No. 6. Of either of the ointments already
prescribed, 1, 2, or 3 6 oz.
Mercurial ointment, mild 1 oz.—Mix.
Or,
No. 7. Powdered charcoal 1 oz.
Prepared chalk 1 oz.
Superacetate, or sugar of lead 1 dr.
White precipitate of quicksilver 2 dr.
Sulphur 2 oz.
Lard 5 oz.
In some cases, the mange ointment, No. 4, alternated with No. 6, one
being used one day, and the other the next, will be found beneficial. In
others, benefit has been derived from the wash, No. 5, united with lime
water. In slight cases of red mange, the following has been found
singularly successful:
No. 8. Oxymuriate of quicksilver
(corrosive sublimate) powdered 6 gr.
Sulphuretted potash (liver of
sulphur) ½ oz.
Lime water 6 oz.—Mix.
The third variety requires a considerable difference in the treatment.
When the little spongy openings, piercing the cellular tissue, will
admit of it, they should be injected, by means of a very minute syringe,
with the wash No. 8. The general surface should also be anointed with
the following:
No. 9. Ointment of nitrated quicksilver 2 dr.
Superacetate of lead 1 scruple.
Washed flowers of sulphur ½ oz.
Lard 1 oz.—Mix.
_For the Red Mange._—Two ounces of white hellebore in powder, mixed in
one quart of the grounds of strong beer, made warm; rub the dog well all
over, and dry it in with a good fire; be careful that it does not touch
his eyes: put the dog in a warm place, and keep him from water four
hours after the application.—_Blaine._
MANGEL WURZEL, _s._ A kind of beet, shaped like a carrot, but
larger. It is excellent fattening winter fodder. In Germany it
has been used for human food in times of scarcity; hence its
name, which literally means “the root of scarcity.”—_Crabbe._
MANGER, _s._ The place or vessel in which animals are fed with corn.
MANGINESS, _s._ Scabbiness, infection with the mange.
MANTLING, _s._ In falconry, the lowering of a hawk’s feathers down
to her feet.
MAPLE-TREE, _s._ A tree frequent in hedge-rows.
Maple is much used in making gun-stocks, and, from the closeness of its
grain, and its being susceptible of a high polish, is generally
preferred by gun-makers to every other wood. Of late, to stain stocks
black has become very fashionable, and come into general use among the
leading gun-makers.
MARE, _s._ The female of a horse.
MARITIME, _a._ Performed on the sea, marine; relating to the sea,
naval; bordering on the sea.
MARK, _s._ A token by which anything is known; anything at which a
missile weapon is directed; the evidence of a horse’s age; a sum
of thirteen shillings and fourpence; a character made by those
who cannot write their names.
MARKSMAN, _s._ A shot; a man skilful to hit a mark.
MARL, _s._ A kind of clay, much used for manure.
MARROW, _s._ An oleaginous substance contained in the bones.
MARSH, _s._ A fen, a bog, a swamp; a morass; a snipe haunt.
MARSH MALLOW, _s._ A plant useful in making mucilaginous or
emollient drinks, clysters, or fomentations.
The root is the best part, and, if carefully dried, may be kept a long
time. These mucilaginous drinks are useful when the bowels or bladder
are inflamed or irritated by strong physic, or when there is any pain in
the urinary passages. They should be given frequently in the course of
the day, and may occasionally be made the vehicle for more active
medicines. Any thing which contains mucilage in sufficient quantity may
be employed for the purpose of making emollient drinks.—_White._
MARSHY, _a._ Foggy, fenny, swampy; produced in marshes.
MARTEN, _s._ A large kind of weasel, whose fur is much valued; a
kind of swallow that builds in houses, a martlet.
This is the most beautiful, and the most destructive to pheasants, of
the British beasts of prey. The marten is about eighteen inches long,
the tail ten, or, if measured to the end of the hair at the point, where
it is also the thickest and darkest, twelve inches; the head is small,
and elegantly shaped: the eyes are lively, and all its motions agile and
graceful; the ears are broad, rounded and open; the back, sides, and
tail, are covered with a fine thick ash-coloured down at bottom, with
long hair intermixed, of a bright chestnut, tipped with black, giving a
darkish brown appearance to the whole; the head brown, with a slight
cast of red; the legs and upper side of the feet, chocolate—the under
sides are covered with similar thick down, to the body; the feet are
broad; the claws white, large, and sharp, but incapable of being, at
pleasure, sheathed or dilated; they are well suited for climbing trees,
in which, in this country, it constantly resides: the throat and breast
are white; belly of the same colour with the back, except being rather
paler; but martens vary in their colours, inclining, more or less, to
ash colour, according to their age, or the seasons of the year they are
taken in.
The skin and excrements of this animal have an agreeable, musky scent,
and are free from that disgusting rankness which distinguishes the other
species of this genus, as the pole-cat, &c. The fur is valuable, and
much used to line or trim the gowns of magistrates, aldermen, &c. The
marten lives in the woods, and in winter very often shelters itself in
magpies’ nests, breeds in the hollows of trees, and brings from four to
six young ones at a time; they are brought forth with their eyes
unopened, but quickly arrive at a state of perfection. The female has
but a small quantity of milk in proportion to her size, but she amply
compensates for this natural defect by bringing home eggs and live birds
to her offspring, thus early habituating them to a life of carnage and
plunder. As soon as the young are able to leave the nest, they are led
by the dam through the woods, where the birds at once recognise their
enemies, and fail not to attend them, as they do the fox, with every
mark of animosity and terror. When taken young, the marten is easily
tamed, is extremely playful and good-humoured; its attachment, however,
is not to be relied on if it gets loose, for it will immediately take
advantage of its liberty, and retire to the woods, its natural haunts. A
farmer in the parish of Turling, in Essex, was famous for taming this
animal, and had seldom less than two. Some years since, one used to run
tame about the kitchen of the Bald-faced Stag inn, on Epping forest.
M. Buffon affirms of a marten that he had tamed (it should seem but
imperfectly), that it drank frequently, sometimes slept two days
successively, and at other times continued as long awake. When preparing
for sleep, it folded itself round, covering its head with its tail. He
describes its motions as so violent, incessant, and troublesome, that it
was necessarily kept chained. After escaping from its fetters, and
returning once or twice, it at last went entirely away.
The pine marten (whose skin is considered of a far superior quality to
the common), which is distinguished by a yellow throat and breast, and
of which such numbers are sold at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s sales—at
one of which, 12,370 good skins, and 2360 damaged ones, were sold; and
about the same time the French brought into the port of Rochelle, from
Canada, no less than 30,325 skins—is sometimes found in Wales, in the
counties of Merioneth and Carnarvon. In Scotland it is the only kind of
marten; where it inhabits the fir forests, frequently usurping the drays
or nests of the squirrel, building its own nest at the top of the trees,
and produces seven or eight young at a birth.
The marten’s food is poultry, game, and small birds; it will not eat
mice, rats, and moles, and is said to feed also on grain, and to be
extremely fond of honey. It is said to be a great enemy to cats, and
will even attack the wild cat, which, although much stronger, is always
worsted, and often killed in the combat, and a contest is sure to take
place whenever they meet.
The scent of the marten is very sweet to hounds, and it is the best
animal to enter young fox-hounds at. The marten, by running to the
thickest bushes it can find, teaches hounds to run cover, which is of
infinite service to them. When closely pursued, it climbs a tree, and
its agility is astonishing, for though it falls frequently from a tree
into the midst of a pack of hounds, each intent on the catching it, the
instances are very few of a marten being caught by them in that
situation. They are not found in any great numbers; the most ever met
with by the compiler, was in the large woods near Rayleigh, in Essex.
They attack the pheasants when at roost, and make great havoc. The steel
trap, baited with a piece of pheasant or wood-pigeon, will generally be
successful. Some prefer the box trap (such as is used in warrens), which
should be baited with a bird in the centre, and the feathers strewed
through the inside of the trap, from one end to the other; but a more
certain way of catching them, in a park or cover paled in, is the
following: as they constantly run the pales and posts to dry themselves
in the morning, have a groove cut in some of the posts and gate-posts
where they run, sufficient to contain a strong hawk or rat-trap; the
trap must be set in this groove, without a bait: in leaping upon the
place, they are sure to be taken. A small chain should be fixed to the
trap, and fastened to the post.
The common house cat, turned wild, is another mortal foe to pheasants,
and does more mischief than many sorts of naturally wild vermin. In
Moulsham Thrift, a large cover belonging to Sir H. St. John Mildmay,
sixteen of these animals were killed by a pack of fox-hounds, in four
days, drawing the cover for foxes. They may be destroyed in traps, like
the marten; but the bait must be sprinkled with valerian, and if the
hutch or box-trap be used, valerian should be scattered in and about the
trap, which will certainly allure them, for of this drug they are
immoderately fond.
Another way to take either the wild or the pole cat, is to set box-traps
in the bottom of the ditches, or under walls or pales, with the ends of
the traps fenced up, for four or five yards aslant, and two or three
yards wide at the entrance, with earth, bushes, or broken pales, so that
the vermin shall not pass without entering the traps. This is the method
used by warreners. When the traps are so placed, a trail of rabbits’
paunches should be drawn from one trap to another, and the baits are red
herrings half broiled. Each end of the traps is to be rubbed with them,
and a part of the herring is to be afterwards hung upon the nail over
the bridges of the traps. This is a mode that will cause great
destruction amongst them. A thin bag, sufficiently large to admit an end
of the trap, is to be provided and slipped over it, when any of the
traps are sprung, and by rattling at the other end of the trap, the
creature will spring into the bag; for without precaution, if it be a
wild cat, the moment the light is admitted, it will fly in the face of
the person opening it. By having both ends of the box-traps painted
white, and rubbed over with the entrails of any animal, the hares will
be deterred from entering, at the same time it will allure the vermin to
go into the traps.
MARTLET, _s._ A kind of swallow; the bank swallow.
_Industry of Birds._—Dr. Steel, who lives near the mineral springs of
Saratoga, in New York, has ascertained that the bank swallow (_hirundo
riparia_) knows how to vary, according to necessity, the construction of
its nest. If it finds sandy banks, it bores holes in them, and thus
forms for its future family a commodious habitation, into which none of
their enemies can enter. When this resource is wanting, it approaches
the houses, and, although less accustomed to man than the swallow of the
windows, it attaches its nest to granaries, farm-yard sheds, and similar
edifices; and then, it being necessary to build instead of to dig, it
selects materials, transports them, and puts them in their proper
places. It thus appears that this species of swallow has not essentially
the habits indicated by its specific name; but that it will live
contentedly wherever it can find food, safety, and the charms of
society; for isolated families, or solitary nests, are never seen. A
little colony, which established itself in the neighbourhood of Saratoga
in 1828, increased so rapidly that in 1830 it consisted of several
hundreds of nests.
* * * * *
For some time after they appear, the hirundines in general pay no
attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about,
either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate
at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture
after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of the winter.
About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to
think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or
shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most
readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits
of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird always
builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under,
it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed,
so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the
bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by
strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and
thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the
brick or stone. But then that this work may not, while it is soft and
green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has
prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast; but by
building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to
food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About
half-an-inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful
workmen when they build mud walls (informed at first perhaps by this
little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist; lest
the work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By
this method in about ten or twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest
with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm; and
perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But
then nothing is more common than for the house sparrow, as soon as the
shell is finished, to seize on it as his own, to eject the owner, and to
line it after its on manner.
After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom
works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the
same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered, and secure from the
injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of
rustic-work full of knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the
inside of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all;
but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of
small straws, grasses, and feathers; and sometimes by a bed of moss
interwoven with wool. In this nest they tread, or engender, frequently
during the time of building; and the hen lays from three to five white
eggs.—_White’s Selborne._
MARTINGAL, _s._ A broad strap made fast to the girths under the
belly of a horse, which runs between the two legs to fasten the
other end under the noseband of the bridle.
The martingal is generally attached to a horse who throws his head up.
It is unsafe in the field, and only efficient when used by a light
handed and practised rider.
MASH, _s._ Anything mingled or beaten together into an
undistinguished or confused body; a mixture for a horse.
Bran mashes are made by pouring boiling water on fresh sweet bran in a
pail, so that the mixture, when stirred, may be about the consistency of
a soft poultice; it is then to be covered over, and not given to the
horse until sufficiently cold. When it is thought necessary to steam the
head, as it is termed, the mash is put into the manger while hot.
Steaming the head is recommended in strangles, colds, and sore throats.
Bran mashes are proper in fever and all inflammatory complaints. They
are useful also as a preparative to physic, serving to remove indurated
fæces, and to facilitate the operation of the medicine. Mashes are a
necessary diet while physic is operating. In making malt mashes, the
water should be below the boiling point, otherwise the malt would be
spoiled. Mashes are given for recruiting strength, when a horse is
debilitated from fever or any other cause. When a horse has been fed
high for some time with oats and beans, a change to bran mashes for two
or three days will often do a great deal of good. The bran should be
fresh, and perfectly free from any musty smell. There is a finer kind of
bran, named gurgings or pollard, which, though more nutritious, is not
so fit for medicinal purposes.—_White._
MASH, _v._ To beat into a confused mass; to mix malt and water
together in brewing.
MASTER-SINEW, _s._ A large sinew that surrounds the hough, and
divides it from the bone by a hollow place, where windgalls are
usually seated.
MASTIC, _s._ A kind of gum gathered from trees of the same name; a
kind of mortar or cement.
MASTICATION, _s._ The act of chewing.
Hay, as often given, is too dry for mastication or digestion. If it has
been suffered to stand until the seed becomes ripe, it is very deficient
in nutriment, and difficult of digestion; and, however perfectly it may
be masticated, will only serve to oppress the stomach without affording
any thing that is capable of being formed into good chyle. Hay that has
been kept more than one year becomes dry and deficient in nutriment,
especially when kept in small mows and exposed to the wind. When such
hay therefore is given to horses, it requires to be moistened with
water, and given in moderate quantity. From eight to twelve pounds of
hay and one peck of oats is a sufficient allowance, both as to
proportion and quantity, for any saddle horse of whatever size he may
be, provided he has only moderate work; but when his exertions exceed
that degree which may be termed moderate, then an additional allowance
is necessary, and that addition should be in oats or beans.
The teeth may be imperfect, and often are so; the grinders wear in a
different manner from that in which they would, were the animals in a
state of nature: consequently sharp edges are sometimes formed on the
outside of the higher grinders, and on the inside of the lower grinders;
and the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, with the skin or membrane
connected with it, are thereby wounded, which prevents the horse from
masticating, without considerable pain, and induces him to swallow his
food imperfectly chewed; this is more especially the case with hay; and
when hay is swallowed in this state it does harm, being difficult of
digestion, as then its nutritive matter is not easily extracted by the
gastric power; hence arise indigestion, flatulency, and numerous
disorders. Mastication may be impeded or prevented by that state of the
mouth which generally attends teething: it may also be affected by an
injudicious use of the bit (as is well known in regiments of cavalry
where it is too common), and has been attributed to the spiculæ of the
squirrel-tail grass. The consequence of this imperfection is worms, in
addition to indigestion and all its consequences.—_White._
MASTIFF (_Canis Anglicus_, LINN.), _s._ A dog of the largest size.
[Illustration]
This is a large and powerful animal, much stronger than the bull dog;
his ears are longer and more pendulous; his lips are full and loose, the
upper one hanging considerably over the lower at the two extremities;
his aspect is grave and somewhat sullen; and his bark loud, deep-toned,
and terrific, particularly during the night.
The mastiff differs in form from the bull-dog in being much longer in
the legs, and not so deep in the chest; and while his head is large in
proportion to his body, he wants the projecting under jaw of the latter.
Buffon was of opinion that the mastiff is not an original race, but a
mongrel generated betwixt the Irish greyhound and the bull-dog. This,
however, must be mere conjecture; for the mastiff, in his pure and
uncontaminated state, has a much more dignified aspect than either of
these dogs; and we are rather inclined to believe him to be an original
breed peculiar to Britain. We are borne out in this opinion, as we find
it on record that so early as the time of the Roman emperors, this
country was celebrated on account of its dogs of this kind. At the
period Great Britain was under the Roman yoke, an officer was appointed
to live here, whose sole business it was to breed, select, and send to
Rome such as promised, by their size and strength, to become fit for the
combats of the amphitheatre. Dr. Caius, in his Treatise on British Dogs,
tells us that three mastiffs were reckoned a match for a bear, and four
for a lion.
This dog, from his large size and commanding aspect, is naturally
calculated to intimidate strangers, and he is admirably suited for and
principally used in protecting large and extensive premises containing
property of value, which he watches with most scrupulous care and
assiduity. He is so instinctively impressed with the importance of his
charge, that he will only quit it with the loss of his life, which he
will rather forfeit than betray the confidence reposed in him. With his
naturally commanding and imposing appearance, calculated to keep at a
distance the ill-intentioned, he is nevertheless possessed of the
greatest mildness of manners, and is as solicitous to gain attention and
as faithfully grateful for favours bestowed, as the most diminutive of
the canine tribe. The mastiff displays one peculiarity which seems
inherent,—his ferocity is always increased by the degree of restraint in
which he is kept. If constantly on the chain he is much more dangerous
to approach than when in a state of liberty; from whence it evidently
appears that what may be considered as a friendly kindness on one side,
is always productive of confidence on the other.
The mastiff usually shows a remarkable and peculiar warmth in his
attachments, and, on the other hand, he is equally distinguished for
inveteracy in his dislike. If he is once severely corrected or insulted,
it is almost impossible to eradicate the feeling from his memory, and it
is no less difficult to obtain a reconciliation with him. He seems
conscious of his own strength, power, and authority, and will seldom
condescend to lower his dignity by servile fawning, while he appears to
consider his services as only befitting a trust of the highest
importance. This dog is naturally possessed of strong instinctive
sensibility, speedily obtains a knowledge of all the duties required of
him, and discharges them too with the most punctual assiduity. In the
protection of gardens, houses, woodyards, and widely extended
manufactories, his vigilance is very striking; he makes regular rounds
of the whole premises like a watchman, examines every part of them with
a careful eye; his penetration reaches even the remotest corner, and not
a spot is passed by until he is satisfied that all is in a state of
perfect security. During the night he gives a signal of his presence by
repeated and vociferous barkings, which are increased upon the least
cause of alarm; and, contrary to the spirit of the bull-dog, whose
invariable practice is to bite before he barks, the mastiff always warns
before he attacks. This breed is very difficult to be obtained in
purity, from the various admixtures and experimental crosses which have
taken place. The genuine old English mastiff is now rarely to be seen,
although we have dogs of various sizes and colours which go under that
name.
This animal, conscious of his superior strength, has been known to
chastise, with great propriety, the impertinence of an inferior:—a large
dog of this kind, belonging to the late M. Ridley, Esq., of Heaton, near
Newcastle, being frequently molested by a mongrel, and teased by its
continual barking, at last took it up in his mouth by the back, and with
great composure dropped it over the quay into the river, without doing
any further injury to an enemy so much beneath his notice.—_Sporting
Anecdotes._
MASTLIN, _s._ Mixed corn, as wheat and rye.
MAT, _s._ A texture of sedge, flags, or rushes.
MAT, _v._ To cover with mats; to twist together, to join like a mat.
MATADORE, _s._ A term used in the games of quadrille and ombre. The
matadores are the two black aces when joined with the two black
deuces, or red sevens in trumps.
MATCH, _s._ Anything that catches fire; a contest, a game; one equal
to another. _Vide_ RACING.
MATCH, _v._ To be equal to; to equal; to suit, to proportion; to
marry.
MATE, _s._ A husband or wife; a companion, male or female; the male
or female of animals; one that sails in the same ship; one that
eats at the same table; a kind of toothed instrument to pull up
wood; a pickaxe.
MAW, _s._ The stomach of animals; the craw of birds.
MAW-WORM, _s._ Gut-worms frequently creep into the stomach, whence
they are called stomach or maw-worms.
MAY-FLY, _s._ An insect; a very killing artificial fly.
MEAD, _s._ A kind of drink made of water and honey.
MEADOW, _s._ Rich pasture ground from which hay is made.
MEAL, _s._ The act of eating at a certain time; a repast; the flour
or edible part of corn.
MEALY, _a._ Having the taste or soft insipidity of meal; besprinkled
as with meal.
MEASE, _s._ A mease of herrings is five hundred.
MEASLES, _s._ A kind of eruptive and infectious fever; a disease of
swine.
MEASLY, _a._ Scabbed with the measles.
MEATHE, _s._ A kind of drink.
MEDICATE, _v._ To tincture or impregnate with anything medicinal.
MEDICINAL, _a._ Having the power of healing, having physical virtue;
belonging to physic.
MEDICINE, _s._ Any remedy administered by a physician.
MEDULLAR or MEDULLARY, _a._ Pertaining to the marrow.
MEER, _s._ A lake, a boundary.
MEERSHAUM, _s._ A fine sort of Turkish clay, of which pipes are made
in Germany of various forms. It assumes a beautiful brown colour
after it has been used for smoking some time.—_Crabbe._
MELOE, _s._ Insects, of which the two principal species are the oil
beetle, so called because, on being handled, it exudes from its
legs drops of a clear deep-yellow oil or fluid, of a very
peculiar or penetrating smell; and the meloë vesicatorius, or
Spanish fly, which is used for blistering.—_Ibid._
MELWEL, _s._ A kind of fish.
MEMBRANE, _s._ A membrane is a web of several sorts of fibres
interwoven together for the covering and wrapping up of some
parts.
MEMBRANOUS, _a._ Consisting of fibres.
MENAGE, _s._ A collection of animals.
MENAGERIE, _s._ A place for keeping foreign birds, and other curious
animals.
MENSTRUUM, _s._ All liquors are called menstruums which are used as
dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by
infusion or decoction.
MERCURIAL, _a._ Under the influence of Mercury; active, sprightly;
consisting of quicksilver.
Mercurial ointment is made by rubbing together in a mortar quicksilver
and hogs’ lard, in various proportions, according to the strength
required, until the former disappears, and the mixture assumes a dark
blue or lead colour.
In the strongest mercurial ointment there are equal parts of quicksilver
and lard; these are the best proportions in which it can be made, as it
is easily weakened by the addition of lard.
Mercurial ointment is employed in veterinary practice as an application
to callous swellings or enlarged joints. It is mixed with camphor in
those cases, and is certainly much more efficacious when converted into
a blister by the addition of cantharides or euphorbium. In this state it
is a good remedy for bog spavin or other swellings of the hock joint.
Mercurial ointment is said to be an effectual remedy for the scab in
sheep, and is often an ingredient in ointments for the mange.—_White._
MERCURY, _s._ A mineral or metallic fluid vulgarly called
quicksilver, and distinguished from all other metals by its
extreme fusibility, which is such that it does not assume
the solid state until cooled to the thirtieth degree below 0
on Fahrenheit’s thermometer; and of course is always fluid
in temperate climates. It is volatile, and rises in small
portions at the common temperature of the air. It readily
combines with gold, silver, lead, tin, bismuth, and zinc,
and on that account is usefully employed in silvering
looking-glasses, making barometers and thermometers, and for
various other purposes.—_Crabbe._
MERE, _s._ A pool, commonly a large pool or lake; a boundary.