MUSSEL-MUSTARD.

MUSTELIDE-MUTINY ACT.

By digesting oil of mustard with alkalies, or with hydrated oxide of lead, we also obtain a feeble base termed sinapoline, whose formula is C,,H,,N,O,. The oil is formed in much the same way as the Volatile Oil of Almonds (q. v.). The black mustard contains the potash salt of a compound termed myronic acid, and a peculiar coagulable nitrogenous ferment, which, when the crushed seed is moistened with water, act upon each other, and develop the oil. It is the gradual formation of this oil, when powdered mustard and warm water are mixed, that occasions the special action of the common mustard poultice. The pungency of mustard as a condiment, of horse-radish, &c., is mainly due to the presence of this oil.

MUSTELIDÆ, a family of digitigrade Carnivora (q. v.), mostly forming the genus Mustela of Linnæus; now divided into a number of genera,

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in which are ranked the weasel, ermine or stoat, sable, marten, ferret, polecat, mink, skunk, &c. The M. are distinguished by the elongated form of the body, and the shortness of the limbs; also by having generally four or five molars on each side in the upper jaw, and five or six in the lower. On each side of both jaws there is a single tuberculate tooth. All the feet have five toes. The skull is much elongated behind the eyes. The M. display great litheness and suppleness of movement. They are very carnivorous. Otters are ranked among

Dentition of Mustelidæ : 1, teeth of Marten; 2, teeth of Polecat.

the mustelidæ.

serving in it, was by the Articles of War of Henry V. made punishable with death for the second offence, and by Charles I. with death without mercy' for even the first such crime; while any person abetting in any way in the fraud shared the penalty.

MU'SULMÁN, Mosleman, a Mohammedan (from Arab. Salama), equivalent to Moslem (q. v.), of which word it is, properly speaking, the plural; used in Persian fashion for the singular. We need hardly add that this Arabic plural termination of án,' has nothing whatever to do with our word man, and that a further English plural in men, is both barbarous and absurd.

MUTE, a small instrument used to modify the sound of the violin or violoncello. It is made of hard wood, ivory, or brass, and is attached to the bridge by means of a slit, a leg of it being interjected between every two strings. The use of the mute both softens the tone, and imparts to it a peculiar muffled and tremulous quality, which is sometimes very effective. Its application is indicated by the letters c. s., or con sordino, and its discontinuance by 8. 8., or senza sordino. The mute is sometimes used for the cornet, being inserted into the bell of the instrument, thereby subduing the sound, and producing the effect of great

distance.

MUTINY, if-as commonly supposed-derived from the Latin mutio, a muttering, would seem to have applied originally rather to seditious complaining and conspiring than to actual deeds of violence. However that may be, the term has long included behaviour either by word or deed subversive of discipline, or tending to undermine superior authority. Till lately, mutiny comprised speaking disrespectfully of the sovereign, royal family, or general commanding, quarrelling, and resisting arrest while quarrelling; but these offences have now been reduced to the lesser crime of 'mutinous conduct.' The acts now constituting mutiny proper are, exciting, causing, or joining in any mutiny or sedition; when present thereat, failing to use the utmost effort to suppress it; when, knowing of a mutiny or intended mutiny, failing to give notice of it to the commanding officer; striking a superior officer, or using or offering any violence against him, while in the execution of his duty; disobeying the lawful command of a superior officer. The punishment awarded by the Mutiny Act to these crimes MUSTER (It. mostrare from Lat. monstrare, is, if the culprit be an officer, death or such other to shew) is a calling over of the names of all punishment as a general court-martial shall award; the men composing a regiment or a ship's comif a soldier, death, penal servitude for not less than pany. Each man present answers to his name, four years, or such other punishment as a general those not answering being returned as absent. court-martial shall award. As the crime of mutiny The muster-roll from which the names are called has a tendency to immediately destroy all authority is the paymaster's voucher for the pay he issues, and all cohesion in the naval or military body, and must be signed by the commanding officer, commanding officers have strong powers to stop it the adjutant, and himself. The crime of signing summarily. A drum-head court-martial may sena false muster-roll, or of personating another indi-tence an offender, and if the case be urgent, and the vidual at a muster, is held most severely punish-spread of the mutiny apprehended, the immediate able-by imprisonment and flogging for a common soldier, by immediate cashiering in the case of an officer. In regiments of the line, a muster is taken on the 24th of each month; in ships of war, weekly. The muster after a battle is a melancholy proceeding, intended to shew the casualties death has wrought. In early times, before the army was a standing force, and when each captain was a sort of contractor to the crown for so many men, the muster was most important, as the only security the sovereign had that he really obtained the services of the number of men for whom he paid. Accordingly, any fraud, as making a false return, or as mustering with his troop men not actually

execution of the mutineer may follow within a few minutes of the detection of his crime. It, however, behoves commanding officers to exercise this extraordinary power with great caution, as the use of so absolute an authority is narrowly and jealously watched. To prevent mutiny among men, the officers should be strict without harshness, kind without familiarity, attentive to all the just rights of their subordinates, and, above all things, most particular in the carrying out to the very letter of any promise they may have made.

MUTINY ACT is an Act of the British parliament, passed from year to year, investing the crown with large powers to regulate the good government of

MUTUAL INSTRUCTION-MYCELIUM.

MU'TULE, a plain block under the corona of the cornice of the Doric style, similar in position to the modailio of the Corinthian order, and having a number of gutta or drops worked on the under side. See ENTABLATure.

MUTUUM is a term used in Scotch Law, borrowed from the Roman law, to denote a contract of loan of a certain kind of things, as corn, wine, which the borrower is bound to restore as much of money, which are consumed in the use, and as to the same kind at some future time.

the army and navy, and to frame the articles of war. By the Bill of Rights, the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace, unless by consent of parliament, was declared illegal, and from that time the number of troops to be maintained, and the cost of the different branches of the service, have been regulated by an annual vote of the House of Commons. But parliament possesses a further and very important source of control over the army. Soldiers, in time of war or rebellion, being subject to martial law, may be punished for mutiny or desertion; but the occurrence of a mutiny in certain Scotch regiments soon after the Revolution, raised the question, MUZA IBN NOSEYR, the Arab conqueror of whether military discipline could be maintained in Spain, was born 640 A.D. He displayed great time of peace; and it was decided by the courts of bravery and high military talents in the contests of law, that, in the absence of any statute to enforce that turbulent period, so much so that he was discipline and punish military offences, a soldier appointed by the calif general of the army which was only amenable to the common law of the was raised for the conquest of Africa in 698-699. country if he deserted, he was only liable for After an insignificant expedition into the interior breach of contract, or if he struck his officer, to an of Africa, he set out in 707 for Mauritania, conindictment for assault. The authority of the legis-quering the kindred tribes of Eastern Barbary, and lature thus became indispensable to the maintenance enrolling their warriors under his standard; and of military discipline, and parliament has, since by 709, the whole of Northern Africa, including the 1689, at the beginning of every session, conferred Gothic strongholds on the coast, acknowledged the this and other powers in an act called the Mutiny authority of the calif. At this period the Gothic Act, limited in its duration to a year. Although monarchy in Spain was in a state of complete disorit is greatly changed from the form in which it first ganisation, and M., seizing the favourable opporpassed. 175 years ago, the annual alterations in tunity thus presented, sent his lieutenant, Tarik Ibn this act are now very slight, and substantially Zeiad, in April 711 to make an incursion into Spain it has a fixed form. The preamble starts with Tarik landed at Gibraltar, marched inland to the the above quoted declaration from the Bill of banks of the Guadalete, where he was met by Rights, and adds, that it is judged necessary by Roderic the Gothic king. In the battle which the sovereign and parliament that a force of such ensued, the Goths were decisively vanquished, their a number should be continued, for the safety of king perished in the waters of the Guadalete, and the United Kingdom, the defence of the posses- the whole of Southern Spain lay at the mercy of sions of the crown, and the preservation of the the victor. M., on hearing of these successes, sent balance of power in Europe;' while it gives orders to Tarik to halt for further instructions; but authority to the sovereign to enact Articles of the lieutenant, flushed with success, pressed on to War for the control and government of the force the very centre of Spain, and seized Toledo, the granted. The act comprises 98 clauses, of which capital of the Gothic kingdom. M. immediately set the first five specify the persons liable to its pro- out for Spain at the head of 18,000 men (June 712), visions-viz., all enlisted soldiers or commissioned took Seville, Carmona, Merida, and other towns, officers on full pay, whether of the regular army, and then marched upon Toledo, where he joined militia, or yeomanry. Clauses 6-14, treat of courts- Tarik, whom he caused to be bastinadoed and martial, their procedure and powers. Clauses 15-28, incarcerated, but afterwards reinstated in obedience relate to crimes and their punishment, the leading to an order from the calif. M. then marched first offences being mutiny, desertion, cowardice, treason, north-west and then east, subduing the country as insubordination, for each of which death may be he went; he then crossed the Pyrenees into the penalty; frauds, embezzlement, &c., for which France, but soon after returned to Spain, where penal servitude is awarded. Clauses 29-33, provide he and Tarik received messages from the calif, for the government of military prisons, and for commanding their immediate presence at Damascus; the reception of soldiers in civil jails, under the Tarik immediately obeyed, but M. delayed till a sentences of courts-martial. Clauses 34-37, enact second message was sent to him. On reaching rules to guide civil magistrates in apprehending Damascus, he was treated with neglect, and, on deserters or persons suspected of desertion. Clause the accession of the Calif Suleiman, was cast into 38 refers to furlough; 39-41, on the privileges of prison, and muleted in 200,000 pieces of gold; his soldiers, enact that officers may not be sheriffs or two sons were deprived of their governments of mayors; that no person acquitted or convicted by a Kairwan and Tangier; and the third son, who civil magistrate or jury be tried by court-martial governed Spain in his father's absence, was beheaded, for the same offence; and that soldiers can only be and his head sent to Muza. M. died soon after in taken out of the service for debts above £30, and the greatest poverty, at Hedjaz, 717 a. D. for felony or misdemeanour. Clauses 42-59, have reference to Enlistment (q. v.); 60–73, to billets, carriages, and ferries, providing for the compulsory conveyance and entertainment of troops by innkeepers under certain eventualities at fixed charges. Clauses 74 and 75 relate to the discharge of soldiers; and the remaining 23 clauses advert to miscellaneous matters, and the penalties under the act on civil functionaries who neglect to comply with its requirements. The Mutiny Act has, with one exception, been annually renewed; it has, however, several times been allowed to expire for a few days before its successor has received the royal assent. MU'TUAL INSTRUCTION. See MONITORIAL SYSTEM.

MYCELIUM, in Botany, a development of vege table life peculiar to Fungi, but apparently common to all the species of that order. The spawn of mushrooms is the Mycelium. The M. appears to be a provision for the propagation of the plant where its spores may not reach, its extension in the soil or matrix in which it exists, and its preservation when circumstances are unfavourable to its further development. It consists of elongated filaments, simple or jointed, situated either within the matrix or upon its surface. It is often membranous or pulpy. The development of the fungus in its proper form seems to be ready to take place, in proper circumstances, from any part of the Mycelium. Fungi often remain long in the state of M., and many kinds

MYCENE-MYRCIA.

hairy legs. They make silken nests in clefts of trees, rocks, &c., or in the ground, sometimes bur rowing to a great depth, and very tortuously. To this genus belongs the bird-catching Spider (q. v.) of Surinam; but it seems now to be ascertained that several of the larger species frequently prey on

prey by means of webs, but hunt for it and pounce upon it by surprise. They construct a silken dwelling for themselves in some sheltered retreat. Some of them make a curious lid to their nest or burrow. They envelop their eggs, which are numerous, in a kind of cocoon.

of M. have been described as distinct species and formed into genera. Fries has rendered great service to botany in investigating these spurious species and genera, and determining their true nature.-Liquors, in which the flocculent M. of a fungus is spreading, are said to be mothery. MYCE'NÆ, a very ancient city in the north-small vertebrate animals. They do not take their eastern part of Argolis, in the Peloponnesus, built upon a craggy height, is said to have been founded by Perseus. It was the capital of Agamemnon's kingdom, and was at that time the principal city in Greece. About 468 B. C., it was destroyed by the inhabitants of Argos, and never rose again from its ruins to anything like its former prosperity. In Strabo's time its ruins only remained; these are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of Kharvati, and are specimens of Cyclopean architecture. The most celebrated is the Gate of Lions,' the chief entrance to the ancient Acropolis, and receiving its name from two immense lions sculptured upon a block of bluish limestone above the gate. See Colonel Mure's Tour in Greece (vol. ii. p. 324).

MYELITIS (myelos, marrow) is the term employed to signify inflammation of the substance of the spinal cord. It may be either acute or chronic, but the latter is by far the most common affection. The chronic form begins with a little uneasiness in the spine, somewhat disordered sensations in the extremities, and unusual fatigue after any slight exertion. After a short time paralytic symptoms appear, and slowly increase. The gait becomes uncertain and tottering, and at length the limbs fail to support the body. The paralysis finally attacks the bladder and rectum, and the evacuations are discharged involuntarily; and death takes place as the result of exhaustion, or occasionally of asphyxia if the paralysis involves the chest. In the acute form there is much pain (especially in the spinal region), which usually ceases when paralysis supervenes. The other symptoms are the same as those of the chronic form, but they occur more rapidly and with greater severity, and death sometimes takes place in a few days.

The most common causes of this disease are falls, blows, and strains from over-exertion; but sexual abuses and intemperate habits occasionally induce it. It may also result from other diseases of the spine (as caries), or may be propagated from inflammation of the corresponding tissue of the brain.

The treatment, which is much the same as that of inflammation elsewhere, must be confided entirely to the medical practitioner; and it is therefore unnecessary to enter into any details regarding it. When confirmed paralysis has set in, there is little to hope for, but in the early stage the disease is often checked by judicious remedies.

MY'GALÉ, a genus of spiders, the type of a

Mygale.

family called Mygalida. They have four pulmonary sacs and spiracles, four spinnerets, eight eyes, and

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MYLA BRIS, a genus of coleopterous insects, nearly allied to Cantharis (q. v.), and deserving of notice because of the use made of some of the species as blistering flies. M. cichorii is thus used in China and India; and M. Fuesselini, a native of the south of Europe, is supposed to have been the blistering fly of the ancients.

MYLITTA (? corresponding to Heb. Meyaledeth, Genitrix, who causes to bear), a female deity, apparently first worshipped among the Babylonians, who gradually spread her worship through Assyria and Persia. She is originally, like almost every other mythological deity, a cosmic symbol, and represents the female portion of the twofold principle through which all creation burst into existence, and which alone, by its united active and passive powers, upholds it. M. is to a certain degree the representative of Earth, the Mother, who conceives from the Sun, Bel or Baal. M. and Baal together are considered the type of the Good.' Procreation thus being the basis of M.'s office in nature, the act itself became a kind of worship to M., and was hallowed through and for her. Thus it came to pass, that every Babylonian woman had once in her life to give herself up to a stranger, and thereby considered her person consecrated to the great goddess. The sacritice itself seems, especially in the early stage of its introduction among the divine rites of the primitive Babylonians, to have had much less of the repul siveness, which, in the eyes of highly-cultivated nations, must be attached to it; and it was only in later days that it gave rise to the proverbial Babylonian lewdness. Herodotus's account of this subject must, like almost all his other stories, be received with great caution.

MY'LODON (Gr. grinder-teeth), a genus of huge fossil sloths, whose remains are found in the Pleistocene deposits of South America, associated with the Megatherium and other allied genera. A complete skeleton, dug up at Buenos Ayres, measured 11 feet from the fore part of the skull to the end of the tail. Although like the modern sloth in general structure and dentition, its immense size forbids us to suppose that it could have had the same arboreal. habits, and the modifications of its structure seem to have fitted it for the uprooting and prostrating of the trees, the foliage of which supplied it with food.

MY'NIAS, more accurately MINYAS, was, in Greek mythology, the son of Chryses. He was king of Jolcos, and gave his name to the people called Minya. He built the city of Orchomenus, where rites (named after him) were celebrated in his honour. His three daughters Clymene, Iris, and Alcithoë, according to Ovid, but Leuconoë, Leucippe, and Alcithoë according to other authors, were changed into bats for having contemned the mysteries of Bacchus.

MYOSOTIS. See FORGET-ME-NOT.

MY'RCIA, a genus of trees of the natural order Myrtacea, to which belongs the WILD CLOVE or

MYRIAPODA-MYRRH.

The M. are found in all parts of the world, in the ground, among moss, under stones, in the decaying bark of trees, in decaying roots, and in many similar obovate obtusely toothletted leaflets, and the fruit situations. The largest species are tropical. They a smooth brown ovate drupe, somewhat larger are all generally regarded with aversion. It is doubtful how far any of them are injurious to crops, although it is not improbable that they accelerate rottenness already begun; but some (Centipedes) have a venomous and painful bite. MYRICA. See CANDLEBERRY. MYRISTICA'CEÆ. See NUTMEG.