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MOHILEFF 269 MOLD ^an tribe was the only important one in that region. They became scattered, some joining the Brotherton Indians in New York. Only about 100 remain, of mixed white and negro blood, residing near Mohegan, or Norwich, Conn. MOHILEFF, or MOGILEFF (mo-ge- lef ), the capital of a province in Euro- pean Russia; on the Dnieper, 95 miles S. W. of Smolensk. It is the seat of a Greek and a Roman Catholic archbishop, their respective cathedrals dating from 1780 and 1692, and has an old castle, and a town house built in 1679. Tanning is the principal industry; there is also an active trade in cei-eals, leather, brandy, salt, sugar, fish, timber, etc. The town was burned down by Peter the Great for strategical reasons in 1708. Here July 23, 1812, the French under Davout defeated the Russians under Ba- gration. Pop. about 75,000. Area of province 18,514 square miles; pop. 2,551,- 400. Another Mohileff is in Poland, gov- ernment of Podolia, on the Dneister river. Pop. about 35,000. MOHONK LAKE, a town in Ulster CO., N. Y., 14 miles N. W. of Poughkeep- sie. It is situated on the N. end of Lake Mohonk at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. Mohonk Lake is notable for the conferences known as the Lake Mohonk Conference held annually for the consid- eration of economic and social subjects. It was founded by Albert Keith Smiley, who in 1870 erected a large hotel. The entire tract includes about 5,500 acres. MOIDORE (moi'-), a Portuguese gold coin used in 1690-1722. Value about $6.50. MOIRE (mwa-ra'), silks figured by the peculiar process called "watering." The finest kinds of watered silks are known as moires antiques. The same process has been applied to woolen fab- rics called moreen, which is only an al- teration of the word moire. MOISSAN. HENRI, French chemist; bom in 1852. After preparatory educa- tion at Paris, where he was born, be- came a student at Museum of Natural History, joining when 27 staff of School of Pharmacy, teaching in toxicology and mineral chemistry departments. In 1900 he became professor at the University of Paris, and in 1906 received the Nobel prize for chemistry. Was awarded the Lacaze prize in 1887 for discoveries in fluorine, and later attracted attention by the claim that he had discovered how to manufacture diamonds. He wrote ex- tensively for magazines and encyclope- dias, his other works including: "L'lsole- ment du fluor" (1886) ; "Reproduction du diamant" (1893) ; "Carbure de cal- cium" (1894) ; "Etude complete des car- bones amorphes et des graphites" (1898) ; "Classification des elements" (1904) ; "Traite de chimie minerale" (1905). Died in 1907. MOJI, a city of Japan on the island of Kiushiu. In recent years it has grown in importance industrially. There are important coal deposits in the sur- rounding country. Pop. about 75,000. MOKANNA (mo-kan'na) (surname of HAKIM BEN ALLAH) ("THE Veiled"), the founder of a sect in Khorasan, who first appeared in the 8th century, during the reign of Almahdi, the third Abasside calif. He commenced his career as a soldier. In a fight an arrow pierced one of his eyes, and in order to hide this deformity he hence- forth constantly wore a veil. Mokanna set himself up as an incarnation of God. Mokanna found many adherents, and he was able to seize on several fortified places. But Almahdi marched against him, and after a long siege took his stronghold of Kash (720 A. D.), when together with the remnant of his army the veiled one took poison. MOLASSES- the brown uncrystallizabk syrup obtained in the refining of sugar. MOLAY, JACQUES DE (mo-la'), the last grand-master of the Knights Tem- plars; bom in Burgundy. Phillipe le Bel, King of France, and Pope Clement v., formed a plan for the extermination of the Templars, who were accused of heresy, impiety, and various crimes. In October, 1307, all the Templars through- out France were arrested at the same hour, and they were tried and convicted. Fifty-seven were committed to the flames in 1311; and after an imprisonment of seven years, De Molay shared their fate at Paris, March 18, 1314. Many com- manderies of the modern Knights Tem- plar in the United States are named after him. MOLD, or MOULD, in botany, the name given to any thread-like fungal, whether belonging to the Hyphomycetes or the Physomycetes, which are found on bread, ink, gum, etc. Brown, blue, or green mold is Penicillium gkiucum; another green mold is Muoor rmieedo. In geology: Vegetable soil consisting of the surface stratum, whether of clay, gravel, sand, or rock, disintegrated by at- mospheric influences and modified by the plants, first of lower and then of higher organization, and by the animals which reside upon or pass over its surface. Vol VI— Cyc— R