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MOLYBDENUM 274 MONACHISM tion of molybdic acid and various salts of molybdenum. MOLYBDENUM, Mo, a metal dis- covered by Scheele in 1778, belonging to the group of metals which impart special properties to steel when added to it in very small amounts. Occurs as the sulphide (molybdenite), as lead molyb- denate (vulfenite) and the oxide (molyb- dic ochre), and although widely dis- tributed is not abundant. It is gray in color, has a specific gravity of 8.56, is softer than steel, malleable and capable of being forged and welded. The addi- tion of a small amount of molybdenum to steel increases its tensile strength, toughness and fineness of grain. MOMBASA (-ba'sa), or MOMBAS, a sea-port and the seat of administration of British East Africa, on the N. side of a small island 3 miles by 2% miles, close to the coast, 150 miles N. of Zanzibar. Trade in (exports) ivory, gum, copal, copra, ochella weed, maize, and grain; carried on by natives of British India. Island and port mentioned as early as 1331. It was visited by Vasco da Gama in 1497, held by the Portuguese from 1529 to 1698, and by the English from 1824 to 1826. Pop. estimated at 30,000, mostly Arabs and Swahili. MOMENTUM, in mechanics, the force possessed by matter in motion; the product of the mass by the velocity of a body. Thus a ball of four pounds' weight moving uniformly at the rate of 18 feet in a second would have double the mo- mentum that one of three pounds' weight moving at the rate of 12 feet per second would possess, for 4X18 is 72, and 3X12=36, or half as much. The force of percussion, that is. the force with which a moving body strikes an object, is the same in amount as the momentum of the former. MOMMSEN, THEODOR (mom'zen), a German historian; born in Garding, Schleswig, Nov. 30, 1817. He was Pro- fessor of Law at Leipsic, 1848-1850; of Roman law, at Zurich 1852-1854, at Breslau, 1854-1858; of ancient history at Berlin, 1858; member of the Prussian House of Delegates. His great work is "Roman History" (1854-1856). He ^Tote besides, "Roman Chronology down to Caesar"; "History of Roman Coinage" (1860); "Roman Investla:ations" (1864- 1879); "History of Roman Political Law." He was editor-in-chief of the great "Body of Latin Inscriptions" (1863- 1893). He died at the age of 86. at Charlottenburg, Prussia, Nov. 1, 190*3. MONA, a small island of the West Indies, 42 miles W. of Porto Rico, in the middle of Mona Passage; area, nearly 10,000 acres. It is a coral formation. The general level being about 60 feet above the sea-level, with a range of hills on the E. side of the island. All kinds of tropical fruits grow in profusion. It is the nesting place of thousands of green turtles. Mona came into possession of the United States under the peace treaty with Spain in 1898. The only resident on the island is a lighthouse keeper. MONACHISM (mon'a-kizm), the sys- tem of monastic Hfe: monkery, monkish- ness. The ultimate fact on which mona- chism rests is that many people are born with a tendency to contemplation and. if pious, consider that they will be more free from temptation to sin by retiring from the ordinary world. Hot climates strengthen these feelings, and mona- chism has^ flourished most luxuriantly in Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. Ethnic Monachism, — The most gigantic and earliest development of monachism was that of Buddhism (g. v.). The Jain system is also monastic. Brahman- ism possessed it to a considerable ex- tent. Of the Hindu Triad the worship of Brahma scarcely exists; connected with that of Vishnu and Siva there are many monastic orders or sects. Most of them arose about the same dates as the leading religious orders of Christendom were instituted. Jexoish Monachism. — The Nazarites were an ascetic sect temporarily under vows, but not bound to celibacy, which is nowhere enjoined even on priests under the Mosaic law. But genuine Jewish monasticism, with its celibacy as well as its asceticism and seclusion from society, seems to have begun with the Essenes (g. ■v.), and to have been continued by the Therapeut^ (g. v.). Christian Moutchism. — In the 2d cen- tury certain persons who aimed at stricter piety than their neighbors often held converse together without quite separating from society. They were called ascetics, and were the successors of the Therapeutae, who prepared the way for the rise of monachism. In the 3d cen- tury Paul ranged through the desert of Thebais in Upper Egypt during the Decian persecutions. He and others who acted similarly were called anchorets or anchorites, or persons who retire from society, also eremites or hermits, that is, persons who live in the desert (see Her- mit). They frequently resided in caves. In 305 Anthony, an Egyptian monk, col- lected many of the eremites into commu- nities. These were called coenobites from their living in common. The same disci- pline spread through western Asia and