of their horses. In Athens the duration of mourning was about 30 days; in Sparta it was 11 days. The Roman forms of mourning did not differ greatly from the Grecian. In the time of the republic the color of the mourning dress was black for both sexes, and it always continued so for men; but during the reign of Augustus & white veil was worn by women, and subsequently a complete costume of white became their conventional token of sorrow. Ornaments for the person were laid aside, and the men, instead of cropping their hair and beards, let them grow long. The extreme duration of mourning was 10 months, but this period was abridged by the occurrence of any auspicious event, such as the birth of a child, the happening of any piece of good fortune to the family, certain religious feasts, or the consecration of a temple. The period of public mourning for the death of a great person or for a public disaster was fixed by special decree. At such times the forum, baths, shops, temples, schools of exercise, and other places of concourse were closed, the senators put aside the laticlave, the consuls sat on a lower seat than usual, and the magistrates appeared without their badges of office. On private occasions the mourning was done almost wholly by the women; the men wore black only for a few days, and the domestic ceremonies in honor of the deceased terminated on the 9th day after the funeral with a sacrifice called novendiale. A widow who married again during her time of mourning for a husband (10 months or a year) was accounted infamous and debarred from inheriting of her late spouse. Persons in mourning kept within doors, and the custom of tearing the garments was sometimes practised. Hired mourning women were employed at funerals by both Romans and Greeks. Among the modern Syrians mourning women play a very important part at funerals, and frequently perform their avocation in a really affecting manner. There is no fixed period of mourning, the ceremonies, which are repeated at certain intervals, being indefinitely prolonged according to the relationship of the deceased and the wealth of the survivors. It is not unusual for families in moderate circumstances to be ruined by the expensive feasts and other commemorations which are held for weeks after the funeral. In the old tombs which have been opened in Palestine, as well as in Greece and Rome, are found lachrymatories or tear bottles, in which, as we read in ancient authors, it was customary for mourners to preserve their tears.-In Arabia the men wear no mourning. The women stain their hands and feet with indigo, which they suffer to remain for 8 days, and during this time they abstain from milk on the ground that its white color ill accords with the gloom of their minds. The hired mourning women of Medina dance before the house of the deceased, tearing their arms, faces, and hair like furies.-The Chinese mourn in white, and on the death of a near relative every article of dress, from the cord which ties up their queue

down to the shoes, must be of that color. Less intense affliction is indicated simply by caps and girdles of white linen, and a very moderate degree of grief by shoes and queue cords of blue. Mourning on occasion of the death of a parent or husband is enforced by the penalties of 60 blows and a year's banishment. The duration of mourning is fixed by law. For a father or mother it is 3 years, but in the case of government officers it has been reduced to 27 months. During this period of mourning a Chinese cannot perform the duties of any public office. For 30 days after the demise the nearest kindred must not shave their heads nor change their dress, but rather exhibit a slovenly and slip-shod appearance. When the emperor dies all his subjects let their hair grow for 100 days. At funerals the relatives of the deceased furnish all who take part in the procession with mourning dresses, just as gloves and scarfs are given at the present day in Europe and America. They employ mourning women, whose faculty of shedding tears was remarked by Father Huc as something extraordinary.-The Japanese mourning color also is white, but it is a remarkable fact that relatives in the ascending line and seniors neither mourn for their junior kindred nor go to their funerals. Persons in mourning stay at home for 50 days, abstain from animal food and from the intoxicating liquor saki, and neither shave their heads nor pare their nails. This period of 50 days, called the imi, is succeeded by the buku, or 13 months of a sort of "second mourning," during which it is not allowed to wear bright colors or enter a Sinto temple. These long periods are only observed on the death of parents; for other relatives the imi and buku vary from 30 days and 13 months for a husband to 3 days and 7 days for cousins and their children. The laboring classes are not required to go into mourning at all, but some of them do so for 2 or 3 days.-In the Feejee islands, after the death of a chief, a general fast until evening is observed for 10 or 20 days, the women burn their bodies, and 50 or 100 fingers are amputated to be hung above the dead man's tomb. The ceremonies of domestic mourning consist of abstinence from delicate dishes, and from the use of oil on the person; the mourners sleep on the bare ground, and use only leaves for dress. These customs are optional; among those exacted by fashion are the "jumping of maggots," or a meeting of friends on the 4th day after the funeral to picture to themselves the corruption of the corpse, and the "causing to laugh" on the next night, when comic games are held. The introduction of a comic element in mourning was not confined to the Feejee islands, for a troop of buffoons used to exhibit their antics in the funeral processions of the Romans. About the 10th day of Feejee mourning the women scourge all the men except the highest chiefs. Among the natives of New Caledonia there is a custom for women to burn parts of their bodies in time of mourning. The Sandwich islanders denote

rief by painting the lower part of their faces lack and knocking out their fore teeth.mong all civilized modern nations there is a reat similarity in mourning customs, and black universally considered the proper color to be orn, although in the fashions for ladies' dresses odern refinement has gone so far as to symolize the gradual change from the depth of Hiction to a normal state of cheerfulness by a radual return from black to the gay colors arough the intermediate hues of purple and iolet, which are recognized as "second mourng." The material of a mourning dress is also rescribed by fashion, being for ladies generally rape. The time varies, according to the degree f relationship of the deceased, from a week to a ear, the latter being the period fixed by custom or a widow. Hired mourners are retained by he English, as attendants at funerals, but their ffice with them is one of mere show, and they re commonly called mutes. In some parts of reland, however, the keeners or professional nourners, generally old women, are famous for heir extravagant lamentations. It was aniently the custom in England to give mourning ings and suits at funerals. On occasion of the burial of Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist (1703), 123 rings and 40 suits of mourning were thus listributed. In France, of old, the color of grief was white. Certain forms of private as well as public mourning were prescribed by Napoleon I., but went out of use at the restoration. Court mourning in Europe for members of the reigning family, even in remote degrees, is prescribed by ceremonials which give the minutest directions as to dress. The sovereign wears violet, except in England, where the color is black; but violet was formerly used there also. The courtiers appear in black. Court mourning seldom lasts more than 6 months. Public mourning, though rarer than it was of old, is not yet banished from the civilized world. It was witnessed in the United States on the death of Franklin, Washington, and Lafayette. Members of legislative, civic, military, and other associations usually wear a piece of crape on the left arm on public occasions for 30 days after the death of any one of their comrades.

MOUSE, the common name of the smaller members of the rodent sub-family murina. This sub-family is characterized by incisors smooth in front and compressed laterally; molars 33 or 3, rooted, the anterior the largest; the ante-orbital foramen a deep narrow slit, widening above; palate mostly on one plane; the descending branch of the lower jaw has not the angles above the plane of the crowns of the molars; other characters in the palate and lower jaw sufficiently distinguish them from arvicoline or meadow mice; feet usually naked beneath; the hind legs the longest and 5-toed, the anterior with only 4 and a kind of wart for a thumb; clavicles complete; tail more or less scaly, with hairs passing out between the whorls of the scales. They hold their food VOL. XI.-50

in the fore paws, and sit on their haunches to eat it; most of them burrow and swim well. Reserving the larger species for the article RAT, this sub-family may be subdivided into two principal groups: mures, confined in the wild state entirely to the old world; and sigmodontes, exclusively American. The former have very large and broad molars, with 3 tubercles in each transverse series of the upper jaw; the latter have narrower molars, with 2 tubercles in each similar series. There is in the old world a 3d group, merionides, intermediate to the above, with plane molars and transverse complete lamellæ, found in Africa and central Asia.-In the murine group of this sub-family, the genus mus (Linn.) has the molars of opposite sides parallel to each other, no cheek pouches, the upper lip divided, the whiskers in 5 series, the nose sharp and hairy to the cleft, and the large, prominent ears nearly naked; the nails are short, pointed, and curved; palms naked, with 5 small balls, those of the hind feet the largest; the hair is soft and fine; the mamme are 10, 3 pairs on the lower abdomen and 2 pairs on the chest. More than 50 species are described, including the house rats; the only one here called a mouse is the common little creature of our houses (M. musculus, Linn.). This well known animal varies much in color, from almost black to pure white; the albino or white mice are a mere variety of the common animals, but have the ability of propagating their race inter se, as most pet-fanciers know; there have been several specimens seen recently of what are called "singing mice," which do not differ in appearance from ordinary mice, but which make, especially at night, a pleasing whistling noise somewhat like the feeble chirp of a canary bird. The house mouse was originally a native of Europe and central Asia, but is now spread over most inhabited regions of the world; in some parts of the United States, and particularly in newly settled districts, it is replaced by the white-footed mouse (described below), which commits about as much mischief in houses and out-buildings as the common mouse. Of European field mice may be mentioned the M. sylvaticus (Linn.), or wood mouse, found in fields and gardens, where they make large deposits of provisions in subterranean burrows, laying up grain, nuts, acorns, &c., for winter use. It is a smaller species than the house mouse, reddish gray above, and white below; the hind legs are so long that it moves by jumps, making the transition to meriones (Ill.). The harvest mouse (M. minutus, Pall.; M. messorius, Shaw) is only 24 inches from end of nose to root of tail, this being about 2 inches more. These tiny and pretty mice make nests of leaves and straws among standing corn and in thistles, and are often carried into barns with the harvest, where they live and multiply; in winter they retire to burrows and corn ricks; the color is ruddy above and white below. The lineated mouse (M. pumilio,Gmel.), from the Cape of Good Hope, weighs less than

4 scruples (80 grains). Some mice of the genus dendromys (Smith) live on trees; the upper incisors are grooved, the fore feet 3-toed with a thumb-like wart, and the long tail is thinly haired and ringed; here belongs the M. mesomelas (Licht.).-Among the American or sigmodont mice will be mentioned here only the genera reithrodon (Waterh.) and hesperomys (Waterh.), as neotoma and sigmodon belong properly among the rats on account of the large size of all their species. In reithrodon the ears and tail are short and hairy, and the upper incisors are grooved longitudinally in front; 3 species of rat-like size have been found in the extreme southern portion of South America, while the North American ones resemble slender house mice; the body is depressed, limbs short, head broad and short, tail about as long as the body, thumb rudimentary and with a short nail, and heel hairy; the North American species are found in the southern states on the Atlantic border, and from St. Louis westward to the Rocky mountains, and to the Pacific territories. The harvest mouse (R. humilis, Baird) is about 2 inches long, with the tail a trifle less; in color and general appearance it so nearly resembles a small house mouse, that it can only be distinguished at the first glance by the grooved incisors; the eyes are small; it is rarely injurious to the farmer, preferring grass lands to grain fields for its habitation. In hesperomys or the vesper mice, the typical species have long tails scantily haired, large ears, the quick motions of the common mouse, and generally white feet and a whitish tail. The old genus was of very great extent, embracing a large portion of the American murida; the South American species, most of them too large to be considered mice, have been arranged by Burmeister under the genera calomys, habrothrix, and oxymicterus, established by Waterhouse, the first resembling the common mouse, the 2d the meadow mice (arvicola), and the 3d the lemmings. Baird divides even the North American species into 3 groups, as follows: hesperomys (Waterh.), containing 13 species; onychomys (Baird), and oryzomys (Baird), each with a single species. In hesperomys the form is mouse-like, tail not less or even longer than the body without the head, claws weak, hind legs and feet long, and soles naked or less than half hairy. The white-footed or deer mouse (H. leucopus, Le Conte) is between 3 and 4 inches long, with tail about the same; the color of the adult is yellowish brown above, darker on the back, the lower parts of the body and tail and the upper surface of the feet white; the young are dark slaty; the eyes and ears are large, and the fur long and soft. It is distributed from Nova Scotia to Virginia, and as far west as the Mississippi, and is a common inhabitant of houses and barns; it is nocturnal in its habits, as active as a squirrel, nesting in trees, in the fields, in barns and houses, and making a dwelling resembling a bird's nest; it feeds principally on grain, seeds, nuts, and

acorns, and is very fond of maize; it produces 2 or 3 broods in a season, according to latitude, 5 or 6 at a birth; it is not very injurious to the farmer, most of the mischief commonly attributed to it being due to the arvicola or meadow mice; great numbers are destroyed by the smaller carnivorous mammals and birds. Allied species are found in Texas, California, the southern states, and on the Pacific coast. The cotton mouse (H. gossypinus, Le Conte) makes its nest under logs and in trees, often robbing the Georgia planter of more than a pound of cotton for a single nest. The hamster mouse (H. myoides, Gapper) has been mentioned under HAMSTER. The prairie mouse (H. Michiganensis, Wagner) is 3 inches long, with a tail of 14 inches, and the smallest of the genus; the color is grayish brown above, whitish beneath, with the cheeks yellow. The Missouri mouse (H. leucogaster, Pr. Max.), the type of the group onychomys, has the clumsy form of the articola, tail less than half the head and body, claws large and fossorial, the posterior of the soles densely furred, and the skull without crest; the body is 4 inches long and the tail 3 inches; grayish brown above, passing into yellowish red and fulvous on the sides; feet and under surface of body and tail white; the eyes are large, the ears rather short, and the whiskers long; it lives on the seeds and roots of wild plants, and sometimes on corn. The rice-field mouse (H. palustris, Wag.), the type of oryzomys of Baird, has a rat-like form, ears nearly buried in the fur, coarse hair, tail longer than head and body, hind feet long, soles naked, and upper margin of the orbit raised into a compressed crest; it is over 5 inches long, and the tail about the same; the color is rusty brown above, and whitish below. It is found in the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, burrowing in the dams just above the water line; it scratches up the newly planted rice, eats it in the milky state, and gleans it from the fields in autumn; it is a good swimmer and diver; it eats also seeds of marsh grasses, and sometimes small mollusks and crustaceans.

MOUTON, GEORGES. See LOBAU.

MOVERS, FRANZ KARL, a German oriental ist, born in Koesfeld, Westphalia, July 17, 1806, died in Breslau, Sept. 28, 1856. He was the son of a watchmaker, and a member of the Roman Catholic church. He studied at Munster, was ordained in 1829, and officiated in the pulpit from 1830 to 1839, when he was appoint ed professor of Old Testament theology at the Catholic faculty of Breslau, which office he held till his death. His principal work, Die Phönizier, presents a comprehensive view of Phoenician history. The 1st volume (Breslau, 1840) treats of the religion and the divinities of the Phoenicians; the 2d volume bears the title of Das Phönizische Alterthum, and is divided into two parts, embracing the political history (1849) and the colonial history (1850) of that nation; the 1st part of the 3d vol ume (1856) treats of navigation and commerce.

MOWATT (RITCHIE), ANNA CORA, an American actress and authoress, born about 1821 in Bordeaux, France, where her father, Samuel G. Ogden, a merchant of New York, was then established in business. She was the 10th of a family of 17 children, and her early childhood was passed in an elegant chateau in the neighborhood of Bordeaux, in the private theatre attached to which she frequently participated in the juvenile dramatic performances with which her brothers and sisters were accustomed to amuse themselves. When she was about 6 years of age the family returned to New York, and Miss Ogden in the intervals of her daily studies devoted much time to reading and private dramatic entertainments. At the age of 14, while yet at school, she attracted the attention of James Mowatt, a lawyer of New York, to whom, with the consent of her parents, she was soon after engaged, with the understanding that she was not to be married until she had reached the age of 17. Before the appointed time, however, she made a runaway match with him. During the first two years of her married life she continued her studies with great diligence, and published also two poems, "Pelayo, or the Cavern of Covadonga," an epic in 5 cantos, and the "Reviewers Reviewed," a satire directed against the critics of the former poem. At the end of this period her health began to fail, and she made a visit of a year and a half to Europe, during which she wrote for private performance a play entitled "Gulzora, or the Persian Slave," which was afterward published. Not long after her return financial difficulties overtook her husband, and as a means of providing for their support she gave a series of public dramatic readings in Boston, Providence, New York, and other cities. The exertions incident to this career, however, produced a serious illness, and for two years she was a confirmed invalid. She employed herself during this interval in contributing articles to the magazines under the pseudonyme of Helen Berkley, and also wrote a 5 act comedy entitled "Fashion," produced at the Park theatre, New York, in March, 1845, with considerable success. In June of the same year she made her public début at this theatre as Pauline in the "Lady of Lyons," and thenceforth for many years was a popular actress on the American stage. In 1847 she made an extended professional visit to England, where in 1851 her husband died; and in the latter part of 1854 she played a series of farewell engagements in the United States and left the stage. She was soon after married to Mr. W. F. Ritchie of Richmond, Va., and has since lived in retirement. Her remaining works are: "Armand," a drama produced in 1847, and in which, as in " Fashion," she took a prominent part; the "Fortune Hunter, a Novel of New York Society" (last ed., 1854); "Autobiography of an Actress" (New York, 1855); ,and "Mimic Life, or Before and Behind the Curtain" (New York, 1856).

MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES, mechanical devices now in general use in the United States and parts of Europe for cutting grain or grass by animal power. Though this important invention was suggested by the ancient Romans, it is believed that the first experiments tending toward practical results were made in Europe in the early part of the present century; while for its general usefulness and present perfection the world has acknowledged its obligations to the genius and enterprise of American inventors. The names of Smith, Bell, Gladstones, and Scott are well known as connected with the experimental working of this machine in England; and those of Hussey, McCormick, Ketchum, and Manny are familiar to nearly every American farmer, as among the many inventors who have improved it and demonstrated its practical utility. The first machines were constructed with the idea of imitating the hand process as nearly as possible. Cutters similar to the ordinary scythe or sickle were employed, and a rotary motion communicated to them through suitable mechanism, from the wheels supporting the machine. This plan of communicating power to the cutting device is still used, but the form and movement of the cutters have been materially changed. A series of small shears were substituted for the scythe or sickle, and these were again superseded by a single series of two-edged pointed knives, standing at right angles with and attached to a horizontal rod or long plate of metal, the whole resembling a saw plate with very coarse teeth. These cutters work through mortised, stationary fingers or guards, a series of which are permanently fixed to the front of the machine, and, being longer than the cutting teeth, project a short distance forward, thus gathering small portions of the grass or straw between them where it is clipped off by the rapid reciprocrating passage of the cutters. This device proved superior to either of the others, and with its various modifications has been universally adopted by manufacturers. The names of Adams of New York, Ten Eyk of New Jersey, and Lane of Maine are among the earliest that appear as connected with the invention of harvesters in the United States; but in 1833 Obed Hussey, then of Cincinnati, O., patented a machine to which he applied the saw-toothed cutters and guards. This machine was at once put into practical operation, and, after annual experiments and modifications, was in 1835-'6 favorably noticed by the press. On July 12, 1837, a public exhibition of its operation was made under the direction of the board of trustees of the Maryland agricultural society for the eastern shore of Maryland, and was witnessed by several hundred persons, principally farmers, who expressed great satisfaction with the result. The board also awarded a handsome pair of silver cups to the inventor. During the same season this machine cut in a satisfactory manner 180 acres of oats and barley on a farm in Maryland. Though this implement.

would hardly compare with the reaper of the present day, it may be said to have proved its utility, and laid a firm foundation for the experiments which have led to more modern inventions. Owing to the variety in form and the multiplicity of patented modifications of the several parts of the modern machines, we will give a general description only of their construction and operation. These machines consist of a strong framework, so constructed as to support a driver's seat, the cutting mechanism, and, when used for harvesting grain, a platform on which the grain falls when cut, and from which it is raked or otherwise removed as often as a sufficient quantity for a bundle has accumulated thereon. This framework is somewhat longer than the width of the swath to be cut, which is usually 5 feet, more or less, and of sufficient width for the platform, say 3 feet, except when used for cutting grass, when the platform is dispensed with, as the mown grass is allowed to fall over the cutters directly upon the ground. On the front edge of the frame is fixed the cutting apparatus, consisting of a series of iron guards or pointed fingers which are permanently fastened to the frame and extend 7 inches, more or less, beyond its edge, parallel to each other, horizontal and pointing forward. They are about 3 inches apart, of suitable size, say 14 inches, at the base, lessening toward the point. Each guard has a horizontal mortise through it, and being on a line with each other they all form a continuous horizontal mortise or slit through the whole line of guards. The cutters are formed of thin triangular plates of steel, fastened to a straight flat rod or plate of metal. These steel plates are arranged side by side, resembling a saw with teeth 3 inches wide at their base and 4 inches long, sharp on both sides, and terminating in a point. This saw or cutting plate is passed through the slits in the guards with the teeth pointing forward and their points coming even with the centres of the guards. One end of the saw is connected to a crank, which receives a rapid motion through intermediate cog wheels, from the tractive force and motion of the main or driving wheel. The framework with all its mechanism is supported by two or more wheels, the driving wheel being much larger than the other, and the axles so constructed as to admit of the platform, cutters, &c., being horizontal and suspended within a few inches of the ground. The pole is so at tached to the framework as to allow the team to walk before the machine on the stubble of the last swath, while the platform with the cutters on its front edge extends on the right at right angles with the direction of the horses, so that the guards and cutters are presented to the standing grain or grass. A large reel, in front

of and parallel with the series of cutters, is sometimes attached to the framework, and, being connected by a band or otherwise to the driving wheel, is made to revolve with it in the right direction to bend back the top of the standing grain or grass, past the cutters and over the platform, which tends to assist the cutting and to insure the backward fall of the grass upon the platform, or the ground in the rear of the machine. A seat for the driver is usually attached directly behind the team, above and over the driving wheel. Some of the machines used for harvesting grain have two seats, one for the driver of the team, and the other so attached to the framework as to seat the raker in a convenient position to remove the grain from the platform.-The litigations among patentees and others interested in the many improvements in these machines, have been so numerous and complicated that we must refer the reader to the records of the courts for all the particulars in relation to the specific claims and awards of the several inventors. But in justice to the genius and enterprise of the modern American inventors whose names appear at the commencement of this article, we may say that since McCormick's award for the best harvester at the industrial exhibition in London in 1851, an active competition for excellence has been carried on at our annual agricultural fairs, which has resulted in a pretty general distribution of prizes. Some patents have been granted for machines for reaping and threshing grain at the same operation, and many for a binding apparatus as an attachment to the reaper; but if any of these have proved successful, they are yet to be brought into general notice.

MOXA, any substance whose gradual combustion on or near the skin is used as a remedy in disease. The mode of treatment was brought into Europe from China and Japan by the Portuguese, but has now fallen into comparative disuse on account of its severity, although in neuralgic and certain other complaints it is still sometimes recommended as an effective counter-irritant. The Chinese use for moxas a cone formed from the down of the leaf of a plant of the mugwort kind (artemisia mora, De Candolle); but the down or pith of many other plants may be used, and the pith of the common sunflower answers very well. In the United States and Europe the operation is usually performed with a roll of cotton wool, which is held upon the skin by an instrument, set fire to at the top, and suffered to burn down. The moxa has often been used in conjunction with acupuncture, the combustible substance being perforated by the needle which is pushed into the flesh to convey the heat directly to the seat of the disease.