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MOEHRINGIA. Mossy chickweed. In botany, a genus of the class octandria, order digynia. Calyx four-leaved; petals four; capsule one-celled, four-valved. One species only, an Alpine annual herb with white axillary flowers, erect, on slender one-flowered peduncles.

MOERIS, a steward of the shepherd Menalcas, in Virgil's Ecl. 9. 2. A king of Egypt, the last of the 300 kings from Menes to Sesostris, and reigned 63 years. 3. A celebrated lake in Egypt, supposed to have been dug by the king of the same name. It is about 220 miles in circumference, and intended as a reservoir for the waters during the inundation of the Nile. There were two pyramids in it, 600 feet high, half of which lay under the water, and the other appeared on the surface.

MOESIA, or MYSIA, (anc. geog.) a country of Europe, extending from the confluence of the Savus and the Danube to the shores of the Euxine. It was divided into Upper and Lower Moesia. Lower Moesia was on the borders of the Euxine, and comprehended that tract of country which received the name of Pontus from its vicinity to the sea. Upper Moesia lay beyond the other, in the inland country.

MOESKIRCH, a town of Suabia, belonging to the princes of Furstenburg, 18 miles N. of Constance, and 52 S. of Stutgard. Lon. 9. 11 E. Lat. 47. 56 N.

MOFFAT, a village of Scotland, in the shire of Annandale, 50 miles south-west of Edin burgh; famous for its sulphureous well, which has been in just estimation for above 150 years as a remedy in all cutaneous and scrophulous complaints; and for its chalybeate spring, perhaps the strongest in Britain, which was discovered about 50 years ago, and is of a very bracing quality. The place is chiefly supported by the company who resort thither for the benefit of its waters and air; but it has also a manufacture of coarse woollen stuffs. It is a well-built clean village; and contains many good and even elegant lodgings, a tolerable assembly-room, a bowling-green and walks, and one of the best inns between London and Edinburgh.

MOFFAT HILLS, the highest mountains in the S. of Scotland. They occupy the N. part of Annandale; and from these descend in different directions the Tweed, Clyde, and Annan, whose sources are but little distant from

each other.

MOFFAT WATER, a cold sulphureous water, of a very simple composition. It is exhibited in cutaneous eruptions of every kind, scrophula, ill-conditioned and irritable sores, and in bilious and calculous complaints.

· MOGADOR, an island and castle of Africa, in the kingdom of Morocco, near Cape Ozem. There are mines of gold and silver in one of the mountains. Lon. 9. 55 W. Lat. 31. 38 N. MOGULS (Country of the), or WESTERN CHINESE TARTARY, is bounded on the N. by Siberia, on the E. by Eastern Tartary, on the S. by the great Wall and Leao-tong, and on the W. by Independent Tartary. The Mogul

Tartars have neither towns, villages, nor houses; they are wandering hordes, and live under tents, which they remove from one place to another, according as the temperature of the different seasons or the wants of their flocks require: they pass the summer on the banks of their rivers, and the winter at the foot of some mountain, or hill, which shelters them from the cutting north wind. They are naturally clownish, and dirty in their dress, as well as in their tents, where they live amid the dung of their flocks, which when dried they use for fuel instead of wood. Enemies to labour, they choose rather to be satisfied with the food with which their flocks supply them than take the trouble of cultivating the earth: it even appears that they neglect agriculture from pride. During the summer they live only on milk, which they obtain from their flocks, using without distinc tion that of the cow, mare, ewe, goat, and camel. Their ordinary drink is warm water, in which a little coarse tea has been infused; with this they mix cream, milk, or butter, according to their circumstances. They have also a method of making a kind of spirituous liquor of sour milk, especially of that of the mare. The Moguls are free, open, and sincere. They pride themselves chiefly on their dexterity in handling the bow and arrow, mounting on horseback, and hunting wild beasts. Polygamy is permitted among them; but they generally have only one wife. They burn the bodies of their dead, and carry the ashes to eminences, where they inter them, and cover the grave with a heap of stones, over which they plant a great number of small standards. They are unacquainted with the use of money, and trade only by barter. Although the Moguls might appropriate to themselves the spoils of a great number of animals, the skins which they use for clothing are generally those of their sheep. They wear the wool inmost, and the skin on the outside. The religion of the Mogul Tartars is confined to the worship of Fo. They have the most superstitious veneration for their lamas, who are clownish, ignorant, and licentious priests, to whom they attribute the power of calling down hail or rain; to these lamas they give the most valu able of their effects in return for prayers, which they go about reciting from tent to tent. These people are very devout, and continually wear hanging at their necks a kind of chaplet, over which they say their prayers. All the Moguls are governed by khans, or particular princes, independent of each other, but all subject to the emperor of China, whom they consider as the grand khan of the Tartars. When the Mantchews subdued China, they conferred on the most powerful of the Mogul princes the title of vang, peilé, peizé, and cong, which answer to our titles of king, duke, count, and marquis; each of them had a revenue assigned him, but far inferior to the appoinments of the Mantchew lords at Pekin: the emperor settled the limits of their respective territories, and appointed them laws, according to which they are at present governed. All the Mogul nations under

the Chinese government may be divided into four principal tribes, which are the Moguls, properly so called, the Kalkas, the Ortous, and the Tartars of Kokonor.

MOʻHAIR. s. (mohere, French.) Thread or stuff made of camels or other hair (Pope). MOHAIR, in commerce, the hair of a kind of goat frequent about Angria in Turkey; the inhabitants of which city are all employed in the manufacture of camblets made of this hair. Some give the name mohair to the camblets or stuffs made of this hair: of these there are two kinds; the one smooth and plain, the other watered like tabbies: the difference between the two consists only in this, that the latter is calendered, the other not. There are also mohairs both plain and watered, whose woof is of wool, cotton, or thread.

MOHAIR-SHELL, in conchology, a name given to a peculiar species of voluta, which seems of a closely and finely reticulated texture, and resembles on the surface a piece of mohair, or a very close silk-worm's web.

MOHATZ, a town of Lower Hungary, in the county of Baraniwar. Here Louis, the last king of Hungary, in 1526, was defeated by the Turks under Soliman II. with the loss of 22,000 men, and after the battle suffocated by the fall of his horse in a muddy hrook. In 1687, another battle was fought here between the Christians commanded by prince Charles of Lorrain, and the Turks, who were defeated with the loss of 10,000 men, their cannon and bagage. It is seated at the confluence of the Danube and Corasse, 17 miles N.W. of Esseck. Lon. 19. 56 E. Lat. 45. 46 N.

MOHAWK RIVER, a river of the state of New York, which rises to the north of Fort Stanwix, passes by that fort and Skenectady, and empties itself by two mouths into Hudson's River, eight miles above Albany. About two miles above its junction with that river it has a cataract, where the stream, 100 yards wide, falls perpendicularly about seventy feet.

MOHAWKS, a once powerful tribe of Indians in North America, living on the Mohawk River. Only one family are left of them in the state of New York, the rest having, in 1776, emigrated, with sir John Johnson, into Canada.

MOHELIA, or MOHILA, one of the Comora Islands, between the island of Madagascar and the continent of Africa. Ships touch here in their passage to the East Indies. Lat. 11. 55 S. Lon. 45.0 E.

MOHILOF, or MOHILOW, a strong town of Lithuania, in Poland. The Swedes obtained a victory over the Russians near this place in 1707. Lat. 54. 10 N. Lon. 30. 0 E.

MOHURRUM, the annual commemoration of the death of the Imaum Hossein, observed among the Hindoos. This Hossein is reputed the second son of Ali by Fatima, the daughter of Mahommed. He was killed by the caliph Yezzeed of the house of Omar, at Kerbalaie in Erack Arabia, the ancient Mesopotamia. Those Musselmans who pretend to be the followers of Ali represent during the ten VOL. VIII.

days of this festival all the traditional circumstances connected with the death of Hossein..

MOHRUNGEN, a town of Prussia, in the province of Oberland, situate on a lake of the same name, which almost surrounds it. Here is an old castle, formerly a convent, belonging to the knights of the Teutonic order, in consequence of whose wars the town has frequently suffered. It is 56 miles S.S.W. of Konigsberg, and 56 S.E. of Dantzic.

MOʻIDERED. a. Crazed; mudded (Ain's

worth.)

MOIDORE. s. A Portugal coin, rated at one pound seven shillings.

MOʻIETY. s. (moitié, French, from moien, the middle.) Half; one of two equal parts (Clar.).

I

To MOIL. v. a. (mouiller, French.) 1. To daub with dirt (Knotles). 2. To weary (Chapman).

To MOIL. v. n. (mouiller, French.) 1..To labour in the mire (Bacon). 2. To toil; to drudge (L'Estrange).

MOINE (Stephen la), a learned French divine of the protestant persuasion, was born at Caen in 1624. He was professor of divinity at Leyden, and died in 1689. He wrote several esteemed theological treatises.

MOINE (Peter le), a French poet, born at Chaumon in Bassigny in 1602. He was a jesuit, and wrote an epic poem, entitled, Saint Louis, ou la Couronne reconquisé sur les Infidelles. He died in 1672.

MOINE (Francis le), a French painter, born at Paris in 1688. He painted the apotheosis of Hercules in the saloon at Versailles, for which the king made him his first painter, and gave him a large pension. He stabbed himself in a fit of lunacy in 1737.

MOIRA, (sometimes written Moyra), a town of Ireland, situated in the county of Down and province of Ulster, 69 miles from Dublin; noted for its linen manufacture, and a monthly market for vending the same. It gives title of earl to the family of Rawdon. Lord Moira has here a very beautiful seat; and here is a handsome church, a charity school, and two dissenting meeting-houses.

MOISSAC, an ancient town of France, in the department of Lot. It has a great trade in corn and flour, and is seated on the Tarn, near the Garonne, 13 miles N. W. of Montauban. Lon. 1. 17 E. Lat. 44. 6 N.

MOIST. a.. (moiste, French.) 1. Wet, not dry; wet, not liquid; wet in a small degree (Pope). 2. Juicy; succulent (Ainsworth).

To MOIST. To MOISTEN. v.a. (from moist.) To make damp; to make wet to a small degree; to damp (Shakspeare).

MOISTENER. s. (from moisten.) The person or thing that moistens.

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MOISTNESS. s. (from moist.) Dampness; wetness in a small degree (Addison).

MOISTURE. s. (moiteur, French, from moist.) 1. State of being moist; moderate wetness (Sidney). 2. Small quantity of liquid (Addison).

MOIVRE (Abraham de), was born at Vitri H

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-in Champagne, A.D. 1667. His father was a surgeon. At the revocation of the edict of Nantes he determined to fly into England rather than abandon the religion of his fathers. Before he left France he had begun the study of mathematics; and having perfected himself in that science in London, he was obliged, by the meanness of his circumstances, to teach it. Newton's Principia, which accidentally fell into his hands, showed him how little progress - he had made in a science of which he thought himself master. From this and Newton's other work he acquired a knowledge of the geometry of infinites with as great facility as he had learned the elementary geometry; and in a short time he was fit to be ranked with the most celebrated mathematicians. His success in these studies procured him a seat in the Royal Society of London and in the Academy of Sciences at Paris. His merit was so well understood in the former, that he was thought capable of deciding in the famous dispute between Leibnitz and Newton concerning the differential calculus. He published a Treatise on Chances in 1738, and another on Annuities in 1752; both extremely accurate and valuable. The Philosophical Transactions contain many interesting memoirs of his composition. Some of them treat of the method of fluxions; others are on the lunula of Hippocrates; others on physical astronomy, in which he resolved many important problems; and others, in short, on the analysis, of the games of chance, in which he followed a different course from that of Montmort. Towards the close of his life he lost his sight and hearing; and the demand for sleep became so great that he required twenty hours of it in a day. He died at London, 1754, aged 87. His knowledge was not confined to mathematics; but he retained to the last a taste for polite literature. He was intimately acquainted with the best authors of antiquity; and he was frequently consulted about difficult passages in their works. Rabelais and Moliere were his favourite French authors; he had them by heart; and he one day observed to one of his acquaintance," that he would rather have been Moliere than Newton." He recited whole scenes of the Misanthrope with that delicacy and force with which he remembered to have heard them recited at Paris 70 years before by Moliere's own company. He judged severely of mankind; and could never conceal his disgust at the conversation of a fool, nor his aversion to cunning and dissimulation. He was free from the affectation of science; and no one could know him to be a mathematician but from the accuracy of his thoughts. His conversation was general and instructive. Whatever he said was well digested and clearly expressed. His style possessed more strength and solidity than ornament and animation; but he was always correct, and he bestowed as much pains on his sentences as on his calculations. He could never endure any bold assertions or indecent witticisms against religion." I show you

that I am a Christian (said he one d person who thought to pay him a comp by observing that mathematicians we tached to no religion), by forgiving the you have now made." The practice of i vails to servants was not laid aside time; and, on this account, when a nob asked him why he did not dine oftene him?" You must excuse me, my lo plied he), I cannot afford it."

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MOKES OF A NET. The meshes (.. MOʻKY. a. Dark; murky (Ainsworl MOLA (Pietro Francesco), nent painter, was born, according to authors, at Lugano, a city belonging Switzers, in the year 1609. Others that the place of his birth was Coldra, district of Como. He was at first the d of Giuseppe d'Arpino, and afterwards bano. When he quitted the school latter he went to Venice, and studied ously the pictures of Titian, Tintoretto san, and Paolo Veronese. He painted rical subjects and landscapes with success; but his genius seemed more pa larly adapted to the latter. His pictur both styles, are spoken of with the wa commendations. He died in 1665.-Ho a brother, Giovanni Battista, who was painter, and of some merit, but very in to that of the older.

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MOLA, (Mola, Hebr.) 1. The knee-p named, because like a mill-stone. shapeless mass of flesh in the uterus; a conception. See MIDWIFERY.

MOLA DI BARI, a town of Naple Terra di Bari, on the coast of the gulf of nice, 12 miles E. of Bari.

MOLA DI GAETA, an ancient tow Naples, in Terra di Bari, seated on the g Venice, 14 miles E. of Bari.

MOLARIS. (from molaris, a grinds because they grind the food.) A do tooth. See TEETH.

MOLAR GLANDS. Glandulæ mol Two salival glands situated on each side o mouth, between the masseter and bucci muscles, and whose excretory ducts open the last dens molaris.

MOLASSES. See MOLOSSES.

MOLD, a town in Flintshire, where assizes are held. It is five miles S. of Fli

MOLDAVIA, a province of Turke Europe, 270 miles long and 210 br bounded on the N. by Poland, from whic is also divided on the N.E. by the Dnie on the E. by New Russia; on the S. E Bessarabia; on the S. by Bulgaria, from w it is parted by the Danube; on the S.W Walachia; and on the W. by Transylv and Hungary. The other principal r are the Pruth, Moldau, and Bardalach. soil is rich, and it abounds in good past which feed a great number of horses, o and sheep: it also produces corn, p honey, wax, fruits, with plenty of game fowls. The sovereign, who is styled hospo is tributary to the grand seignior. The in

bitants are Christians of the Greek church, and Jassy is the principal town.

MOLDAVIAN BAUM, in botany. See

DRACOCEPHALUM.

MOLE. s. (mol, Saxon; mole, French.) 1. A formless concretion of extravasated blood, which grows into a kind of flesh in the uterns, and is called a false conception (Quincy). 2. A natural spot or discoloration of the body (Pope). 3. A mound; a dike (Sandys). 4. A little beast that works under ground.

MOLE, a mountain of Savoy, which, from its height and fine sloping peak, is an object of great beauty when seen from the lake of Geneva. At its foot is the town of Bonne ville, 20 miles S. of Geneva.

MOLE, a river in Surry, which runs to Darking, and passing beneath Box Hill, is believed to disappear in its vicinity, and to rise again near Leatherhead. Hence it is supposed to derive its name: but the fact is, that a tract of soft ground, two miles in length, called the Swallows, in very dry seasons absorbs the waste water in caverns in the sides of the banks; but not so as to prevent a constant stream from flowing into an open channel above ground. The Mole, proceeding from Leatherhead to Cobham, enters the Thames at E. Moulsey.

MOLE (St. Nicholas). See NICHOLAS, ST.

MOLE, in mastiology. See TALPA. MOLE-RAT, in mastiology. See Mus. MOLES (mola.) In medicine. By this term authors have intended to describe very different productions of, or excretions from,

the uterus.

By some it has been used to signify every kind of fleshy substance, particularly those which are properly called polypi; by others, those only which are the consequence of imperfect conception, or when the ovum is in a morbid or decayed state; and by many, which is the most popular opinion, every coagulum of blood which continues long enough in the sterus to assume in form, and to have only the fibrous part, as it has been called, remaining.

There is surely much impropriety, says Dr. Denman, in including under one general name appearances so contrary, and substances so different.

For an account of the first kind, see Po

LY PUS.

Of the second kind, which has been defined an ovum deforme, as it is the consequence of conception, it might more justly be arranged under the class monsters; for though it has the appearance of a shapeless mass of flesh, if examined carefully with a knife, vanous parts of a child may be discovered, lying together in apparent confusion, but in actual regularity. The pedicle also by which it is connected to the uterus is not of a fleshy texture, like that of the polypus, but has a regular series of vessels like the umbilical cord, and there is likewise a placenta and membranes containing water. The symptoms at

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With respect to the third opinion of a mole,an incision into its substance will discover its true nature; for although the external surfaceappears at the first view to be organized flesh, the internal part is composed merely of coagu lated blood.

MOLE-CRICKET, in zoology. See GRYLLOTALPA.

MOLECAST. s. (mole and cast.) Hillock' cast up by a mole (Mortimer).

MOLECATCHER. s. (mole and catcher.) One whose employment is to catch moles.

MOʻLEHILL. s. (mole and hill.) Hillock thrown up by the mole working under ground., Various means have been contrived for ex-tirpating moles, such as irrigating the fields infested with them, &c.; but the most effec tual is that described by Dr. Darwin in his Phytologia, and derived from the experience of a successful mole-catcher. This man commenced his operations before the rising of the sun, when he carefully watched their situation; and, frequently observing the motion of the earth above their waiks, he struck a spade into the ground behind them, cut off their retreat, and dug them up.

As moles usually place their nests much deeper in the ground than their common ha-' bitations are situated, and thus produce an elevation, or a mole-hill, the next step is to demolish such nests by the spade; after which' the frequented paths must be distinguished, from the by-roads, for the purpose of setting subterraneous traps. This will be effected by marking every new mole-hill with a slight pressure of the foot, and observing the nextday whether a mole has passed over it and effaced such mark; which operation must be repeated two or three mornings in succession, but without making an impression so deep as to alarm and induce the animal to open an other passage.

The traps must now be set in the frequent-* ed paths, and ought to consist of a hollow wooden semicylinder, each end of which should be furnished with grooved rings, con taining two nooses of horse-hair, that are fas tened loosely in the centre, by means of a peg, and are stretched above the surface of the ground by a bent stick or strong hoop. Ad soon as the mole passes half way through one of these nooses, and removes the central peg in his course, the curved stick rises in conse quence of its elasticity, and thus strangles the animal.

The method above detailed being ingenious, it deserves to be generally adopted; as those whose grounds are infested with moles mag easily extirpate them, or teach the art to their labourers. It is, however, in our opinion, an undecided point, whether these little qua drupeds, that live entirely on worms and insects, of which they consume incalculable numbers, are not to be considered as harmless,

nay, useful rather than noxious; especially as they have their formidable natural enemies in foxes, martins, weasels, hedge-hogs, serpents, and cats. Farther, it has been observed, that fields and gardens where all the moles had been caught abounded with vermin and insects. But, if these burrowing creatures be come too numerous and hurtful to the vegetation of plants, or dangerous to dykes and banks, the most easy method of destroying them is to expose a few living lobsters in a deep-glazed earthen vessel, the top of which is somewhat narrower than its basis, so that they cannot escape: such a pot must be bu ried several inches deep in the ground, and covered with green sods, so as to be accessible to the mole, which is remarkably partial to that shell-fish. No sooner has one of the former entered the pot, than others from the vicinity will hasten to the fatal receptacle, in consequence of the noise made by the captive; and thus meet with inevitable destruction.

To MOLE'ST. v. a. (molestus, Latin.) To disturb; to trouble; to vex (Locke). MOLESTATION. (s. molestia, Latin.) Disturbance; uneasiness caused by vexation (Brown).

MOLE'STER. s. (from molest.) One who

disturbs.

MOLESWORTH (Robert), an Irish nobleman and writer, was born at Dublin in 1656. His father was a merchant, and left him a considerable fortune. He married a sister of the earl of Bellamont, and concurred so heartily in the revolution, that king William made him one of his privy-council, and in 1092 sent him envoy-extraordinary to Denmark; but his behaviour proving disagreeable to the Danish monarch, he was forbidden the court, after residing there three years. On this he returned to England, where he wrote his Account of Denmark, which was well received by the public, but gave great offence to the government of that country. George I. made him a commissioner of trade and plantations, and advanced him to the peerage of Ireland in 1715. He died in 1725.

MOʻLETRACK. s. (mole and truck.) Course of the mole under ground (Mortimer). MO'LEWARP. s. (mold and peoppan, Sax.) A mole: properly mouldwarp (Drayton).

MOLIERE (Jean Baptiste, Pocquelin de), a French comic writer, whose real name was Pocquelin, was born at Paris about 1620. He was intended for the business of a tapestry maker, which was his father's occupation; but his grandfather often taking him to the theatre, the boy conceived so great a disgust to trade that his father allowed him to follow his studies, which he did under the jesuits. When cardinal Richelieu gave his protection to dramatic poets, there were set up several private theatres at Paris, to one of which Moliere attached himself, and then it was that he changed his name. In 1653 he formed a theatrical company, in conjunction with La

Bejart, an actress of promising talents went to Lyons, where he produced hi play, called L'Etourdi, or the Blu After visiting several places, this co came to Paris, and exhibited before the in 1658, and were so well approved, th king took them into his service, and M obtained a pension. His last comedy w Malade Imaginaire, or the Hypochon This piece was acted the fourth time Fe 1673, and on that day Moliere died. circumstance of his death was very ext nary: The chief character in the pla sick man, who on a certain occasion pi to be dead; Moliere performed this par is said to have died in the exhibition Voltaire says of Moliere, that he re comedy out of chaos, as Corneille did tra

MOLIERES, a town of France, in t partment of Lot, 11 miles N. of Mont and 16 S. of Cahors. Lon. 1. 30 E. L 10 N.

MOLINA, a strong town of Spain, it Castile, seated on the Gallo, in a te abounding in pasture, 35 miles S.E. of enza, and 88 E.N.E. of Madrid. 53 W. Lat. 40. 50 N.

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MOLINA (Lewis), a Spanish lawyer was employed by Philip II. king of Sp the councils of the Indies and of Castile is the author of a learned treatise conce the entails of the ancient estates of the S nobility, entitled, De Hispanorum Prim torum Origine et Natura, published in in folio. This book is likewise applica several provinces in France. Lewis M must not be confounded with John Mol Spanish historian, author of Cronica ar d'Arragon, published in 1524, in folio also of De las Casas memorables d'Espag folio. The first work appeared at Val and the second at Alcala.

MOLINISTS, in ecclesiastical histo sect in the Romish church who follow doctrine and sentiments of the Jesuit M relating to sufficient and efficacious grace taught that the operations of divine grace entirely consistent with the freedom o man will; and he introduced a new ki hypothesis to remove the difficulties atte the doctrines of predestination and liberty to reconcile the jarring opinions of Augus Thomists, Semi-Pelagians, and other co tious divines. He affirmed that the dec predestination to eternal glory was fou upon a previous knowledge and consider of the merits of the elect; that the g from whose operation these merits are de is not efficacious by its own intrinsic p only, but also by the consent of our own and because it is administered in those cumstances in which the Deity, by branch of his knowledge which is scientia media, foresees that it will be e cious. The kind of prescience, denomi in the schools scientia media, is that forek ledge of future contingents that arises fro acquaintance with the nature and faculti

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