Mohammed converted the heathen shrine into a Mohammedan focus the original notion of an idol temple with a miraculous fetish was abandoned, and the legend was invented that the Kaaba was built by Abraham on the occasion of the outcasting of Ishmael. The celebrated Black Stone is apparently a meteorite, about 9 inches long, built into the south-east corner at the proper height for kissing. There is also a 'Southern Stone,' of only inferior sanctity. The pilgrim circumambulates the Kaaba seven times, kisses the Black and touches the Southern Stone, and also goes round the Hijr or semicircular enclosure containing the so-called graves of Hagar and Ishmael. The Kaaba has always been richly decorated, and externally has long been annually re-covered (leaving only apertures for the two stones) with handsome brocaded hangings-the Kiswa, popularly known

MECHANICS' INSTITUTES

Stone, and kept it for twenty-two years. Mecca afterwards fell under the influence of whatever dynasty-Fatimite, Ayyubite, or Mamelukehappened to rule in Egypt; and thus it came into the possession of the Ottoman sultans, whose power, however, was nominal, whilst the real governor was the sherif, or reputed head of the descendants of the Prophet, who long held the chief authority in the Hejaz. The Sherif Husein ibn Ali in 1916 made himself independent king of the Hejaz, but in 1924 was forced to abdicate, and was succeeded by Ali, his eldest son, under whom, in October 1924, Mecca was captured by the sultan of Nejd. Few non- Mohammedans have entered Mecca; Ludovico di Varthema, an Italian, did so in 1503, and Joseph Pitts, an Englishman, about 1680; Burckhardt (in 1814-15) and Burton (in 1853) have left the best accounts.

See Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka (1888); Robertson Smith in Ency. Brit. (1883 and 1911); Travels of Aly Bey (1816); Wüstenfeld, Chroniken d. Stadt Mekka (1857 59); Burton, Pilgrimage (1855; new ed. 1898); Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia (1829); Wavell, A Modern Pilgrim in Mecca (new ed. 1918).

Mechanics is the science which treats of the nature of forces and of their action on bodies, either directly or by the agency of machinery. See FORCE, ENERGY, DYNAMICS. The action of forces on bodies may be in the form of pressure or pull or of impulse, and may or may not produce motion. When the forces are so balanced as to preserve the body affected by them in a state of equilibrium, their actions are investigated in that branch of mechanics called Statics (q.v.); when motion is produced, they are considered under the head of Kinetics (see DYNAMICS). See also the articles on Kinematics, Hydrostatics, and Hydrodynamics.

as the Holy Carpet-brought with much state by the Egyptian Hajj (q.v.) at the same time as the traditional Mahmal, an empty covered litter emblematic of Egyptian sovereignty. The other chief decorations are the silver-gilt door, seldom opened, the marble inlay and silver-gilt plating and silk hangings of the interior, which contains little of interest. Hard by, and also within the court, is the celebrated well of Zemzem, a deep shaft covered by a cupola; the tepid water of which may once have been mineral, and is still regarded as miraculous, although the largest item in its present analysis consists of sewage matter. This important attraction for pilgrims was long lost, but was rediscovered by Mohammed's grandfather. Another object of veneration is Abraham's Stand,' the stone of which, with the imprint of his foot, is concealed from view. Outside the Great Mosque are no sacred or antiquarian buildings of importance, though several houses are pointed out by the guides as dwellings of persons famous in the early days of Islam. In the time before Mohammed Mecca was under the control of the Kosaites, and then of the Koreish, from whom the Prophet reconquered it in 627, five years after his Flight or Hegira (q.v.) therefrom. It long remained under the rule of the khalifs, who spent large sums in its adornment. In 930 it was sacked by the Karmathians, who carried off the Black

Machines are instruments interposed between the moving power and the resistance, with a view of changing the direction of the force, or of modifying its amount. Machines are of various degrees of complexity; but the simple parts, or elements of which they are composed, are reducible to a very few. These elementary machines are called the Mechanical Powers, and are usually reckoned as six in number, three being primary-viz. the lever, inclined plane, and pulley; and three secondary, or derived from the others-viz. the wheel-and-axle (derived from the lever), the wedge, and the screw (both derived from the inclined plane). What is special to each machine will be found under its name.

Mechanics' Institutes, voluntary unchar tered associations of mechanics or working-men for the purpose of providing themselves, at small individual cost, with instruction in elementary and technical branches of knowledge, by means of a library, reading-rooms, classes, and lectures. The germ of the Mechanics' Institute was a class for journeymen mechanics formed by Dr Birkbeck (q.v.) at Glasgow in 1800; but the first Mechanics' Institute, properly so called, was

MECHANISM

organised also by Birkbeck in London in 1824. The original aim was to teach mechanics the principles of their respective trades. Subsequently the basis was enlarged, and the giving of a general education aimed at. The institutes were wholly or in great part self-managed. Out of them have grown, through the introduction of means of recreation, the Working-men's Social Clubs and Educational Institutes.

Mechanism. See LIFE.

Mechitarists, a congregation of Armenian

Christians who entered into communion with the

Church of Rome, when Clement XI. was pope, in 1712. They derive their name from Mechitar (i.e. the Comforter) da Petro (1676–1749), who in 1701 founded at Constantinople a religious society for raising the intellectual and spiritual condition of his countrymen, and for diffusing a knowledge of the old Armenian language and literature. Two years later, however, their Uniat propaganda led to their removal to the Morea, and thence, on the conquest of that portion of Greece by the Turks in 1715, to Venice, which in 1717 granted them the island of San Lazzaro. Their most useful occupation is printing the classic writings of Armenian literature, as well as valuable editions of Armenian translations of works by Ephraem Syrus, Philo, Eusebius, and other writers, of which the Greek and Syriac originals have been lost. At San Lazzaro they possess a large and valuable library of oriental works, and at Vienna (since 1810) an academy, with a printing-office, &c., to which non-Armenians are admitted. See Langlois, Le Couvent Arménien de Saint-Lazare de Venise (1863).

Mechlin. See MALINES.

Mecklenburg, the common name of two states, formerly grand-duchies, of Germany, distinguished as MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN and MECKLENBURGSTRELITZ, and situated between the Baltic on the N. and Brandenburg on the S., whilst Pomerania lies on the E. and Sleswick-Holstein and Lübeck on the W. Mecklenburg-Schwerin is a compact territory, abutting on the Baltic for 65 miles, its area being 5197 sq. m. (much less than Yorkshire). Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1144 sq. m.) consists of two detached portions-the former grand-duchy of Strelitz, SE. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the former principality of Ratzeburg, wedged in between Schwerin and Lübeck. The region forms part of the great North German plain, but is crossed by a low ridge of hills from the south-east to the north-west, the waterparting between numerous small rivers that drain to the Elbe and to the Baltic. Along the line of this ridge there are more than 500 lakes, some of fairly large size. Canals, too, connect many of the lakes and navigable rivers, especially towards the Elbe. Except for sandy tracts and turfy moors the soil is fertile; agriculture is the chief occupation. The merino sheep are the finest in Germany. There is some iron-founding, making of agricultural implements and tiles, manufacturing of beet-root sugar, distilling, brewing, and tanning. Amber is obtained on the coast and from some of the lakes, and peat is dug. The chief ports are Wismar and Rostock (Warnemünde), both in Schwerin. The population of Schwerin in 1890 was 578,342; in 1900, 607,770; in 1919, 657,330 of Strelitz in 1890, 97,978; in 1900, 102,602; in 1919, 106,394. The rural population are almost entirely Germanised Slavs, the former nobility and the town-dwellers for the most part of Lower Saxon stock. The popular dialect is Platt-Deutsch or Low German; the religious confession Lutheran. Rostock (q.v.), the largest town in Schwerin, has a university. The capital of Schwerin is Schwerin; of Strelitz, Neustrelitz. Society in Mecklenburg was till the revolution (1918) still

:

organised on a feudal basis, and in the early part of the 19th century was not so advanced as England in the 13th century; serfdom was abolished only in 1824. At the head of each grand-duchy stood a grand-duke; but both grand-duchies were represented in one and the same national assembly, which met every autumn at Sternberg and Malchin alternately. This body embraced all landowners (about 680), who also represented the peasantry and agricultural labourers, and representatives of forty-nine towns. The principality of Ratzeburg, and the towns of Wismar and Neustrelitz, had each college of nine members, representing the assembly, an independent administration. A permanent sat all the year round at Rostock. The executive was in the hands of four ministers in Schwerin, and one minister in Strelitz. No financial statements were published in either grand-duchy. Schwerin, however, there were three separate budgets, one controlled by the grand-duke, one, very small, controlled by the estates, and one by states have each a diet, elected by a general both parties in common. As republics the two equal direct vote, with proportional representation. The evils under which the country workmen suffered in the middle of the 19th century, and of which Fritz Reuter, the great Platt-Deutsch writer, gives a painful description in his poem Kein Hüsung, have been greatly mitigated. The restraints imposed upon marriage by the landowners led to a relatively high proportion of mirable pictures of the semi-patriarchal, semiReuter's works give adillegitimate children. feudal life of his native country.

In

In the 6th century Slavic races settled in the districts now called Mecklenburg, which had just been left vacant by the Vandals. From the 9th to the 12th century the German emperors and the Saxon dukes attempted at different times to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. The country was only definitely incorporated in the German empire in 1170. It was divided over and over again, from 1229 onwards for more than five hundred years, amongst different branches of the descendants of the original Slavic princes. Of these dukes (dukes after 1348) the only one deserving special mention is Albert III., who, called to ascend the throne of Sweden in 1363, was kept a prisoner for many years by Margaret, queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Thirty Years' War ruined the independent peasant proprietors. Wallenstein casting covetous eyes upon the duchies, they were sold (1628) to him by the emperor, but were restored to their dukes in 1635. The two lines of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz date only from 1701; in 1755 they agreed that the line which survived longest should inherit the territories of the other, and when both became extinct Prussia should be heir. The title of grand-duke was assumed by both reigning dukes in 1815. The year 1848 brought disturbances and tumults in Mecklenburg; a representative assembly was called together, and other reforms initiated; but the reaction of 1850 and following years restored things to their original condition. The two states were again agitated by reform questions in 1871-78. The grand-dukes promised a constitution in 1907. On the death of the grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in February 1918, the grandduke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin claimed the succession. In November, however, both states became republics.

Meconium (Gr. mēkōn, a poppy'), the inspissated juice of the poppy. Meconic Acid is an acid present in Opium (q.v.) to the extent of about 4 per cent. in combination with the alkaloids.—Meconium is also the name given to the matter first discharged from the bowels of a new-born infant.

Meconopsis, a genus of Papaveraceæ, represented in Britain by the yellow-flowered Welsh poppy, M. cambrica.

Medal (the same word as metal, through a Low Latin medalla), a piece of metal in the form of a coin, not issued or circulated as money, but struck to preserve the portrait of some eminent person or the memory of some illustrious action or event. Large medals are termed medallions; and works rectangular in form are known as plaques or plaquettes, according to their size. The study of inedals, which forms a branch of the science of numismatics, is interesting in an historical and antiquarian point of view, and important as illustrating the contemporary state of art. Like coins, medals are made in gold, silver, and copper, and some also consist of lead and alloys of other base metals. As they are generally produced in very limited numbers compared with coins, other methods of preparing them than by striking are available; and while all classical medals, and the bulk of those of modern times, are made in the same way as contemporary coinage, many of the most

MEDAL

a scale of one-half the original size the obverse and reverse of one of the most famous medals of Pisano. It celebrates the visit of the Eastern emperor, John VIII. Palæologus, to the Council of Florence in 1439; the legend on the obverse being in Greek, and the reverse inscription, Opus Pisani Pictoris, being also repeated in Greek. Generally speaking, it may be said that all mediæval medals, previous to the 16th century, were made by casting in the cire perdue process; and it was not till the beginning of the 16th century that medals struck from engraved dies, like coins, were issued, the first so produced being the medal of Pope Julius II., by Francia, struck about 1506. The larger medals of the 16th century, however, continued to be cast. The most elaborate and beautiful of the struck medals of the 16th century were the work of Benvenuto Cellini; and it may be remarked that with the introduction of dies for medal-striking the work passed into the hands of gem-engravers and jewellers, whose methods and excellences lie in quite a different direction from those of the 15thcentury artist-medallists.

Fig. 2.

Next to Italy, Germany was the country in which the medallic art flourished in mediæval times, Nürnberg having been a centre from which many important works were issued. Of the German school, Albrecht Dürer was the most famous of the early exponents. In Holland a remarkable series of jettons or medalets were issued in the 16th and the early part of the 17th century which give a record of the important events of which that country was then the theatre. In the 16th century the most important medals of French origin were

were cast by the cire perdue process (see FOUNDING). Important medals have also been made by striking-up or repoussé work (see REPOUSSÉ), and highly esteemed works are also made simply by engraving. The earliest medals are medallions of ancient Rome, existing examples of which are principally in bronze, though some are in silver and in gold. They vary in size, being mostly about 1 inch in diameter, but in weight they are so diverse as to exclude the notion that they were ever circulated as money. Medallions, prior to the time of Hadrian, are rare and of great value, one of the most beautiful and most famous being a gold medallion of Cæsar Augustus; from Hadrian to the close of the empire they are comparatively numerous. In some of them a ring or rim of lighter-coloured metal (brass or orichalchum) surrounds the centre of bronze, and the inscription

extends over both metals.

From the fall of the Roman empire till the end of the 14th century there is a blank in the production of medals. The revival of the medallic art was one of the first fruits of the Renaissance movement, and practically its earliest, as for all times its greatest exponent was Vittore Pisano (c. 13801456), the painter of Verona. His medallions, generally marked Opus Pisani Pictoris, and those of his numerous followers, including Matteo de Pasti, Guacialotti, Sperandio, Sangallo, and many others, are distinguished by their vividness of sculpturesque portraiture, and their singular breadth and simplicity of treatment. Figures 1 and 2 show to

Pilon, and in the succeeding century Briot and Dupré were the great medallic portrayers of contemporary personages and events. English medals begin only with Henry VIII., and from Edward VI. onwards there is an unbroken succession of coronation medals. The earlier medals are cast in a very inferior manner, and are certainly not the work of native artists; indeed, it is not till the period of Elizabeth that we find native talent developed in the direction of medal-working, and even thereafter it was largely to Dutch, French, and Italian artists that the principal English medals were due. The Scottish coronation medal of Charles I. by Briot is the first medal struck in Britain with a legend (Ex Auro ut in Scotia reperitur) on the edge. The medals of the Commonwealth and Charles II. are principally by Rawlins and the brothers Simon, and under Charles II. the three brothers Rottier did important medallic work in England. In the 18th century J. A. Dassier, a native of Geneva, executed a series of medals of English monarchs from the time of William I., and other important works were the production of Croker, Richard Yeo, and Thomas Pingo. Of 19th-century English medals the best are due to the Italian Pistrucci and to Thomas and William Wyon and their successors.

Öfficial medals at the present day are principally issued to the fighting services. To these ribbons distinctive in colour are attached. The first war medal given in England was the Ark in flood medal' bestowed by Queen Elizabeth in 1588 on

MEDEA

naval heroes. The first English military medal was granted by Charles I. in 1643, and in 1650 an oval medal was executed by order of parliament for distribution amongst Cromwell's officers and soldiers engaged in the battle of Dunbar. Medals have been distributed to the troops in every victorious engagement and campaign since 1793 till the present time, but previous to the reign of Queen Victoria the Waterloo medal was the only one of this series struck. It was issued by order of the Prince Regent in 1816, and conferred on every officer and soldier present at the battle. The medal is of silver, with the head of the Prince Regent on the obverse, and on the reverse a figure of Victory seated on a pedestal, inscribed Water loo,' with, beneath, the date June 18, 1815, and above, Wellington.' The Peninsular medal, for military services between 1793 and 1814, was issued only by the Queen in 1847, and conferred upon every surviving officer and private present at any battle or siege during these years. It carries no fewer than twenty-eight clasps for as many separate engagements, the first of which is Egypt, 1801. Long-service and good-conduct naval and military medals of silver were instituted in 1830 and 1831. The Victoria Cross (q.v.) was instituted in 1856. During the Great War various new medals for distinguished service in the naval and military forces were instituted, as also the first medals for such service in the air force; the 'Victory Medal' was a commemorative medal common to the Allies, and additional to the ordinary British War Medal, 1914-18. Similar medals for military, naval, and air force services are issued by foreign

powers.

See A. Heiss, Les Médailleurs de la Renaissance (vol. viii. 1890); Grueber, Guide to the English Medals in King's Library, British Museum (1881); CochranPatrick, Catalogue of the Medals of Scotland (1884); Lonbat, Medallic History of the United States (2 vols. 1878); D. Hastings Irwin, British War Medals and Decorations (new ed. 1910); T. Carter, British War Medals (new ed. 1890); A. A. Payne, Handbook of British and Foreign Orders, War Medals, and Decorations (1911); W. A. Steward, War Medals and their History (1915); Marquis of Milford Haven, British Naval Medals (1919), and Naval Medals of France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal (1921); and Dorling, Ribbons and Medals (1920).

Mede'a, in Greek legend, a famous sorceress, the daughter of Eetes, king of Colchis, and of the Oceanid Idyia, or of Hecate. When Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, came to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, she fell in love with the young hero, helped him to obtain the Fleece, and fled with him. She prevented her father from pursuing by killing her brother Absyrtus and strewing the sea with his limbs. She avenged her husband upon the aged Pelias by persuading his daughters to cut him in pieces and boil him in order to make him young again. Being deserted by Jason for Glauce or Creusa, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, she revenged her wrongs by sending to her rival a poisoned robe or diadem which destroyed both her and her father. Medea then slew the children she had borne to Jason, and fled to Athens in a chariot drawn by dragons, which she obtained from Helios. There she was received by Egeus, to whom she bore Medos; but, afterwards being compelled to flee from Athens, she took Medos to Aria, the inhabitants of which were thenceforth called Medes. She finally became immortal, and the spouse of Achilles in the Elysian Fields. The story of Medea was a favourite theme of the tragedians, but only the masterpiece of Euripides has come down to us. It was treated by Corneille and Grillparzer in drama, and by Cherubini in opera.

Medellín, (1) a small town of Spain, the birthplace of Cortes, on the Guadiana, 52 miles E. of Badajoz.-(2) The second city of Colombia, capital of the department of Antioquia, lies in a lovely mountain-valley, 4850 feet above the sea, and 150 miles NW. of Bogotá. It is a handsome town, with a cathedral, university, college, school of mines, &c. It is the chief industrial (cotton, woollen, tobacco, panama hats, crockery) and coffee centre of the country, and trade in gold and silver is important. Pop. 80,000.

Medford, a city of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, on the Mystic river and lakes, 5 miles N. by W. of Boston, has several historic buildings and a Universalist college; pop. 39,000. Media, in ancient times, corresponded to the north-west of modern Persia. The Medes were an Aryan people like the Persians; their state religion was Zoroastrianism, and the Magi (q.v.) its priests. They were at first a bold and war-like race, very skilful with the bow, and noted horsemen. The Median tribes, who seem to have been in part subject to the king of Assyria, began towards 700 B.C. to be cemented together under a chief named Deioces (Dajaukku), who chose as his capital Ecbatana (q.v.), identified with the modern Hamadan. Their power grew stronger under his son Phraortes, who subdued the Persians, but perished in war with the Assyrians. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, renewed the war against Assyria, but it was interrupted by an invasion of Media by the Scythians. Having treacherously murdered their chiefs, he expelled their warriors. Then, in alliance with Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, he overthrew the Assyrian empire by capturing Nineveh about 607 B.C. Having annexed the northern provinces of the Assyrian empire, he began a war against Lydia; but the eclipse of 28th May 585, the same which had been foretold by Thales, terrified both parties into peace. Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages. Against him the Persians, under their prince Cyrus, revolted about 550 B.C., and, being joined by a portion of the Median army under a chief named Harpagus, they took Ecbatana and deposed the Median king. From this time the two nations are spoken of as one people. Ecbatana became the summer residence of the Persian kings. After the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.), the north-western portion (Atropatene) of Media became a separate kingdom, which existed till the time of Augustus. The other portion, under the name of Great Media, formed a part of the Syrian monarchy. In 147 B.C. Mithridates I. took Great Media from the king of Syria, and annexed it to the Parthian empire. About 36 B.C. it had a king of its own, named Artavasdes, against whom and his ally, Phraates IV. of Parthia, Mark Antony engaged in a disas trous campaign. Under the Sassanian dynasty the whole of Media was united to Persia (q.v.).

See G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World (3 vols. 1879); Duncker, History of Antiquity (6 vols.; Eng. trans. 1877-83); Lenormant, Sur la Monarchie des Mèdes (1871); Oppert, Le Peuple et la Langue des Mèdes (1879); A. von Gutschmid, Neue Beiträge zur Geschichte des alten Orients (1876); and the popular Media, Babylon, and Persia, by Z. A. Ragozin (Story of the Nations' series).

Mediatisation. See GERMANY (Social Organ