a senate comprising both the spiritual and the temporal chiefs of the nation, the Sophi, or 'Wise Men,' and the Magi, or 'Priests.' Together these two bodies constituted the Megistanes, the 'Nobles' or 'Great Men'—the privileged class which to a considerable extent checked and controlled the monarch. The monarchy was elective; but only in the house of the Arsacidæ."

G. Rawlinson, Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 6.

MEHDI, AL.

See MAHDI, AL.

MEHEMET ALI AND THE INDEPENDENT PASHALIK OF EGYPT.

See TURKS: A. D. 1831-1840; and EGYPT: A. D. 1840-1869.

MEHERRINS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: IROQUOIS TRIBES OF THE SOUTH

MEIGS, Fort, Sieges of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813 HARRISON'S NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN.

MELBOURNE MINISTRIES, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1834-1837; and 1841-1842.

MELCHITES.

A name applied in the religious controversies of the 6th century, by the heretical Jacobites, to the adherents of the orthodox church. It signified that they were imperialists, or royalists, taking their doctrines from the sovereign power.

H. F. Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire, chapter 5.

MELDÆ, The.

A tribe in ancient Gaul which was established in the north of the modern French department of the Seine-et-Marne and in a small part of the department of the Oise.

Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, footnote (volume 2).

MELIAN FAMINE.

See GREECE: B. C. 416.

MELIGNANO, MARIGNANO, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1515.

MELISCEET INDIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

MELORIA, Battles of (1241 and 1284).

See PISA: A. D. 1063-1293.

MELOS: Siege, conquest and massacre by the Athenians:

See GREECE: B. C. 416.

MELUN, Siege of.

One of the important sieges in the second campaign of the English king Henry V. in France, A. D. 1420.

Monstrelet, Chronicles, book 1, chapters 226-230 (volume 1).

MEMLUKS.

See MAMELUKES.

—————MEMPHIS, Egypt: Start————

MEMPHIS, Egypt.

The foundation of Memphis is the first event in Egyptian history, the one large historical incident in the reign of the first king, who emerges a real man from the shadow land which the Egyptians called the reign of the gods. … Menes, the founder of Memphis and Egyptian history, came from the south. Civilisation descended the Nile. His native place was Thinis, or This, in Upper Egypt, a still older town, where his shadowy predecessors ruled. … A great engineering work was the first act of the builder. He chose his site … but the stream was on the wrong side, flowing below the Libyan chain, flowing over where the city should be, offering no water-bulwark against the invader from the eastern border. So he raised, a few miles to the south, a mighty dyke, and turned the river into the present course, founding the city on the west bank, with the desert behind and the Nile before. … The new city received a name which reflects the satisfaction of the ancient founder: he called it Mennufre, 'the Good' or 'Perfect Mansion.' This was the civil name. … The civil name is the parent of the Greek Memphis and the Hebrew Moph, also found in the form Noph."

R. S. Poole, Cities of Egypt, chapter 2.

See, also, EGYPT: THE OLD EMPIRE AND THE MIDDLE EMPIRE.

{2152}

MEMPHIS: A. D. 640-641. Surrender to the Moslems.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646.

—————MEMPHIS, Egypt: End————

—————MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Start————

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: A. D. 1739-1740. A French fort on the site.

See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1719-1750.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: A. D. 1862. Naval fight in the river. Surrender of the city to the Union forces.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (JUNE: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

—————MEMPHIS, Tennessee: End————

MENAPII, The.

See BELGÆ; also, IRELAND: TRIBES OF EARLY CELTIC INHABITANTS.

MENDICANT ORDERS. Franciscans. Dominicans.

"This period [12-13th centuries], so prolific in institutions of every sort, also gave birth to the Mendicant orders, a species of spiritual chivalry still more generous and heroic than that which we have just treated [the military-religious orders], and unique in history. … Many causes combined to call them into existence. In proportion as the Church grew wealthy her discipline relaxed, and dangers menaced her on every side. … The problem thus presented to the Church was taken up at the opening of the 13th century, and thrown into practical shape by two men equally eminent in intellectual endowments and spiritual gifts. While each solved it in his own way, they were both attached to each other by the closest friendship. Dominic, a member of the powerful house of Guzman, was born in the year 1170, at Callaruega (Calahorra, in Old Castile), a village in the diocese of Osma. While pursuing his studies in the university of Valencia, he was distinguished by a spirit of charity and self·sacrifice. … Diego, Bishop of Osma, … a man of severe character, and ardently devoted to the good of the Church, found in Dominic one after his own heart. He took the young priest with him on a mission which he made to the south of France." Dominic was finally left in charge of the mission. "His peaceful disposition, his spirit of prayer, his charity, forbearance, and patient temper formed a consoling contrast to the bloody crusade which had recently been set on foot against the Albigenses. After spending ten years in this toilsome and thankless mission, labouring only for love of God and the profit of souls, he set out for Rome, in 1215, with his plans fully matured, and submitted to Pope Innocent III. the project of giving to the Church a new method of defence, in an order which should combine the contemplative life of the monk with the active career of a secular priest. … Innocent gave his sanction to Dominic's project, provided he would manage to bring it under some of the existing Rules. Dominic accordingly selected the Rule of St. Augustine, introducing a few changes, with a view to greater severity, taken from the Rule of the Premonstratensians. That the members of the new order might be free to devote themselves entirely to their spiritual labours, they were forbidden to accept any property requiring their active administration, but were permitted to receive the incomes of such as was administered by others. Property, therefore, might be held by the Order as a body, but not administered by its members. Pope Honorius III. confirmed the action of his illustrious predecessor, and approved the Order in the following year, giving it, from its object, the name of the 'Order of Friars Preachers' ('Ordo Prædicatorum, Fratres Prædicatores'). … Dominic founded, in the year 1206, an Order of Dominican nuns. … The dress of the Dominicans is a white garment and scapular, resembling in form that of the Augustinians, with a black cloak and a pointed cap. Francis of Assisi, the son of a wealthy merchant named Bernardini, was born in the year 1182, in Assisi, in Umbria. His baptismal name was John, but from his habit of reading the romances of the Troubadours in his youth, he gradually acquired the name of Il Francesco, or the Little Frenchman. … When about twenty-four years of age, he fell dangerously ill, and, while suffering from this attack, gave himself up to a train of religious thought which led him to consider the emptiness and uselessness of his past life. … He … conceived the idea of founding a society whose members should go about through the whole world, after the manner of the apostles, preaching and exhorting to penance. … His zeal gradually excited emulation, and prompted others to aspire after the same perfection. His first associates were his townsmen, Bernard Quintavalle and Peter Cattano, and others soon followed. Their habit consisted of a long brown tunic of coarse woolen cloth, surmounted by a hood of the same material, and confined about the waist with a hempen cord. This simple but ennobling dress was selected because it was that of the poor peasants of the surrounding country. … He sent his companions, two-and-two, in all directions, saying to them in taking leave: 'Go; always travel two-and-two. Pray until the third hour; then only may you speak. Let your speech be simple and humble.' … With St. Francis, absolute poverty was not only a practice, it was the essential principle on which he based his Order. Not only were the individual members forbidden to have any personal property whatever, but neither could they hold any as an Order, and were entirely dependent for their support upon alms. … Hence the chief difference between mendicant and other monastic orders consists in this, that, in the former, begging takes the place of the ordinary vow of personal poverty. … In 1223, Pope Honorius III. approved the Order of Franciscans (Fratres Minores), to which … Innocent III. had given a verbal sanction in 1210."

J. Alzog, Manual of Universal Church History, section 247 (volume 2).

"They were" called 'Friars' because, out of humility, their founders would not have them called 'Father' and 'Dominus,' like the monks, but simply 'Brother' ('Frater,' 'Frère,' Friar). … Dominic gave to his order the name of Preaching Friars; more commonly they were styled Dominicans, or, from the colour of their habits, Black Friars. … The Franciscans were styled by their founder 'Fratri Minori'—lesser brothers, Friars Minors; they were more usually called Grey Friars, from the colour of their habits, or Cordeliers, from the knotted cord which formed their characteristic girdle."

E. L. Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, chapter 5.

{2153}

"People talk of 'Monks and Friars' as if these were convertible terms. The truth is that the difference between the Monks and the Friars was almost one of kind. The Monk was supposed never to leave his cloister. The Friar in St. Francis' first intention had no cloister to leave."

A. Jessopp, The Coming of the Friars, 1.

ALSO IN: Mrs. Oliphant, Life of St. Francis of Assisi.

H. L. Lacordaire, Life of St. Dominic.

R. Pauli, Pictures of Old England, chapter 2.

E. F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, book 3, number 8.

P. Sabatier, Life of St. Francis of Assisi.

MENENDEZ'S MASSACRE OF FLORIDA HUGUENOTS.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1565.

MENHIR.

Meaning literally "long-stone." The name is usually given to single, upright stones, sometimes very large, which are found in the British islands, France and elsewhere, and which are supposed to be the rude sepulchral monuments of some of the earlier races, Celtic and pre-Celtic.

Sir J. Lubbock, Prehistoric Times, chapter 5.

MENOMINEES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

MENTANA, Battle of (1867).

See ITALY: A. D. 1867-1870.

—————MENTZ: Start————

MENTZ: Origin.

See MOGONTIACUM.

MENTZ: A. D. 406. Destruction by the Germans.

See GAUL: A. D. 406-409.

MENTZ: 12th Century. Origin of the electorate.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152.

MENTZ: A. D. 1455-1456. Appearance of the first printed book.

See PRINTING: A. D. 1430-1456.

MENTZ: A. D. 1631. Occupied by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.

MENTZ: A. D. 1792. Occupation by the French Revolutionary army. Incorporation with the French Republic.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

MENTZ: A. D. 1793. Recovery by the Germans.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY-DECEMBER).

MENTZ: A. D. 1801-1803. Extinction of the electorate.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.

—————MENTZ: End————

MENTZ, Treaty of (1621).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623.

MENZEL PAPERS, The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1755-1756, and 1756.

MERCED, The order of La.

"Jayme [king of Aragon, called El Conquistador], when a captive in the hands of Simon de Montfort [see SPAIN: A. D. 1212-1238], had—mere baby as he was—made a vow that, when he should be a man and a king, he would endeavour to do something for the redemption of captives. So, before he was a man in age, he instituted another religious order of knighthood, called La Merced, which added to their other duties that of collecting alms and using them for the ransoming of captives to the Moors."

C. M. Yonge, The Story of the Christians and Moors of Spain, page 184.

MERCENARIES, Revolt of the.

See CARTHAGE: B. C. 241-238.

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS.

"The original Company of the Merchant Adventurers carried on trade chiefly with the Netherlands. Their principal mart was at first Bruges, whence it was removed to Antwerp early in the fifteenth century. In distinction from the staplers, who dealt in certain raw materials, the Merchant Adventurers had the monopoly of exporting certain manufactured articles, especially cloths. Though of national importance, they constituted a strictly private company, and not, like the staplers, an administrative organ of the British government. The former were all subjects of the English crown; the staplers were made up of aliens as well as Englishmen. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries frequent dissensions broke out between these two bodies regarding the exportation of cloth. To carry on foreign trade freely in wool as well as in cloth, a merchant had to join both companies. Much obscurity hangs over the early history of the Merchant Adventurers. They claimed' that John, Duke of Brabant, founded their society in 1216 or 1248, and that it originally bore the name of the Brotherhood of St. Thomas à Becket. But it could scarcely have existed in its later form before the reign of Edward III., when the cloth industry began to flourish in England. The earliest charter granted to it as an organized association dates from the year 1407. Their powers were greatly increased by Henry VII. The soul of this society, and perhaps its original nucleus, was the Mercers' Company of London. … Though the most influential Merchant Adventurers resided in London, there were many in other English towns. … The contrast between the old Gild Merchant and the Company of Merchant Adventurers is striking. The one had to do wholly with foreign trade, and its members were forbidden to exercise a manual occupation or even to be retail shopkeepers; the other consisted mainly of small shopkeepers and artisans. The line of demarkation between merchants and manual craftsmen was sharply drawn by the second half of the sixteenth century, the term 'merchant' having already acquired its modern signification as a dealer on an extensive scale. Besides the Company of Merchant Adventurers trading to the Low Countries—which during the eighteenth century was called the Hamburg Company—various new Companies of Merchant Adventurers trading to other lands arose in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially during the reigns of Elizabeth and her immediate successors. Among them were the Russian or Muscovy Company, the Turkey or Levant Company, the Guinea Company, the Morocco Company, the Eastland Company, the Spanish Company, and the East India Company, the last-mentioned being the most powerful of them all."

C. Gross, The Gild Merchant, pages 148-156.

MERCHANT GUILD.

See GUILDS, MEDIÆVAL.

MERCHANT TAYLORS' SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES—ENGLAND.

MERCIA, The Kingdom of.

A kingdom formed at the close of the 6th century by the West Angles, on the Welsh border, or March. The people who formed it had acquired the name of Men of the March, from which they came to be called Mercians, and their kingdom Mercia. In the next century, under King Penda, its territory and its power were greatly extended, at the expense of Northumbria.

J. R. Green, The Making of England.

See, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.

{2154}

MERCY FOR THE REDEMPTION OF CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES, The Order of.

"For the institution of this godlike order, the Christian world was indebted to Pope Innocent III., at the close of the 12th century. … The exertions of the order were soon crowned with success. One third of its revenues was appropriated to the objects of its foundation, and thousands groaning in slavery were restored to their country. … The order … met with so much encouragement that, in the time of Alberic, the monk (who wrote about forty years after its institution), the number of monastic houses amounted to 600, most of which were situated in France, Lombardy and Spain."

S. A. Dunham, History of Spain and Portugal, book 3, section 3, chapter 4 (volume 4).

MERGENTHEIM, Battle of (1645).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.

—————MERIDA: Start————

MERIDA, Origin of.

See EMERITA AUGUSTA.

MERIDA: A. D. 712. Siege and capture by the Arab-Moors.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

—————MERIDA: End————

MERIDIAN, Mississippi, Sherman's Raid to.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-APRIL: TENNESSEE-MISSISSIPPI).

MERMNADÆ, The. The third dynasty of the kings of Lydia, beginning with Gyges and ending with Crœsus.

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 4, chapter 17 (volume 3).

MEROË, The Kingdom of.

See ETHIOPIA.

MEROM, Battle of.

The final great victory won by Joshua in the conquest of Canaan, over the Canaanite and Amorite kings, under Jabin, king of Hazor, who seems to have been a kind of over-king or chieftain among them.

Dean Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, lecture 12 (volume 1).

MEROVINGIANS, The.

See FRANKS: A. D. 448-456; and 511-752.

MERRIMAC AND MONITOR, Battle of the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH).

MERRYMOUNT.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1622-1628.

MERTÆ, The.

See BRITAIN: CELTIC TRIBES.

MERTON, Statutes of.

A body of laws enacted at a Great Council held at Merton, in England, under Henry III., A. D. 1236, which marks an important advance made in the development of constitutional legislation.

G. W. Prothero, Simon de Montfort.

MERU.

See MERV.

—————MERV: Start————

MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1221. Destruction by Jingis Khan.

In the merciless march through Central Asia of the awful Mongol horde set in motion by Jingis Khan, the great city of Meru (modern Merv) was reached in the autumn of A. D. 1220. This was "Meru Shahjan, i. e., Meru the king of the world, one of the four chief cities of Khorassan, and one of the oldest cities of the world. It had been the capital of the great Seljuk Sultans Melikshah and Sanjar, and was very rich and populous. It was situated on the banks of the Meri el rond, also called the Murjab. … The siege commenced on the 25th of February, 1221. The governor of the town … sent a venerable imam as an envoy to the Mongol camp. He returned with such fair promises that the governor himself repaired to the camp, and was loaded with presents; he was asked to send for his chief relations and friends; when these were fairly in his power, Tulni [one of the sons of Jingis Khan] ordered them all, including the governor, to be killed. The Mongols then entered the town, the inhabitants were ordered to evacuate it with their treasures; the mournful procession, we are told, took four days to defile out. … A general and frightful massacre ensued; only 400 artisans and a certain number of young people were reserved as slaves. The author of the 'Jhankushai' says that the Seyid Yzz-ud-din, a man renowned for his virtues and piety, assisted by many people, were thirteen days in counting the corpses, which numbered 1,300,000. Ibn al Ethir says that 700,000 corpses were counted. The town was sacked, the mausolemn of the Sultan Sanjar was rifled and then burnt, and the walls and citadel of Meru levelled with the ground."

H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, volume 1, page 87.

See, also, KHORASSAN: A. D. 1220-1221.

MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1884. Russian occupation.

See RUSSIA. A. D. 1869-1881.

—————MERV: End————

MERWAN I., Caliph, A. D. 683-684.

Merwan II., Caliph, 744-750.

MERWING.

One of the forms given to the name of the royal family of the Franks, established in power by Clovis, and more commonly known as the Merovingian Family.

MÉRY, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).

MESCHIANZA, MISCHIANZA, The.

See PHILADELPHIA: A. D. 1777-1778.

MESOPOTAMIA.

"Between the outer limits of the Syro-Arabian desert and the foot of the great mountain-range of Kurdistan and Luristan intervenes a territory long famous in the world's history, and the chief site of three out of the five empires of whose history, geography, and antiquities it is proposed to treat in the present volumes. Known to the Jews as Aram-Naharaim, or 'Syria of the two rivers'; to the Greeks and Romans as Mesopotamia, or 'the between-river country'; to the Arabs as Al-Jezireh, or, 'the island,' this district has always taken its name from the streams [the Tigris and Euphrates] which constitute its most striking feature."

G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies: Chaldœa, chapter 1.

MESSALINA, The infamies of.

See ROME: A. D. 47-54.

MESSANA.

See MESSENE.

MESSAPIANS, The.

See ŒNOTRIANS.

—————MESSENE: Start————

MESSENE, in Peloponnesus: B. C. 369. The founding of the city. Restoration of the enslaved Messenians.

See MESSENIAN WAR, THE THIRD; also, GREECE: B. C. 371-362.

MESSENE: B. C. 338. Territories restored by Philip of Macedon.

See GREECE; B. C. 357-336.

MESSENE: B. C. 184. Revolt from the Achæan League.

A faction in Messene which was hostile to the Achæan League having gained the ascendancy, B. C. 184, declared its secession from the League. Philopœmen, the chief of the League, proceeded at once with a small force to reduce the Messenians to obedience, but was taken prisoner and was foully executed by his enemies. Bishop Thirlwall pronounced him "the last great man whom Greece produced." The death of Philopœmen was speedily avenged on those who caused it and Messene was recovered to the League.

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 65.

ALSO IN: Plutarch, Philopœmen.

{2155}

MESSENE (MODERN MESSINA), in Sicily. The founding of the city.

"Zancle was originally colonised by pirates who came from Cyme the Chalcidian city in Opicia. … Zancle was the original name of the place, a name given by the Sicels because the site was in shape like a sickle, for which the Sicel word is Zanclon. These earlier settlers were afterwards driven out by the Samians and other Ionians, who when they fled from the Persians found their way to Sicily. Not long afterwards Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium, drove out these Samians. He then repeopled their city with a mixed multitude, and called the place Messene, after his native country."

Thucydides, History, translated by Jowett, book 6, section 4.

MESSENE: B. C. 396. Destruction by the Carthaginians.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 397-396.

MESSENE: B. C. 264. The Mamertines.

See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.

MESSINA: A. D. 1849. Bombardment and capture by King Ferdinand.

See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.

—————MESSENIAN WARS: Start————

MESSENIAN WARS, The First and Second.

The Spartans were engaged in two successive wars with their neighbors of Messenia, whose territory, adjoining their own in the southwestern extremity of Peloponnesus, was rich, prosperous and covetable. "It was unavoidable that the Spartans should look down with envy from their bare rocky ridges into the prosperous land of their neighbours and the terraces close by, descending to the river, with their well-cultivated plantations of oil and wine. Besides, the Dorians who had immigrated into Messenia had, under the influence of the native population and of a life of comfortable ease, lost their primitive character. Messenia seemed like a piece of Arcadia, with which it was most intimately connected. … Hence this was no war of Dorians against Dorians; it rather seemed to be Sparta's mission to make good the failure of the Dorization of Messenia which had sunk back into Pelasgic conditions of life, and to unite with herself the remains of the Dorian people still surviving there. In short, a variety of motives contributed to provoke a forcible extension of Spartan military power on this particular side."

E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 2, chapter 1 (volume 1).

The First Messenian War was commenced B. C. 745 and lasted twenty years, ending in the complete subjugation of the Messenians, who were reduced to a state of servitude like that of the Helots of Sparta. After enduring the oppression for thirty-nine years, the Messenians rose in revolt against their Spartan masters, B. C. 685. The leader and great hero of this Second Messenian War was Aristomenes, whose renown became so great in the despairing struggle that the latter was called among the ancients the Aristomnean War. But all the valor and self-sacrifice of the unhappy Messenians availed nothing. They gave up the contest, B. C. 668; large numbers of them escaped to other lands and those who remained were reduced to a more wretched condition than before.

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 9.

See, also, SPARTA: B. C. 743-510.

MESSENIAN WARS: The Third.

"The whole of Laconia [E. C. 464] was shaken by an earthquake, which opened great chasms in the ground, and rolled down huge masses from the highest peaks of Taygetus: Sparta itself became a heap of ruins, in which not more than five houses are said to have been left standing. More than 20,000 persons were believed to have been destroyed by the shock, and the flower of the Spartan youth was overwhelmed by the fall of the buildings in which they were exercising themselves at the time."

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 17.

The Helots of Sparta, especially those who were descended from the enslaved Messenians, took advantage of the confusion produced by the earthquake, to rise in revolt. Having secured possession of Ithome, they fortified themselves in the town and withstood there a siege of ten years,—sometimes called the Third Messenian War. The Spartans invited the Athenians to aid them in the siege, but soon grew jealous of their allies and dismissed them with some rudeness. This was one of the prime causes of the animosity between Athens and Sparta which afterward flamed out in the Peloponnesian War. In the end, the Messenians at Ithome capitulated and were allowed to quit the country; whereupon the Athenians settled them at Naupactus, on the Corinthian gulf, and so gained an ardent ally, in an important situation.

Thucydides, History, book 1, sections 101-103.

Nearly one hundred years later (B. C. 369) when Thebes, under Epaminondas, rose to power in Greece and Sparta was humiliated, it was one of the measures of the Theban statesman to found at Ithome an important city which he named Messene, into which the long oppressed Messenians were gathered, from slavery and from exile, and were organized in a state once more, free and independent.

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 39.

ALSO IN: G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 78.

—————MESSENIAN WARS: End—————

MESSIDOR, The month.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (OCTOBER) THE NEW REPUBLICAN CALENDAR.

MESTIZO. MULATTO.

A half-breed person in Peru, born of a white father and an Indian mother, is called a Mestizo. One born of a white father and a negro mother is called a mulatto.

J. J. Von Tschudi, Travels in Peru, chapter 5.

METAPONTIUM.

See SIRIS.

METAURUS, Battle of the.

See PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND.

METAURUS, Defeat of the Alemanni.

See ALEMANNI: A. D. 270.

MÉTAYERS.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1789.

METEMNEH, Battle of(1885).

See EGYPT: A. D. 1884-1885.

METHODISTS: Origin of the Religious Denomination.

"The term Methodist was a college nickname bestowed upon a small society of students at Oxford who met together between 1729 and 1735 for the purpose of mutual improvement. They were accustomed to communicate every week, to fast regularly on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on most days during Lent; to read and discuss the Bible in common, to abstain from most forms of amusement and luxury, and to visit sick persons and prisoners in the gaol. John Wesley, the master-spirit of this society, and the future leader of the religious revival of the eighteenth century, was born in 1703, and was the second surviving son of Samuel Wesley, the Rector of Epworth, in Lincolnshire. … The society hardly numbered more than fifteen members, and was the object of much ridicule at the university; but it included some men who afterwards played considerable parts in the world. {2156} Among them was Charles, the younger brother of John Wesley, whose hymns became the favourite poetry of the sect, and whose gentler, more submissive, and more amiable character, though less fitted than that of his brother for the great conflicts of public life, was very useful in moderating the movement, and in drawing converts to it by personal influence. Charles Wesley appears to have been the first to originate the society at Oxford; he brought Whitefield into its pale, and besides being the most popular poet he was one of the most persuasive preachers of the movement. There, too, was James Hervey, who became one of the earliest links connecting Methodism with general literature."

W. E. H. Lecky, History of England in the 18th Century, chapter 9 (volume 2).

METHUEN, Rout of.

The first Scotch army assembled by Robert Bruce after he had been crowned king of Scotland, was surprised and routed by Aymer de Valence, June 26, 1306.

C. H. Pearson, History of England during the Early and Middle Ages, volume 2, chapter 14.

METHUEN TREATY, The.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1703; and SPAIN: A. D. 1703-1704.

METÖACS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

METŒCI.

"Resident aliens, or Metœci, are non-citizens possessed of personal freedom, and settled in Attica. Their number, in the flourishing periods of the State, might amount to 45,000, and therefore was about half that of the citizens."

G. F. Schömann, Antiquity of Greece: The State, part 3, chapter 3, section 2.

METON, The year of.

"Hitherto [before the age of Pericles] the Athenians had only had the Octaëteris, i. e., the period of eight years, of which three were composed of thirteen months, in order thus to make the lunar years correspond to the solar. But as eight such solar years still amount to something short of 99 lunar months, this cycle was insufficient for its purpose. … Meton and his associates calculated that a more correct adjustment might be obtained within a cycle of 6,940 days. These made up 235 months, which formed a cycle of 19 years; and this was the so-called 'Great Year,' or 'Year of Meton.'"

E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 3, chapter 3 (volume 2).

METRETES, The.

See EPHAH.

METROPOLITANS.

See PRIMATES.

METROPOTAMIA, The proposed State of.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1784.

METTERNICH, The governing system of.

See HOLY ALLIANCE.

—————METZ: Start————

METZ: Original names.

The Gallic town of Divodurum acquired later the name of Mediomatrici, which modern tongues have changed to Metz.

C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 34, foot-note.

METZ: A. D. 451. Destruction by the Huns.

See HUNS: A. D. 451.

METZ: A. D. 511-752. The Austrasian capital.

See FRANKS: A. D. 511-752.

METZ: A. D. 1552-1559. Treacherous occupation by the French. Siege by Charles V. Cession to France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

METZ: A. D. 1648. Ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

METZ: A. D. 1679-1680. The Chamber of Reannexation.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1679-1681.

METZ: A. D. 1870. The French army of Bazaine enclosed and besieged. The surrender.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST), to (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

METZ: A. D. 1871. Cession to Germany.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (JANUARY-MAY).

—————METZ: End————

MEXICAN PICTURE-WRITING.

See AZTEC AND MAYA PICTURE-WRITING.

—————MEXICO: Start————

MEXICO. Ancient: The Maya and Nahua peoples and their civilization.

"Notwithstanding evident marks of similarity in nearly all the manifestations of the progressional spirit in aboriginal America, in art, thought, and religion, there is much reason for and convenience in referring all the native civilization to two branches, the Maya and the Nahua, the former the more ancient, the latter the more recent and wide-spread. … It is only, however, in a very general sense that this classification can be accepted, and then only for practical convenience in elucidating the subject; since there are several nations that must be ranked among our civilized peoples, which, particularly in the matter of language, show no Maya nor Nahua affinities. Nor is too much importance to be attached to the names Maya and Nahua, by which I designate these parallel civilizations. The former is adopted for the reason that the Maya people and tongue are commonly regarded as among the most ancient in all the Central American region, a region where formerly flourished the civilization that left such wonderful remains at Palenque, Uxmal, and Copan; the latter as being an older designation than either Aztec or Toltec, both of which stocks the race Nahua includes. The civilization of what is now the Mexican Republic, north of Tehuantepec, belonged to the Nahua branch, both at the time of the conquest and throughout the historic period preceding. Very few traces of the Maya element occur north of Chiapas, and these are chiefly linguistic, appearing in two or three nations dwelling along the shores of the Mexican gulf. In published works upon the subject the Aztecs are the representatives of the Nahua element; indeed, what is known of the Aztecs has furnished material for nine tenths of all that has been written on the American civilized nations in general. The truth of the matter is that the Aztecs were only the most powerful of a league or confederation of three nations, which in the 16th century, from their capitals in the valley, ruled central Mexico."

H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2, chapter 2.

"The evidence … has pointed—with varying force, but with great uniformity of direction—towards the Central or Usumacinta region [Central America], not necessarily as the original cradle of American civilization, but as the most ancient home to which it can be traced by traditional, monumental, and linguistic records. … {2157} Throughout several centuries preceding the Christian era, and perhaps one or two centuries following, there flourished in Central America the great Maya empire of the Chanes, Culhuas, or Serpents, known to its foes as Xibalba, with its centre in Chiapas at or near Palenque, and with several allied capitals in the surrounding region. Its first establishment at a remote period was attributed by the people to a being called Votan, who was afterwards worshipped as a god. … From its centre in the Usumacinta region the Votanic power was gradually extended north-westward towards Anáhuac, where its subjects vaguely appear in tradition as Quinames, or giants. It also penetrated northeastward into Yucatan, where Zamná was its reputed founder, and the Cocomes and Itzas probably its subjects. … The Maya empire seems to have been in the height of its prosperity when the rival Nahua power came into prominence, perhaps two or three centuries before Christ. The origin of the new people and of the new institutions is as deeply shrouded in mystery as is that of their predecessors. … The Plumed Serpent, known in different tongues as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, and Cukulcan, was the being who traditionally founded the new order of things. The Nahua power grew up side by side with its Xibalban predecessor, having its capital Tulan apparently in Chiapas. Like the Maya power, it was not confined to its original home, but was borne … towards Anáhuac. … The struggle on the part of the Xibalbans seems to have been that of an old effete monarchy against a young and progressive people. Whatever its cause, the result of the conquest was the overthrow of the Votanic monarchs at a date which may be approximately fixed within a century before or after the beginning of our era. From that time the ancient empire disappears from traditional history. … Respecting the ensuing period of Nahua greatness in Central America nothing is recorded save that it ended in revolt, disaster, and a general scattering of the tribes at some period probably preceding the 5th century. The national names that appear in connection with the closing struggles are the Toltecs, Chichimecs, Quichés, Nonohualcas, and Tutul Xius, none of them apparently identical with the Xibalbans. … Of the tribes that were successively defeated and forced to seek new homes, those that spoke the Maya dialects, although considering themselves Nahuas, seem to have settled chiefly in the south and east. Some of them afterwards rose to great prominence in Guatemala and Yucatan. … The Nahua-speaking tribes as a rule established themselves in Anáhuac and in the western and north-western parts of Mexico. … The valley of Mexico and the country immediately adjoining soon became the centre of the Nahuas in Mexico."