Part 307 (2/2)
MEMEL (19), Baltic seaport at the mouth of the Kurisches Haff, in the extreme NE. of Prussia; s.h.i.+ps great quant.i.ties of Russian and Lithuanian timber, and has some chemical works and s.h.i.+pbuilding yards.
MEMNON, a son of t.i.thonus and Aurora, who was sent by his father, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, to the a.s.sistance of Troy on the death of Hector, and who slew Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and was himself slain by Achilles, whereupon Aurora, all tears, besought Zeus to immortalise his memory, which, however, did not calm her sorrow, for ever since the earth bears witness to her weeping in the dews of the morning; a statue, presumed to be to his memory, was erected near Thebes, in Egypt, which was fabled to emit a musical sound every time the first ray fell on it from the rosy fingers of Aurora.
MEMPHIS, an ancient city of Egypt, of which it was the capital; it was founded by Menes at the apex of the delta of the Nile, and contained 700,000 inhabitants.
MEMPHIS (102), a Tennessee port on the Mississippi, 826 m. above New Orleans, accessible to the largest vessels, is also a great railway centre, and therefore a place of great commercial importance; has many industries, and a great cotton market.
MENADO (549), a Dutch colony in the N. of Celebes.
MENAI STRAIT, a picturesque channel separating Anglesey from Carnarvons.h.i.+re, 14 m. long and at its narrowest 200 yards wide; is crossed by a suspension bridge (1825) and the Britannia Tubular Bridge for railway (1850).
MENANDER, a Greek comic poet, born at Athens; was the pupil of Theophrastus and a friend of Epicurus; of his works, which were numerous, we have only some fragments, but we can judge of them from his imitator TERENCE (q. v.) (342-291 B.C.).
MENCIUS or MENG-TZE, a celebrated Chinese sage, a disciple, some say a grandson, of Confucius (q. v.); went up and down with his disciples from court to court in the country to persuade, particularly the ruling cla.s.ses, to give heed to the words of wisdom, though in vain; after which, on his death, his followers collected his teachings in a book ent.i.tled the ”Book of Meng-tze,” which is full of practical instruction (372-289 B.C.).
MENDICANT ORDER, a religious fraternity, the members of which denude themselves of all private property and live on alms.
MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, FELIX, celebrated German composer, grandson of the succeeding, born in Hamburg; he began to compose early in life, and his compositions consisted of symphonies, operas, oratorios, and church music; his oratorios of ”St. Paul” and ”Elijah” are well known, and are enduring monuments of his genius; he was a man universally loved and esteemed, and had the good fortune to live amidst the happiest surroundings (1809-1847).
MENDELSSOHN, MOSES, a German philosopher, born at Dessau, of Jewish descent, a zealous monotheist, and wrote against Spinoza; was author of the ”Phaedon, a Discourse on the Immortality of the Soul,” and did a great deal in his day to do away with the prejudices of the Jews and the prejudices against them; he was the friend of Lessing, and is the prototype of his ”Nathan” (1720-1786).
MENDOZA (137), province in the extreme W. of Argentina; has the Andes in the W., Aconcagua (23,500 ft.), the highest peak in the New World, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated from the small Mendoza River; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful, coal and oil are found. MENDOZA (20), the capital, 640 m. W. of Buenos Ayres by rail, is on the Trans-Andine route to Chili, with which it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes.
MENELAUS, king of Sparta, the brother of Agamemnon and the husband of Helen, the carrying away of whom by Paris led to the Trojan War.
MENHIR, a kind of rude obelisk understood to be a sepulchral monument.
MENINGES, the name of three membranes that invest the brain and spinal cord, and the inflammation of which is called meningitis.
MENNONITES, a Protestant sect founded at Zurich with a creed that combines the tenets of the Baptists with those of the Quakers; have an episcopal form of government, and maintain a rigorous church discipline.
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