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want ; they have thus always a drv home, plenty of provifions, and no danger of inundations ; for they are prepared for little lifings of the water, hy having upper ftories or rooms, into which they retire when the ground-floor is uninhabitable ; and rivers of this great breadth and fmall current, are not fub- ject to any very high floods. Mem. Acad. Par. 1732. The fize of the room is always well proportioned to the num- ber of the intended family ; if it he only for ("even or eight, then a room of two foot iquare does, and it is made propor- tionably larger as the number is to he greater. When they have laid out the plan of their habitation, they plant a parcel of rutiies all around it, which they furround in a very artful manner with clay, prcfliiig it down with their feet* and work- ing it even with their tail, which is like that of the beaver, and ferves them for a trowel. They have a paffage out of their houfe, which they go out at daily as long as the weather continues tolerably mild ; but when it becomes very fe- vere, they block up this paffage, and the whole habitation afterwards often becomes covered many foot deep with fiiow; in this cafe they keep within doors, and have wells which fupply them with water ; other holes which ferve to receive their excrements ; and they burrow under ground to the river, and feek tor the large roots they are to teed upon. In this feafon, if they are at fome difficulties to get food, they have the advantage however of being out of danger of the hunt/men, who know not where to leek them in the fnow ; but when the thaws come on, which is ufually in March or April, they difcover and take great numbers of them ; if this feafon be flipped, however, they generally efcape, for foon after this the melting of the fnows caufe inundations, which happen at no other times, and which drive them out of their habitations into the higher countries ; in this time they fingle one another out for the propagation of the fpecies, and even this is a fcene of fome danger to one lex, for the huntfmen find the way to imitate the courtfhip of the female, and will by that noife draw feverally many males about them, which they fJioot as they come in reach. After the time of copu- lation is over, and the waters are abated, the females return to their old lodgings, and there bring forth and nurfe up their young ; the males run about the country till winter, and then retire alfo to the waters for their winter life ; ' but they ufually make themfelves new lodgings every feafon. Mem. Acad. Par. 1732.
MusK-Seed, in the materia medica, the name of the feed of thealeea Mgyptiaca villofa, or hoary Egyptian vervain mallow. It is a fmall feed of about the bignefs of a pin's-head, of a greyifh brown in colour, and of the fnape of a kidney, and when it is frefh has a perfumed fmell. It is brought into Europe from /Egypt, and from Martinico. The /Egyptians life it internally as a cordial and provocative ; but in Europe it is of very little ufe, we wholly neglect it in medicine ; but the perfumers in France and Italy ufe it among their compofitions. Lemery's Diet, des Drog.
MUSKET (Cyr/.)— MusKET-fia/fc/j, in fortification, baf- kets of about a foot an4 a half high, and eight or ten inches diameter at the bottom, and a full foot at the top. They ate filled with earth, and fet on low parapets or breaft-works, or on fuch as are beaten down, that the mufketeers may fire between them at the enemy, and yet be tolerably well fecur- ed againft their fire.
MUSQUETEERS, Moufquetaires, in France, are troopers who ■ fight fometimes on foot, fometimes on horfeback ; they are gentlemen of good families, and arc divided into two troops, the one called the grey Mufqueteen, becaufe of the colour of their horfes ; the other the black Mufqueteirs, for the fame reafon.
MUSSAHIR, in ornithology, a bird mentioned by Arabian writers. It is faid, that this creature after having employed the day in feeking its food, fpends the whole night in ting- ing ; its notes are faid to be to melodious, as to banifli all thoughts of deep from them that hear them. Hofm. Lex. Univ. in voc.
MUST (Cycl.)— Must of Rhenijh wine. This is a liquor that, though drank by fome, is found extremely to affect the brain ; for not having pafl'ed the natural effervefcence which it would have been fubjea to, in the making of wine its falts are locked up till the heat of the ftomach fettin» them to work, they raife their effervefcence there, and fend up a- bundance ot fubtile vapours to the brain. The Rhenifh Mufi is of two kinds, being made either with or without boiling. That made without boiling is only put up fo clofe in the vef- fel, that it cannot work; this is called ftumm-wine. That by boiling is thus prepared : they take (Irong veffels not quite filled, and putting them into a cellar they make a fire mild atfirft, but increafed by degrees; and afterwards they gra- dually leflen it again, that the boiling may ceafe of itfelf. I his operation is fimfhed in thirty-fix or fortv hours, accord- ing to the fize of the veffel ; and the wine-boilers, inftead of common candles which would melt by the heat, ufe thin pieces of fjht beach-wood. Thefe alfo ferve for a double puroofc not on)y lighting tht . m> but giv[ (hem ^.^ rf
the boiling being enough; before that time, the quantity of vapours thrown up make them burn dim ; but as foon as it is hnifiled, the vapours afcend in lef. quantity, and the lights
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burn brifk and clear. About fey-en or eight days after this boil- ing, the Mufi begins to work, and after this working it is ca led wine. They have alfo another, kind of Rbeailh Mull which is thus prepared : they boil the liquor to half the qu4 tity, and put into it the medicinal ingredients they are moft fond of; (uch as orange-peel, elecampane-root, and juniper- berries, or the like ; being thus medicated, the whole works ™° more lowly, than it otherwife would. If the boiled Mufi by too violent an effervefcence call out its lees, it will on this become vapid ahd dead, unlefs this reparation is flop- ped by fome ratty fubftance, fuch as frefh butter, or the like : I hey put this in upon a vine-leaf; or elfe apply lard to the mouth or the veffel. Portzius, de Vin. Rhcn.
MUSTACEUM, among the antient Romans, a kind or cheefc- cake. It was compofed of cheefe, annifecd, cumin, and fuet added to flour, moiftened with rmijlum, or new wine. Pitifc. in voc. See the article Must, Cyci. and Suppl.
MUSTARD, Sinapi, in botany. See the article Sinapi. The common Mufiari is cultivated in many places, both in gardens and fields, for its reeds. It is propagated by fowing the feeds in foring upon an open place, which has been well dug or ploughed. When the young plants arc come up they mult be cleared or weeds, and houghed up to about ei»ht or ten inches afunder. They will then grow frrong, and when the feeds ripen the whole plant is cut down, and the feeds thrafhed out.
But befides this, there is another kind or Mufiard, common- ly known by the name of the white or garden Mufiard, which IS fown for a fallad-herb in fpring : the feeds of this are to be fown very thick in drills on a warm border, or a moderate hot bed ; they will be fit to cut for fallading in three weeks after the fowing. Miller's Gardener's DiS.
Jiedge-MusT ard, Eryfimum, in botany. See the article Ery- simum.
Mustard Vomits. The powder of Mufiard-feed may he made into the confidence or a loch with warm water, in which a little fea-falt has been diffolved. Ol this a common fpoonful, fometimes two, diluted with tepid water, are <*iven on an empty ftomach ; it operates well as an emetic," and proves an excellent remedy in moft nervous diforders, accord- ing to Mr. Monro, in Med. Eff. Edinb. Vol. 2. Art. in p. 303. not.
MUSTELA, the ffafel, in the Linnzan fyftem or zoology,
■ is a diitinffl genus of quadrupeds, including the ferret, pole-' cat, martin, ermin, iSc. Tie chara3ers of the genus are, that the creatures of it have a confiderable number or paps fituated on the belly, feet adapted to climbing, and four dentes malum or grinders, on each fide or the mouth. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N°. 24. and Lirmai Syft. Nat. p. 36. The IFcafel, in fome parts or England, is called the foumart, or fitchet. It is a little creature, finaller than the pole-cat 5 its back and fides are reddifh, and its throat and belly white, the whitened reaching perfectly from the angle or the chin to the infertion or the tail : Its head is fomething like a dof's, the upper jaw reaches beyond the lower, and is ornamented with tome briftles by way of whifkers. Its fore-teeth are fix in number in each jaw, and are finall and fet very clofe to- gether, like the teeth of a comb ; thofe of the under jaw are much finaller than the others ; the dog-teeth are long, lar»e, and ftrong ; the eyes are finall and black, the ears fliort and broad, and covered with very thick-let hairs; and, which is a very remarkable circumftance, they are doubled in their lower part. The inner cavity or the car is very large, and foil ol tubercles. The feet are fmall, but broad, and each divid- ed into five toes ; the legs are fhort. The heart and liver are, in diffecting this creature, found remarkably large. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 195.
Mustela Africana, in zoology, a name by which Clufius has called an animal, properly of the fquirrel kind, and known among others by the name or the Barbary fquirrel. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 218. See the article Sciurus.
Mustela, in ichthyology, the name or a genus of fifties, of which there are feveral faeries ; the moft common of which is that called the Sea-locbe, or whiftle-fifh. This refembles the common eel in figure, colour, and uipperynefs to the touch ; but it is not half fo long, in proportion to its thicknefs ; and is fomething flatter, and has a turgid belly. It is covered with extremely minute fcales, and its mouth is laree, and rurnifhed with fharp teeth, and has feveral feries or very finall teeth in many parts or its mouth. At the angle or the lower jaw it has one beard, and at the upper part or the noltrils in the upper jaw it has two. It has two pair of fins under its belly, and on the back, befide the common fin reaching half the length and almoft to the tail, it has at fome fmall diftance from the head a cavity in which is a membrane edged with filaments.
The different fpecies of this fifh are of three colours ; one is not fpotted, and or the colour or a tench ; another is fpotted with white ; and the third with reddifh black fpots ; and befide thefe there are the Mufiela -uivipara ot Schonfeldt, commonly known by the name of Aelquappe, and the Mufie- la foffilis, called Peifier, and the Eel-pout. Willughby's Hill. fife. p. 1 2 1 . AH which lee under their feveral heads.
Mustela
