| Moisture | 6·72 |
| Ash | 5·86 |
| Soluble organic matter | 25·10 |
| Insoluble organic matter | 62·32 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
MATE′′RIA MED′ICA. A collective name of the various substances, natural and artificial, employed as medicines or in the cure of disease. In its more extended sense it includes the science which treats of their sources, properties, classification, and applications. The materia medica of the Pharmacopœia is a mere list, with occasional notes, “embracing the animal, vegetable, and chemical substances, whether existing naturally, prepared in officinal chemical preparations, or sold in wholesale trade, which we (the College) direct to be used either in curing diseases or in preparing medicines.” (Ph. L.)
MAT′ICO. Syn. Soldier’s herb; Mateco (B. P., Ph. D.); Matica, Herba maticæ, L. The dried leaves of a Peruvian plant, generally believed to be the Artanthe elongata, one of the Piperaceæ. The leaves have been employed with considerable success as a mechanical external styptic; applied to leech-bites, slight cuts, and other wounds, &c., and pressed on with the fingers, they seldom fail to arrest the bleeding. Matico has also been much lauded as an internal astringent and styptic, in hæmorrhages from the lungs, stomach, bowels, uterus, &c.; but as it is nearly destitute of astringent properties, its virtues in these cases must have been inferred from its external action. As an aromatic, bitter stimulant, closely resembling the peppers, it has been proposed as a substitute for cubebs and black pepper, in the treatment of diseases of the mucous membranes, piles, &c.—Dose, 1⁄2 to 2 dr.; in powder; or under the form of infusion, tincture, or boluses.
MATURA′TION. Growing ripe. Amongst surgeons this term is applied to the process of suppuration, or that which succeeds inflammation, and by which pus or matter is collected in an abscess. Warmth, irritation, and a liberal diet promote this change; cold, sedatives,
and depletion, retard it. The maturation of fermented liquor is noticed under Brewing, Malt liquors, Wines, &c.
MEAD. Syn. Mellina, L. An old English liquor, made from the combs from which the honey has been drained, by boiling them in water, and fermenting the saccharine solution thus obtained. It is commonly confounded with metheglin. Some persons add 1 oz. of hops to each gallon; and, after fermentation, a little brandy. It is then called sack mead, See Metheglin.
MEAL. The substance of edible grain ground to powder, without being bolted or sifted. Barley meal and oat meal are the common substances of this class in England. In North America the term is commonly applied to ground Indian corn, whether bolted or not. (Goodrich.) The four resolvent meals of old pharmacy (quatuor farinæ resolventes) are those of barley, beans, linseed, and rye.
MEALS. The “periods of taking food, usually adopted, in conformity with convenience and the recurrences of hunger, are those which are best adapted to the purposes of health; namely, the morning meal, the midday meal, and the evening meal.” “That these are the proper periods for meals is evident from the fact of their maintaining their place amid the changes which fashion is constantly introducing.” “If we look at these periods in another point of view, we shall find an interval of four hours left between them for the act of digestion and subsequent rest of the stomach. Digestion will claim between two and three hours of the interval; the remaining hour is all that the stomach gets of rest, enough, perhaps, but not too much, not to be justly infringed.” (Eras. Wilson.)
MEA′SLES. Syn. Rubeola, Morbilli, L. This very common disease is characterised by feverishness, chilliness, shivering, head-pains,
swelling and inflammation of the eyes, shedding of sharp tears, with painful sensibility to light, oppressive cough, difficulty of breathing, and sometimes vomiting or diarrhœa. These are followed about the fourth day by a crimson rash upon the skin, in irregular crescents or circles, and by small red points or spots, which are perceptible to the touch, and which, after four or five days, go off with desquamation of the cuticle. The fever, cough, &c., often continue for some time; and unless there have been some considerable evacuations, either by perspiration or vomiting, they frequently return with increased violence, and occasion great distress and danger.