MESSINA. 364 META. extensive. The cliii'I" products are hardware, silk, muslin, and linen. JMessina has some fame for salins and damasks. The eonimeree is important, though not as great as formerly. Ihe harl.or is very busy at all times. Silk, oil, wine, coral, fruit essemes. argol, oranges, lenions, and other articles are dealt in. The town ranks fourth amonf Italian cities in the volume of its com- merce'; the total tonnage entered and cleared in inoO beiii" over .S.SOO.OOO. The imports were about $4,oTk),000, the exports $10,000,000. There is direct stcamsliip coiiimunieation with Naples and AlarsciUi's, The university, opened in l.>:i8, is attended bv some 000 students. There is also a technical institute in the city. The """"f'P"! hospital is a vast structure built prior to K.OO. IMessina is the seat of an archbishop. Popula- tion (commune), in 1001, 140,778, The outskirts and environs are delightful, at- fordin" ma-rniticent views of the sea as well as of -Mount iCtna. On the west rises the former fort of Castellaccio, and not far away to the south is Fort Gonzaga, on a historic spot. The new Campo Santo is beautiful, with its graceful Greek colonnades and wonderful views, 1 he 1 ele- „rafo— the summit of a pass near Jlessma— is niuch visited for its scenery. Here was supposed to be the Charybdis of the familiar legend, oppo- site Scvlla, on the Calabrian coast. lIi.sTOKY Messina is a town of great antiquity, its foundation being ascribed to pirates from Curaa> in the eighth century n.c, when it was known as Zancle (a sickle), in »11"^><'" '■' the shape of its harbor. At the end of the litth een- turv BC the town was occupied by fugitives from Samos and Miletus, and it soon after pa.ssed to axilas, the tvrant of Rhegium. who intro- duced there Messenians from the Peloponnesus, bv whom the name of the city was changed to Messana. After tlic death of Anaxilas. Messana became a republic, and maintained that status until its destruction bv the Carthaginians during their wars with Dionvsius of Syracuse at the betrinning of the fourtli century B.C. It was re- buUt bv Dionvsius. but soon fell again into the hands of the' Carthaginians, who were finally expelled bv Timoleon in n.c. .•?43. During the -ft-ar between Agathoclcs of Syracuse and Car- thage Messana sided with the Carthaginians. TheVirst Piinie War left Messana in the posses- sion of Komo. and the town subsequently iittained considerable commercial importance. In ■>■"• •<•; the town was taken by the Saracens and in K l.l was conqiK'red by the X.un.ans. The town be- came a flourishing seat of trade in the Middle
es, and received important inivileges from Charles I, of Spain, which achl.^d gr.atly to its prosneritv. Puring the struggle between the arisln.ratie fa.tion, or Merli. and the democratic faction, or Mavizzi. the Senate, in 1074, appealed for aid to the Freneh. who occupied the city, but soon ahandone.l it, after having defeatc.l the com- bined fleet of Spain and Holland, Lett in the hands of the Spaniards, the city was deprived of its political lilK-rties. and soon lost its commer- cial importance. The plague of 1,43 and the earth.iu'ike of 17S3 .arried olT a eonsi.lerable part of its population. In ia«0 the place was occupied In- Garibaldi, and in IStll became a part of united Halv. ,. „ MESSINA, Str.mt of (It. Fnro ,h Ifrs.'ii.m. Lat l.,wr,li„um frrlum). The channel sepa- rating Sicilv from the smithem point of Italy. and connecting the Ionian with the Tyrrhenian Sea It is 24 miles in length, and from 1 to 12 miles in breadlli. Kegiilar tidal currents run through the strait, whieli is of great depth, m some places exceeding 4000 feet. See Sctlla. AND CU.VRVBDIS. MESSMATES, A.mmal. See Commen-s.lism. MESSUAGE. A legal term employed in con- vcvaiicing as substantially equivalent to the idi'rase -dwelling house and appurleiiances,' and most coinnumlv construed as meaning the cur- tilage, eourtvard. and an orchard, if there a one. See Aiu-Vrtexaxce : Cuhtilage. MESTIZO, mes-te'zA ( Sp., mongrel, from LaU mixtus, past part, of misccre, to mix). The or- dinary term in use in Spanish American coun- tries to denote the ofl'spring of white and Indian p-irenta-'c and usually understood to mean the offspring of a white father by an Indian mother. The eiiuivalent term in French Canada is metis, and in the United States half-breed. The off- sprin" of an Indian and a mestizo is called mesti- M-clm-o. of a negro and mestizo a mulato-oscuro, ] of a mulatto and mestizo a chino. MES'TOME (from Gk, /i^oru/ia, mestoma, fullness, from /lifff-Of, vicstns, full). The conduct- in" portion (hadrome and Icptome) of a vascular bimdle. The term does not include the bast fibres, lihriform cells, or pericyclc, MESTBE, mes'tra, A town of Northern Italy, in the Province of Venice, live miles northwest of the city of Venice, on the border of a lagoon (Map- Italv. G 2), It is connected with eiiice, Padua, and" other places by railway. There are manv villas around the town and along the road to i'adua. Mestre has a considerable transit trade There arc manufactures of machinery. Popuiati.m (commune), in 1001, ll.tiSO, includ- ing ^lalgbera, MESTU'RTJS (Xeo-Lat,, from Gk. fieardi mcstos, full + oiim, oura, tail). A fossil actinoptervgian fish of the family P.vcnodontidje, found in the .Turassie iwks of Kurope. The body WIS Hat and high, and was eovere.l with rhombic "anoid scales that are most peculiar in being united to each other by jagged sutures, Ihe mouth is small and provided with powerful "rindiu" teeth on the palate and sharp cutting reetb in the jaws. See GANOinEl. MESZAROS. ma'sa-rosh, LAzAr (17001858).
lluii-arian patriot. He was horn at Baja,
- tudie,r theology- and law, and in 1S13 joined
the Hungarian' armv in the campaign against Xapcdeon, He was colonel of a llus.ar 'egmient in 184S, when Batthvfinyi called him to he Minister of War in his Cabinet. In the same year MeszAros took command of an expedition "acainst the Rascians in his native .onnly oi PAcs, This proved a complete f-olyc- »"<•*" .Tanuarv 184!). his armv was defeated with great loss before Kaschau, For a brief lime he was noininallv commander-in-chief o the """P;"^ forces, and shared with Tl-";r'^',;V nV^aS at Szi-.reg and Temesvar. H.' then lied to Turk^- After lesi.ling for some years ""/"'-•":';,X?*^ and the island of .lersey. MeszAros ••i-'Y'««"> ^ 11,.. Ti.ited States, He died at Kywond lleieford shire iMi.'land. on his way to Switzerla.Kl. METa", ma'IA. One of the P'-i";P-' *"""; t,,i,.s „f tb,. Orinoco. It rises in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes, near Bogota,
