Part 162

M'-Naught" (mak*nt"), v. t. (Steam Engines) To increase the power of (a single- cylinder beam engine) by adding a small high-pressure cylinder with a piston acting on the beam between the center and the flywheel end, using high-pressure steam and working as a compound engine, -- a plan introduced by M'Naught, a Scottish engineer, in 1845.

Mac"ro*graph (?), n. [Macro- + -graph.] A picture of an object as seen by the naked eye (that is, unmagnified); as, a macrograph of a metallic fracture.

Ma*crog"ra*phy (?), n. Examination or study with the naked eye, as distinguished from micrography.

Ma*dei"ra vine (?). (Bot.) A herbaceous climbing vine (Boussingaultia baselloides) very popular in cultivation, having shining entire leaves and racemes of small fragrant white flowers.

Madeira wood. (Bot.) (a) The mahogany tree (Swietenia Mahogoni). (b) A West Indian leguminous tree (Lysiloma Latisiliqua) the wood of which is used for boat trimming.

Ma*dras" (?), n. [So named after Madras, a city and presidency of India.] A large silk-and- cotton kerchief, usually of bright colors, such as those often used by negroes for turbans.

A black woman in blue cotton gown, red-and-yellow madras turban . . . crouched against the wall.

G. W. Cable.

{ ||Maf"fi*a (?), ||Ma"fi*a (?) }, n. [It. maffia.] A secret society which organized in Sicily as a political organization, but is now widespread among Italians, and is used to further or protect private interests, reputedly by illegal methods.

{ ||Maf`fi*o"so (?), ||Ma`fi*o"so (?) }, n.; pl. -si (#). [It. maffioso.] A member of the maffia.

Mag`a*zine", n. 1. A country or district especially rich in natural products.

2. A city viewed as a marketing center.

3. A reservoir or supply chamber for a stove, battery, camera, typesetting machine, or other apparatus.

4. A store, or shop, where goods are kept for sale.

Magazine camera. (Photog.) A camera in which a number of plates can be exposed without reloading.

Mag`net*o*mo"tive (?), a. [Magneto- + motive, a.] (Elec.) Pertaining to, or designating, a force producing magnetic flux, analogous to electromotive force, and equal to the magnetic flux multiplied by the magnetic reluctance.

Ma*hat"ma (?), n. [Skr. mahtman, lit., great-souled, wise.] (Theosophy) One of a class of sages, or "adepts," reputed to have knowledge and powers of a higher order than those of ordinary men. -- Ma*hat"ma*ism (#), n.

Mah"di*ism (?), n. See Mahdism.

Mah"dism (?), n. Belief in the coming of the Mahdi; fanatical devotion to the cause of the Mahdi or a pretender to that title. -- Mah"dist (#), n.

Mahdism has proved the most shameful and terrible instrument of bloodshed and oppression which the modern world has ever witnessed.

E. N. Bennett.

||Mai*dan" (?), n. [Written also midan, meidan, mydan, etc.] [Hind. & Per. maidn, fr. Ar. maidn.] In various parts of Asia, an open space, as for military exercises, or for a market place; an open grassy tract; an esplanade.

A gallop on the green maidan.

M. Crawford.

Make and break. (Elec.) Any apparatus for making and breaking an electric circuit; a circuit breaker.

Malaria parasite. Any of several minute protozoans of the genus Plasmodium (syn. Hæmatozoön) which in their adult condition live in the tissues of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles (which see) and when transferred to the blood of man, by the bite of the mosquito, produce malaria. The young parasites, or sporozoites, enter the red blood corpuscles, growing at their expense, undergoing sporulation, and finally destroying the corpuscles, thus liberating in the blood plasma an immense number of small spores called merozoites. An indefinite but not ultimated number of such generations may follow, but if meanwhile the host is bitten by a mosquito, the parasites develop into gametes in the stomach of the insect. These conjugate, the zygote thus produced divides, forming spores, and eventually sporozoites, which, penetrating to the salivary glands of the mosquito, may be introduced into a new host. The attacks of the disease coincide with the dissolution of the corpuscles and liberation of the spores and products of growth of the parasites into the blood plasma. Several species of the parasite are distinguished, as P. vivax, producing tertian malaria; P. malariæ, quartan malaria; and P. (subgenus Laverania) falciferum, the malarial fever of summer and autumn common in the tropics.

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Mal"lee (?), n. [Native name.] 1. (Bot.) A dwarf Australian eucalypt with a number of thin stems springing from a thickened stock. The most common species are Eucalyptus dumosa and E. Gracilis.