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MALONIC ESTER 94 mALTA acid. It is a colorless, crystalline sub- stance, soluble in water, alcohol and ether, melts at 133° C, and, at higher temperatures, decomposes into carbon dioxide and acetic acid. It occurs in the calcium salts found in beet sugar manu- facture, and is prepared from chloracetic acid. It is used in the synthesis of other organic compounds. MAIiONIC ESTER. Ethyl malonate CHjCCOOCaHs)^. A colorless liquid, spe- cific gravity 1.061, boiling point 198° C. Soluble in alcohol and ether, very slight- ly soluble in water. Prepared by heating cyanacetic acid with absolute alcohol in the presence of hydrogen chloride. The compound is of peculiar interest from the chemical point of view because of the readiness with which fatty acids can be synthesized by its use. It is also used commercially for organic synthesis. MALORY, SIR THOMAS, Knight, was born probably about 1400, the son of Sir John Malory of Newbold Revell. As a young man he served in France under the renowned Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, known as the "father of courtesy." In 1445 he was member of Parliament for Warwickshire, and he took pai*t in the Wars of the Roses on the Lancastrian side. He died on March 14, 1470, and was buried "in the Chapel of St. Francis at the Gray Friars, near Newgate, in the suburbs of London, leaving a widow and a grand- son. This is practically all that is known of the author of the famous "Morte d'Arthur," which he finished in the year of his death, and which was printed by Caxton in 1485. The "Morte d'Arthur'* is a compendium, not particularly order- ly or consistent, of the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, translated from somewhat de- graded French versions into English prose. These stories had formed one of the chief themes of the French and Eng- lish metrical and prose romances from the 12th century, and in this book Ma- lory collects them in a form which may be regarded as summing up the mediaeval treatment, while it constitutes the source from which many modern poets have drawn the material for numerous poetic and dramatic versions. The little that we know of Malory corroborates the impression we derive from his book, that he was a man in love with chivalry. When he was an old man, in the period when chivalry was beginning to decline, he appears to have devoted his last years to translat- ing into his own tongue the stories which seemed to him to be the best embodiment of that spirit of knightly courage and loyalty, of devotion to women and the church, of generosity, honor, truth, and courtesy, which marked the finest type of mediseval gentleman. Though Malory's work is a transla- tion, it is written in a digTiified yet natural style, which flows smoothly, and is capable of great variety of expression, being vigorous and forcible in the descrip- tions of fighting, delicate and tender in the pathetic passages, and suffused throughout with a fine idealism. It stands at the end of the Middle Ages, transmitting to the modern world the best of the preceding age. MALOT, HECTOR (ma-16'), a French novelist; born near Rouen, France, May 20. 1830. He was a prolific writer. Of his numerous works the best known are: "The Victims of Love," in three parts; "The Lovers"; "Husband and Wife"; ' "The Children"; "Doctor Claude"; "Ac- complices"; "In the Bosom of the Fam- ily"; etc. Most of his books treat of French life under the Second Empire. He died in 1907. MALPLAQUET (mal-pla-ka'), a vil- lage in the French department of Nord, 10 miles S. of Mons in Belgium. Here, Sept. 11, 1709, over 90,000 British and Dutch, under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, defeated about the same num- ber of French under Marshal Villars. In this "very murderous battle," as Marl- borough called it, the loss of the allies was from 20,000 to 30,000, of the French from 6,000 to 16,000. Its result was the capture of Mons. MALT, grain, usually barley, steeped in water and fermented, by which the starch of the grain is converted into saccharine matter, dried on a kiln, and then used in brewing ale, stout, beer, or pox'ter, and in the distillation of whisky. MALTA (mal'ta) (anciently Melita), an island in the Mediterranean belong- ing to Great Britain; 62 miles S. S. W. of Sicily, and 197 miles N. of Africa; length 17 miles; central breadth, about 9 miles; area, 95 square miles, to which the adjoining islands of Gozo and Comino add 24; pop. about 225,000. It is of an ^ irregular oval shape, deeply indented on all sides except the S., where the coast forms a continuous and almost unbroken line. The most important indentation is the double bay on which the capital, Valetta, stands. The greatest elevation of the island is about 750 feet. The soil is thin, and rests on a calcareous rock; in some parts earth has been brought from Sicily and put down. Com, cotton, potatoes, and clover are the chief crops.