smaller kinds of flat-fishes, actiniæ, medusa, and other marine animals. It is principally seen in the unfrozen spots of the northern seas towards the coasts. To such places it resorts in multitudes for the conveniency of breathing, while at the same time it is certain of finding near the shores a due supply of food. It is taken by means of harpoons, and its flesh is eaten by the Greenlanders both raw, boiled, and dried: the intestines and oil are used as a food; the tendons make a good thread, and the teeth serve the purpose of hunting horns, as well as the more important one of building tents and houses: but before this animal was distinctly known to the naturalists of Europe they were held in high esti mation, as the supposed horns of unicorns. Various medical virtues were also attributed to them, and they were even numbered among the articles of regal magnificence. A Danish throne is said to be still preserved in the castle of Rosenberg composed entirely of narwhal's

teeth.

A specimen of this whale, measuring about eighteen feet, exclusive of the horn or tooth, was some time ago stranded on the coast of Lincolnshire, at no great distance from Boston, and was said to have been taken alive; so that the narwhal may, in consequence, be numbered among the rarer animals of British zoology.

MONODON SPURIUS. Bastard narwhal. An animal nearly resembling the narwhal, but perhaps of a different genus, is given under this name in the Fauna Groenlandica of Fabricius. It has no teeth in the mouth, but from the extremity of the upper mandible two minute, conic, obtuse teeth project, a little curved at the tips, weak, and not above an inch long; body elongated, cylindric, black: pectoral fins two, dorsal fin minute, tail horizontal. Its flesh and oil are considered as very purgative inhabits the main ocean, seldom approaching the shore. It has been very seldom taken alive, and must be ranked among the rarest of the whale or cete tribe.

MONODY, in ancient poetry, a mournful kind of song, sung by a person all alone, to give vent to his grief. The word is derived from, alone, and aw, I sing.

MONECIA. (Moves, and oxos, a house.) The name of the twenty-first class in the Linnéan system; comprehending the androgynous plants, or such as produce male and female flowers, on the same individual, without any mixture of hermaphrodites.

MONOGAMY. (compounded of ovos, solus, and yas marriage.) The state or condition of those who have only married once, or are restrained to a single wife. See POLY

CAMY.

MONOGLOSSUM. (anc. geog.) A marttown of the Hither India, situated on the Sinus Canthi, into which the Indus empties itself. Said to be Mangalor on the coast of Malabar. Lon. 74 E. Lat. 3 N.

MONOGRAM. A character or cypher, somposed of one, two, or more letters inter

woven; being a kind of abbreviation of a name, anciently used as a seal, badge, arms, &c. MONOGYNIA. (from vas, alone, aud yum, a woman.) The name of the first order or subdivision in each of the thirteen first classes of the Linnéan system. Comprehending such plants as have one pistil, or stigma only, in a flower.

MONOLOGUE. s. (ves and eyes.) 4 scene in which a person of the drama speaks by himself; a soliloquy (Dryden).

MONOMACHY.s. (μονομαχία.) Aquel; a single combat.

MO'NOME, or MONOMIAL. S. In alge, bra, a quantity that has but one denomination or name (Harris).

MONÒMOTAPA, a kingdom on the eastern coast of Africa, bounded on the north by Monomugi, on the east by the Mosambique, on the south by Sofala and Manica, and on the west by unknown regions. It is watered by several rivers, of which Zambera is the chief. The air is temperate, and the soil fertile in rice and sugar canes, which last grow without cultivation. There are a great many ostriches and elephants, with several mines of gold and silver. The inhabitants are negroes, who have as many wives as they choose to take. Their religion is paganism; but they believe in one God who created the world. The army of the king consists only of foot, for they have no horses in the country. The Portuguese had a settlement here in 1560, but they were all murdered, or forced away. The houses are built of wood, and covered with plaster, but there are very few towns, of which Monomotapa is the chief. Lon. 27. 30 E. Lat. 19.0 S.

MONOMUGI, a region of Africa, lying near the equator, between Abyssinia on the north, Zanguebar on the east, Monomotapa on the south, and Congo on the west. This country is very little known to the Europeans.

MONONGAHELA, a river of North Ame rica, which rises in Virginia, and running north into Pensylvania, meets the Allegany at Fort Pitt, where their united streams assume the name of Ohio. It is deep and gentle, and navigable for barges fifty miles from its mouth.

MONOPETALOUS COROL. In botany, a corol of only one petal. It may be cut deeply, but is not separated at the base. Exemplified in convolvulus, primula, &c.

The most remarkable forms of the monopetalous corol are the bell-shaped, funnelshaped, salver-shaped, wheel-shaped, and la

of Christ were so united as to form only one nature, yet without any change, confusion, or mixture of the two natures. The monophysites, however, properly so called, are the followers of Severus, a learned monk of Palestine, who was created patriarch of Antioch in 513, and Petrus Fullensis.

The monophysites were encouraged by the emperor Anastasius, but depressed by Justin and succeeding emperors. However, this sect was restored by Jacob Baradæus an obscure monk, insomuch that when he died bishop of Edessa, A. D. 588, he left it in a most flourishing state in Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and other countries. The laborious efforts of Jacob were seconded in Egypt and the adjacent countries by Theodosius bishop of Alexandria; and he became so famous that all the monophysites of the east considered him as their second parent and founder, and are to this day called jacobites, in honour of their new chief.

MONOPOLI, an episcopal town of Naples, in Terra di Bari, seated on the gulf of Venice, twenty-eight miles S. E. of Bari. Lon. 17. 37 E. Lat. 41. 20 N.

MONO'POLIST. s. (monopoleur, Fr.) One who by engrossing or patent obtains the sole power or privilege of vending any commodity.

T MONOPOLIZE. v. a. (povos and wohew.) To have the sole power or privilege of vending any commodity (Arbuthnot).

MONOPOLY. s. (Morowia.) The exclusive privilege of selling any thing (Shaks.). MONO PTOTE. s. (vos and log.) A noun used only in some one oblique case.

MONOSPERMOUS PLANT. A plant that has one seed to each flower. As in polygonum, and collinsonia. A monospermous or one-seeded plant.

MONOSPERMOUS BERRY. A one-seeded berry; called monopyrena by the older botanical writers.

MOʻNOSTACH CAULIS. (μoves, and alaxys, a spike.) In botany, a stem bearing a single spike.

MONO'STICH. s. (vox.) A composition of one verse.

MONOSYLLA'BICAL. a. (from monosyllable.) Consisting of words of one syllable. MONOSY'LLABLE, in grammar, a word that consists only of one syllable, and is composed either of one or more letters pronounced at the same time. The too frequent use of monosyllables has a very bad effect in English poetry, as Mr. Pope both intimates and exemplifies in the same verse, viz.

And ten slow words oft creep in one dull line." MONOSY'LLABLED. a. (from monosyllable. Consisting of one syllable (Cleaveland). MONOTHELITES. (compounded of μovos, single, and in, will, of Jew, volo, I will.) An ancient sect, which sprung out of the Eutychians; thus called, as only allowing of one will in Jesus Christ. The opinion of the Monothelites had its rise in 630, and had the em

peror Heraclius for an adherent: it was the same with that of the Acephalous Severians. They allowed of two wills in Christ, considered with regard to the two natures; but reduced them to one, by reason of the union of the two natures; thinking it absurd there should be two free wills in one and the same person. They were condemned by the sixth general council in 680, as being supposed to destroy the perfection of the humanity of Jesus Christ, depriving it of will and operation, Their sentiments were afterwards embraced by the Maronites.

MONOTONY, an uniformity of sound, or a fault in pronunciation, when a long series of words are delivered in one unvaried tone. See READING.

MONOTROPA. Bird's nest. In botany, a genus of the class decandria, order monogynia. Calyxless; petals ten; the five outermost hollowed at the base, and producing honey; capsule five-valved, a fifth part of the fructification often wanting. Two species; one common to the pine woods of our own country; the other a North American plant, the orobanche of Catesby.

MONPAZIER, a town of France, in the department of Dordogne, eighteen miles S. W. of Sarlat. Lon. 0. 47 E. Lat. 44. 46 N.

MONREALE, a town of Sicily, in Val di Mazara. It was erected into a bishopric in 1183, which has been suppressed, and the revenues appropriated to the marine, and the defence of the island against corsairs. It is three miles W.S.W. of Palermo.

MONRO (Alexander), a celebrated physician, was born in Scotland in 1697. He studied at Leyden, and contracted an intimate friendship with Boerhaave. In 1719 he returned to Edinburgh, where he read lectures on anatomy. He died in 1767, after publishing some valuable works; as, 1. Osteology; 2. Anatomy of the Nerves; 3. Several papers in the Medical Essays of Edinburgh; 4. On the Success of Inoculation in Edinburgh.

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MONRO (John), an eminent physician, was born at Greenwich in Kent, of a Scotch family, in 1715, and educated at Merchant Taylors' school, London, from whence he was moved to St. John's college, Oxford, of which he became fellow. He studied physic at various universities, and was honoured with his doctor's degree by that of Oxford while he was abroad. In 1757 he was appointed joint physician with his father to Bridewell and Bethlem hospitals. He published an excellent answer to Dr. Battie's treatise on Madness. He died in 1791.

MONRO (Alexander), an episcopal divine, was born in Rossshire in 1648, and educated at King's college, Aberdeen, where he was chosen professor of philosophy. In 1686 he was appointed principal of Edinburgh, and died in 1713. He wrote several pieces against the presbyterians.

MONS, an ancient, large, handsome, rich, and very strong city of the Austrian Netherlands, in Hainault. There is a chapter, con

sisting of thirty ladies of distinction, who have the liberty of leaving the community when they intend to marry. They have several manufactures, and a good trade. It was taken by the allies in 1709, and by the French in July 1746; but rendered back by the treaty of Aixla-Chapelle, after the fortifications were demolished. It stands partly on a hill, and partly on a plain in a marshy soil, on the rivers Haine and Trouilli, by which the counuy about it may be overflowed at pleasure. It was taken by the French in 1794. Lon. 4. 31 E. Lat. 50. 25 N.

MONS SACER. (anc. geog.) A mountain of the Sabines beyond the Anio, to the east of Rome; whither the common people reured once, and again to avoid the tyranny of the patricians. From this secession, and the altar of Jupiter Terribilis erected there, the mountain took its name.

MONSEIGNEUR. (in the plural Messeigneurs.) A title of honour and respect used by the French in writing to persons of supenor rank or quality, before the late abolition of all ranks. Dukes, peers, archbishops, bishops, and presidents à la mortier, were Complimented with the title of Monseigneur. In the petitions presented to the sovereign courts, they used the term Messeigneurs. MONSELEMINES, a people inhabiting that part of Biledulgerid which borders on the territories of the emperor of Morocco.

MONSIEUR. (in the plural Messieurs.) A term or title of civility used by the French in speaking to their equals, or those a little below them, answering to Mr. or Sir among the English. The republicans however have taken pains to abolish this with other titles of distinction, and endeavour to substitute for it the indiscriminating appellation of Ci

toyen.

MONSIEUR, absolutely used, was a title or quality appropriated to the second son of France, or the king's brother. The king was also called Monsieur; but that only by the children of France.

MONSONIA, in botany, a genus of the class monadelphia, order dodecandria. Calyx five-leaved; petals five; stamens fifteen, united, with the cup connecting them five-cleft; style five-cleft; fruit separating into five oneseeded capsules, each tipped with a long terminal awm. Five species, natives of the Cape, and bearing, in their flower, a considerable resemblance to the geranium. They should be treated as hardy green-house plants; and, as their seeds seldom ripen among us, they are best propagated by cuttings of the root. MONSOON, a regular or periodical wind in the East Indies, blowing constantly the same way during six months of the year, and the contrary way the remaining six. In the Indian ocean the winds are partly general, and blow all the year round the same way, as in the Ethiopic ocean; and partly periodical, i.e. half the year blow one way, and the other half near on the opposite points; and those points and times of shiking differ in

different parts of this ocean. These latter are what we call monsoons. The shifting of these monsoons is not all at once; and in some places the time of the change is attended with calms, in others with variable winds; and particularly those of China, at ceasing to be westerly, are very subject to be tempestuous; and such is their violence, that they seem to be of the nature of the West India hurricanes, and render the navigation of those seas very unsafe at that time of the year. These tempests the seamen call the breaking up of the monsoons.

Monsoons, then, are a species of what we otherwise call trade-winds. They take the denomination monsoon from an ancient pilot, who first crossed the Indian sea by means hereof;-though others derive the name from a Portuguese word, signifying motion, or change of wind and sea.

Lucretius and Apollonius make mention of annual winds which arise every year, etesia flabria, which seem to be the same with what in the East Indies we now call monsoons. For the physical cause of these winds, see WIND.

1.

MOʻNSTER. s. (monstrum, Latin.) Something out of the common order of nature (Locke). 2. Something horrible for deformity, wickedness, or mischief (Pope).

To MONSTER. v. a. (from the noun.) To put out of the common order of things (Sh.). MONSTER, in anatomy, a lusus naturæ, or sport of nature, by which the young of any class of animals is born mis-shapen; either from deficiency, redundance, or confusion of parts.

To these might perhaps be added, without impropriety, another kind, in which there is neither redundance, nor deficiency, nor confusion of parts, but an error of place, as in transpositions of the viscera. But children born with diseases, as the hydrocephalus, or their effects, as in some cases of blindness from previous inflammation, cannot be properly considered as monsters, though they are often so denominated.

Of the first order there may be two kinds, redundance or multiplicity of natural parts, as of two heads and one body, of one head and two bodies, an increased number of limbs, as legs, arms, fingers, and toes; or excrescences or additions to parts of no certain form, as those upon the head and other parts of the body, and these are usually more or less important according to their size or the part where they grow. But as such excrescences, whatever may be their size, have, from their texture, a disposition to enlarge, and to assume a morbid action, it is become an established rule to extirpate them whenever it can be done with safety.

ed, Of monsters from deficiency or want of parts, the instances are less frequent than those of the former kind, as of the brain and back part of the head, or of the whole head, as in the acephalus; or of one eye, as in the monoculus; of the lip and palate, as in the

hare-lip; of one or both arms; of the forearm or hand; of one or more fingers; of a portion or of the whole of the spinal processes of the vertebæ, as in the spina bifida; of the incomplete formation of the skin, most frequently at the navel, or some part of the abdomen; of the penis, especially of the prepuce; of one or both of the inferior extremities; of the heart, of the liver, spleen, or any of the abdominal viscera; of the lower part of the rectum, terminating before it reaches the anus; and many others.

3d, Monsters from confusion of parts, as when the whole body is in one mass (usually called a mole), in which various parts of the child are found lying together in apparent confusion; of parts adhering together, as of the fingers and toes; of the rectum, as in the closure of the anus: of the vagina; of the external or internal parts of generation, as in those called hermaphrodites; of the two inferior extremities connected together and terminating in a point; of the club foot; and many others.

As we are ignorant of the manner in which the primordial parts of a regular conception are formed and established, and, in many respects, of the order in which the various parts of a foetus are unfolded or enlarged, it is not surprising that we should be ignorant also of the manner in which monsters or irregular births are generated or produced; though it is probable that the laws by which these are governed are as regular, both as to cause and effect, as in common or natural productions. Formerly, and indeed till within these few years, it was a generally-received opinion, that monsters were not primordial or aboriginal, but that they were caused subsequently by the power of the imagination of the mother, transferring the imperfection of some external object, or the mark of something for which she longed, with which she was not indulged, to the child of which she was pregnant; or by some accident which happened to her during her pregnancy. Such opinions, it is now said, were permitted to pass current, in order to protect pregnant women from all hazardous and disagreeable occupations, to skreen them from severe labour, and to procure for them a greater share of indulgence and tenderness than could be granted to them in the common occurrences of life. The laws and customs of every civilised nation have, it is added, in some degree, established a persuasion that there was something sacred in the person of a pregnant woman: and this may be right in several points of view; but these go a little way towards justifying the opinion of monsters being caused by the imagination of the mother. The opinion has been attempted to be disproved by common observation, and by philosophy, not perhaps by positive proofs, but by many strong negative facts; as the improbability of any child being born perfect, had such a power existed; the freedom of children from any blemish, their mothers being in situations most exposed to objects likely

to produce them; the ignorance of the mother of any thing being wrong in the child, till, from information of the fact, she begins to recollect every accident which happened during her pregnancy, and assigns the worst or the most plausible as the cause; the organization and colour of these adventitious substances; the frequent occurrence of monsters in the brute creation, in which the power of the imagination cannot be great; and the analogous appearances in the vegetable system, where it does not exist in any degree.

We believe the older opinion to be more correct and philosophical than the newer. We have no doubt that it is well supported by an accumulation of facts that cannot be otherwise explained: while the whole that can be urged from those advanced above is (not that they are in opposition to it but) that they do not directly support it, and may be explained upon a different principle. The power of the mind which affects the capillaries of the skin, and makes us blush or turn pale, excites an ague or a perspiration, according to the feeling of the moment, may easily be conceived to exercise an influence upon the womb, which is the most subject to mental influence of all the organs of the frame.

MONSTROSITY. MONSTRUO'SITY. s. (from monstrous). The state of being monstrous, or out of the common order of the universe (Bacon. Shakspeare).

MONSTROUS. a. (monstrosus, Latin.) 1. Deviating from the stated order of nature (Locke). 2. Strange; wonderful (Shakspeare). 3. Irregular; enormous (Pope). 4. Shocking; hateful (Bacon).

Mo'NSTROUS. ad. Exceedingly; very much. A cant term (Bacon).

MONSTROUSLY. ad. (from monstrous.) 1. In a manner out of the common order of nature; shockingly; terribly; horribly (South). 2. To a great or enormous degree (Dryden).

MONSTROUSNESS. s. (from monstrous.) Enormity; irregular nature or behaviour (Sh.)

MONT-ALBAN, a strong town of Spain, in the kingdom of Arragon, with a strong citadel; seated on the river Riomartin, 44 miles south of Saragossa, and 92 north by west of Valencia. Lon. 0. 30 W. Lat. 41. 9 N.

MONT-BLANC. See BLANC (Mont).

MONT-DIDIER, a town of France, in the department of Somme and late province of Picardy, where the kings of France formerly had a palace. It is seated on a mountain, 24 miles S.E. of Amiens, and 57 N. of Paris. Lon. 2. 34 W. Lat. 49. 39 N.

MONT-L'HERI, a town of the Isle of France. 15 miles from Paris. Here are the remains of a tower, which may be seen at a great distance. Lon. 2. 0 E. Lat. 48. 38 N.

MONT-LOUIS, a town of France, in the department of the Eastern Pyrennees and late province of Rousillon. It is the capital of the French part of Cerdagna, and has a regular fortress, on a rock, at the foot of the Pyren

acts, built in 1680, by Louis XIV. for the protection of the frontiers. It is 40 miles W.S.W. of Perpignan, and 430 S. of Paris. Lon. 2. 5 E. Lat. 42. 30 N.

MONT-LUET, a town of France, in the department of Ain and late province of Bresse, seated on the Seraine, 12 miles N.E. of Lyons, and 205 S.E. of Paris. Lon. 5. 8 E. Lat. 45. 49 N.

MONT-LUZON, a town of France, in the department of Allier and late province of Bourbonnois, seated on the Cher, 35 miles S.W. of Moulins, and 150 S. of Paris. Lon. 2.45 E. Lat. 46. 22 N.

MONTABOUR, a small fortified town of Germany, in the electorate of Treves, between Coblentz and Limpurg. Lon. 7. 50 E. Lat. 50. 30 N.

MONTAGNIAC, a considerable town of Asia, in Natolia, and in the province of BecSangel, on the sea of Marmora. It carries on a great trade, especially in fruits, and is seated on a bay of the same name, 12 miles from Bursa, and 60 S.E. of Constantinople. Lon. 29. 40 E. Lat. 40. 20 N.

MONTAGUE (Edward), Earl of Sandwich, who perished in the great Dutch fight in which the duke of York commanded in 1672. He translated the Art of Metals, in which is declared the manner of their generation, and the concomitants of them, from the Spanish, 8vo. His Letters have also been published, in 2 vols. 8vo.

MONTAGUE (Lady Mary Wortley), an ingenious English lady. She accompanied her husband, who was appointed ambassador, to Constantinople; and wrote an account of her travels, which is very entertaining. She is also celebrated for having introduced the practice of inoculation into England.

MONTAGUE (Edward Wortley), son of the preceding lady. He was an extraordinary character. When a boy at Westminster school he eloped, and was found in the disguise of a chimney-sweeper; afterwards he connected himself with a fisherman; and next he went as a cabin-boy on board a vessel to Spain, in which country he became servant to a mule driver. In this situation he was discovered and restored to his friends, who sent him to the West Indies; on his return from whence be became a member of parliament, and be haved himself for some time in a manner suited to his rank. At length the fit of rambling returned, and he went to the East, where he adopted all the manners of the Turks, and died in 1776. He wrote, 1. Observations on the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire; 2. An Examination into the Causes of Earthquakes.

MONTAGUE-ISLAND, one of the Hebrides, in the South Sea, near Sandwich Island. Lon. 138. 37 E. Lat. 17. 26 S.

MONTAIGNE (Michel de), a French gentleman, was born in Perigord in 1533. His father educated him with great care, and made him learn Latin as other children learn their mother-tongue. His tutors were Ni

cholas Gronchi, who wrote De Comitiis Romanorum: William Guerenti, who wrote on Aristotle; George Buchanan; and M. Ant. Muret. He was also taught Greek by way of recreation; and because some think that starting children out of their sleep spoils their understanding, he was awakened every morning with the sound of music. He was counsellor for a while in the parliament of Bourdeaux ; afterwards made mayor of Bourdeaux. He published his Essays, so much known in the world, in 1580. Montaigne had a great deal of wit and subtlety, but no small share of conceit and vanity. The learned and ingenious are much divided in their opinion about his works. He died in 1592.

MONTALCINO, a small populous town of Italy, in Tuscany, and in the territory of Sienna, with a bishop's see. It is seated on a mountain, 17 miles S E. of Sienna, and 44 S.E. of Florence. Lon. 11. 30 E. Lat. 45. 7 N.

MONTALTO, an episcopal town of Italy, in the Marca of Ancona; seated on the river Monacio, 10 miles north of Ascoli, and 45 south of Ancona. Lon. 13. 30 E. Lat. 44. 54 N.

MONTANINI (Pietro), called Petruccio Perugino, an eminent landscape painter, was born at Perugia in 1619. At first he was instructed by his uncle Pietro Barsotti; but was afterwards placed as a disciple with Ciro Ferri. Yet he did not long adhere to the manner of either of those masters, choosing preferably to study under Salvator Rosa; and he imitated the style of that celebrated painter with exceeding great success. The taste of his landscapes was generally admired; the rocks, situations, torrents, and abrupt precipices, were designed with spirit, and in a grand style; and his figures recommended themselves to the eye by a very uncommon correctness, propriety, and elegance. He died in 1689.

MONTANISTS, Christian heretics, who sprung up about the year 171, in the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. They were so called from their leader Montanus, a Phrygian by birth; whence they are sometimes styled Phrygians and Cataphrygians.

Montanus, it is said, embraced Christianity in hopes of rising to the dignities of the church. He pretended to inspiration; and gave out that the Holy Ghost had instructed him in several points which had not been revealed to the apostles. Priscilla and Maximilla, two enthusiastic women of Phrygia, presently became his disciples; and in a short time he had a great number of followers. The bishops of Asia, being assembled together, condemned his prophecies, and excommunicated those who dispersed them. Afterwards they wrote an account of what had passed to the western churches, where the pretended prophecies of Montanus and his followers were likewise condemned.

The Montanists, finding themselves exposed to the censure of the whole church, formed a schism, and set up a distinct society under the