MUSK OX-MUSK RAT.

they curve downwards between the eye and ear, until about the level of the mouth, when they turn upwards. The head is large and broad, and the nose very obtuse. The ears are short, and not very conspicuous. The general color of the hair of the body is brown. On the neck and between the shoulders, it is long, matted, and somewhat curled: this bushy state of the hair on those parts, causes the animal to appear humped. The hair on the back and hips is also long, but lies even and smooth. On the shoulders, sides and thighs, it is so long as to hang down below the middle of the leg. On the centre of the back it has a soiled, brownishwhite mark, termed, by captain Parry, the saddle. The tail is so short as to be concealed in the fur. There is a large quantity of fine, brownish, ash-colored wool or down among the hair. This is so fine and soft as to resemble silk, and would be highly useful in the arts, if it could be procured in sufficient quantity. The legs are short and thick, and furnished with narrow hoofs, resembling those of the moose. The female, which is smaller than the male, has also smaller horns, whose bases do not touch. The first account of this animal was given by M. Jeremie, in his travels in the northern part of America, after which it was noticed by every subsequent voyager. Pennant, however, was the first who systematically arranged and described it, from the skin of a female sent to England by Hearne. As is observed by doctor Richardson, it is remarkable, among the American animals, for never having had more than one specific appellation, whilst other animals, of less interest, have been honored with a long list of synonyms. (See Richardson's Faun. Am. Bor. from which the foregoing account has been principally derived.) MUSK RAT (fiber). This well known animal, which is so closely allied in form and manners to the beaver, has a thick and blunt nose, and short ears, which are almost concealed in its fur. The color of its body is reddish-brown; the belly and breast are of an ash-color, slightly mixed with a ferruginous tint. The hair is soft and glossy, and beneath it is a thick coat, which is much used in the manufacture of hats. On the hinder feet, instead of the web connecting the toes, as in the beaver, there is a stiff fringe of hair, which is closely set, and projects from the sides; the front toes are free and unconnected. The tail is thin at the edges, and compressed, covered with small scales, with a few scattered hairs, is about nine 10 *

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inches long, or nearly that of the body, which is twelve. The flesh is not eatable from the strong odor of musk which pervades it. The musk rat is exceedingly common in most parts of the U. States, particularly in the Northern. In Carolina, Georgia, &c., Bartram states that it is never found within one hundred miles of the sea coast. These animals reside along small streams, mill races, and ponds, apparently forming their habitations according to the nature of the locality. Where the banks have some elevation, they form large and extensive burrows, which have entrances below the surface of the water, and gradually ascend till they terminate in a chamber above the level of high water. These burrows are most frequently made under the roots of trees, or in other situations of difficult access. These excavations are of great injury to artificial embankments along most of our rivers, by permitting the water to undermine, and to make large breaches in them. When, however, these animals inhabit low and marshy situations, they construct houses not very unlike those of the beaver, composed of reeds, &c., mixed with clay. These houses have several subterraneous passages leading to them, and are inhabited by many individuals during the winter; but in the warm weather, they desert them entirely, and dwell in pairs, whilst they rear their young, of which they have from three to six at a litter. The houses are constructed in the marsh or swamp, but not in the stream or pond, and a new one erected every season. Hearne says, that the tops of these houses are favorite breeding places for the geese, which bring forth their young there, without the fear of be ing molested by foxes, or any other destructive animal, except the eagle. He also states, that, on Hudson's bay, instead of making their houses on the banks of the water, they build them on the ice, always taking care to leave a hole open, to permit them to dive for their food. When the weather is so severe as to freeze these holes, and they suffer from hunger, there is strong reason to believe, that they prey on each other. Their usual food is the roots, &c. of aquatic plants, particularly the calamus: they also destroy immense quantities of the different species of fresh water muscles (unio), the shells of which are always to be seen about the entrance of their burrows. They will also feed on fruit, and one of the common baits used in traps for them, is an apple. They swim remarkably well, and are capable of remaining under water

MUTUAL INSTRUCTION.

to India, where the traveller Della Valle found it established as early as the sixteenth century. The object of this system is to carry on schools chiefly by means of the scholars themselves, and to instruct an uncommon number of pupils at once (Lancaster had 880 together, and says that he could teach 1000), with comparatively few masters and little expense. The pupils are divided into small classes, each instructed by one of the more advanced scholars, in reading, writing, arithmetic, &c., as far as the little teacher has been taught previously by the master. Such little teachers are called monitors, and have a class of about ten on a bench, or, as Bell prefers, standing in a semicircle. The oldest and most trustworthy pupils have the superintendence as general monitors. Other assistants take care of the lower departments of service, or the police of the school; one notes down the absent, one rules the writing-books, attends to the distribution of slates, &c. The strictest discipline and order being observed, the whole appears like a great piece of clock-work, which moves without the interference of one part with another. The school resembles an army, which a single man is enabled to command by means of order and discipline, and because every one knows precisely his duty. All are instructed, and teachers are formed at the same time. Cheapness is always kept in view. The pupils commence learning writing by making figures on tables covered with sand; then old paper, written or printed on one side, is taken. In England, where this system was first introduced from India, 500,000 (in London alone, 8000, in 43 schools), in Ireland, 30,000 children, are educated according to this method, which has been greatly improved of late years. Lancaster was engaged, in 1824, in establishing similar schools, under the protection of Bolivar, in the South American republic Colombia. In the British East Indies, a society at Calcutta has established 88 schools on his plan, which has been also adopted at Malta, the cape of Good Hope, on the Senegal, in Sierra Leone, and other English colonies. The Greeks also have made use of this means for the establishment of elementary schools (in which they were entirely deficient), on a cheap plan, at Athens, Argos, and on the islands. From France, an interest for them was excited in Italy, where Tuscany and Parma (the latter since 1822) have permitted their establishment. In Naples and in Spain, where similar schools

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were established under the cortes of 1821 and 1822, in the principal towns, they were prohibited in 1823. France had, in 1821, as many as 1197 schools for children, and 166 regimental schools, according to this system. The latter were compelled, under the Bourbons, to renounce this method entirely, and the constant opposition of the ecclesiastics and the ministry lessened the number of the former, it being considered dangerous, and savoring of liberalism, to keep on foot such an institution for the improvement of the nation, in a country, where, amongst 24,000,000 of adults, only 9,000,000 could write and read, and of 6,000,000 of children, only 1,600,000 enjoyed the benefit of school education. From a similar cause, this system was prohibited in the Austrian army and throughout Austria; and, in Russia, the zeal with which it was at first received soon abated, so that only attempts on a very small scale were allowed. The Danish government, on the contrary, began, in 1819, with great zeal and success, to introduce these schools in Denmark, Holstein and Sleswick. The plan, though not the same in all particulars, resembles, in its chief traits, that of Bell and Lancaster. The number of schools in that country has rapidly increased, and, according to a late report, amounted, in 1829, to 2646. Professor Schuhmacher, rector of the cathedral school at Sleswick, in a report on the system of mutua. instruction, observes, that it is excellent, as long as it limits itself to matters of mechanical skill or of mere memory. It saves time for the teacher nd pupil; it saves expense in the business of education, and is highly beneficial for all elementary schools containing a large number of pupils, differing so much in knowledge and intelligence, that one teacher cannot instruct them all at the same time, but is obliged to divide them into many classes. This method, however, is superfluous in schools in which the number of pupils that the teacher can superintend and inis so small struct them conveniently, particularly where all the members of one class have made nearly equal progress. And even in common schools, it would be injurious to strive to bring every thing into this form, as it would put a stop to the highest kind of instruction; and in the institutions for a more advanced stage of education, where a scientific spirit, independent thought, the formation of the dgment and taste, are the objects, it is more peculiarly inapplicable. Much information respecting this method in Denmark is

MYRON-MYSIA.

approached her as if alive, as is mentioned by many epigrams in the Anthologia. He flourished about 442 years before Christ. MYRRH; a fragrant, bitter, aromatic gum resin, which is obtained from an undetermined tree in Arabia, and especially in Abyssinia. It comes to us in grains having a resinous fracture, and a slightly acrid taste. According to Pelletier, it is composed of thirty-four parts of resin and sixty-six of gum. The Abyssinian myrrh is brought from the East Indies, and the Arabian comes by the way of Turkey. It is used in a great variety of medicinal preparations.

MYRRHA; a daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus. She became enamored of her father, and introduced herself into his bed unknown. She had a son by him called Adonis. When Cinyras was apprized of the incest he had committed, he attempted to stab his daughter, and Myrrha fled into Arabia, where she was changed into a tree called myrrh.

MYRTLE; a genus of plants consisting of aromatic trees or shrubs, with simple opposite leaves, which are sprinkled with pellucid glandular points, and having axillary or terminal white or rose-colored flowers. One species, the common myrtle, is a native of the south of Europe, and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It has been celebrated from remote antiquity on account of its fragrance and the beauty of its evergreen foliage, and, by different nations, was consecrated to various religious purposes. Myrtle wreaths adorned the brows of bloodless victors, and were the symbol of authority for magistrates at Athens. With the moderns, it has always been a favorite ornamental plant, and is commonly cultivated in gardens both in Europe and America. Pimento or allspice is the produce of a species of myrtle inhabiting tropical America, and consists of the berries, which are collected before they are ripe, and dried in the sun. No species of myrtle, nor, indeed, of the large family myrtaceæ, inhabits any part of the U. States.

MYRTLE WAX; a concrete oil, or vegetable wax, the product of the class of plants myrica, more commonly known by the name of candleberry myrtle. There are many plants which afford a concrete oil or wax; and even the light matter which is called the down of fruits, and which silvers the surface of prunes and other stone fruits, Proust has shown to be wax; but the indigenous family of myrica affords much the greatest abundance, and, in many respects, is entitled to the atten

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"The advantageous

tion of cultivators. properties that this tree appears to possess," says M. Cadet, in the Annales de Chimie, tome 44, "ought to have induced philosophers to make inquiry to ascertain the various properties of the vegetable, and what attention its culture might require: it has long been considered merely as an object of curiosity." The plant abounds in nearly all parts of the U. States, distinguished into four species: viz.-1. Gale; 2. Cerifera; 3. Caroliniensis; 4. Pennsylvanica. It varies in size from four to eighteen feet, becoming taller as it extends into the warmer regions. The bush or tree has somewhat the appearance of the common myrtle (myrtus communis), and bears a berry of the size of the pepper-grain or coriander-seed. These grains are of a common ash-color, containing a small, round, hard kernel, which is covered with a shining wax, that may be obtained by boiling the grains in water. Toscan, in a memoir inserted in his work entitled L'Ami de la Nature, gives a full account of the manner of procuring the berries, and preparing the wax. The plant itself has always been esteemed a great ornament in foreign countries, and much exertion and expense have been bestowed to promote its growth in the European gardens. The wax is prepared for commerce by the poor people along the northern lakes, and might, by proper attention, be rendered an important article of traffic. So much was the product of the plant valued by the king of Prussia, that the tapers made of it were reserved entirely for the sick-room of the royal household, it emitting, when burning, the most delicious and balsamic odor. It was noticed, as early as the year 1722, in a memoir of M. Alexandre, published in the History of the Academy of Sciences. Charles Louis Cadet has given an excellent account of the natural history, &c., in the Ann. de Chimie, already referred to; and doctor John Bostock has furnished a chemical analysis of its properties and. habitudes, in Nicholson's Journal, vol. iv. It has recently been introduced to the notice of the medical public, as possessing anti-dysenteric properties, by William M. Fahnestock, M. D., who used it very successfully in that disease which was epidemic at Harrisburg, Pa., during the summer of 1822.-See American Journal of the Medical Sciences (vol. ii, 1828).

MYSIA; a country of Asia Minor, which, in the most extensive sense, comprehended all the north-western portion of the peninsula, and bordered on the Ægean, the