Part 61

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.

MERGANSER, _s._ (_Mergus serrator_, LINN.)

This species is about twenty-one inches in length; weight two pounds. The bill is three inches long; the upper mandible dusky, the lower red; irides purplish red. The head and part of the neck black, glossed with green; on the back of the head the feathers are long, forming a sort of pendant crest; the rest of the neck and under part of the body white; breast ferruginous, mixed with black and white; upper part of the back glossy black; rump marked with brown and cinereous transverse streaks; the scapulars and wing coverts are some black and some white; quills dusky; tail brown; legs orange; claws black.

Mr. Pennant says this species breeds in the Isle of Ely, on the shores amongst the loose stones. They sometimes appear in the south of England in winter, but more frequently in the north, and are said to breed in Scotland in some of the lochs. They are found in the Russian dominions, about the great rivers of Siberia.

They are also said to breed on the shores of Greenland, and are observed at Hudson’s Bay in large flocks, breeding there as well as at Newfoundland, chiefly on the islands. The nest, which is built on the margin of lakes and rivers, is said to be made with dry grass, lined with down; the eggs are generally eight in number, of a bluish white; sometimes as many as thirteen in a nest, about the size of those of a duck. The young may be distinguished from the adult, by the black band on the wing spot.—_Montagu._

MERGUS, _s._ A genus in ornithology.

Birds of this genus have roundish slender bills, furnished at the end with a hard, horny, crooked nail; edges of the mandibles very sharply toothed, or serrated; the nostrils small, subovated, and placed near the middle of the bill: tongue rough, with hard indented papillæ turned backward; legs short; feet webbed; toes long, and the outer ones about the same length as the middle; the head is small, but the quantity of soft silky feathers with which it is furnished, and which they can bristle up from the nape of the neck to the brow, give it a large appearance. They are a broad, long-bodied, and flat-backed kind of birds, and swim very squatly on the water, the body seeming nearly submerged, with only the head and neck clearly seen. They are excellent divers, remaining a long while under water, and getting to a great distance before they appear again. They fly near the surface of the water, and, notwithstanding the shortness of their wings, with great swiftness, though seldom to any great distance. They devour a large quantity of fish; and their pointed sharp-toothed, and hooked bills, are well calculated for holding fast their slippery prey, none of which, when once within their gripe, can escape. Latham enumerated six species and three varieties of this genus, five of which are accounted British birds. George Strickland, Esq., of Ropin, enumerates six species of this genus, which are all met with in Great Britain and its adjacent isles: the author agrees with him likewise in opinion, that much remains to be done in order to clear up the doubts in which their history is involved, and by which the classification of different species is confused: he says, “The genus mergus, though only a very small tribe of birds, still remain in the greatest obscurity, and I have not yet met with any ornithologist, who has not, in my opinion, multiplied the number of the species, by considering birds of this genus as of different kinds, when they differ only in sex.” His arrangement is as follows:—

GENUS MERGUS.

Species 1 Merganser Goosander 2 Castor Dun Diver 3 Serrator Less Dun Diver 4 Albellus Smew 5 ———————— Lough Diver 6 Minutus Red-headed Smew.

For a particular description of each species, _vide Bewick, Montagu, &c. &c._

MERLIN, _s._ A kind of hawk.

_The Merlin_—(_Falco Æsalon_, LINN.; _L’Emerillon_, BUFF.)—The smallest of all the hawk kind, scarcely exceeding the size of a black bird. Its bill is blue; cere and irides yellow; the head is of a rust colour, streaked with black; back and wings of a deepish brown, tinged with ash, streaked down the shafts with black, and edged with rust colour: quill feathers dark tipped and margined on the inner webs with reddish white: the breast and belly are of a yellowish white, with streaks of rusty brown pointing downwards; the tail is long, and marked with alternate dusky and pale bars; the wings, when closed, do not reach quite to the end of the tail; the legs are yellow; claws black.

The merlin, though small, is not inferior in courage to any of the falcon tribe. It was used for taking larks, partridges, and quails, which it would frequently kill by one blow, striking them on the breast, head, or neck. Buffon observes, that this bird differs from the falcons, and all the rapacious kind, in the male and female being of the same size. The merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October; it flies low, and with great celerity and ease. It preys on small birds, and breeds in woods, laying five or six eggs.

MERRYTHOUGHT, _s._ A forked bone in the body of fowls.

MESENTERY, _s._ That round which the guts are convolved.

MESH, _s._ The space between the threads of a net.

MESH, _v._ To catch in a net; to insnare.

METAL, _s._ A hard compact body, malleable and capable of fusion. The metals are six in number; first, gold; second, silver; third, copper; fourth, tin; fifth, iron; and sixth, lead.

METALLIC, _a._ Partaking of metal, containing metal, consisting of metal.

METALLINE, _a._ Impregnated with metal; consisting of metal.

METTLE, _s._ Spirit, sprightliness, courage.

METTLESOME, _a._ Sprightly, lively, brisk.

MEW, _s._ A cage, an enclosure, a place where a thing is confined; cry of a cat; a sea fowl; the place where a hawk changes her feathers.

The mew is the place where hawks are put to moult. They are sometimes kept loose in a room; but it is, in my opinion, much better to mew them on perches or on blocks.

Hawks must be fed very high, and kept very quiet when they mew; they are also kept unhooded, and frequently bathed.—_Sebright._

MIDGE, _s._ A small fly, a gnat. The artificial midge is very serviceable in evening fishing.

MIDRIFF, _s._ The diaphragm.

MIDSTREAM, _s._ Middle of the stream.

MIGRATION, _s._ Act of changing place.

What has so often been said of herrings, mackerel, and other gregarious fish moving in vast shoals from Shetland to the Orkneys, and of their then dividing and surrounding the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland, is, I think, liable to some objections.

During the last month (April) large shoals of mackerel came on the shallows, a few miles from Brighton, one day, and disappeared the next. This is constantly observed to be the case, not only there but in other places, and may perhaps be accounted for in this way. We must consider that there are probably as many mountains, and valleys, and plains in the sea as we know there are on land. We are to recollect that those mountains and valleys are covered with weeds of various kinds, which afford food and shelter to an infinite number of fish and marine animals and insects; and we know that all fish come into shallow water for the purpose of depositing their ova, which the influence of the air, not, as has been commonly supposed, of the sun, is required for bringing to maturity. Is it not probable, then, that the shoals of fish which are found on our fishing banks, have left some neighbouring deep, where they had retired for the winter, till they are rendered buoyant by the quantity of roe within them, and are directed by instinct to go and deposit it in the adjacent shallows? If, as is generally supposed, all fish, both great and small, from the whale to the herring, have each their respective haunts and localities, why should we suppose that they quit those haunts to go many hundred miles in search of spawning ground, when that ground is to be found near their winter retreats? It appears more probable that the large shoals of fish which are found are quite unconnected with each other, and that they have all just quitted some neighbouring deep for the nearest shallow, only moving on as the ground is occupied, or till they have paired and the roe is ready to be deposited.—_Jesse._

MILE, _s._ The usual measure of roads in England, one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards; eight furlongs, or five thousand two hundred and eighty feet.

MILK, _s._ The liquor with which animals feed their young; emulsion made by contusion of seeds.

_To dry up a Bitch’s Milk._—Take goose grease and rum, equal portions, rub the teats once or twice a day; if the case is bad, for three or four days.

Brandy and salad oil, used in the same way, will have a similar effect.

MILKTOOTH, _s._ Milkteeth are those small teeth which come forth before when a foal is about three months old.

MILKWHITE, _a._ White as milk.

MILLDAM, _s._ The mound by which the water is kept up to raise it for the mill.

MILLEPEDES, _s._ Wood-lice, so called from their numerous feet.

MILLER’S-THUMB, _s._ A small fish found in brooks, called likewise a bull’s head.

MILLET, _s._ A plant; a kind of fish.

MINERAL, _s._ Fossil body, matter dug out of mines.

MINNOW, _s._ A very small fish, a pink.

This beautiful little fish abounds in many of our small gravelly streams, where they keep in shoals; it is sometimes called the pink, and when in right season and not sick, which only happens just after spawning, is dappled, its sides inclining to a greenish watery sky colour, its belly white, and its back almost black, but these colours are not universal; the body is slender and smooth, the scales being extremely small; it seldom exceeds three inches in length; the lateral line is of a golden colour, the back flat and of a deep olive; the sides and belly vary greatly in different fish, as a few are of a rich crimson, others are bluish, and others white. The tail is forked, and marked near the base with a dusky spot. The minnow appears first in March, continues until Michaelmas, and then betakes himself to the mud, weed-roots, or wood in rivers, to secure himself from floods and fishes of prey. They are usually full of spawn all the summer (for they breed often), and quickly arrive at their growth and perfection.

Although so diminutive in size, the minnow may be compared for the excellency of its taste to many of the most famed fish; they are in some places made into minnow tansies; after being gutted and well washed in salt and water, their heads and tails cut off, they are then to be put with yolks of eggs well beat with cowslips and primrose flowers, and a little tansy shred very small, and fried in good butter; the sauce to them is butter, vinegar, or verjuice, and sugar. To the young sportsman, who has not possessed himself of the patience requisite to form the angler, the minnow yields plenty of amusement. They will in hot weather bite eagerly all day, and are frequently drawn out of the water from their adhering to the end of the worm, without being touched by the hook; the best way to catch them, is, to have three or four very small hooks, baited with the least red worm, or a piece of one, and a crow quill float; fish deeper than midwater, or near the ground in shallow places, in eddies, and at the sides of small streams.

Minnows are very excellent baits for many fish, as will hereafter be specified, and when wanted in haste for that purpose, a small meshed casting-net will save much time and trouble, as enough for a day’s diversion may be caught at a throw or two in shallow streams.

* * * * *

_Minnow Fishing._—The tackle for minnow fishing for trouts, should be of the same sort as that for salmon, with this difference, that it must be finer, with a stout single silk worm gut at bottom, and the hook No. 2, 3, or 4, according to the bigness of the trout in the water where angled for: the middle-sized and whitest minnows are the best (of which those caught in streams are far brighter than those procured from ditches or stagnated waters), and the way of baiting recommended by Walton, is,

“To put the hook in at the mouth and draw it out through the gill about three inches; then again put the hook in at the mouth, and let the point and beard come out at the tail; then tie the hook and the tail about with a fine white thread, which will make it spin quicker; pull back that part of the line which was slack when the hook was thrust in the second time, which will fasten the head of the minnow, so as to make it be almost straight on the hook; try if it turns well, which it cannot do too fast. Angle with the point of the rod down the stream, drawing the minnow against the current gradually, and near the surface: when descried, the trout will freely come at it; be careful not to snatch it away, nor strike until he has turned with the bait. For this angling the winch and ringed rod is to be always used; and there should be two or three swivels on the line, which will assist the spinning of the minnow.”

Walton’s method may be altered and improved, by first thrusting the hook in at the lower side of the minnow’s under, and also quite through the upper chap, drawing it two or three inches on the line, and putting the hook in at the mouth as before directed; this will keep the minnow’s mouth closed, which otherwise should be stitched up.

Various hooks are recommended in minnow fishing; one much used consists of a large hook, with two very small ones fastened back to back to a piece of gut about two inches long, with a small hook to another gut something shorter, to fasten the head of the minnow: these pieces of gut are so attached to the link, that the two small hooks may be about the middle of the minnow when baited, and the other reach the head; a small lead cap (which renders other weight unnecessary) slides upon the link, keeps the short pieces of gut close, and falls upon the head of the minnow. The advocates for this plan boast of the certainty of hooking the trout with the two small hooks; this may be true, says an angler of no inconsiderable skill, but he asks if these small hooks (which seldom exceed No. 12) are sufficient to kill a trout of any bigness; and when a fish is hooked by these, the other hooks are entirely useless, from the situation in which they are placed. Another objection started by the same gentleman, is, that when the gut to which they are tied has been a short time in the water, it will not sustain the weight of the hooks, but they will sink below the minnow, and are continually foul of weeds and rubbish at the bottom; besides, the lead cap, falling upon the minnow’s head, totally conceals the eyes, parts which add life and attraction to the bait, and are, on that account, so essential to be seen.

Some use about three feet of stout silkworm gut for the bottom links, with two or three small swivels, which prevents the line from being entangled, and assists the twirling of the minnow. If these hooks are used as directed for pike, it will be successful; the bottom swivel must be open at one end, that the link on which the hooks are may be taken off occasionally to be baited; the proper size of these hooks is No. 7; if the old method of a large hook and a smaller above it, be preferred, the proper sizes are Nos. 2 and 6, with a running line; the angler can permit the minnow to be carried by the current under bushes, banks, &c.; this will be effected by his suffering the stream to gain upon it when he pulls it back, which also prevents its sinking to the bottom, and entangling the hooks; as he draws it gently against the stream, favouring the direction to which he would have the bait driven, it will of course spin round very quick, and this is the moment the trout usually takes it; by holding the rod firm, he will infallibly hook himself; will then spring out of the water several times, and, by an astonishing strength and agility, endeavour to get quit of the hook. The angler must not be too hasty, but lower his right hand, which will raise the top of his rod and keep it bent; by this means the trout may be tired, but he will not readily suffer himself to be got into the landing-net; the best way therefore, instead of bringing the fish to the surface (where he will so violently plunge, as to endanger breaking the rod, line, or hook), is to keep him as deep in the water as possible.

Artificial minnows made of mother of pearl, &c., fitted to single, two, or more hooks, and bent in various attitudes, are to be purchased at all the tackle makers.—_Daniel._

MINT, _s._ A valuable herb that grows very abundantly. There are two kinds used in horse medicine, spearmint and peppermint. The former is an excellent carminative, generally affording relief in flatulency of the stomach and bowels, and the complaints which arise from it, termed gripes and flatulent colic.

MINUTE, _s._ The sixtieth part of an hour; any small space of time.

MINUTE-GLASS, _s._ A glass of which the sand measures a minute.

MINUTE-WATCH, _s._ A watch in which minutes are more distinctly marked than in common watches which reckon by the hour. Such are generally used by judges of a course, &c.

MISS, _v._ Not to hit; to mistake.

MISSEL THRUSH (_Turdus viscivorus_, LINN.; _La Drainé_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird.

The length of this bird is about eleven inches. The bill is dusky, the base of the lower bill yellow; the eyes hazel; the head, back, and lesser coverts of the wings, are of a deep olive brown, the latter tipped with white: the lower part of the back and rump tinged with yellow; the cheeks are of a yellowish white, spotted with brown, as are also the breast and belly, which are marked with larger spots of a dark brown colour; the quills are brown, with pale edges; tail feathers the same, the three outermost tipped with white; the legs are yellow, claws black. The female builds her nest in bushes or low trees, and lays four or five eggs, of a greenish blue colour, marked with red spots. Its nest is made of moss, leaves, &c., lined with dry grass, strengthened on the outside with small twigs. It begins to sing very early, often on the turn of the year in blowing showery weather, whence in some places it is called the storm-cock. Its note of anger is very loud and harsh, between a chatter and a shriek, which accounts for some of its names. It feeds on various kinds of berries, particularly those of the misletoe, of which birdlime is made. It was formerly believed that the plant of that name was only propagated by the seed which passed the digestive organs of this bird, whence arose the proverb—“_Turdus malum sibi cacat_;” likewise feeds on caterpillars and various kinds of insects, with which it also feeds its young.

This bird is found in various parts of Europe, and is said to be migratory in some places, but continues in England the whole year, and frequently has two broods.—_Bewick._

MISSILE, _a._ Thrown by the hand, striking at a distance.

MIST, _s_. A low thin cloud, a small thin rain, the drops of which are hardly perceptible.

MISLETOE, _s._ The name of one of those plants which draw their nourishment from some other plant. It generally grows on the apple tree, sometimes on the oak, and was held in great veneration by the ancient Druids.

MITE, _s._ A small insect found in cheese or corn; a weevil; vermin found about the head and nares of hawks.

MITHRIDATE, _s._ Mithridate was formerly, before medicine was simplified, one of the capital medicines of the shops, consisting of a great number of ingredients, and has its name from its inventor, Mithridates, king of Pontus.

The following is the recipe for Mithridate, or Confection of Democrites.

Cinnamon twenty-four drachms; Indian spikenard, ginger, saffron, shepherd’s-purse seed, frankincense, Chian turpentine, of each ten drachms; Zedoary mace, long pepper, juice of hypocistus, storax, opoponax, galbanum, opobalsam and castor, of each one ounce; scordium, cubebs, white pepper, carrot seed, bdellium, of each seven drachms; celtic nard, gentian, dittany of Crete, red roses, wild parsley seed, cardamoms, sweet fennel seeds, gum arabic, strained opium, dissolved in wine, of each five drachms; aromatic reed, valerian root, sagapenum, aniseed, of each three drachms; catechu, St. John’s wort, skinks, of each two ounces and a half, &c. &c.

Another of these absurd preparations is composed of _seventy-two_ articles.

MITTENS, _s._ Coarse gloves for the winter; gloves that cover the arm without covering the fingers.

MOB, _v._ To harass or overbear by tumult; a term in hunting.

MOHAIR, _s._ Thread or stuff made of camel’s or other hair; an excellent article for sporting dresses.

MOLE, _s._ A mole is a formless concretion of extravasated blood, which grows into a kind of flesh in the uterus; a natural spot or discolouration of the body; a mound, a dyke; a little beast that works whilst under ground.

MOLECATCHER, _s._ One whose employment is to catch moles.

MOLEHILL, _s._ Hillock thrown up by the mole working underground.

MOLLUSCA, _s._ An order of the class Vermes of Linnæus. It comprehends naked simple animals not included in a shell, but furnished with limbs, as snails, star fish, sea urchins, cuttle fish, &c.

MOON-EYED, _a._ Having eyes affected by the revolutions of the moon; dim-eyed, purblind.

MOONFISH, _s._ Moonfish is so called, because the tail fin is shaped like a half moon.

MOOR, _s._ A marsh, a fen, a bog, a tract of low and watery ground; a negro.

MOORCOCK, _s._ The male of the moorhen.

MOORHEN, _s._ A fowl that feeds in the fens, without web feet.

MOOSE, _s._ A large American deer. They were formerly found in Ireland, and their gigantic remains are frequently discovered in the bogs and morasses.

MOP, _s._ Pieces of cloth, or locks of wool, fixed to a long handle, to clean floors, carriages, &c. &c.

MORASS, _s._ Fen, bog, moor.

MORBID, _a._ Diseased, in a state contrary to health.

MORBIDNESS, _s._ State of being diseased.

MORDANT, _a._ Biting, pungent, acrid.

MORELAND, _s._ A mountainous or hilly country.

MORILLON, (_Anas Glaucion_, LINN.; _Le Morillon_, BUFF.) _s._ An aquatic bird.