Mala Pioba. Irish (mala, a bag). The bagpipe.
Malachite. A native carbonate of copper, forming a beautiful and permanent green pigment, used for oils and water-colours. Incrusted upon other materials it is used for articles of ornament. Blue malachite is pure carbonate of copper; green malachite is green carbonate of copper; emerald or royal malachite is dioptase of copper, a still rarer green and the best of all, which is a mixture of copper and silica; false or pseudo-malachite is phosphate of copper, soft and silky, and of a rich velvet green marred by black spots or lines, and not so rich as the three kinds of true malachite.
Malchus, R. An old term for a confessional having only one stool for penitents; it signified that which has only one ear, from the fact that Malchus, Caïaphas’ servant, was deprived of his right ear by Peter.
Malleability. The property of extension under the hammer (malleus). Gold is the most malleable of metals. The art of rendering glass malleable was discovered by an architect in the reign of Tiberius. Buried treasures of glass vessels have been found to be malleable when first disinterred, but to harden quickly on exposure to the air.
Malleus, R. (1) A hammer. (2) Med. The Maule (Gothic Miölner), Thor’s hammer; a military weapon.
Malluvia, Malluvium. R. A wash-hand basin.
Fig. 440. Malus of an Amphitheatre.
Malus, R. (malus, an apple-tree). (1) The mast of a vessel. (2) In theatres and amphitheatres (Fig. [440]) mali were the poles over which the velarium was stretched.
Malveisin, Med. (Fr. malvoisin, a disagreeable neighbour). A military engine for projecting stones or arrows.