of late separations; McTyeire (Nashville, 1884); Hyde (New York, 1887); Histories of Methodist Episcopal Church, by Bangs (New York, 1839-41); Stevens (New York, 1864-67; supp. vol. 1899); and Buckley (New York, 1896); Basset, History of the Methodist Protestant Church (Pittsburg, 1878; 3d ed., rev. and enl., 1887); Atkinson, Centennial History of American Methodism (New York, 1884); Tigert, Constitutional History of American Episcopal Methodism (Nashville, 1894); Drinkhouse, History of Methodist Reform (Baltimore, 1900); Atkinson, Beginnings of Wesleyan Movement in America (New York, 1896). Special topics: Matlack, Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church (New York, 1881); Slater, Methodism in the Light of the Early Church (London, 1885); Cummings, Early Schools of Methodism (New York, 1886); Green, Mission of Methodism (London, 1890); Neely, Evolution of Episcopacy and Organic Methodism (New York, 1888); and Governing Conference of Methodism (New York, 1892); Stephens, Wesley and Episcopacy (Pittsburg, 1892); Crooks, Life of Bishop Simpson (New York, 1890); Lanahan, Era of Frauds in the Methodist Book Concern, New York (Baltimore, 1896); Tigert, The Making of Methodism (Nashville, 1898); Oliver, Our Lay Office Bearers (Cincinnati, 1902).

METHODIST CHURCH, FREE. See METH

ODISM.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. See METHODISM.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. See METHODISM.

METHODIST NEW CONNECTION. See METHODISM.

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. See METHODISM.

METHO'DIUS (also called EUBULIUS) (?c.311). A noted Greek theologian of the third century, a martyr and Church father. He was Bishop of Olympus in Lycia and perhaps of Tyre. He was a contemporary of Porphyry and suffered martyrdom about 311. Epiphanius calls him

"a very learned man, and a strenuous asserter of the truth." He vigorously opposed Origen. Of his numerous works, which are mostly dialogues, several exist complete either in Greek or Syriac, the most important being the Banquet, a Christian counterpart to Plato's Symposium. It is in Migne, Patrol. Græca, xviii., and has been edited by Bonwetsch (Leipzig, 1891); there is an English translation in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (vol. vi.).

METHODIUS. The apostle to the Slavs. See CYRIL AND METHODIUS.

METHOD OF CHARACTERISTICS. CHARACTERISTIC.

See

METHOD OF DIFFERENCE (in logic). See INDUCTION.

METHUEN, mộthuen. A town in Essex County, Mass., two miles north of Lawrence, on the Spicket River, and on the Boston and Maine Railroad (Map: Massachusetts, E 2). It has the Nevins Memorial Library; and there are manu'factures of cotton and woolen goods, knit goods, worsted goods, yarns, baskets, bells, organs, and hats. The government is administered by town meetings. First settled about 1641, Methuen was

part of Haverhill until 1725, when it was incorporated as a separate town. Population, in 1890, 4814; in 1900, 7512.

METHUEN, me-tun', PAUL SANFORD METHUEN, Baron (1845-). An English general, born at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, and educated at Eton. He entered the army in 1864 as lieutenant of the Scots Guards; served in the second campaign of the Ashanti War in 1874, and after four years as attaché in Berlin became assistant quartermaster-general for the Home District in 1881. In the Egyptian War (1882) he was staff officer and quartermaster-general, and in Bechuanaland in 1884-85 he won a C.M.G. From 1892 to 1897 he was commander of the Home District, and on the outbreak of the Boer War was put at the head of the first of Buller's three divisions, to relieve Kimberley. He was entirely unsuccessful in this attempt, being severely checked and wounded at Modder River, and, a week after, November 30, 1899, losing in a frontal attack on Magersfontein nearly 1000 men. He retired to Modder River, and did nothing further to hinder Cronje's works. Methuen, together with Hunter, formed the left in Lord Roberts's victorious movement on Pretoria in May and June, 1900. In March, 1902, he was captured by De la Rey and Kemp on the way from Vryburg to Lichtenburg. The troops were almost immediately released, and with them Lord Methuen, who had been wounded in the brief engagement.

METHUEN TREATY. A treaty concluded May 16, 1703, between England and Portugal. Soon after the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession Portugal agreed to support England against France, and hence a formal treaty was negotiated by Sir Paul Methuen, the English Ambassador at Lisbon. Politically this treaty had the effect of making Portugal the devoted political adherent of England for more than a century. In its commercial aspects the treaty is almost still more interesting. The wines of Portugal were to be admitted into England upon the payment of a duty 33 per cent. less than the duty paid upon French wines. For this England received proportionate advantages. The result was that for generations the English gentry were addicted to the drinking of port, the Portuguese wine.

METHU'SELAH.

According to Gen. v. 21

27, son of Enoch and one of the descendants of Seth, who attained to the age of 969 years and hence has become known as the 'oldest man who ever lived. The list of ten antediluvian patriarchs in the fifth chapter of Genesis is thought by modern scholars to have some relationship to the legendary list of ten dynasties who ruled Babylonia before the flood and which Berosus embodied in his Babylonian history. The name Methuselah is composed of two elements. Methu (= Babylonian mutu), 'man,' and Shelah, probably the name of a deity; though in regard to all the names in Gen. v., we cannot be certain that the traditional forms have been correctly preserved. Consult Zimmern, Keilinschriften und das alte Testament, pp. 535-543 (Berlin, 1902). METHY. The burbot (q.v.).

METHYL (from Gk. μév, methy, mead + in, hyle, wood), CH. The simplest monovalent radicle found in carbon compounds. Like any other radicle, it is a group of atoms that cannot exist independently, and that remains unde

composed during many chemical transformations of the substances whose molecules contain it. See CARBON COMPOUND; CHEMISTRY (historical section).

METHYL ALCOHOL, WOOD ALCOHOL, or PYROXYLIC SPIRIT, CH,OH. A colorless liquid having a peculiar aromatic odor. It boils at a lower temperature than ordinary alcohol, and, like the latter, mixes with water in all proportions. It is largely used in the manufacture of varnishes and for the preparation of 'methylated spirit' (q.v.). Methyl alcohol is one of the products obtained when wood is heated in retorts, out of contact with the air. It is contained in the aqueous portion of the distillate, mixed with pyroligneous (crude acetic) acid, ammonia, acetone, etc. To separate the acid, the mixture is neutralized with slaked lime and distilled, the acid then remaining fixed as calcium acetate. Ammonia may be eliminated in a similar manner, by adding sulphuric acid and distilling. Further, to separate the alcohol from acetone (which is especially objectionable if the alcohol is to be used in the manufacture of aniline dyes), oxalic acid may be added to the mixture and a gentle heat applied. Methyl alcohol acts like a weak base; when brought in contact with oxalic acid it forms the crystalline solid substance called methyl oxalate, while acetone does not react with oxalic acid, and remains in solution. After separating the solid methyl oxalate from the remaining liquid, methyl alcohol may be reobtained from it by dissolving it in potash and distilling. Finally, the alcohol may be freed from water and any remaining impurity by rectifying it over quicklime. An excellent way to obtain pure methyl alcohol from commercial wood spirit is to add to the latter about onetenth of its weight of iodine and just enough caustic soda to decolorize the solution, to distill off the liquid, and dehydrate the distillate by means of quicklime. All the ordinary impurities of wood spirit, including ethyl alcohol, acetone, aldehyde, etc., are thus converted, by the iodine and caustic soda, into iodoform, which remains behind when the mixture is subjected to distillation. To eliminate the odor of iodoform in the distillate, a little silver nitrate may be added, and the solution redistilled.

METHYLATED SPIRIT. A mixture of about 90 per cent. of ordinary alcohol and about 10 per cent. of methyl (wood) alcohol. A small amount of paraffin oil is also added, which renders the mixture unfit for drinking, while it scarcely interferes with its properties as a solvent. Methylated spirit is cheaper than ordinary alcohol, and can be used, for most purposes, in place of it.

METHYLENE BLUE. An aniline dye, occurring in the form of a bluish, finely crystalline powder with a bronze-like lustre. It is slightly soluble in water, and much more freely upon the addition of alcohol. It is largely used as a stain for pathological and normal tissues and for specimens of blood. An attempt has been made to determine the condition of the kidneys by noting the time which elapses between the administration of methylene blue and its appearance in the urine. Aside from the variability of the results obtained with both healthy and diseased kidneys, it cannot be assumed that permeability of those organs for this drug bears a

definite relation to that for the normal urinary constituents. It has, however, proved of some value in the treatment of gonorrhoea, and claims are made for it as a substitute for quinine in malaria.

METHYLENE (from methyl) DICHLORIDE, or DI-CHLORO-METHANE, CH2Cl. A chemical compound of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine. It can be obtained by the direct action of chlorine gas on methane (marsh-gas), or by the action of nascent hydrogen on chloroform. It is a colorless heavy liquid, having a chloroform-like odor. It is a powerful anesthetic, and has been used as a substitute for chloroform. Its effect on the organism is more even than that of similar anæsthetics.

METIS. The daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and wife of Zeus, who devoured her in the fear that the son whom she should, bear would be more powerful than himself.

METIUS, mā'tê-us, ADRIAAN (1571-1635). A Dutch geometer, born at Alkmaar. He studied law and medicine, but later devoted his attention to astronomy, and from 1598 until his death was professor of mathematics at the University of Franeker. His mathematical works include: Doctrinæ Spherica Libri (1598); Universæ Astronomic Institutio (1605; 2d ed. 1630); Praxis Nova Geometrica (1623); Problemata Astronomica (1625); Calendarium Perpetuum (1627); Opera Astronomica (1633); Arithmetica Libri 2, et Geometriæ Libri 6... Trigonometria Planorum Methodus (1626); De Genvino Utriusque Globi Tractatus (1624); Primum Mobile Astronomice, etc. (1631; 2d ed. 1632-33).

METLAKAHTLA, mět ́lå-kä'tlå (properly Matlakhatla). A prosperous mission settlement of Chimesyán or Tsimshian Indians, on an The original settlement was some seventy miles farther south, below Port Simpson, on the main: land of British Columbia. Here the Episcopal missionary William Duncan in 1862 established a mission, which within a few months was joined by the whole body of Indians residing near Port Simpson, and prospered so rapidly that in 1886 it had developed into a town of 1500 civilized Indians, with two-story houses, regular streets, a salmon cannery, a sash and door factory, a sawmill, a brickyard, and one of the largest churches in British Columbia. An extensive shawl-weaving industry was also carried Unfortunately the British Government undertook to place the Indians of the town under the charge of an agent and reduce them to a reservation status, with the result that almost the entire settlement, led by Duncan, abandoned the place and established themselves at the present location in United States territory, where they continue to maintain their advanced civilization. The original settlement, now called Old Metlakahtla, is almost in ruins, with a population of perhaps 100 souls still remaining.

island near the extreme southern end of Alaska.

on.

METONIC CYCLE (so called from its inventor, Meton, who flourished at Athens about B.C. 432). A cycle of nineteen years of 235 lunar months, or 6940 days, at the end of which time the new moon falls on the same day of the year as it did at the beginning of the cycle, and eclipses recur in nearly the same order. This arises from the circumstance that

composing the line. This is true, for example, of Latin and of Greek. In such languages as do not depend on the length of individual syllables for their verse systems, metre applies to the number of stresses or beats in a line, or on the number of counted syllables. This is true, for example, of the Germanic and the Romance languages, although attempts have been made to employ long and short syllables as in the ancient languages. See VERSIFICATION.

METRICAL FOOT. In versification, the designation of the rhythmical unit in a verse. In Greek or Latin poetry this unit may be composed of one or more syllables, all long, or short and long, in various arrangements, as the spondee, dactyl, anapast, etc. In the Germanic and Romance languages the unit may be a single stressed syllable, or a combination of a stressed and one or more unstressed sylla bles. The metrical foot is marked here not by quantity of individual syllables, but simply by this thesis or accentuation, which corresponds with the regular accentual system of the language, and not necessarily, as in Greek or Roman poetry, with a long syllable. See VERSIFI

CATION.

METRIC SYSTEM (from Lat. metrum, from Gk. μέτρον, measure, from μerpeiv, to measure). A system of weights and measures invented by the French in the latter part of the eighteenth century. From earliest times, civilized people have possessed two ideas concerning their standards of weights and measures: that they should be invariable, and that their prototype should be found in nature. All nations have zealously guarded their standards. The Hebrews deposited theirs in their temples, the Romans preserved theirs in the Temple of Jupiter; Justinian standardized the weights and measures of the Empire and deposited them in a church in Constantinople. Dagobert (died in 638) kept the standards of the Franks in the King's palace, and modern nations preserve their units in special archives at their capital cities.

Great diversity in the kinds of units and in the size of the same units has always characterized systems of measures. As early as 1558 Henry II. tried to correct the standard units of France, and a Gabriel Mouton, vicar of Saint Paul at Lyons proposed in 1670 a system remarkably similar to the metric system of today. But not until 1790 did the French Government undertake the making of a new system. For this purpose a committee of the Academy of Sciences was appointed under the authority of the National Assembly and sanctioned by Louis XVI. The committee consisted of Borda, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, and Condorcet. Of the three linear bases proposed, the length of a seconds pendulum, a quarter of the terrestrial equator, and a quarter of a terrestrial meridian, the committee reported in favor of the last, one ten-millionth of which should be the standard unit of linear measure. Delambre and Méchain were appointed to measure the meridional distance from Dunkirk to Barcelona, the same task which Cassini had undertaken in 1669. This task, difficult in itself, was made the more so by the political revolutions of the times, and required seven years for its completion. The finally computed length of the terrestrial quadrant was in part verified by a comparison with a similar result

found by Bouguer and La Condamine in Peru (1736). The length, expressed in English measure, is 32,808,992 feet. Sir John Herschel has since estimated the quadrant to be 32,813,000 feet, which makes the meter 1-208 of an inch shorter than one ten-millionth of a meridional quadrant. In 1793 a temporary commission of twelve was appointed, with Borda as president, to make a comparison of all the units then used in France, and to determine the kinds and com

position of the metals to be used in constructing the new standard units, their forms of construction, and finally the place and means of their preservation. In 1798 the European States were invited to send representatives to a conference at Paris, the object being to examine the work executed during the preceding eight years by the various commissions. Nine States responded. Their delegates, together with the ten French commissioners, were divided into committees, which reviewed the work so far accomplished.

On June 22, 1799, the standard units, the meter and kilogram, were presented to the Council of Five Hundred, and deposited in the archives at Paris. In December of the same year the Council adopted these standards. The use of the new system, however, was not made obligatory in all departments until 1837.

The hope of the inventors of the metric system, that it would become the universal system of all civilized nations, seems likely to be realized, for, in one century, its use has been made obligatory in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Rumania, Servia, Norway and Sweden, Switzerland, and Venezuela; its use has been legalized in Egypt, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, and Turkey. The populations comprised in these two lists of nations are about equal, each being nearly 300 millions. Several attempts have been made to introduce the French system in the United States or to adopt a similar system. On January 15, 1790, Congress ordered the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, to prepare a uniform system of weights and measures. Jefferson, who had been Minister to France, reported, on July 14th, a system founded on the length of a seconds pendulum in the mean latitude of the United States (38°), or in the latitude of 45°. But the English system was not disturbed. Again, in 1821, Congress sought to revise the system of weights and measures, and John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, recommended in the strongest terms the adoption of the metric system.

In 1866 the law which made the metric system legal in the United States was passed. The same legislation directed that the 5-cent piece should weigh five grams and have a diameter of two centimeters; that the unit for weighing letters in post-offices should be the gram. But these details were imperfectly carried out. The use of units in electrical engineering, based on the metric system, was determined by the law of 1894. Bills have been introduced into the House of Representatives several times, proposing to make the metric system obligatory. The most recent bill of this kind was that of 1902. Although compulsory legislation may not be immediate, the adoption of the metric system is constantly extending, as shown by its use in weighing foreign mail matter, in weighing at the