MERRY DEL VAL 198 MESA VERDE Manila, Aug. 13. In 1899 he was placed in command of the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governor's Island, N. Y. He died Dec. 3, 1910. MERRY DEL VAL, RAEAEL, CAR- DINAL, Roman Catholic ecclesiastic; born in London, Oct. 10, 1865, son of the secretary of the Spanish Embassy there. His family is of Irish extraction. Merry being his father's and Wall, altered into Val in Spain, his mother's name. He was educated in England and at Rome, and was introduced to the notice of Pope Leo XIII. by his father. He soon gained the Pontiff's favor, being appointed Papal Chamberlain in 1892 and Arch- bishop of Nicosia in 1900. He acted as secretary to the consistory that elected Pope Pius X. in 1903, who shortly after- ward made him his Secretary of State, and created him cardinal. His reaction- ary policy as adviser to his Holiness led to the estrangement from Rome of both France and Spain, and to much loss of prestige by the Vatican. In September, 1914, following the accession of Pope "Benedict XV., he was succeeded as Sec- retary of State by Cardinal Gasparri, and in October, 1914, was appointed Sec- retary of the Congregation of the Holy Office. MERSEBURG, a town of Prussia on the Saale. Henry the Fowler in 934 gained his great victory over the Hunga- rians near Merseburg. which suffered much in the Peasants' War and in the Thirty Years' War. Pop. about 23,000. MERSEY, a river of England, rising on the borders of the counties of Chester, Derby, and York, and after a S. W. course of 60 miles, in which it receives the waters of the Goyt, Irwell, Bollin, Weaver, and other tributaries, it empties into the Irish Sea, by a large estuary at Liverpool. It is navigable as far as Manchester, 31 miles. MERTHYR-TYDVIL (-tud'vil), or TYDFIL (so called from the martyrdom here of a Welsh princess of that name), a parliamentary borough and market- town of south Wales, on the confines of the counties of Glamorgan' and Breck- nock, 24 miles N. by W. of Cardiff, its port, and 178 W. of London. Pop. about 85,000. MERTON COLLEGE (England), the oldest college in Oxford of its type and all secular colleges later established in Oxford and Cambridge were modeled after it. It was founded by Walter de Merton in 1263 as the House of Scholars of Merton. The endowment consisted of the founder's manor-house and estate at Maiden, Surrey, the income going to the support of scholars at Oxford. Between 1264-74 the scholars were moved from the rented premises to Merton Hall, pur- chased by the founder. The college buildings have undergone many changes since first established, but the 13th cen- tury parts are among the most interest- ing architectural examples in Oxford. The chapel, of cathedral size, though without transepts, is still uncompleted. MERU, in Hindu mythology, a fabu- lous mountain in the center of the world, 80,000 leagues high. It is the most sacred of all mythical mountains, and the abode of Vishnu. MERV, an oasis in central Asia, N. of Afghanistan, forming a part of the former Russian Transcaspian province. In 1815 the oasis was subjugated by the Khan of Khiva, to whom it remained tributary for about 20 years. Subse- quently Persia attempted to make good the claims which it had long laid to this district, and in 1860 fitted out an expedi- tion for the purpose, which, however, miscarried completely. In 1881 General Skobeleff led a Russian expedition against the Teke-Turcomans, captured their stronghold of Geok Tepe, and re- ceived the submission of the people of Merv. It was annexed by Russia in 1884. Pop. about 120,000. MERWIN, SAMUEL, editor and author; born in Evanston, 111., 1874; educated at the Northwestern Univer- sity. Became associate editor of the "Success Magazine" in 1905, and for this magazine traveled in China in 1907 to study the opium question. His first book in collaboration with H. K. Webster, "The Short Line War," appeared in 1899. His other works include: "Calumet K." (also with H. K. Webster), "The Road to Frontenac," "The Whip Hand," "His Little World," "The Merry Anne," "The Road Builders," "Comrade John," "Drug- ging a Nation," "The Citadel," "The Charmed Life of Miss Austin," "Anthony the Absolute," "The Honey Bee," "The Trufflers," "Temperamental Henry." MERWINGS. See MEROVINGIANS. MESA, a high plane or table-land; more especially a table-land of small ex- tent rising abruptly from a surrounding plain; a term frequently used in that part of the United States bordering on Mexico. MESA VERDE, a peculiar plateau in the southwest comer of Colorado, on the right bank of the Mancos river, 15 miles in length and about 8 wide. Its base is from 300 to 500 feet above the floor of the valley, while its sheer walls
