Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/148

MARCONI 118 MARGARET ward emperor) , in the year 6. The Cher- usci defeated the Marcommani in 17, and a peace was mediated between them by Drusus. Domitian made war on them, and was defeated in 90. In alliance with other tribes they invaded the Roman em- pire in 166, when a war commenced which was not brought to a close till 180. They ravaged Italy in 270. The last notice of Marcomanni is in 451, when they formed a contingent of the army with which Attila invaded Gaul and Italy. • MARCONI, WILLIAM (-ko'ne), an Anglo-Italian electrician; born in Grif- fone, near Bologna, Italy, April 25, 1874, His mother was an English woman. He became a student of electrical science at 14, and began experimenting in wire- less telegraphy in 1895. His first Eng- lish exhibition was given in 1896, and was private. In 1903 a message was sent by President Roosevelt from Cape Cod, Mass., to King Edward VII. at Poldhu — 3,000 miles. A commercial service was opened between Ireland and Nova Scotia in March, 1907. The Marconi station at Argentina sent and received messages over 7,000 miles. Mr. Marconi intro- duced a persistent wave system and in- struments to give desired forms to dis- patched wave energy. He improved the detector, and in 1910 developed a new receiver and a duplex that sent and re- ceived messages without conflicting. Mar- coni has been decorated by Great Britain, Spain, Russia, and Italy. Elected to the Italian Chamber, at the outbreak of the World War he was appointed Director of the Italian Wireless Telegraph De- partment. See Wireless Telegraphy. MARCUS AURELITJS. See AURELIUS. MARCY, MOUNT, the highest peak (5,344 feet) in the Adirondacks, and the loftiest point in New York State. It is in Essex county, 10 miles south of Lake Placid. MARDI GRAS (mar'de gra). Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent. In the United States the day is observed with great ceremonies, especially in New Orleans and Memphis. These include brilliant processions, masquerade balls, and other gay entertainments, which are participated in by thousands of visitors from all parts of the country. MARDIN (mar-den'), a town in the vilayet of Diarbekir in north Meso- potamia, strikingly situated on the S. slopes of th« Mardin Hills. Pop. about 25,000, of whom half are Moslem Kurds. MAREIA, LAKE. See Mareotis, Lake. MARE ISLAND, an island in San Pablo Bay, Cal., 28 miles N. of San Francisco. Here are located a United States naval arsenal and dockyard. These include wet and dry docks, marine bar- racks, ordnance yards, a hospital, and extensive repair shops. It is the station for the Pacific Fleet, and during the World War was the scene of many im- portant naval activities. MAREMMA (ma-rem'ma), a marshy region of Italy, extending along the sea coast of Tuscany from the Cecina river to Orbitello; area of about 1,000 square miles. In Roman times and earlier the Maremma was a fruitful and populous plain; but the decay of agriculture fos- tered malaria, which now reigns supreme in a great part of this district. Leopold II. of Tuscany directed especial at- tention (1824-1844) to the drainage and amelioration of the Maremma, and his eff'orts and subsequent measures have been attended with considerable success. Crops are now grovm in the summer on the fertile soil of the infected area by the inhabitants of the adjoining hill country, who go down only to sow and to reap their crops. During vnnter the Maremma is healthier and yields good pasture. MARENGO (ma-ren'go), a village of northern Italy, in a marshy district, near the Bormida, 3 miles S. E. of Alessan- dria. Here on June 14, 1800, Napoleon, with 33,000 French, defeated 30,500 Aus- trians under Melas. MAREOTIS (ma-re-6'tis), or MA- REIA (ma-re'ya), LAKE (the modern El Mariut), a salt lake or marsh in the N. of Egypt, extending S. from Alexan- dria, and separated from the Mediter- ranean, on its N. W. side, by a narrow isthmus of sand. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was a navigable lake; in 1798 it was found by the French to be a dry, sandy plain; but in 1801 the Eng- lish army cut the dikes of the canal that separated the Lake of Aboukir from Mareotis, to cut off the water supply of the French, and Mareotis became once more a marsh. The like happened again in 1803, in 1807, and in 1882; on the last occasion the sea was introduced directly through a cutting 15 feet wide and half a mile long. MARGARET, Queen of Scotland; born in Hungary, about 1045, From 1057 she was brought up at the court of her great- uncle, Edward the Confessor. In 1068, with her mother and sister and her boy brother, Edgar the Atheling, she fled from Northumberland to Scotland. Mal- colm Canmore next year wedded her at Dunfermline. She did much to civilize the N. realm, and still more to assimilate