as those of insects, but emerge from the egg more similar to what they are ultimately to become; although some of them are at first quite destitute of feet; and, contrary to what takes place in insects, the body becomes more elongated as maturity is approached, the number of segments and of feet increasing.

The myriapoda are divided into two orders: the lower, Chilognatha (Julus, etc.), having the body sub-cylindrical, the feet very numerous, the head rounded, the mandibles thick and strong; the higher Chilopoda (Scolopendra, etc.), having the body flattened, the feet comparatively few, the head broad, the mandibles sharp and curved.

The myriapoda 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 situations. The largest species are tropical. They 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.

MYRI CA. See CANDLEBERRY.

MYRISTICACEE. See NUTMEG.

MYRISTIC ACID, C1,H27 COOH, is a crystalline fatty acid, found in the seeds of the common nutmeg, Myristica moschata. It occurs in the form of a glyceride in the fat of the nutmeg, or nutmeg butter. It has recently been found in small quantity amongst the products of the saponification of spermaceti, and of the fatty matter of milk; and hence this organic acid must be ranked amongst those which are common both to the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

MYRMECO BIUS, the banded ant-eater of Australia. See MARSUPIALIA.

MYRMECO PHAGA. See ANT-EATER.

MYRME LEON. See ANT LION.

MYRMID'ONES, an ancient people in Pthiotis, in s. Thessaly. According to the legends, they were so called from Myrmidon, a son of Jupiter, and son-in-law of Eolus. Myrmidon's son, Actor, married Ægina, daughter of Asopus. Another story says they came from Ægina, and were ants (myrmêkes), changed by Jupiter into men. They settled in Thessaly with Peleus, with whose son Achilles, they went to the Trojan war. The name has come to denote, in English, a troop or great horde of ruffians devoted to a single leader.

MYRO BALANS, the astringent fruit of certain species of Terminalia, of the natural order Combretaceae, natives of the mountains of India. The genus Terminalia has a deciduous bell-shaped calyx and no corolla; the fruit is a juiceless drupe. T. Belerica, a species with alternate eliptical entire leaves, on long stalks, produces great part of the myrobalans of commerce; but the fruits of other species often appear under the same name. Tonic properties are ascribed to myrobalans; but although once in great repute, they are now scarcely used in medicine. They are used, however, by tanners and by dyers, and have therefore become a very considerable article of importation from India. They give a durable yellow color with alum, and, with the addition of iron, an excellent black.-Emblic myrobalans are the fruit of Emblica officinalis, of the natural order Euphorbiacea, a native of India. They are used in India as a tonic and astringent: also in tanning and in the making of ink.-There is a kind of plum called the Myrobalan Plum. See PLUM.

MY RON, about B.C 480-430; native of Boeotia; Athenian sculptor and engraver of wood and silver; studied under Agelidas at Argos. His first great production was the statue of a cow, so wonderfully life-like that it was mistaken for the real animal by cattle Myron, as Pliny observes, excelled not in expression but in realistic imitation of men and animals. Perhaps his most noted work was the Discobolus," or quoitthrower. The bronze image of the cow stood in Athens for many centuries, and was then taken to Rome, where it was known to be as late as the sixth century. Several statues were discovered in the last century, which it was claimed were the work of Myron, and one or two are almost certainly original. The British museum has an ancient marble copy of the " Discobolus."

MYRRH (Heb. mur), a gum produced by balsamodendron (q.v.) myrrha, a tree of the natural order amyridacea, growing in Arabia, and probably also in Abyssinia. The myrrh tree is small and scrubby, spiny, with whitish-gray bark, thinly-scattered small leaves, consisting of three obovate obtusely toothletted leaflets, and the fruit a smooth brown ovate drupe, somewhat larger than a pea. Myrrh exudes from the bark in oily yellowish drops, which gradually thicken and finally become hard, the color at the same time becoming darker. Myrrh has been known and valued from the most ancient times; it is mentioned as an article of commerce in Gen. xxxvii. 25, and was amongst the presents which Jacob sent to the Egyptian ruler, and amongst those which the wise men from the east brought to the infant Jesus. It was an ingredient in the "holy anointing oil" of the Jews. Myrrh appears in commerce either in tears and grains, or in pieces of irregular form and various sizes, yellow, red, or reddish brown. It is brittle, and has a waxy fracture, often exhibiting whitish veins. Its smell is balsamic, its taste aromatic and bitter. It is used in medicine as a tonic and stimulant, in disorders of the digestive

Mysteries.

organs, excessive secretions from the raucous membranes, etc., also to cleanse foul ulcers and promote their healing, and as a dentifrice, particularly in a spongy or ulcerated condition of the gums. It was much used by the ancient Egyptians in embalming. The best myrrh is known in commerce as Turkey myrrh, being brought from Turkish ports; as the name East Indian myrrh is also given to myrrh brought to Europe from the East Indies, although it is not produced there, but comes from Abyssinia. It is not yet certainly known whether the myrrh tree of Abyssinia is the same as that of Arabia, or an allied species.

MYRSINA CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, consisting of trees and shrubs, natives of warm climates, and having simple leathery leaves, destitute of stipules; hermaphrodite or unisexual flowers, generally small, but often in umbels, corymbs, or panicles; very similar in structure to the flowers of the primulacea; the fruit generally fleshy, with 1 to 4 seeds. The flowers are very often marked with sunken dots or glandular lines.-There are more than 300 known species. Many of them are beautiful evergreen shrubs, particularly the genus ardisia. Some have peppery fruit, as embelia ribes.

MYRTA CEE, a natural order of exogenous plants, consisting of trees and shrubs, natives chiefly of warm, but partly also of temperate countries. The order, as defined by the greater number of botanists, includes several suborders, which are regarded by some as distinct orders, particularly CHAMÆLAUCIACE (in which are contained about 50 known species, mostly beautiful little bushes, often with fragrant leaves, natives of New Holland), Barringtoniaceæ (q.v.), and Lecythidaceæ (q.v.). Even as restricted, by the separation of these, the order contains about 1300 known species. The leaves are entire, usually with pelucid dots, and a vein running parallel to and near their margin.Some of the species are gigantic trees, as the eucalypti or gum tree of New Holland, and different species of metrosideros, of which one is found as far s. as Lord Auckland's islands, in lat. 50°. The timber is generally compact.-Astringency seems to be rather a prevalent property in the order, and the leaves or other parts of some species are used in medicine as astringents and tonics. A fragrant or pungent volatile oil is often present in considerable quantity, of which oil of cajeput and oil of cloves are examples. Cloves and pimento are amongst the best known products of this order. The berries of several species are occasionally used as spices in the same way as the true pimento. A considerable number yield pleasant edible fruits, among which are the POMEGRANATE, the GUAVA, species of the genus Eugenia, and some species of myrtle.

MYRTLE, Myrtus, a genus of myrtacea, having the limb of the calyx 4 to 5 parted, 4 to 5 petals, numerous free stamens, an almost globose germen, and a 2 to 3 celled berry, crowned with the limb of the calyx, and containing kidney shaped seeds. The leaves are opposite and marked with pelucid dots; the flower-stalks are axillary, and generally one-flowered. The COMMON MYRTLE (M. communis) is well known as a beautiful evergreen shrub, or a tree of moderate size, with white flowers. It is a native of all the countries around the Mediterranean sea, and of the temperate parts of Asia, often forming thickets, which sometimes occur even within the reach of the sea-spray. The leaves are ovate or lanceolate, varying much in breadth. They are astringent and aromatic, containing a volatile oil, and were used in medicine by the ancients as a stimulant. The berries are also aromatic, and are used in medicine in Greece and India. A myrtle wine, called myrtidanum, is made in Tuscany. Myrtle bark is used for tanning in many parts of the south of Europe. Among the ancient Greeks the myrtle was sacred to Venus, as the symbol of youth and beauty, was much used in festivals, and was, as it still is, often mentioned in poetry. The myrtle endures the winters of Britain only in the mildest situations in the south.-The SMALL-LEAVED MYRTLE of Peru (M. microphylla) has red berries of the size of a pea, of a pleasant flavor and sugary sweetness. Those of the LUMA (M. luma) are also palatable, and are eaten in Chili; as are those of the DOWNY MYRTLE (M. tomentosa), on the Neilgherry hill; and those of the WHITEBERRIED MYRTLE (M. leucocarpa), by some regarded as a variety of the common myrtle. in Greece and Syria. The berries of this species or variety are larger than those of the common myrtle, and have a very pleasant taste and smell.-A very humble species of myrtle (M. nummullaria) spreads over the ground in the Falkland islands, as thyme does in Britain.

MYRTLE-WAX. See WAX.

MY'SIA, in ancient geography, a province in n.w. Asia Minor, joining Lydia on the s. and Bithynia on the e., and bounded w. by the Hellespont and n. by the Propontis; the principal rivers were the Caicus, sepus, and Rhyndacus; the surface is mountainous in the interior, and in part table-land. The inhabitants were thought by some ancient writers to be of Thracian, and by others of Lydian descent; probably there were immigrations from both countries. Homer mentions the Mysi, but does not define their country. Mysia was subject to the Lydian monarchy, and under the Persian dominion formed, together with Lydia, one of the satrapies created by Darius. After the death of Alexander the Great, it passed from Macedonian to Syrian rule, was then given to the kings of Pergamus by Rome, and afterwards made a Roman province. Its principal towns were Abydos, Cyzicus, and Pergamus.

Mysteries.

MY'SIS, a genus of podophthalmous (stalk-eyed) crustaceans, of the order stomapoda, much resembling the common shrimps in form, although differing from them in the external position of the gills. They are often called opposum shrimps, because the last two feet are furnished with an appendage, which in the female forms a large pouch, and in this the eggs are received after they leave the ovary, and are retained till the young acquire a form very similar to that of the parent, when the whole brood are at once set free into the ocean. Species of mysis are found on the British shores, but they are far more abundant in the Arctic seas, where they form no small part of the food of whales, and of many fishes, particularly of different species of salmon.

MYSORE, or MAISUR, a raji or principality of southern India, under the protection of the British government, in lat. 11° 35′ to 15° n., and in long. 74° 45′ to 78° 45′ east. It is bounded on the n. by the British collectorate of Dharwar, and otherwise surrounded by districts belonging to the Madras presidency. The area is 27,000 sq.m.; the population in 1881-82 was 4,186,199. Mysore is an extensive table-land, with an average elevation of about 2,000 ft., and with a slope principally towards the n. and n.e. The chief rivers are the Cauvery, flowing s.e., and the Tungabhadro, the Hugri, and the Pennar, flowing n. and n.e. The climate of the higher districts is during a great portion of the year healthy and pleasant. In 1871-72, the value of the exports, which consist of betelnut, cotton, cardamons, rice, silk, and sugar, amounted to £1,100,000. The imports, consisting mainly of iron, gold, pepper, salt, and pulses, were £1,070,000. Since 1832 the control of the country has been entirely in the hands of the English, and the government is administered by a British commissioner. Chief town, Mysore. For the history of Mysore, see articles HYDER ALI, TIPFOO SAHIB, and INDIA.

MYSORE, or MAISUR, a city of India, the seat of a British residency, capital of the territory, and of the subdivision of the same name, is situated amid picturesque scenery on a declivity formed by two parallel ranges of elevated ground running n. and s., 245 m. w.s.w. of Madras, lat. 12° 19' n., long. 76° 42' east. The houses are generally built of teak, and among the chief edifices are the British residency and church. The fort is quadrangular in form, three of its sides being 450 yards in length, and the remaining side longer. The rajah's palace, occupying three sides of the interior fort, contains a magnificent chair or throne of gold. The climate is mild, but not healthy; fevers are of frequent occurrence. Carpets are manufactured. Pop. '80, 60,000.

MYSTAGOGUE (Gr. mustes, an initiated person, and ago, I lead), the name in the Greek religious system of the priest whose duty it was to direct the preparations of the candidates for initiation in the several mysteries, as well as to conduct the ceremonial of initiation. It was sometimes applied by a sort of analogy to the class of professional cicerone, who in ancient, as still in modern times, undertook to show strangers newly arrived in a city the noteworthy objects which it contained; but the former meaning is its primitive one, and formed the ground of the application of the same name in the Christian church, to the catechists or other clergy who prepared candidates for the Christian mysteries, or sacraments, of baptism, of confirmation, and the eucharist, especially the last. In this sense the word is constantly used by the fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries; and in the well-known lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, although all were addressed to candidates for the mysteries, some for baptism, and some for the eucharist, it is only the lectures addressed to the latter that the name mystagogic is applied. This distinction was connected with the well-known Discipline of the Secret; and it appears to have ceased with the abolition or gradual disuse of that discipline.

MYSTERIES (Gr. from muo, to close the lips or eyes), also called Teletai, Orgia, or, in Latin, Initia, designate certain rites and ceremonies in ancient, chiefly Greek and Roman, religions, only known to, and practiced by, congregations of certain initiated men and women, at appointed seasons, and in strict seclusion. The origin, as well as the real purport of these mysteries, which take no unimportant place among the religious festivals of the classical period, and which, in their ever-changing nature, designate various places of religious development in the antique world, is all but unknown. It does seem, indeed, as if the vague speculations of modern times on the subject were an echo of the manifold interpretations of the various acts of the mysteries given by the priests to the inquiring disciple-according to the lights of the former or the latter. Some investigators, themselves not entirely free from certain mystic influences (like Creuzer and others), have held them to have been a kind of misty orb around a kernel of pure light, the bright rays of which were too strong for the eyes of the multitude; that, in fact, they hid, under an outward garb of mummery, a certain portion of the real and eternal truth of religion, the knowledge of which had been derived from some primeval, or, perhaps, the Mosaic revelation; if it could not be traced to certain (or uncertain) Egyptian, Indian, or generally eastern sources. To this kind of hazy talk, however (which we only mention because it is still repeated every now and then), the real and thorough investigations begun by Lobeck, and still pursued by many competent scholars in our own day, have, or ought to have, put an end. There cannot be anything more alien to the whole spirit of Greek and Roman antiquity than a hiding of abstract truths and occult wisdom under rights and formulas, songs and dances; and, in fact, the mysteries were anything but exclusive, either with respect to sex, age, or rank in point of initiation. It was only the speculative tendency of later times, when Poly

Mysteries.

theism was on the wane, that tried to symbolize and allegorize these obscure, and partly imported ceremonies, the bulk of which had undoubtedly sprung from the midst of the Pelasgian tribes themselves in prehistoric times, and which were intended to represent and to celebrate certain natural phenomena in the visible creation. There is certainly no reason to deny that some more refined minds may, at a very early period, have endeavored to impart a higher sense to these wondrous performances; but these can only be considered as solitary instances. The very fact of their having to be put down in later days as public nuisances in Rome herself, speaks volumes against the occult wisdom inculcated in secret assemblies of men and women.

The mysteries, as such, consisted of purifications, sacrificial offerings, processions, songs, dances, dramatic performances, and the like. The mystic formulas (Deiknumena, Dromena, Legomena, the latter including the Liturgies, etc.) were held deep secrets, and could only be communicated to those who had passed the last stage of preparation in the mystagogue's hand. The hold which the nightly secrecy of these meetings, together with their extraordinary worship, must naturally have taken upon minds more fresh and childlike than our advanced ages can boast of, was increased by all the mechanical contrivances of the effects of light and sound which the priests could command. Mysterious voices were heard singing, whispering, and sighing all around, lights gleamed in manifold colors from above and below, figures appeared and disappeared; the mimic, the tonic, the plastic-all the arts, in fact, were taxed to their very utmost to make these performances (the nearest approach to which, in this country, is furnished by transfor mation-scenes, or sensation-dramas in general) as attractive and profitable (to the priests) as could be. As far as we have any knowledge of the plots of these mysteries as scenic representations, they generally brought the stories of the special gods or goddesses before the spectator-their births, sufferings, deaths, and resurrections. Many were the outward symbols used, of which such as the Phallus, the Thyrsus, flower baskets, mystic boxes, in connection with special deities, told, more or less, their own tale, although the meanings supplied by later ages, from the Neo-platonists to our own day, are various, and often very amazing. The most important mysteries were, in historical times, those of Eleusis and the Thesmophorian, both representing-each from a different point of view-the rape of Proserpina, and Cere's search for her: the Thesmophorian mysteries being also in a manner connected with the Dionysian worship. There were further, those of Zeus of Crete-derived from a very remote period-of Bacchus himself, of Cybele, and Aphrodite the two latter with reference to the mystery of propagation, but celebrated in diametrically opposed ways, the former culminating in the self-mutilation of the worshiper, the latter in prostitution. Further, the mysteries of Orpheus, who, in a certain degree, was considered the founder of all mysteries. Nor were the other gods and goddesses forgotten: Hera, Minerva, Diana, Hecate, nay, foreign gods like Mithras (q.v.), and the like, had their due secret solemnities all over the classical soil, and whithersoever Greek (and partly Roman) colonists took their Lares and Penates all over the antique world. The beginning of the reaction in the minds of thinking men, against this mostly gross and degenerated kind of veneration of natural powers and instincts, is marked by the period of the Hesiodic poems; and when, toward the end of the classical periods, the mysteries were no longer secret, but public orgies of the most shameless kind, their days were numbered. The most subtle metaphysicians, allegorize and symbolize as they might, failed in reviving them, and in restoring them to whatever primeval dignity there might have once been inherent in them.

MYSTERIES AND MIRACLE-PLAYS were dramas founded on the historical parts of the Old and New Testaments, and the lives of the saints, performed during the middle ages, first in churches, and afterwards in the streets on fixed or movable stages. Myste ries were properly taken from biblical and miracle-plays from legendary subjects, but this distinction in nomenclature was not always strictly adhered to. We have an extant specimen of the religious play of a date prior to the beginning of the middle ages in the Christos Paschon, assigned, somewhat questionably, to Gregory Nazianzen, and written in 4th c. Greek. Next comes six Latin plays on subjects connected with the lives of the saints, by Roswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, in Saxony, which, though not very artisti cally constructed, possesses considerable dramatic power and interest; they have been lately published at Paris, with a French translation. The performers were at first the clergy and choristers, afterwards any layman might participate. The earliest recorded performance of a miracle-play took place in England. Matthew Paris relates that Geoffroy, afterwards abbot of St. Albans, while a secular, exhibited at Dunstable the miracle-play of St. Catherine, and borrowed copes from St. Albans to dress his characThis must have been at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. Fitzstephen, in his Life of Thomas à Becket, 1183 A.D., describes with approval the representation in London of the sufferings of the saints and miracles of the confessors. On the establishment of the Corpus Christi festival by Pope Urban IV. in 1264, miracle-plays became one of its adjuncts, and every considerable town had a fraternity for their per formance. Throughout the 15th and following centuries, they continued in full force in England, and are mentioned, sometimes approvingly, sometimes disapprovingly, by contemporary writers. Designed at first as a means of religious instruction for the people, they had long before the reformation so far departed from their original character, as to

ters.

Mysteries.

be mixed up in many instances with buffoonery and irreverence, intentional or unintentional, and to be the means of inducing contempt rather than respect for the church and religion. Remarkable collections exist of English mysteries and miracles of the 15th c., known as the Chester, the Coventry, and the Townley plays. The first two have been published by the Shakespeare Society, and the other by the Surtees Society. The Townley mysteries are full of the burlesque element, and contain many curious illustrations of contemporary manners.

Out of the mysteries and miracle-plays sprang a third class of religious plays called Moralities, in which allegorical personification of the Virtues and Vices were introduced as dramatis personæ. These personages at first only took part in the play along with the scriptural or legendary characters, but afterwards entirely superseded them. The oldest known English compositions of this kind are of the time of Henry VI.; they are mere elaborate and less interesting than the miracle-plays. Moralities continued in fashion till the time of Elizabeth, and were the immediate precursors of the regular drama.

Miracles and mysteries were as popoular in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy as in England. A piece of the kind yet extant, composed in France in the 11th c., is entitled the Mystery of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, and written partly in the Provençal dialect and partly in Latin. A celebrated fraternity, called the Confrérie de la Passion, founded in Paris in 1350, had a monopoly for the performance of mysteries and miracle-plays, which were of such a length, that the exhibition of each occupied several days. A large number of French mysteries of the the 14th c. are extant. In the alpine districts of Germany, miracle-plays were composed and acted by the peasants; these peasant-plays had less regularity in their dramatic form, were often interspersed with songs and processions; and in their union of simplicity with high-wrought feeling were most characteristic of a people in whom the religious and dramatic element are both so largely developed. In the early part of the last century, they began to partake to a limited extent of the burlesque, which had brought the miracle-plays into disrepute clsewhere.

It is a mistake to suppose that the hostility of the reformers was what suppressed these exhibitions. The fathers of the reformation showed no unfriendly feeling towards them. Luther is reported to have said that they often did more good and produced more impression than sermons. The most direct encouragement was given to them by the founders of the Swedish Protestant Church, and by the earlier Lutheran bishops, Swedish and Danish. The authorship of one drama of the kind is assigned to Grotius. In England the greatest check they received was from the rise of the secular drama; yet they continued to be occasionally performed in the times of James I. and Charles I., and it is well known that the first sketch of Milton's Paradise Lost was a sacred drama, where the opening speech was Satan's Address to the Sun. A degenerate relic of the miracle-play may yet be traced in some remote districts of England, where the story of St. George, the dragon, and Beelzebub, is rudely represented by the peasantry. Strange to say, it was in the Catholic south of Germany, where these miracle-plays and mysteries had preserved most of their old religious character, that the severest blow was levelled against them. Even there, they had begun to be tainted to a limited extent with the burlesque element, which had brought them into disrepute elsewhere. In 1779 a manifesto was issued by the prince-archbishop of Salzburg, condemning them, and prohibiting their performance, on the ground of their ludicrous mixture of the sacred and the profane, the frequent bad acting in the serious parts, the distraction of the lower orders from more edifying modes of instruction, and the scandal arising from the exposure of sacred subjects to the ridicule of freethinkers. This ecclesiastical deununciation was followed by vigorous measures on the part of the civil authorities in Austria and Bavaria. One exception was made to the general suppression. In 1633 the villagers of Oberammergau, in the Bavarian highlands, on the cessation of a plague which desolated the surrounding country, had vowed to perform every tenth year the Passion of Our Savior, out of gratitude, and as a means of religious instruction; a vow which had ever since been regularly observed. The pleading of a deputation of Ammergau peasants with Max. Joseph of Bavaria saved their mystery from the general condemnation, on condition of everything that could offend good taste being expunged. It was then and afterwards somewhat remodelled, and is perhaps the only mystery or miracle-play which has survived to the present day. The last performance took place in 1880. The inhabitants of this secluded village, long noted for their skill in carving in wood and ivory, have a rare union of artistic cultivation with perfect simplicity. Their familiarity with sacred subjects is even beyond what is usual in the alpine part of Germany, and the spectacle seems still to be looked on with feelings much like those with which it was originally conceived. What would elsewhere appear impious, is to the alpine peasants devout and edifying. The personator of Christ considers his part an act of religious worship; he and the other principal performers are said to be selected for their holy life, and consecrated to their work with prayer. The players, about 500 in number, are exclusively the villagers, who, though they have no artistic instruction, except from the parish priest, act their parts with no little dramatic power, and a delicate appreciation of character. The New Testament narrative is strictly adhered to, the only legendary addition to it being the St. Veronica handkerchief. The acts alternate with tableaux from the Old Testament and choral odes. Many thousands of the peasantry are attracted by the spectacle from all parts of the Tyrol and Bavaria, among whom the same earnest and devout demeanor