MED
thofe of &i M. M»ei his undertaken an Univerfil Hifctory of Medals, and promifes Cuts of twenty-rive thou- iiind. He has ranged them under four Claries. The full contains the Medals of Kings, Cities, and People; which have neither the Name nor Image of the Roman .Emperors. The l'econd contains the Conjitar Medals ; the third the Imferial Medals; and the fourth, the Hebrew, Tunic, Par- tbic, trench, SpsutUk, Gothic, and Arabic. He begins with the Imperial, and brings them down as low as Heraclius. He places the Latin, in order, before the Greek. Ad. Occo, a German Phyfician, and Count Mezzabarba, have endea- voured to range them in a Chronological Order, but that
(V3)
MED
vide the Thorax, longitudinally. It proceeds from the Sternum, and puffing itrait down thro the middle of the Thorax ro the Vertebra-, divides its Cavity into two. It contains, in its Doublings, the Heart, Vena Cava, the Oe- fophagus, and the Stomachic Nerves. The Membranes of the Mediajiinum arc finer and thinner than the Pleura, and have a little Fat. It receives Branches of Veins and Arteries from the Mammillary, and Diaphragmatic, parti- cularly, one call'd Medaftina ; its Nerves come from the Stomachic : it has alfo fome Lymphatics, which open into the Thoracic Du£r. The Mediajiinum divides the Thorax - int» two Parts ; to the end that one Lobe of the Lungs a impnaicable. lor ,n moll of the Impertal Medals, there may officiate, if the other be hinder'd by a Wound on ■s no Mark either of the Confulate, or of the Year of the the other Side. Sometimes there is a Matter coritain'd Keign; and ImceGalbc r there is none of them that bear betwixt its Membranes, immediately under the Sternum, the lea.il Footfteps of Chronology Greek Medals are fuch which may occafion the trepanning of this Place. The as have either the Heads of Greek Emperors, or Greek In- Mediafiinum ferves to Main the Vifcera, and prevent their
falling from one fide to the other. See Pleura, Tho- rax, &c.
Mediastinum Cerebri, is the fame as Septum Tranf- verfum. See Septum Transversum, £J?c.
fcripnons.
There are falfe or Jjturious Medals, which ate thofe counterfeited, and put off for Antique, when they are not : Mutilated Medals, which are thofe that are not entire, or are defaced : Redintegrated Medals, which are thofe where- in we find the Letters Reft, which /hew that they have been rellored by the Emperors : Dipt Medals, which are llruck of pure Copper, and afterwards filver'd. This is a Contrivance that the Curious have frequent recourfe to, in order to compleat their Silver Sets. Cover'd or Plaited
MEDIATE, or Intermediate, a Term of Relation to two Extremes, applied to a thitd, which is in the mid- dle ; as, to a fecond Caufe, which is aft ed upon by fome fuperior or firft Caufe, to produce any Effect. Subflance is a Genus with regard to Man, but between the two there are orhet mediate Genus's, as Body and Animal. Mediate
Medals, which have only a thin Silver Leaf over the Cop- is ufed in oppofition to immediate'. Thus when we fay, per, but which are llruck fo artfully, that the Cheat does that God and Man concur to the Produflion of Man ; God not appear, without cutting them : Thefe are the leaft is the mediate Caufe, Man the immediate. 'Tis a popular iulpccted. Grant d or Indented Medals are thofe, whofe Queflion in Theology, oia. Whether the Holy Gholl con- Edges are cut like Teeth, which is a fign of Goodnefs verts a Sinner mediately or immediately and Antiquity. They are common among the Confulars, MEDICINE, an Art, ordinarily call'd Thvflc ; defined, but we have none later than Auptftus. Thete are feveral by Boirha-ve, to confilt in the Knowledge of thofe Things, of them, however, among thofe of the Kings of Syria, by whofe Application, Life is either preferv'd found and
Ul.L., — ...u^„ J:r„_j >j ■ ._ n ...,j — :.- :n:
Medals countermark'd, are thofe that are cut either on the Side of the Head, or of the Rcverfe : Thefe Counter- marks ferve to denote the Change of their Value ; and this Kind is much enquir'd for by the Curious. There are
healthy, or when diforder'd, again reflor'd to its priftine Healthinefs. See Health and Disease.
Galen defines Medicine, the Art of preferving prefent Health, or of retrieving it when pad: Hippocrates, the
alfo Caft Medals, which are not firuck, but call in a Mould ; Addition of what is wanting, and 'the Retrenchment of
and Medals that have no Reverfe. what is redundant : And laflly, Hierophilus, the Know-
Scalier derives the Word from the Arabic Methalia, a ledge of Things good, indifferent, and ill, with regard to
Com wherein is imprefs'd the Figure of a human Head. Health.
Menage and Fofus rather derive it from Mstalb.m. Du Cange Phyfic mull have been nearly coeval with the World,
ebferves, that the antient Oboli were cal I'd Medalia, auafi The Injuries and Viciflitudes of the Air, the Nature and
Medietas Nummi. Qualities of Foods, the Violence of external Bodies, the
1 he moll noted Medalifls, or Authors on Medals, are, Actions of Life, and laflly, the Fabric of the Human
Amounts Augujimus, Woljfius, Lazlus, Ful. Urfinus, a learned Compages ; mill have render'd Difeafes almoft as old as
Antiquary, JEneas Vicus, Hubertus, Goltzius, Oifelius Segmn. Occo, Trijlan, Simiond, Yadlant, Patin, Noris, Spanhetm, Har- douw, Morel, Joubert, Mezz.'barba, Eegher, &c.
MEDALLION, a Medal of an extraordinary Bignefs. It was ordinarily a kind of Medal, which Princes ufed to prefent, as a Token of their Effeem ; for which reafon the Romans call'd them Mijjilia. The Medallions were never any current Coin, as the Medals were : They were llruck purely to ferve as publick Monuments, or to make Prefents of.
There cannor be any Set made of them, even tho' the fo well cultivated by ihe Adrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Metals and Sizes iliould be join'd promifcuoufly. The belt and Magi, that they were able to remove prefent Difeafes,
Mankind : And the Prefence of a Difeafe, as ir brings with it a painful Senfation, the Lofs of the Ufe ofa Limb, &c. we find, does, by a neceffary mechanical Impulfe, both in Brutes and Men, compel the Difeafed to feek for Help, and to apply Remedies, either by mere Experi- ment, or by Inflinct, and fpontaneous Appetite. Hence arofe the Art ofMedicine ; which, in this fenfe, has been al- ways, every where, among Mankind. Antient Hittories and Fables tell us, that in a little time, from the Flood, it was
Cabinets do not contain above four or five hundred ; tho' M. Morel promifes us F'igures of above a thoufand. Au- thors vary about the Time when they firft began to be llruck. Some Antiquaries will have it under the Empire of Tbeothjitts : but this mud be a Miilake; for there were fome ilruck even in the Upper Empire : witnefs a
and prevent future ones. Hence it pafs'd into Egypt, Ly- bia Cyrenaica, andOotorte; and thence into Greece, where it flourifh'd, principally in the Iflands of Cnidus, Rhodes, Cos, and in Eptdattrus.
The firft Foundations of the Art were laid by Chance, natural Inftincr, and Events unforefeen : Thefe were im-
Nero, a Trajan, and an Alexander Scverus, Hill extant. Me- proved by the Memory of the Succefs of former Experi-
da'lions of Gold are very rare, as alfo thofe of large Cop- ments ; by writing down the Difeafes, their Remedies, and
per. Medallions are diftinguifh'd from Medals by the Vo- their Event, on Columns, Paintings, and the Walls of their
lume; that is, by the Thicknefs andCoinpafs; and the Temples; by expofing the Sick in the Mafkets and pub-
Largenefs and Relievo of the Head. Medallions, in many lie Ways, that thofe who pafs'd by, might enquire into
antient Latin. Titles, are call'd Mettalliones. The Italians the Difeafe, and communicate a Remedy, if they knew
call them Medaglhni. any : and laftly, by Analogy, or Rcafoning, from a Com-
MED1ANA, the Name of a Vein, or little Veflel, made parifon of Things already obfetv'd, with Thir
by the Union of the Cephalic and Bafilic, in the Bend of and to come. The Art at length t the Elbow, 'Tis not :
of the Arm,
fon
tv'd, with Things prefent a h receiv'd a much greater
- a particular Vein, or a third Vein degree of Perfeaion, by the appointing of Phyjiciaus ; fome
- Authors imagine ; but merely a for the Cure of particular Difeafes, and others for Dif-
Eranch of the Bafilic ; which running into the inner Part eafes in general; by an accurate Obfervation of the Dif- of the Elbow, unites with the Cephalic, and forms a com- eafe, and its Symptoms ; and by an exa8 Defcription of mon Vein, call'd Medium ; and by the Arabs, the Black the Remedy, and its Ufe: immediately, upon which, it rem. Column* Median*, in Vitmvius, are the two Columns got among the Priefts, and at length was confined to par- m the middle of a Porch, whofe inner Column is larger ticular Families; defcending, byway of Inheritance, from than thole of the reft. , Father to Son : which, again, proved a great Bar to its
Mediana Linea, a Line or Seam running down the Progrefs. middle of the Tongue, and dividing it into two equal The Extifpicia, or infpefling the Entrails of Beads, Parts; tho not fo effeaually, but that the Blood- Veflels ufed by the Priefls; the Cudom of Embalming dead of the one Side communicate with thofe of the other. Carcafes, and even Butchery itfelf, promoted the Know- See Tongue. ledge: of the Human Fabric, and of the Caufes both of MEDIASTINE, or Mediastina, the Name of a Health, Difeafes, and Death. Laflly, the difleaing of Vein of the Medtajiinum. See Vein and Mediasti- live Animals for Philofophical Purpofes, diflina Narra- tives of the Caufe, Rife, Increafe, Crifis, Declenfion,
MEDIASTINUM, in Anatomy, a double Membrane, form'd by a Duplicaturc of the Pleura j ferving to di-
End, and Eftea of Difeafes ; and the Knowledge of Me- dicines, their Choice, Preparation, Application, Powers,
and
