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Drawn from his refuge in some lonely elm, That age or injury has hollowed deep, Where, on his bed of wool and matted leaves, He has outslept the winter, ventures forth To frisk awhile, and bask in the warm sun, The squirrel, flippant, pert, and full of play. Cowper. MATADORE', n. s. Span. matador, a murderer. One of the three principal cards in ombre and quadrille, which are always the two black aces, the deuce in spades and clubs, and the seventh in hearts and clubs.

Now move to war her sable matadores,
In show like leaders of the swarthy Moors.

MATACHIN', n. s.

Pope. Fr. matachin. An old

dance. Who ever saw a matachin dance to imitate fighting this was a fight that did imitate the matachin; for they being but three that fought, every, one had two adversaries striking him, who struck the third.

Sidney.

MATAMBA, a country in the interior of South-western Africa, little known except by the reports of Portuguese missionaries. It is represented as mountainous, and as giving rise to the Barbela, or principal branch of the Zaire or Congo; but this is not confirmed. It is said to be about 150 miles square, partly occupied by the Giagas, a people the terror of this part of Africa. Umbe Upper and Lower, Ganghelli Upper and Lower, and Bondo, are mentioned as its provinces.

MATARO, a city of Spain, in Catalonia, twenty miles E. N. E. of Barcelona, near the sea. It is divided into the Old and New Town, the former being of great antiquity and preserving the walls and gates of a remote age. It appears to have been a place of note under the Romans, and is supposed to be the Illuro of Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela. The New Town lies between the Old Town and the sea, and has its streets wide, straight, and regular. Many of the houses are painted in fresco. Mataro is one of the few towns in Spain that are on the increase its population, in 1770 only 10,000, now amounts, it is said, to 25,000. The inhabitants carry on manufactures of laces, calico, silk and cotton stockings, silk stuffs and velvets, ribands and silk twist, canvas and leather. Bay salt is collected along the shore; and the neighbourhood affords both wine and brandy. A small stream, called La Riera, runs through the Old Town, and the supply of water is good. Mataro contains an hospital, a parish church, and five chapels belonging to monasteries and convents. Long. 2° 28′ 24′′ E., lat. 41° 32′ 26′′ N.

MATAVAI BAY, a bay on the north side of the island of Otaheite, opening to the northwest. The entrance is between a reef and sunken rock; but ships when in are well sheltered against all winds, except those from the west and north-west. Long. 149° 36′ W., lat. 17° 29′ S. MATAVAI POINT, a cape on the island of Otaheite, in long. 210° 22′ E., lat. 17° 29′ S.

MATCH, n.s. & v. n.
MATCH'ABLE, adj.
MATCH'LESS,
MATCH LESSLY, adv.
MATCH MAKER, n. s.

Saxon maca; Goth. magdsk, make; Danish mage (the Goth. mag is a near relative). A pair; one thing or per

son that equals another; hence one to be married, and a marriage: also a contest, or a person considered as equal to another in conflict: to match is to be equal to; show or oppose as an equal; suit; proportion; marry or give in marriage; be married; suit: matchable is suitable; equal; corresponding: matchless, unequalled: a matchmaker, one who contrives marriages; often a person of equal respectability with the maker of the following article.

A thing that may luckily fall out to him that hath the blessing to match with some heroical-minded lady. Sidney. Ye, whose high worths surpassing paragon, Could not on earth have found one fit for mate, Ne but in heaven matchable to none, Why did you stoop unto so lowly state? Great king,

Spenser.

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Those at land that are not matchable with any upon our shores, are of those very kinds which are found no where but in the deepest parts of the sea.

Woodward's Natural History.

:

The natural shame that attends vice, makes them zealous to encourage themselves by numbers, and form a party against religion it is with pride they survey their increasing strength, and begin to think themselves a match for virtue. Rogers. Employ their wit and humour in chusing and matching of patterns and colours. Swift.

MATCH, n, s. Fr. meche; Ital. micchia; MATCH MAKER. Gr. Dried fungus; μυκης. a splinter or cord used to set fire to a candle or gun.

Try them in several bottle matches, and see which Bacon. of them last longest without stench.

He made use of trees as matches to set Druina a fire. Howel.

Being willing to try something that would not cherish much fire at once, and would keep fire much longer than a coal, we took a piece of match, such as soldiers use. Boyle.

violent, pungent, and suffocating scent to the cask, with a considerable degree of acidity. The cask may after this be filled with a small wine which has scarcely done its fermentation; and, bunging it down tight, it will keep good, and will soon clarify: this is a common and very useful method; for many poor wines could scarcely be kept potable even a few months withMATE, v. a. Fr. mat, matter; Span. mate, matar; Pers. mat (confounded). To confound, astonish, subdue, crush: obsolete.

out it.

My sense she's mated, and amazed my sight.
Shakspeare.

That is good deceit
Which mates him first, that first intends deceit. Id.
Why this is strange; go call the abbess hither;
Id.
I think you are all mated, or stark mad.
The great effects that may come of industry and
perseverance who knoweth not? For audacity doth
almost bind and mate the weaker sort of minds.
Bacon's Natural History.

MATE, n. s. & v. a. Sax. maca; Belg. maet; Isl. mat. See MATCH. A companion, husband, or wife in naval affairs a second in subordination, as the master's, surgeon's mate, &c.: to mate, is to match; marry; equal; and hence to

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Go, base intruder! over-weening slave!
Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates.
Shakspeare.

I i' the way of loyalty and truth,
Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
And all that love his follies. Id. Henry VIII.
The hind that would be mated by the lion,
Must die for love.

Id. All's Well that Ends Well.
You knew me once no mate

Milton.

A MATCH is a kind of rope slightly twisted, and prepared to retain fire for the uses of artillery, mines, fire-works, &c. It is made of For you: there sitting where you durst not soar. hempen tow, spun on the wheel like cord, but very slack; and is composed of three twists, which are afterwards again covered with tow, so that the twists do not appear; lastly, it is boiled in the lees of old wines, saltpetre, &c. This, when once lighted at the end, burns on gradually and regularly, without ever going out till the whole be consumed: the hardest and driest match is generally the best.

Part single, or with mate,
Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves

MATCHING, in the wine trade, the art of preparing vessels to preserve wines and other liquors, without their growing, sour or vapid. The method is as follows:-Melt brimstone in an iron ladle, and, when thoroughly melted, dip into it slips of coarse linen cloth; take these out and let them cool: this the wine-coopers call a match. Take one of these matches, set one end of it on fire, and put it into the bunghole of a cask; stop it loosely, and thus suffer the match to burn nearly out; then drive in the bung tight and set the cask aside for an hour or two. At the end of this time examine the cask, and you will find that the sulphur has communicated a

Of coral stray.
Id. Paradise Lost.
What vengeance on the passing fleet she poured,
The master frighted, and the mates devoured.

Roscommon.

Leave thy bride alone :
Go leave her with her maiden mates to play
At sports more harmless, till the break of day.
Dryden.

Some from seeds inclosed on earth arise,
For thus the mastful chesnut mates the skies. Id.
Pliny tells us, that elephants know no copulation
with any other than their own proper mate.

Ayliffe.

Burns.

Her faithful mate will share her toil, Or wi' his song her cares beguile. MATE OF A MERCHANT SHIP, the officer who commands in the absence of the master thereof, and shares the duty with him at sea; being charged with every thing that regards the internal management of the ship, the directing her course, and the government of her crew.

MATE OF A SHIP OF WAR, an officer under the direction of the captain, by whose choice he is generally appointed, to assist him in the several branches of his duty. Accordingly he must be particularly attentive to the navigation in his watch, &c., to keep the log regularly, and examine the line and glasses by which the ship's course is measured, and to adjust the sails to the wind in the fore part of the ship. He must pay a diligent attention to the cables, and see, that they are well coiled and kept clean when laid in the tier, and sufficiently served when employed to ride the ship. He must also super

intend and assist the stowage of the hold, taking special care that all the ballast and provisions are properly stowed therein. The number of mates allowed to ships of war and merchantmen is always in proportion to the size of the vessel. Thus a first-rate man of war and an East Indiaman have each six mates; a frigate of ten guns, and a small merchant-ship, only one each; and the intermediate ships have a greater or smaller number, according to their sizes or to the services on which they are employed.

MATER DURA, MATER PIA; two membranes surrounding the brain. See ANATOMY, Index.

MATERIA MEDICA.

MATERIA MEDICA is a combined term which constitutes in a manner its own definition. No one who hears it announced can for a moment be at a loss in respect of its signification. In regard, however, to what the term should properly comprehend, opinion varies, some confining the materia medica to the designation of those substances which act therapeutically, or, in other words, which remedy or cure disease; while others extend it so as to embrace every material which assists in the support of life or the nourishment of man. Then again, the term is made to apply to compounds by some, while others restrict its signification to the mere articles of medicine as presented by nature, or at least as employed without being made to undergo the changes operated upon them by chemical process and combination.

In the present article we shall adopt the more limited signification of materia medica, since we have treated of the alimentaria (see ALIMENT) in another part of the work-and because we think that, when made the subjects of formative and chemical and combined change, medicines ought then to be considered under the word PHARMACY. In this separation, indeed, we are guided by still other motives; for we shall by adopting it prevent an undue and disproportionate length in this article, devoted to the consideration of healing powers, and, by deferring the account of pharmacy till the last moment of alphabetical permission, we shall be better enabled to carry up its alterations and improvements (for it is at this time undergoing them rapidly) to the latest date.

A history of materia medica would in some sort be a history of medicine itself; for substances employed in the cure of diseases have been in a measure regulated by the varying opinions of the times in respect to their mode of operating. Thus although the materia medica of Hippocrates was comparatively simple, and comprising but a few articles, it was still more simplified by his follower Erasistratus, and we have had an example in our own times of an attempt so to reduce and simplify the agency of medicine, that the practitioner of this school would lessen the list of materials employed in medicine almost to nihility. Our readers will understand that we allude to

the system of Dr. John Brown, which, were it to the letter correct, would do away altogether the distinction of medicines as to their virtues and influences, and make the materia medica a mere compilation of natural history.

To the natural historian indeed, after all, we have been more indebted for the progress of materia medica knowledge than to the medical theorists, since the former from the commencement of time has pursued the plan of observation and research, and has been less trammelled in his observations on properties by the reigning doctrines of the times. It must, however, be admitted that, when to the description of plants the ancient naturalists added their medical virtues, they often did so in the spirit of extravagance and hypothesis, which very materially lessened the value of their labors.

The materia medica has further been much modified by place and circumstance, that is, accordingly as the therapeia of medicine was Inore cultivated in one than another part of the world, so were more or less copious lists of medicinal articles added to those already in use. Thus, when the study of medicine was principally confined to Arabia, the attention of its professors was greatly directed to additions of medicines, which their climate and their connexion with the nations still further east had introduced to their notice. Indeed it was in this part of the world that the first notion was given of that extravagant proposition which assumed the possibility of compounding medicinals into such a mixture as to constitute a universal medicine, or elixir vitæ. See ALCHEMY and CHEMISTRY.

As thus the progress of the science has been influenced by the circumstances of time, place, and opinion; so has the method in which the naturals composing it should be arranged and classified been the subject of con'roversy: some maintaining the propriety of disposing medicinal articles according to their essential properties, others according to their therapeutic virtues; others again have pursued the principle of natural or botanical analogies, while an alphabetical arrangement has been adopted by others under the conviction that all classification except a literal one, causes not only uncertainty but repetition. Suppose, for example, astringency

to be taken as one of the heads, under which medicinal substances should be arranged, the very term itself involves an hypothesis, some contending that astringency is operated in one way, and some in another-then the plant or substance, in question, besides being possessed of an astringent property, may be endowed with other virtues, as of a tonic (if the latter principle of agency be admitted), and of course, under the word TONIC, it ought to be inserted again; so that, by the very attempt to simplify and concentrate, we should be led into complication, and diffuseness, and repetition: and it must be observed that in the present day, we are not so ready to admit of virtues and of principles of action, as was formerly the case; so that artificial arrangements now, to satisfy, must approach to demonstrative evidence, as nearly as it is in the nature of physical investigation so to do; otherwise they will be rejected as the schemes of fancy, rather than admitted as the oracles of

truth.

It was under these impressions that the modern compilers of dispensatories adopted the plan of alphabetical arrangement, as being, if not so scientific, certainly less liable to objections of the nature above adduced than any other; and the three writers to whose labors we shall be most indebted in the compilation of the present article, Thomson, Duncan, and Paris, have pursued this method. As Encyclopedists, however, we should not be doing justice to the subject without presenting in outline, at least, the principal schemes which have been proposed on other principles; and we shall therefore in the first place give our readers a general view of those which have been the most entitled to consideration; and at the end of the article we shall mention those writers whom the curious may consult as authorities on the science about which we

are now to treat.

We select the schemes of Cullen, Parr, Darwin, and John Murray, for presentation in outline.

The first of these authors, Dr. Cullen, divides the materia medica primarily into nutrients, and medicines. Then he assumes that medicinal substances, properly so called, act either on the solids or the fluids; and, with respect to those whose agency is on the solids, he proposes a subdivision into those which influence the solids as dead matter, or the simple solid as it is called in opposition to the vital. Medicines, the action of which is on the simple solid, are astringents, tonics, emollients, and corrosives; those which act on the living solid are stumulants and sedatives, including narcotics, refrigerants, and antispasmodics.

In the second general class of medicines, or those which act upon the fluids, are included those which either produce alteration or evacuation; the medicines which produce change comprise attenuants, inspissants (mechanical or material change), and demulcents, antacids, antalkalines, and antiseptics (the changes in these last instances being rather chemical than merely formative).

Then the medicines which produce evacuation are, the errhines, sialagogues, expectorants,

emetics, cathartics, diuretics, diaphoretics, and emmenagogues,

It has, however, been remarked, by a modern writer, that Dr. Cullen's materia medica is in some sort inconsistent with his theory of medicine, since the fluids in that theory are supposed always to be acted upon in subordination to the solids, and not primarily. The reader, by turning to our article on MEDICINE, will see that this indeed constitutes one of the main peculiarities of Cullen's system, that it assumes the solid fibre to be the regulator of all changes in the body (see MEDICINE). Cullen's arrangement, however, is by no means a bad one, and it has been adopted by many writers on the subject of medicinal influence.

He

Dr. Parr, in his Medical Dictionary, proposes the following scheme of classification. makes four general divisions, viz. into those which act 1st, upon the living solid; 2dly, upon the fluids; 3dly, upon the simple solid; and 4thly, upon extraneous bodies.

Of the first class, his divisions are into, 1st, those which increase motion, including emetics acting upon the stomach; cathartics upon the intestines; diaphoretics upon the extreme vessels; diuretics upon the kidneys; expectorants upon the bronchiæ; errhines upon the glands of the nose; sialagogues upon the salivary glands; emmenagogues upon the womb; stimulants upon the whole body, which last include, cordials (cardiaca); analeptics, attractives (attrahentia). and discutients. 2dly, Those which diminish motion, in which are comprehended the refrigerants and antispasmedics. 3dly, Those which lessen tone, or sedatives. 4thly, Those which increase tone, or tonics.

The second class, or those medicines the agency of which is upon the fluids, comprehends 1st, those which change the crasis of the fluids, which are attenuants, inspissants, and alteratives; and those, 2dly, which correct acrimony, including demulcents, antacids, antalkalines, and antiseptics.

The third class, or those substances which operate upon the simple or dead solid, comprehend emollients, corrosives (erodentia), and astringents.

The fourth are the antipoisonous (alexiteria), the lithontriptic (medicines for calculous concretions), and the anthelmintics (worm medicines).

In defence of this arrangement, Dr. Parr introduces into his Dictionary a few remarks which we shall subjoin.

"These classes of the materia medica are not so numerous as to require what is usually styled a methodus, and, if any thing were sacrificed to the parade of systems by this means, it would be improperly adopted. Whatever may be the merits of the scheme, it has no disadvantages; for the arrangement is exactly such as if the orders were natural and independent; and the clavis limits the intention of the group with peculiar accuracy. The evacuants most nearly related follow each other; and, as no evacuation can take place without the excitement of the vessels as muscular organs (query?), so in the following class stimulantia, where the nervous system is

more generally affected, a general action of the vessels of the whole system usually accompanies (here our author is faulty in his phraseology, and we think his pathology rather questionable). Of the synonymes of stimulants, the two first, should such medicines exist, act more peculiarly on the nervous system; the two last are topical remedies. The distinction between general and topical medicines usually admitted is at least useless, if not injurious; for the most active internal medicines are often powerful topics.

'The next division is also connected with some action of the sanguiferous system, which disappears in the second class. Resolvents are truly refrigerants, for discutients occur in a subsequent part. The medicines which increase tone are included under tonica, and the astringents are referred to those medicines which act on the simple solid. Some certainly act on both, and astringents sometimes appear to be tonics. The medicines which diminish tone, diminish also sensibility and excitability; and we have added as synonymes anodyna and irritantia; those which possess an opposite quality are associated in idea with stimulants.

Yet

cine will again occur, where, from its preparation or exhibition, peculiar properties are discovered in it.'

To these remarks, Dr. Parr adds some others in explanation of the detail of substances which he presents to his readers; but, as the addition of this list would unnecessarily swell the bulk of our pages, we shall omit both it and the remarks respecting it, and proceed to a sketch of Dr. Darwin's arrangement.

This very ingenious but rather eccentric philosopher proposes to include in the materia medica all those substances which may contribute to the restoration of health. These, he says, may be conveniently distributed under seven articles, according to the diversity of their operations.

1. Nutrientia, or those things which preserve in their natural state the due exertions of all the irritative motions.

2. Incitantia, or those things which increase the exertions of all the irritative motions.

3. Secernentia, or those things which increase the irritative motions which constitute secretion. 4. Sorbentia, or those things which increase the irritative motions which constitute absorption.

5. Invertcntia, or those things which invert the natural order of the successive irritative motions.

tions.

7. Torpentia, those things which diminish the exertions of all the irritative motions.

In the first class, or nutrients, he presents the following catalogue:

"We have admitted, with hesitation and reluctance any action of medicines on the fluids, adopting the axiom of the nervous pathologists, that the constitution forms its own fluids. 6. Revertentia, or those things which restore some complaisance is due to many excellent the natural order of the inverted irritative mophysicians of the Boerhaavian school, and it is at least necessary to point out the medicines which have been employed with these views. The third of the classes of the first division, the alterantia, is vague; yet the actions of medicines in scurvy, in what are styled scorbutic eruptions, in lepra, and in some other cases, must be collected into one group, and it is not easy to find a more proper place. In the second division we clearly perceive the action of demulcents on the throat, the stomach and alimentary canal, the urinary organs, and perhaps the bronchial glands. The antacids and antalkalines are at least useful in the stomachs, and some medicines undoubtedly act chemically as antiseptics.

The medicines which act on the simple solids afford few subjects of remark. If relaxants are any thing more than emollients, they bear the same reference to the sedantia that the astringents do to the tonics; at least they seem to act through the medium of the simple solid. For these, and the other reasons assigned, the astringents are referred to this place. The last general division contains classes independent in their operation on each other. Lithontriptics may be only antacids, but they are said with confidence to dissolve the calculus. Anthelmintics may be only drastic purgatives, but some at least kill

worms.

'It is a common objection,' continues our author, to any arrangement, that some medicines possess very different powers, and that their proper places are not easily ascertained. Instances of this kind occur in mercury and steel. Repetition however is unavoidable, and those who seek for the medicine appropriated to any disease, in such catalogues, must find them in each list. The more general authors on the materia medica will treat of them under that head where their powers are most conspicuous, and the medi

I. 1. Venison, beef, mutton, hare, goose, duck, woodcock, snipe, moor-game.

2. Oysters, lobsters, crabs, shrimps, "mushrooms, eel, tench, barbolt, smelt, turbot, sole, turtle.

3. Lamb, veal, sucking pigs.

4. Turkey, partridge, pheasant, fowl, eggs. 5. Pike, perch, gudgeon, trout, grayling. II. Milk, cream, butter, butter-milk, whey, cheese.

III. Wheat, barley, oats, peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage, asparagus, artichoke, spinach, beet, apple, pear, plum, apricot, nectarine, peach, strawberry, grape, orange, melon, cucumber, dried figs, raisins, sugar, honey, with a great variety of other roots, seeds, leaves, and fruits.

IV. Water, river water, spring water, calcareous earth.

V. Air, oxygen, azote, carbonic acid gas. VI. Nutritive baths and clysters, transfusion of blood.

VII. Condiments.

In the above succession, Dr. Darwin means to point out the progressive degree of nutrient power possessed by different substances; he does not, however, appear to be always correct in his notions: indeed the nutritive quality of substances can scarcely be judged of in the abstract, so much depending upon the individual, and upon the time, place, and circumstances under which food is taken. Our readers will perhaps say that, in thus including the nutrientia, we have wandered from our intention of limiting the present article to medicinal substances, but we could not have

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