immoveably connected with the internal centre (supposed fixed) of the globe. If then the north and south poles be pulled away from the equator, the thin membrane of the sphere will be extended; and if the pull be continued until the poles are sufficiently distant, a large portion of the sphere on each side of the equator will assume a cylindrical form, or one nearly cylindrical; and the greater elasticity of the upper parts will cause the small folds of the different spirals to be much more extended than the larger ones, so as to become equal to them. Let the mathematical hypothesis implied in the preceding be carried to its extreme limit, that is, let the poles be pulled to an infi nite distance; and let the law of the elasticity be such, that the several loxodromic spirals shall have precisely similar successive folds on the resulting cylinder, that is, let them take a regular screw-like form. The meridians will then all become straight lines parallel to one another; and if the membrane be then fixed in its cylindrical shape, that is, if it lose its elasticity, and if one of the meridians be slit all the way down, and the cylinder unrolled into a plane, we shall have before us Mercator's projection, as shown in the following diagram. The degrees of longitude remain everywhere the same those of latitude increase sensibly. The map goes up to 80° of latitude, and any part of the remaining 10° might be drawn; but no space would be sufficient for the whole of the remainder. Any two points A and B, being given, the line A B joining them points out, on the supposition that all the meridians look towards the north, the most direct course on which a ship can sail from one to the other: if a compass were placed at A, then A B would show, A K being the north direction, the point of the compass on which to steer. Again, from c to D the most direct course is on the dark line CD; but CE. ED, is another way of coming to the same point. It must be remembered that the extreme lines on the right and left represent the same meridian, as they coincided before the cylinder was divided for the purpose of being unrolled. It thus appears that we have a map on which the sailing course between any two places is found by simply drawing a right line. Another advantage, depending upon the nature of the rhumb line however, and not on the projection, is the simplicity of the rule by which the distance sailed can be determined. This is pointed out in RHUMB-LINE. The preceding is Mercator's projection of the whole 360 degrees of longitude up to 80 degrees of latitude. A chart, as in other cases, is a part of the projection, enlarged to a convenient size. MAPLE ECONOMICAL USES. The maple is a very useful tree for industrial purposes, especially in America. Of the sugar-maple it is calculated that there are ten millions of acres in the states of New York and Pennsylvania alone. The wood, when cut, is white; but after being wrought and exposed some time to the light, it assumes a roseate tint; its grain is fine and close, and when polished it presents a silky lustre. It is used in many of the states as a substitute for beech, birch, and elm; it is employed by wheelwrights for axletrees and spokes; it is made into Windsor chairs; it forms the keels and bottoms of many ships built in Maine; and it constitutes the framework of whole villages of timber-houses. The wood of the scarlet or swamp maple is largely used for the frame, nave, and spokes of spinningwheels; for saddle-trees; for yokes, shovels, and wooden dishes; for bedsteads, nearly equal in richness and lustre to those of the finest mahogany; and especially for Windsor chairs, the manufacture of which is largely carried on at New York and Philadelphia, with maple wood brought down by canal and railway from the forests. The wood has a fine close grain, is easily wrought in the lathe, and acquires by polishing a glossy and silky lustre. Some of the old trees, in which the grain is undulated or curled, have so much strength and toughness added to the natural lightness and beauty, that the wood is eagerly purchased for making the stocks of rifles and fowling pieces. The wood of the white maple is whiter, softer, and lighter than that of the other species; it is used for making bowls, and in cabinet work, but not so largely as the two kinds just noticed. The wood of the sycamore maple is yellowish, compact, firm, finely-grained, sometimes veined, susceptible of a high polish, and easily worked at the bench or the lathe; it is very much employed in France and Germany by wheelwrights, cabinet-makers, turners, wood carvers, musical instrument makers, toy makers, gunstock makers, and the manufacturers of pestles, rollers, wooden spoons and platters, and numerous other articles: in England and Scotland it is used for many of the above-named purposes, and also for cider presses. Besides these various useful purposes, special examples of the maple are much prized for the beauty of their grain, rendering them well-fitted for surface-veneers for picture frames and cabinet-work. About one specimen in a hundred of the scarlet maple presents a wavy appearance, produced by a serpentine arrangement of the grain, rendering the wood difficult to split and work, but highly beautiful when smoothed and polished. Some specimens of the sugar maple present what is called a bird's eye arrangement of the grain; when smoothed and polished, the surface is diversified with roundish spots of peculiar character, reflecting flashes of light in a beautiful way. Mr. Holtzapffel, in an examination to discover the cause of this, found that the stem of the tree, when the bark is stripped off, presents little pits or hollows of irregular form-some as if made with a conical punch; others ill-defined and flattened like the impression from a nail-head. He found that these hollows are caused by internal spines or points in the bark. The layers of the wood being moulded as it were upon these spines, each fibre becomes abruptly curved at these points; insomuch that when cut through by the smoothing-plane, they give, in the tangential slice, the appearance of projections-just as in some rose-engine patterns and medallionengravings, the closer approximation of the lines at their curvatures causes those parts to be more black or shaded, and produces upon the plain surface the appearances of waves or furrows and ridges. There are many other economical uses to which the maple is applied. Charcoal made from the sugar-maple wood is much prized in countries where coal-fuel is scarce; while both the plain wood and the charcoal of the sycamore and white species have a high reputation for their heating qualities. The Kalmucks boil the maple-fruit in water, and eat it with milk and butter. The horses and cattle in Nova Scotia browse eagerly upon the leaves of the striped-bark maple. A coloured liquid, obtained by boiling the cellular matter of the inner bark, is used in America for black-dyeing. Potash is made extensively in the same region from the ashes of the burnt roots; and sugar is largely prepared from the sap, especially of the variety known as the sugar maple. MARASMUS (emaciation) is a term often used by the older medical writers to designate those cases in which no particular cause for the atrophy of the body was discovered. It is now very rarely employed, since the condition which was thus named is known to be the result of various local diseases, by which the complete nutrition of the body is prevented, or by which a quantity of its material is constantly abstracted; as disease of the mesenteric glands, pulmonary consumption, diabetes, &c. MARCH, the third month of the year according to modern computation, containing thirty-one days. The Roman year originally began with March, and was in fact so considered in England before the alteration of the style in 1752, the legal year commencing on the 25th of March. Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors called it most commonly Hlyd monath, loud or stormy month; and sometimes Hraed or Rhad monath, which some interpret Rheda's, others Rhede or Rethe, the rugged or rough month. The name of the month is said to be derived from that of Mars, the god of war. Before 1564 the computation of the French year began from Easter, so that occasionally the saine year might comprehend two months of March, Mars avant, and Mars après. If Easter occurred in March itself, the month began in one year and ended in another. The change of computation from Easter to the first of January, in that country, was directed by an edict of Charles IX. There is an old proverb, mentioned by various writers, which represents March as borrowing certain days from April. These are called, by the rustics in many parts both of England and Scotland, the Borrowed Days. They are particularly noticed in the poem called "The Complaynt of Scotland? "March said to Aperill, I see three hogs upon a hill; But lend your three first days to me, Dr. Jamieson, in his 'Etymological Dictionary,' says, 'These days being generally stormy, our forefathers have endeavoured to account for this circumstance by pretending that March borrowed them from April, that he might extend his power so much longer. . . Those," he adds, "who are much addicted to superstition, will neither borrow nor lend on any of these days. If any one would propose to borrow of them, they would consider it as an evidence that the person wished to employ the article borrowed for the purposes of witchcraft against the lenders." Ray, in his Collection, has a different proverb relating to this month, namely, that "A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom;" thereby expressing the importance of dry or dusty weather at this particular season of the year, in an agricultural point of view. MARCH, in music, is, properly speaking, an air in duple time, played by martial instruments-that is, by inflatile and pulsatile instruments to mark the steps of the infantry, as well as to amuse and cheer troops of all kinds. It however has long since gained admission wherever music is heard, and consequently is written for every kind of musical instrument. Hence some of the most striking compositions by the greatest masters; as, for instance, the marches in Handel's oratorios; the religious marches (Marches religieuses') in Gluck's 'Alceste' and Mozart's 'Zauberflöte; the two funeral marches ("Marcie funebri') of Beethoven; the 'Wedding March' of Mendelssohn, &c. The true March is always written in common time, or in what is called a compound of that measure, and begins on a broken part of the bar, with an odd crotchet or a quaver. It is slow for grand or parade occasions, quick for ordinary marching. We are told by Rousseau, that Marshal Saxe used the march also for the purpose of accelerating or retarding the pace of his troops in battle. In his days there was more form, more ceremony used; something like etiquette was kept up in fighting: we doubt whether the movements of the battalions in the fields of Austerlitz and Waterloo were performed to musical movements, or even to the simple beat of drums. MARCHES, THE. The mark, Anglo-Saxon meaɲc, is a word common to almost all the languages of Teutonic origin. It was the first general division of landed property, and denoted in a specific and peculiar sense those important marks by which the boundaries of wide domains were indicated, within which individual or private possessions were contained, the mark being held in common, and in this sense it is .found in Anglo-Saxon writings. Hence the word the marches, that is, the country lying near and about the marks which indicated the limits of two kingdoms, dukedoms, or other extensive jurisdictions. In Germany, the mark gave one of the titles of honour, the markgraf (margrave), or lord of the marches. (Dönniges, 'Deutsches Staatrecht.') Our own marquess is of the same origin, though it does not appear that the few persons who in early times (there was no English marquess before the reign of Richard II.) bore this title had any particular connection with the marches. Great part of England being bounded by the sea, there could be but little march-land. But on the side toward Wales, and in the north where England abuts upon Scotland. there was march-land; and when we speak of the marches, the land near the borders of the two countries is what is meant. Harold was lord of the marches against the Welsh, but after they were conquered by Edward I., we hear little in history of the marches of Wales. But the term continued in use long afterwards; and the family of Mortimer, whose chief residence was at Wigmore Castle in Herefordshire, had the chief management of the affairs of the Welsh marches, and bore the title of Earl of March. Edward IV., their lineal descendant and heir-general, was called Earl of March while his father was the Duke of York. The title is yet preserved in the family of the Duke of Richmond. But Scotland remaining a distinct sovereignty for several centuries after the subjugation of Wales, the marches towards that country are frequently mentioned in history. The maintenance of authority in those regions was an object of great importance; and for this purpose the marches towards Scotland were divided into two portions, the western and the middle marches, each of which had courts peculiar to itself, and a kind of president or governor, who was called the warden. is the second month of the Jewish year, and it coincides with our MARCHESVAN, 7, commonly called Chesvan by the Jews, October or November, according to the variations of length required to make each month commence with the appearance of the new moon. The In the present year (1860) it begins on the 17th of October. uncertain; the Jews naturally look for it in the origin of the name Hebrew root, to "boil up," or pour forth." Benfey quotes Hyde, who proposes with more probability the Persian khezán, the autumn. We find the name Markazana on the monument of Darius at Behistun, but the season in which this month occurred is at present unknown. The word is not found in the Bible, but it was known to Josephus, who writes it Mapoovàr, or Mapoovávn, Antiq. 1. i. c. 3, § 3. The Syrian months named Tisrin, which occupy the same period of the year, will account for the names of Oopiv and Ooipiv in the calendars of Heliopolis (Balbek). This month has either twenty-nine or thirty days, a variation which is applicable to the following month Chisleu also. In ordinary years Marchesvan has twenty-nine days and Chisleu thirty; when an additional day is required the two months have thirty days each; when it is necessary to have a short year both months have twenty-nine days. This variation is required for the purpose of applying a rule by which the month of Nisan could not begin on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday; nor Tisri on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. No fasts or festivals of general observance occur in this month, though some mention is made of a fast on the 6th, in commemoration of the blinding of Zedekiah by order of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings, xxv. 7); and persons who have committed any excess on the Feast of Tabernacles in the preceding month may feel bound to a fast in Marchesvan. MARCIONITES, a religious sect of the 2nd and 3rd centuries of our æra, so called from their teacher Marcion, a native of Sinope and a priest, who adopted the old Oriental belief, in which he had been preceded by Cerdo at Rome, of two independent, eternal, co-existing principles, one evil and the other good, introducing also a third intermediate being neither perfectly good nor perfectly evil, the creator of the inferior world and the legislator of the Jewish people. He endeavoured to apply this doctrine to Christianity, asserting that our souls are emanations of this third principle. The Jews were subject to this being, while all those nations who worshipped a variety of deities were subject to the evil principle. But the good principle, in order to dissipate these delusions, sent Jesus Christ, a pure emanation of itself, giving him a corporeal appearance and semblance of bodily form, in order to remind men of their intellectual nature, and that they cannot expect to find happiness until they are reunited to the principle of good from which they are derived. Marcion and his disciples condemned all pleasures which are not spiritual; they taught that it was necessary to combat every impulse that attaches us to the visible world; they condemned marriage, and some of them even regretted the necessity of eating of the fruits of the earth, which they believed to have been created by the evil principle. The Marcionites spread far in the East, and especially in Persia. The chief opponent of Marcion was Tertullianus, who wrote a book to refute his doctrines. (Tertullianus, Adversus Marcionem; Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. ii., part ii.; Neander, Church History, vol. ii.; Beausobre, Hist. de Manich. 1. iv., ch. 5, &c.) MARGARAMIDE. When ammoniacal soap, prepared either from animal fat or olive oil, is treated with boiling water, the soap diffuses through it without being dissolved; on cooling the greater part solidifies on the surface, and this, if dissolved in boiling alcohol, deposits on cooling a substance which, when purified, has the following properties: it is white, crystalline, perfectly neutral, insoluble in water, very soluble in alcohol and ether, especially when hot. It melts at about 140° Fahr., and it burns with a sooty flame. The solutions of potash and soda decompose it, when concentrated and boiling, ammonia being expelled and soap formed. Acids act upon it only when somewhat concentrated, and more readily when hot than cold. Its formula is C, H, NO,. It is equivalent to margarate of ammonia less 1 equivalent of water; but as margaric acid is probably a mixture of palmitic and stearic acids, the existence of this body as an individual compound must be regarded as more than problematical. [MARGARIC ACID.] MARGARATES. [MARGARIC ACID.] MARGARIC ACID (C,,H,,O,, HO), a fatty acid, so called by Chevreul, who discovered it, from "margarites" (uapyapírns), a pearl, on account of its peculiar lustre. It is prepared from soap made with olive-oil and potash; this is to be perfectly dried, and then macerated for twenty-four hours in twice its weight of cold alcohol. The oleate of potash, which the scap also contains, is dissolved by the alcohol, while the margarate of potash remains unacted upon; this is to be well washed with cold alcohol, and then dissolved in 200 parts of boiling alcohol on cooling, the margarate of potash crystallises; and as it contains a little oleate, it is to be crystallised a second time: it is then to be decomposed, and the margaric acid precipitated by the addition of hydrochloric acid. The properties of this acid are, that on cooling, after fusion, it crystallises in pearly needles; it is insoluble in water, and hence its precipitation from its compounds and solution by the stronger acids. It has an acid reaction; and its salts, except those of the alkalies, are very sparingly soluble in water. Its saline compounds are termed margarates. The recent researches of Heintz seem to show that this acid is nothing more than a mixture of palmitic and stearic acids. [PALMITIC ACID; STEARIC ACID] MARGARIN (C10H101012), Trimargarin, Margarate of Glycerin. A peculiar fatty matter contained in vegetable oils, and also in animal fats, as mutton-suet, goose-grease, human-fat, and hog's-lard: when these have been treated with ether, for the purpose of obtaining stearin from them, the ethereal liquors, by spontaneous evaporation, deposit a portion of the solid matter which they contain, and this is to be collected on a linen cloth, strongly pressed, and then exposed for a long time to the heat of a salt-water bath. This substance is very soluble in cold ether, which distinguishes it from stearin. It consists of margaric acid united with glycerin. MA'RGARON, a solid white fatty matter which crystallises in pearly scales and is obtained by distilling margaric or stearic acid with excess of lime. It fuses at about 170° Fahr., is volatile, soluble in fifty times its weight of hot alcohol, and five times its weight of boiling ether. Exposed to the action of heat in close vessels it distils almost unchanged: it burns in the air with a brilliant flame. Nitric acid acts but slightly upon it; sulphuric acid chars it, and sulphurous acid is given out. The alkalies do not act upon margaron. This substance is composed of-Hydrogen, 13:42; Carbon, 83-37; Oxygen, 3.21. MARINE ACID. [CHLORINE; HYDROCHLORIC ACID.] MARINE INSURANCE. [INSURANCE, MARINE.] MARINES, men embodied to serve as soldiers on board of ships of war in naval engagements; and on shore. in the event of a descent being made upon an enemy's coast. In the British service, they also assist occasionally in performing some of the operations connected with the working of the ship; they cannot however be sent aloft at the command of a naval officer. Originally in this country, as well as in France, the national fleets were composed of merchants' ships, which were armed on occasion for war; and then there were no soldiers particularly destined for the naval service. The first troops of this kind in France were men skilled in the practice of the useful trades, who, when unemployed by the government, lived on shore on half-pay; receiving only the full pay when called upon to serve at sea. This regulation did not however long subsist; and, subsequently to the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, companies of marine soldiers have been constantly retained on full pay. It is not precisely known at what period distinct corps were appointed in Britain to this branch of the public service. In 1684 mention is made of the duke of York's maritime regiment of foot; and in the reign of William III. several regiments were placed on the establishment of the navy, but these were subsequently disbanded. At that time the marine soldiers seem to have been retained as persons in training to become good seamen; and, in Burchet's Naval History,' quoted by Grose (Mil. Antiq., vol. i.), it is said that they were discharged from the regiments and entered on the ship's books as foremast-men as soon as they became qualified to serve as such. In the beginning of Queen Anne's reign (1702), six regiments of maritime soldiers were raised; and among the regulations concerning their service it is stated that they were to be quartered, when on shore, near the principal seaports. Whether at sea or on shore, they were to be paid at the same rate as the land forces, and the same deductions were to be made for clothing. At sea they were to be allowed pro visions equal in every respect to the shares of the seamen, without suffering any diminution of pay on that account. In 1749, the then existing regiments of marine soldiers, ten in number, were disbanded; and six years afterwards, on the recommendation of Lord Anson, there were raised 130 companies, consisting in all of above 5000 men, who were put under the immediate command of the lords of the admiralty, and whose head-quarters were appointed to be at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Chatham. The corps of marines, as it was then called, has subsequently been considerably increased; in 1759 it numbered 18,000 men; and during the war at the beginning of this century, its strength amounted to about 20,000 men. additional division was, by an order of council in 1805, established at Woolwich; and there were two companies of marine artillery, whose head-quarters were at Portsmouth. At present there are four divisions of royal marine light infantry, and one division of royal marine artillery, the head-quarters of the latter being at Portsmouth. The total strength is 17,459 non-commissioned officers and privates, 435 commissioned officers, and 106 staff officers. An The marines are now clothed and armed in the same manner as the infantry of the line, and, like all the other royal regiments, their scarlet uniform has blue facings. The marine artillery are dressed in blue with white facings. In an engagement at sea, they annoy the enemy by a fire of musketry from the tops and deck; and they repel with the bayonet any attempt to board the ship. The gallant jollies, as the marines are familiarly called, have often distinguished themselves when acting on shore; and their meritorious services at the taking of Belleisle (1761), in the battle of Bunker's Hill (1775), in the defence of Acre (1799), and under Lord John Hay, on the coast of Spain, have earned for them a lasting reputation. The corps is commanded by a deputy adjutant-general, who is assisted by an assistant adjutant-general, and is under the admiralty. There are also five colonels-commandant of divisions, besides five colonels second commandants. No commissions in the corps are obtained by purchase; and the officers of marines rise in it by seniority, as high only however as the rank of colonels-commandant. MARIOTTE, LAW OF, also known as Boyle's law, refers to the law of elasticity in gases, and may be thus expressed: "The volume of an aëriform body is inversely, and its elasticity directly, as the pressure to which it is exposed." Hence, by doubling the pressure, we halve the volume; by trebling it, it becomes reduced to one-third; but by doubling the pressure we double the elasticity, by trebling the pressure we increase it three-fold, and so on. For those gases which have not been liquefied, or liquefied only under enormous pressures, the experimental results are nearly in strict accordance with the law, even under a pressure of several atmospheres. Such, however, is not the case for gases which readily liquefy. The nearer they approach the point of liquefaction the greater is the difference between the observed volume and the calculated result. The contraction is found to be more considerable than it should be if the law were strictly true. [AIR; ELASTICITY.] MARITIME LAW. [ADMIRALTY COURTS; SHIPS.] MARK, ST., THE GOSPEL OF. The genuineness and authen ticity of this Gospel are attested by the unanimous voice of ecclesiastical writers. Michaelis has indeed objected to its canonical authority, in common with that of Luke, but on no good ground. According to Papias, Irenæus, and other early writers, Mark committed to writing the gospel which was preached by Peter; and Clement of Alexandria states that he did so at the request of Peter's hearers at Rome. Other early writers add that in this work Mark had the approbation and assistance of Peter; and many passages of the gospel have been thought to bear traces of being written under Peter's direction. From the tradition mentioned above, and from Latinisms and expla nations of Jewish phrases and customs contained in Mark's gospel, it appears to have been written at Rome for the benefit of the Latin Christians. The time when it was written is uncertain. Irenæus says that it was composed μετὰ τὴν τούτων (Peter and Paul) ἔξοδον ; but whether he means after the death of Peter and Paul, or after their departure from Rome, is a question much disputed. Upon the whole, the most probable date appears to be about A.D. 64 or 66. There is little doubt that it was written after the Gospel of St. Matthew, and probably before the destruction of Jerusalem. According to the unanimous testimony of the early ecclesiastical authors, the gospel of Mark was written in Greek. The Latin MS. at Venice, said to be part of St. Mark's autograph, has long since been proved to be nothing of the kind. The opinion that Mark's gospel is an abridgment of Matthew's has been satisfactorily refuted by Michaelis; for notwithstanding the coincidences between these two gospels, we find, on comparing them, that there are in Mark omissions of and discrepancies with what is contained in Matthew, which it is difficult to account for on the supposition that he wrote with the gospel of Matthew before him. The true mode of explaining these coincidences and discrepancies belongs to the more general question respecting the origin of the first three gospels. Those who believe that each evangelist composed his narrative from independent sources of information have no difficulty in proving Mark's qualifications for the task; for besides the assistance which he probably received from Peter, what we know of his life proves that he must have had opportunities of constant intercourse with the apostles and first Christians. (Lardner's Credibility and Lives of the Apostles and Evangelists; Cave's Lives of the Apostles and Evangelists; Kuinoel, Comment. in Lib. Hist. N. T., Proleg. v Marc.; Introduction to the Gospel according to St. Mark. in the Pictorial Bible, by Dr. Kitto, edit. 1849; and the Introductions of Michaelis, De Wette, Hug, and Horne.) MARK. [MONEY.] MARKET (mercatum), a public place and fixed time for the meeting of buyers and sellers. A legal market can exist only by virtue of a charter from the crown or by immemorial user, from which it will be presumed that a royal charter once existed, although it can be no longer produced. A market is usually granted to the owner of the soil in which it is appointed to be held, who, as such grantee, becomes the owner, or lord, of the market. In upland towns, that is, towns which, not being walled, had not attained the dignity of boroughs, markets were frequently granted to lords of manors; but in walled towns or boroughs, particularly in such as were incorporated, the ownership of the soil having usually, by grant from the crown, or other lords of whom the borough was originally holden, been vested in the incorporated burgesses, the course has commonly been to grant markets to the municipal body. The prerogative of conferring a right to hold a market is however subject to this limitation, that the grant must not be prejudicial to others, more especially to the owners of existing markets. In order that the crown may not be surprised into the making of an improper grant, the first step is, to issue a writ ad quod damnum, under which the sheriff of the county is to summon a jury before him to inquire whether the proposed grant will be to the damage of the king or any of his subjects. This writ must be executed in a fair and open manner, and the sheriff is bound to receive evidence tendered against, as well as in favour of the grant. But as the writ does not purport to affect the interest of any person in particular, it is not necessary that notice should be given of the time or place at which it is meant to be executed. Notwithstanding a finding by the jury that the proposed market will not be injurious, any party who conceives that his interests are affected by the grant when made, whether he appeared upon the inquiry under the writ ad quod damnum or not, may traverse the finding, or sue out a writ of scire facias, which, after reciting the alleged injury, calls upon the grantee, in the name of the crown, to show cause why the grant should not be cancelled. If a new market be set up without any grant from the crown, the party is liable to be called upon by the crown to show by what warrant he exercises such a franchise [LIBERTY; QUO WARRANTO]; and he is also liable to an action on the case for damages, at the suit of any person to whose market, or to whose property, the market so set up by the defendant is a nuisance. A new market is presumed to be injurious to another held within the distance of twenty miles, even though it be on a different day, but this presumption may be rebutted. Formerly markets were held chiefly on Sundays and holidays, for the convenience of dealers and customers, brought together for the purpose of hearing divine service. But in 1285, by 13 Edward I., c. 5, fairs and markets were forbidden to be held in churchyards; and in 1448, by 27 Henry VI., c. 5, all showing of goods and merchandise, except necessary victuals, in fairs and markets, was to cease on the great festivals of the church, and on all Sundays, except the four Sundays in harvest. The holding of fairs and markets for any purpose on any Sunday was prohibited in 1677, by 29 Charles II., c. 7. The grantee of a market has a court of record called a court of piepowder (pieds pouldreux, "dusty feet"), for the prompt decision of matters arising in the market. [PIE-POWDER COURT.] Such a court being considered necessary for the expedition of justice and for the support of the market, the power of holding it is incident to a grant of a market, even though the royal letters patent by which the grant is made be entirely silent on the subject. Sales in markets may be of goods actually brought within the precincts of the market, or of goods not so brought. Goods not within the precincts of the market are sold sometimes by sample, sometimes without sample. Where goods are usually brought into the market for sale, it is incumbent on the lord of the market to take care that every thing be sold by correct and legal weights and measures. For the security of dealings in markets, contracts were formerly required to be made in the presence of an officer appointed for that purpose by the lord of the market, for which service he received from the buyer a small remuneration called market-toll. [TOLL.] It is a rule of the common law that every sale in market-overt (open market) transfers to the buyer a complete property in the thing sold; so that however defective the title of the vendor may be, yet that acquired by the vendee is perfect, even where the property belongs to a person who is under legal disability, as an infant, a married woman, an idiot, or a person in prison or beyond sea. In London every shop is market-overt for goods usually sold there. This rule is subject to certain exceptions and restrictions. A sale in market-overt does not bind the rights of the crown; nor does it bind the rights of others, unless the sale be in an open place, as a shop, and not a warehouse or other private part of the house, so that those who go along cannot see what is doing, and not, in a shop with the shopdoor or windows shut, so that the goods cannot be seen. The articles bought must be such as the party usually deals in. The sale must be without fraud on the part of the buyer, and without any knowledge on his part of any want of title in the vendor. If the seller acquire the goods again, the effect of the sale in barring the true owner is defeated. There may be a sale and contract; and therefore the property is not altered in market-overt in goods given, or in goods pawned, or in goods sold to the real owner. The sale must be between sunrise and sunset; and must be commenced and completed in the market. By 21 Henry VIII. c. 2, "If any felon rob or take away money, goods, or chattels, and be indicted and found guilty, or otherwise attainted upon evidence given by the owner or party robbed, or by any other by their procurement, the owner or party robbed shall be restored to his money, goods, or chattels." Since this statute, stolen goods, specified in the indictment, have, upon the conviction of the offender, been restored to the prosecutor, notwithstanding any sale in market-overt. As stolen horses can be easily conveyed to distant markets, the legis lature has frequently interposed to protect the owner against the consequences of a sale in market-overt. Thus, by 31 Elizabeth, c. 12, "No person shall in any fair or market sell, give, exchange, or put away any horse, mare, &c., unless the toll-taker, book-keeper, bailiff, or other chief officer will take upon him perfect knowledge of the person that shall so sell, give, or exchange any horse, &c., and of his true name, surname, and dwelling-place, and shall enter the same in a book there kept for sale of horses; or else that he so selling or offering to sell, &c., any horse, &c., shall bring unto the toll-taker or other officer aforesaid of the same fair or market, one sufficient and credible person, that can testify before such toll-taker, &c., that he knows the party that so sells, &c., such horse, &c., and his true name, surname, mistery, and dwelling-place, and there enter in the book of the toll-taker or officer, as well the true name, surname, mistery, and place of dwelling of him that so sells, &c., such horse, &c., as of him that so shall testify his knowledge of the same person, and shall also enter the true price that he shall have for the same horse, &c." And by sect. 4, "If any horse, &c., be stolen, and afterwards sold in open fair or market, and the sale shall be used in all points and circumstances as aforesaid, yet the sale of any such horse, &c., within six months after the felony, shall not take away the property of the owner, so as claim be made within six months, before the mayor or other head officer of the town or parish, if the horse, &c., happen to be found in any town corporate or market-town, or else before any justice of peace of the county near to the place where such horse, &c., shall be found, if it be out of a town corporate or market-town, and so as proof be made within forty days, by two sufficient witnesses, before such head officer or justice, that the property of the horse, &c., so claimed, was in the party by whom such claim is made, and was stolen within six months' next before such claim, but that the party from whom the horse, &c., was stolen may at all times after, notwithstanding any sale in fair or market, have property and power to take again the said horse, &c., upon payment or offer to pay the party that shall have the possession and interest of the same horse, &c., if he will accept it, so much money as the party shall depose and swear before such head officer or justice of peace, that he paid for the same bona fide without fraud or collusion." This statute extends to a horse taken by wrong, though it be not stolen. A market is generally appointed to be held once, twice, or three times in a week, for the current supply of commodities, mostly of provisions. A large market held once or twice a year is called a fair; and, according to Lord Coke, a large fair held once a-year is a mart. Fairs have all the legal incidents of markets, and are subjected to further regulations by 2 Edw. III. c. 15, one of which requires, that at the opening of the fair, proclamation be made of the time it is to continue. MARKETS, AGRICULTURAL. The more numerous markets are in any well cultivated country, provided they are at a sufficient distance not to interfere with each other, and on different days of the week, the greater saving there is of time and labour of conveyance. Good roads or navigable rivers are of great importance to a market-town; and if there are mills in the neighbourhood, where corn can be ground, they will increase the advantage to the farmer by causing a regular demand above what the immediate consumption of the place may require. The vicinity of a good market where every kind of agricultural produce will always find purchasers at a fair price, greatly adds to the value of a farm, especially if good roads lead to it; and the advantage is the greater if it be a populous town, which not only consumes much produce, but from which various kinds of manure may be brought by the teams which have carried the produce to market. It is perhaps for the general advantage that the farmers should bring their corn in regularly, without speculating on a rise or fall of prices. Nevertheless they may be safely left to follow the dictates of their own judgment, influenced as that is by the rise and fall of prices, which are the only indications we have of the demand requiring supply. The farmer is tempted to withhold his corn when the price is low, in order to have a greater profit when it rises; and, to a certain degree, he is justified in doing so: but if he speculates on his own corn, when he can obtain a fair price for it, he becomes a merchant, as much as if he purchased to sell at a profit. When there is a good market at hand, the produce of the farm should be regularly sold, so as to give the farmer a constant supply of money for his operations, besides a portion set apart for the rent and other regular payments. In this way he will, at the end of the year, have had the average price, without risk and without speculation; and by a little caution he may obtain somewhat more than a mere average, provided he has always more money at hand than his immediate wants require, and is never forced to sell. In order that the farmer may not be imposed upon, he must either make himself acquainted with the transactions in different neighbouring markets, or he must rely on the honesty and judgment of an agent, whose business it is to attend markets and buy and sell for others. These men are generally called salesmen or factors, and when their character for honesty is established, the small sum which is paid them on the sales will generally be found to be fully compensated by the advantage which their knowledge of the markets and of the quality of the articles gives them. This is particularly the case in the buying and selling of live-stock, which requires much more knowledge and experience than most other articles. The people whom the farmer has to deal with in fairs and markets have generally a thorough knowledge of the real value of the articles offered for sale, by constantly frequenting markets, and confining their attention to buying and selling only. The farmer is therefore seldom a match for the dealer, and will find it his interest to employ a person equally skilled in these matters. The farmer would lose too much valuable time, and be led to unnecessary expense, if he attempted to obtain the requisite knowledge by frequenting different and distant markets, as the dealers do. Notwithstanding this, a certain knowledge of markets and prices is necessary to enable a farmer to detect imposition or ignorance in the person he employs, and the occasional attendance at fairs and markets is indispensable to obtain this knowledge. When the whole bulk of the articles to be sold is brought into the market and exposed for sale, the market is called a pitched market; when only a small portion is brought, to show the quality of the whole, it is called a sample market. Each has its peculiar advantages and inconveniences. In a pitched market the buyer sees what he purchases, and can thoroughly examine it; he may therefore be induced to offer a more liberal price; but it often happens that he has to carry a load away by the same road by which it was brought; the sacks also have to be returned, which causes frequent mistakes and losses; and there is an evident waste of time and labour. When the article is sold by sample there is more reliance on the honesty of the seller, and the buyer naturally keeps on the safe side, by offering somewhat less, as a kind of insurance against slight deceptions. The buyer keeps half the sample and the seller the other, that they may be compared with the bulk in case of any dispute. The seller sends the article sold on a day agreed upon; and if it is corn, the sacks are brought back when the waggon or cart returns home. The price is usually paid on the next market-day. In very large dealings the selling by sample is generally adopted; small quantities are usually pitched. Great inconvenience still arises from the various measures used in different markets; and dealers require tables to reduce them to one standard. The law which has established one uniform standard of weights and measures does not enforce its adoption, and a great variety of weights and measures still remains to perplex the dealer. MARL, an earthy substance found at various depths under the soil, and extensively used for the improvement of land. It consists of calcareous and argillaceous earth, in various proportions, and as the former or the latter prevails, so it is beneficially employed on clays or sands. There are several distinct sorts of marl-clay marl, shell marl, slate marl, and stone marl. The clay marl has probably been formed by the slow deposition of clay suspended in water, and mixed with the particles of decomposed shells. When these shells have retained their form, or appear in fragments in the marl, it is called shell marl. A considerable compression and a complete decomposition of the shells form slate marl and stone marl. The effect of marl is the same as that of clay and chalk upon sandy soils; on heavy soils its effect is proportioned to the quantity of calcareous earth which it contains. The peculiar advantage of marl is its readily crumbling to powder by the effect of air and moisture. If it is too compact to dissolve under these influences, it can only be made useful by burning, and in this case it is only a substitute for lime, its value depending on the proportion of calcareous earth in the marl. Marl is often found very near the surface, so as to mix with the soil in ploughing; but unless there be a sufficient depth of soil above, its presence does not indicate great fertility. It is generally best when found at a moderate depth, so as to be readily dug out and carted on the adjacent lands. In Norfolk, where a marl containing a large proportion of clay is found in many places under a light soil, it is frequently spread over the surface at the rate of two or three hundred cart-loads This dressing, joined to underdraining, makes a wonderful improvement on soils which before were scarcely worth cultivating, owing to their being loose and wet in winter. The clay marl makes them retain sufficient moisture, while the superfluous water is carried off by the drains. per acre. Marl when put fresh upon the land requires some time in order to become effective. It should therefore be laid on the surface and spread before winter, leaving it there for a considerable time before it is ploughed in. It is most advantageous to put it on the land when it is in grass, and to roll and harrow it repeatedly, in order to expose it to the effect of the air and rains. Alternate frosts and thaws greatly assist its pulverisation. An excellent use of marl is in forming composts with dung and peat earth. It is laid in layers with the dung and peat, and if the heap is well soaked with urine or the washings of stable-yards, it will in a short time become a most valuable manure for all kinds of soils. Many peat bogs are formed on a marly bottom; where this is the case, and it can be drained, or the water got rid of in any way, the marl, when laid on the surface, consolidates the peat by its pressure, and soon makes it capable of producing good herbage by converting it into a rich vegetable mould. The expense of marling land can only be calculated when the distance of the marl and the depth from which it is raised are known; when it lies in a stratum under the land, it is generally the cheapest plan to open a pit in each field; for the carriage of the marl is the chief expense. Within a distance of two hundred yards from the pit, it is found by experience that the cheapest way of putting it on the land is by means of men wheeling it in barrows with the help of planks, as is done in digging canals and other similar public works. It is in the compound character of certain limes that the subject of marling becomes connected with that of liming. As extraneous matters increase in quantity, and the lime diminishes, the effect of the application of course depends less and less on those considerations which explain the effect of liming, and the influence of the application of marl depends more and more upon the clay or sand, or it may be other things in smaller quantity which are thus conveyed to the land. In a great many, perhaps the majority of instances, marl owes its fertilising influences to the lime which it contains, and then its effects are precisely those which lime would produce-sweetening herbage, increasing the quantity and improving the quality of crops. This it cannot do so energetically as is done by caustic lime, what lime it contains being in a state of carbonate: its dilution however, by other earthy matters gives it almost as great facility of mixture with the soil as is possessed by caustic lime on its reduction to powder by slaking. In so far, however, as marling acts by its calcareous,ingredient, its use has been supplanted by that of burnt limestone; and the marl pits of the country in Devonshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and other counties, now, have, many of them, large trees growing in them, proving how long a time has elapsed since they were used. Accordingly, where the use of marls still prevails, and it certainly does prevail to a very large extent in some districts in England, their effect is chiefly due to the other ingredients which they contain. We will specify a number of instances in which the fertilising effects of this application have been apparent. Holkham Park, in Norfolk, was let in 1776, to Mr. Brett, at 3s. per acre, and on the expiry of his lease, it was offered to him at an advance of 28.; he refused to take it, and Mr. Coke, the landlord, took it into his own hands. The surface soil of the whole district is very light sand, but nearly throughout it there is a stratum of rich marl, at various depths underneath. Pits accordingly were opened, and the marl dug out and laid upon the surface. This not only increased its fertility, but gave to the soil the solidity which is essential to the growth of wheat. Here then the effect was due, not merely, nor perhaps chiefly, to the lime which this marl contained, but to its clayey part, which corrected the excessive looseness of the top soil. Take another instance of the effect of clays upon light sandy soil. In some of the lighter districts of Lincolnshire, it has been long a common practice to apply the white clay on the chalky soils in its neighbourhood, and the blue marl which lies in their valleys to alter and improve the nature of their red sandy soil. The white buttery marl used in these localities gives both strength and solidity to the lighter soil on the green-sand formation, and in a particular instance in our knowledge a farmer having applied it only to two lands in one of his fields, found that the yield of corn from those lands was fully 2 or 3 sacks per acre greater than from the remainder of the field. The marl is also found to prevent the clubbing of turnips, or the disease called fingers and toes, to which that land was subject. The blue marl is beneficial, but in a less degree. It is common to put on 40 loads per acre, and one dressing of the white clay is found to be amply sufficient for a great many years, it being questionable whether a second application on the red land is calculated to be useful. In Suffolk the marl, which is clay containing small particles of chalk, is generally applied to the light soils, where it improves the mechanical texture of the soil, stiffens the straw of wheat, prevents the finger and toe in turnips, and seems to add the food which clover requires. Take now the instance of marl applied upon peaty soils throughout the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. The best method is to dig trenches in the soil some two feet wide at intervals of 20 to 30 feet, taking one or two feet of clay out of them and spreading it over the surface; 100 cubic yards may thus be spread for 30s. to 35s. per acre. The light fen soil will after this grow first-rate crops of wheat, flax, and even beans. And even where the same crops are retained in culti vation, their greater produce amply repays the cost of the operation putting that at 50s. per acre or 6d. per cubic yard of the clay applied. In illustration of the quantity of clayey marl which is put upon light and fen land in some districts of the country, we may name the |